History Main / CosmicPlaything

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'': Nagito Komaeda is UnluckilyLucky to a supernatural degree, living in a constant cycle of extremely bad luck followed by extremely good luck. In elementary school the plane he was on with his parents got hijacked, and then was later struck by a small meteor in mid-flight, which took out the hijackers but also killed his parents, thus leaving him a massive inheritance. Then he was kidnapped for said inheritance but ended up being saved by the police, and also found a winning lottery ticket in the bag the kidnappers stuffed him in. And so on, and so on. This teeter-totter fortune has given him a blind faith in things going his way when he needs them to, and a belief in all his misfortunes being the precursor to good fortune.

* A common pastime of the [[DeusEstMachina Archailects]] in ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', some think that the only reason they still allow "lower life forms" to exist is for entertainment.

* ''VideoGame/{{BlazBlue}}'': Taken up to [[SerialEscalation INFINITY]] with Ragna the Bloodedge. It got so bad that the fanbase felt like the only way for him to get his happy ending was by dying and be put out of his misery, [[spoiler: and that's pretty much what happened]].

* '''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:''' Wanda Maximoff. The poor woman seems to exists just to suffer one misery after another. From losing her parents, brother, lover and sons, to being neglected by her teammates to the point of feeling alone, to being corrupted by an evil book, it's no surprise that she [[SanitySlippage ends going crazy]]. [[spoiler:And the fact that, as the Scarlet Witch, she's the ChosenOne of a Demon Lord, and destined to either rule or destroy the Multiverse, seems to have a hand on it.]]

* ''VideoGame/Phantasmagoria2'': Curtis Craig is this. [[spoiler:Literally.]]

* In the fanfic Level Up[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21393373/chapters/50964985]] Izuku has a Quirk that gives him a SuddenGameInterface. However, the interface hates him, and the spats against Izuku got so bad that some fans feared that the author would have One For All go to someone else after Izuku was given All Might's hair. ''And the fears were justified.''

* In a similar vein, the first two ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games have the "Jinxed" Trait, which increase the chance of a critical failure for the player and also for anyone nearby. While generally reviled, walkthrough writer Per Jorner has stated that Jinxed could be useful for a "pure (and weird) Hand-to-Hand build."

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'', [[spoiler:everyone but Raziel]] is a plaything of destiny. Ironically enough, the lone exception finds himself being manipulated by everyone else ''because'' he is the only being in existence with true free will.

* Lucas from ''VideoGame/Mother3''. [[spoiler:His mother dies, his brother goes missing and turns up as an evil cyborg who later kills himself to join his mother, and his father goes nearly insane with grief. Even the dog is upset about it.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' fan campaign ''VideoGame/TheMaimedGodsSaga'', [[spoiler:the plot ends up revolving around a bet made between Tyr (the LawfulGood god of justice) and Malar (the ChaoticEvil god of evil lycanthropes and cannibalism), and the player is unwittingly dragged into it.]]
* The Great "Warrior" Susano from ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' becomes convinced over time that his feats of skill are a result of the gods toying with him. Given that the player ''is'' a god and assists him throughout the game, though, he's not too far off the mark.
* Done literally in the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series, where several of the protagonists and antagonists alike are just pawns used by deities beyond their comprehension to determine the fate of humanity.

* Curtis Craig of ''VideoGame/Phantasmagoria2'' is this. [[spoiler:Literally.]]

* This is the central concept of ''VideoGame/TheSims''. When forced into several dire scenarios a Sim will actively look towards the player, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential begging for mercy or salvation]]. You are for all intents and purposes their freewill ''and'' deity.
* Franchise/TouhouProject'': How much of a Cosmic Plaything are you when "Cosmic Plaything" is pretty much your innate [[BlessedWithSuck special ability]]? No matter what Sagume Kishin says, the universe always conspires to oppose her words through [[RealityWarper any means possible]]. Due to this, she tends to [[TheQuietOne not speak very much]] and [[PowerIncontinence always chooses her words carefully]]... On the plus side she ''has'' found a way to weaponize this power: If she speaks about something bad occurring, it will eventually resolve itself. That said, there's absolutely no guarantee that the situation will necessarily [[OutOfTheFryingPan resolve itself the way Sagume wants it to resolve itself]], though.

