The Doctor is tough. It's clear that he hates himself for some of the things he's done, but he seems too accustomed to his own power to be really afraid of it.
As far as characters who embody this trope, I'm really liking the magician Anders, from the game Dragon Age 2.
In the DA universe, mages are vulnerable to possession by powerful spirits that live in the collective unconscious, most of which are nasty "demons" that embody things like lust, rage, and hunger. This means that everyone else is terrified of mages (not without good reason) and they get carted off to glorified prisons while they're still children.
Anders was one of those kids. In school/prison he trains to be a magic doctor. He escapes, and does what he needs to do to live free. But one day he runs across an unusual type of spirit -- a spirit of justice, rather than baser human emotions. He decides to merge with it in order to gain the power to help his brethren, because he feels guilty about having only cared about his own survival.
Unfortunately, Anders' pent-up anger about the whole situation transforms the spirit into a spirit of vengeance. Anders immediately realizes that he's made a huge mistake, but can't do anything about it. He spends the next ten years desperately trying to be more of an activist than a terrorist... only to fail spectacularly, because in the end, he is what he is.
I like the tragedy of the whole thing. Plus the fact that it takes an empathetic (metaphorical) look at what might drive a person to terrorism, without excusing terrorist acts themselves.
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As far as characters who embody this trope, I'm really liking the magician Anders, from the game Dragon Age 2.
In the DA universe, mages are vulnerable to possession by powerful spirits that live in the collective unconscious, most of which are nasty "demons" that embody things like lust, rage, and hunger. This means that everyone else is terrified of mages (not without good reason) and they get carted off to glorified prisons while they're still children.
Anders was one of those kids. In school/prison he trains to be a magic doctor. He escapes, and does what he needs to do to live free. But one day he runs across an unusual type of spirit -- a spirit of justice, rather than baser human emotions. He decides to merge with it in order to gain the power to help his brethren, because he feels guilty about having only cared about his own survival.
Unfortunately, Anders' pent-up anger about the whole situation transforms the spirit into a spirit of vengeance. Anders immediately realizes that he's made a huge mistake, but can't do anything about it. He spends the next ten years desperately trying to be more of an activist than a terrorist... only to fail spectacularly, because in the end, he is what he is.
I like the tragedy of the whole thing. Plus the fact that it takes an empathetic (metaphorical) look at what might drive a person to terrorism, without excusing terrorist acts themselves.