History DeconstructedCharacterArchetype / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/{{Lisa}}'' deconstructs DamselInDistress, LivingMacGuffin, MysteriousWaif, and GenderRarityValue through Buddy. She is the last girl in the world, Brad finds her as a baby and raises her while having no idea who she is or where she came from, and she gets kidnapped by a gang led by a scary guy wearing a skull mask. Throughout the entire second game, she’s sought after by everyone, and even [[spoiler:[[AbusiveParents her own adoptive father]] Brad]] doesn't respect her individuality -- in fact, [[spoiler:his obsessive desire to protect her, as with many waifs, [[UnwantedRescue drives her away]] when she sees all the [[KickTheDog horrible]] [[WhatMeasureIsAMook things]] [[VillainProtagonist he]] does in pursuit of her]]. The third game, which stars her, shows exactly what kind of mental effect might be inflicted on a girl who is treated as little more than a trophy or a plot device -- [[spoiler:she ''[[FaceHeelTurn snaps]]'' and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the world, [[KillAllHumans killing off every last human and leader she can find]] intending to conquer Olathe while fully embracing the [[MisanthropeSupreme twisted philosophy]] of her birth father Dr. Yado, who set everything up]]. Ironically, [[spoiler:Rando, the aeformentoned gang leader who was initially portrayed as the BigBad is the ''only person'' who treated Buddy with respect ([[ExtremeDoormat possibly too much]])]].

* The scientists at Playtime Co. from ''VideoGame/PoppyPlaytime'' are a deconstruction of the AssholeVictim. [[spoiler:The scientists ran an orphanage which they used as a front to conduct horrific experiments on the children there, turning them into living toy mascots as part of the Bigger Bodies Initiative. Their cruel treatment of the children eventually led to "[[GottaKillThemAll The Hour of Joy]]" where under the control of [[BigBad the Prototype]], the mascots rose up and massacred every human they could find. While this would normally be seen as karmic, as Poppy herself pointed out, [[AllForNothing all that death didn't actually fix anything and was just an act of senseless slaughter]] as [[MisplacedRetribution even those who weren't involved in Playtime Co's experiments as well as innocent bystanders were killed]], making the mascots [[HeWhoFightsMonsters just as monstrous as the scientists]]. And it's for this reason Poppy seeks the Player's help to kill the Prototype and end the madness once and for all.]]

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* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'' is in many ways a deconstruction of the romantic and idealized view of the {{Yakuza}}. Kiryu is a prime example of the romantic yakuza, a powerful and noble figure who uses his outsider status and capacity to do the socially unacceptable to protect the common people against brutal thugs and overbearing powers-that-be, and shows a lot of this attitude too. The games are mostly about what happens when this ideal runs headfirst into the realities of organized crime in the 21st century.
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* ''VideoGame/NiNoKuniIIRevenantKingdom'' deconstructs the EvilChancellor archetype through its initial villain, Mausinger. In a kingdom full of CatPeople, he's a [[YouDirtyRat rat]] and the king's most trusted advisor, who one day murders him and then stages a coup against his [[AChildShallLeadThem young son]] in order to take over the kingdom. However, as you progress into the game and learn more about his backstory, you learn that [[spoiler: he really ''was'' the king's [[HeterosexualLifePartners closest friend and confidante.]] The mouse people in Ding Dong Dell had been systematically oppressed for ''centuries,'' and [[TheGoodKing King Leonhard]] had wanted to right those wrongs; he chose Mausinger to be his advisor specifically because he knew the man cared deeply for his people, and he knew that appointing a mouse to a position of power was a powerful gesture. However, Mausinger sometimes wondered if King Leonhard had chosen him ''only'' as a gesture. Outside forces [[ToxicFriendInfluence preyed upon these doubts]] to turn him against his friend, and made him believe that [[WellIntentionedExtremist a coup was the only way to truly free the mouse people.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'': Gary Smith is a destruction of the HighSchoolHustler and the {{Delinquents}}. Gary is introduced as Jimmy's first friend in Bullworth because everyone needs one to survive the academy and Jimmy only joins him because Gary was the first student who didn't try to beat him up in the first meeting. In chapter one, he leads Jimmy and Petey on all sorts of antics in school but these aren't played as awesome and funny; Gary shows himself as a callous bully who makes fun of the homeless, bullies Petey, and gets his friends in trouble for kicks. When Jimmy repeatedly tells him to calm down and stop before he gets them both expelled, Gary is offended and drags Jimmy to the hole and pits him against Russell under the erroneous belief that Jimmy hates him and will betray him. [[spoiler: His goal to take over the school was interpreted as "let's be the most popular kids in school." when he actually meant "Let's do a hostile takeover of the school and get everyone to fight each other". By the final chapter, Gary has not only lied his way to the top; he turned all the cliques against Jimmy, got the teachers and prefects on his side, and got Jimmy expelled. Gary shows how much a sociopath he is by revealing how much he enjoys manipulating people, and how he got other kids in the past unfairly expelled and put others in therapy because of his actions. In summary, this game shows how a HighSchoolHustler can't exist in the real world without being a power-hungry manipulator, how sociopathic and inattentive delinquents actually are, and how you shouldn't befriend people simply because they did the bare minimum of basic decency.]]