* This is the central concept of ''VideoGame/TheSims''. When forced into several dire scenarios a Sim will actively look towards the player, [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential begging for mercy or salvation]]. You are for all intents and purposes their freewill ''and'' deity.
* Daniel from ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent''. His entire life - from his abusive childhood with a chronically ill younger sister all the way up to his experiences during the game itself - resembles an extremely cruel and miserable practical joke, and this is without taking into account just what he did while in the service of Baron Alexander, or why. Or that he's afraid of the dark in a horror game with the word "Dark" in its title.
* Maggey Byrde in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' is convinced this is her lot in life, dating back to when she fell out of her family's ninth-story apartment at six months old. As she notes, her luck is bad to the point she's never even ''tied'' at TabletopGame/TicTacToe. Being one of the three characters to be the defendant in three separate cases (the others being Maya Fey and Phoenix himself, who also got three times in the hot seat) goes a long way towards backing up that claim.
* Nagito Komaeda in ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' is UnluckilyLucky to a supernatural degree, living in a constant cycle of extremely bad luck followed by extremely good luck. In elementary school the plane he was on with his parents got hijacked, and then was later struck by a small meteor in mid-flight, which took out the hijackers but also killed his parents, thus leaving him a massive inheritance. Then he was kidnapped for said inheritance but ended up being saved by the police, and also found a winning lottery ticket in the bag the kidnappers stuffed him in. And so on, and so on. This teeter-totter fortune has given him a blind faith in things going his way when he needs them to, and a belief in all his misfortunes being the precursor to good fortune.
* The Great "Warrior" Susano from ''VideoGame/{{Okami}}'' becomes convinced over time that his feats of skill are a result of the gods toying with him. Given that the player ''is'' a god and assists him throughout the game, though, he's not too far off the mark.
* Curtis Craig of ''VideoGame/Phantasmagoria2'' is this. [[spoiler:Literally.]]
* ''Everyone'' in the ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' is [[BigBad Chzo's]] plaything.

* [[TheLancer Yosuke's]] ButtMonkey status basically gets upgraded to this in ''VideoGame/Persona4: The Golden''. Specifically, he wonders if he is cursed, or [[GypsyCurse insulted a gypsy]].

