http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CelibateHero

Get. Off.

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Someone who has better things to do than romance. Unlike the clueless Chaste Hero, who just doesn't get romance, the Celibate Hero consciously and actively shuns it. They turn away every potential Girl of the Week and shut out the pleas of their official love interest.

While the term "celibacy" refers specifically to sexual activity, the history of celibacy connects the desire to romance someone with the desire to have sex with them, traditionally taking the form of marriage and kids. Ironically, the act of being celibate results in Celibate Heroes running into more opportunities for romantic encounters than if they were actively seeking them out (particularly from The Vamp). This is not to say that the Celibate Hero is unable to be affected by the force of The Dulcinea Effect, only that they either are acting on a higher ideal (chivalry) or resist its power later on.

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There are a variety of potential motives for this behavior: belief that it's a distraction, a weakness, something they would like but don't have time for, etc. Sometimes the Celibate Hero is actually asexual and/or aromantic and would prefer to avoid all instances of sex and/or romance. Expect more than one reason to come into play, usually reinforcing one another; rarely do any of these show up alone. See the Analysis page for details.

Often a type of Heroic Vow; many religious or military orders of the type favored by heroes may require a Vow of Celibacy.

Please do not conclude a character is a Celibate Hero just because they lack any romantic arc. Without evidence to suggest a character would shun a sexual/romantic encounter, it's impossible to tell if they have chosen a celibate lifestyle.

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Compare Asexuality, Old-Fashioned Rowboat Date, Courtly Love, Did Not Get the Girl, No Hugging, No Kissing, Knight Errant, and Celibate Eccentric Genius (if the Celibate Hero is also a Science Hero). Compare and contrast Confirmed Bachelor, who's specifically opposed to marriage, which could be due to this trope or the opposite.

The Japanese definition for not just this but men in general is called a Herbivore man .

Contrast Loved I Not Honor More, Must Not Die a Virgin, Nature Abhors a Virgin, Virginity Makes You Stupid, Eunuchs Are Evil, Straight Edge Evil, Villainous Aromantic Asexual, Unholy Matrimony, The Power of Love, and Good People Have Good Sex.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Comic Books

Fan Works

Film  Animated

Merida of Brave. It's one of the plot points in the movie. Since she is of royalty, she's forced to marry the head of one of Dun Broch's clans to be able to give birth to a descendant in the future, of which Merida is highly protesting against, as she wants to be a free soul not bound to obey old traditions. In the original draft, however, she was supposed to end up with one of the suitors (after getting to know them better when all three help her out on her quest), but it was scrapped because Pixar wanted to focus on the relationship between her and her mother, thus having her ending up single in the final version.

In Frozen (2013), Queen Elsa avoids relationships in general, romantic or otherwise, for fear of accidentally setting off her Emotional Powers. Ice Age: Manfred starts off as one. It takes a while for him to perceive Ellie romantically since he is still recovering from the sorrow of his first family's death. Scrat has a temporary love interest in the third film, but he ditches her for an acorn. Sid's situation is inverted; he very much wants a girlfriend, but no one ever shows interest in him.



Film  Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Music

Lady Gaga came out as celibate.

Morrissey was very publicly celibate during the 1980s

Emilie Autumn has shunned romantic and sexual relationships after the situations which caused her to write the Woman Scorned part of her Opheliac album (Bad situations in the past). Just her crumpets and her plague rats/muffins now....also falls into "Love is A distraction" excuse. She makes all her music on her own and sets up her own tours. Does not have the time, does not want the time.

J-Pop Idol Singers have to be this as a rule, in order to preserve the illusion that fans could potentially have a relationship with them, and there are dire consequences for those who fall out of line. For example, when AKB48 member Minami Minegishi was caught leaving a boy's house, she shaved her head and made a teary apology video begging the staff not to let her go. She was instead demoted. The whole ordeal was pretty controversial.

