History Main / IronWoobie

* The human incarnation of [[{{WebAnimation/RWBY}} Penny Polendina]] in ''FanFic/WithPearlAndRubyGlowing''. She starts out with birth defects, requiring several organ transplants and a pacemaker, is bullied in school for her odd behaviour and when she [[{{Transgender}} transitions to female]], and then she survives a White Fang subway bombing, is raped by one of them, and is so badly injured she ends up with [[AnArmAndALeg all four limbs being amputated]]. Her father builds hi-tech artificial limbs and she gets around just fine, and she seems remarkably upbeat.

** And then there's Kaldor Draigo. He's [[BrokenBase hated by a lot of players]] because of his lore - he's a member of the [[KnightTemplar Grey Knights]], who are already badass compared to the other badasses of the 40K universe. They face the greatest horrors of the Warp, fighting [[EldritchAbomination daemons and spawns of Chaos]], which would normally leave a normal person insane. He gets the even shorter end of the stick - he gets sucked into the Warp itself, and he's mostly trapped in it. He, however, [[TheDeterminator refuses to surrender]]; even if all the victories he manages to win inside the Warp are fleeting since the daemons just reform elsewhere, he keeps on fighting alone, walking the Warp.

[[folder: Mythology And Religion]]

** 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'''. Lost virtually every surviving ally to yet another harrying enemy force, while narrowly escaping dying in the vacuum of space. Finally gave up hope that her son could ever be redeemed. Force-felt a loved one's death '''again''' when her long-lost brother expired from exertion. How is this woman ''even sane''?!

** How bad does Banner's life suck? In ComicBook/{{Immortal Hulk}} one issue of the series draws direct parallels between Bruce and Job. You know, the guy in the bible who's life God absolutely and completely destroyed (Home destroyed, livelihood destroyed, family destroyed, riddled with ailments, etc.) as a test proposed by Satan to prove Job's loyalty to God was not bought. Yes, Bruce's life is so awful and absolutely F*#@ed that he can be compared to a guy who is the posterchild for human misery and being a ComsmicChewToy.

** How bad does Banner's life suck? In ComicBook/{{Immortal Hulk}} one issue of the series draws direct parallels between Bruce and Job. You know, the guy in the bible who's life God absolutely and completely detroyed (Home detroyed, livelyhood destroyed, family detroyed, riddled with ailments, etc.) as a test proposed by Satan to prove Job's loyalty to God was not bought. Yes, Bruce's life is so aweful and absolutely F*#@ed that he can be compared to a guy who is the posterchild for human misery and being a ComsmicChewToy.

* Takato Matsuki from the ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries'' could be the poster boy for this trope, the amount of physical and mental torment he suffers through over the course of the series must be seen to be believed, but he take it all on with a ''smile'' on his face.
* Akiko Yamaguchi/Star Reverie from MagicalGirl MegaCrossover the FanFic/BattleFantasiaProject. TheCall came to her at eight years old against [[{{Cult}} The Church of The Eclipse]] for about a year, then for the next two there was the [[CircusOfFear Carnival of Blood]], an evil carnival made of warped versions of the usual fare that [[BodyHorror warps people]] ''[[BodyHorror into]]'' the horrors the longer they stay there, assuming they don't get killed, who [[WhamEpisode killed her]] {{Familiar}} part-way through ''that'' little adventure, and now for the past four years she's been fighting the Nightmare Factory, which spawns [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]] that are both spawned from and create nightmares, [[MindScrew as well as play with Akiko's mind]], and they may or may not be grooming the girl into [[EldritchAbomination something else]]. By the time we meet her, she's been [[ParentalAbandonment disowned by her parents]] due to her maintaining TheMasquerade, she's on her own, and has had seven years of rapidly escalating psychological torment heaped on her. So it's no surprise that we first meet her right as she's [[DrivenToSuicide attempting suicide]] on live national Japanese news, calling for someone to save ''her'' for a change. However, in doing so she reveals the existence of Magical Girls, and starts off the series of events that leads to the formation of the Magical Girl Alliance, and she ''still'' wants to be a Magical Girl after she's recovered, been depowered, and the BigBad of the First Arc has been defeated. And from the consensus on the thread, she gains a new powerset, and becomes a BadAssTeacher.
* From the war-torn future of Warhammer 40,000 comes an Ogryn named Gav from the fanfic [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Gav_and_Bob The Ballad of Gav and Bob]]. Ogryn are a [[UndyingLoyalty naturally loyal]] race of huge, [[PsychopathicManchild violent manchildren]] fanatically devoted to the Emperor, and Gav is no different. He remains steadfastly loyal even after [[spoiler: losing his Commissar and his best Ogryn friend Bob; seeing his new best friend Tarla gored by the tail of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh and losing his left arm to said Daemon; living to see Tarla turned into a mind-wiped servitor because of her repeated exposure to Chaos.]] Gav is so loyal that he [[EarnYourHappyEnding ends up on the retinue of a Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, Traela]].
* Shinji Ikari in ''FanFic/{{The Second Try}}'' '''invoked it willingly'''. After 3rd Impact and [[spoiler: losing his (and Asuka's) child because they traveled back time to do the whole damn story again]], he keeps on keeping on so he can prevent 3rd Impact and create a better future. Since Asuka is slowly giving into depression (and CharacterDevelopment during 3rd Impact) he is the only thing [[OnlySaneMan keeping them both on track.]]
* Elissa, in the ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' story ''Fanfic/ShadowAndRose'', is very much this. Her entire family is murdered, then she's one of only two Grey Wardens to survive a massacre of a battle. She and her fellow Warden are then [[HeroWithBadPublicity blamed for all the deaths in that battle]] and hunted relentlessly while they try to rally forces to help them save the country. All the while, she picks up new friends who each have their own personal demons that she must help them overcome. She can't give up or her country is doomed, so all she can do is continue to fight - and occasionally find a reason to smile.
* Literature/HarryPotter is generally a pervert and smartass with no respect for authority in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11157943/8/I-Still-Haven-t-Found-What-I-m-Looking-For I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For]]''. But from time to time, something causes his facade to slip for a moment and reveal how soul-crushingly lonely he is, being completely alone in the universe. Not only is he in another [[Franchise/StarWars galaxy far, far away]], but back on Earth, everyone he knew has been dead for centuries. At the start of the story, the only people he could claim as friends are Dobby, his droid he modeled after Minerva [=McGonagall=], and a bartender he flirts with but doesn't even know the name of.

* ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'''s titular character. After the events in volume one alone, most people would have given up on superheroing for good. Emp's eleven volumes in and counting. Pain, humiliation, mortal terror, repeated failure, and the constant verbal abuse of her teammates do not stop her. It's either noble dedication or the worst case of ChronicHeroSyndrome ever. She could walk away at any time. No one would blame her. [[{{Determinator}} She doesn't. She never will]]. She's the poster girl for this trope, and anyone who says otherwise hasn't read the comic.

* The [[/ComicBook/Shazam original Captain Marvel]] may be the original poster child for this trope in comics. When Billy was around ten years old, his parents were murdered by criminals and he was separated from his twin sister, Mary, who was also thought dead at the time. The uncle entrusted to take care of Billy kept him around only long enough to legally acquire Billy's inheritance, before then throwing the young boy out of his own home. Billy had to learn to take care of himself, facing the harshness of living on the streets with no one to take care of him. Yet despite this, Billy remained a friendly, kind, optimistic and hopeful young man, eager to help others and never once using his tragedies as an excuse to be cruel or selfish. His refusal to let his bad circumstances make him a bad person wound up being a sort of SecretTestOfCharacter by the Wizard Shazam, who felt Billy's perseverance in such hardship would prevent him from being corrupted the way Black Adam was. As such, Billy was granted the Wizard's power, and as Captain Marvel, Billy has continued to face hardship with a big smile and equally big heart.

* ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'''s titular character. After the events in volume one alone, most people would have given up on superheroing for good. Emp's six volumes in and counting. Pain, humiliation, mortal terror, repeated failure, and the constant verbal abuse of her teammates do not stop her. It's either noble dedication or the worst case of ChronicHeroSyndrome ever. She could walk away at any time. No one would blame her. [[{{Determinator}} She doesn't. She never will]]. She's the poster girl for this trope, and anyone who says otherwise hasn't read the comic.

* Eddy from WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy. It is revealed in [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow the movie]] that he was only [[HiddenHeartOfGold pretending to be a jerk]] as a desperate cry for friendship after years of abuse from his older brother. It is especially hard to stomach considering all the times Eddy is beaten, humiliated and punished throughout the series.

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!!Examples:

* IronWoobie/OtherMedia

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0adc3e123a9d24c6dcbb8867fb0c9247.jpg]]

'''Important Note:''' Please use the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15391212720A38366900 Woobie cleanup thread]] to propose characters before writing their entries. Iron Woobie entries not approved by the thread will be deleted. Also do not remove entries that have been approved.

'''Important Note:''' Please use the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15391212720A38366900 Woobie cleanup thread]] to propose characters before writing their entries. Iron Woobie entries not approved by the thread will be deleted.

Examples listed by page.

-->-- '''William Ernest Henley''', ''Literature/{{Invictus}}''