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'', [[spoiler:everyone but Raziel]] is a plaything of destiny. Ironically enough, the lone exception finds himself being manipulated by everyone else ''because'' he is the only being in existence with true free will.
* Pit in ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'' is a ''literal'' Cosmic Plaything, as the ''gods themselves'' make fun of him, whether or not they're on his side.
* Axl Low of ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' is a funny, easy-going British guy who has been forcibly dragged away from his friends and his girlfriend Megumi into a mess of apocalyptic proportions by the machinations of beings who ''aren't even from his own time period''. The poor guy has no interest in any of their crap and just wants to go home, but to have a chance of doing that, he has to reluctantly work to their agendas. Add in the implication that his troubles are being caused by an unknown EvilCounterpart, and he ''really'' has a mess to get sorted out. [[spoiler:''Revelator'' cranks it up further by revealing that poor Axl isn't even human at all[[note]](rather, he's a [[PureMagicBeing sentient bundle of magic energy]] with RealityWarper and TimeMaster powers)[[/note]] and ''probably never was'', and going home ''is'' possible but it means wiping out ''this'' timeline and all his friends with it. Faced with this SadisticChoice in the finale, [[IChooseToStay he chooses]] [[HeroicSacrifice the latter]].]]
* How much of a Cosmic Plaything are you when "Cosmic Plaything" is pretty much your innate [[BlessedWithSuck special ability]]? No matter what [[Franchise/TouhouProject Sagume Kishin]] says, the universe always conspires to oppose her words through [[RealityWarper any means possible]]. Due to this, she tends to [[TheQuietOne not speak very much]] and [[PowerIncontinence always chooses her words carefully]]... On the plus side she ''has'' found a way to weaponize this power: If she speaks about something bad occurring, it will eventually resolve itself. That said, there's absolutely no guarantee that the situation will necessarily [[OutOfTheFryingPan resolve itself the way Sagume wants it to resolve itself]], though.
* Taken up to [[SerialEscalation INFINITY]] with ''VideoGame/{{BlazBlue}}'''s Ragna the Bloodedge. It got so bad that the fanbase felt like the only way for him to get his happy ending was by dying and be put out of his misery, [[spoiler: and that's pretty much what happened]].
* While a lot of the misery in his life was his own fault, the rest of the hardships Kratos from the ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series suffered came from him [[spoiler:being a demigod son of Zeus destined to destroy Olympus.]] He never really had a chance.
* ''Every single character'' in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' is this - twice over, in fact! Before the game even starts, the universe has spent a very long time under the control of [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Flowey the flower]]]], who has the ability to manipulate time and has RippleEffectProofMemory. Towards the end of the Genocide route, he tells you that, [[spoiler:in an increasingly more desperate attempt to keep himself entertained in the face of [[WhoWantsToLiveForever nigh-immortality]], he's reset the timeline a truly [[TimeAbyss staggering]] amount of times, [[OneHundredPercentCompletion doing everything from helping solve each and every character's problems to killing everybody in cold blood]].]] He tells you that, after a certain point, he's basically stopped seeing people as real people anymore - at best, they're now actors, with scripted lines and motions to go through, and he's long grown tired of the act. As soon as you show up, however, things suddenly get a lot more interesting for him, because [[spoiler:you, the [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall protagonist/player]], are the new god of this world]], and your abilities now override his own. [[AddressingThePlayer So, what will you do]]? Will you be merciful and lead the suffering cast of characters into the promised land, or will you descend into nihilistic madness like [[spoiler:Flowey]] in your attempts to see everything this game has to offer? Or will you skip over the descent entirely and just JumpOffTheSlipperySlope, killing everything in your path just because you can? Amazingly, this whole thing is done with exceedingly little actual breakage of the fourth wall, since [[DevelopersForesight practically everything the player is capable of doing is integrated into the canonical universe somehow]].
** This whole mess comes to an important head during the final battle of the Genocide route, where you face off against the game's FourthWallObserver, [[spoiler:Sans]]. Though we never find out exactly how, he is the only character in the game who ''knows'' he's a Cosmic Plaything and uses this to his advantage in several ways. Notably, [[spoiler:he attempts to have an IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight with the ''player'', reminding them of the previous games they've most likely played (who does the Genocide route on the first go, right?) and pulling a number of scathing WhatTheHellPlayer moments.]] The creator of the game seems to be using [[spoiler:Sans]] to make the following argument: in a meta sense, being a video game character in and of itself makes you a Cosmic Plaything, and VideoGameCrueltyPotential is how the "cosmos" indulges in this.
* Some fans have started to wonder if Rean Schwarzer from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel'' is the world's plaything as any attempt he does to do good, ends up screwing him over in the worst possible way.

** In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', [[TheProtagonist Joker]] and [[spoiler:[[SixthRangerTraitor Goro Akechi]]]] are pawns in a cosmic game orchestrated by [[spoiler:Yaldabaoth]] to determine whose salvation of the world is stronger.

