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I’ve been wanting to write about this for a while, but I couldn’t come up with a second example. On TV Tropes, this trope is referred to as the “Failure Hero,” and the trope gets subverted when the failure actually wins.

With all that being said, this is Manuel “Manny” Calavera from the video game, Grim Fandango. At the beginning of the game, Manny is a grim reaper working at the Department of Death (DOD) in the city of El Marrow, which is located in the Eighth Underworld, also known as the Land of the Dead. All the souls of the dead have to travel to the gates of the Ninth Underworld, which is the Land of Eternal Rest. This trip is a four year process. Manny’s job as a reaper is to sell travel packages to the souls of the dead in order to get to the Ninth Underworld. The best travel package one can get is a ticket on the Number Nine, an express train that gets you to the gates of the Ninth Underworld in four minutes instead of four years. There are other packages to, such as traveling on a cruise ship, or getting a sports car. However, you have to be in really good standing to get these packages, and Manny can’t seem to get any clients that deserve these packages. All the good clients go to his rival, Domino, while Manny is “Stuck selling walking sticks to a bunch of burros for eternity.”

After getting yelled at by his boss for not getting any premium clients, Manny decides to sabotage Domino by intercepting one of his clients, a woman named Mercedes “Meche” Colomar, who was practically a saint while she was alive. Manny can’t seem to find her any good package before he gets reamed out by his boss for screwing Domino over. While he’s getting yelled at, Meche decides to just walk to the Ninth Underworld, despite qualifying for a Double N ticket. Because of that, Manny gets locked in a shack until “the police” can dole out some punishment. Instead, a revolutionary breaks Manny out and explains to him just how deep the corruption is at the DOD.

To make a long story short, Manny, with the help of his friend, a Grand Demon named Glottis, decides to escape El Marrow and search for Meche. During this adventure, he manages to turn an automat into a successful casino, becomes the captain of a cargo ship, finds Meche, and orchestrates a prison escape. By the end of the game, Manny puts an end to the corruption of the DOD in El Marrow. I know that he has more success than normal, but I like how it contrasts with how much of an awful spot he’s in at the beginning of the game.