there was this uncle guy from The Elusive Samurai (which is based on history) who is described as a "coward" at every chance, yet despite that he participated in every war and showed great leadership. at some point he got too old and sick to fight, so his princely nephew relieved him of all duties to which he broke down into tears of relief. it turns out he was actually veeeeery tired. he just wanted someone to validate his life and tells him he's done enough. I still think about it sometimes.