* ''VideoGame/DragonballFighterz'': Android 21... where do we even begin? She lost her son, was turned into an android by her husband [[spoiler: Doctor Gero]], and was activated long after his death with no recollection of her past life. She tried to make the best of her situation by rebuilding Android 16, who was modeled after her son, but she ends up killing him in all three story arcs. [[spoiler: Her own story arc has 21 kill 16 in a fit of HorrorHunger, crossing into the DespairEventHorizon upon regaining her senses and [[EnemyWithout creating an evil duplicate of herself.]]]] She still attempted to make things right by helping the Z-Fighters stop [[spoiler: the evil 21]], but unfortunately [[spoiler: she still has to pull a HeroicSacrifice to [[TakingYouWithMe destroy them both]], fearing her hunger would resurface again.]] At the end of the day, [[TheWoobie you just can't help but want to give the poor girl a hug]].
* The plot of ''VideoGame/PitPeople'' revolves around humble blueberry farmer Horatio getting screwed over by the Narrator [[spoiler:the giant space bear Honey Kiss]] who hates him for no real reason. It starts with the Narrator siccing a bunch of cannibals who want to eat Horatio's son Hansel on him, followed by the Narrator smashing Horatio's house (and his son) when Horatio inconsiderately refuses to die. The Narrator also constantly denigrates Horatio throughout the game.
* The Security Officer from ''{{VideoGame/Marathon}}'' is quite a big example of this trope. His OneManArmy tendencies are used by all sides, [[BlackAndGrayMorality "good" and bad,]] for their own gain, and he basically has no say in what he does. In fact, [[spoiler: the third game is about him [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome wresting control of his own destiny from the outside forces that control his fate.]] While also [[MindScrew jumping across multiple timeline in order to prevent an]] EldritchAbomination [[MindScrew from devouring all of creation]]]]
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** This time around in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', Cloud increasingly shows frustration with how he doesn't seem to have any control in his life, such as his monologue on the train. [[spoiler:It makes him an easy target for Sephiroth's manipulations since this Sephiroth makes sure to rub it in every single time Cloud fails. Despite hating Sephiroth for killing his mom, he briefly considers joining his enemy when Sephiroth offers to let Cloud make his own fate.]]
---> [[spoiler: '''Sephiroth''']]: ''[after [[spoiler:Sector 7 is destroyed]]]'' You have failed again, I see.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'': [[spoiler:Ardyn]] is methodically driven insane by [[spoiler:the gods, ''intentionally'']], in order to stop a plague through mass genocide.
** ''All of reality'' in ''VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend''. [[spoiler:The Creator brought a series of worlds into existence, linked by his Tower. Then he spread a rumor that whoever could reach the top of the Tower would find Paradise. And to make sure people would ''want'' to climb the Tower, he seeded every single world with various calamities and tyrants, most notably Ashura and the Four Fiends. All this because ''he was '''bored'''''.]]

---> '''Gumball:''' I swear, sometimes it's like the whole universe is against me.

* Carl from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce''. He's been harassed by aliens, haunted by a mechanical ghost, raped by a genetically engineered dog, bought a recorder that took complete control over his body, had his car and house damaged repeatedly, and has even [[TheyKilledKennyAgain died on many occasions]].
* Prince Zuko of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' has resigned himself to the fact that everything in the universe seems to be working against him and his pursuit of his goals. He copes with this by priding himself on [[{{Determinator}} struggling and fighting for his victories]] with no help from cosmic luck.