*** Wyll's are also examines the concept of the HeroicSacrifice. Many characters make sacrifices, but very few are actually shown living with the consequences of those actions. Wyll, however, sacrificed his soul in order to save Baldur's Gate, and Mizora ensures he lives with the consequences of it every day.

** Atton? We all know the loveable Scoundrel type has to have done some illegal and immoral things to survive, but those actions are often glossed over or never described in detail. Atton is one deeply fucked up individual who started as a Republic soldier, stayed loyal to Revan (becoming a Sith-aligned TortureTechnician), had a ''very'' [[MageKiller large body count of Jedi]], and ran to save his own skin after his last victim revealed that he was an untrained Sensitive and would be on the other end of his own torture devices once his superiors figured it out. He put a lot of effort into getting very drunk and living on the fringes to both forget what he was and to hide what he is.
--->'''Atton''': ''I haven't known who I am for years.''

*** Karlach deconstructs ThePollyanna and the {{Manchild}}. Karlach's upbeat cheerfulness is very endearing, but it comes from a very dark place. Karlach is effectively a former ChildSoldier who spent her formative years bashing skulls on the streets of Baldur's Gate then cleaving demons in Avernus, and simply wasn't given the time to have a childhood and grow into an emotionally mature person. She flip-flops between chipper and upbeat and horrifyingly violent because those are the only ways she can process her emotions. And the reason she's so upbeat and excitable in the first place? She has what's essentially a car engine for a heart, which can't function properly outside Avernus and ''will'' eventually kill her if she doesn't go back. But Karlach makes it overwhelmingly clear that she's [[NeverGoingBackToPrison never going back]], and repressing the dread of her impending death by trying to live every day like it's her last is the only way she can function in any capacity.

*** Lae'zel is a deconstruction of the ProudWarriorRaceGirl. The githyanki are a proud, dogmatic and fiercely militaristic and xenophobic race (effectively interdimensional fascists via HeWhoFightsMonsters), and Lae'zel is deeply invested into their culture. This means that she struggles with any insinuations that her culture isn't perfect and actually begins to experience cognitive dissonance when she realizes that in spite of everything she has done, most of her peers would like to kill her for having the audacity to be infected with a mind flayer parasite, even when they have the tools to get it out. In the end, you can convince her to abandon the hypocritical and destructive Githyanki culture, only to leave her directionless and lost. Cultures that encourage rigid conformity and martial prowess above all else don't tend to do well in creating independent thinkers and people who can function outside that context, no matter how awe-inspiring their prowess is.
*** Wyll deconstructs BadPowersGoodPeople, simply by asking the question if the bad powers were worth it. While Wyll is a genuine hero in every sense, the source of his powers is not, and she uses her influence over him to make it more and more difficult for him to maintain his moral code and force him into situations to which there is no good answer. Wyll is forced to make sacrifices and compromises that he hates, but can't get out of, until both the player and he start wondering if gaining those powers in the first place was worth it.

*** Karlach deconstructs ThePollyanna and the {{Manchild}}. Karlach's upbeat cheerfulness is very endearing, but it comes from a very dark place. Karlach is effectively a former ChildSoldier who spent her formative years bashing skulls on the streets of Baldur's Gate or and cleaving demons in Avernus, and simply wasn't given the time to have a childhood and grow into an emotionally mature person. She is varyingly chipper and upbeat and horrifyingly violent because those are the tools to process her emotions that she has. There's also the matter that she is so overly upbeat and exciteable because [[spoiler:her Infernal Engine [[YourDaysAreNumbered will actually kill her at an unspecified point in the near future]]]] and repressing the existential dread from it by trying to enjoy everything else as much as possible is the only way she can function in any capacity.

