History ButtMonkey / Literature

* Darkstripe and Snowtuft from ''WarriorCats'' are always getting picked on by the other villains. In Snowtuft's first appearance, his belly is violently sliced open, and later Mapleshade thinks that he was spying on her so she forces him into a battle where he gets wounded horrifically. Meanwhile, Darkstripe is repaid for his UndyingLoyalty to Tigerstar by being constantly mocked and beaten up when he so much as looks at the others.

* Most TomHolt main characters have things go hideously wrong for them more or less nonstop. Everything from jackass parents to being a pawn in century-old {{Xanatos Gambit}}s to [[spoiler: ''having the Queen of the Fey wipe your girlfriend's memory of you''.]] At the end of the story, they are usually given a lot of money and/or a vast region of land somewhere on the other side of the world as a karmic payoff for putting up with vast amounts of misery.

* Bill in ''AliceInWonderland''. First he's catapulted out of a chimney, then Alice is kind of mean to him when he's part of the jury.

* Bill in ''{{Alice in Wonderland}}''. First he's catapulted out of a chimney, then Alice is kind of mean to him when he's part of the jury.

* Tanith Low from SkulduggeryPleasant by Derek Landy. She was meant to be killed off in the first book but the publishers said it was too depressing so Landy was forced to keep her in. He wasn't pleased about that. Now as punishment for surviving, in every book she gets tortured in some way. Now she's possessed by an evil spirit and has eloped with a psychopathic hitman. She hasn't been seen since.

* Born as a deformed dwarf, having his own mother die bringing him into the world, growing up being reviled and hated by his father, having his first wife gang-raped by his father's garrison, becoming the laughing stock of Westeros despite being wise and kind ([[BlackAndGrayMorality or at least not cruel]]), falsely accused of murder and imprisoned [[spoiler: twice]], protecting a city with his life only gaining more scorn, getting half his nose cut off, denied of his birthright, forced into a second marriage with a woman who finds him repulsive, [[spoiler: finding his lover in his father's bed and becoming an exile wanted by the whole of Westeros after [[OedipusRex killing both]]]], [[spoiler: becoming a broken down drunk in exile, and getting captured, sold into slavery and nearly fed to lions for a momentary laugh from the audience of the Meerenese arena]] -- Tyrion Lannister from ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'' is, without a doubt, one of the best examples of a dramatic Butt Monkey.[More of a Jerkass Woobie to me. People get downright fierce about him.]

* Mr Bagthorpe of ''The Bagthorpe Saga''. Yes, he brings a lot of it on himself, but fact remains he's bedevilled by more disasters, wrong bank statements, goats and awful relatives than anyone else in children's literature. If he doesn't break his arm trying to stand on his head he's accidentally bidding for hundreds of pounds of junk in auctions. And he's suspected of being a terrorist and murdering his wife in the later books. To quote, "I am the archetypal can carrier of all time!"

** Life just seems to hate Severus Snape. The poor guy [[spoiler: is born into poverty to an abusive father and possibly a neglectful mother. At nine years old, he is socially awkward and Lily Evens, a girl he's love from afar for some time, is implied to be his first and only friend, and even then nine out of ten times she becomes cross with him for some reason or the other. Her sister, Petunia, acts cruelly to him and mocks him and is it likely that other children had done this in the past, given his apparent sensitivity to the matter. On the train to Hogwarts, they meet James Potter and Sirius Black who mock Severus for his choice in house, which is very despised by those of other houses. During their Sorting, Severus gets his wish, but Lily is Sorted into the rival house. Almost immediately their friendship starts to suffer and Lily is making new friends. James and Sirius go on to bully Severus for the rest of his school career and Sirius once nearly killed him. Severus, desperate to belong to something big and wanting to impress Lily, befriends future Death Eaters, but it only puts a huge strain on his friendship with her, as well as forces him to ware a mask of supremacy. Their friendship suffers more and more until Severus snaps and [[ThatCameOutWrong calls Lily a Mudblood]]. Severus is horrified by this and persists in his apologies, which she ignores. Severus gives up as Lily starts dating James, the worst of his bullies, and eventually marries him. As a Death Eater, Severus inadvertently puts Lily, now a young mother, in danger and goes to an angry Dumbledore for help. He begs Voldemort for Lily's safely, but she is killed anyway. He is appointed a teach at Hogwarts, but is made to be a Potions teacher instead of the Defense Against The Dark Arts position which he would like to teach and is always losing good professors. He earns himself a horrible reputation among the students and, when Harry appears, he is charged by Dumbledore with protecting the kid, who he hates, or else he fails Lily. He is disrespected, mocked and blamed for every other thing that happens in the series by Harry and his friends. Later, he makes an Unbreakable Vow to protect a young Death Eater who dislikes him and refuses his help and apparently doesn't care weather or not her dies and Severus and Dumbledore arrange his murder, which he ultimately does not want to do. In the end, he is forced to do it or die and everyone turns against him, believing him evil. He became Headmaster of the school, but with strict restrictions. Severus leaves his post after a duel with [=McGonagall=] and is victim to a huge oversight by Voldemort, which results in his needless, gruesome and painful death. He lives just long enough to give Harry his memories explaining everything. It is not until after his death that Severus is presumably seen in a positive light thanks to Harry, who now greatly respects him.]]

