History Main / IronWoobie

* The titular WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack went through hell in his quest to return to his native time, and [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption never even achieved his final goal]]. And yet, he just soldiers on.
%%** 50 years later and despite a significant uptick in cynicism and ennui, Jack is still surviving. He almost dies several times and is almost DrivenToSuicide, but he keeps going out of sheer stubbornness and [[spoiler: finally makes it back to the past to kill Aku once and for all]].

** Almost everyone in Homestuck can be seen as an Iron Woobie of some sort. They're all 13-year old kids, [[spoiler:well, except for the Alpha-verse kids,]] who have all [[spoiler:lost their parents/parent figures, been thrown into a crazy situation to try and save the world, all died several times, learned that their whole universe was made by some trolls, and are fighting SEVERAL god-like beings by this point.]] All the while, they keep going on and cracking jokes.

* [[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights Aribeth de Tylmarande]], whose entire life story is a TraumaCongaLine of epic proportions best summed up as the tale of a woman who tried very hard in the face of [[CrapsackWorld a universe that hated her]] and ended up failing anyway, fighting tooth and nail to get an EsotericHappyEnding at the end of the last expansion pack. She somehow puts on a calm public face through a series of tragedies that would make strong men weep in spite of all this.

** Ianto Jones, who's been through just about everything. One of only 27 employees of Torchwood One [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday to survive Canary Warf]], he saw his girlfriend turned into a killer cyborg that eventually had to be shot in front of him, he was half beaten to death by cannibals, and [[MindRape mind raped]] by an alien into thinking he's a murderer. And he does most of it with the wry efficiency of someone who was effectively hired to clean up after the team.

* Ryu of ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' fame becomes this in the ''Anime/StreetFighterIVThetiesThatBind'' anime OAV, the prequel to the VideoGame/StreetFighterIV game. He has been dealing [[StreetFighterAlpha for years already]] with a horrifyingly strong SuperpoweredEvilSide known as the Satsui no Hado, said SuperpoweredEvilSide has begun to become stronger, he gets involved in a massive conspiracy due to such a side, [[spoiler:[[SplitPersonalityTakeover almost loses himself to it]] when one of his friends is beaten within an inch of her life]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is terribly shaken when that happens]] [[spoiler:and it turns out he could've severely beaten his HeroWorshipper while under the SES's influence]]... but ultimately he refuses to fall in despair and anger, [[CameBackStrong and with his friends's help he comes out stronger than he was before.]]

* {{Spider-Man}} takes more crap, deals with more tragedy, [[MyGreatestFailure blames himself]] for his shortcomings, and gets less credit than almost any other A-list superhero, all while constantly taking immense beatings by going up against threats way beyond his power level, but he [[{{Determinator}} never lets it break his spirit.]]

** Leia, so so much. Biological mother dead in childbirth, and her twin brother taken away for decades. Tortured by her biological father after he'd massacred her ship's crew. Saw her homeworld blown up along with her foster parents by a smirking Imperial. Harried across much of the galaxy, with trusted Rebel allies dying all the while. Watched the guy she's falling for get frozen alive, not knowing if he'll live through it. Captured and dressed up like a sex slave by a revolting slug gangster. Found out her friend is her long-lost brother just in time to watch him go off and potentially get killed. Had to accept that her ''torturer'' was her biological dad. Gave birth to a son who turned to the Dark Side, causing her husband and brother to leave in grief and/or shame. Kicked out of politics when her status as Darth Vader's daughter got leaked to the public. Saw the star system where nearly all of her allies lived blown up. Force-felt her son '''murder her husband'''. How is this woman ''even sane''?!

The Iron Woobie is a character who is not just ''a'' [[TheWoobie Woobie]]; they are ''the'' Woobie. Most Woobies are the victim of external circumstance. That may be how it started out for this little guy, but after having to deal with too much guff, they've lost the ability to feel sorry for themselves, and will continue standing in the path of inevitable misfortune. They will RageAgainstTheHeavens in anger for the ridiculous extent of their trials and tribulations, but when it comes right down to it, they're not expecting the big guy to start doing them any favors now.

