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The So-Called Coward

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We're pacifists, not passivists.

"Ev'ryone considered him the coward of the county
He'd never stood one single time to prove the county wrong
His mama named him Tommy, the folks just called him Yellow
But something always told me they were reading Tommy wrong..."

A character is passive and nonviolent, unwilling to engage in meaningless brawls. A bullying braggart sets out to harass the character. The character backs down and is branded a coward. If the pacifist character actually labels themself as such, expect the braggart to sneer about how Pacifism Is Cowardice.

However, a peril soon crops up that endangers the entire community. The bully wets his Levis. The quiet character then engages in spectacular acts of heroism that stun the community. Thus endeth the Aesop.

May or may not be a Badass Pacifist. Often has a subplot of Single Woman Seeks Good Man.

If we reduce life to video game terms, this person would probably be a Stone Wall, not able to do much actively, but capable of selfless acts of defense if needed.

Compare Cowardly Lion, who believes himself a coward; the tropes may overlap but seldom do. It may, however, overlap with Beware the Nice Ones, Good Is Not Soft, and Martial Pacifist. Also compare Sheep in Sheep's Clothing, where a character who's suspected of being Too Good to Be True turns out to actually be that good and true.

Contrast Dirty Coward, for which these will be mistaken at first. Also contrast Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!, when being labeled a coward provokes a character into doing something brave (or stupid). Not to be confused with Cowardice Callout, which is where the person receiving this treatment really is guilty of the cowardice people are calling them out on.

Foil of Miles Gloriosus, who acts brave but is really a coward.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • Jacuzzi Splot from Baccano! initially appears to be a giant crybaby, possibly leading viewers to wonder if the other members of his gang calling him boss is ironic or a mistranslation. Then you see him take out a flamethrower-wielding villain with just a cherry bomb... while bawling his eyes out. Nobody said the "crybaby" descriptor wasn't accurate.
    • Heck, he led the destruction of 18 speakeasies and earned a massive bounty, all while having said tears (albeit now presented as Berserker Tears.)
  • Subverted in the Battle Royale manga, where muscular black belt Sugimura is exactly this kind of character, steadfastly refusing to fight even when backed against the wall by street thugs and subsequently branded a coward by all the delinquents in the class. However, he continues this moral stance when on the island, refusing to go for fatal blows and as a result allows the most dangerous kids on the island to go free to kill again. This convinces him to abandon his stance and use firearms in the next fight; however, in a cruel twist, his opponent has at this point improved his skills to the point where Sugimura is no match for him.
  • Bleach:
    • Sado is huge, as tough as nails and very strong. It's because of this that he absolutely refuses to fight for himself even if his life is in danger. As a result, Ichigo made a bargain with him. He'll fight for Sado's life if Sado will fight for his. Ever since Sado will fight to protect the lives of other people but still will not fight to protect his own.
    • Keigo has always avoided conflict in a comedic fashion. Upon seeing what Aizen is capable and comprehending just how screwed he and his classmates are, he steals an unconscious Soul Reaper's zanpakutou and prepares to fight Aizen to buy his friends time to escape. Fortunately for him, the zanpakutou's owner regains consciousness just in time to save his life.
  • The more aggressive and deadly characters in Trigun sometimes accuse Vash the Stampede of being a coward, due to him almost always being ridiculously goofy and extremely nonviolent. By the end of each episode, said characters usually end up seeing him for the saint-like badass that he really is, or are utterly confused and dazed. Others who don't react like that argue that he would've saved thousands of lives if he'd killed his genocidal brother when they first fought 100 years ago. (And a third point of view is that if he did give up pacifism, he'd be on his brother's side, fighting to save his people from the humans unknowingly killing them for energy.)
  • Tends to happen to Digimon Adventure's Jou/Joe Kido whenever he has A Day in the Limelight. Being the eldest in the group, he tends to be almost obsessively cautious, until it is clear the others think of him as a coward or his older brother sees him as a doormat. Note that he ends up doing some of the most badass things in the series, including jumping off a roof onto an evil Digimon to save TK, getting squeezed like a tube of toothpaste for his troubles, and still telling TK's older brother to beat the other evil Digimon first, 'cause he's just fine; it is this act of selflessness that caused Matt to realize The Power of Friendship and causes his Crest to glow. He also climbs a mountain alone to make sure it was safe for the rest of the group to climb it back when his Digimon was not able to evolve and later almost drowns saving the kid again in a later episode. He also jumps on the back of a GIANT RAMPAGING FLYING HORSE MONSTER to prevent it from attacking Tai and Sora.
  • Doraemon: Nobita and the Robot Kingdom have Nobita being mistaken for a coward in the climax, when the villain Dester reveals his fortress to be a giant mecha and proceeds to trample over everything and everyone, as Nobita flees with Shizuka's spare Takecopter. It turns out Nobita is making his way to one of the city's giant robot statues with an Anything Controller, using it to bring the statue to life and makes a comeback to fight Dester.
  • An interesting case can be made for Frieza in Dragon Ball Z. Though he's called a coward for destroying Planet Vegeta (as he feared the rise of a Super Saiyan, which would be his undoing), he is arguably just being practical. And even when he starts to lose the fight against Goku, he still swallows his fear and gives him the fight of his life. Such is the case of being a pragmatic villain among Proud Warrior Race Guys.
    • A more straight forward example can be seen in Android 16. Despite his much larger and more imposing appearance, 16's quiet nature and refusal to fight, as well perhaps as his earlier model number, has him labeled by 17 & 18 as an imperfect model that they mostly keep around for company. His very straightforward focus on his purpose for killing Goku and even being warned off by Dr. Gero himself further push this point. Even when confronted with Cell seeking to assimilate 17 & 18, 16 mostly tries to talk them into running away, to no avail against 17's ego. Finally, after Cell has fought his way through Piccolo and is about to absorb 17, 16 steps in and proceeds to fight Cell to at worst a stalemate and at best a winning bout, trading blow for blow while having the same limitless energy as the other Androids. 16's fight comes on the heels of Cell beating down both Piccolo and 17 effortlessly, albeit the former had expended a lot of stamina, and both were leagues above even Super Saiyans at this point in the series.
  • The prime minister in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex was given her position because she lacked the determination and ambition to interfere with the actual people in charge. But she would only take so much shit.
  • Kintaro from Golden Boy. In several episodes, he's beaten up by thugs, bodyguards, and once, a jealous boyfriend. Near the end of that episode, however, he dodges a punch and counters with one of his own, shown from three different angles, all of which are horribly painful to look at.
    Kintaro: I opened up a can of whoop-ass. I used my Kenpo Training Center technique in such a manner as stupid as this! I have so much more that I need to learn!
  • Great Teacher Onizuka: Noboru is introduced as a Bully Magnet Driven to Suicide by abuse from his classmates, particularly Anko and her Girl Posse. Onizuka helps him make friends and gain confidence in himself, and during the Okinawa trip he and the very same girls who bullied him (and are still doing it) get lost on an island. Despite everything they had done to him, he dives into the water to save Anko from drowning, and is able to keep a cool head and find a way out of the cave they're in.
  • Akito Tenkawa of Martian Successor Nadesico is initially believed to be a military deserter because he has the universe's Humongous Mechas' Unusual User Interface on his hand. In truth, he's from Mars, where said interface is much more common because it's used for heavy machinery too — and on top of that, he's suffering PTSD because he only barely survived an attack by The Empire.
  • From the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Kai Shiden constantly complained and acted selfishly and cowardly in and out of the battlefield, which didn't earn him too many friends. However, he still got in the Guncannon and fought back whenever required, and after taking a few levels in badass his cowardly traits disappear completely.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Kira Yamato may be a pacifist who did not originally want to get involved in the war, and who avoids fighting whenever possible, but may God help you if you put his friends in danger. His Wikipedia and Gundam Wiki articles even point out that he tends to be shy and nonviolent in most situations outside of combat, while also having a strong desire to protect people.
  • Played with in Monster when Tenma, hiding on top of a bookcase in a library waiting to kill a man, reminisces about being called a pussy as a child because he got inordinately scared during a game of hide-and-seek.
  • Shinji, and eventually, Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion are quite reluctant to pilot Eva, but still wreck Angel shit until their crippling psychological hindrances kick into high gear.
  • In the Jaya Arc of One Piece, Bellamy mocks Luffy's belief and ultimately decides to beat him and Zoro, but Luffy told him not to fight and they were beaten up. When they next confront Bellamy after, he mocks Luffy for being weak and cowardly. However, this time around Bellamy's made the mistake of stealing from and beating up one of Luffy's friends. The result: Luffy defeated him with one punch.
    • Which is an echo of what Red-Haired Shanks (Luffy's idol) did in the very first chapter (which is probably where Luffy got the attitude from). Shanks allows himself to be humiliated in front of his friends and his men by a lowly bandit chief rather than start a fight, only to come back to kick major butt as soon as the bandits actually start threatening his friends.
      • And just as a heads up, Shanks is one of the most powerful people in the world. His mere presence can knock out hardened pirates.
    • This is the defining trait of Usopp: He will spend much of a conflict trying to run away, but he will invariably regain his bearings and wallop the enemy he feels he's most suited to fight. That being said, when he DOES fight, he still has a "coward" motif to his style, using hit-and-run tactics and keeping his distance with long-range attacks. This reaches its peak when he fights ghost-girl Perona, as when Usopp figures out her powers, he instantly turns the tables and leaves her foaming at the mouth from terror over him.
      • A prime example is in Arlong Park. One of the enemy pirates comes after Usopp, who of course runs away screaming at first. But when the pirate notices the townsfolk present at the time, Usopp turns back around, provokes the enemy into continuing the chase, then goes right back to running and screaming. Said townspeople honestly can't tell if he's brave or cowardly.
  • In Samurai Deeper Kyo, the main protagonist, Kyoshiro comes across as a sniveling coward, who refuses to engage in fights with anyone, even when people he cares about are being threatened. At first, he only seems to be a competent fighter when his body gets hijacked by a more violent resident soul living inside him, named Kyo. However, it's later revealed that without his stubborn pacifism, Kyoshiro is even more dangerous than Kyo.
  • Haruyuki from Accel World thinks of himself as cowardly, but that's really only when his own wellbeing is on the line.
  • In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Zenitsu's constant cowering against having to face demons in battle already looks odd enough due him never actually running away from his duties as a hunter, crying on the way to battle but still fighting nonetheless; the full realization comes when Zenitsu’s rivalry with a former colleague of his comes into play, Kaigaku was said to be Zenitsu’s total opposite, he actually learned most of the Thunder Breath moves and always made sure to brush on Zenitsu’s face how much of a failure and a coward he was, but in the end it was Zenitsu who stuck to the Demon Slayer corps always fighting against demons, while Kaigaku was revealed to be a true coward who immediately threw his life away for more power as a demon; resulting in Zenitsu killing his supposed stronger colleague turned traitor.
  • Diego from Kaiketsu Zorro earns himself a cowardly reputation early on in the series for always backing down when he finds himself face-to-face with corrupt soldiers. His Love Interest Lolita in particular is furious at his apparent cowardice, despite having seen him speak out against one of the most powerful and hot-tempered army officers in the series, to his face, on at least one occasion. Diego himself encourages this reputation to protect his Secret Identity as the masked hero Zorro.
    • Sergeant Gonzales, a confirmed Butt-Monkey who will gladly follow orders from anyone pointing a weapon at him, is generally looked down on by the townspeople and his superior officers as weak-willed and useless in dicey situations. However, he proves to both viewers and his in-universe friends that he's far braver than he's first made out to be when the chips are down. This is most prominently shown in his A Day in the Limelight episodes and later in the series finale, when he lays a brutal beat-down on his own commanding officer after the army's crimes finally catch up to them.
  • Rebuild World: The Private Military Contractor Kurosawa is a grizzled veteran who gets mocked as a coward because he’s A Father to His Men and puts The Men First with cautious approaches to missions, while some other hunters, such as the young ones in Drankam, have a Glory Seeker mindset. Kurosawa is The Big Guy and leads from the front. Somewhat deconstructed, in that despite being called a coward, Kurosawa actually gets hired to lead teams because of his track record of low casualties.
  • Kanata Age from Sky Wizards Academy is often referred to as this by all but his closest friends. To put it into context he was once a member of the elite team that combated humanity's enemies, the Devil Beetles. However, after one such engagement, he refused to fight anymore, which led to him being branded a “traitor”” by all but his two closest friends.
    • As it turns out, Kanata actually has a very good reason for not fighting, which ultimately turns his situation into a massive Tear Jerker. During the aforementioned battle, the Devil Beetles infected Kanata with their own power. As was later shown with Real, this is anything but good. In reality, Kanata is just as, if not even more powerful than he always has been. The trouble is that every time he uses a magical attack, he unwittingly taps into the Devil Beetles power, thus stripping away a small portion of his own life force and humanity. He also, understandably, cannot tell anybody about his condition. If he does Freon and the other leaders of the Sky Wizards, would have him strapped to a medical table and dissected faster than he, Chloe, Lloyd, Yuri or anybody from E601 could shout “Wait!” or “No, please no!” Thus, from Kanata’s point of view, it is better to live the life of a hated outcast than face the alternative.