** Life just seems to hate Severus Snape. The poor guy [[spoiler: is born into poverty to an abusive father and possibly a neglectful mother. At nine years old, he is socially awkward and Lily Evens, a girl he's love from afar for some time, is implied to be his first and only friend, and even then nine out of ten times she becomes cross with him for some reason or the other. Her sister, Petunia, acts cruelly to him and mocks him and is it likely that other children had done this in the past, given his apparent sensitivity to the matter. On the train to Hogwarts, they meet James Potter and Sirius Black who mock Severus for his choice in house, which is very despised by those of other houses. During their Sorting, Severus gets his wish, but Lily is Sorted into the rival house. Almost immediately their friendship starts to suffer and Lily is making new friends. James and Sirius go on to bully Severus for the rest of his school career and Sirius once nearly killed him. Severus, desperate to belong to something big and wanting to impress Lily, befriends future Death Eaters, but it only puts a huge strain on his friendship with her, as well as forces him to ware a mask of supremacy. Their friendship suffers more and more until Severus snaps and [[CameOutWrong calls Lily a Mudblood]]. Severus is horrified by this and persists in his apologies, which she ignores. Severus gives up as Lily starts dating James, the worst of his bullies, and eventually marries him. As a Death Eater, Severus inadvertently puts Lily, now a young mother, in danger and goes to an angry Dumbledore for help. He begs Voldemort for Lily's safely, but she is killed anyway. He is appointed a teach at Hogwarts, but is made to be a Potions teacher instead of the Defense Against The Dark Arts position which he would like to teach and is always losing good professors. He earns himself a horrible reputation among the students and, when Harry appears, he is charged by Dumbledore with protecting the kid, who he hates, or else he fails Lily. He is disrespected, mocked and blamed for every other thing that happens in the series by Harry and his friends. Later, he makes an Unbreakable Vow to protect a young Death Eater who dislikes him and refuses his help and apparently doesn't care weather or not her dies and Severus and Dumbledore arrange his murder, which he ultimately does not want to do. In the end, he is forced to do it or die and everyone turns against him, believing him evil. He became Headmaster of the school, but with strict restrictions. Severus leaves his post after a duel with McGonagall and is victim to a huge oversight by Voldemort, which results in his needless, gruesome and painful death. He lives just long enough to give Harry his memories explaining everything. It is not until after his death that Severus is presumably seen in a positive light thanks to Harry, who now greatly respects him.]]

** Life just seems to hate Severus Snape. The poor guy [[spoiler is born into poverty to an abusive father and possibly a neglectful mother. At nine years old, he is socially awkward and Lily Evens, a girl he's love from afar for some time, is implied to be his first and only friend, and even then nine out of ten times she becomes cross with him for some reason or the other. Her sister, Petunia, acts cruelly to him and mocks him and is it likely that other children had done this in the past, given his apparent sensitivity to the matter. On the train to Hogwarts, they meet James Potter and Sirius Black who mock Severus for his choice in house, which is very despised by those of other houses. During their Sorting, Severus gets his wish, but Lily is Sorted into the rival house. Almost immediately their friendship starts to suffer and Lily is making new friends. James and Sirius go on to bully Severus for the rest of his school career and Sirius once nearly killed him. Severus, desperate to belong to something big and wanting to impress Lily, befriends future Death Eaters, but it only puts a huge strain on his friendship with her, as well as forces him to ware a mask of supremacy. Their friendship suffers more and more until Severus snaps and [[CameOutWrong calls Lily a Mudblood]]. Severus is horrified by this and persists in his apologies, which she ignores. Severus gives up as Lily starts dating James, the worst of his bullies, and eventually marries him. As a Death Eater, Severus inadvertently puts Lily, now a young mother, in danger and goes to an angry Dumbledore for help. He begs Voldemort for Lily's safely, but she is killed anyway. He is appointed a teach at Hogwarts, but is made to be a Potions teacher instead of the Defense Against The Dark Arts position which he would like to teach and is always losing good professors. He earns himself a horrible reputation among the students and, when Harry appears, he is charged by Dumbledore with protecting the kid, who he hates, or else he fails Lily. He is disrespected, mocked and blamed for every other thing that happens in the series by Harry and his friends. Later, he makes an Unbreakable Vow to protect a young Death Eater who dislikes him and refuses his help and apparently doesn't care weather or not her dies and Severus and Dumbledore arrange his murder, which he ultimately does not want to do. In the end, he is forced to do it or die and everyone turns against him, believing him evil. He became Headmaster of the school, but with strict restrictions. Severus leaves his post after a duel with McGonagall and is victim to a huge oversight by Voldemort, which results in his needless, gruesome and painful death. He lives just long enough to give Harry his memories explaining everything. It is not until after his death that Severus is presumably seen in a positive light thanks to Harry, who now greatly respects him.]]