%%* Ed Otter from BrandyAndMrWhiskers.

* Franchise/{{Batman}} himself in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'''s LighterAndSofter AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker''. He is tackled by SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker, and it goes FromBadToWorse when Bat-Mite accidentally gives the Joker his powers, turning him into a GodEmperor who uses them to twist the world in his own way. From that time on, the Dark Knight is forced into a DeathMontage as he gets killed and then brought back repeatedly, with poor powerless Bat-Mite being ForcedToWatch the carnage. It is not until he is revived from the last DeathTrap of the electric chair that he uses ReversePsychology to beg the Joker not to take away his sanity. And through it all, he defends himself and his own mind from the Joker, telling him that they both need each other to survive. The Dark Knight truly needs a hug after all that.

* ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'': Jacuzzi Splot. Shy. Introverted. Meek. Wimpy. Crybaby. Wiped out seventeen Mafia fronts with a machine gun in retaliation for the deaths of his friends. [[spoiler: Almost goes up empty-handed against a guy with a flamethrower, and offers himself as a hostage to a psychopath who catches bullets with a crescent wrench, in order to save friends.]]

** Javik, the downloadable [[spoiler: Prothean survivor squadmate]], never seems to be anything less than calm and in control. However, talking to him reveals a lot of suffering in his past. Not only is he the last of his species, but if you tell him to use the Echo Stone, he shares with you the fact that he was the commander of a ship like the Normandy... except that, when the Reapers had it attacked and the crew carried off, they got ''everyone'' except for Javik himself. He singlehandedly stormed a Reaper fortress, desperately trying to save his people... but they were already indoctrinated by then, and he was forced to MercyKill them all to escape.

*** Yuna. [[spoiler: Losing her mother shortly after being born, then having her father leave her when she was little to perform a HeroicSacrifice for all of Spira, becoming a summoner herself, enduring the same trip her father made, being labeled a traitor of the [[CrystalDragonJesus god]] she was worshiping, having to kill off all of her beloved Aeons, and worst of all, saying goodbye to the one man she loved, who was actually a dream of the Fayth.]] Someone give the poor girl a hug.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': Fang. [[spoiler: She became Ragnarok to crack Cocoon's shell to complete hers and Vanille's focus. She mentions on several occasions that Pulse has a fear of Cocoon just like Cocoon has a fear of Pulse. Forgetting everything about her time as Ragnarok, she's tortured in front of Vanille by Orphan, watches helplessly as her friends are transformed into Cie'th and decides to go through with becoming Ragnarok to save Cocoon at the end of the game, becoming a crystal again. This woman has had it rough.]]

* Ayane from ''VideoGame/DeadOrAlive'' qualifies. She was born from her biological father, Raidou, raping her mother to get back at one of his enemies, and was hated and mistreated by her village of origin as a result, with the only two that ever treated her well being her friends Hayate and Kasumi, and her adoptive father Genra. Though she and Kasumi are friends and she's crushing on Hayate, the rest of the village tries to keep her away from them due to associating her with Raidou. Then she finds out from her mother that Kasumi and Hayate are her half siblings, and that while they're treated like ninja royalty, she's outcast because her mother didn't claim her due to the trauma of her birth circumstances. Then Raidou comes back to the village seeking a technique they guarded, and while she's beaten aside easily, Hayate is crippled when she fails to protect him. Kasumi then leaves the village to seek revenge, and Ayane is assigned to kill her for breaking the code of secrecy surrounding the village. And this is all before leaving the backstory! She proceeds to have to face off with both her best friend and[[spoiler: her amnesiac love interest]] when [[spoiler: Hayate is brought back by DOATEC as Ein]] as part of Project Epsilon. Then in the third tournament, she finds out that her adoptive father [[spoiler:has been kidnapped by DOATEC and turned into the monstrous bioweapon known as Omega]], forcing her to enter the tournament, [[spoiler:whereupon she defeats and kills him to set him free of DOATEC's slavery]]. And past that, with Hayate back as of the fourth game, Kasumi is still marked for death due to HonorBeforeReason, and Ayane is still loyally serving her clan to take her down. And through all of this, the only hint of the pain we ever see going through her is a single tear [[spoiler:when she's cremating Genra's body after he dies.]] One really wonders how Tecmo could hurt her ''worse'' if the series had gone on.

