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| - Quite simply, this character has a dream that can never come true. This character has been hurt by the world. A lot. Yet despite their pain they never lose hope in their most cherished dream, and even draw strength from pursuing their most fervent desire. Sadly, it's a fool's dream, and not in the romantic Don Quixote sense. It's something that is not just out of reach, but that they are fundamentally incapable of achieving or receiving, and they are usually too emotionally damaged to realize this. They either can't conceive of it as such or avoid the realization because they subconsciously know it would give them a Heroic BSOD. Because of this, the dream stops being something to pine for and becomes a tangible goal they seek, with uniformly horrifying results.
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| abstract
| - Quite simply, this character has a dream that can never come true. This character has been hurt by the world. A lot. Yet despite their pain they never lose hope in their most cherished dream, and even draw strength from pursuing their most fervent desire. Sadly, it's a fool's dream, and not in the romantic Don Quixote sense. It's something that is not just out of reach, but that they are fundamentally incapable of achieving or receiving, and they are usually too emotionally damaged to realize this. They either can't conceive of it as such or avoid the realization because they subconsciously know it would give them a Heroic BSOD. Because of this, the dream stops being something to pine for and becomes a tangible goal they seek, with uniformly horrifying results. There are a lot of reasons for the dream being out of reach, and for failing to achieve it. Here are a few common possibilities:
* They want something that is achievable by a normal person, but they are too emotionally unstable to make a well thought out go at it, and usually botch the attempt. For example, an ex-boyfriend who was dumped for being unstable might kidnap his girlfriend to try and get back together, or a villain who suffers Chronic Villainy being unable to get the townspeople to love him.
* They have a truly impossible dream, and we mean "bend the laws of nature" or "requires someone to act extremely Out of Character In-Universe" to happen. There may be a way to actually do it, but the results aren't likely to be pretty, though they'll ignore any such warnings. For example, bringing a loved one Back From the Dead resulting in them Coming Back Wrong, or trying to hook up with someone who's Happily Married.
* They are simply plagued with mediocrity. The dream is not impossible for the more talented, nor is it physically impossible like the example above, but the person in question simply isn't awesome enough. Will likely lead to the Salieri Syndrome (and the Family-Unfriendly Aesop that hard work is sometimes overshadowed by inherent talent).
* The dream is achievable... but you won't like the results of questing for it or accomplishing it. It can be a character after the "Well Done, Son" Guy's approval, but that approval is only given after the character does something tremendously damaging to themselves as a person or to another. Or realizing that It's Lonely At the Top and they Kicked The Wrong Dog in their ambitious quest for love, fame, and/or fortune. That said, some characters who experience an epiphany and realize the dream is impossible may live long and happy lives, provided they make the painful decision to abandon their dream and don't decide to ignore the epiphany. Contrast Be Careful What You Wish For, where the dream is achieved with little or no effort from the character, but then forces them to deal with bad the consequences of realizing it. This is a Sub-Trope of Hope Spot. Sister Trope to Sorry, Billy, But You Just Don't Have Legs, where the reason the dream is impossible is a physical defect. The Deaf Composer may or may not be this, depending on if they're Badass enough to compensate for their disability. As the name would suggest, very often puts the Tragic in Tragic Villain and Tragic Hero. If the dream is only impossible because it would mean the end of the story, it's Failure Is the Only Option. If the character gets so desperate that they become willing to do anything to achieve this dream, that's The Unfettered. Examples of Tragic Dream include:
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