    Comic Books 
  • In Batman, Dr. Leslie Thompkins is a stolid pacifist. During the "Batman: No Man's Land" arc, a group of criminals entered the free clinic she was running and tried to start somethin'. She stood there, took absolutely no action whatsoever except tell them she was not going to take up arms against them, and stared their asses DOWN!
    • She also frequently berates Bruce for his violent actions. While she recognizes the good that Batman does, she's convinced there's a better way.
    • In at least one continuity, Robin, or rather, Dick Grayson, is accused of this by school bullies. What they don't realize is that he could take them apart with his bare hands, but refuses to do so because it wouldn't be right.
  • An issue of Captain America in the 1970s had a character who became a conscientious objector to Vietnam after serving his tour treated like this. He won't use a gun, either, but manages to save a (temporarily disabled) Cap and the person who had called him a coward from a supervillain by withstanding torture, without blinking, buying enough time for help to arrive. The denouement is over here.
  • The first arc of Brubaker and Phillips' Criminal (2006) is titled "Coward", and follows a brilliant but small-time thief who is considered overly cautious by his peers. He does his best to survive a caper gone wrong (which he had to be emotionally blackmailed into doing to begin with) until one final loss sends him on an eerily calculated and cold-blooded Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Toward the end, he confesses that he runs from danger because he's terrified someone will set him off like when he killed his friend's father.
  • Green Lantern:
    • In the DC Universe Alternate Continuity series DC: The New Frontier, Hal Jordan is considered a coward because he wouldn't shoot down enemy aircraft during the Korean War and suffered a mental breakdown when forced to shoot an enemy soldier to save his own life. Fortunately, the Guardians of the Universe and a dying Abin Sur weren't as biased and recruited him as the sector's Green Lantern. He saved the world.
    • The Animated version of this story has a dying Abin Sur explain to Hal Jordan exactly why his status as The So-Called Coward makes him the only kind of person worthy of wielding a Green Lantern ring.
      Abin Sur: I had to find a deserving one. A man entirely without fear.
      Hal Jordan: A lot of people think I'm a coward because of what happened in the war. Did your ring tell you about that?
      Abin Sur: You are no coward, Hal Jordan! To you, all life is precious — and this ring is far too powerful to fall into the hands of someone who doesn't understand that.
    • Kyle Rayner, another major Green Lantern, has gotten this on occasion since he has no real badass nature or backstory. Hal Jordan was praised by superheroes for being "The Man Without Fear," which is actually a common requirement for Green Lanterns, while Kyle feels fear like any normal person. At one point Ganthet referred to Kyle's ability to be afraid as "a defect," as opposed to the other way around. Of course, the Sandman said that made him better than Jordan, and the other Lanterns wound up having to learn to "remember" fear in order to avoid being overtaken by Parallax.
      • The reason why Kyle is often considered one of the most powerful Lanterns in history (and eventually became the godlike Ion) is because he knows fear and has learned to overcome it. A man who knows no fear doesn't have anywhere near the willpower of a man who can rise above his fear.
      • This is now how new Lanterns are selected. The older Lanterns were chosen for their lack of fear; those chosen since the re-ignition of the central battery on Oa are chosen for their ability to overcome it.
      • At the same time, it's also been shown that the reason Hal has no fear is that he's already experienced his greatest fear in the past.
  • The DC Comics western character Johnny Tate/Johnny Thunder's backstory is that he promised his dying mother that he'd never use a gun. He later creates the character of Johnny Thunder to get round this. A subsequent retcon reveals that his father thought he was a coward, using his mother as an excuse.
  • When he was young, the Marvel Comics western character Kid Colt avoided guns because he knew he was an expert shot with a bad temper and didn't think other people were safe if he had one. As with Sheriff Tate, his father assumed he was a coward.
  • The Smurfs: In Challenges for Hefty Smurf, Smurfstorm suspects that he's a Miles Gloriosus spinning tall tales with his claims of facing Gargamel and other threats. She goads him into declaring that he wants to face a Gobble-All, and when he balks upon seeing just how massively dangerous it is, declares that he's just proven he's nothing more than a liar. But when Brainy Smurf wanders too close and gets snagged by the Gobble-All, Hefty immediately leaps in to save him, armed with nothing more than a stick.
  • Spider-Man: Peter Parker often pretends to be cowardly as a way of stopping people from guessing his secret identity. Some excuses he's been forced to think up to explain his absences also make people think of this, such as when he claims he has a headache so he can slip off to fight a villain, but the other school kids think he's just scared of playing volleyball against Flash.
  • The Gronk in classic Strontium Dog is constantly in fear of being beaten up and moaning about his weak hearts. note  However, whenever Johnny and Wulf are in real trouble, he usually manages to come through and perform some small act which saves them.
  • Superman: Clark Kent pretends to be a coward because it's the perfect excuse for him to slip away in a dangerous situation and return as Superman. It also helps keep his loved ones safe. Because people, especially villains like Lex Luthor, refuse to believe that a man as powerful as Superman would 'demean' himself by living as the meek, mild, and most important for the situation, exceedingly human Clark Kent.

    Fan Works 
  • Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: At first glance, Italy seems to be a coward. After all, he would rather run from a fight than engage in one. However, it's because he would rather be hurt than hurt others. He can fight, what with being a swordsman who can rival Japan in battle and has superspeed.
  • Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness: During his screen time, Hokuto is called a coward on more than one occasion by Tsukune and the gang, and for good reason; Hokuto is perfectly willing to use hostages, such as Felucia and Tsukune's family, as leverage to get his way, and typically lets his Co-Dragons, Jovian and Jacqueline, do the fighting for him while he makes a Villain: Exit, Stage Right. However, when Tsukune corners him at Alucard's tomb during the climax of Act IV, Hokuto decides to cut loose and prove just how powerful and deadly he really is.
  • In Checkmate Anlashok: I Keith, the oldest living District 7 Victor during the 3rd Quarter Quell, is viewed by both himself and his fellow victors as weak for not volunteering for Blight (a much younger victor) during the Quell Reaping. Once the Rebellion starts though, and he sees several peacekeepers about to kill a crowd of children, he breaks out a hidden gun and comes to their defense, killing 10 peacekeepers before even taking a wound.

