History BrokenBird / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': Litchi Faye-Ling, at first introduced as a local CoolBigSis who is kind and pleasant to everyone, hid a severe GuiltComplex about being unable to save a friend. Her attempts to save him always lead into dead ends, then she found out she's dying of the same corruption and no one is willing to help her, just telling her to just deal with it, eventually she ends up ForcedIntoEvil and helping the bad guys' genocidal plans, which still didn't help her any and she's marked by her former co-workers as a criminal that needs to be arrested. By ''VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma'', her sense of self-worth has been utterly destroyed and she sees herself as beyond salvation that the only thing she can do is to push on to save her friend, and anytime she acts like a cheery CoolBigSis afterwards, it's obvious that it's a StepfordSmiler act.

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' is generally known for [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism being fairly upbeat]], to the point of employing NonLethalKO and DefeatMeansFriendship almost constantly. Fujiwara no Mokou, however, gives off plenty of Broken Bird vibes with her tragic backstory (her father was DrivenToSuicide by Kaguya), and her willingness to [[ImmortalityImmorality murder Kaguya's adopted parents to become fully immortal]] so she could seek revenge against the also fully immortal Kaguya. Centuries of pointless conflict and an eternal cycle of revenge murders have left Mokou largely just a dispirited loner who seems to have given upon on her RoaringRampageOfRevenge. She helps others when she meets them, guiding the lost out of the dangerous forest she lives in, but is a reclusive hermit who wants little to do with others, with the sole exception being [[OnlyFriend Keine.]]

* Sylvanas Windrunner of the ''VideoGame/WarCraft'' franchise started out as a noble and heroic ranger-general of her high elven homeland and fought valiantly in defense of its people against Arthras and the Scourge, only to not only be defeated, but denied a clean death, when she was raised as a banshee [[ForcedToWatch and forced against her will]] to watch and participate in the destruction of her homeland and its peoples. A chance weakening in the mind-control allowed her the freedom she needed to return to her body as a RevenantZombie and form an alliance of fellow undead to avenge herself and her people. Having fulfilled her vengeance but abhorring [[CameBackWrong her undeath as a curse]], she attempts [[NothingLeftToDoButDie suicide]] in order to [[TogetherInDeath reunite with her fallen kin]], only to be greeted with a vision from the Val'kyr that informs her of [[TheNothingAfterDeath the void]] that awaits her, and the sight of Arthras being reduced to a sobbing wreck, before being revived by the sacrifice of the Val'kyr. After all of this, she's been driven by a fear of death, a general sense of distrust stemming from the FantasticRacism from other people towards her and her current people, the Forsaken, and an increasing sense of nihilism.

-->''The waves of time take me deeper into you''\\
''A haze as blue as summer skies''\\
''And turn to find the key will not unlock the door''\\
''This broken bird away it flies''
* ''{{VideoGame/Yakuza}}'': Cheerfully subverted by Haruka. Before the first game is over, the poor girl, then at the ripe old age of eight, has already seen more traumas (all of which are spoilers) than most people do in a lifetime. Hell, Haruka is introduced, eight years old, sitting and clutching a gun in a room full of corpses. You'd expect at least some form of damage to shine through. But no. Haruka is a [[TheCutie kind, selfless, cheerful and optimistic girl]], and her frequent confrontations with the darkest side of human nature do [[ThePollyanna nothing to break her spirit.]]

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'' has [[TheCassandra Susabi]] who is a child of the gods sent down to a village at the villagers' request in order to help them by being their {{seer|s}}. Then he made a few mistakes, and what did the villagers do? [[DisproportionateRetribution Calling him a liar and horribly abusing him]]. It's no wonder he ends up as the bitter guy he is today. In fact, he borders on StrawNihilist.

* The ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'':

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6:'' After completely fulfilling her own self-made mission of [[spoiler: discerning the truth from the lies about Simmons and his insane agenda of both gassing Tall Oaks near-completely with the [[TheVirus C-Virus]] and being [[StalkerWithACrush madly infatuated with her]], not to mention [[EvilDoppelganger Carla Radames]] [[FrameUp pinning all of her MASSIVE war-class crimes]] [[TheScapegoat on the poor spy]], Ada Wong has so many emotional dents at this point that it'd make Swiss Cheese look whole in comparison if her reaction after fully [[MoreDakka "cleaning house"]] is any indication...]]
-->'''[[spoiler: We're beyond Humanity...]]'''

*** In addition, Hope becomes one of these by the end of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2''. After working so hard to save not only his friends but [[spoiler:the entire world]], and then watch it go down in flames around him it's no wonder he went from optimistic to [[DespairEventHorizon completely shutting down]]. And then the events preceding ''[[VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII Lightning Returns]]'' break him down even more [[spoiler:by having Bhunivelze slowly wreck his sanity by conjuring phantoms of Lightning, then kidnapping him, and finally destroying his emotions through ''169 years'' of torture so the GodOfEvil can take over his body]]. Just... ''damn''. Hope really needs some hugs after all of this.

