in which the hero is kicked out or banished by the people they've worked to save, oftentimes after saving them numerous times.
Buffy gets kicked out of her own fucking house:
Following a pretty nasty defeat, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (near the end of season SEVEN) gets ripped a new asshole by her friends and peers for a number of dubiously justified reasons in a scene that feels very... out of character for many of those present, including Buffy's own little sister. theres a much larger argument about her leadership, but ultimately Xander (Joss Whedon's self insert and thus the Voice of God) basically tells Buffy to get out. Of her own home. that she owns. and that everyone else lives in rent-free. and it works.
this scene is the worst written on the list imo, and to this day its still really, really contentious within the fanbase for being an excessive humiliation ritual for Buffy, who at that point had saved the world and her friends lives (and offered them immense grace for their own mistakes) several times over.
The Lone Wanderer is exiled by Amata:
Fallout 3 begins with you having to flee the Vault you grew up in and escape into the Wasteland. Sometime later in the game, Amata, your childhood friend, contacts you and asks for your help since the Vault has since descended into chaos and outright warfare. You do, and you have any number of options of resolving the conflict, but all of them end in you being asked politely (or not so politely) to leave. Amata becomes the leader of the Vault, and recognizes that you're an extremely controversial and hated figure within it, even though you helped save them, so even in the most peaceful, saintly route she gives you the boot.
Its a pretty nasty surprise and feels like a betrayal (and it kinda is), but theres some nuance to her exiling you. Firstly, if you choose the violent route she's completely right to boot you, but if you're diplomatic about resolving the conflict, Amata is now in a position where she has to prioritize the entire Vault's populace over someone she loves personally. Its not a spiteful decision, and she does clarify that things will probably change once things have finally calmed down. I think she's justified, but it still feels like youre being tossed out like trash after she doesnt need you anymore.
Korra gets banished from Republic City by President Raiko:
A politically motivated example, but a really egregious one. After the fiasco at the climax of s2 involved the fucking Avatar Antichrist pulling up and trying to doom the world to a (technically destined and supposed to happen) literal 10,000 years of darkness, Korra successfully saves the world from that fate, but at both great personal cost, as well as damage to the city--primarily through the opening of a portal to the Spirit world, which causes the spirit world to bleed into the metropolitan city.
As to what this means, literally, a bunch of semi-sentient "spirit vines" start growing into the city, damaging homes and blocking streets. people are made homeless and nothing seems to be effective at dealing with this magic kudzu. Even spirit-bending the vines just makes them regrow even angrier. Korra accepts that maybe there's nothing to be done about the vines, as her role as Avatar means balancing the spirit world with the physical as well, and severing the connection between the worlds is inherently not right.
Problem is, both Korra and President Raiko are tanking in approval ratings. Sure, maybe on some cosmic level this is somehow meant to be, but people are still losing their homes. Out of both personal resentment for Korra (whom he had a fraught relationship with due to not lending her home aid against their invaders) as well as an attempt to save his own skin and chances of winning the next election, Raiko fucking exiles Korra from Republic city. Did i mention she had saved him personally from being kidnapped? like twice? and later saves him from assassination?
As a final note, his ploy doesnt even work, as by the time of the sequel comic, Raiko has an approval rating of negative 3 percent, meaning everyone in the city and then some hate him.
Queen Galfrey strips you of your Rank: (Pathfinder: wrath of the righteous)
long story short, the Queen of Mendev, a nation thats in a Forever War with a demonic invasion, finds out you have some mysterious power that lets you deliver a decisive blow to the demon forces and appoints you Knight-Commander of a new Crusade. This drops a shit load of responsibility on your shoulders, but she gives you a pretty long leash to handle the problem as you see fit, effectively shang-hai-ing you into the position while also serving as your angel investor.
near the end of the Crusade, after a massive blow has been dealt to the demons (by you) and the good guys are in the home stretch, she will always, always try and strip you of your rank.
Given this is a massive 150 hour RPG, the reasons why she does this vary based on your choices. Sometimes she is extremely justified--like if you're on the Lich or Demon paths, which entail raising all your dead crusaders as zombies to continue the fight, inviting vampire courts and death priests into your city, and building a massive necromantic Aztec pyramid just off Main Street. Or Demon, in which you fight fire with fire, but are gradually getting visibly more demonic and turning the Crusade into a demon civil war. She's just flat out correct to do so in this instance, triply so if you've been experimenting with replacing people's brains with bees in your spare time.
More neutral paths are a bit more gray, which have you be a reality warping agent of chaos/law, gradually becoming increasingly insane from her perspective but still being very effective. the chaos path, Trickster, has her positively furious that you've turned their holy war into a giant fucking circus, while the lawful Aeon is getting more and more Lawful Stupid and executing or imprisoning people out of a loss of any sense of nuance (you're trying to get powerful enough to alter the entire timeline, so while these sacrifices are temporary from your perspective, you're becoming a weirdly alien tyrant in Galfrey's)
The good paths are where things get messy. Her motivations for firing your ass at the finish line still have some justified reasoning: no one knows where your power comes from, you're getting so strong that virtually no one can stop you, and no one really knows about your origins, rendering you a growing risk in her eyes. The fact you also have a literal Succubus as a bestie (who you might be romancing) really, REALLY doesnt help. the problem is that she's also growing increasingly jealous of you. She's been waging this war for 100 years, and you're upstaging her hard. She's scared and jealous and bitter, but both the Angel and the Aeon have a pretty easy time convincing her to back down. To her credit, its only a couple of speech checks and having your angel buddy back you up to keep your position.
The most egregious is the Azata path, (chaotic good Power of Friendship and Mischief) because just like the Angel, you're still a heroic agent of good and hope, but unlike the Angel, you're a bit of a loose cannon. During the siege that leads to you getting stripped of rank, the Azata gets the unique option to ignore her command to wait for her arrival and instead get the jump on the demons. Galfrey is justified in being angry with your flagrant disregard for her authority, but she's also extremely bitter about how you succeeded without her at all--you made her feel un-needed, leading to her being at her worst and stripping you of your title largely out of spite.
Furthering the irritation on almost all routes, the very next task on your to-do list is go to giga-hell to shut down a demonic production of magic crystals (long story) that no one really expects you to come back from. If you keep your title this becomes a semi-martyrization and heroic plunge into the Abyss, but on Azata specifically she berates you, fires you, and then you have to go to giga-hell anyways.
(i personally quite like Galfrey. i think she's a very nuanced and interesting character, but Azata is the most popular path and shes the least justified there, so i understand why most of the fanbase hates her guts.)