    Films — Animation 
  • The Disney adaptations of Winnie the Pooh portray Piglet as this: while usually meek and timid, there are several times he will bravely rescue his friends if he believes they're in danger. In their defence, his friends rarely ridicule him outright for his timidness, but they tend to accept it as his usual approach to just about everything.
  • Bambi is conveyed as such in the Disney midquel. He spends the film being intimidated by bully fawn Ronno. When he finally snaps and tussles with Ronno, Mena gets caught in a trap and begs the two to save themselves. Ronno runs away screaming for his "Mommy!", while Bambi skilfully risks life and limb to lure the approaching hunting dogs away from Mena.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • In The Karate Kid Part II, this was essential plot of Mr. Miyagi and Daniel going to Okinawa and being harassed by an old rival, Sato, and his bullying nephew as cowards. However, during a sudden typhoon, the rival is amazed at seeing Miyagi and student risk life and limb performing rescues while being disgusted at his own nephew being a totally useless coward in the shelter at the same time. In fact, Sato is so impressed that he insists on helping them personally.
  • An interesting variation appears in Stalag 17- the cynical protagonist, who is in a prisoner of war camp is considered not only unpatriotic but also suspected of being a traitor and is brutally beaten up for this. When he does save everyone, the others are shocked as per the trope, but he still has no desire to be friendly with them nor they with him. Though he does give them a friendly salute and smile before he departs.
  • The Big Country is all about this trope. The ship's captain Jim MacKay played by Gregory Peck is opposed to fighting, and is called a coward for it. In particular, he has no interest in participating in his future father-in-law's increasingly violent rivalry with a nearby landowner over a nearby river and tries to negotiate a fair and peaceful solution, which earns him the jeers of everyone and the disgust of his fiancee; however, he's just savvy enough to realize that their entire feud is basically two bitter, petty old men trying to get other people to fight their battles for them. Eventually, a long-standing and particularly vocal rival does manage to provoke him into a fist-fight — and after they've knocked the stuffing out of each other, he wearily asks what, exactly, either of them has proved by it. The rival comes to respect him a bit more.
    • In the climax, he also gets himself roped into a duel with the cocky, arrogant son of one of the old landowners who's provoked him like this before. Guess which one faces the duel head-on honourably without flinching and which one cheats. A clue: the cheater is not the one played by Gregory Peck. When the son, exposed as a coward, tries to shoot Peck's character in the back, his own father shoots him.
    • It's suggested that Jim was a captain in the navy during the Civil War, with a distinguished career... which sickened him on war and unnecessary battles.
    • Jim explained early on that after his father died in a duel of honor, he lost any interest in showboating.
  • Straw Dogs: the film's protagonist spends most of the movie getting bullied by a group of local louts, but when he eventually stands up to them, things get very bloody.
  • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Jimmy Stewart's character is not so much a coward as a wimp, but eventually decides to put aside his lawbooks and face Liberty Valance with a gun. Ultimately, however, it was Doniphon who shot Liberty.
  • Sky High (2005) featured Layla, a pacifistic and intellectual student, who refuses to use her powers of controlling flora in the hero/hero support class assignment program (stating that she only ever uses such powers for self-defense). Because of this, she's put into the hero support category, basically second-class citizenship in this universe. Later, when the school that had put down her and her friends so much is in trouble, she wipes the floor with the duplicating henchperson.
  • In The Monster Squad, Fat Kid guns down the Gill Man while his former bullies cower and watch.
  • In Key Largo, Frank appears cowardly in Rocco's eyes because the "living war hero" refuses to pick up a gun and take a shot at the mobster. Nora and James both believe that Frank could tell the gun wasn't loaded from the weight, but Frank rebuffs such talk. Frank's desire to "make a world in which there's no place for Johnny Rocco" comes back after the sheriff mistakenly kills the Osceola Brothers for the deputy's death and it looks as though Rocco will get away.
  • In Fat Man and Little Boynote  scientist Michael Merriman reports that people in his hometown were less than impressed when he told them he was going to "a P.O. box in New Mexico" rather than shipping out to fight in World War II. As implied by the film's title, Merriman was assigned to the Manhattan Project.
  • The entire town of Refuge in Purgatory, who are actually some of the most dangerous people in The Wild West.
  • In The General, main character Johnnie Gray's girlfriend scorns him for a coward when he seemingly refused to enlist at the outbreak of the Civil War. He had in fact been rejected because his work as a railroad engineer was vital to the war effort, but no one told him. When Yankees steal his engine and kidnap his girl, Johnnie gives chase alone and gets them out of enemy territory despite patrols, storms, and bears.
  • In Red Hill, Old Bill mocks and belittles Shane, because Shane refused to shoot a young kid who had pulled a weapon on him, and, as a result, was shot himself. Old Bill makes it clear that he considers a cop who won't shoot to be useless. However, at the climax of the film. Shane proves that he has no trouble pulling the trigger when he is certain of the right and the wrong of a situation.
  • A villanous variation of this appears in The Breakfast Club. When Andrew has enough of Bender's lip, he takes Bender down in a wrestling hold. Bender offers absolutely no resistance, and warns him to let him go, or he'll have to kill him. Andrew, taking "kill" metaphorically, releases him and calls him a coward. Bender then shows a switchblade and gives a Death Glare to show he meant "kill" literally.

    Folklore 
  • There is a Japanese folk tale about a bully who harassed a man eating with his wife by taking away his chopsticks. When the wife demanded them back, the bully just laughed at her. Wife proceeded to beat the tar out of said bully and took back her husband's chopsticks. A witness asked her where she learned to fight and she answered: "My husband taught me." When asked why her husband didn't fight himself, she answered: "He's afraid he might kill someone."