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'', we have [[DragonRider Princess Minerva]] (forced by her evil brother Michalis to fight for him to protect their sister Maria) and [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Princess Nyna]] (last descendant of the Archanea family, [[spoiler:plagued by how much LoveHurts]]. The remake adds [[spoiler:Katarina (real name Reese), a badly-abused TykeBomb who ''can'' get better if you manage to recruit her.]] (And [[spoiler:Eremiya, the person who made Katarina the person she is... but we ''only'' learn about it when we see her tragic backstory.]])

** Elisabeth Blanctorche is an AloofDarkHairedGirl LadyOfWar [[spoiler: whose clan was decimated]] and has a complicated relationship with someone she used to care for more than anyone in the world: [[spoiler: Ash Crimson]]; as a result, her view of the world is pretty cynical, and if she had to fight younger girls she'll always remark on how "innocent" they are, compared with herself. [[spoiler: And in VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters XIII, when Ash unveils his true intentions and reveals that he did '''everything''' [[DeclarationOfProtection to help and protect her]], [[IronWoobie Elisabeth]] [[CryCute is brought to tears]], as the price he'll pay for her sake ''[[RetGone is being erased from existence]]''.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' is generally known for [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism being fairly upbeat]], to the point of employing NonLethalKO and DefeatMeansFriendship on a scale that is gradually redefining LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters. Fujiwara no Mokou, however, gives off plenty of Broken Bird vibes with her tragic backstory (her father was DrivenToSuicide by Kaguya), and her willingness to [[ImmortalityImmorality murder Kaguya's adopted parents to become fully immortal]] so she could seek revenge against the also fully immortal Kaguya. Centuries of pointless conflict and an eternal cycle of revenge murders have left Mokou largely just a dispirited loner who seems to have given upon on her RoaringRampageOfRevenge. She helps others when she meets them, guiding the lost out of the dangerous forest she lives in, but is a reclusive hermit who wants little to do with others, with the sole exception being [[OnlyFriend Keine.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight'', we have [[DragonRider Princess Minerva]] (forced by her evil brother Michalis to fight for him to protect their sister Maria) and [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Princess Nyna]] (last descendant of the Archanea family, [[spoiler: plagued by how much LoveHurts]]. The remake adds [[spoiler: Katarina aka Eine, a badly-abused TykeBomb who ''can'' get better if you manage to recruit her.]] (And [[spoiler: Eremiya, the person who made Katarina the person she is... but we ''only'' learn about it when we see her tragic backstory.]])
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', there's Brigid of Jungby, [[DarkMagicalGirl Ishtar of Friege]], [[DragonRider Altena of Thracia]] [[spoiler: (or, better said, of Leonster)]]; either [[spoiler: Tailtiu or Ethnia of Friege (by the end of their KillTheCutie years]]); [[spoiler: Silvia's daughter Lene, her {{expy}} Laylea, Larcei's {{expy}} Creidne (but ''not'' Larcei herself) fit in as well. In the meantime Tailtiu's daughter, Tine/Ethnia's daughter Linda, mix this with ShrinkingViolet, but ultimately they get much better.]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' gives us, besides Lady Eyvel [[spoiler: aka the amnesiac!Brigid]], Misha, Sara, Amalda and ''specially'' FallenPrincess Miranda of Alster:
-->'''Miranda''' (to [[spoiler: Leif]]): "It all started when you fled from [[spoiler: Leonster]]. My father was a kind man who loved peace. He had no reason to go against the Empire... But...but...! Just because [[spoiler: he hid you]], we were caught by the Empire and attacked! My father was [[spoiler: forced to turn me over as a hostage and lost his right to his throne...he died a miserable death.]] I will never forgive you, [[spoiler: Prince]]! If only you hadn't come to Alster...this never would have happened...”
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'':
** According to Pent and Louise, [[spoiler: Louise's cousin, Queen Hellene of Bern]], is one as well. [[spoiler: She used to be a sweet {{ojou}} who wanted to be happy in her married life, but her ArrangedMarriage to King Desmond turned out to be a really crappy one, and she ended up as a cynical and manipulative HotConsort RichBitch.]]
---> '''Pent''': "She and [[spoiler: the King]] were ill-matched. She has suffered much. (...) Such a sad life"