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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Aribeth de Tylmarande from ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', 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.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** Jack from [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second game]]. She was kidnapped as an infant from Cerberus, forced into an experiment that was pure horror day in, day out, for the sake of finding out if trauma increases biotic power. When she escaped, she flew with pirates, was used as a sex object repeatedly, dropped a moon onto a colony...
-->'''Jack:''' ...and that's the boring shit.
** The amount of suffering that [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] can be put through (losing the entire family to Batarian slavers/growing up an Earthbound orphan, losing a squad on Akuze, facing routine accusations of being crazy by the very people he/she's trying to protect, [[spoiler:losing a love interest in either game]], [[spoiler:dying in the beginning of the second]], being forced to work with the people responsible for Akuze, facing the consequences of ''The Arrival'', and possibly [[spoiler:dying for real during the Suicide Mission]]) is almost comical, yet none of this will stop him/her from shrugging it all off and saving the galaxy. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', S/he experiences an enormous amount of losses, experiences serious SurvivorGuilt and is forced to carry the fate of the entire galaxy on his/her shoulders. Joker notes at one point that ''while resting'' s/he's under more stress now than s/he was in his/her background (which involves either holding a platoon by him/herself, watching his/her squad get devoured by {{Sand Worm}}s, or leading a suicidal assault against an enemy fort). By the end, s/he's so exhausted that s/he can barely keep his/her eyes open, has suffered third-degree burns, is bleeding to death from a stomach wound, and got caught in a blast from [[EldritchAbomination HARBINGER]], but when Admiral Hackett calls him/her, [[HeroicResolve s/he immediately gets back up and responds.]]
-->'''Shepard:''' [through labored, steadying breaths] W...what do you need me to do?
** 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.
* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'':
** Selvaria Bles. It's hard not to feel sorry at the way she willingly put herself through hell ([[spoiler:and later sacrifices herself]]) for a man who doesn't care about her - and she probably ''knows'' it. The way she faces her fate with pride and keeps leading her soldiers to the bitter end makes her very admirable. Even in her final defeat, all she asks of the FatBastard who came to take her as a prize and steal Squad 7's merits is that he spares her men...
** Imca from ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChroniclesIII''. Suffered from DoomedHometown, is put into a penal legion, [[FantasticRacism endures the standard crap Darcssens live with]], and [[{{Revenge}} is driven by a singular purpose]]: KILL SELVARIA. That she knows is waaay out of her league.
--->'''Imca:''' I ain't need no help from anyone.
* Take Marona from ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave''. Now take all the hate, and loathing directed at her; and take Ash away. That's Carona. Willing to be considered a villain, willing to save the world anyway. Willing to train the people she's being forced to bring into a trap so that they're strong enough to break out of it. Willing to go ''back'' to her world even though Marona and Ash would have welcomed her in theirs and she refused to take Ash with her when Marona offered.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'':
*** 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.
*** Tidus. He grew up verbally abused by his father, [[WellDoneSonGuy when all he wanted was love and acceptance]]. When Jecht disappeared one day ([[spoiler:when he crossed over into Spira]]), his mother died soon afterward, presumably of a broken heart. And despite [[AngstWhatAngst hiding it all quite well]], [[StepfordSmiler it's still easy to tell that he's deeply affected by this]]. And then we see Tidus' misfortune in Spira, and this goes ''way'' beyond his semi-ButtMonkey status because he's "new" to how things work there. [[LockedOutOfTheLoop Crucial pieces of information are witheld from Tidus]], and the one that hits him the hardest is that [[spoiler:Yuna, his love interest, will have to die if the Final Summoning necessary to defeat Sin is successful.]] He also discovers that [[spoiler:Sin, said EldritchAbomination that's been haunting Spira for many eons, is ''his father'']]. [[BlatantLies It gets better from here]]. Then Tidus learns that [[spoiler:he and his entire world are nothing more than the product of the Fayth's dreams, and if they were to wake up, Tidus would ''cease to exist''. They tell him that [[TheChosenOne they chose him]] to TakeAThirdOption in defeating Sin and ending the ViciousCycle without the Final Aeon]]. ''[[IronWoobie And Tidus goes through with it, with only the ever-slightest navel gazing]]''.
** ''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.]]
* Poor, poor Isaac Clarke of ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' is just an engineer who was sent on a clean-up job in space. What he finds is a ship simply filled bow-to-stern with NightmareFuel. Yet, in spite of it all, he goes through Hell and back to not only complete his repairs, but also save his girlfriend, Nicole, [[spoiler:who, it turns out, has been DeadAllAlong.]] After the spoiler makes him undergo a HeroicBSOD (that lasts for about five seconds), he sucks it up, moves forward, [[spoiler:[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu destroys]] an EldritchAbomination]], and escapes, unfortunately haunted by[[spoiler: hallucinations of Nicole]]. He is confined to a mental institute, where the government keeps him in and out of stasis for three years, [[spoiler: using his madness to construct another ArtifactOfDoom]]. Another Necromorph outbreak later, Isaac not only has to worry about the space zombies, government agents out to kill him, and the ChurchOfHappyology trying to kidnap him, but also [[spoiler: the hallucination of his girlfriend trying to drive him to suicide.]]
* The main character of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV''. No other character in the entire ''series'' compares to him. Where to even begin. [[spoiler: His father is murdered right in front of him as a child. He lives as a slave for the next ten years constructing an icon of blasphemy. He and his wife are turned to stone for another seven years, mere days after his twin children are born. They get seperated during this, and she does not get unpetrified until well after he is. And as probably the biggest PlayerPunch in the entire series, his mother, who he and his father had been searching for the entire game, is murdered right in front of him just ''minutes'' after he'd finally found her.]] And yet despite all this, he NEVER [[HeroicBSOD breaks down]]. If that's not an Iron Woobie, what is?
* 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.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'':
** Dr. Litchi Faye-Ling. She is a kind doctor who knew she's slowly being corrupted by the Boundary in exchange of a great power that she uses for fighting and trying to discover a cure for her lover turned EldritchAbomination. And for that, she even left her previous job as scientist and endangers herself with a court-martial. Interaction with the townspeople where she resided, townspeople that looked up to her, would make you think that they'll make good moral support for her quest, but she never tells them her situation, which means she's carrying her burden alone. [[spoiler:Then, when she sought help from her superior and got refused, the corruption is catching up to her limit, her only option to continue was to join the rival organization, which stores one person that she knew to be a DevilInPlainSight, and she [[FaceHeelTurn did so anyway]], knowing that her previous organization would do even worse than court-martial from that point on if they ever catch her. And while at first she thought the organization was just 'normal' or better than her previous one, she starts seeing that it is rather... shady and questionable, but she decided to bear all that.]] In her own words... "I can't go back. Even if I have to sacrifice some of my humanity."
** One of the main characters, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Ragna]] the [[GoodIsNotNice Bloodedge]] 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 whose 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).
* Axl Low from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' is a nice English guy who has been ripped from his girlfriend Megumi and his home to be thrown through time by the machinations of beings who just want a pawn in their schemes. Axl himself wants none of it and is just looking for someone who might know how he can get home. In ''Xrd: Revelator'', he finds someone who knows what's wrong with him and can send him home: [[spoiler:It's I-no, who tells him that he's actually a magical RealityWarper who can erase and rewrite timelines at will, just like her... ''and he can never go home because he may have already erased his own timeline and everyone in it''. This news makes Axl fall into a deep depression, and when he's given a chance to go to his home time later, it comes with the SadisticChoice that he'll erase his friends in the future, as the two worlds are mutually exclusive. [[IChooseToStay He decides to save his friends.]]]]
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'''s own Samus Aran. The toughest warrior in the galaxy, destroyer of worlds... and everyone she knows and/or cared about dies in front of her. She has been forced by circumstance to wipe out entire species of super-predator (the sole survivor of one ''died saving her life''), and spends most of her time on-screen either wandering the crumbling ruins of the civilization she was raised in and its allies, or hunting down the ones responsible.
* Craig Boone of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. You ''poor man''. Take off your [[StoicSpectacles stoic sunglasses]] and let us see your pain. He was present at the Bitter Springs Massacre and suffers immense survivors guilt and PTSD as a result. He meets a girl who accepts him and becomes his wife but she doesn't get on with Boone's only friend causing tension between them. His wife, pregnant with his child, is sold into slavery by someone in their town. Boone tracks down the legion slavers to one of their biggest outposts where they are planning to sell her and faced with no other option kills his wife and flees (being outnumbered several hundred to one). When he gets back to Novac he an't trust anyone because any of them might have been the one to sell his wife and he can't fix his relationship with his friend. In various dialogue with him he outright states that he's stopped expecting a break and thinks the universe is just waiting for him to let his guard down so it can screw him over again.
* [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Cubone]] is more of a straight-up [[TheWoobie woobie,]] having lost its mother and [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset filling her empty skull with tears.]] However, the evolved form Marowak is pure Iron Woobie material: a badass [[BadWithTheBone club-wielding warrior]] who's gotten over mama's death and uses past anguish as fuel for its ferocious battling.
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/ZettaiHeroProject'', a HeroicMime who appears to be nothing but an OCStandIn and over-the-top example of ThisLoserIsYou, especially as a superhero. In Chapter 9, it's revealed that he actually has a backstory, and the countless [[HopelessBossFight Hopeless Boss Fights]] of the game are a reflection of his [[{{Determinator}} primary character trait]]. [[spoiler:Eight years ago, he and his sister were captured by a serial kidnapper/cannibal, and he protected her by getting the crap kicked out of him repeatedly until the police and Unlosing Ranger arrived. But she was so traumatized that all she remembers is him getting beaten up and crying, causing the whole family to blame what happened on his weakness, and completely tearing them apart. As in, his parents are getting divorced over who raised him to be such a wimp and his sister wants him to just die.]] After becoming humanity's ButtMonkey, he continues to protect everyone in the only way he knows how, even if they all mock him for it.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** Everyone WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse knows either dies, disappears, goes into a coma, or falls to darkness, he's an utter failure at protecting the worlds and his friends and loved ones from the encroaching darkness, and his life is best described as "hell". He is also frequently compared to [[Franchise/StarWars prequel trilogy era Yoda]] in combat prowess, and despite over 12 years of constant defeat and failure, refuses to give up, and stays pretty optimistic. Well, at least he still has his supporting cast of the [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Disney cartoons.]]
** The [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Beast]] lives in a cold and dark castle in the middle of nowhere with a curse that had made him into a vicious-looking monster for several years can be depressing, no less with the fact that the curse can only be broken if a woman loves him for who he is. Depressed and angry for many years, a woman finally comes to his castle and after some hard time they learn to get along and Beast finally finds some happiness in his life. And [[YankTheDogsChain then]] the castle gets destroyed and the woman kidnapped by TheHeartless, and Beast ends up in nowhere of the universe. Through [[{{Determinator}} sheer force of will alone]] he ends up in Hollow Bastion and with all his strength fights through the forces of darkness to save his beloved without complaning or whining.
* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'':