Mythology and Religion

The Bible: God commanded Jeremiah not to marry nor have children due to the fact that things in Jerusalem would be so bad during the days of his ministry that people will mourn over the loss of families and children because of the Babylonian invasion and the famine and poverty that would result from it. Jesus Christ is universally considered as such in Christianity. Except revisionist conspiracy theory literature and fiction like The Da Vinci Code where he's shipped with disciple Mary Magdalene. By most Christian standards, he doesn't qualify for Chaste Hero as defined here, since he is said to have been tempted "in all things" yet remained sinless, so that logically includes sexual sin and he wasn't just clueless about it. The Christian parts of the Bible doesn't mention if he was or was not married to a person. But there are repeated metaphors about the Christian Church itself being the "Bride of Christ". Jesus also talks about eunuchs who become so for God's sake (with the disclaimer that it's not for everyone, but for those who can take it). Most interpret this as advocating celibacy. However. some early Christians took it literally and castrated themselves. When answering the question the Sadducees posed on Him about whose wife a woman would be of the seven brothers that married her and left her childless when the resurrection takes place, Jesus implies that all who will be resurrected will be celibate, for "they will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but will be like the angels in Heaven." While the Apostle Paul was celibate, many other early disciples-turned-leaders (thus the proto-clergy) were married, like the Apostle Peter whose wife and mother-in-law are mentioned. Discussed in the Book of Corinthians — Paul suggests that while being celibate helps one to focus their life to glorify the God, it is completely optional. If one cannot resist the temptation of sex, he recommends the believers to marry each other to get rid of the temptation instead. In the Book of Revelation, the 144,000 of the twelve tribes of Israel will be celibate virginal men who have not "defiled themselves with women". For its first few centuries Christianity universally allowed married priests due to the above, even after a schism that divided it into Eastern and Western halves. But since 1139, Roman Catholic priests have been required to be celibate in imitation of Christ. This continues today for modern Roman Catholic priests (well, at least the majority who are faithful, and who were not originally Anglicans that converted after becoming priests and being married). Roman Catholic nuns as well (and nuns in general), along with monks. They're considered heroic by believers for giving this up as part of a higher calling. Eastern Catholic priests (the one in communion with Rome) are a double subversion—they can be married men, as long as marriage is done prior to ordination. In both Eastern and Western (read: Roman) Rites, once you are ordained, you can no longer marry. Same rules apply to Eastern Orthodox Priests, as well as deacons in all rites. A man under Holy Orders is not permitted to take a wife unless given express permission to do so (which in the case of deacons is usually only given if his first wife dies and leaves him to raise minor children as a single father, and in the case of priests is extremely rare; it is unheard of in the case of bishops).

Classical Mythology: There are three goddesses who vowed eternal celibacy in most versions: Athena/Minerva, Artemis/Diana and Hestia/Vesta. A few other goddesses sometimes get added, although not consistently; Hecate/Trivia, for example, is sometimes a virgin goddess but sometimes described as having kids. Artemis in particular was often shown with a company of huntresses who swore off men. Or at least tried, since the male gods didn't always care. Daphne wound up turning into a tree to escape from an amorous Apollo, while Callisto got raped by Zeus disguised as Artemis. Theseus' son Hippolytus was one of these, and it got him killed. There are risks to swearing off love forever when Aphrodite is very real and very petty. It's also a bad idea to mock said goddess in the process.

Hindu Mythology: Hanuman is known to be a celibate god depending on the version, though there are many versions that depict Hanuman having lovers depending on the country. Devavrata from Mahabharata swore to remain celibate and gave up his birthright as the crown prince of the Hastinapura so his father could marry the woman he loved, who had made that her sons would inherit the throne as the condition to marry her. Because he basically gave up his only boon for being a prince, Devavrata from hence is known with the name Bhishma (He who Swore a Terrible Oath).

King Arthur: Sir Gawain shares the bed of the Green Knight's lady night after night but doesn't take advantage, as that would violate the laws of Chivalry and Hospitality. This display of virtue saves his life. Probably from the same root story: Pwyll, from the First Branch of the Mabinogion, chastely shares a bed with Arawn's wife, despite being flawlessly disguised as Arawn himself, which results in a lasting friendship between the two men. This is a common test of knights on their quests, especially for the Holy Grail, in the Arthurian legend. Galahad and Percival alone are worthy of finding it because they kept celibate, while Lancelot did not, thus he failed... well, according to some versions of the story anyway.



Opera

Philosophy

Despite being associated with misanthropy, hopelessness, or nihilism, the philosophy of Antinatalism encourages the principles of this trope to avoid procreation, especially through celibacy and/or a refusal to seek romantic love while advocating methods of reducing sentient suffering as a whole, such as veganism or effective altruism. In the end, it's possible to be an Antinatalist All-Loving Hero to defy the negative stereotypes/connotations of the philosophy. However, it would also be in keeping with the philosophy to only engage in procreative sex with contraception, after being sterilized, or have an abortion if the former fails.