** Believe it or not, [[spoiler: Serra]] is one of these too. Yes, ''that'' [[spoiler: Serra, the GenkiGirl RichBitch who is actually a StepfordSmiler with a childhood full of abandonment, poverty, and pain.]]
** When we meet Florina's ProperLady sister, Fiora, she's dangerously close to broken bird-dom due to having lost all of her wingmates... Flori has to quickly talk her out of going into a suicidal FoeTossingCharge, even! In her supports, though, we see her slowly getting better thanks to people like Florina, Farina, Kent, Sain, and Eliwood.
** WhiteMagicianGirl Ninian. Well, you can't expect less from a woman who [[spoiler: is a half-Dragon, survived the Scouring as a little girl, had to run away with her little brother Nils, lived for centuries in another world, and once she and Nils tried to come back home, were hit with misfortune by the bushel.]]
** Female DragonRider Vaida and LadyOfWar Karla. The first was [[spoiler: treated as a traitor, demoted, humiliated and had to work for the Black Fang]]; the second is the sister of [[spoiler: Karel the Sword Demon]] and has dedicated her life to defeat other fighters and look for him after [[spoiler: he murdered their family.]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' and ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'':
** Soren is distant, bitter, and cynical towards every single person not named Ike. It's revealed in their supports [[spoiler: and bonus scene that Soren was badly abused and left for dead during his early childhood and Ike was the only one who offered him any semblance of kindness]] accounting for [[UndyingLoyalty his behavior towards Ike]] as well as others.
** Reyson is unwilling to let go of the events that killed his entire family [[spoiler: or so he thinks, really only some of his relatives died there]] and holds a twenty-year-long grudge against all "humans" (used in-context as a [[FantasticRacism fantastic racial slur]]). He even seriously considered using forbidden magic to destroy them, until his guardians talked some sense into him. Bonus points for being able to transform into a literal bird, of a race known for how calm their minds are.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'':
** Cordelia is a serious, stoic, kind Pegasus Knight with two huge inner pains: [[spoiler: the deaths of her wingmates]] and her UnrequitedLove for [[spoiler: Prince Chrom]].
** [[spoiler: "Marth"]], or better said, [[spoiler:Chrom's daughter Lucina,]] is a more idealistic example. She and her friends from a BadFuture try changing it, and as the group helps her to do so, she starts to slowly heal from the terrible trauma she has been through.
** [[spoiler: Gangrel. Yes, [[TheCaligula that]] [[BadBoss Gangrel]].]] Once you find out that [[spoiler: he ultimately survived his fight with the Shepherds and suffered a massive BreakTheHaughty process afterwards]], you get to learn exactly [[spoiler: ''[[DarkAndTroubledPast how]]'' [[ThePurge he]] [[WellIntentionedExtremist became]] [[FromNobodyTonightmare the terrible]] [[MotiveDecay foe]] [[AristocratsAreEvil that the cast fought]], and we see [[TheAtoner how deeply he regrets the shit he pulled]]. And considering the massive pain he caused to Chrom and the Shepherds, plus his terrible rule, [[ReformedButRejected it won't be easy]].]]
** [[spoiler: Libra the War Monk. One would never say it, but this saintly and [[DudeLooksLikeALady girly-looking]] ReligiousBruiser hides an horrifying pain [[StepfordSmiler very deep within]] due to his ParentalAbandonment and having been shunned by everyone until he became a member of the clergy. It's so bad that Tharja, the local NightmareFetishist, is actually ''shocked'' to see how dark and pained Libra's mind actually is.]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'':
** Princess Camilla of Nohr was badly, ''badly'' damaged by her turbulent early years in her country's bloodstained DecadentCourt. At best she'll be a CoolBigSis to her subordinates, her siblings and specially the Avatar; at worst, she'll try to kill the Hoshidan troops in despair to try getting the Avatar back home.
** Princess Azura has more than one trace of this, as a Princess who doubles as a ChildOfTwoWorlds who was [[spoiler: badly abused]] in Nohr and [[spoiler: badly discriminated]] in Hoshido. As a result, she has a very low sense of self-worth, seeing herself as a ReplacementGoldfish for the Avatar, and a plethora of trust issues.