First Scorpion's entire clan gets killed, then after being brought back as a spectre he's forced by Shang Tsung to work alongside the guy who killed his family. In life and in death his story is an endless stream of tragedy, his game endings are usually bad, right down to [[spoiler:becoming the vessel of Dark Kahn's rebirth in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse''. Yet he still continues on. Even worse, the Elder Gods are dicks to him. In ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'', they make Scorpion their Champion to deal with the threat of Onaga. He agrees on the terms that his family and clansmen be revived by the Elder Gods. When he delivers, the Elder Gods [[ExactWords uphold their end of the bargain]]... [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor by reviving the Shirai Ryu as undead abominations]] in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon''. No wonder he goes all RageAgainstTheHeavens afterwards.
** VideoGame/MortalKombat2: Not only is Kitana's father is killed by Shao Kahn during his bloody takeover of Edenia, her mother Sindel [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide out of grief for her departed husband]]. Shao Kahn then manipulates the poor girl into serving as one of his assassins and makes her falsely believe that he is her birth father. He also creates a disfigured clone of her to act as her "sister" and ultimately off her should Kitana prove to be unreliable. Who knows how long this lasted for, seeing as Kitana is ''[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld over 10,000-years-old]]''. When she finally breaks free, Kahn then revives her mother and brainwashes ''her'' as a tool for his invasion of Earthrealm. Eventually, all of this is sorted out. Then comes Shinnok. And after ''that'' is resolved, Kitana proposes to her love interest Liu Kang, only for him to reluctantly decline due to his status as Earthrealm's Champion. Then Quan Chi and Shang Tsung get the jump on him before ''Deadly Alliance'' and kill him. And then ''she'' dies in battle with Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, and is later revived by Onaga and--you guessed it--brainwashed to serve him. The ''one'' time she breaks down (her ''Unchained'' ending) is justified, as her premonitions about {{the end of the world|AsWeKnowIt}} are coming true (as seen in ''Armageddon''). The girl's got it ''rough''. It gets more devastating in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 the 2011 reboot]] when she finds her "sister" and hears from her so called father that he killed her real father and nearly gets executed. [[spoiler:Then her mother gets brainwashed and unlike last time in the original timeline, she gets killed by her brainwashed mother who doesn't realize what she has done and is an undead warrior who is brainwashed.]]
* Leon from ''VideoGame/FZero 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.
* Recette, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'' [[[ParentalAbandonment not only was she abandoned by her dad in all but name & her mom might be dead,]] she also lived alone for 3 months, might've been starving by the time the game's events roll around, and has to perform child labor in order to pay off the enormous debt her dad left her [[SocialServicesDoesNotExist (and she loses her house, & has to live in a box, if she fails)]]]. It's amazing she's able to put up such a friendly smile each day.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'': Lost your parents in the war? Surrounded by the hostile [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead thoughts]], words, and deeds of paranoid warmongers on all sides? [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Forced into destroying the country and endangering the world?]] Brother commits a HeroicSacrifice to prevent you and a friend from doing the same? Saddled with responsibility for an entire nation without the understanding to help them?]] Welcome to [[TraumaCongaLine another day in the life of]] [[CuteMonsterGirl Sveta Czamaral]].
* Nautilus from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. Oh boy. He was a sailor who was left to die by his fellow seamen after he dived into an unidentified, pitch-black section of the ocean and was grabbed by ''something'' and dragged down. When he awoke after who knows how long, his heavy diving suit had been fused with his skin, and he was lost in complete darkness. With nothing else left to do, he walked. Too heavy to swim and weighted down by the suit, he walked along the ocean floor until he eventually hit the shores. However, he found that there was nothing left for him on the surface. No home, no family, no friend, nothing. The only reason he joined the eponymous [[GladiatorGames League of Legends]] is that ''someone'' might be able to help him discover something about himself.
* 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 [[VideoGame/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.]]
* [[spoiler:All the Future Children]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' count in, in one way or another. [[spoiler:All of them come from a 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.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'':
** Having lost everyone she loved and cared about in the village destroyed by the Faceless (and having to watch her mother die right in front of her), one really has to feel sorry for Mozu. And despite all of this, she's a competent MagikarpPower PluckyGirl. Not to mention that while she does occasionally cry about it in her supports, Mozu always ends up becoming even more useful to the army.
** 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 ''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.]] But 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.
* The Wayne brothers from ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'': two {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es who produce advanced machines for the government in exchange for riches, only to discover said government using what they created for malicious conquest and aggression. Nonetheless, they take off in their SuperPrototype {{Cool Plane}}s and destroy their own war machines in order to stop the government, [[OneManArmy by themselves]]. The most emotion they show is some stoic pondering in their endings in ''VideoGame/ArmedPoliceBatrider''.
* [[spoiler: Asriel Dreemurr]] from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''. He loses both his SOUL and his best friend, causing his existence to be one of indescribable loneliness. And while he doesn't exactly take it in stride as [[spoiler: Flowey the flower]], upon being [[spoiler: briefly restored to his true form and getting his compassion back]], he seems happy to let you and your friends go, even though this means he will have to go back to living this way.
** It runs in the family. [[spoiler:His father]] Asgore [[spoiler:made a promise in the heat of the moment that has the biggest contribution to the basic plot of the game. It's a promise he can't take back, since it revived the hopes of his people who were once again on the brink of despair after what happened to Asriel, but it means he has to kill seven innocent humans and harvest their [=SOULs=], of which '''YOU''' are the latest, and the last]]. And yet, despite this, he can put a genuine smile on his face, acknowledge a good day, and is all around the big loveable goat-dad that Papyrus and Undyne say he is.
* VideoGame/ParasiteEve:
** At a young age, Aya Brea's mother and sister died in a car crash. Many years later, her spontaneous urge to see a play lead her to be [[SurvivorGuilt the sole survivor]] of [[BigBad Eve's]] initial massacre. Throughout the game she consistently [[JustInTime arrives just]] [[SubvertedTrope too late]] to save anyone from Eve, at best being able to comfort some of the victims in their last moments. On top of this she's saddled with the enormous responsibility of being [[ItsUpToYou the only one]] who can fight Eve. Despite all this she carries on, not only saving New York from Eve but also returning for [[VideoGame/ParasiteEve2 two]] [[VideoGame/The3rdBirthday sequels]]. The second game allows Aya to save many more people (although several of these people can die if the player fails to do certain things). However she also recieves the revelation that all of the [[BodyHorror mutated monsters]] she's been fighting throughout the game [[WasOnceAMan were originally human]] and were mutated by being injected with Aya's own cells. Despite all this, she goes on to have a seemingly happy, normal relationship with Kyle Madigan.
Eve Brea is no slouch either. She's a [[CloningBlues clone]] of Aya, held in a secret underground facility where she's treated as little more than a [[TykeBomb living]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction weapon]] and is manipulated by the BigBad to try and kill Aya. Still she survives, and is later HappilyAdopted by Aya...until the third game, where [[spoiler:Eve spends the entire game [[AmnesiacDissonance believing she's Aya Brea]], only for it to be revealed at the end that Aya was DeadAllAlong and that Eve was the one who killed her, thus [[NiceJobBreakingItHero triggering the events of the game]], culminating in [[PlayerPunch the player being forced to personally pull the trigger and kill the real Aya]]]]. On top of that she's forced to kill most of her closest friends, and has recurring nightmares of her [[BloodSplatteredWeddingDress wedding]] [[WidowedAtTheWedding day]]. But at the end of the game [[spoiler:Eve-as-Aya commits herself to continuing her work as a government agent to carry on Aya's legacy, even though the original Aya has been [[UnPerson erased from the timeline]] and [[RippleProofMemory Eve is the only one who remembers]]]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Oh baby, let me tell you about Mei-Ling Zhou. She's an Overwatch scientist at a research point in Antarctica that goes into cryogenic sleep with her friends because an ice storm makes a resupply impossible. So she goes to sleep, wakes up, everything seems relatively normal...and then everything goes horribly wrong. First, Mei learns she's been asleep for 9 years, way beyond any reasonable expectation of rescue. Why? On to number two: Overwatch was disbanded while she'd been asleep, so never mind being out of a job, nobody even knows Mei and her friends are still there. And then, the ultimate cherry on top: she realizes she's all alone in the station, and that's because all of her friends' cryochambers suffered a malfunction and they all died a horrible frozen death. So Mei's the lone survivor on the South Pole in a research station with barely any power, supplies, no means of communication with the rest of the world, no way to get out as all the vehicles are frozen, and only her robot companion Snowball to keep her company. Despite all this, not only does she vow to take the years worth of climate data to the world in the name of her dead friends, she actively creates her endothermic blaster Tony Stark-style with odds and ends around the station and sets off ''on foot'' to rejoin and save the world.
* Axl Low from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' is a funny, friendly British NiceGuy who was torn away from his friends and his girlfriend Megumi to be a pawn in the conflicts of cosmic beings from another timeline. He doesn't care about any of their shit and just wants to go home, so he reluctantly follows along while looking for anyone who can get him out of his predicament. [[spoiler:He finally ''does'' meet this person, for them to tell him he's not even human, but a ''sentient bundle of time magic'', and his girlfriend, if she ever existed, ''[[YouCantGoHomeAgain has probably been wiped from existence along with his original timeline because of his own actions]]''.]] To twist the knife further, [[spoiler:he even eventually gets a chance to go home to his time, but he can't bring himself to leave his new friends and ''their'' timeline to their fate. [[IChooseToStay So he instead uses his power to help Sol Badguy seal the deal in his fight to save the timeline]].]]
* In ''Octopath Traveler'', Primrose Azelhart best embodies the trope out of the eight heroes. When she was a young girl, she watched the father she dearly loved get murdered by three men. She spent the following years alone and destitute with no clues about the killers' identities and nothing but the possibility of revenge to keep her going. Eventually she heard a rumor that one of the killers would occasionally patronize a certain tavern, so she got a job as a dancer there, enduring the owner's perverted advances and the scorn of her fellow dancers for a few years more. And this is ''before'' the game's story properly begins. [[spoiler:When she finally gets a proper lead on one of the killers, the tavern's owner punishes her for going off behind his back by murdering the only friend she had there before Primrose kills him. She hunts down her father's killers one by one until she reaches the mastermind, her childhood crush who turns out to be a sadistic sociopath. The whole time she's fighting him, she endures psychological attacks while a play he wrote recounting all of the worst moments of her life goes on in the background.]] In the end, despite having gotten her vengeance, Primrose doesn't feel happier. Nevertheless, she decides to keep soldiering on until she finds something to live for.
[[/folder]]