* The four main characters in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''. Cartman had been anal probed for starters, Kenny has been killed many times, and Stan and Kyle would sometimes get ridiculously short ends of the stick, especially Kyle for some reason.
** Episodes like "Cartmanland" and "[=HUMANCENTiPAD=]" seem to imply that Cartman is God's plaything, receiving what he loves and then having it taken away just to mess with him. ''Definitely'' a case of CallItKarma, though--"Cartmanland" largely focused on the idea that a universe where Cartman actually got what he wanted would not be just.
* Timmy Turner, the main character in ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''. Granted, the prerequsit to have Fairy Godparents in the first place is to be miserable but even then he is tormented constantly. The writers even go so far as subverting the ''Film/ItsAWonderfulLife'' [[ItsAWonderfulPlot trope]] by letting the character of Jorgen Von Strangle tell Timmy that his very existence causes misery for everyone. He is also frequently tormented by Francis TheBully, Vicky his evil babysitter, and Mr. Crocker his SadistTeacher. And that's not including his [[ParentalNeglect neglectful parents.]] Even when Timmy wishes for his situation to improve, he is forced to wish everything back to normal (more often than not because said wishes proceed to make things worse!), a very notorious ResetButton, thus continuing his ongoing misery.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'''s sister Candace. Her relentless quest to "bust" her brothers and prove their outlandish activities to their parents means she gets dragged through the wringer and usually gets within a whisker of succeeding, only to have it all snatched away at the last moment thanks to Dr. Doofenshmirtz's inventions backfiring, leaving her looking crazy. Though like [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Wile E. Coyote]], Candace often brings it upon herself by refusing to give up her obsession, but it does seem that fate is against her: even if ''the entire universe'' has to expand to rob her of validation, it'll happen.
** Even worse, a number of later episodes have Candace attempting to rid herself of her obsession, which inevitably fail just as badly as her attempts to "bust" Phineas and Ferb. Basically, not only is she [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption not allowed to succeed]], she's not allowed to ''stop trying''.
** The second film, ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieCandaceAgainstTheUniverse'', deconstructs the trope by showing Candance as completely tired and exhausted from being beaten down by the universe all the time, resulting in her feeling overshadowed by her brothers and in general just feeling like "a tiny meaningless speck in the universe", especially considering that she went through the same busting routine for nearly ''the entire summer''. She finds a kindred spirit in Feebla-Oot's leader, Super Super Big Doctor, because of their similarities and even assumes her brothers are the reason for her being this trope.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheRealGhostbusters'', Egon once commented, "Sometimes I think the universe just waits for me to get cocky."
* Squidward from ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. It seems that the whole universe is out to make him miserable, whether it be his dreams being shattered like glass (no doubt by [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, or just being [[YankTheDogsChain yanked away by anything]]), or just being hurt for no reason. It's little wonder that fans of the show have declared him TheWoobie.

--> '''Customer:''' You think this is funny?
--> '''Plankton:''' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhJ72CD2E-M In a cosmic sort of way, yes.]]
* Mr. Robert "Bob" Johnson, Andy's father from ''WesternAnimation/SquirrelBoy'', is forced to live with an idiotic and annoying pet squirrel who puts his life through Hell, [[BornUnlucky his sudden bad luck]], and is provoked and tormented by pretty much everyone in a universe full of idiots. The short "Bedside Matters" just shows, having him simultaneously run a fever and have ''every bone in his body broken'', all while being "taken care of" by his nurse, Rodney.
* Henry from ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam''
* [[WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball Gumball Watterson]] in the episode "The Curse" where he finds himself under a plague of bad luck for no explained reason.
** Gumball Watterson in the entire series, honestly. Half the time he does bring it on himself due to his crazy schemes but other times it seems like the universe just wants to mess with him for no good reason. Case in point, in the episode "The Vegging" when he just wants to not go on any adventures and spend a day doing nothing, the universe [[ExaggeratedTrope goes out of it's way]] to make sure that doesn't happen. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen He was once going to be a black cat to reflect how unlucky he is.]]
---> '''Gumball:''' I swear, sometimes it's like the whole universe is against me.
* Many characters of ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' play with this. While karma does play a lot into their bad luck, the contrived nature of their endless pain and misfortune almost comes off as [[WesternAnimation/DuckAmuck some higher being out there having sadistic fun...]]
** Wile E. Coyote is a stand out example. While a key rule in his character is that he could stop his pursuits (and thus his abuse) at any time, his schemes to get a basic meal always fail in often the most contrived (and painful) of ways. Even when he anticipates an error in his plan, fate is always a step ahead of him and twists things back in his direction.
* Frizz and Nug of ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'' bemoan this status endlessly. Given they spend each episode shanghied into villainous missions to steal a MacGuffin they don't give a crap about, usually facing the brunt of their abusive boss, the angry heroes, their own bumbling and ''anything else'' that can cause pain for them out there as a result, they're not far off.
* The three main protagonists of ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', even when they're not doing anything to deserve it. In one episode they try to get to the candy store because there's a sale on jawbreakers, but the universe throws everything at them from a severe thunderstorm to a ''stampede of chickens''. At that point, Edd gave us this quote:
-->'''Edd:''' [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE!]] [[StatusQuoIsGod FATE HAS CONSPIRED AGAINST US!]]
* Eugene and Helga in ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'', the former is TheKlutz who always has bad things happening to him even when they should be logically impossible and the latter is an InsecureLoveInterest who never succeeds in winning the affections of Arnold, is treated like dirt by everyone and all of her schemes backfire in hilarious ways (most times deservingly so).
* [[WesternAnimation/BeastWars "Why universe hate Waspinator?"]]

* ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'': While he lives in a painfully mundane world, this is the mental illness of the main character: he ''thinks'' he is the target of this type of cosmic conspiracy.

Often includes a SmiteMeOhMightySmiter. May overlap with PowersThatBe, but a real confirmation or sign is not necessary. All that is necessary is the belief that a specific entity or group is working on the character. It may also overlap CantGetAwayWithNuthin, if the character interprets the situation as an active, immutable force on them personally, rather than "how the world works" for everyone. If there's more than one cosmic entity and the other one guides another character into antagonizing the first, it's a CosmicChessGame. If the cosmic entity is incomprehensible and it brought a grand scale horror upon the universe, it's a CosmicHorrorStory.

* ''LightNovel/KokoroConnect'': A cosmic entity possesses the body of their teacher and flat out tells them that it plans to experiment with them.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler: everyone except Kyubey is this. Come [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion Rebellion,]] however, Kyubey becomes this under Akuma Homura's new rules, while everyone else loses this status. [[LaserGuidedKarma Payback's a]] ''[[LaserGuidedKarma bitch]]'', [[LaserGuidedKarma ain't it?]]]]

* Maggey Byrde in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' is convinced this is her lot in life, dating back to when she fell out of her family's ninth-story apartment at six months old. As she notes, her luck is bad to the point she's never even ''tied'' at tic-tac-toe. Being one of the three characters to be the defendant in three separate cases (the others being Maya Fey and Phoenix himself, who also got three times in the hot seat) goes a long way towards backing up that claim.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Touma's [[AntiMagic power to negate supernatural/magical effects]] also negates his ''luck''. He's definitely BlessedWithSuck with that one.

* Inverted by the titular main character in ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer''. [[spoiler:Considering the whole thing is based on a tabletop gaming session]], everyone's fate is determined by chance. But Goblin Slayer is too meticulous to leave anything to chance; he always has contingency plans, and as the Tagline puts it, "He does not let anyone roll the dice." He's just an unremarkable NPC in the grand scheme of things, but his tendency to defy bad dice rolls and turn the table in one fell swoop makes the gods extremely fond of his antics (well, one of them; [[KillerGameMaster the other]] isn't so happy), as not even they can predict where his adventure might end.

* ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'': The title character causes this trope for her entire circle of friends,, but for Mikuru Asahina most of all. You know the universe hates you when getting groped on a daily basis by God is among the least of your problems.

* ''LightNovel/KokoroConnect'': A cosmic entity possesses the body of their teacher and flat out tells them that it plans to experiment with them.

* ''LightNovel/ReZero'': Subaru just can't catch a break, as exemplified by the fact that his life is essentially a series of time loops wherein horrible things happen which end in him and his friends dying painful deaths. Sure, eventually he's able to figure out a new solution... but that only nets him a new checkpoint to respawn at when things escalate once again a few days later. And he can't tell anyone about his "Return by Death" curse either, leaving him to suffer the mental pain of it all alone.