** Arguably, Cloud of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is one of these in the spin-offs of his main game. While he was never really cheerful, the character of the main game could be goofy, playful, and encouraging to his friends. In the spin-offs he's infamously become an angsty, stoic AntiHero due to [[DoomedHometown witnessing the massacre of his entire home town]] [[BrokenPedestal at the hands of his former hero]], then suffering through [[spoiler: four-five years of inhumane experimentation, followed by witnessing the death of the person who saved him.]] The trauma from this was so bad that [[spoiler: at the beginning of his game Cloud adopted a false personality and fake memories just so he could function properly.]] Then during the game itself he underwent MindRape thanks to Sephiroth, [[spoiler: witnessed the death of Aerith, and learned the truth about his horrible past in an excruciating manner.]] Honestly, no wonder he angsts!

*** In addition, Hope becomes one of these by the end of XIII-2. After working so hard to save not only his friends but [[spoiler:the entire world]], and then watch it go down in flames around him it's no wonder he went from optimistic to [[DespairEventHorizon completely shutting down]].

** Hawke: ForcedToWatch Kirkwall and his/her family disintegrate around her. Most of it is his/her fault. Averted if you play [[TheGadfly Snarky!Hawke]] or [[FanNickname Paragon!]][[BigGood Hawke]] the whole way through, [[spoiler:aside from a brief period of depression after his/her mother is murdered]], though plenty have pointed out the possibility of SadClown and/or StepfordSmiler at work.

---

* Sarah Kerrigan from ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' ran away from the memory wipes and torture of Ghost Training mandated by the corrupt Terran Confederacy to join a rebel group—only to [[spoiler: be betrayed by its leader and left for dead in the middle of zerg attack. And then being experimented on, until becoming a TragicMonster.]]
* The titular character of ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/AliceMadnessReturns'' is quite the cold snarker - then again, considering that [[spoiler: her sister was raped and murdered]], she was the only survivor of a fire that killed the rest of her family right before her eyes, and she was incarcerated into a Victorian asylum where she underwent horrific treatments, you can cut the poor thing some slack.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'':
** Over the course of the game, Aribeth gets quite thoroughly shattered. By Hordes of the Underdark, what with her whole failed revolution and crisis of faith, she is definitely one.
** Alex from the fan-made module The Bastard of Kosigan has her childhood boyfriend exiled from their homeland, getting involved with his insane older cousin, getting pregnant and having him and his soldiers ''beat her until she looses the child'', being considered an embarrassment to her family, and being forced to work for the same man who got her pregnant and dropped her like a hot brick?
** The point of the game mod ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'' is to turn your character into one.
%%** Nathyrra from Hordes of the Underdark is also an example.
%%** The psychologically wrenching fan-module, Excrucio Eternum, features one named - appropriately enough - Songbird.

%%** All the romances in [=BG2=] are of this type. Yes, even stupid, whiney Anomen.
* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes2DesperateStruggle'': It's unknown exactly what caused Alice's Broken Bird personality [[spoiler: (possibly the killing of her supposed best friend [[ElegantGothicLolita Margaret]])]], but she certainly acts like one.

*** The subversion is slightly tempered if the player "hardens" her. She's still a fairly positive and friendly person, she's just more willing to murder problems, and more tolerant of some of the Warden's potential amoral actions. She ends up playing it straight in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', however. Reneging on the promise of having your choices matter, Leliana is written as if she was hardened in Origins regardless of whether or not she was. In addition, she largely blames herself for [[spoiler:the death of Divine Justinia in an explosion she couldn't have forseen and was frankly just lucky not to be blow up in herself]], since part of her job as the Divine's Left Hand was preventing things like that. As a result, she starts questioning her faith and is even a little too eager to [[ShootTheDog Shoot The Dog]] in pursuit of goals. The player can effectively "un-harden" her through dialogue options and her personal quest by getting her to stop blaming herself for [[spoiler:Divine Justinia's death.]]

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'':
** Visas Marr in was spared by Darth Nihilus when he killed every other living thing on her homeworld, and was raised by him as a Sith. For a light side character, turning her back involves restoring her hope that Nihilus can't kill every living thing in the galaxy.
** [[TheHero Meetra Surik]], aka The Exile, despite being the only one to return from the events of Malachor V alive or not fallen to the dark side. The destruction of the planet accompied with the countless numbers of Mandalorians, Republic soldiers, and Jedi being annihilated--[[spoiler:all of it she could feel through the Force to the point it was so overwhelming she had to cut herself from the Force otherwise die or fall prey to the dark side]]; and consequently made her a [[PowerOfTheVoid wound in the Force]]. Since then she had become a broken figure [[spoiler:as the pain of all the destruction of Malachor V stayed with her]]. Numerous times within the narrative she is called a "broken Jedi". Given the events they both suffered, it easy to understand why Visas and Meetra could so easily relate to one another.
--->'''Visas:''' To see everything around you extinguished... it... was as if I was blinded. It was as if the Force had... been bled from the world...\\
'''Exile:''' ...as if everything suddenly went silent.\\
'''Visas:''' I imagine there are worse deaths, worse pain, but if there are, I do not know them. I was the only living thing remaining on the planet of Katarr... and my life, my agony was a flicker in the darkness that was the planet.
%%* Mona Sax in ''VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne''.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'':
** The reason [[spoiler:Rose]] is one is because she's actually the black monster, and has committed countless atrocities simply to keep the BigBad from getting his way. It fails.
** Miranda was [[spoiler:abandoned by her father and abused by her mother, until the point that she ran away from home and became adopted by the queen of Mille Seseau.]] She serves as the First Sacred Sister, and slapping someone tends to be her default reaction.
* Karen of the ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'' games is, in most of her appearances, a generous and compassionate HardDrinkingPartyGirl. However, the game that introduced her to the series, ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', had her as a cynical drunkard with daddy issues.
* Raven ''VideoGame/RuneFactory3'', who you eventually learn [[spoiler: has had every single person that she's ever become close to disappear, and she's positive that it's because she's cursed. So, she's vowed never to have another friend. She definitely has the violent part of a Broken Bird, what with her semi-accidentally shoving your character off of a cliff at one point, and in her later requests, she's very prone to tears. She's also about as literal an example as any Broken ''Bird'' can get.]]

