When they are alone they want to be with others, and when they are with others they want to be alone. After all, human beings are like that.
— Gertrude Stein
Physical solitude, or mental (which can be worse in a crowd) — and its causes, and its consequences.
A total lack of human contact can leave the character isolated even if surrounded by non-humans; and sometimes they have to be specific kinds of humans, and sometimes, no one can keep them from feeling isolated.
Compare Introversion Tropes. Contrast Ensembles, Power Trio and Duo Tropes. See The Singles Index, which deals with romantic solitude.
Tropes
- All of the Other Reindeer: A character is mistreated and/or shunned by most or all other characters.
- Alone Among the Couples: A character with no loved one is surrounded by those with loved ones.
- Alone Among Families: A character with no family is surrounded by happy families.
- Alone in a Crowd: A lonesome character is surrounded by a crowd.
- The Aloner: Being alone after a catastrophe.
- Alone-with-Prisoner Ploy: A guard or "guard" pretends to want to be left alone with a prisoner for nefarious reasons in order to get a chance to pass a message or comfort the prisoner.
- Alone with the Psycho: A defenseless character is alone with a dangerous character who wants to kill them.
- Anti-Interference Lock Up: A character is locked up or restrained to keep them out of the way, often resulting in temporary isolation.
- Attractiveness Isolation: An attractive character is alone because no one dares to ask them out.
- Bleak Border Base: The last place you'd want to be stuck, at the edge of civilisation with little contact.
- Can't Live With Them, Can't Live Without Them: A character is stuck with someone against their will, but realizes they miss them when they're alone.
- City in a Bottle: A city that is sealed away from the rest of the world.
- Creepy Loner Girl
- Crew of One
- Dark Magical Girl: They are typically lonely and jealous of the Magical Girl's relationships.
- The Drifter: A character who is Walking the Earth.
- Dying Alone: A character dies alone with no one around him.
- Eating Lunch Alone: A character is found eating by himself only.
- Figure It Out Yourself
- First Friend: A loner character manages to make one friend.
- Friendless Background
- Frozen Dinner of Loneliness: Lonely character want something easy to reheat and eat.
- "Getting My Own Room" Plot: A character wants a bedroom they don't have to share.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: When being alone causes a character lose their sanity.
- Hates Being Alone: A character hates being by himself.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: A character with headphones on pays the world no mind.
- The Hermit: A character lives in isolation and likes it like that.
- Hermit Guru: A particularly wise character who lives in a remote location.
- Heroic Neutral: A character wants to be alone and have nothing to do with anyone else.
- Hidden Elf Village: A secret location inhabited by isolationists.
- Hikikomori: A character with a strong aversion towards going outside.
- I Just Want to Have Friends: A solitary character longs for friends.
- I Work Alone: One character can do the work of five. Usually a One-Man Army.
- I'm Not Here to Make Friends: A contestant is focused on winning the game as opposed to making friends with other contestants.
- In the End, You Are on Your Own: When a hero's allies can't follow him in the final showdown.
- Ineffectual Loner: A character's solitary nature is not enough.
- Informed Loner: The narrative implies he's a loner, but he's shown to be with friends.
- Intelligence Equals Isolation: Intelligent people are loners.
- It's Up to You: Only the player character can accomplish the game's goal.
- Jungle Princess
- A Kind of One: A fictional species is extrapolated from a unique, famous, mythical creature.
- Knight Errant: A heroic character who wanders the Earth helping anyone in need they come across.
- The Last Man Heard a Knock...
- Last of His Kind: When a character is the lone member of his group.
- Leave Him to Me: When a character tells his allies he can handle the villain on his own.
- Leave Me Alone!: A character rejects others' help because he thinks he can do it on his own.
- Leave the Two Lovebirds Alone
- Lonely Among People: A character who has friends or is social, but feels lonely.
- Lonely at the Top: When becoming successful leads the character to be alone.
- Lonely Doll Girl: Alice's only "friends" are dolls.
- Lonely Funeral: Few, if any, attend the funeral.
- Lonely Rich Kid: A wealthy kid who is alone.
- Lonely Together: When two characters share a common bond of loneliness.
- Loners Are Freaks: When being a loner is labeled as being weird or evil.
- Loner-Turned-Friend: A solitary character becomes a friend to someone.
- Loners Will Stay Alone
- Madden Into Misanthropy: A character becomes a loner because he gets fed up with society.
- Minor Living Alone: When a child lives alone.
- Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: The loner isn't bad as people make him out to be.
- Nature Hero: A hero who lives alone in the wilderness and can commune with animals and/or plants.
- No Social Skills
- Not Good with People
- Off the Grid: A character has a lifestyle meant to keep them untraceable, which usually means no social connections.
- One-Person Birthday Party: A character celebrates their birthday alone because they have no friends.
- One Riot, One Ranger: A One-Man Army is sent to resolve a conflict instead of a large force.
- Only Friend: Character only has one friend.
- The Only One: The hero is the only one who can solve the problem because no one else can do it.
- Orphan's Ordeal: When being an orphan sucks.
- Parental Abandonment: A character's parents are missing or never shown.
- Remember That You Trust Me: A character is reminded they have friends.
- Robinsonade: The plot is about one or more characters living stranded away from civilization and having to live off the land.
- Safely Secluded Science Center: A research laboratory is isolated for safety's sake.
- The Shut-In: A character never goes outside, or only goes out for basic necessities.
- Single Line of Descent: A lineage only has one key living descendant.
- Single Specimen Species: A being who is the only member of their species in existence.
- Small, Secluded World
- Space Isolation Horror
- Sole Survivor
- Solitary Sorceress: A magical woman lives deep in the wilderness for the heroes to seek out.
- Solo Sequence: In a game where the player controls multiple characters together, for this part only one character is involved.
- Survivor Guilt: A character feels guilty for surviving a tragedy where others died.
- There Is Another: A character isn't The Last of His Kind, after all.
- They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself
- Trauma Swing: A depressed character sits alone on a swing.
- Uniqueness Value
- Used to Be More Social: A character used to be close with others, but is now withdrawn.
- Wild Child: A character that was born and raised in the wilderness.
- The World Mocks Your Loss: After a person breaks up, they see everyone else having successful love lives to add insult to injury.
- Zen Survivor
Quite a crowd of them, isn't there?