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[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Michael Westen from ''[[Series/BurnNotice Burn Notice]]''. Raised by an abusive, alcoholic father who died mysteriously, he joined the military where he worked with sociopaths on a constant basis, only to lose his job and find himself stuck in a city he's out of place in and constantly targeted by a mysterious evil organization. Every time it seems like he might get his old job back, he is violently reminded why the show has the title it does. Even despite all this, he takes most things in stride and has a fairly optimistic view of the world.
* [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]:
** Picard picks up the role in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]''. Assimilated by the Borg, living a whole lifetime's worth of experiences in a few moments, which effectively gives him the last memory of a dead civilization, suffers through centuries' worth of rage and heartbreak for Sarek, and was tortured for weeks by Gul Madred. He feels responsible for what he did as Locutus for years afterwards, as indicated by his interactions with Sisko in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]'' pilot and in ''[[Film/StarTrekFirstContact First Contact]]''. Even after all that, Picard sticks to his beliefs and keeps going.
** Also Data from TNG. He's constantly the victim of FantasticRacism due to being an android, his "brother" turns out to be an EvilTwin, his "daughter" died and his body's been hijacked more than once. The fact that he can't feel emotion just seems to make it worse somehow.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** The title character. Life screws her over royally time and again. Even when demonic forces aren't actively threatening everything she holds dear, she is still risking her life on a nightly basis and constantly alone, but she ''just keeps going''. In fact, most Franchise/{{Buffyverse}} characters are this trope. Creator/JossWhedon is just ''mean'' to his characters.
** Xander Harris. He's been the most unfortunate of all of the main characters (except the titular character herself). Bad things happen to him for nearly no reason other than to provide comedy and/or angst for the main character, to the point that at one point he declares himself the butt-monkey of the BTVS universe. Furthermore, despite a highly impressive track record, his achievements, loyalty, and bravery are always downplayed/dismissed by his friends until such a time that he becomes useful for them. He is an Iron Woobie because despite this treatment, he never turns on his friends or the fight against evil, and you have to admire him for that determination. Xander addresses this in the episode "Potential". After Dawn acknowledges that she is not the new potential slayer the scoobies were looking for, Xander tells her that the others will never know what it's like to be normal when all of your friends have ridiculous amounts of power that keep growing, but that he knows how much strength it took for Dawn to not let everyone continue to think that she was the potential. It's actually a pretty touching scene.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Edgar, a new Season 4 character, is an interesting case--[[spoiler:he kills people with his super-speed/weapon accuracy abilities, but he has said that he ''does not'' actually want to do it--and then Samuel started to [[ShoutOut Force-choke him]]. He has emotions, remorse, and feelings for people, but still does bad things rather coldly]].
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** A case could be made for Crowley. Sure, he's a bad guy, but he also spent most of Season 5 alienated from his own kind and with a death sentence on his head that could just as easily have been delivered by the Winchesters as by the demons he betrayed. Yet he snarks on.
** Castiel, ''especially'' in Season 5 when he's falling. But even after he's [[spoiler: re-angelfied and accepted into Heaven, he finds that he has to become the figurehead for an incredibly personal civil war between his brothers]], and he's more or less had to go it alone.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Jonathan Kent basically spent his entire adult life working to protect Clark's secret, and (along with Martha) dealing with Clark's developing powers. Then, he makes an unfortunate deal with the Jor-El AI that leads to his developing a heart condition that eventually kills him, all for the sake of saving Clark. Along the way, poor Jonathan had to deal with the stresses of running a barely-profitable farm that was constantly beset with financial difficulties. And how does Jonathan react to all of this? By NOT taking refuge in Wangst. Instead, he tells Clark and Martha not to worry about him, and focuses on getting the job done. In Season 10, when we see Clark talking to Jonathan in the afterlife, Jonathan reminisces on his own life, and still refuses to dwell in self-pity. Now THAT'S an honorable character. Even before Clark came on the scene, Jonathan had more than his fair share of trouble in life. Martha says that Jonathan and his father never really got along, and Jonathan regrets never being able to patch things up between them. He met Martha while taking some classes at college (probably to manage the farm better), and she was way out of his league: daughter of a high-powered Metropolis attorney, and her father no love for the yokel Martha was falling for. In the end, Clark's grandfather was invited out of the family, and never really reconciled with his daughter, son-in-law, or grandson. Jonathan and Martha were also unable to have children of their own, despite numerous attempts. And through it all, Jonathan had to keep a rather powerful rage in check to be the good man he always wanted to be.
* Fran from ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury''. Poor, poor Fran. As the only employee to not be a Ranger, she is consistently the only one left to deal with the mass lunch rush. While she occasionally confronts Theo and Lily about always being gone, once to the point of quitting, she just as easily sets it aside. And this isn't even covering her crush on Dom...
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'':
** Ianto Jones, who's been through just about everything. One of only 27 employees of Torchwood One [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday to survive Canary Wharf]], 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.
** Jack is probaly the biggest Iron Woobie of the series. Dear god, he's been buried alive, had all the life sucked out of him, was buried in concrete, and in ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' was murdered over and over again in a butcher shop. He's also died over two thousand times and spent a year being tortured to death over and over. Oh, and he was also [[spoiler: forced to kill his own grandson in order to save the rest of Earth's children the day after his boyfriend died.]] How Jack isn't a babbling mess by now is kind of a mystery.
** Then there's Tosh. She was forced to [[spoiler: commit treason because her mother was being held hostage. Then, instead of getting rescued, UNIT sentences her to isolation]] until Jack shows up and recruits her for Torchwood. The man she has a crush on is a jerk who won't give her the time of day, but at least she has regular contact with him. Another interest was a soldier suffering from PSTD who had to go back to a time that didn't understand the disorder. Then there was her other love interest Mary who was revealed to [[spoiler: have been using her the entire time.]] When Tosh finally does tell Owen she loves him, [[spoiler: she's dying from a gunshot wound and it turns out he didn't even hear it.]] That poor woman never got a break.
* From ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'': Josephine Kirtland, the victim in the Season 3 episode "Nine Wives". She grew up in a polygamist cult. She was forced to marry its leader, Prophet Stone, who subsequently raped her. Instead of giving up, she escapes from a desert hideout and treks through the wilderness at night. Later, she faces two awful truths: [[spoiler:her mother betrayed her to Stone, and she is the product of ParentalIncest (she and her mother have the same father).]] Despite all of this, she's a mostly stable individual by the end of the episode. Oh, and did I mention that she's only sixteen?
* Aaron Hotchner from ''Series/CriminalMinds'' is possibly the best example of an Iron Woobie on TV today. Hotch is trying to raise his son after his ex-wife - his high school sweetheart - was murdered by the Reaper, who made him listen over the phone while she died. Hotch was so grief-stricken that he beat the Reaper to death with his bare hands. Oh, and this was after he got stabbed by the Reaper, and had his son taken into protective custody. And after that time he nearly got blown up by a suicide bomber, lost an old flame in the same attack, and had painful hearing problems for some time afterward as a result of it shattering his eardrums.
* Bree Van De Kamp, from ''Series/DesperateHousewives''. Let's get this straight: She lost 3 husbands and 2 boyfriends, her son hated her with passion for several seasons, her daughter does not like her very much either, and she succumbed to alcoholism. Despite all of this, she managed to get back on her feet each time, despite the odds, the people and the ''universe'' working against her. [[spoiler:That is, until season 8, where she finally snaps, and is on the verge of committing suicide herself like Mary Alice by the end of the 9th episode.]]
* The title character of ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}''. Just look at the last half of Series 2. Forced to tell your best friend that magic is evil in order to spare a man who would have you slaughtered? Check. Your best friend kills your girlfriend? Check. Forced to poison one of your friends for the greater good? Check. [[spoiler: Finally meet your father only for him to die saving you two days later]]? Check. And while this is a compilation of the ''worst'' things to happen to him, they certainly aren't limited to just lining up in a row and hitting him. Only ''one'' person has learned his secret, accepted it, and lived. Everyone else is dead.
** Oh, and did we mention that these are just specific events? His normal life is being called an idiot and distrusted despite always being right, getting abused and belittled by Arthur despite constantly saving his life, and if he's ever discovered saving all of Camelot, he will be killed. Why? [[FantasticRacism Because he was born magical and thus must be evil.]] And it would most likely be Arthur who gives out the order.
** He has ''never'' gone into HeroicBSOD, rampaged, broken down, or sunk into depression. He cries, sure, but he'll get back on his feet and keep trying with the same episode. Even on the one occasion when he truly felt his cause was hopeless [[spoiler:after accidentally killing Uther and possibly turning Arthur against magic forever]], he stuck around because Arthur needed his emotional support. He's not even that emotional towards Gaius, the one person who he ''can'' rant to. He's had one rant (early series two, before all the above happened), and the rest of the time he just takes comfort in the fact that there is ''one'' person who knows how much he's done for Camelot. Forget iron, this guy is an ''Adamantium'' Woobie.
** Oh and his final fate? [[spoiler:To WalkTheEarth, immortal, until he's needed again. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever As most fans have noted]], this is a [[BlessedWithSuck curse to see everyone he cares about die]], but he's still waiting for Arthur.]]
* Al Calavicci from ''Series/{{Quantum Leap}}''. In order: his mother ran out on her family; he bounced in and out of orphanages because his father was working overseas; his little sister died in a mental hospital; his father died from cancer (thus causing his falling out with religion); his father figure, a black man, was arrested for playing pool in a whites-only pool hall (this being the 1940s); he was a POW in Vietnam, during which time his first wife, the "only woman [I] ever really loved," left him; four more failed marriages; and he was a raging alcoholic, to the degree that he was in danger of getting fired from his job running a government project. Rock bottom was implied to be when Sam Beckett found him piss drunk and beating a vending machine with a hammer. Despite all of the crap that Al's been through, he's a pretty laid-back guy and rarely mentions any of these things unless it's relevant (all of these were learned when he used them to put a leap into context for Sam).
* Alex Cabot from ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' was shot by a hitman and forced to go into Witness Protection Program. Most of her friends think she is dead, she wasn't allowed to attend her mothers own funeral because she is placed under another identity, and the man she was in a relationship with thought of her as a woman with another name. She arrives back for [[TheBusCameBack one episode]] to testify against the man who shot her and when she lets her walls over around Olivia, it really hits home. And when she arrives back as ADA permanently again in season 10, her infamous cool-headed personality remains and rarely lets up.
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''- Patricia seems to be a downplayed one. She's gone through a lot of struggle and genuine pain since the first series, including betrayal, kidnapping, heartbreak, jealousy issues, and even getting her soul stolen. Despite this, she is the show's biggest {{Determinator}}, and she has a tendency to bounce back after getting hurt, no matter how badly.
* 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.
* Theo in ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse''. She's described by her siblings as a "clenched fist" and dealt with the trauma from Hill House by becoming an ice queen. The only time she's truly warm is when she's at work, treating children as a child psychologist. She can sense hidden truths by touching people, allowing her to see her patients' traumas and help diagnose them. One of them is being molested by her foster father, which Theo psychically experiences while investigating. Imagine experiencing not just your own traumas but the traumas of every person you've ever touched.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* While Miles Vorkosigan in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' already takes this to extreme levels (born with abnormally brittle bones and needing multiple surgeries and painful physical therapy just to walk, and that was just the first six years of his life; it got worse), his brother Mark has it even worse. Created in a laboratory by absurdly insane and delusional terrorists to kill and impersonate his brother long enough to murder their father, raised by clone traders who sell their services to rich old people willing to murder their own cloned children and transplant their brains into the young bodies, every one of his childhood friends is dead by the time he starts trying to stop the clone trade. But after being physically, sexually, and psychologically tortured by someone vile by everyone else's standards (Mark makes millions from the assassination and ends up rescuing dozens of innocent lives), a beautiful female soldier touches his wrist and offers her pity for what he'd suffered. Mark's response: grab her wrist in a death grip and snarl viciously, "don't you DARE feel pity for me. I WON!"
* Danny Saunders from ''Literature/TheChosen''. He was a Hassidic Rebbe's son and an incredibly gifted young scholar. His father actually shunned him as a form of TrainingFromHell (his father did not like doing it, which gives him as well some qualifications as a WellIntentionedExtremist Iron Woobie once one gets past ValuesDissonance).
* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]]. The entire universe hates him, but he still keeps saving it, usually [[SadClown making bad jokes]] at the same time. Listing why would result in a WallOfText, so just go to the [[Woobie/TheDresdenFiles Dresden Files Woobie page]] to save space.
* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''Literature/EndlessBlue'', Mikhail suffers, and long has, from depression. He nevertheless plays TheStoic until those rare conditions that manage to break him. When his foster brother Turk apparently dies, he conscientiously locks away his gun and gives away his vodkha, to prevent DrowningMySorrows and DrivenToSuicide -- at least until [[AFatherToHisMen he]] [[TheMenFirst gets his crew to safety]].
* Huck from ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn''. He is utterly penniless, gets kidnapped by his abusive and alcoholic father, is nearly stabbed by said father, almost gets shot during a feud, has a run in with a homicidal gang of robbers and falls into the company of con men, among other things. Throughout all of this, he's infectiously cheerful, playful and heartbreakingly unaware of the CrapsackWorld surrounding him.
* Edmond Dantes from ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''. Starts out an all-around nice guy, is imprisoned after being falsely accused and having his life and fiancee ripped away from him, escapes, plans an elaborate vengeance against his accusers spanning several years and then, [[spoiler: despite those years of planning, spares the life of one of his enemies because he would have to take the life of his innocent and honorable son in addition.]]
* ''Literature/XWingSeries'': Tycho Celchu is a Woobie ''in universe''. He was an Alderaanian flying for the Empire who had been placing a call to his family there on his birthday when Alderaan was destroyed. He fought for the Rebel Alliance and was kidnapped and tortured by [[BigBad Isard]], but never broke. When he was released the Alliance was suspicious of him, thinking that he'd turned into one of Isard's {{Manchurian Agent}}s, and he was put under all kinds of restrictions. His old CO Wedge Antilles still trusted him absolutely and relied on him, even giving him roles in secret plans. Then someone who was suspicious of him died in suspicious circumstances, and he was put on trial with a mountain of evidence set against him. ''Everyone'' but Wedge, or nearly everyone, thought he was a traitor, wittingly or not, and Wedge had a moment of doubt. So how did Tycho bear up with this? Stoically, and with an endless reserve of patience. Before Isard got him he was a hothead and impulsive - after that, he was subdued, haunted, and his [[TheCape nobility]] was laid bare.