* Jakuri from ''VideoGame/ArTonelicoIIMelodyOfMetafalica'' is not only a perfect example of this trope and its sub-traits, being simultaneously {{Tsundere}} and more than a little goth, but [[spoiler: is known for singing hymns in which she uses the imagery of a little bird as a metaphor for herself, a theme first seen in EXEC_HARMONIOUS/., the song she crafted when she was better known as the first game's antagonist, Mir.]]
* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'''s Annah is [[ParentalAbandonment an orphan]], [[HalfHumanHybrid a distrusted descendant of fiends]], raised by a money-grubbing corpse-seller, trained as a thief, and has the rather interesting experience of seeing one of the corpses she sells walking around again later--and not as a zombie. Then, [[spoiler:the only father she's ever known is killed while she's off helping said "corpse", against her will, except said parent ordered it]], all before she's even really an adult. She hides her issues well, but occasionally, they'll slip out.
%%* Eleanor from ''VideoGame/RuleOfRose''. Complete with literal bird.
* Sniper Wolf from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', although this tends to be overshadowed by the FemmeFatale and DarkActionGirl aspects of her character. [[spoiler: At least, until [[AlasPoorVillain she]] [[FinalSpeech dies.]]]]
* In the finale of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', [[spoiler:Big Boss is revealed to have been one since the day he had to kill his mother figure The Boss.]]
--> [[spoiler:'''Big Boss:''' Ever since the day I killed The Boss... with my own two hands... I... was already dead.]]

%%* Depending on your play style, the Lone Wanderer of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' may qualify.
* VideoGame/{{Fable}}'s [[MeaningfulName Sparrow,]] who can be either female or male. She begins the game as an orphan on the streets with her older sister, wanting nothing more than a bed and warm meal. She is then ForcedToWatch as the BigBad kills her sister, and is taken in by a mysterious gypsy [[spoiler: who secretly manipulates her every move]] before leaving to seek revenge. Later, she's trapped as a slave to the BigBad for ''ten years'' in a bid to break her spirit, where she is forced to obey every order or lose her memories (literal experience points). Banshees in the game may torture her over her sister's death, and near the end, she's trapped in the BigBad's LotusEaterMachine [[spoiler:after he [[ShootTheDog shoots the dog]]. There, she finds herself in an illusion as a child with her sister, living the perfect life she always wanted,]] which she THEN has to escape through pure fear. Finally, at the end, she has to make a SadisticChoice between resurrecting her sister, [[spoiler:as well as her faithful dog and her family, who also got killed by the BigBad,]] [[TheNeedsOfTheMany resurrecting the countless innocent people used to build]] said LotusEaterMachine, [[WhatTheHellHero or becoming rich and evil beyond her wildest dreams.]]
%%* [[EmotionlessGirl Setsumi]] from ''VisualNovel/{{Narcissu}}''.
* Anna Lin from ''[[VisualNovel/BlissStageLoveIsYourWeapon Bliss Stage: First and Final Act]]'' can be forgiven for her more {{Tsundere}} outbursts, given that [[spoiler: she saw her first crush ''die'' when that crush's [[YouLoseAtZeroTrust ANIMa shattered as soon as it was manifested]] -- and THEN her first requited love made a HeroicSacrifice]].

* In ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'', [[spoiler:Ophelia]] is broken by certain events (in addition to her dark heritage) so badly, her sublimated pain and sorrow become the second strongest boss in the game. She is fixed by the end of the campaign (though not quite, it seems).

** There are also overtones of this trope in the Komeiji sisters' background stories. There are plenty of black sheeps among {{youkai}} and the worst ones were exiled from [[FantasticNatureReserve Gensoukyou]] down into [[FantasticGhetto the abandoned Former Hell]]. Satori and Koishi were shunned even among the exiles. Not because they were particularily dangerous or aggressive, but because they [[PowerIncontinence compulsively]] [[ForgotAboutTheMindReader read everyone else's thoughts]] [[MindOverManners out loud]]. This made them so hated and feared that Satori confined herself in the Palace of the Earth Spirits together with her animal companions, isolating herself from any- and everyone who would mind having their minds read, and her little sister Koishi gave herself a PokeInTheThirdEye, opting to turn herself into a BrokenAngel rather than [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead having to read all the hurtful thoughts everyone thought about her.]]