    Literature 
  • Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter is portrayed as an outwardly timid and meek young lad, bullied by Malfoy and his gang. But he proves his Gryffindor bravery at the end of the first book by standing up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione when he thinks that they're going to lose more points for Gryffindor. The real show of bravery, however, comes in the seventh book; after the Death Eaters take charge at Hogwarts, he becomes the leader in a group of student rebels, opposing the Death Eaters' regime and supporting Harry Potter, sustaining painful punishment as a consequence. He is aided by Ginny Weasley and Luna Lovegood, who are just as brave as him. Then during the battle, he basically spits in Voldemort's face by defiantly refusing to join The Dark Side and killing the last Horcrux while on fire! He does this even when he thinks Harry is dead and they have no chance of winning. If that's not brave, nothing is.
    • Also, Horace Slughorn is more of a Lovable Coward, choosing at first to evacuate himself along with Slytherin House during the final battle. Later, however, It turns out he only left to rally up reinforcements in Hogsmeade and came back, leading Slytherin House into battle to help defeat the Death Eaters; he even personally duels Voldemort, though in fairness he had Kingsley Shacklebolt and Professor McGonagall backing him up.
  • Old Yeller is one of these in both the movie, but especially in the book, hence his name. He normally acts the coward around people running away from beatings, theatrically whining when he gets hit, but by the end of the book, he is shown to be anything but a coward.
  • Played with in the Discworld novels with Rincewind, in that he actually is a coward, a self-confessed one in fact, but nonetheless keeps performing great acts of heroism. Though his travels have made him skittish and jaded, and he would like nothing better than to sit at home in a quiet room, he has: saved the Disc from incineration using a creation spell lodged in his head; challenged a powerful Sourcerer with only a half-brick in a sock despite knowing that it would lead to almost certain death or worse; took it upon himself to distract countless nightmares from the Dungeon Dimensions to prevent them from invading the Disc; journeyed through Hell; prevented civil war in Agatea; saved the continent of Fourecks by bringing rain; and saved the Disc from destruction again by joining a space mission and talking down a band of the deadliest barbarian warriors of all time. Not bad for an abject coward.
    • In Unseen Academicals he does something, almost unnoticed in the background by the other wizards. During a shouting match between two high-ranking, powerful wizards he quietly puts a half brick in one of his socks, the same way he prepared for the last wizard war... Thankfully, one of the people who noticed his act had the political chops to get them to back down.
  • Commissar Ciaphas Cainnote  in his memoirs calls himself an abject coward; however, he just keeps pulling off feats of bravery that even Astartes would envy—much to his dismay, as it only adds to his heroic reputation that he just as well could live without. Although it has been suggested numerous times that he might not give himself enough credit - that being said, the author does not set his foot down on the canonical interpretation of Cain.
  • C-Chute, by Isaac Asimov, is a short story about a group of prisoners, passengers aboard a civilian starship that was captured by aliens. They're all fractious and contentious, except for the one man who understands that their captors' Bizarre Alien Psychology would label infighting a symptom of incurable insanity, for which they would "Mercy Kill" everyone. But when the only escape plan involves a spacewalk with barely adequate protection, and the only accessible airlock is the tube they eject coffins through, there's only one volunteer for the mission.
  • Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird refuses to teach his children to shoot, leaving that to Uncle Jack. Turns out he's a pretty good shot himself. That's more of him being an Actual Pacifist until it is necessary to put down a rabid dog. His real display of courage comes when he defends a black man accused of raping a white woman in a Deep South town in the 1930s. Doing this leaves him alienated from many of his peers, and he later has to face down a lynch mob (who included some of his friends,) to protect his client and gets publicly spat on by his opponent (who he then refuses to fight). He knew all of this would happen, and he took the job anyway. There is a reason why this pacifistic, soft-spoken lawyer beat Indiana Jones for first place on the American Film Institute's list of heroes.
  • In Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest, both Red and his men are called cowards by Red's power-hungry uncle, Richard. In subtler words than that, but cowards nonetheless. Throughout the book, however, they are shown as brave and decent men, who just rather stay at home and tend their flocks than to fight in a war that neither side has a hope of winning.
  • In Mr. Standfast, Launcelot Wake is a sensitive artistic pacifist unable to handle himself in a fight, who is initially viewed with contempt by the novel's more conventionally manly protagonist. Turns out he's a pacifist for truly idealistic reasons and is quite possibly the bravest person in the book. As the war progresses, he volunteers as a medical worker in the front lines and during the climactic battle dies heroically from wounds earned carrying a vital message under heavy fire.
  • In Xanth, Goody Goblin is kind of like this. Most male goblins are cowardly braggarts, so because he was fed reverse wood as a small child, he's quietly brave.
  • Sam Tarly in A Song of Ice and Fire is slow and fat and scared, to the point that he outright, albeit, shamefully, admits he's a coward. Legions of Hell pop up and, well, now he's Sam The Slayer... He still calls himself a coward though.
    • It seems like he has a lot of trouble standing up for himself. Put someone he's responsible in danger, though (Gilly, Maester Aemon, the baby) and you'll be in serious trouble.
  • Gwystyl from The Chronicles of Prydain is derided as a coward by all the heroes; however at the end of the book tales of his heroism in battle reach their ears, though he denies it all, and it's hinted that he's deliberately fostering a cowardly exterior.
  • In The Winds of War there is Leslie Slote, a self-called coward. A secretary at the American embassy who considers himself a coward (really he is just timid; there is a difference) is traveling through Germany with some neutral diplomats. An SS flunky demands to know which of them are Jews. This secretary faces down the SS officer, telling him that he has no right to that information, and announcing in effect that either none of them are Jews or all of them. Intimidated by the secretary's unaccustomed imperiousness the SS officer lets them go.
    • In fact, the fiancee of the hero's son is a Jew and is traveling with them.
  • Larry Niven's Known Space setting:
    • The puppeteers are a race of cowards. A very few, who are considered by their own kind to be insane (and who often exhibit personality disorders recognizable to humans) are just brave enough to leave their homeworld in ships made of virtually indestructible material and equipped with emergency stasis fields in which they can wait out the end of the universe if necessary. One of these scouts, Nessus, is a manic depressive who often curls up into a motionless ball in his depressive state. He turns his back to run from any danger... although he might just be getting ready to kick your heart out through your chest with his hind leg. To give a frame to the extent of his depressive states, at one point in Ringworld he asks to go into a building during a conversation in the street, afraid of the infinitesimal probability that a meteor could kill him. Nessus goes out into the big scary universe because, although he is truly terrified by the dangers amongst the stars, he feels a great sense of duty to his people that, since he can bear to face such dangers, he must protect the rest. His altruism extends to the human companions he often hires, whom he has more than once risked his own life to save. After such moments of heroism, he becomes a blubbering mess when he realizes just how much danger he was actually in.
    • Louis Wu is a pretty good human example. His first reaction to violence is to run away. That said, he never panics while he runs away, and his running away is almost always so he can get into a better position to kill you from a distance. And when he becomes a Protector, well... forget that running away crap.
  • Ogden Nash wrote a poem called "Custard the Dragon," about a woman named Belinda who lived with a kitten, a mouse, a dog, and a dragon. Counter-intuitively, the kitten, mouse, and dog were all described as being very brave, while the dragon was a coward. However, when a pirate broke into the house and threatened Belinda, the three supposedly 'brave' animals ran and hid, and Custard stood his ground, fought the pirate, and ate him.
  • Kayim the versifier from Lloyd Alexander's The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha not only declares himself as a coward but does so proudly, declaring that the world could do with a few more cowards around (a speech which endears him to the titular character). However, all through the book he never acts even remotely cowardly and is a loyal and steadfast friend — what he lacks isn't courage, but the exaggerated pride and willingness to kill or die that so many other characters of the book possess.
  • In Helm, Leland de Laal receives little respect from his father Dulan or his brother Anthony for his tendency to back (or run) away from fights and not hit back ... but when Dulan places him in charge of a unit of mounted infantry, he quickly reveals himself to be the epitome of a quick-thinking, brave, and capable Reluctant Warrior instead.
  • This could be said of Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower, mixed with Beware the Nice Ones - small and shy and generally avoids conflict, but if you threaten him or his friends...whoo boy.
  • The wizard Howl of Howl's Moving Castle describes himself as a coward, and main character Sophie calls him a "Slitherer-outer", but when his family, or his friends, are in danger, he proves why he's known as one of the most powerful wizards in Ingary. This carries over to Castle in the Air, when Howl demands that the djinn explain why it stole his castle and transformed Howl and Calcifer into a genie and magic carpet respectively. Abdullah is impressed because he remembers how cowardly Howl was as a genie and knows that the man is likely still terrified of the djinn, but is still standing his ground.
  • Older Than Steam from John Dryden:
    Oh that my Pow'r to Saving were confin’d:
    Why am I forc’d, like Heav’n, against my mind,
    To make Examples of another Kind?
    Must I at length the Sword of Justice draw?
    Oh curst Effects of necessary Law!
    How ill my Fear they by my Mercy scan,
    Beware the Fury of a Patient Man.
  • Jacob in The Red Keep at first appears to be a stereotypical Dirty Coward medieval Jew, especially when he tags along with the hero Conan to get his protection from bandits but later runs and hides as soon as Conan is in trouble. Later evolves into this trope when he shows up on the eve of Conan having to fight a Duel to the Death, points out that his race is banned from carrying arms and thus has no option but to run, and then reveals that he had, at great personal risk and expense, acquired armor of supreme quality for Conan as the only form of repayment in his power. This armor ends up saving Conan's life in the aforementioned duel.
  • Admiral Metternich per Plasgiamus from the BALADA:A Symphony of Eternity series is an interesting take on that. He's more of a 'win your battles without fighting' kind of guy, then an outright coward. While he himself thinks that he's a yellowbelly, he's more the sort to "avoid battle at all costs and kick 'em in the nuts when their not looking", and he does so in the series, where he tries to avoid fighting and only fight when he has an advantage. Nevertheless, when the chips are down he immediately takes command, turns into a veritable 'Nelson IN SPACE' and amongst his command staff is the first to see opportunity and the way to victory. The real kicker is that while his subordinates are elite sailors, who all graduate from the top military academy, he's a civilian who was drafted.
  • A variant appears in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. At one point, while travelling to Mr. Norrell's Yorkshire estate, John Childermass finds himself on a "fairy road", where he encounters a soldier who challenges Childermass to a duel in defence of his "mistress". Childermass refuses the duel, assures the soldier he means his mistress no harm, and rides away. When he later recounts the story to Norrell and Mr. Lascelles, Lascelles derides him as a dishonourable coward. In fact, Childermass is just savvy enough to realise that the soldier was obviously enchanted by a fairy spell, and if he'd entered into a duel without fully understanding the situation Childermass would have needlessly put himself at risk in ways that he didn't understand. A fact proven when Lascelles finds himself on the same fairy road, encounters the same soldier, accepts his duel and kills him... only for Lascelles to end up falling under the same spell and taking the soldier's place.
  • Special Operations: Otto considers himself a coward for not being a full-time resistance member, but is willing to die to protect his granddaughter and her friends.
  • Rowan of Rin is a variation; Rowan is genuinely terrified by his adventure, and is the subject of contempt from those around him because of his fear, but manages to pull himself together enough to make it through (and to be the only one who made it to the end of the journey in the first book).
  • In the Warrior Cats novella Redtail's Debt, Tigerclaw repeatedly calls Redtail a coward for not wanting to fight, and later Ravenpaw does the same. Redtail is as loyal to his Clan as any cat and unafraid to fight; he just knows that there are ways to solve things without bloodshed.
  • Eugenides of The Queen's Thief. It's a form of Obfuscating Stupidity so that people will underestimate him, but he also doesn't always enjoy being underestimated. As Eddis puts it, he has gone to great lengths to portray himself as a noncombatant and "sometimes finds the fruits of his labors unsweet." In the first book, when the magus' party is surrounded by soldiers and Eugenides borrows an apprentice's practice sword to hide in the trees for an ambush, the magus believes that he's planning to only hide. Even when he's captured by the soldiers himself, he assures them that Eugenides can't do anything with the sword except sell it—and is astonished when Eugenides proceeds to almost rout five soldiers on horseback. (He may have refused to join the army, but he still learned to be a soldier.)
  • Peter Crenshaw from The Three Investigators is this. Even though he is the muscle and brawn of the group, Pete is arguably the most cautious of the three boys and is prone to both fear and anxiety. He innately wants to avoid all types of danger and will openly complain when Jupiter and Bob make him do the dangerous tasks and is notoriously superstitious. Despite his apparent cowardly nature, Pete is actually noticeably braver than he appears on the surface. When things get dangerous, he is the first to react and will face them head on, even becoming dangerously reckless himself and can be notably vengeful to people who wrong him. Even though his friends tease him for being a coward, Pete does not call himself one at all. In fact, both Jupe and Bob believes the reason why he so openly voices his fears and complains is because he is just trying to relieve tension.
    "But we won't it scare us off, will we, Jupe?" Bob said stoutly.
    "I will!" Pete decided. "Far off!"
    Jupiter and Bob smiled in the dark. They both knew such talk was just Pete's way of relieving tension. When it came time for action, it was usually Pete who was in the front.
  • Red Country features a scarred old Northman named Lamb, whose step-daughter, Shy, always refers to as, "some kind of coward." He refuses to rise to any provocation, turning the other cheek or ignoring the other party. And then an outlaw kidnaps his two youngest step-children, and Shy watches him kill two men in ten seconds and barely spares the third under Shy's strenuous objections. Over the course of the book, it's revealed that Lamb is none other than Logen Ninefingers, the most feared man in the North and The Berserker par excellence. His resistance to confrontation was a tactic to keep his Superpowered Evil Side in check, and it's a routine he leaves behind for good.