** One of the main characters, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Ragna]] [[GoodIsNotNice the]] [[DarkIsNotEvil Bloodedge]] is no slouch, either. He was a young man who lived happily with his [[{{Jerkass}} brother Jin]] and his [[IllGirl sister Saya]]. Then a psychotic hipster named Yuuki Terumi burned down his home, killed his adoptive guardian, brainwashes Jin to have him chop his arm off and stab him through the chest, and kidnaps Saya for good measure. He gets a new arm called the Azure Grimoire from a girl who rescues him, which grants him awesome power but will probably one day kill him horribly. He also has many people out to capture him either for his arm or the enormously huge bounty on him for going against the NOL and a psychotic {{Yandere}} clone of his sister ([[ItMakesSenseInContext roll with it]]) whos's method of showing affection toward him is to repeatedly stab him with the hundreds of blades she has on her disposal. Yet, despite these horrible events, he still goes on to keep kicking ass (preferably Terumi's).

* Becoming one of these is the entire journey of Lucas, the hero from ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}''. The game begins with his life [[DeusAngstMachina utterly falling to pieces]] after [[spoiler: his mother is killed brutally by a Mechanized Drago, his twin brother disappears while trying to avenge her and is assumed to be dead, his father is driven partially mad from the resulting grief and gets thrown into prison after a rampage, the wildlife around him are all transformed into horrifying Cyborgs that are violent, and everybody in the village he lives in slowly begin turning into self-seeking, cold-shouldered hedonists after the bad guys who are responsible for all this start planting [[ArtifactOfDoom Artifacts of Doom]] in their houses.]] [[DownerBeginning All in the span of two days]]. Before all of this happened, he was already very sensitive and timid, but now he's an [[BreakTheCutie absolute wreck]]. Three years later, one things leads to another, and his adventure begins. During his quest, he faces countless more dangers and traumatic events, [[spoiler:including discovering his mother's ghost but finding himself unable to touch or even talk to her]], but with the help of his [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits strange]] but [[TrueCompanions loyal and true new friends]], he holds up his head and presses on. And, by the end, how much has he grown? Well, [[spoiler:he eventually finds out that his brother isn't dead and finally finds him. However, he's been turned into a Cyborg as well and has been [[BrainwashedAndCrazy completely stripped of his memories ]], being sent by the BigBad to kill Lucas. After one of the most heartbreaking [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight I Know You're In There Somewhere Fights]] in the history of fiction, his brother realizes who he is and, unable to break the control on himself any other way, commits suicide and [[DiedInYourArmsTonight dies in Lucas's arms]].]] And, after all this, does Lucas still have it in him to pull the [[ResetButton final needle]] and save the world? [[ButThouMust Well, you might not, but he sure does]].

* Ryu of ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' fame becomes this in the ''Anime/StreetFighterIVThetiesThatBind'' anime OAV, the prequel to the VideoGame/StreetFighterIV game. He has been dealing [[StreetFighterAlpha for years already]] with an horrifyingly strong SuperpoweredEvilSide known as the Satsui no Hado, said SuperpoweredEvilSide has begun to become stronger, he gets involved in a massive conspiracy due to such a side, [[spoiler: [[SplitPersonalityTakeover almost loses himself to it]] when one of his friends is beaten within an inch of her life]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is terribly shaken when that happens]] [[spoiler: and it turns out he could've severely beaten his HeroWorshipper while under the SES's influence]]... but ultimately he refuses to fall in despair and anger, [[CameBackStrong and with his friends's help he comes out stronger than he was before.]]
* [[spoiler: All the Future Children]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' count in, in one way or another. [[spoiler: All of them come from an HORRIBLE CrapsackWorld that is actually their home's BadFuture]], are terribly traumatised by what they've witnessed and many have added trauma for what came before that... and yet ''all'' of them, even the weaker ones like [[spoiler: Brady, Noire or Yarne]], are determined to [[spoiler: fix what's wrong in the past and save their parents from dying before it's time.]] And '''nothing''' will deter them from such a decision.