* Haru from ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei: VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'' is tough, edgy, and very, very fragile as a result of her childhood. [[spoiler: If the player does not choose her event to save her, she commits suicide halfway through the game.]] She was already broken even before the Tokyo Lockdown began. A musician who came from a [[BigScrewedUpFamily troubled family]], her mentor went overseas and she thinks that it's her fault [[spoiler:when she was actually kidnapped by a ReligionOfEvil]], and to top it all off, [[spoiler:she's being hunted by demons because her songs are the key to summoning them to the real world.]]
%%* [[NinjaMaid Ninja Maid Cecilia]] has shades of this in ''VideoGame/VanguardBandits''. [[MultipleEndings Whether she gets better or not depends on the player.]]
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** Lulu from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', who starts off as a DeadpanSnarker, although she later becomes a DefrostingIceQueen.
** Lightning from the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' series is a [[TookALevelInCynicism tough-talking]] [[TookALevelInBadass soldier]] who has been burdened by the death of her parents and the subsequent responsibility to be the head of her household and take care of her younger sister Serah. The painstaking journey she's forced to go through to [[spoiler: defy the gods and save the world]] only serves to increase her sufferings.
*** In addition, Hope becomes one of these by the end of XIII-2. After working so hard to save not only his friends but [[spoiler:the entire world]], and then watch it go down in flames around him it's no wonder he went from optimistic to [[DespairEventHorizon completely shutting down]].
** Arguably, Cloud of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is one of these in the spin-offs of his main game. While he was never really cheerful, the character of the main game could be goofy, playful, and encouraging to his friends. In the spin-offs he's infamously become an angsty, stoic AntiHero due to [[DoomedHometown witnessing the massacre of his entire home town]] [[BrokenPedestal at the hands of his former hero]], then suffering through [[spoiler: four-five years of inhumane experimentation, followed by witnessing the death of the person who saved him.]] The trauma from this was so bad that [[spoiler: at the beginning of his game Cloud adopted a false personality and fake memories just so he could function properly.]] Then during the game itself he underwent MindRape thanks to Sephiroth, [[spoiler: witnessed the death of Aerith, and learned the truth about his horrible past in an excruciating manner.]] Honestly, no wonder he angsts!
* Playable Caster ([[spoiler:Tamamo-no-Mae]]) from ''VideoGame/FateExtra''. She is extremely cheerfully, more GenreSavvy than most otakus and her insanely cute 'mikuuun!' verbal tics doesn't help. However, has one of the saddest backstories in the entire Nasuverse: [[spoiler:she was divinity, but humans fascinated her so much that she threw everything away so she could go join them and help them in the mud, she lived to serve, to love them. What does her husband do? He sends an army to kill her when he finds out she isn't human. She spent three days fighting, killing and being bathed in blood in the field where she made her last stand. Every second of it was spent crying and shouting for her husband's forgiveness. Her biggest wish was to be the best wife in the world. That was thousands of years ago. It still is.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'':
** Elisabeth Blanctorche is an AloofDarkHairedGirl LadyOfWar [[spoiler: whose clan was decimated]] and has a complicated relationship with someone she used to care for more than anyone in the world: [[spoiler: Ash Crimson]]; as a result, her view of the world is pretty cynical, and if she had to fight younger girls she'll always remark on how "innocent" they are, compared with herself. [[spoiler: And in VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters XIII, when Ash unveils his true intentions and reveals that he did '''everything''' [[DeclarationOfProtection to help and protect her]], [[IronWoobie Elisabeth]] [[CryCute is brought to tears]], as the price he'll pay for her sake ''[[RetGone is being erased from existence]]''.]]
** Leona Heidern. That's what happens to sheltered little girls after [[spoiler: their cursed blood is awakened forcibly and they end up [[SelfMadeOrphan killing their parents]] [[BrainwashedAndCrazy under external influences]].]] Even after she's sorta HappilyAdopted by the local ColonelBadass and her partners [[TrueCompanions become her second family]], she's ''very'' badly damaged [[TheStoic but doesn't openly show it.]]
** Chizuru Kagura, due to [[spoiler: her twin sister Maki's murder and the heavy burdens that the Yasakani-Kagura-Kusanagi bonds bring to her.]] She gets better thanks to Mai, King and King's brother Jean, though.
* Riven of ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', who saw the ideals she dedicated her life to get shattered during the wartime atrocities between Noxus and Ionia. She fights using a broken sword, and as she herself puts it, "The sword mirrors its owner." Even her signature move is called "Broken Wings"!
%%* Every female character is this in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', except [[spoiler: Sieglinde]] who becomes broken near the end of the game.