--> "I put up with it because I must. Enduring it is the only way I can be allowed to fight back against the Empire. If I were to walk away from the Rebellion, if I were to sit the war out, I would have surrendered to the fear of what Ysanne Isard might, ''might'', have done to me. Without firing a shot she would have made me as dead as Alderaan, and I won't allow that. There's nothing in what I have to live with on a daily basis that isn't a thousand times easier than what I survived at the hands of the Empire. Until the Empire is dead, I can never truly be free because I'll always be under suspicion. Living with minor restrictions now means someday no one has to fear me."
* The title character of ''Literature/TheWindroseChronicles'', by Creator/BarbaraHambly, winds up going through fifteen kinds of hell at the hands of the good guys as well as the bad guys. He's been traumatized enough to go completely insane - and his insanity gives him the ability to sustain hope even when such is unrealistic - leading to such Awesome Moments as [[spoiler:gaining secret control of the prison where he is being tortured, not that that makes the torture hurt any less,]] and dealing with everyone throughout courteously and cheerfully...
* Niall from ''Literature/WickedLovely'', oh so much so. He gave himself to the Dark Court, [[RapeAsBackstory and we all know what that meant]], to save a few mortals (who died anyway.) He managed to escape from them, becoming one of the Summer Court's most trusted advisors. Oh, but then, well, Shit happened. He would have every reason in the world to be all angsty and depressed, but he very rarely does, or at least not visibly. He's a "survivor", as Leslie put it.
* Marshal-General Atkins, from Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/TheGoldenOecumene'' is the only warrior in a society that has forgotten the meaning of war or violence. He is regarded as an anachronism at best, a needless expense at worst. The only inkling the reader gets of his woobie nature is a brief NotSoStoic outburst after a dose of AmnesiacDissonance.
* ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'': [=FitzChivalry=] Farseer. A bastard whose unveiling causes his heir-to-the-throne father to go into seclusion, mercilessly trained as an assassin, [[spoiler:executed for possessing forbidden magic ([[UnexplainedRecovery he got better]]), sent on a mission to save a kingdom that hates him, forced to give up his youth and vitality, leaving him broken for many years, only to return to find out his lover and his foster father have gone off to raise his child together and no one wants him around anymore. Then, umpteen years later when his kingdom needs him, he still goes off to save the day.]]
* ''Literature/MyHappyLife'' is made of this. The nameless narrator describes being a beaten, neglected, friendless woman, with a mental deficiency who was abandoned, raised in a Dickinsonian orphanage, left homeless, kidnapped, abused, and eventually locked in an abandoned insane asylum to die in relentlessly cheerful terms. The reader may assume part of her insanity was an inability to feel unhappiness, but that's not explicitly stated.
* Georgie in ''The Fledgling''. She seems like your ordinary introverted, outcast child, until a Canada goose befriends her and teaches her to fly, and it seems all the other characters are bent on stopping her. In the end, the goose, the only true friend she's had [[spoiler: not only dies, but dies because Georgie calls him to her]]. And despite that, Georgie still never complains.
* Literature/HarryPotter:
** Harry's Parents were murdered trying to save him, betrayed by their best friend. His only living relatives hate him because he was born with magic and physically and emotionally abuse him, starving him and until the age of 12 make him live in a cupboard under the stairs. His life and those of everyone he cares about is constantly being threatened by the most dangerous and evil wizard in history all because of prophecy made before he was born, to the point that every year he is put in mortal danger far beyond the abilities of the normal wizard let alone a child. He has a teacher that makes it his life's mission to make Harry unhappy and his mentor keeps him in the dark about nearly everything. The media spends half the time villifying him for telling the truth and powerful politicians either coddle him or try to discredit him. All of his protectors and father figures are horribly murdered and to cap it all he is forced to walk slowly to his death and isn't allowed to defend himself or run away (the fact that he doesn't actually end up dead isn't even that helpful because coming back he still has to fight the BigBad again)
** "Loony" Luna Lovegood has some of this as well. The first years of her life were... okay, one can presume. Okay, though [[FriendlessBackground friendless]]. She had loving parents and her mother, in particular, was rumored to have been an extraordinary witch. Keywords: Have been. When Luna was 9 years old she became an eye witness when one of her mother's experimental spells backfired. Her father, [[ConspiracyTheorist Xeno]][[KnightTemplarParent philius]], is implied to have had a SanitySlippage by the gruesome circumstances of her death and, all in all, life got tough for Luna. Things didn't get better when she went to Hogwarts. No, due to being the victim of a serious [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the CloudCuckoolander trope, she was teased and ostracized by the other students due to her easy-to-spot quirkiness, with Ginny Weasley being the only one to approach her. It's not until her 4th year in Hogwarts that she finally finds some true company together with the Main Trio, Ginny and Neville Longbottom, and she only says one year later that she liked being together with them because it "was like having friends."
* Lissla Lissar from Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Deerskin}}''. Just follow the link to that page. Lissar is the embodiment of the tragic backstory. The poor girl goes through utter hell, in one form or another, for seventeen years. And yet she survives it all--with the help of a being called the Moonwoman, who changes Lissar's appearance and conceals her memories until she might be ready to deal with them--becoming the most compassionate and courageous person imaginable.
* Marsh from ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'': He led a peasant rebellion for years, before giving it up as a lost cause, only to have his estranged GentlemanThief younger brother Kelsier (who married the girl Marsh loved) take over. Marsh then [[TheMole goes undercover]] in the ReligionOfEvil as part of his brother's scheme. He's so good at his job, however, that the monstrous [[HumanoidAbomination Steel Inquisitors]] decide to forcefully recruit him. The ensuing ceremony involves multiple human sacrifices, and large metal spikes being permanently impaled into his body. Kelsier soon dies believing that he got Marsh killed. Marsh is able to [[SheepInWolfsClothing kill several of the other Inquisitors]], and help depose the [[EvilOverlord Lord Ruler]], only to realize they had released a GodOfEvil in the process. The god [[PeoplePuppet controls Marsh's body]] for the next ''two books'', all while his mind is trapped inside. He ends up being forced to kill an untold amount of people while bringing about the apocalypse, but still manages to break free for the second it takes to trigger his niece's EleventhHourSuperpower. By the BittersweetEnding of the original trilogy, he's lost everyone he ever cared about, is still the immortal pawn of an (albeit much more benevolent) god, and as for the new society he did all of this to create? They view him as [[DontFearTheReaper the theological personification of Death itself]].
* Ruth Mallory of ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'': A fourteen-year-old [[SexSlave comfort slave]], mother to two dead children, lost her home, her innocence, her peace of mind, she has no friends, she's specifically antagonized by the men because she's ugly--but she never bemoans her fate. She never pities herself, instead doing what she can to save others from a similar life.
* Alinadar from Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures started her woobiness by having her family murdered by SpacePirates, being made their slave and forced to be a ChildSoldier hunting down other children hiding on ships the pirates attacked. Escaping that and settling down to be a noblewoman's bodyguard, she's finally found by her [[LongLostRelative long lost brother]] a [[SpacePolice Stellar Patroller]] after he searched for her for twenty years, only to be arrested by him the day he finds her when she admits to being a former pirate. And all the while she complains people are being too sympathetic to her compared to her victims.
* Literature/TheBible:
** A lot of ''God's'' big speeches in the Old Testament boil down to "Everyone keeps ignoring me and doing evil stuff that I told you not to do, and I feel really hurt by that, but I guess I'm not gonna give up you anyway" - it kinda reads like they want you to feel sorry for the Big Guy. Jesus ''certainly'' counts in the New Testament, though - He has one RageAgainstTheHeavens moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, but He pretty quickly comes to the conclusion that He's going to go through with the whole crucifixion thing because He's convinced there's no better way. He remains pretty impressively composed throughout the actual process of dying, too.
** Possibly the UrExample would be Job. Here's a guy who's incredibly wealthy, and one day while he's sitting down to dinner finds out that all of his livestock, servants, and children have just been killed or captured. When that's not enough to break him, he then loses even his health, with painful sores all over his body. His friends turn on him, assuming that he must have done something incredibly awful to deserve such a punishment. His wife, who should be comforting him in this crisis, instead tells him to just curse God and die. But through it all, he never loses his faith, at one point even calling God out to explain why he's had to suffer so. It pays off in the end; God is so impressed with his perseverance that everything he had lost was restored to him doubly.
* Literature/JaneEyre most DEFINITELY qualifies for this trope! Suffering through an abusive childhood, an abusive adolescence, and on top of all this, to have the man she comes to love keep critical secrets from her would drive anyone to despair. But not Jane. She, despite the occasional moments of "Why me?" keeps soldiering on through life, and making the best of whatever comes along.
* ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'':
** Nico is a demonseed, meaning that every day of her life, a demon by the name of Master is trying to possess her, which would turn her into an unstoppable engine of destruction. To this end, he torments her with voices, pushes her deeper into HeroicSelfDeprecation and takes away her powers before mocking her when she can't help her friends. Despite that, not only does she resist him, she's one of the most skilled, selfless and helpful people in the story. When she finally confronts the Master and tells him to shove it, you can't help but cheer for her.
** From what little we see of the Hunter, he's a ridiculously badass version of this trope. He's had to fight hundreds upon hundreds of demons, all alone, for over five thousand years, only getting an hour's rest every century. He fights for a world he doesn't even get to live in, for spirits and humans he never sees, slowly realizing his enemies will never die and his Creator is not coming back to save them. And then his beloved sister, the one who comforts him during his brief rest and one of only two beings who fully understands what he goes through... betrays him and literally stabs him InTheBack.
* ''Wicked'': The book version of Elphaba suffered even worse - her mother doesn't die after Nessarose is born (and she's born without arms ) but dies after giving birth to a completely normal (Jerkass) of a son, Shell. After going through a childhood of being used as a pointer in her fathers' missionary work - 'Look what the Unnamed God did to *me*, a priest!' - she goes to Shiz, finally away from her needy sister and holier-than-thou father, and has her eyes opened to the systematic dismantling of Animal rights. She's one of the only people in the book to realize Doctor Dillamond was *murdered*. And all of *that's* just when she's at Shiz! Though she keeps on trucking, things just get worse...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'''s titular character. After the events in volume one alone, most people would have given up on superheroing for good. Emp's six volumes in and counting. Pain, humiliation, mortal terror, repeated failure, and the constant verbal abuse of her teammates do not stop her. It's either noble dedication or the worst case of ChronicHeroSyndrome ever. She could walk away at any time. No one would blame her. [[{{Determinator}} She doesn't. She never will]]. She's the poster girl for this trope, and anyone who says otherwise hasn't read the comic.
* Franchise/SpiderMan:
** SpiderMan 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.]]
** [[UpToEleven And]] ''[[UpToEleven then]]'' there's Flash "[[OneManArmy Agent]] [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Venom"]] Thompson. Who's been through an abusive childhood, [[WarIsHell his legs getting blown off in war]], DemonicPossession, a messy breakup, and a constant fight for control against the [[PuppeteerParasite Venom Symbiote]], yet still fights without complaining [[AscendedFanboy because that's what Spider-Man would do.]]
* [[GentleGiant Colossus]] from the X-Men is a very [[ChromeChampion literal]] example. He's seen his brother "die", come back after many years, and exile himself from this realm. He's seen his sister die from the Legacy virus. He then sacrificed his own life to find a cure for said virus. An alien resurrected and imprisoned him, tortured him for two years, and shortly after he was freed, his girlfriend disappeared in space. She came back recently... only to discover that she was trapped in her intangible form, and unable to interact with the rest of the world, including Colossus. And he's still one of the noblest of the X-Men. Later, Colossus's sister also [[CameBackWrong came back]]. She may or may not be a [[DamagedSoul soulless abomination]]. Regardless, she acts more emotionless and detached than before, and endangered the entire world for her own vendetta. Colossus still stands by her. Much later, he took the mantle of the [[TheJuggernaut Juggernaut]], which makes him even more mentally unstable.
* Mother of Champions from Franchise/TheDCU's ''Great Ten''. Essentially being prostituted by her country to strange men so that her [[ExplosiveBreeder special gift]] can be exploited is bad enough, but the children that result from these unions have a lifespan of roughly ''one week''. She had never given birth before she had her first 25 boys, and eight days later they were all dead. The fact that she remains the picture of motherly dignity and poise is a testament to her emotional strength. The "strange men" part is occasionally changed; she's slept with most of the male members of her team, though her heart belongs to Socialist Red Guardsman alone.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}
** Wolverine has over a century of bad memories starting with his father's murder, and after ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'' he remembers all of them. His present and -- judging by the various bad futures so prevalent in ComicBook/XMen -- his future aren't exactly a romp in the daisies either. He copes with all of this by being an active member of several superteams, fixing past mistakes, sleeping with every hooker in Bangkok, and playing pool.
** His clone/daughter, Laura Kinney AKA ComicBook/{{X 23}}, as well. Bred and raised to be an assassin-for-hire under incredibly abusive and brutal conditions, (she was exposed to lethal doses of radiation at ''age seven'' to forcibly activate her HealingFactor, and having her claws surgically removed to be coated in adamantium in the most painful process possible) forced to kill her mother through her conditioning to enter an UnstoppableRage when exposed to a trigger scent, giving up the only family she's ever known to protect them from her abusive handler--who periodically catches up to her ''just'' to make her life a living hell--all the while struggling to control her berserker rage and come to terms with all the death on her hands. She doesn't even have the benefit of Logan's swiss cheese memory to ease the trauma, and remembers ''all of it''. Laura ''wants'' [[IJustWantToBeNormal to be normal]], but she ''will'' keep fighting because, as she once told Daken, she's fighting for something bigger than herself.
* Franchise/{{Batman}}:
** {{Batman}} is the definition of the Iron Woobie. His parents were cruelly gunned down by a mugger when he was eight years old, and that's just the beginning. He's had one of his allies crippled by the Joker, then lost his adopted son to the very same man in the course of a year. To make matters even worse he had his spine broken once and then had aforementioned adopted son return to life, now permanently blaming him for his first death. Yet despite this he has NEVER broken his moral code and has never used a gun. [[spoiler: ([[BatmanGrabsAGun However, he made a "once-in-a-lifetime exception"]] in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' when he shot {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} with a bullet made of Radion (the kryptonite equivalent of the New Gods and ironically, the same one Darkseid used to kill Orion). He did this to poison him and give time for Superman to finish the job. By that point though, [[GodzillaThreshold everything was going to hell as Darkseid was wrecking the ''Multiverse'' so things have gotten ''that'' bad.]]]] His refusal to break it, even in the face of the Joker (who Batman would like to kill but won't), is the reason he remains a highly prominent A-List superhero and the world's best detective.
** [[ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} Kate Kane]] started out similar to Batman: she, along with her mother and twin sister, were kidnapped, and she was left the only survivor of the operation sent to rescue them. Years later, she finds out her twin is not only alive, but has returned as a psychopathic cult leader. Her sister eventually jumps from a plane before her eyes. After this Kate gets [[MindRaped mind-raped]] by a supernatural being and almost drowns, her cousin is almost killed while out crimefighting, she's blackmailed into working for a shady government organization in order to protect her father, she finds out her sister is ''still'' alive, she gets dosed with a hallucinogen and beaten up by a relatively sub-par villain, she breaks up with her girlfriend as a way to get her girlfriend's ex-husband to drop his custody battle for their daughter, and gets hypnotized by a vampire and becomes her sex slave. While she has a naturally stoic personality, she does exhibit anger and sadness from all this. However, even at her lowest point she never considers abandoning her role as a vigilante, and actually makes some progress through her issues after seeing a psychiatrist, becoming stronger for it.
* Comicbook/MartianManhunter has one of, if not the most tragic backstory of the heroes of the DCU, and that's saying a lot. J'onn watched his entire species (including his wife and daughter) die a fiery death at the hands of his brother, only survived by cutting himself off from his species, wandered alone over the barren world of Mars for an untold amount of years and was abruptly transported to an alien world. Despite all this, J'onn retained his sanity and remains a noble, wise hero.
* [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]]. Abused as a child, turned into a green monster, endured the death of ''three'' wives, chased around the world by the Army, shot into space, enslaved by an alien empire, loses the empire once he conquers it, has his RoaringRampageOfRevenge crushed by a HeelRealization, and fails to save one of his troubled sons. Man it ''SUCKS'' to be a big green badass.
** And, oddly enough, the Hulk himself, as depicted in "The End".
--->'''Hulk''': [[spoiler: For years... forever... Hulk has listened to Banner, and Banner's friends, talking about how Hulk ruined Banner's life! Hulk made Banner's life! Banner was nothing before Hulk... nothing!...Hulk doesn't want friends, because friends will hurt him. Everyone hurts him. Everyone hurts Hulk.]]
* Some incarnations of [[Comicbook/IronMan Tony Stark]] qualify especially if he's being TheDeterminator and disregards his health.
* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}''. Where to begin? His mother leaves when he is a baby, his father constantly pushes him to succeed so he can have a better life, he is blinded by chemicals and his father is murdered by the mob. Oh and the super senses? Matt can't turn them off and They make life nearly unbearable. In ''Born Again'', his ex-girlfriend sells his identity to the mob, he loses his legal license, he has all his money taken away and is reduced to living on the streets. Then in ''Shadowland'', he is demonically possessed and forced to do horrible things. Lets just say life sucks for Matt Murdock. And yet he never gives up and becomes a stronger person for it.
* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'': when [[OurVampiresAreDifferent the alien Evronians]] invaded Xadhoom's planet, she lost her boyfriend, and entire race. [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge she resolved to exterminate them for it]]. The real kicker? ''She accidentally caused that invasion.''
* Johnny Alpha of ''ComicBook/StrontiumDog'': Born mutated, to a father running for high public office on an anti-mutant platform. Abused constantly throughout his childhood. Ran away and became a child soldier at age 12. General Armz second-in-command at 17. Watched the deaths of hundreds of his comrades-in-arms in the assault on Westminster. Lived the rest of his life as a bounty hunter. Estranged from his sister, who considered Johnny a threat to her family (not without reason). Watched several friends die. Killed his father and brother. Was cheated out of countless bounties. Faced constant anti-mutant discrimination. And soldiered on. If you don't want to buy the man a beer and give him a hug, you have no heart.
* ComicBook/{{Mockingbird}}, AKA Bobbi Morse. In chronological order, she's been framed, shot, caught in an explosion, beaten, raped, killed said rapist, saw her marriage break down, was abducted by aliens and forced to fight for survival, killed a Skrull that took the form of the man she loved, eventually returned but was then haunted by the ghost of her rapist, had her relationship with Hawkeye break down once more, her mother was shot and her brother disowned her, got shot again and turned into an immortal super soldier, then got left behind enemy lines with no memory, had serious MindRape that revealed she had a second personality, left with broken memories and shot at, then finally killed the man responsible for the mind rape before being lost, now missing with no one knowing where she is. All that, you'd think she'd give up, right? Well, she doesn't. She just faces down the problem with a smirk and a sarcastic one-liner.
* Franchise/{{Superman}} himself. He lost his homeworld, in all continuities, one or both of the Kents die, and he has to live with the knowledge that he is different from the humans he protects and will never truly belong. His ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' adaptation is even a HeroWithBadPublicity at the start of his career. And yet he never stops being an IdealHero. UpbringingMakesTheHero indeed.
** ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}. Compared to Kara, Kal's woobieness is miniscule. He may have lost his planet, but was a baby when it happened and was raised by the loving Kents, while Kara (especially in New Earth) remembers her planet pre-destruction and '''her parents being vaporized and planet being destroyed were the last thing she saw before the suspended animation of her ship kicked in.''' She has to deal with having the memory of what she's truly lost - family and friends alike, and has survivor's guilt because of it, but still tries to live up to the responsibilities of the S. Batman has told her that, unlike Clark, Kara knows what it's like to be like him because she knew what it was like to see your parents die in front of your eyes and be helpless to stop it.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]
* Charlie Brown from ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' stopped being too bothered by things that don't turn out well for him as he's come to expect it. It doesn't stop him from continuing to run his baseball team or participating in competitions of all sorts, however, in hopes that he will one day get his big break.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Takato Matsuki from the ''Fanfic/TamersForeverSeries'' could be the poster boy for this trope, the amount of physical and mental torment he suffers through over the course of the series must be seen to be believed, but he take it all on with a ''smile'' on his face.
* Akiko Yamaguchi/Star Reverie from MagicalGirl MegaCrossover the FanFic/BattleFantasiaProject. TheCall came to her at eight years old against [[{{Cult}} The Church of The Eclipse]] for about a year, then for the next two there was the [[CircusOfFear Carnival of Blood]], an evil carnival made of warped versions of the usual fare that [[BodyHorror warps people]] ''[[BodyHorror into]]'' the horrors the longer they stay there, assuming they don't get killed, who [[WhamEpisode killed her]] {{Familiar}} part-way through ''that'' little adventure, and now for the past four years she's been fighting the Nightmare Factory, which spawns [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Week]] that are both spawned from and create nightmares, [[MindScrew as well as play with Akiko's mind]], and they may or may not be grooming the girl into [[EldritchAbomination something else]]. By the time we meet her, she's been [[ParentalAbandonment disowned by her parents]] due to her maintaining TheMasquerade, she's on her own, and has had seven years of rapidly escalating psychological torment heaped on her. So it's no surprise that we first meet her right as she's [[DrivenToSuicide attempting suicide]] on live national Japanese news, calling for someone to save ''her'' for a change. However, in doing so she reveals the existence of Magical Girls, and starts off the series of events that leads to the formation of the Magical Girl Alliance, and she ''still'' wants to be a Magical Girl after she's recovered, been depowered, and the BigBad of the First Arc has been defeated. And from the consensus on the thread, she gains a new powerset, and becomes a BadAssTeacher.
* From the war-torn future of Warhammer 40,000 comes an Ogryn named Gav from the fanfic [[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Gav_and_Bob The Ballad of Gav and Bob]]. Ogryn are a [[UndyingLoyalty naturally loyal]] race of huge, [[PsychopathicManchild violent manchildren]] fanatically devoted to the Emperor, and Gav is no different. He remains steadfastly loyal even after [[spoiler: losing his Commissar and his best Ogryn friend Bob; seeing his new best friend Tarla gored by the tail of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh and losing his left arm to said Daemon; living to see Tarla turned into a mind-wiped servitor because of her repeated exposure to Chaos.]] Gav is so loyal that he [[EarnYourHappyEnding ends up on the retinue of a Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, Traela]].
* Shinji Ikari in ''FanFic/{{The Second Try}}'' '''invoked it willingly'''. After 3rd Impact and [[spoiler: losing his (and Asuka's) child because they traveled back time to do the whole damn story again]], he keeps on keeping on so he can prevent 3rd Impact and create a better future. Since Asuka is slowly giving into depression (and CharacterDevelopment during 3rd Impact) he is the only thing [[OnlySaneMan keeping them both on track.]]
* Elissa, in the ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' story ''Fanfic/ShadowAndRose'', is very much this. Her entire family is murdered, then she's one of only two Grey Wardens to survive a massacre of a battle. She and her fellow Warden are then [[HeroWithBadPublicity blamed for all the deaths in that battle]] and hunted relentlessly while they try to rally forces to help them save the country. All the while, she picks up new friends who each have their own personal demons that she must help them overcome. She can't give up or her country is doomed, so all she can do is continue to fight - and occasionally find a reason to smile.
* Literature/HarryPotter is generally a pervert and smartass with no respect for authority in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11157943/8/I-Still-Haven-t-Found-What-I-m-Looking-For I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For]]''. But from time to time, something causes his facade to slip for a moment and reveal how soul-crushingly lonely he is, being completely alone in the universe. Not only is he in another [[Franchise/StarWars galaxy far, far away]], but back on Earth, everyone he knew has been dead for centuries. At the start of the story, the only people he could claim as friends are Dobby, his droid he modeled after Minerva [=McGonagall=], and a bartender he flirts with but doesn't even know the name of.
* Leon Hardrada[=/=][[spoiler:Azrael]] in Story/AesirCrossWars. All at the ripe old age of 14, 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.
* Sweetie Belle from the RecursiveFanfiction ''FanFic/TheSweetieChroniclesFragments''; the fic starts with her mentor Twilight Sparkle getting crystallized and blown up in a magic accident, with Sweetie stuck hopping across TheMultiverse trying to put her back together. From there she's been attacked by werewolves, Fallout ghouls, psychopaths, and other monsters, killed several times by an insane shard of Twilight, watched an alternate universe Rarity cut down one of her best friends in cold blood, been physically and psychologically tortured by TheFairFolk until she became a living statue, got roped into a war between ponies and Changelings despite her calls for peace, and she gets the occasional vision of how her absence has emotionally destroyed her universe's Rarity. Yet she keeps moving on, in the hope that her journey will end and she and Twilight can go home.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* Po in the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' series. In the first film, Po has to get over both the taunts of his teammates and his own crippling self-esteem issues in order to become the Dragon Warrior. In the second, he learns about how his people were massacred by Lord Shen, including his mother. However, to Shen's astonishment, Po manages to come to terms with his past to achieve an inner peace that enables him to defeat a warfleet armed with cannons by himself.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'' takes this trope ''beyond'' eleven. [[spoiler:We have Héctor, the estranged music man who went on a music tour and was never heard from by his family again, who was murdered by his best friend for wanting to return home and spent 96 years trying to see his daughter Coco before he was completely forgotten. Not only did his family refuse to remember him, when his wife Imelda died, she refused to listen to his desperate attempts at apologizing, and it was only through Miguel mistakenly believing his best friend to be his great-great-grandfather that he learned the truth of how he died, got his chance to reunite with his family, and finally see Coco without being forgotten.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Sarah Connor of the ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' movies bears traces of this. In ''Film/TheTerminator'', she loses her roommate and best friend, her mother and the love of her life. By ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', she has been committed to an asylum, and has not seen her son in years. Despite all this, she never loses sight of her responsibilities, and remains determined to mold John into the leader humanity needs him to be.
* Lawrence Talbot, Universal Studios' ''Film/TheWolfMan1941'', is depicted as this in his later appearances, once he resigns himself to never finding a cure and starts making the best of it by becoming TheAtoner, siccing his monstrous side [[SerialKillerKiller on other monsters]]. Given that he can't ever keep ''himself'' dead when he attempts suicide, becoming an Iron Woobie is really his only alternative.
* Knives Chau in ''Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld''. Though an ActionGirl in both the [[ComicBook/ScottPilgrim comic book]] and the [[TheFilmOfTheBook film]], the film incarnation truly makes the transition to Iron Woobie and is a deciding factor in Scott's final victory against the BigBad. In the comics, Knives instead sheds much of her woobie status by realizing that Scott is something of a JerkAss where relationships are concerned, and actively decides to move on for her own good.
* Ellen Ripley from the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise. In the first film, she's the sole survivor against a creature which killed her shipmates. In the second film, she gets demoted for destroying her ship in her attempt to destroy the creature, and in the extended cut, we learn her daughter grew up and died during her overextended time in cryo-sleep. When's she's called back by her company to investigate the colony on the planet from the first film, she finds another IronWoobie in Rebecca "Newt" Jorden, the sole child survivor of the colony's infestation.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** Obi-Wan Kenobi. His master gets killed before his eyes while he is powerless to prevent it, he becomes a master long before he is ready, he winds up fighting in a war that goes against all he believes in, his HeterosexualLifePartner turns to the Dark Side and massacres the only family Obi-Wan has, he's forced to fight said former friend to the death, he lives in exile for nineteen years and then is killed by the same old friend he couldn't bring himself to kill years before. And that's not even mentioning the ExpandedUniverse. But he'll never compromise his principles, retaining his status as TheParagon through all the hardship. At the most, he'll [[DeadpanSnarker snark]] about things, and [[StoicWoobie it takes a heck of a lot to get him to show any negative emotion.]]
** 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'''. Lost virtually every surviving ally to yet another harrying enemy force, while narrowly escaping dying in the vacuum of space. Finally gave up hope that her son could ever be redeemed. Force-felt a loved one's death '''again''' when her long-lost brother expired from exertion. How is this woman ''even sane''?!
* Lorraine [=McFly=], Marty's mother in the alternate 1985 in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII''. She's an alcoholic like in the very first timeline, and has been in an abusive marriage to Biff Tannen [[spoiler:after he'd murdered George]], staying with him only because [[AndYourLittleDogToo he threatens to financially cut off herself and her children]] if she tries to leave. Thankfully, Marty fixes the timeline so that she doesn't suffer this fate.
* ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'': Tauriq Jackson has been harassed his whole life- Harold finds him in jail accused of robbery- but has learned a long time ago not to get riled up (and to be happy about his large penis). [[spoiler: It pays off when he sues the department and has the racist cops thrown in the can]].