** The PowerTrio of [[spoiler: Laslow, Odin, and Selena]] are revealed to be this, since [[spoiler: they are Inigo, Owain, and Severa from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. (Or at very least, one of the Ylissean worlds there.)]] This means these three have led incredibly hard lives: [[spoiler: they saw their original world die, time traveled with their TrueCompanions to go ScrewDestiny, were contacted by Anankos' Good Side and followed him to ''his'' world, landed in Nohr and rebuilt their lives there as much as they could... while being perfectly aware that one day, they'll have to decide whether to stay or not, which could destroy these new lives and identities.]] And yet neither of them whines, cries, or wangsts, and keep doing as well as they can. In fact, [[spoiler: when Laslow/Inigo finds out through supports that his partner Peri also lost her mother in a horrible way, ''he's the one comforting her''!]]

* Ryu of ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' fame becomes this in the ''Anime/StreetFighterIVThetiesThatBind'' anime OAV, the prequel to the VideoGame/StreetFighterIV game. He has been dealing [[StreetFighterAlpha for years already]] with an horrifyingly strong SuperpoweredEvilSide known as the Satsui no Hado, said SuperpoweredEvilSide has begun to become stronger, gets involved in a massive conspiracy due to such a side, [[spoiler: [[SplitPersonalityTakeover almost loses himself to it]] when one of his friends is beaten within an inch of her life]] and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone is terribly shaken when that happens]] [[spoiler: and it turns out he could've severely beaten his HeroWorshipper while under the SES's influence]]... but ultimately he refuses to fall in despair and anger, [[CameBackStrong and with his friends's help he comes out stronger than he was before.]]

** Princess Sakura was traumatized by her father's death and the Avatar's kidnapping, [[spoiler:especially because she later learned about some rumors that say SHE was supposed to be kidnapped by Nohr, not him/her.]] She has almost crippling anxiety and insecurities. She loves her siblings a lot, but is emotionally distanced from Hinoka (and it takes Hinoka a while to realize it) and, in ''Conquest'' and to lesser degree towards the end of ''Birthright'', she can't do lots to help the very troubled Takumi. And yet she learns to become a WhiteMage and {{miko}} (which, according to Azama, is rare among Hoshidan nobles), refuses to just give up even if the Avatar doesn't choose Hoshido, takes up arms in ''Conquest'' despite hating warfare, [[spoiler:is the first of '''all''' the siblings to join the Avatar in ''Revelation'']], gains the love of several of her love interests for her SilkHidingSteel traits rather than her cuteness (including [[spoiler:even the Nohr Princes in ''Revelation'']]) and remains sweet, helpful, kind and loving no matter what.
** Queen Mikoto has not had a very good life. [[spoiler:First, she was the lover of Anankos' good side and had his child, but Anankos eventually left her and their child for their safety and she went on to marry King Sumeragi. Then her husband was killed and her child was taken from her. Shortly after being reunited with said child, she dies protecting them. The assailant? The reanimated corpse of her husband Sumeragi, being controlled by her former lover Anankos.]] And yet this woman never really lost her gentle smile, ruled wisely over Hoshido itself, raised the Hoshidan siblings plus her protegée Azura lovingly [[spoiler:as if they were her birth children]], was among the few who accepted Orochi the way she was despite her family's bad fame, [[spoiler:and even as she died, she did so calmly and telling the Avatar that she was relieved they were safe.]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'' has the Deliverance's SupportingLeader, Clive. He watched as the kingdom he had dedicated his life to serving fell into chaos thanks to the King's incompetent rule, and then after that as Desaix took the throne. He formed the Deliverance to fight back along with his lover, his sister, his subordinate/friends and his best friend, but it was clear from the start that it was a losing battle. Ultimately, he loses Zofia castle, seemingly [[AllForNothing rendering everything the Deliverance had done up to that point moot,]] and what is left of his ragged forces are forced to take refuge in Terror infested catacombs. Sometime after that, his girlfriend Mathilda was captured by Desaix and held hostage; he refused to surrender but was also too afraid to make any sort of move, leaving the Deliverance in a stalemate. It's little wonder that multiple characters note [[TheChainsofCommanding that the war and leading the Deliverance is taking a toll on him.]] He eventually tried to pass his role as leader off to Mycen and then Alm, but even that didn't fix everything: Fernand, his friend from childhood (and who [[DarkAndTroubledPast has his own issues]]), betrays him and calls him a mockery of his former self. He can potentially lose the love of his life and his beloved sister over the course of the game, and no matter what [[spoiler:Fernand will die in his arms with Clive powerless to save him.]] Yet in spite of all of this, he always acts kind and understanding towards all his troops, and only ever shows outward distress in the direst of situations.