* [[http://images.wikia.com/deusex/en/images/0/02/Fedorova2.png Yelena Fedorova]], a boss of ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', saw her entire family die when she was only a little girl. The experience was traumatic enough to render her nearly mute, even when she dies. It also causes her to become an AxCrazy, dual SMG-wielding assassin with the ability to become invisible.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': Sapphire, a member of the ThievesGuild, had to go through ParentalAbandonment and RapeAsBackstory in her past. As a result, she's very caustic.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns'': ''Dragonfall'''s Glory [[spoiler: used to be a member of a cult. After [[{{Satan}} the Adversary]] tricked her into murdering her mother, she]] installed antique cyberware to shred her Essence, leaving her almost incapable of feeling anything. [[spoiler: Keeping Old Scratch from being able to affect her was the main goal, though.]]
* The ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'':
** Erana is a half-faery woman of remarkable magic power, who spent her life [[WalkingTheEarth traveling the world]] creating places of safety and healing and fighting evil wherever she could find it, as Rakeesh calls her "a Paladin in all but name." And then the Hero learns that her wanderings were often because the Faery Folk rejected her because of her human heritage, and humans didn't accept her because of her fey parentage. This led to significant issues with her self-worth that feeds her self-sacrificing nature, and led directly to her death fighting Avoozl. [[spoiler: If the Hero chooses to rescue her from Hades and does ''not'' successfully court her, she'll sacrifice herself to the Dragon in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryV'', as well.]]
** Katrina is a human woman who also has very powerful magic, which many of her superiors and contemporaries at W.I.T. found threatening. By the time of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'', Katrina [[spoiler: was now the Dark Master and a vampire. She was turned against her will by the previous Dark Master, who lured her in with promises of great power but instead bit her and made her his slave]]. The game hints that Katrina had been used and hurt by men in the past, though the details are left obscure. She has long feared being powerless and vulnerable, which drives her plans in ''Shadows of Darkness''. If the Hero tries to tell her he loves her, she accuses him of lying and claims the only person who genuinely loved her was [[spoiler: Tanya, the daughter of the local innkeeper whom she took in and turned as her own daughter because she believed the girl's parents mistreated her and didn't truly love her]].
* The purpose of the plot of the 2013 ''[[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 Tomb Raider]]'' is to break Lara down. By the end of the game she's been forced to kill, watched friends die sacrificing themselves for her, been subjected to serious personal injury on several occasions, (and sheer terror and exhaustion) and is heavily implied to be suffering from [[ShellShockedVeteran Post Traumatic Stress Disorder]] and SurvivorsGuilt. It's only her [[{{Determinator}} desire to survive and save her friends that keeps her going by the finale]].
* Mitsunari Ishida from ''Videogame/SengokuBasara'' is noted by many characters to be a sad and angry revenge driven man who's lost his purpose in life after the death of Hideyoshi (his lord) at Ieyasu's hand in the third game. Granted, he's not any less angry in the fourth game in which Hideyoshi's still alive, though his emotional instability is a major plot point for other characters, even Ieyasu himself, [[spoiler:who is willing to let Mitsunari believe that he killed Hideyoshi so that he has something to live for]].
* Avra Darkos from ''VideoGame/WildStar''. She was born into a rich family of aristrocrats, lead a loved, problem free life, and happily married the love of her life. Then the Fall of Grismara came, her family were all killed by ravenous psychopaths or turned into ones themselves, and her husband was shot dead when he tried to beg for help. Today she serves as the [[TheChessmaster ruthless, calculating, and emotionless head of the Black Hoods, the Exiles's spy network.]]
* ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'': Ayane shows signs of it due to [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer her rejection by her village]]. She's very committed to her lifestyle as a shinobi but comes across as cold and unfriendly compared to Kasumi or Hayate. She also drove herself to become a worthy master of her clan's fighting arts in order to gain recognition (another trait of the trope). The scene in ''Dimensions'' where she tries to kill herself after a fight with Hayate just goes to show how broken she really is.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'': Litchi Faye-Ling, at first introduced as a local CoolBigSis who is kind and pleasant to everyone, hid a severe GuiltComplex about being unable to save a friend. Her attempts to save him always lead into dead ends, then she found out she's dying of the same corruption and no one is willing to help her, just telling her to just deal with it, eventually she ends up ForcedIntoEvil and helping the bad guys' genocidal plans, which still didn't help her any and she's marked by her former co-workers as a criminal that needs to be arrested. By ''VideoGame/BlazBlueChronophantasma'', her sense of self-worth has been utterly destroyed and she sees herself as beyond salvation that the only thing she can do is to push on to save her friend, and anytime she acts like a cheery CoolBigSis afterwards, it's obvious that it's a StepfordSmiler act.
-->''Nobody... nobody can even save me anymore. I'm sorry...''