* ''LightNovel/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs'': [[FailureHero Willem Kmetsch]] is without a doubt one of the most unfortunate light novel protagonists in history. After promising to return home to his adopted family, he was frozen in time for 500 years. Upon awakening he discovers that the rest of mankind was wiped out by the [[EldritchAbomination 17 Beasts]] shortly after he was frozen. The last living human is then forced to live in a world where humanity is reviled for their alledged role in the beasts’ emergence. Fortunately he has a chance encounter with a young fairy named Chtholly and the two eventually fall in love. He also manages to find himself a new family, similar to the one from his past life. Unfortunately, [[spoiler: Chtholly is a literal TykeBomb with an extremely short lifespan and she dies despite Willem’s best efforts. Around this time Willem also discovers that the monsters that destroyed all life on the surface were originally human, meaning that his old friends and family have been the cause of so much suffering in the present.]] Things only spiral downward from there. [[spoiler: He ends up being forced to relive the destruction of his old hometown by an EldritchAbomination seeking to break his mind. The creature as it turns out was none other than Willem’s ChildhoodFriend, who had never stopped waiting for him to return home. Willem can only apologize for never coming home as he performs a MercyKill on the unfortunate beast. To make matters worse the EldritchAbomination inhabiting her decides to use him as it’s new vessel and he begins turning into a beast himself. The process is only stopped by advanced magic which seals away all of his memories, preventing him from ever seeing his new family again, lest the seal on the beast weaken. Willem tries to live a normal, if amnesiac, life with this reprieve. However, events conspire to present Willem with a choice between letting those he once cared about suffer a FateWorseThanDeath or completely give in to his inner beast. Willem chooses to unleash the monster inside of him and thus turn himself into the series’ final antagonist; allowing himself to be killed in a SuicideByCop scenario. Fortunately, he’s NotQuiteDead and is able to return sometime later.]] [[spoiler: The amount of suffering he goes through makes the [[EarnYourHappyEnding ending]] all the more satisfying.]]

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Arthur Dent is the ''epitome'' of this trope, being laughed at as an absurdity by the man who once knew all the truth in the universe, having his home (both house and planet) destroyed by [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Bureaucrats]], having his girlfriend blip out of existence for no reason, accidentally killing the same man in each of his reincarnations, the list goes on.

* ''LightNovel/TheUnexploredSummonBloodSign'': The main character Kyousuke is very much a literal example of this trope. In the past, he managed to make [[spoiler:the White Queen]], an all-powerful EldritchAbomination, fall in love with him. Due to her killing countless people and causing the [[CrapsackWorld current state of the world]], he now wants nothing to do with her. However, she will [[{{Yandere}} do anything and everything to get him back]], including inflicting all manner of suffering on him.

[[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease This trope obviously shouldn't present real-life examples.

[[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease This trope obviously shouldn't present real-life examples.]

[[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease This trope is obviously impossible in real life,]] even though it sometimes seems like it isn't.

* ''Series/RoboCopTheSeries'' wasn't kind to its version of Anne Lews, Lisa Madigan. Over the course of the series, she had a drug problem while trying to lose weight ("Trouble in Delta City"), was knocked out and had her gun stolen to kill someone ("When Justice Fails"), and was almost paralyzed for life in ("Nano"). The episode "Midnight Minus One" also implies she came from a broken home.

* One of the Flaws a person with Feylost background in ''DungeonsAndDragons'' 5E can have is "I think the whole multiverse is out to get me.". Depending on the DM, that might even be true.

* One of the Flaws a person with Feylost background in ''DnD'' 5E can have is "I think the whole multiverse is out to get me.". Depending on the DM, that might even be true.

* One of the Flaws a person with Feylost background in DnD 5E can have is "I think the whole multiverse is out to get me.". Depending on the DM, that might even be true.

Most of us like to think that our decisions have some influence on our lives. We think we are in control, but sometimes, there's the sneaking suspicion that an influence [[FinaglesLaw doesn't like us]], or maybe [[TheChewToy it does like us, but only in an abusive way]]. Their destiny is to be the universe's ButtMonkey to an extreme degree until the day they die. These characters don't just suspect, they ''know''.

* Used several ways in ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'':