* Poor [[spoiler: Simon Blackquill]] in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies''. The series has no end of [[TheWoobie woobies]], but [[spoiler:Simon]] is definitely of the iron variety. [[spoiler:He apparently walked in on a very young Athena with her dead mother Metis, covered in blood, and saying she was taking her mom apart to fix her. Harrowing enough, but then [[TakingTheHeat Simon confesses to the killing of Athena's mother to protect the poor little girl from having her whole life broken]], gets sentenced to death, serves 7 years of hard time for it (and Athena is working hard to become a lawyer and save him), and comes within a day of his execution before the entire mess is solved once and for all, thanks to Athena and her friends's efforts. Yet he still seems pretty normal, if a little surly and fond of dark humour...]]

%%* Ryuuguu Rena in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi''. See the second page quote.

%%* [[{{Disney}} Goofy]] as he appears in WesternAnimation/HouseOfMouse. Turns out he wasn't meant to be head waiter.

** Princess Elise has had a very hard life, barely knowing [[AbusiveParents her father Garon]] before he underwent SanitySlippage, having a mother [[ParentalNeglect who never loved her]] and drifting apart from Xander, her BigBrotherMentor with a side of PromotiontoParent, due to his duties. And if playing ''Birthright'', things get even worse for her, [[spoiler: ending with her being accidentally killed by said brother.]] Despite all this, she still manages to be one of the kindest and most optimistic characters in the game and the only sibling who never fights the Avatar under any circumstance, fully believing in peace between both kingdoms until the end. [[spoiler: This shows even in her FamousLastWords in ''Birthright'': she dies believing that the worlds need less war and more kindness.]]
** Princess Sakura was traumatized by her father's death and the Avatar's kidnapping, [[spoiler: especially because she later learned about some rumors that say SHE was supposed to be kidnapped by Nohr, not him/her.]] She has almost crippling anxiety and insecurities. She loves her siblings a lot, but is emotionally distanced from Hinoka (and it takes Hinoka a while to realize it) and, in ''Conquest'' and to lesser degree towards the end of ''Birthright'', she can't do lots to help the very troubled Takumi. And yet she learns to become a WhiteMage and {{miko}} (which, according to Azama, is rare among Hoshidan nobles), refuses to just give up even if the Avatar doesn't choose Hoshido, takes up arms in ''Conquest'' despite hating warfare, [[spoiler: is the first of '''all''' the siblings to join the Avatar in ''Revelations'']], gains the love of several of her love interests for her SilkHidingSteel traits rather than her cuteness (including [[spoiler: even the Nohr Princes in ''Revelations'']]) and remains sweet, helpful, kind and loving no matter what.
** Queen Mikoto has not had a very good life. [[spoiler:First, she was the lover of Anankos' good side and had his child, but Anankos eventually left her and their child for their safety and she went on to marry King Sumeragi. Then her husband was killed and her child was taken from her. Shortly after being reunited with said child, she dies protecting them. The assailant? The reanimated corpse of her husband Sumeragi, being controlled by her former lover Anankos.]] And yet this woman never really lost her gentle smile, ruled wisely over Hoshido itself, raised the Hoshidan siblings plus her protegée Azura lovingly [[spoiler: as if they were her birth children]], was among the few who accepted Orochi the way she was despite her family's bad fame, [[spoiler: and even as she died, she did so calmly and telling the Avatar that she was relieved they were safe.]]
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'' has the Deliverance's SupportingLeader, Clive. He watched as the kingdom he had dedicated his life to serving fell into chaos thanks to the King's incompetent rule, and then after that as Desaix took the throne. He formed the Deliverance to fight back along with his lover, his sister, his subordinate/friends and his best friend, but it was clear from the start that it was a losing battle. Ultimately, he loses Zofia castle, seemingly [[AllForNothing rendering everything the Deliverance had done up to that point moot,]] and what is left of his ragged forces are forced to take refuge in Terror infested catacombs. Sometime after that, his girlfriend Mathilda was captured by Desaix and held hostage; he refused to surrender but was also too afraid to make any sort of move, leaving the Deliverance in a stalemate. It's little wonder that multiple characters note [[TheChainsofCommanding that the war and leading the Deliverance is taking a toll on him.]] He eventually tried to pass his role as leader off to Mycen and then Alm, but even that didn't fix everything: Fernand, his friend from childhood (and who [[DarkAndTroubledPast has his own issues]]), betrays him and calls him a mockery of his former self. He can potentially lose the love of his life and his beloved sister over the course of the game, and no matter what [[spoiler: Fernand will die in his arms with Clive powerless to save him.]] Yet in spite of all of this, he always acts kind and understanding towards all his troops, and only ever shows outward distress in the direst of situations.