* ''Film/ShotCaller'': Jacob sees his entire life destroyed in front of him after he gets sentenced to prison and falls deep into the criminal world to defend himself in the process, but he takes it like a ''man''. Never once does he truly complain as he sacrifices himself for his family.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* While Miles Vorkosigan in Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'' already takes this to extreme levels (born with abnormally brittle bones and needing multiple surgeries and painful physical therapy just to walk, and that was just the first six years of his life; it got worse), his brother Mark has it even worse. Created in a laboratory by absurdly insane and delusional terrorists to kill and impersonate his brother long enough to murder their father, raised by clone traders who sell their services to rich old people willing to murder their own cloned children and transplant their brains into the young bodies, every one of his childhood friends is dead by the time he starts trying to stop the clone trade. But after being physically, sexually, and psychologically tortured by someone vile by everyone else's standards (Mark makes millions from the assassination and ends up rescuing dozens of innocent lives), a beautiful female soldier touches his wrist and offers her pity for what he'd suffered. Mark's response: grab her wrist in a death grip and snarl viciously, "don't you DARE feel pity for me. I WON!"
* Danny Saunders from ''Literature/TheChosen''. He was a Hassidic Rebbe's son and an incredibly gifted young scholar. His father actually shunned him as a form of TrainingFromHell (his father did not like doing it, which gives him as well some qualifications as a WellIntentionedExtremist Iron Woobie once one gets past ValuesDissonance).
* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]]. The entire universe hates him, but he still keeps saving it, usually [[SadClown making bad jokes]] at the same time. Listing why would result in a WallOfText, so just go to the [[Woobie/TheDresdenFiles Dresden Files Woobie page]] to save space.
* In Creator/WenSpencer's ''Literature/EndlessBlue'', Mikhail suffers, and long has, from depression. He nevertheless plays TheStoic until those rare conditions that manage to break him. When his foster brother Turk apparently dies, he conscientiously locks away his gun and gives away his vodkha, to prevent DrowningMySorrows and DrivenToSuicide -- at least until [[AFatherToHisMen he]] [[TheMenFirst gets his crew to safety]].
* Huck from ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfHuckleberryFinn''. He is utterly penniless, gets kidnapped by his abusive and alcoholic father, is nearly stabbed by said father, almost gets shot during a feud, has a run in with a homicidal gang of robbers and falls into the company of con men, among other things. Throughout all of this, he's infectiously cheerful, playful and heartbreakingly unaware of the CrapsackWorld surrounding him.
* Edmond Dantes from ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''. Starts out an all-around nice guy, is imprisoned after being falsely accused and having his life and fiancee ripped away from him, escapes, plans an elaborate vengeance against his accusers spanning several years and then, [[spoiler: despite those years of planning, spares the life of one of his enemies because he would have to take the life of his innocent and honorable son in addition.]]
* ''Literature/XWingSeries'': Tycho Celchu is a Woobie ''in universe''. He was an Alderaanian flying for the Empire who had been placing a call to his family there on his birthday when Alderaan was destroyed. He fought for the Rebel Alliance and was kidnapped and tortured by [[BigBad Isard]], but never broke. When he was released the Alliance was suspicious of him, thinking that he'd turned into one of Isard's {{Manchurian Agent}}s, and he was put under all kinds of restrictions. His old CO Wedge Antilles still trusted him absolutely and relied on him, even giving him roles in secret plans. Then someone who was suspicious of him died in suspicious circumstances, and he was put on trial with a mountain of evidence set against him. ''Everyone'' but Wedge, or nearly everyone, thought he was a traitor, wittingly or not, and Wedge had a moment of doubt. So how did Tycho bear up with this? Stoically, and with an endless reserve of patience. Before Isard got him he was a hothead and impulsive - after that, he was subdued, haunted, and his [[TheCape nobility]] was laid bare.
--> "I put up with it because I must. Enduring it is the only way I can be allowed to fight back against the Empire. If I were to walk away from the Rebellion, if I were to sit the war out, I would have surrendered to the fear of what Ysanne Isard might, ''might'', have done to me. Without firing a shot she would have made me as dead as Alderaan, and I won't allow that. There's nothing in what I have to live with on a daily basis that isn't a thousand times easier than what I survived at the hands of the Empire. Until the Empire is dead, I can never truly be free because I'll always be under suspicion. Living with minor restrictions now means someday no one has to fear me."
* The title character of ''Literature/TheWindroseChronicles'', by Creator/BarbaraHambly, winds up going through fifteen kinds of hell at the hands of the good guys as well as the bad guys. He's been traumatized enough to go completely insane - and his insanity gives him the ability to sustain hope even when such is unrealistic - leading to such Awesome Moments as [[spoiler:gaining secret control of the prison where he is being tortured, not that that makes the torture hurt any less,]] and dealing with everyone throughout courteously and cheerfully...
* Niall from ''Literature/WickedLovely'', oh so much so. He gave himself to the Dark Court, [[RapeAsBackstory and we all know what that meant]], to save a few mortals (who died anyway.) He managed to escape from them, becoming one of the Summer Court's most trusted advisors. Oh, but then, well, Shit happened. He would have every reason in the world to be all angsty and depressed, but he very rarely does, or at least not visibly. He's a "survivor", as Leslie put it.
* Marshal-General Atkins, from Creator/JohnCWright's ''Literature/TheGoldenOecumene'' is the only warrior in a society that has forgotten the meaning of war or violence. He is regarded as an anachronism at best, a needless expense at worst. The only inkling the reader gets of his woobie nature is a brief NotSoStoic outburst after a dose of AmnesiacDissonance.
* ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'': [=FitzChivalry=] Farseer. A bastard whose unveiling causes his heir-to-the-throne father to go into seclusion, mercilessly trained as an assassin, [[spoiler:executed for possessing forbidden magic ([[UnexplainedRecovery he got better]]), sent on a mission to save a kingdom that hates him, forced to give up his youth and vitality, leaving him broken for many years, only to return to find out his lover and his foster father have gone off to raise his child together and no one wants him around anymore. Then, umpteen years later when his kingdom needs him, he still goes off to save the day.]]
* ''Literature/MyHappyLife'' is made of this. The nameless narrator describes being a beaten, neglected, friendless woman, with a mental deficiency who was abandoned, raised in a Dickinsonian orphanage, left homeless, kidnapped, abused, and eventually locked in an abandoned insane asylum to die in relentlessly cheerful terms. The reader may assume part of her insanity was an inability to feel unhappiness, but that's not explicitly stated.
* Georgie in ''The Fledgling''. She seems like your ordinary introverted, outcast child, until a Canada goose befriends her and teaches her to fly, and it seems all the other characters are bent on stopping her. In the end, the goose, the only true friend she's had [[spoiler: not only dies, but dies because Georgie calls him to her]]. And despite that, Georgie still never complains.
* Literature/HarryPotter:
** Harry's Parents were murdered trying to save him, betrayed by their best friend. His only living relatives hate him because he was born with magic and physically and emotionally abuse him, starving him and until the age of 12 make him live in a cupboard under the stairs. His life and those of everyone he cares about is constantly being threatened by the most dangerous and evil wizard in history all because of prophecy made before he was born, to the point that every year he is put in mortal danger far beyond the abilities of the normal wizard let alone a child. He has a teacher that makes it his life's mission to make Harry unhappy and his mentor keeps him in the dark about nearly everything. The media spends half the time villifying him for telling the truth and powerful politicians either coddle him or try to discredit him. All of his protectors and father figures are horribly murdered and to cap it all he is forced to walk slowly to his death and isn't allowed to defend himself or run away (the fact that he doesn't actually end up dead isn't even that helpful because coming back he still has to fight the BigBad again)
** "Loony" Luna Lovegood has some of this as well. The first years of her life were... okay, one can presume. Okay, though [[FriendlessBackground friendless]]. She had loving parents and her mother, in particular, was rumored to have been an extraordinary witch. Keywords: Have been. When Luna was 9 years old she became an eye witness when one of her mother's experimental spells backfired. Her father, [[ConspiracyTheorist Xeno]][[KnightTemplarParent philius]], is implied to have had a SanitySlippage by the gruesome circumstances of her death and, all in all, life got tough for Luna. Things didn't get better when she went to Hogwarts. No, due to being the victim of a serious [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] of the CloudCuckoolander trope, she was teased and ostracized by the other students due to her easy-to-spot quirkiness, with Ginny Weasley being the only one to approach her. It's not until her 4th year in Hogwarts that she finally finds some true company together with the Main Trio, Ginny and Neville Longbottom, and she only says one year later that she liked being together with them because it "was like having friends."
* Lissla Lissar from Creator/RobinMcKinley's ''Literature/{{Deerskin}}''. Just follow the link to that page. Lissar is the embodiment of the tragic backstory. The poor girl goes through utter hell, in one form or another, for seventeen years. And yet she survives it all--with the help of a being called the Moonwoman, who changes Lissar's appearance and conceals her memories until she might be ready to deal with them--becoming the most compassionate and courageous person imaginable.
* Marsh from ''Franchise/{{Mistborn}}'': He led a peasant rebellion for years, before giving it up as a lost cause, only to have his estranged GentlemanThief younger brother Kelsier (who married the girl Marsh loved) take over. Marsh then [[TheMole goes undercover]] in the ReligionOfEvil as part of his brother's scheme. He's so good at his job, however, that the monstrous [[HumanoidAbomination Steel Inquisitors]] decide to forcefully recruit him. The ensuing ceremony involves multiple human sacrifices, and large metal spikes being permanently impaled into his body. Kelsier soon dies believing that he got Marsh killed. Marsh is able to [[SheepInWolfsClothing kill several of the other Inquisitors]], and help depose the [[EvilOverlord Lord Ruler]], only to realize they had released a GodOfEvil in the process. The god [[PeoplePuppet controls Marsh's body]] for the next ''two books'', all while his mind is trapped inside. He ends up being forced to kill an untold amount of people while bringing about the apocalypse, but still manages to break free for the second it takes to trigger his niece's EleventhHourSuperpower. By the BittersweetEnding of the original trilogy, he's lost everyone he ever cared about, is still the immortal pawn of an (albeit much more benevolent) god, and as for the new society he did all of this to create? They view him as [[DontFearTheReaper the theological personification of Death itself]].
* Ruth Mallory of ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'': A fourteen-year-old [[SexSlave comfort slave]], mother to two dead children, lost her home, her innocence, her peace of mind, she has no friends, she's specifically antagonized by the men because she's ugly--but she never bemoans her fate. She never pities herself, instead doing what she can to save others from a similar life.
* Alinadar from Literature/TheRedVixenAdventures started her woobiness by having her family murdered by SpacePirates, being made their slave and forced to be a ChildSoldier hunting down other children hiding on ships the pirates attacked. Escaping that and settling down to be a noblewoman's bodyguard, she's finally found by her [[LongLostRelative long lost brother]] a [[SpacePolice Stellar Patroller]] after he searched for her for twenty years, only to be arrested by him the day he finds her when she admits to being a former pirate. And all the while she complains people are being too sympathetic to her compared to her victims.
* Literature/TheBible:
** A lot of ''God's'' big speeches in the Old Testament boil down to "Everyone keeps ignoring me and doing evil stuff that I told you not to do, and I feel really hurt by that, but I guess I'm not gonna give up you anyway" - it kinda reads like they want you to feel sorry for the Big Guy. Jesus ''certainly'' counts in the New Testament, though - He has one RageAgainstTheHeavens moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, but He pretty quickly comes to the conclusion that He's going to go through with the whole crucifixion thing because He's convinced there's no better way. He remains pretty impressively composed throughout the actual process of dying, too.
** Possibly the UrExample would be Job. Here's a guy who's incredibly wealthy, and one day while he's sitting down to dinner finds out that all of his livestock, servants, and children have just been killed or captured. When that's not enough to break him, he then loses even his health, with painful sores all over his body. His friends turn on him, assuming that he must have done something incredibly awful to deserve such a punishment. His wife, who should be comforting him in this crisis, instead tells him to just curse God and die. But through it all, he never loses his faith, at one point even calling God out to explain why he's had to suffer so. It pays off in the end; God is so impressed with his perseverance that everything he had lost was restored to him doubly.
* Literature/JaneEyre most DEFINITELY qualifies for this trope! Suffering through an abusive childhood, an abusive adolescence, and on top of all this, to have the man she comes to love keep critical secrets from her would drive anyone to despair. But not Jane. She, despite the occasional moments of "Why me?" keeps soldiering on through life, and making the best of whatever comes along.
* ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'':
** Nico is a demonseed, meaning that every day of her life, a demon by the name of Master is trying to possess her, which would turn her into an unstoppable engine of destruction. To this end, he torments her with voices, pushes her deeper into HeroicSelfDeprecation and takes away her powers before mocking her when she can't help her friends. Despite that, not only does she resist him, she's one of the most skilled, selfless and helpful people in the story. When she finally confronts the Master and tells him to shove it, you can't help but cheer for her.
** From what little we see of the Hunter, he's a ridiculously badass version of this trope. He's had to fight hundreds upon hundreds of demons, all alone, for over five thousand years, only getting an hour's rest every century. He fights for a world he doesn't even get to live in, for spirits and humans he never sees, slowly realizing his enemies will never die and his Creator is not coming back to save them. And then his beloved sister, the one who comforts him during his brief rest and one of only two beings who fully understands what he goes through... betrays him and literally stabs him InTheBack.
* ''Wicked'': The book version of Elphaba suffered even worse - her mother doesn't die after Nessarose is born (and she's born without arms ) but dies after giving birth to a completely normal (Jerkass) of a son, Shell. After going through a childhood of being used as a pointer in her fathers' missionary work - 'Look what the Unnamed God did to *me*, a priest!' - she goes to Shiz, finally away from her needy sister and holier-than-thou father, and has her eyes opened to the systematic dismantling of Animal rights. She's one of the only people in the book to realize Doctor Dillamond was *murdered*. And all of *that's* just when she's at Shiz! Though she keeps on trucking, things just get worse...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* Michael Westen from ''[[Series/BurnNotice Burn Notice]]''. Raised by an abusive, alcoholic father who died mysteriously, he joined the military where he worked with sociopaths on a constant basis, only to lose his job and find himself stuck in a city he's out of place in and constantly targeted by a mysterious evil organization. Every time it seems like he might get his old job back, he is violently reminded why the show has the title it does. Even despite all this, he takes most things in stride and has a fairly optimistic view of the world.
* [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]:
