Basic Trope: A heroic Knight in Shining Armor is revealed to have some serious character flaws.
- Straight: Alice and Bob seek out the legendary hero Sir Sanctimonia, considered to be a saintly Knight in Shining Armor. When they actually run into him, they see that he's an ugly, squat balding man who curses at them.
- Exaggerated: Sir Sanctimonia is made up throughout the land to be a
Purity Sue with nary a flaw; when they meet him, Alice and Bob find that he's a hideous, alcoholic, racist, misogynistic, perverted and self-righteous Complete Monster, who kills children and animals for fun, and tries to get into Alice's pants at the first opportunity. - Downplayed:
- Alice and Bob seek out the legendary hero Sir Sanctimonia, expecting a him to look like a model. When they run into him, he is a just a regular person and Hollywood Homely.
- Sir Sanctimonia is said to be a legendary strategist, who was able to lead the kingdom to victory. While he was involved in many battles, and made many good calls, a lot of his achievements were performed by other men now forgotten.
- Alice and Bob expected Sir Sanctimonia to look like a pretty Bishōnen. He doesn't, and instead look like a wall of muscle (with a tiny dot between his broad shoulders people call a "head"), and even his face looks terrible (it's actually really, REALLY scarred).
- Justified: It's not Sanctimonia's fault that those who told his story turned him into a paragon of purity.
- Inverted: Alice and Bob run afoul of Emperor Evulz, who they previously thought to be a hideously ugly monster who spoke in Hulk Speak. Instead, they find that he's a charming, incredibly well-spoken Bishōnen.
- Subverted:
- Sanctimonia saved the land several years ago. Back in the day, he really was a heroic Bishōnen who was very pure. He just got bored down the road.
- They just caught Sanctimonia in a bad mood on a bad hair day. Most of the time he is a sincerely nice and generous guy, and once he is properly groomed, he isn't all that bad-looking.
- Double Subverted:
- At least, that's what he tells them. It becomes clear that he's an Unreliable Narrator after a while.
- He got tired of people coming for his help all the time so he masked as an unpleasant man until thing truly need his intervention, where he show his true colors.
- Parodied: Alice and Bob run into Sir Sanctimonia, who's still very much the man the legends make him out to be - except for one minor flaw. They just can't look past it.
- Zig Zagged: Some aspects of Sanctimonia's story were true - he really was once pure and friendly - but he was never a Bishōnen.
- Averted: The man lives up to the legend.
- Enforced: "OK, this medieval fantasy thing needs a few changes to jump out at the viewer. For one, we could make the Knight in Shining Armor into an ugly guy to throw off the viewers."
- Lampshaded: "I suppose you were expecting one of those handsome, tall knights with long, flowing blonde hair?"
- Invoked: Most of the tales of Sanctimonia's exploits come from the songs and poems written by bards, who cares more about espousing tales of epic romances and eloquent music than facts.
- Exploited: The King hates Sanctimonia, so he makes sure his actions remain unbelievable by making the hero of the story sound nothing like him.
- Defied:
- Sir Sanctimonia to scribes and bards: "OK, If you want tell the people my tale to inspire them, make sure you Do Not exaggerate my exploits, nor make me a Paragon of virtue, Heroes are only human after all."
- Alternatively, Sir Sanctimonia to his bards: "Wow, what I just told you to write makes me look and sound like an insufferable, awful sack of shit. Maybe we should change a few things."
- Discussed: "He's probably one of those guys that stories make sound good, but is really not as perfect as you'd think."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Alice and Bob are disappointed after meeting Sir Sanctimonia, but it is not revealed why.
- Deconstructed:
- Sir Sanctimonia gets tired of trying to live up to the legend and quits the hero business for good. Which doesn't work well for the people of Troperia when they need him the most.
- Sir Sanctimonia really did all those heroics feats and is truly an heroic person... but he is only a decent man and reacts with bemusement and then hostility when the people who ask for "help" keep criticizing him and mocking him for not living to their impossible standards and finally gives a very thorough verbal beating to his fans.
- Sir Sanctimonia's faults and shortcomings seem more apparent than his good qualities, prompting many to wonder if he really is heroic.
- Reconstructed:
- Sanctimonia gets over the comparisons and saves the world again, this time with the stipulations that the scribes tell it as it really is.
- The people Sanctimonia help realize that because one person is heroic doesn't mean it has to be perfect and not only apologize but keep worshiping him with "warts and all".
- The fact that he's flawed and yet manages to accomplish all of those things is something to be praised, and people look up to him because he's a flawed legend. His exploits and myths are there to inspire, while his flaws are there to relate to the commoner.
- Played For Drama: Sir Sanctimonia wants for his exploits and personality to be told as they are. Soon after, he reads an article which portrays him as the pitiful wastrel he really is, prompting him to wonder if this is how he wishes to be remembered in life.
Back to Warts and All. But uh, don't be surprised if you don't find the original page all that great...