* Leon from ''VideoGame/{{F-Zero}} X'' onward. The kid was no more than '''four''' when [[WarIsHell invaders ransacked and virtually razed his homeplanet of Zou]]. Leon lost both [[ParentalAbandonment his parents]] and [[EyeScream his left eye]] that day. Eleven years later, the F-Zero GP races are gearing up for a revival and the people of Zou choose him to be their representative. All he has is a second-hand machine created by a [[TheAtoner guilt-wracked]] [[DefectorFromDecadence rebel]] [[HeelFaceTurn soldier]] from the big war years ago. His chances of winning are slim and Leon wants to make the children of his planet happy again. Yet, he never complains about the hardships he's had to endure even ''once'' and instead stays [[ThePollyanna optimistic]] and [[{{Keet}} cheery]], standing head-and-shoulders above the rest of the cast as the most selfless character of the series.

** Leia, so so much. Biological mother dead in childbirth, and her twin brother taken away for decades. Tortured by her biological father after he'd massacred her ship's crew. Saw her homeworld blown up along with her foster parents by a smirking Imperial. Harried across much of the galaxy, with trusted Rebel allies dying all the while. Watched the guy she's falling for get frozen alive, not knowing if he'll live through it. Captured and dressed up like a sex slave by a revolting slug gangster. Found out her friend is her long-lost brother just in time to watch him go off and potentially get killed. Had to accept that her ''torturer'' was her biological dad. Gave birth to a son who turned to the Dark Side, causing her husband and brother to leave in grief and/or shame. Saw the star system where nearly all of her allies lived blown up. Force-felt her son '''murder her husband'''. How is this woman ''even sane''?!