** Life just seems to hate Severus Snape. The poor guy[[spoiler is born into poverty to an abusive father and possibly a neglectful mother. At nine years old, he is socially awkward and Lily Evens, a girl he's love from afar for some time, is implied to be his first and only friend, and even then nine out of ten times she becomes cross with him for some reason or the other. Her sister, Petunia, acts cruelly to him and mocks him and is it likely that other children had done this in the past, given his apparent sensitivity to the matter. On the train to Hogwarts, they meet James Potter and Sirius Black who mock Severus for his choice in house, which is very despised by those of other houses. During their Sorting, Severus gets his wish, but Lily is Sorted into the rival house. Almost immediately their friendship starts to suffer and Lily is making new friends. James and Sirius go on to bully Severus for the rest of his school career and Sirius once nearly killed him. Severus, desperate to belong to something big and wanting to impress Lily, befriends future Death Eaters, but it only puts a huge strain on his friendship with her, as well as forces him to ware a mask of supremacy. Their friendship suffers more and more until Severus snaps and [[CameOutWrong calls Lily a Mudblood]]. Severus is horrified by this and persists in his apologies, which she ignores. Severus gives up as Lily starts dating James, the worst of his bullies, and eventually marries him. As a Death Eater, Severus inadvertently puts Lily, now a young mother, in danger and goes to an angry Dumbledore for help. He begs Voldemort for Lily's safely, but she is killed anyway. He is appointed a teach at Hogwarts, but is made to be a Potions teacher instead of the Defense Against The Dark Arts position which he would like to teach and is always losing good professors. He earns himself a horrible reputation among the students and, when Harry appears, he is charged by Dumbledore with protecting the kid, who he hates, or else he fails Lily. He is disrespected, mocked and blamed for every other thing that happens in the series by Harry and his friends. Later, he makes an Unbreakable Vow to protect a young Death Eater who dislikes him and refuses his help and apparently doesn't care weather or not her dies and Severus and Dumbledore arrange his murder, which he ultimately does not want to do. In the end, he is forced to do it or die and everyone turns against him, believing him evil. He became Headmaster of the school, but with strict restrictions. Severus leaves his post after a duel with McGonagall and is victim to a huge oversight by Voldemort, which results in his needless, gruesome and painful death. He lives just long enough to give Harry his memories explaining everything. It is not until after his death that Severus is presumably seen in a positive light thanks to Harry, who now greatly respects him.]]

* Many a Thomas Hardy protagonist, particularly Jude of ''Jude the Obscure'' and Tess in ''[[TessOfTheDUrbervilles Tess of the D'Urbervilles]].'' Jude and Tess both begin as wholesome, virtuous innocents until about the fourth page of their respective books, in which a endless series of escalating tragedies designed to rob them of all hope begin because GodIsEvil and [[InherentInTheSystem Victorian morality stifles any hope of a freethinking life]]. When things do improve in some minor fashion, it is only to make the next tragedy all the more poignant. Thomas Hardy biographers have tried and failed to come up with a reason for his unrelenting grimness; perhaps a contemporary review of ''Jude the Obscure'' sums the case up best by saying that, "He is depressing because he himself is somewhat depressed."

* Juro in ''{{Krabat}}'' most of the time. [[ObfuscatingStupidity He rolls with it]] and to him it is never mean...

* Agrajag in ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy~=]'' books has his fate intertwined with Arthur Dent's in a unique way. He has been reincarnated as a bowl of petunias, a baby rabbit, and a cricket spectator, not to mention countless flies and other bugs, all of which died at least in part due to Arthur Dent's actions. Agrajag suspects malice on Arthur's part, but Arthur insists it's just "the universe playing silly buggers with the pair of us."

* PGWodehouse's [[JeevesAndWooster Bertie Wooster]] could easily be classed a Butt Monkey. He's forever insulted by everyone he knows, berated by his aunts, and is made to perform degrading errands by people who lean on ties of family or friendship to make him do those hideous tasks. Even Jeeves called him "mentally negligible".