encourages the principles of this trope to avoid procreation, especially through celibacy and/or a refusal to seek romantic love while advocating methods of reducing sentient suffering as a whole, such as veganism or effective altruism. In the end, it's possible to be an Antinatalist All-Loving Hero to defy the negative stereotypes/connotations of the philosophy. However, it would also be in keeping with the philosophy to only engage in procreative sex with contraception, after being sterilized, or have an abortion if the former fails. As surprising as it may seem, Epicurus and his philosophy Epicureanism are reported as advising to be this. Indeed while judging pleasure to be the highest good, Epicurus made a classification of pleasure: 1) the natural and necessary ones (eating and sleeping), 2) the natural but unnecessary (sex), and 3) the unnecessary and unnatural (power and politics). Giving that according to Epicurus sex fits the second type and that he himself never married and had no children, it's pretty clear that he encouraged people to be single. However, there's no indication that he forbade it either, as there's mention of married Epicureans in the Garden, and one letter has him advise a young man who loves sex on how to do this responsibly (since he clearly wasn't just going to stop). The later Epicureans appears to have been more positive on this, and most probably married. Moreover, translation of the quote that Epicurus is reported to have laid this out in has been questioned by later scholars, who feel the real meaning was that a wise person should refrain from marriage and sex only depending on the circumstances. Epicurus' will, for instance, provides for one student's child marrying another Epicurean in the future. What's indisputable, however, is that he and later Epicureans cautioned people to take care with romantic love, knowing it could cause harm. Epicurus extolled friendship-we can surmise that he'd think marriage should be based on that.

Podcasts

Magnus of The Adventure Zone: Balance isn't interested in romance, and is very uncomfortable when put into romantic situations as he's still mourning the loss of his wife.

Radio

The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet Averted to various degrees in later adaptations of The Green Hornet; in the TV series, Britt Reid was cast more as a rich playboy/publisher, and given the occasional Love Interest while Kato remained a celibate sidekick. This was probably an artifact of the series format; as a half-hour series, it would be difficult to shoehorn a romantic subplot into a show which could barely fit the action/adventure main plot within its runtime. Totally averted in the NOW Comics adaptation of The Green Hornet, which pretty well paired off almost all of the various Green Hornets and Katos with more-or-less permanent Love Interests.



Tabletop Games

GURPS gives us the Chastity disadvantage, giving your Celibate Hero functional rules for what that entails. Humorous footnote: The Eunuch disadvantage was also available (to males) in earlier editions, but its value was dropped from 5 points to a 1-point 'quirk' because too many Min-Maxing players were taking it.

Paranoia doesn't have heroes, but does have universal celibacy due to hormone suppressants in the food supply. Some citizens do get off the suppressants, mostly either (a) High Programmers or (b) Troubleshooters stuck Outdoors during a mission and forced to eat natural food long enough for them to wear off. Some of these citizens end up going back on them voluntarily so they can concentrate on not getting killed. It's that kind of game.

One Feat offering in the Dungeons & Dragons supplement Book of Exalted Deeds is Vow of Chastity, which gives a Player Character benefits, so long as he or she remains chaste. This Feat is a prerequisite for two Prestige Classes (one of which is female-only and involves gaining a unicorn as your companion, naturally).

Theatre

Video Games

Webcomics

Web Original

Daichi in Greek Ninja, who is not only annoyed by girls' attention but also appears unaware of their gaze.

In Season 4 of Noob, Omega Zell reveal that he's deliberately avoiding any friendship or love relationship with women until he becomes the game's top player. However, since he's not that found of them in the first place nor hiding it, he's not exactly spending his time turning down an Unwanted Harem.

Western Animation

Rolf from Ed, Edd n Eddy. He is the only character in the entire cast who hasn't shown any romantic interest in Dude Magnet Nazz (besides Jimmy), or any other person, female or male. He was also the only one not affected by the cupids in the Valentine's Day special, and being the one who saved the day to boot.

In The Brothers Grunt, the Grunts are celibate (Sammy's infatuation with lamps notwithstanding). In a flashback, the Poobah urges the Grunts to shun romance. Poobah : Ah, love! The joining of hearts! The exchanging of gifts and fluids! It is not for our kind, brothers. Love is a temptress, a succubus intent on shopping for furniture. Deny love, my boys, or suffer the ultimate fate: Sunday with the in-laws!

Steven Universe: Garnet has zero interest in romance because she is a Romantic Fusion of Ruby and Sapphire, who are in a dedicated monogamous relationship which Garnet personifies Greg was in a relationship with Rose for years, and has mentioned dating plenty of people before, but since she died, he's shown no interest in moving onto anyone else romantically.



Real Life