** It's also telling if you look at the evolution of her splash arts. In ''Calamity Trigger'' and ''Continuum Shift'', she can afford to give a smile or a sense of confidence. In ''Chronophantasma'', she's no longer smiling and looked rather empty and sad.
** Most of the cast qualify (sans the BigBadDuumvirate), but listing them all would take all day.
* Lynn, Edward and Abigail from ''Videogame/WitchesLegacy'' are all this, evil witches having destroyed their families leaving them all orphans. Lynn is lucky to have Carrie who is able to protect her from Elisabeth, though she isn't left unscathed and Edward is taken in by the witch hunters who teach him to hate wicthes [[spoiler:until he meets Lynn]]. Poor Abigail has no one to protect her and is subjected to the full force off Elisabeth's manipulations - so much so that she even spends some time as a bird.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' has the Vault-Tec Salesman from the beginning of the game. A happy-go-lucky Pre-War man who'd be working for the company for twenty years, only to be turned away at the Vault door when the nuclear bomb goes off. He survives the blast, but the heavy radiation mutates him into a ghoul, and he watches society crumble for 200 years. He's not only lost everything and everyone he knows, the people in the Wasteland are pretty dismissive of him when he tries to help. To top it all off, the [[PlayerCharacter Sole Survivor]] shows up looking young and vigorous. By this point, he's bitter and lonely about everything that's been lost. A sufficiently charismatic survivor can convince him to let go and forge a better tomorrow in his settlement, returning him to a sunnier personality.
* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6:'' After completely fulfilling her own self-made mission of [[spoiler: discerning the truth from the lies about Simmons and his insane agenda of both gassing Tall Oaks near-completely with the [[TheVirus C-Virus]] and being [[StalkerWithACrush madly infatuated with her]], not to mention [[EvilDoppelganger Carla Radames]] [[FrameUp pinning all of her MASSIVE war-class crimes]] [[TheScapegoat on the poor spy]], Ada Wong has so many emotional dents at this point that it'd make Swiss Cheese look whole in comparison if her reaction after fully [[MoreDakka "cleaning house"]] is any indication...]]
-->'''[[spoiler: We're beyond Humanity...]]'''
* After everything that's happened to him in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel II'', Rean Schwarzer is a male example of this trope happening to him as a series of things happen to him. In order: [[spoiler: he failed to bring his friend back to the academy with him with said friend losing his life to protect and give him an opening to rescue the crown prince, he finally sees his biological father again after so long only to reveal that he was the EvilChancellor all along, said chancellor forces him to be a national hero and forces him to go to war with Crossbell, a country he has no reason to even go to war with, and by the time he gets back to Erebonia, he snaps at the lady officer who has helped him because she's aligned with said EvilChancellor and might have known about his heritage (she had a hunch but had no conclusive evidence).]] After all that, he finally unloads all of his grief to [[StudentCouncilPresident Towa]] but then [[spoiler: Class VII leaves him to pursue their dreams, something he gives them his blessings for plus Class VII would have been dissolved anyway thanks to said EvilChancellor.]]
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/TalesOfBerseria'', Velvet Crowe, starts out as a normal 16-year old girl. Then her brother-in-law Artorius ritually sacrifices her 11-year old brother, cuts off her left arm, beats the crap out of her, and throws her in a pit for three years to subsist on nothing but daemons. By the time she gets out, she's become an embittered wreck obsessed with getting revenge on him.
* Sylvanas Windrunner of the ''VideoGame/WarCraft'' franchise started out as a noble and heroic ranger-general of her high elven homeland and fought valiantly in defense of its people against Arthras and the Scourge, only to not only be defeated, but denied a clean death, when she was raised as a banshee [[ForcedToWatch and forced against her will]] to watch and participate in the destruction of her homeland and its peoples. A chance weakening in the mind-control allowed her the freedom she needed to return to her body as a RevenantZombie and form an alliance of fellow undead to avenge herself and her people. Having fulfilled her vengeance but abhorring [[CameBackWrong her undeath as a curse]], she attempts [[NothingLeftToDoButDie suicide]] in order to [[TogetherInDeath reunite with her fallen kin]], only to be greeted with a vision from the Val'kyr that informs her of [[TheNothingAfterDeath the void]] that awaits her, and the sight of Arthras being reduced to a sobbing wreck, before being revived by the sacrifice of the Val'kyr. After all of this, she's been driven by a fear of death, a general sense of distrust stemming from the FantasticRacism from other people towards her and her current people, the Forsaken, and an increasing sense of nihilism.
* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'': Jodie Holmes is a girl with a psychic connection to a spectral entity known only as Aiden. Abandoned by her parents and raised by the army to become an assassin, then she's betrayed, on the run, homeless, and almost DrivenToSuicide at various points. Thanks to Aiden, she's still able to take on entire SWAT teams who go after her.

-->'''[[red: [[spoiler: We're beyond Humanity...]]]]'''

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6:'' After completely fulfilling her own self-made mission of [[spoiler: discerning the truth from the lies about Simmons and his insane agenda of both gassing Tall Oaks near-completely with the [[TheVirus C-Virus]] and being [[StalkerWithACrush madly infatuated with her]], not to mention [[EvilDoppelganger Carla Radames]] [[FrameUp pinning all of her MASSIVE war-class crimes]] [[TheScapegoat on the poor spy]], Ada Wong has so many emotional dents that it'd make Swiss Cheese look whole in comparison if her reaction after fully [[MoreDakka "cleaning house"]] is any indication...]]