* Born as a deformed dwarf, having his own mother die bringing him into the world, growing up being reviled and hated by his father, having his first wife gang-raped by his father's garrison, becoming the laughing stock of Westeros despite being wise and kind ([[BlackAndGrayMorality or at least not cruel]]), falsely accused of murder and imprisoned [[spoiler: twice]], protecting a city with his life only gaining more scorn, getting half his nose cut off, denied of his birthright, forced into a second marriage with a woman who finds him repulsive, [[spoiler: finding his lover in his father's bed and becoming an exile wanted by the whole of Westeros after [[OedipusRex killing both]]]] -- Tyrion Lannister from ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'' is, without a doubt, one of the best examples of a dramatic Butt Monkey.[More of a Jerkass Woobie to me. People get downright fierce about him.]

** Also Smike in [[Nicholas Nickleby]]. He's beaten and enslaved by Squeers and his family until Nicholas takes him under his wing. While the Nickleby family care for him, his love for Nicholas' sister Kate is unrequited. He eventually [[spoiler: dies, then it turns out the father he never knew is Ralph, Nicholas' cruel, uncaring uncle.]]

** Even though things work out for her in the end, Fanny Price of [[Mansfield Park]] would certainly count. She's constantly berated by her own relatives for coming from a poor family, despite doing nothing to antagonise them and is then relentlessly harassed by Henry Crawford, who just can't seem to accept she doesn't want to marry him.

* Bill in {{Alice in Wonderland}}. First he's catapulted out of a chimney, then Alice is kind of mean to him when he's part of the jury.

* In ''[[{{Swordspoint}} The Privilege of the Sword]]'' the GenreSavvy Alec sets Katherine up to be one, but she is one (briefly) because she believes she is. She gets over it, though.

* ''{{The Wonderful Wizard of Oz}}'': Nick Chopper (the Tin Woodsman) was the Butt Monkey of Oz. Ordinary Munchkin woodcutter, falls for a girl and wants to marry her. Problem: the girl, her family, or both (continuity wasn't Baum's strong suit) work for the Witch of the East. So, the Witch puts a spell on Nick's axe. When he tries to use it, he ends up dismembering himself. Adding insult to injury, the Witch dangled his hacked-off limbs from her broom like a bad pair of fuzzy dice. Oh, the tinner always came along and replaces his hacked-off parts with tin, but Nick was more machine than man by the time Dorothy found him. The reason he wanted a heart in the first place was so that he could go back to his girl and be a proper husband for her!

* Born as a deformed dwarf, having his own mother die bringing him into the world, growing up being reviled and hated by his father, having his first wife gang-raped by his father's garrison, becoming the laughing stock of Westeros despite being wise and kind ([[BlackAndGrayMorality or at least not cruel]]), falsely accused of murder and imprisoned [[spoiler: twice]], protecting a city with his life only gaining more scorn, getting half his nose cut off, denied of his birthright, forced into a second marriage with a woman who finds him repulsive, [[spoiler: finding his lover in his father's bed and becoming an exile wanted by the whole of Westeros after [[OedipusRex killing both]]]] -- Tyrion Lannister from ''{{A Song of Ice and Fire}}'' is, without a doubt, one of the best examples of a dramatic Butt Monkey.

** Peter Pettigrew took away Neville's title ever since the third book was released. Mostly because of the snark delivered his way by people from his ex-friends like Lupin and Sirius, to Voldemort himself. And all verbally assaulted him and gave him crappy jobs for the mere pleasure in seeing him squirm. But then again, when you decide to do a FaceHeelTurn on your best friends knowing it'll lead them to death [[FateWorseThanDeath or worse]], then spend thirteen years as ''a rat'', you kind of deserve the title of Butt Monkey.

--->'''Rincewind:''' I do not wish to volunteer for this mission.\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' I beg your pardon?\
'''Rincewind:''' I do not wish to volunteer, sir.\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' No one was asking you to.\
'''Rincewind:''' ''(wagging a weary finger)'' Oh, but they will, sir. They will. Someone will say: hey, that Rincewind fella, he's the adventurous sort, he knows the Horde, Cohen seems to like him, he knows all there is to know about cruel and unusual geography, he'd be just the job for something like this. ''(sighing)'' And then I'll run away, and probably hide in a crate somewhere that'll be loaded on to the flying machine in any case.\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' Will you?\
'''Rincewind:''' Probably, sir. Or there'll be a whole string of accidents that end up causing the same thing. Trust me. sir, I know how my life works. So I thought I'd better cut through the whole tedious business and come along and tell you I don't wish to volunteer.\
'''Lord Vetinari:''' I think you've left out a logical step somewhere...\