    Live-Action TV 
  • In The Adventures of Superman Lois constantly derides Clark as a coward, even though in many episodes, he acts fairly brave (notwithstanding the fact that he's really Superman) such as when he headed to Hollywood to supervise a film based on some of his articles, despite knowing he has a price on his head in the area, or when he assisted a doctor in operating on a mysterious "mole man" (who was believed to be radioactive) while outside, a mob was gathering to attack the creature.
  • Vir in Babylon 5. Cowering, scared assistant. When pushed too far, can turn into a sword-wielding maniac. Only person ever to tell off Mr. Morden. Later, he runs an underground railway saving thousands of Narn from death by the hands of his own people. And in the end, he becomes emperor.
  • The whole series Branded happens because the U.S. Army decided to classify protagonist Jason McCord, the Sole Survivor of his massacred battalion, as one of these and drummed him out of the service. McCord didn't defend himself because doing so would require him to sully the name of his (now dead) commander doing a stupid mistake and now he wanders the Earth helping people to prove his bravery.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Xander Harris is believed to be the coward, the hanger-on, and the useless Normal of the group, when he is in fact, one of the two only sane men and Badass Normals in the group. The rest of the group either ignore or are ignorant of his achievements: Xander brought back the titular character, Buffy, from the dead; is responsible for splitting the Slayer line into two instead of just one; saved Buffy's and Cordelia's (his soon-to-be 'girlfriend') lives on Halloween 1997; faced down Buffy's rampaging lover, the walking corpse Angel, to prevent him from killing Buffy; took over the protection of their hometown in Sunnydale CA when Buffy abandoned her post as a Slayer and ran away to LA; saved Faith's (the third slayer of the series, after the Second slayer Kendra dies) life, had sex with her, then stopped a bomb from killing them all, all in one night; planned the assault on and subsequent explosion into Chunky Salsa of season 3 Big Bad Mayor Richard Wilkins III; literally saved the world with his love for a grief-crazed Willow; and helped lead the final assault against the First Evil.
  • Played for Laughs in the sitcom Chickens, which revolves around three young men in World War One-era Britain who, for various reasons, are unable to serve in combat and are thus ostracised by the community. None of them are actually cowards (one has flat feet, the other is a sincere conscientious objector, etc), but most of the humour comes from their various attempts at proving this to others leading them into unfortunate situations.
  • Played straight in Dad's Army. Private Godfrey reveals that he doesn't think himself capable of killing anyone and that he was a conscientious objector during WWI. The rest of the unit ostracize him for being a coward and consider kicking him out of the Home Guard, until he saves Captain Mainwaring from a smoke-filled house. Whilst recuperating, they find that Godfrey has both service medals for WWI and the Military Medal for bravery. Turns out Godfrey joined the Royal Army Medical Corp instead and won his medal for bravery during the Battle of the Somme, after venturing into No Man's Land and rescuing troops whilst under heavy fire.
  • Doctor Who:
    • The Doctor is an ardent pacifist (kinda), has no problem being called a coward by those around him, and sees no problem with running away from the variety of nasty monsters he encounters each episode. He is, of course, a total genius who never fails to face down the bad guys and save the day.
      • The Big Bads thinking that the Doctor is a coward is, in part, due to the Doctor using Obfuscating Stupidity, and in part due to the fact that Evil Cannot Comprehend Good, because this is a man who has taken on some of the universe's nastiest of the nasty, like Daleks, Cybermen, and performing acts of derring-do such as transporting the TARDIS onto a crashing airplane with no idea how to fly it in an effort to save lives.
      • In "The Parting of the Ways", he can kill the Daleks and any remaining humans on Earth with a Delta Wave emitter. The Dalek Emperor challenges him: "What are you? Coward or killer?" He replies: "Coward. Any day."
    • In "Frontios", despite being freaked out by his Genetic Memory of the enemy, Turlough braces himself and goes back.
    • In "The Family of Blood", Hutchinson twice calls Tim a coward when he catches the latter seemingly avoiding and then outright deserting the military school's defensive (bear in mind before judging Hutchinson too harshly, this is a time when desertion was still punishable by firing squad and shell shock wasn't recognized by military leaders as a real mental problem). What Hutchinson doesn't realize is that Latimer knows neither of them are destined to die defending the school, and Hutchinson furthermore has no idea about the fob watch's value nor that Latimer realizes he's of more use avoiding the Family to keep the watch safe. Indeed, a year later, Tim and Hutchinson are fighting together in WWI, and now it's Hutchinson who's deferring to Tim. In a deleted scene, after fleeing the school battle, Tim zig-zags the trope by telling Hutchinson he was right to call him a coward as he was too afraid of what he sensed was inside the watch to do his duty sooner.
  • Frontier Circus: In "Never Won Fair Lady", Red Buttons plays a milksop sent to the circus by his father in order to toughen him up. Although the idea of physical violence makes him ill and he allows himself to be bullied by one of the performers, he eventually performs a stunt that no one else in the circus will perform (and decks his tormentor with a single punch).
  • In the third season of Game of Thrones, fat, unskilled, self-described Lovable Coward Samwell Tarly actually pulls a You Shall Not Pass! on a White Walker that has come for Gilly's baby. When it shatters his sword and tosses him effortlessly to the side, Sam charges at it with nothing but a dragonglass dagger. Turns out that dragonglass is a Kryptonite Factor to White Walkers; the walker shrieks in excruciating pain, keels over, and promptly shatters into ice shards. He later provides a capable defense of Castle Black. Pyp even marvels at how brave he is.
    • To some extent, Tyrion Lannister. He doesn't normally fight because he knows he's more of a hindrance than a help, but when his father (who despises him and was more than half wishing he'd get killed) orders him to take part in a battle, he gamely tries anyway, and when nobody else competent seemed to be stepping up he managed the defense of King's Landing pretty admirably considering, putting himself in personal danger to do so.
    • Theon Greyjoy. After spending several seasons kowtowing to Ramsay out of fear of him (after he physically and psychologically tortured Theon into becoming Reek), Theon defies Ramsay by saving Sansa's life and helping her to escape Winterfell. When they're later running from the Boltons, Theon tells Sansa to continue north without him and attempts to lead the Bolton soldiers away from her, even at the risk of being captured and taken back to Ramsay again. It doesn't work, but he still gets points for trying.
  • The loveable but easily cowed Sgt. Schultz in Hogan's Heroes actually stood up to Gestapo agents and threw his weight around (while pretending to be a general) to protect several Allied agents. This was aided, however, by the fact that he was completely drunk.
  • How I Met Your Mother: Marshall refuses to engage in a fistfight with the other guys, claiming pacifism. Everyone scoffs at him and calls him a wuss... until someone punches Ted, and Marshall knocks him out with a single punch. He and his brothers fought ruthlessly as kids, it turns out, and Marshall is (justifiably) wary of unleashing the beast. It's important to note that the man Marshall knocked out had previously beaten up two other men singlehandedly. Marshall's youth growing up with his brothers is initially seen as harmless Leave It to Beaver style horsing around, but after the beatdown, we see that same scene from Ted's perspective and it looks like Quentin Tarantino's interpretation of Fight Club.
  • Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger's Green Ranger, "Doc" Don Doggioer, is something of a scaredy-cat, mainly because he was just a mechanic and engineer when he was recruited. That doesn't change the fact that he still goes out there and fights alongside the others, making good use of Confusion Fu to deal with enemies and single-handedly facing down someone called the Strongest Soldier in the Universe.
  • An interesting version in Kamen Rider Fourze: Ryuusei will always run away (often screaming) when a Zodiarts attacks. However, what he's actually doing is getting out of sight so he can henshin unseen. He was actually a Badass Normal before he got the Meteor Driver and Switch, and the few times we've seen him fight without the Meteor System, he turned out to be quite impressive—even when fighting against hopeless numbers with no way to henshin.
  • In Merlin, the titular warlock is seen by most people as the cowardly, bumbling servant to the brave Prince Arthur, never knowing that he's actually saved Arthur's life and the kingdom several times over. This mainly due to the fact that he has to run away so as to not get caught helping and work behind the scenes because if he shows he isn't just a coward, but the most powerful warlock, he'll most likely be killed for his efforts.
  • Monk: The titular Monk is more or less terrified of everything. But he still goes out and fights crime.
  • Power Rangers:
    • Ziggy from Power Rangers RPM is like this. Yeah, he has no combat skills and would rather turn tail when trouble comes. But before he was a Ranger took a shipment of medical supplies he was supposed to deliver to the mob and hijacked it for needy kids instead, knowing it would bring down the wrath of the mob on him; he only became a Ranger to keep the morpher from falling into enemy hands (it had to be DNA encoded and there was no turning back once it bonded to someone); and in the finale when the rest of the Rangers are dealing with the Big Bad, he stays with Dr. K as their hideout is being invaded by enemy forces.
    • Bulk and Skull from the original Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are like this, sort of. Most of the time they are cowards, but there are times when they actually stand up to the Big Bad's minions (or at least try to). More than once, this makes a big difference for the actual heroes. (And in one case, in "When is a Ranger Not a Ranger", they have their own Big Damn Heroes moment, and actually save the Rangers from total defeat. Sadly, a side effect of the Monster of the Week's powers make them forget that it happened, but that is for the best, because they also saw the Rangers unmasked.)
  • Colin Mathews from Press Gang is a genuine and frequent coward, not ashamed to throw his friends and co-workers into the firing line of his disgruntled con victims/customers on a regular basis... but when he finds out a little girl is being sexually abused by her father he puts the whole paper on the line to help her be safe, and when a gunman threatens the Junior Gazette staff in their headquarters he nervously but determinedly heads on in via the forgotten back entryway and does the thing he does best - bargains - with the gunman to get some of his friends set free. And gets shot for his trouble. Of course, this is later subverted by his playing the wound up for sympathy like nothing you'd believe and using his actions as a get-out-of-jail-free card for any and all shenanigans that come to his co-workers' attention, but it's Colin. What did you expect?
  • In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is the definitive example of this trope. Other Trek characters and even real-life Trek fans felt Picard was too 'soft', especially when compared to the more two-fisted Capt. Kirk. But as Picard demonstrated no less than a thousand times, sometimes you don't need fists to beat somebody badly. Of course, when fists were needed, he used those as well.
    • Best examples here and here.
    • The Federation is a whole interstellar civilisation with this reputation. They mostly live by ideals of peace over war and defence rather than conquest if fighting is necessary, mutual cooperation and understanding, individual rights and self-expression balanced with honouring whatever group one has joined, and other ideas that would seem to mark them as Wide-Eyed Idealists. They also have a well-armed, well-trained, and most of all large fleet to back those up if needed, and, as Deep Space Nine made clear, a tendency to start looking like the best option going...
      [Garak takes a drink of root beer and grimaces from the taste]
      Quark: What do you think?
      Elim Garak: It's vile!
      Quark: I know. It's so bubbly and cloying... and happy.
      Elim Garak: ...Just like the Federation.
      Quark: And you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it.
      Elim Garak: It's insidious.
      Quark: Just like the Federation.
      • The best example of understatement of the Federation's military strength would have to be the Galaxy-class starship, made famous as Picard's Enterprise. Here is a ship classified as an "Explorer", responsible for charting unknown regions of space, and discovering new life forms and civilisations. Yet the Galaxy-class has enough firepower to take on pure warships like the Klingon Vor'cha attack cruiser and the Romulan D'deridex Warbird — both of which are considered pure battleships by the series. During the Dominion war story arc of Deep Space Nine, Galaxy-class ships were responsible for more Dominion losses than any other ship class in the Federation fleet. The two circumstances where Galaxy-class ships were lost in direct combat both involved weaponry modified to pass through energy shields and one suffering a kamikaze attack.
      • Another is the Nebula-class, whose main role is science and research; one, despite losing its shields due to weaponry modified to pass through them, still ripped apart a Cardassian warship in seconds. You soon realize why Cardassia never ever wants a war with the Federation ever again.
      • When the Federation stopped playing around and actually made a dedicated warship in the Defiant-class, they end up making a Pint-Sized Powerhouse that can take on ships many times its own size. USS Defiant survived a kamikaze assault on a Borg cube. Admittedly Enterprise-E did intervene at the last moment but it's still an impressive feat for such a tiny vessel. For pacifists, the Federation know how to build pocket warships.
      • The Sovereign-class is a post-359 design probably intended to replace the Galaxy-class. It's still a science and exploration vessel in intent, but you would be foolish to screw with one. It carries the brand-new Quantum Torpedo weapon system, capable of taking out a Borg sphere in two or three shots, and its new shields can shrug off Borg tractor beams/particle weapons.
  • Supernatural: The demon Ruby, big time — she has a reputation among most of her kind as a "devious, cowardly little slut", which ultimately couldn't be further from the truth. In "Heaven and Hell", she seemingly tries to sell Anna out to Alastair in exchange for hers and the Winchesters' safe passage so that they won't have to keep running from angels and demons alike, but she's actually tricking Alastair and the angels into butting heads long enough to save Anna — Ruby even allows Alastair, who is Hell's designated Grand Torturer, to extensively torture her for information as part of the ruse.
  • Diego de la Vega from Zorro (1957) is frequently derided as a coward thanks to his habit of pushing for pacifist solutions to the rampant injustice caused by Los Angeles's various dirty cops and corrupt bureaucrats. He also endures a great deal of scorn for backing down when threatened with any kind of physical confrontation. Diego does nothing to discourage this because it helps to distance him from his Secret Identity as the titular masked swordsman, whom the entire pueblo hails as a hero.