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEchoesShadowsOfValentia'' has the Deliverance's SupportingLeader, Clive. He watched as the kingdom he had dedicated his life to serving fell into chaos thanks to Lima's incompetent rule, and then after that as Desaix took the throne. He formed the Deliverance to fight back along with his lover, his sister, his subordinate/friends and his best friend, but it was clear from the start that it was a losing battle. Ultimately, he loses Zofia castle, seemingly [[AllForNothing rendering everything the Deliverance had done up to that point moot,]] and what is left of his ragged forces are forced to take refuge in Terror infested catacombs. Sometime after that, his girlfriend Mathilda was captured by Desaix and held hostage; he refused to surrender but was also too afraid to make any sort of move, leaving the Deliverance in a stalemate. It's little wonder that multiple characters note [[TheChainsofCommanding that the war and leading the Deliverance is taking a toll on him.]] He eventually tried to pass his role as leader off to Mycen and then Alm, but even that didn't fix everything: Fernand, his friend from childhood (and who has his own issues, as said below), betrays him and calls him a mockery of his former self. He can potentially lose the love of his life and his beloved sister over the course of the game, and no matter what [[spoiler: Fernand will die in his arms with Clive powerless to save him.]] Yet in spite of all of this, he always acts kind and understanding towards all his troops, and only ever shows outward distress in the direst of situations.

** The PowerTrio of [[spoiler: Laslow, Odin, and Selena]] are revealed to be this, since [[spoiler: they are Inigo, Owain, and Severa from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening''. (Or at very least, one of the Ylissean worlds there.)]] This means these three have led incredibly hard lives: [[spoiler: they saw their original world die, time traveled with their TrueCompanions to go ScrewDestiny, were contacted by Anankos' Good Side and followed him to ''his'' world, landed in Nohr and rebuilt their lives there as much as they could... while being perfectly aware that one day, they'll have to decide whether to stay or not, which could destroy these new lives and identities.]] And yet neither of them whines, cries, or wangsts, and keep doing as well as they can. In fact, [[spoiler: when Laslow/Inigo finds out through supports that his partner Peri also lost her mother in a horrible way, he's the one comforting her!]]

* In the best-known LetsPlay for the SoBadItsGood Franchise/{{Pokemon}} romhack ''PokemonQuartz'', a young girl named Foxy contends with a land filled with rapists, idiots who mangle the English language, a villainous band with the stupidest goal in the history of the Pokemon world, a creepy molesting stalker, Groudon and Kyogre's deformed cousins, a Pokemon family ''based on the idea of {{Memetic Molester}}s'' (one of which she catches and trains), a Pokemon professor who's a huge creep and a Marty Stu AuthorAvatar, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking an over-abundance of flying-types]], and gym leaders who have an ''infinite supply'' of full restores. She also ''wins'', and [[KatanasAreJustBetter pulls a katana]] on her stalker-rival.

* Leon Hardrada[=/=][[spoiler:Azrael]] in Story/AesirCrossWars. All at the ripe old age of 13, Leon gets beaten up and robbed by his friends, whom he trusted. He is heavily implied to be an orphan. Later on that day, his brother got murdered. The next day, he received an invitation to go to the City of Light, only for the event to get hijacked by resident GodOfEvil Loki. He locks him in Helheim with 10 other children, but half of them die right in front of him. In particular, Aria Lockhart,a girl he had a crush on, had one of the most brutal deaths in the story (Impaled on spears multiple times, then has her soul ripped out of her body.). When the survivors escaped, Leon goes home, only to find his parents have been slaughtered by Loki. After he meets up with the other 5 survivors, they are being confronted by Loki, who wants to sacrifice one of them, and then Leon [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth volunteers to die to keep the others alive]]. If not for the other gods taking action by [[spoiler:reincarnating him as the Angel Azrael]], he'd be too dead to make this trope. Despite all this, he is a NiceGuy who always gives second chances, and strongly believes RousseauWasRight.. In fact, now that he can fight, he never kills if it can be avoided. He is a happy, kind boy who was even willing to forgive and reform Loki's fanatical priests and followers.

%%* Vanellope von Schweetz from ''WreckItRalph.'' Considering everything she's put through, this girl's bravery and spirit is jaw-dropping.

* Hook in ''Series/OnceUponaTime'' while being tortured in Season 5. His suffering is visible on his face, but he tries to not scream out when his tormentor, [[spoiler:Hades]], is in the room and instead Hook threatens to destroy him, [[spoiler:something he helps his friends achieve later]]. However, he does let on a little when Emma comes to his rescue.