*** Arthur Morgan of the VillainProtagonist from your typical WideOpenSandbox. Once again, Creator/RockstarGames shows us, as in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', how depressing the life of our VillainProtagonist could be from their respective context. Sure, he may not have had a choice in the beginning, but his acceptance of being the [[ThenLetMeBeEvil "bad guy"]] leaves him feeling pretty shitty about himself. Reading his journal reveals that he is also under a lot of stress and that he feels that he can't help prevent everything from spiraling out of control. After he finds out [[spoiler:he's dying, then he's wracked with guilt; desperate to make what amends he can, having realized that all he's done has not been worth it. The final nail in the coffin is if the player chooses to help John and has good karma, his last words will be [[RedemptionEqualsDeath "I tried. In the end... I did."]]]] Arthur may be a killing machine with over dozens, perhaps hundreds of kills to his name, but the game goes to great lengths to detail how toxic and harmful living a life of constant conflict is for anybody. Even if you're [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential a particularly nasty player]], never at any point is Arthur's lifestyle treated as something awesome. As a result, he [[spoiler:dies]] as he lived: fighting petty, pathetic criminals who are worse than him. And like [[spoiler:John, he's one of an ActionDad. How do you balance between a loving, long-distance relationship with your girlfriend and her son, and an unpredictable criminal lifestyle in the 1890's? [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome You don't]]]].

*** Karlach deconstructs ThePollyanna and the {{Manchild}}. Karlach's upbeat cheerfulness is very endearing, but it comes from a very dark place. Karlach is effectively a former ChildSoldier who spent her formative years bashing skulls on the streets of Baldur's Gate or and cleaving demons in Avernus, and simply wasn't given the time to have a childhood and grow into an emotionally mature person. She is varyingly chipper and upbeat and horrifyingly violent because those are the tools to process her emotions that she has. There's also the matter that she is so overly upbeat and exciteable because [[spoiler:her Infernal Engine [[YourDaysAreNumbered will actually kill her at an unspecified point in the near future]]]] and repressing the existential dread from it is the only way she can function in any capacity.

*** Karlach deconstructs ThePollyanna and the {{Manchild}}. Karlach's upbeat cheerfulness is very endearing, but it comes from a very dark place. Karlach is effectively a former ChildSoldier who spent her formative years bashing skulls on the streets of Baldur's Gate or and cleaving demons in Avernus, and simply wasn't given the time to have a childhood and grow into an emotionally mature person. She is varyingly chipper and upbeat and horrifyingly violent because those are the tools to process her emotions that she has.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}:

* Zoe Muller from ''VideoGame/Road96'' deconstructs the RichKidTurnedSocialActivist. Zoe wants to fight against the corruption in Petria's government [[DefectorFromDecadence despite having been born into wealth herself]], and she lacks any fear of what could happen to her. However her fearlessness makes her [[FearlessFool rash and foolish]] compared to others from less privileged backgrounds who show more common sense and caution, meaning that despite her best intentions she becomes TheLoad due to the many mistakes she makes.

*** Jack at the end of the first game [[spoiler:pretty much becomes a classic Western protagonist due to being a [[TheDrifter wandering]] [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]] with [[TheAloner no friends]] and a [[DarkAndTroubledPast tragic past]]. In free roam players can have Jack travel across the US and Mexico helping people and hunting criminals as a bounty hunter, further showing his similarities to characters from this genre. The deconstruction comes from the fact that players get to see exactly what could turn someone into this type of character and how unfulfilling it is, as well as how anyone choosing to be this would have to be a DeathSeeker with severe depression]].

*** Jack at the end of the first game [[spoiler:becomes pretty much becomes a classic Western protagonist due to being a [[TheDrifter wandering]] [[TheGunslinger gunslinger]] with [[TheAloner no friends]] and a [[DarkAndTroubledPast tragic past]]. In free roam players can have Jack travel across the US and Mexico helping people and hunting criminals as a bounty hunter, further showing his similarities to characters from this genre. The deconstruction comes from the fact that players get to see exactly what could turn someone into this type of character and how unfulfilling it is, as well as how anyone choosing to be this would have to be a DeathSeeker with severe depression]].

** Merrill in ''VideoGameDragonAgeII'' is, according to WordOfGod, a deconstruction of the "selfless waif willing to sacrifice herself for those around her". Merrill's dabbling in dangerous magic and knowledge causes herself and others unnecessary danger and grief, her belief that she alone can control the outcome of her actions is shown to be an inherently proud and selfish mentality rather than giving and selfless, and that expecting others to stand back and allow her to endanger herself [[spoiler:can result in those close to her getting killed, like Marethari's, because most people wouldn't just stand back and watch someone they love dearly die]].