    Music 
  • The song "Coward of the County" by Kenny Rogers. Tommy's father died in prison and on his deathbed he told Tommy not to follow in his footsteps, saying that "you don't have to fight to be a man." Later in the song, a bunch of guys rape Tommy's girlfriend while he's away at work and he learns that "sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man." He confronts the rapists in a bar. He turns around and they mock him for running... then they realize he's locking the door so they can't escape.
    Twenty years of crawling was bottled up inside him
    When Tommy left the bar room, not a Gatlin boy was standing
    He said, "This one's for Becky", as he watched the last one fall
  • Stan Roger's "Harris and the Mare".
  • Weddings Parties Anything's "Scorn of the Women", about a man who tried to enlist but was rejected for poor eyesight, and instead worked in an aircraft factory during the war:
    I have nothing against those who fought -
    But for Christ's sake, we do what we can

    Myths & Religion 
  • During the early days of Islam, as the religion was just gaining followers, the new followers were constantly attacked, beaten, and persecuted with no resistance because the Prophet told them to maintain peace. When they finally had formed a community, and their persecutors decided to wage a battle with them, God finally said that they could fight back. The battle that occurred at Badr was an epic Curb-Stomp Battle for the ages. Granted, the next major conflict was a loss for the Muslims, but when they took Mecca at last, it was with no drop of blood spilled, and all their persecutors forgiven.
  • Similarly, early Christians were viewed as cowards due to their tendency towards pacifism and reasoning over force and violence. Here's an interesting exercise: pick a name that was popular back then, and type it into Google with the word "Saint" in front of it. Chances are what comes up will be the story of a very early Memetic Badass.

    Radio 
  • The Six Shooter: In "The Coward", Will Fetter has been branded a coward by the citizens of Temple City because he never carries a gun and refuses to get involved in any actions which might result in violence, such as joining a Posse. The local big shot Noah Temple thinks it will be a simple to intimidate Will into selling him his land at a discount price. He is wrong. Will is actually a Retired Outlaw who has promised his wife he will never use a gun again, and is not the pushover Noah is expecting, especially when backed up by his friend Britt Ponset.

    Tabletop Gaming 
  • Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Edition had the Sacred Vow Feat tree, which includes Vow of Nonviolence and its upgraded version, Vow of Peace. Characters who take these Feats are expected to avoid violence and show mercy whenever possible, including looking the other way while the other party members execute a foe who is trying to surrender (evil outsiders and undead excepted). In return, they gain mighty bonuses to nonlethal means of subdual, like Enchantment spells and Stunning Fist. The end result is that a character who has sworn a Vow of Nonviolence will not fight something unless given no other choice, but the instigator will find themselves ensnared, mind controlled, or knocked out in no time.
  • In Legend of the Five Rings, the Nezumi, as a species, follow this, usually fleeing from battle if they cannot talk their way out of it. Which they rarely can, since they live around a pit to hell.
  • Warhammer 40,000:
    • The Tau of are sometimes considered this by the Imperium, as the Tau believe it's better to retreat if the risk is too great or abandoning a planet if there is no great benefit to it, as opposed to Imperial generals who use conscripts to clear out minefields by marching into them. The fact that the Tau have weapons that outstrip humans' in range and damage may also have something to do with it: the Tau suck at close combat, so they make sure the enemy is dead before they can close.
    • More reasonable Imperial commanders often fall victim to this any time they do something to reduce casualties. Colonel Regina Casteen was accused of being a coward by local commissar on Nusquam Fundumentibus for using Hit-and-Run Tactics against Orks. The fact that Valhalan 597 took three times fewer casualties and made twice the kills while undermanned and underequipped helped to clear the picture, but it took some time for the concept to settle. Similarly, Space Marines often have quite a low opinion on anyone utilizing "dishonorable" tactics. The Alpha Legion during Great Crusade times was accused of this, which lead to them siding with Horus (maybe). Nowadays similar accusations can be heard about Salamanders and Raven Guard, both venerated First Founding chapters with 11 thousand years of service behind their belts (the Raven Guard for their guerilla tactics, the Salamanders for trying to protect civilians).
    • Orks believe in Asskicking Leads to Leadership, Hollywood Tactics, and wearing a Highly-Conspicuous Uniform. Any ork that deviates from these (such as Kommandos or the entire Blood Axe Clan) is mistrusted as a cowardly git who's mucking about instead of following proper orky values regardless of how successful they are (and some are quite successful and even outright feared by the Imperium for this).

