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
- Alone Among the Couples: A character with no loved one is surrounded by those with loved ones.
- Alone in a Crowd: A lonesome character is surrounded by a crowd.
- The Aloner: Being alone after a catastrophe.
- Alone-with-Prisoner Ploy
- Alone with the Psycho: A defenseless character is alone with a dangerous character who wants to kill them.
- 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
- Creepy Loner Girl
- Crew of One
- Dark Magical Girl
- The Drifter: A character that 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
- Friendless Background
- "Getting My Own Room" Plot
- 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 solitary and likes it like that.
- Hermit Guru
- Heroic Neutral: A character wants to be alone and have nothing to do with anyone else.
- Hidden Elf Village
- Hikikomori
- I Just Want to Have Friends: A solitary character longs for friends.
- 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
- I Work Alone: One character can do the work of five. Usually a One-Man Army.
- Jungle Princess
- A Kind of One
- Knight Errant
- 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 at the Top: When becoming successful leads the character to be alone.
- Lonely Doll Girl
- 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
- No Social Skills
- Not Good with People
- One-Person Birthday Party
- One Riot, One Ranger
- The Only One
- Orphan's Ordeal
- Parental Abandonment
- Remember That You Trust Me: A character is reminded they have friends.
- Robinsonade
- The Shut-In
- Single Line of Descent
- Single Specimen Species
- Small, Secluded World
- Space Isolation Horror
- Sole Survivor
- Solitary Sorceress
- Solo Sequence
- Survivor Guilt
- There Is Another
- They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself
- Trauma 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:
- Zen Survivor
Quite a crowd of them, isn't there?