    Video Games 
  • Fire Emblem:
    • Fire Emblem: Awakening: Yarne, due to being The Last of His Kind and coming from a Bad Future, is a complete coward and nervous wreck most of the time, who'll freak out and think he's dying after being stung by a bee. But gameplay-wise he's a literal Killer Rabbit and often one of the strongest characters in the game, and has many badass moments during support conversations, such as taking out an entire group of bandits by himself in Nah's supports.
    • Fire Emblem Fates: In the "Conquest" route in Fates, "coward" is one of the accusations a grieving Ryoma hurls at Corrin when he believes Corrin has murdered Hinoka and assumes before Corrin starts that their efforts to "explain" will only be feigned remorse meant to avoid fighting Ryoma. Only later does Ryoma find out that Corrin truthfully only faked Hinoka's murder and has been trying to protect Ryoma.
  • Jak and Daxter: Daxter is famous for his stories, which feature him as the hero, but he usually hides behind Jak and lets him do all the work. But when Jak is in trouble or someone wrongs his friends, don't think you can talk Daxter out of joining the fight and kicking some ass.
  • Luigi from Super Mario Bros. has the reputation of being a coward and a bit of a crybaby, given how he dislikes dangerous situations, tends to get easily scared and the fact that he suffers from phasmophobia, and this is part of the reason he doesn't get the same amount of credit as Mario and isn't seen as much of a hero as him. However, he's braver than he looks, facing his fears several times when it's necessary, and he won't hesitate to save his brother and his friends when they're in danger. Ironically, those that give him a hard time about his cowardice are the Toads, and not all but many of them tend to be cold to harsh towards him and clearly show favouritism towards Mario, even though they aren't really reliable in protecting Peach from Bowser and almost all of them are shown to be so cowardly that they do nothing but freak out and panic whenever he shows up, which leads the question of how they can take the concept of heroes so seriously, thinking that Mario is perfect and flawless and dismissing Luigi because he can't suppress his fear like him so that he can't show publicly that he's scared, if they are so superficial. As a result, even though he's a hero of his own right, Luigi's reputation in the Mushroom Kingdom is inconsistent and somewhat lackluster.
  • Hal Emmerich / Otacon from Metal Gear Solid, albeit not without some justification, pees his pants in fear of the Cyborg Ninja and is too afraid to attempt to take down an enemy soldier despite being able to turn invisible. He's also periodically terrified by Snake, his ally. However, during the end of the game, either of two things can happen. In the non-canon bad ending, he jumps behind the wheel of a jeep, staring down droves of enemy soldiers and Liquid Snake himself, to drive you and Snake out of the base before it's nuked. In the canon good ending, he opts to stay behind to disable the security locks so you and Meryl can escape, knowing full well the base will be nuked and he won't get out in time. Both endings have the nuking called off, essentially rewarding him for his risking his life either way.
  • Johnny in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is mostly a burden to his special forces team and one would actually wonder how he managed to get into the armed forces in the first place. He is extremely skittish and insecure and for most of the game shows no combat skills at all. However, near the end of the game, it is revealed that he was fully aware of his shortcoming and only joined the team because he preferred to be close to Meryl to try his best to save her if she ever got caught in a desperate situation. Even though he lacked the performance-enhancing and fear suppressing system that all other soldiers heavily relied on! And oh boy, did he!
  • Lucas from Mother 3 is referred to as a "crybaby" in the narration between chapters (and only because he cried for a few days after witnessing his mother's death). He turned out to defeat a whole army, survive tons of scrapes with fully grown men and actual monsters, as well as face his mind-controlled brother and witness the suicide of same.

    Web Comics 
  • Dubious Company's Elly slowly evolves from Lovable Coward to Guile Hero.
    Sue: Did your elf just do something smart?
    Elly: Yes and you're welcome to join me if you don't want to die.
  • In Sidekicks a villain calls Darkslug out as being an alcoholic coward who hides behind his sidekick; before the villain knows it, he's on the receiving end of a beating.
  • In the Overwatch Comic "Dragon Slayer", 61-year-old Reinhardt Wilhelm comes across a village being terrorized by a motorcycle gang. When he openly tells the gang to stop, they mock him and threaten the villagers. He lets himself get beaten bloody, rather than risk the safety of the villagers. Of course, as soon as the gang is back in their hideout away from the village, he shows that he still has his old suit of power armour and knows how to use it...
  • Unsounded: Elan Aled is thought of as a coward because he seems to switch sides constantly for survival as he tries to stay alive despite his heart condition, however he never had any loyalty to those he was betraying and most of them were secretly working together anyway. He gives his life distracting an army so that two of the only noble people he'd ever known would have a chance to escape, even as one of the commanders of the traitor army calls him a coward while hiding behind a bunch of battle wrights and giant war constructs while Elan took them on with nothing but a sword.
  • Unlike the rest of the big names in Weak Hero, Ben is defensive rather than pro-active and usually only ends up fighting when people mess with him or his friends. This started a rumour back in middle school that he was all talk, which eventually led to many students talking shit about him behind his back. This was put to a swift end when he effortlessly took down Jimmy Bae for attacking his best friend and even managed to hold his own for a while against the invincible Donald Na. Nowadays, no-one at Eunjang High doubts that Ben is the strongest in their school.
  • The Veetans in Drive (Dave Kellett) are a race of optimistic, peace-loving knowledge seekers who tend to be firm pacifists due to their extremely short lifespan (15-25 years), instead choosing to serve in the Empire as scientists, engineers, and administrators. The first-ever time the Veetan Defense Force was mobilized was during the three-year war between Earth and Tesskil, when the Tesskans flash-bombed an entire Veetan planet. Tesskil was conquered a week later.
    Nosh: You didn't lose because of the humans. You lost because you made my lovely, peaceful, joy-filled people... PISSED OFF.
    • Nosh himself is a Genius Ditz who pledges life debts like other people collect trading cards and was once stuck in Moscow for six years due to running out of cab fare. He's also driven off the gangster who was extorting the russian couple who took him in for those six years, fought and defeated a group of mooks while stating the above quote, and ripped off the finger of an enormous Fekk Dragon to save a crew member.
    Fekk Dragon: So how will you face your last minutes? Will you try to save your friend? Will you lift your hand against me?
    Nosh: No. I will not lift my hand against you. I WILL LIFT YOUR HAND AGAINST YOU.

    Western Animation 
  • The Mummy: The Animated Series has Jonathan Carnahan, the protagonist's uncle. Mostly providing comedic relief, he is usually the one asking if they can't just go home or talk things out in his hoity-toity British fashion, but when push comes to shove he'll dive right into battle alongside his family, and will never abandon them.
  • The Magic School Bus:
    • A kid named Arnold is generally depicted as being a coward, and always wishes he had "stayed home today". But when the class goes back to the time of the dinosaurs, Arnold yells at an attacking T. rex, and scares it away.
    • Another example in the animated series is the space episode. The class is joined by Arnold's bratty cousin, Janet, who wishes to take some moon rocks to prove she's been to space. Arnold plays second fiddle for the most part. But at the end when Janet overloads on rocks and refuses to leave them behind. Arnold gets fed up and actually take his helmet off to show her what'll happen if she stays in space. Janet quickly abandons the rocks to get Arnold back home and his head defrosted.
    • Earlier in the same episode, Arnold had been meekly tolerating Janet being...well...Janet and standing up for her when the rest of his class got peeved at her. But when she insults Ms. Frizzle, he gets visibly angry and informs her that "No one is better than Ms. Frizzle."
    • In a chapter book on the series, the bus was underwater as a submarine. Towards the end, Ms.Frizzle and the students (except Arnold) got seasick. Arnold drove the bus back to the surface.
  • Courage the Cowardly Dog is definitely more courage than coward, constantly kicking paranormal ass to protect his owners — though he screams the whole way.
  • My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
    • Fluttershy is the shyest, quietest, most introverted pony in the Mane Cast, to the point of even being afraid of her own shadow. That is until something like a gigantic dragon or a cockatrice makes the mistake of trying to hurt her friends...
    • And when Rarity is kidnapped by a gang of gem loving ruffians, all of her friends suspect her to be completely helpless as their prisoner. Not only did she manage to free herself, but she made her would-be kidnappers into her sniveling servants, topping it all off with the moral that "just because [she] is a lady doesn't mean [she] is helpless." And later on, during the Changeling invasion, she reveals that she is also a talented martial artist.
    • Spike, being a baby dragon, has a fully justified reason to be a coward and to back down from a fight. That still doesn't stop him from jumping between Applejack and a Timberwolf (a plant monster about 50 times her size) after she's rendered helpless.
  • Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines:
    • Zilly, the card-carrying coward of The Vulture Squadron, grows a pair after being hypnotized in the episode "Zilly's a Dilly."
    • In "Windy Windmill", when Zilly's plane becomes the last one available, Dastardly wants the whole squadron to use it and Zilly is concerned that the plane will be overloaded. Dastardly doesn't take it seriously and Zilly's worries about his plane turn out to be well-founded.
  • Prince Adam of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983) experiences this. Because he's forced to run away from battle to engage in his secret transformation to He-Man, he's forced to accept a reputation for being a coward. When he's forced to act as Prince Adam instead of He-Man, this can result in characters who don't know his secret being shocked by his sudden desire to "play hero". In the 80s series, there's an indication that Prince Adam himself lacks confidence as a result of this and therefore often doesn't have enough faith in himself resulting in a rare overlap with the Cowardly Lion trope. In the 2002 series, Prince Adam is instead a cocky 16-year-old boy who has to learn the wisdom of accepting the hit to his pride for the sake of the greater good and he therefore doesn't have the self-doubts of his 80s-series counterpart.
  • In He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002), Whenever trouble is brewing Adam makes an excuse to disappear so he can become He-Man. Other characters, particularly Teela and his father King Randor, take note of this and think Adam a coward. Of course, Adam can't give a good explanation of his actions, as that would risk his secret identity, so he spends quite a bit of time living with the stigma of being a coward.
  • Meanwhile, in She-Ra: Princess of Power, we have Kowl, who can best be described as Cringer with feathers. He will often advise discretion and caution to his more hotheaded friends, particularly Miles Gloriosus archer Bow. He's still a steadfast member of the Rebellion, and will swiftly come to the aid of his friends. He's even accompanied Adora to the center of Etheria, the Fright Zone, and Beast Island with no guarantee she could protect him.
    • On the villain side, Imp is a craven coward who only gets brave when he's sure Evil Overlord Hordak has his back. Despite this, he regularly ventures into enemy territory, most specifically the Rebellion's strongholds of Whispering Woods and Castle Brightmoon, by himself to gather information. He might not be much of a fighter, but the presence of more powerful opponents do not deter him from going where he's not wanted.
  • Edd from Ed, Edd n Eddy may be a thin, timid guy, but in The Movie, he was the first one to call out Eddy's Brother, who even Rolf was afraid of.
  • PJ of Goof Troop is a huge pessimist, a Shrinking Violet, keenly aware of his mortality, scared to death of his own father (though not without reason), and treated as The Drag-Along... and yet, someone is always around to save Max from his mortal peril. PJ has pushed Max out of the way of an oncoming hazard risking himself at least twice, as well as attempting to defeat or slow down dangerous criminals to protect him. He also stands up to bullies and a man who dwarfs and outweighs him in order to protect his smaller friends, with varying levels of success.
  • The Deputy Dawg Show: A cartoon has a bull seeking political asylum in Creekmud Junction. The bullfighter chasing him accuses the bull of being a coward, but as the bull tells it, he is just tired of being in bullfights.
  • Winx Club: When Timmy is threatening the Trix with his weapon after they steal the Codex, he realizes that with their new powers, confronting them at this point in time would likely just be a pointless sacrifice on his part, and that it's better to just let them get away for now and deal with them later when they can come up with a way to beat them. Tecna sees this and now thinks he's a coward. She eventually changes her mind a few episodes later when Timmy comes up with the battle plan that helps his fellow specialists to win.

    Real Life 
  • During WWII, those conscientious objectors who couldn't avoid military service were usually made medics/corpsmen and were stuck on the front lines with no weapons.
    • Lew Ayres became a pacifist after filming All Quiet on the Western Front and attempted enlistment as a conscientious objector in World War Two in March, 1942. However, due to circumstances note , he was not classified 1-A-O note  as he requested, but instead as 4E note  and sent him to an alternate service camp for conscientious objectors. Once this hit the news, the backlash was intense, as he was branded a coward in his country's time of need. He was fired from the title role in the Doctor Kildare series of films, and his movies were informally banned by theater distributors unwilling to air the output of a "coward". He appealed this decision, and the Department of War revised their rules, allowing Ayres and others with similar convictions that allowed for military service but not armed service to enlist and request non-armed postings. He joined the Army in May, 1942 and became a first-aid instructor. He soon requested demotion so that he could go to the front lines as a medic. He was posted to the Pacific (a theater that was not for the weak of heart or stomach) and served with distinction in a number of actions, earning three battle stars, and set up a hospital under direct Japanese fire during the invasion of Leyte in 1945. Every cent he earned as salary for his service in the United States Army, three and a half years' worth, was donated to the Red Cross. In short — he nearly wrecked his Hollywood career to stay true to his beliefs and serve his country in heavy combat areas armed with nothing more than a medical kit to save, not take, lives. And he did it essentially pro bono. Some "coward".
    • Three received Medals of Honor for actions that sound nigh impossible. In World War II, Desmond Doss, of Hacksaw Ridge fame, personally lowered scores of wounded men down a rope litter off a cliff while still exposed to fire. He was later wounded, treated his own wounds rather than call for help, waited for others to carry him off, then got off the litter so another soldier with worse injuries could get on it. He was injured again, treated his own injury again, and crawled to an aid station. The other two served in Vietnam and died tending to the wounded while under direct fire. They are also the only conscientious objectors honored with a Medal of Honor.
  • Mohandas Gandhi repeatedly insisted that his doctrine of nonviolence was the opposite of cowardice: "Nonviolence and cowardice are contradictory terms. Nonviolence is the greatest virtue, cowardice, the greatest vice. Nonviolence springs from love, cowardice from hate. Nonviolence always suffers, cowardice would always inflict suffering. Perfect nonviolence is the highest bravery." And despite his own pacifistic tendencies, he even asserted that violence was preferable to cowardice.
    • By extension Martin Luther King Jr. who modeled his nonviolent protest on Gandhi's policy in India was the same way, standing up to racism with words, not violence.
  • Chuck Norris may be the subject of many spurious "facts", but in real life, he avoids getting into fights. One time, a local tough guy tried to bully Norris into giving him his seat at a bar. Norris quietly complied. Later, tough guy realized who he was talking to and asked Norris why he didn't kick his ass. Norris replied, "What would it prove?"
  • Sun Tzu urges diplomacy at all costs to avoid conflict. His reasoning for this is if you do have to go to war, it should be swift and merciless, with all available power committed to winning. A quick bloodbath incurs fewer casualties and achieves better success than a long, drawn-out war. (He also recommends using espionage and other asymmetrical means to hasten the end of the war.)
    Thus, to win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the apex of skill. To win without fighting at all is the apex of skill.
  • Rabbits. Wild rabbits, in particular, can be particularly nasty to anything they perceive as dangerous, despite the common perception of rabbits always running off. Rabbits have been seen biting snakes and forcing the snakes to retreat. Here's an example.
  • In his youth, the ancient Chinese general Han Xin was confronted by a local bully who told him to either take his sword and kill him, or crawl through his legs. Han Xin chose to crawl through his legs. Later, after Han Xin became commander of the Han armies and king of Qi and Chu, he came across the bully again. Instead of punishing him, Han Xin gave him a nice job in his army.
  • France's military has the nasty reputation of being cowards and wimps, but their military is ranked fifth on GFP's list of military strength. France actually has a fairly aggressive military policy and is more than willing to intervene in other countries (usually those with former French connections), it's just that the French government has a "go it alone" attitude that doesn't always see eye to eye with the Americans when it comes to foreign policy. A significant amount of Allied war power and success in Nazi-occupied France was facilitated by ''civilian'' rebellions. Despite "cheese-eating surrender monkey" accusations towards the French, they do not play around when the chips are finally down.
    • Those who use the "cheese-eating surrender monkey" stereotype forget, if they ever knew, the almost literally unbelievable cost that France paid during the Great War; 90% of French ground forces were casualties, either KIA, MIA or wounded in action. Sadly, this enormous sacrifice paved the way for Vichy France, from which the slur almost entirely originates; the nation surrendered so totally that the Germans felt confident setting up a nominally "neutral" government (as contrasted with Poland, Norway, and the Low Countries). It doesn't help that during this one shameful period, many of the occupied were complicit with Nazi atrocities, using the Reich as an excuse to get rid of people they didn't like, such as foreign-born Jews in France.
  • Muhammad Ali was accused of being cowardly when he refused to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War, saying that enlisting went against his religious beliefs. When he explained himself at a college event, it led to a showdown with some students, and he didn't back down.
  • Anyone who has spent sufficient time in self-defense classes, or indeed any Martial Pacifist. Sure, they may be very much able to deliver a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on that punk with a baseball bat, but self-defense class also teaches you that one mistake in the street can send you to the hospital or worse, and any punk can get lucky (usually by packing unseen heat, having nearby accomplices, or both), so yes, they will let themselves get mugged and just gently place their phones and wallets on the ground. They probably don't carry that much money anyway, credit cards can be canceled, and that phone's probably insured. But when the stakes are higher (say, protecting a friend, their children from a rapist, or any other person who wants to kill/severely injure their loved ones), rest assured that now they will give everything they've got to save the day. In other words, they know when the stakes are so low that it's not worth the chance, however remote, to get killed over them and when the stakes are high enough that it is worth the risk.
  • Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus's famous Fabian strategy caused him to be considered a coward by many as he refused to attack Hannibal outright. However, he was really the Only Sane Man who knew that a battle would result in the loss of the army. His strategy worked to the point that he eventually surrounded Hannibal who only escaped by tricking him into attacking oxen. He was also willing to rush to the aid of his rival and Master of Horse Minucius when he boldly attacked Hannibal and lost. Lucius Aemilius Paullus who took command after him even admitted that he was right in a private message delivered after his death at the disaster at Cannae. After Cannae, he was turned to for advice as everyone had learned just how smart he was.
  • Gichin Funakoshi recounts many anecdotes in his biography about karate experts (including him) quietly backing down from a fight, even going as far as getting mugged without resisting, and getting praised by their masters for their adherence to the spirit of karate. He actually considers a great shame of his the one time where he actually fought back.
  • In the past, there was a custom in Britain and some Commonwealth nations where, when the nation was at war, any man that wasn't in uniform could be walked up to on the street and given a white feather, a symbol in those times of being a coward. The practice was always controversial, especially among soldiers, and fell especially out of favor during the first World War where men who had already joined the army, been to the front, been traumatized, and were home on leave or finished their tour of duty, or men in what would later be called "reserved occupations" (workers in skilled trades deemed essential to the war effort like machinists, shipyard workers and so on), were also given feathers, sparking outrage. The practice was not revived for the Second World War, partly because the first one had been something of a Cynicism Catalyst at the societal level but mostly because working in a reserved occupation was no guarantee of one's own safety anymore.

 
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Seiya Ryuuguuin

The Hero who was summoned to defeat the S-Ranked Demon Lord terrorizing Gaeabrande is overly-cautious in everything that he does despite the immense power at his disposal. Some think this is because he is cowardly, when in truth he's spending every waking moment training as hard as he can in order to prioritize the safety of the world: which will fall should he die.

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Main / TheSoCalledCoward

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