** Picard picks up the role in ''[[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration The Next Generation]]''. Assimilated by the Borg, living a whole lifetime's worth of experiences in a few moments, which effectively gives him the last memory of a dead civilization, suffers through centuries' worth of rage and heartbreak for Sarek, and was tortured for weeks by Gul Madred. He feels responsible for what he did as Locutus for years afterwards, as indicated by his interactions with Sisko in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space 9]]'' pilot and in ''[[Film/StarTrekFirstContact First Contact]]''. Even after all that, Picard sticks to his beliefs and keeps going.
** Also Data from TNG. He's constantly the victim of FantasticRacism due to being an android, his "brother" turns out to be an EvilTwin, his "daughter" died and his body's been hijacked more than once. The fact that he can't feel emotion just seems to make it worse somehow.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** The title character. Life screws her over royally time and again. Even when demonic forces aren't actively threatening everything she holds dear, she is still risking her life on a nightly basis and constantly alone, but she ''just keeps going''. In fact, most Franchise/{{Buffyverse}} characters are this trope. Creator/JossWhedon is just ''mean'' to his characters.
** Xander Harris. He's been the most unfortunate of all of the main characters (except the titular character herself). Bad things happen to him for nearly no reason other than to provide comedy and/or angst for the main character, to the point that at one point he declares himself the butt-monkey of the BTVS universe. Furthermore, despite a highly impressive track record, his achievements, loyalty, and bravery are always downplayed/dismissed by his friends until such a time that he becomes useful for them. He is an Iron Woobie because despite this treatment, he never turns on his friends or the fight against evil, and you have to admire him for that determination. Xander addresses this in the episode "Potential". After Dawn acknowledges that she is not the new potential slayer the scoobies were looking for, Xander tells her that the others will never know what it's like to be normal when all of your friends have ridiculous amounts of power that keep growing, but that he knows how much strength it took for Dawn to not let everyone continue to think that she was the potential. It's actually a pretty touching scene.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}'': Edgar, a new Season 4 character, is an interesting case--[[spoiler:he kills people with his super-speed/weapon accuracy abilities, but he has said that he ''does not'' actually want to do it--and then Samuel started to [[ShoutOut Force-choke him]]. He has emotions, remorse, and feelings for people, but still does bad things rather coldly]].
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** A case could be made for Crowley. Sure, he's a bad guy, but he also spent most of Season 5 alienated from his own kind and with a death sentence on his head that could just as easily have been delivered by the Winchesters as by the demons he betrayed. Yet he snarks on.
** Castiel, ''especially'' in Season 5 when he's falling. But even after he's [[spoiler: re-angelfied and accepted into Heaven, he finds that he has to become the figurehead for an incredibly personal civil war between his brothers]], and he's more or less had to go it alone.
* ''Series/{{Smallville}}'': Jonathan Kent basically spent his entire adult life working to protect Clark's secret, and (along with Martha) dealing with Clark's developing powers. Then, he makes an unfortunate deal with the Jor-El AI that leads to his developing a heart condition that eventually kills him, all for the sake of saving Clark. Along the way, poor Jonathan had to deal with the stresses of running a barely-profitable farm that was constantly beset with financial difficulties. And how does Jonathan react to all of this? By NOT taking refuge in Wangst. Instead, he tells Clark and Martha not to worry about him, and focuses on getting the job done. In Season 10, when we see Clark talking to Jonathan in the afterlife, Jonathan reminisces on his own life, and still refuses to dwell in self-pity. Now THAT'S an honorable character. Even before Clark came on the scene, Jonathan had more than his fair share of trouble in life. Martha says that Jonathan and his father never really got along, and Jonathan regrets never being able to patch things up between them. He met Martha while taking some classes at college (probably to manage the farm better), and she was way out of his league: daughter of a high-powered Metropolis attorney, and her father no love for the yokel Martha was falling for. In the end, Clark's grandfather was invited out of the family, and never really reconciled with his daughter, son-in-law, or grandson. Jonathan and Martha were also unable to have children of their own, despite numerous attempts. And through it all, Jonathan had to keep a rather powerful rage in check to be the good man he always wanted to be.
* Fran from ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury''. Poor, poor Fran. As the only employee to not be a Ranger, she is consistently the only one left to deal with the mass lunch rush. While she occasionally confronts Theo and Lily about always being gone, once to the point of quitting, she just as easily sets it aside. And this isn't even covering her crush on Dom...
* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'':
** Ianto Jones, who's been through just about everything. One of only 27 employees of Torchwood One [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday to survive Canary Wharf]], 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.
** Jack is probaly the biggest Iron Woobie of the series. Dear god, he's been buried alive, had all the life sucked out of him, was buried in concrete, and in ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' was murdered over and over again in a butcher shop. He's also died over two thousand times and spent a year being tortured to death over and over. Oh, and he was also [[spoiler: forced to kill his own grandson in order to save the rest of Earth's children the day after his boyfriend died.]] How Jack isn't a babbling mess by now is kind of a mystery.
** Then there's Tosh. She was forced to [[spoiler: commit treason because her mother was being held hostage. Then, instead of getting rescued, UNIT sentences her to isolation]] until Jack shows up and recruits her for Torchwood. The man she has a crush on is a jerk who won't give her the time of day, but at least she has regular contact with him. Another interest was a soldier suffering from PSTD who had to go back to a time that didn't understand the disorder. Then there was her other love interest Mary who was revealed to [[spoiler: have been using her the entire time.]] When Tosh finally does tell Owen she loves him, [[spoiler: she's dying from a gunshot wound and it turns out he didn't even hear it.]] That poor woman never got a break.
* From ''Series/{{Numb3rs}}'': Josephine Kirtland, the victim in the Season 3 episode "Nine Wives". She grew up in a polygamist cult. She was forced to marry its leader, Prophet Stone, who subsequently raped her. Instead of giving up, she escapes from a desert hideout and treks through the wilderness at night. Later, she faces two awful truths: [[spoiler:her mother betrayed her to Stone, and she is the product of ParentalIncest (she and her mother have the same father).]] Despite all of this, she's a mostly stable individual by the end of the episode. Oh, and did I mention that she's only sixteen?
* Aaron Hotchner from ''Series/CriminalMinds'' is possibly the best example of an Iron Woobie on TV today. Hotch is trying to raise his son after his ex-wife - his high school sweetheart - was murdered by the Reaper, who made him listen over the phone while she died. Hotch was so grief-stricken that he beat the Reaper to death with his bare hands. Oh, and this was after he got stabbed by the Reaper, and had his son taken into protective custody. And after that time he nearly got blown up by a suicide bomber, lost an old flame in the same attack, and had painful hearing problems for some time afterward as a result of it shattering his eardrums.
* Bree Van De Kamp, from ''Series/DesperateHousewives''. Let's get this straight: She lost 3 husbands and 2 boyfriends, her son hated her with passion for several seasons, her daughter does not like her very much either, and she succumbed to alcoholism. Despite all of this, she managed to get back on her feet each time, despite the odds, the people and the ''universe'' working against her. [[spoiler:That is, until season 8, where she finally snaps, and is on the verge of committing suicide herself like Mary Alice by the end of the 9th episode.]]
* The title character of ''Series/{{Merlin 2008}}''. Just look at the last half of Series 2. Forced to tell your best friend that magic is evil in order to spare a man who would have you slaughtered? Check. Your best friend kills your girlfriend? Check. Forced to poison one of your friends for the greater good? Check. [[spoiler: Finally meet your father only for him to die saving you two days later]]? Check. And while this is a compilation of the ''worst'' things to happen to him, they certainly aren't limited to just lining up in a row and hitting him. Only ''one'' person has learned his secret, accepted it, and lived. Everyone else is dead.
** Oh, and did we mention that these are just specific events? His normal life is being called an idiot and distrusted despite always being right, getting abused and belittled by Arthur despite constantly saving his life, and if he's ever discovered saving all of Camelot, he will be killed. Why? [[FantasticRacism Because he was born magical and thus must be evil.]] And it would most likely be Arthur who gives out the order.
** He has ''never'' gone into HeroicBSOD, rampaged, broken down, or sunk into depression. He cries, sure, but he'll get back on his feet and keep trying with the same episode. Even on the one occasion when he truly felt his cause was hopeless [[spoiler:after accidentally killing Uther and possibly turning Arthur against magic forever]], he stuck around because Arthur needed his emotional support. He's not even that emotional towards Gaius, the one person who he ''can'' rant to. He's had one rant (early series two, before all the above happened), and the rest of the time he just takes comfort in the fact that there is ''one'' person who knows how much he's done for Camelot. Forget iron, this guy is an ''Adamantium'' Woobie.
** Oh and his final fate? [[spoiler:To WalkTheEarth, immortal, until he's needed again. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever As most fans have noted]], this is a [[BlessedWithSuck curse to see everyone he cares about die]], but he's still waiting for Arthur.]]
* Al Calavicci from ''Series/{{Quantum Leap}}''. In order: his mother ran out on her family; he bounced in and out of orphanages because his father was working overseas; his little sister died in a mental hospital; his father died from cancer (thus causing his falling out with religion); his father figure, a black man, was arrested for playing pool in a whites-only pool hall (this being the 1940s); he was a POW in Vietnam, during which time his first wife, the "only woman [I] ever really loved," left him; four more failed marriages; and he was a raging alcoholic, to the degree that he was in danger of getting fired from his job running a government project. Rock bottom was implied to be when Sam Beckett found him piss drunk and beating a vending machine with a hammer. Despite all of the crap that Al's been through, he's a pretty laid-back guy and rarely mentions any of these things unless it's relevant (all of these were learned when he used them to put a leap into context for Sam).
* Alex Cabot from ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' was shot by a hitman and forced to go into Witness Protection Program. Most of her friends think she is dead, she wasn't allowed to attend her mothers own funeral because she is placed under another identity, and the man she was in a relationship with thought of her as a woman with another name. She arrives back for [[TheBusCameBack one episode]] to testify against the man who shot her and when she lets her walls over around Olivia, it really hits home. And when she arrives back as ADA permanently again in season 10, her infamous cool-headed personality remains and rarely lets up.
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis''- Patricia seems to be a downplayed one. She's gone through a lot of struggle and genuine pain since the first series, including betrayal, kidnapping, heartbreak, jealousy issues, and even getting her soul stolen. Despite this, she is the show's biggest {{Determinator}}, and she has a tendency to bounce back after getting hurt, no matter how badly.
* 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.
* Theo in ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse''. She's described by her siblings as a "clenched fist" and dealt with the trauma from Hill House by becoming an ice queen. The only time she's truly warm is when she's at work, treating children as a child psychologist. She can sense hidden truths by touching people, allowing her to see her patients' traumas and help diagnose them. One of them is being molested by her foster father, which Theo psychically experiences while investigating. Imagine experiencing not just your own traumas but the traumas of every person you've ever touched.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* [[spoiler: Lucretia]] of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' definitely qualifies. [[spoiler: Lost her home plane to an all consuming {{Eldritch Abomination}}, was chased through the multiverse by said abomination for an entire century, had to erase her dear friends' memories in a bid to protect them, treating Barry as an enemy and her captain as her ward, lost the majority of her youth and almost her life in Wonderland, and saw her friends return to danger without their memories of her... all for the Hunger to find them anyways.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':
** You have [[BadassNormal Commisar Yarrick]], who is a simple old man... that has been involved in the defense of Armageddon from two Ork WAAAGH!s (read: global invasion). He has seen and sent thousands of men to their deaths, and he's been in charge of the war effort for a long time. He gets ambushed by Orks, and yet manages to stay alive and somehow make the Orks, who are all [[AxCrazy large aliens that live for the thrill of war]] afraid of him. He does all of this by himself. There is also a short story published by Black Library titled "Survivor" which is connected to his past.
** And then there's Kaldor Draigo. He's [[BrokenBase hated by a lot of players]] because of his lore - he's a member of the [[KnightTemplar Grey Knights]], who are already badass compared to the other badasses of the 40K universe. They face the greatest horrors of the Warp, fighting [[EldritchAbomination daemons and spawns of Chaos]], which would normally leave a normal person insane. He gets the even shorter end of the stick - he gets sucked into the Warp itself, and he's mostly trapped in it. He, however, [[TheDeterminator refuses to surrender]]; even if all the victories he manages to win inside the Warp are fleeting since the daemons just reform elsewhere, he keeps on fighting alone, walking the Warp.
* Adamant caste Alchemical TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}. Their duty is to keep the Eight Nations safe without the Octet ever finding out they exist. They spend most of their time in the dark, alone except for a tide of horrible monsters. They wait, and they watch, but if they do break protocol and reveal themselves to a small group of mortals or an assembly of Alchemicals, thanks to their anima effect it's likely their contacts will never remember who they are. Yet most of them keep carrying the torch of Autochthon's will into the darkness and use it to burn gremlins for people who will never know what they go through.
* In ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' the Iotes have this as their [[PlanetOfHats hat]]. Bombed back into the stone age in aeons past, the Iotes have degenerated from being beautiful and graceful creatures to hideous and disease ridden. Living on a irradiated rock with limited resources and constant warfare, they have been forced to have an amazing level of emotional resistance and tend to accept even the worst turns of events as a natural part of life.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theater]]
* Horton the Elephant from ''Seussical''. Everyone he knows thinks he's crazy for taking care of a speck of dust, he's been chased all over the jungle, he's left with Mayzie's egg for months and months and in the process is captured by hunters and sold to a circus, but he never once gives up. Never.
* Viola from Shakespeare's ''Theatre/TwelfthNight''. After escaping from a shipwreck that her twin brother may have perished in, she takes a deep breath in lieu of mourning and dresses as a man to serve as the page of Duke Orsino. She goes on to fall in love with him and suffer in silence as he loudly pines over the woman he wants instead of her.
* Elphaba from ''Wicked'', the theater version. Not only is she green-skinned and thus shunned, her father has always blamed her (and thus she blames herself) for her mother's death and sister's paraplegia. Then the Wizard, whom she looked up to and was sure would help stop the Animals from being silenced turns out to be the *cause* of it, and he not only disappoints her but calls for her death. Then her sister dies and she cannot even have the only thing that remains of her, Nessa's magical slippers. Finally, just after reconciling with her best friend, she will never see her because [[spoiler: she either dies or fakes her death.]] On the upside, [[spoiler: if you assume she lives]], she did finally get to be with her lover, Fiyero.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* Aribeth de Tylmarande from ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', 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.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** Jack from [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 the second game]]. She was kidnapped as an infant from Cerberus, forced into an experiment that was pure horror day in, day out, for the sake of finding out if trauma increases biotic power. When she escaped, she flew with pirates, was used as a sex object repeatedly, dropped a moon onto a colony...
-->'''Jack:''' ...and that's the boring shit.
** The amount of suffering that [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] can be put through (losing the entire family to Batarian slavers/growing up an Earthbound orphan, losing a squad on Akuze, facing routine accusations of being crazy by the very people he/she's trying to protect, [[spoiler:losing a love interest in either game]], [[spoiler:dying in the beginning of the second]], being forced to work with the people responsible for Akuze, facing the consequences of ''The Arrival'', and possibly [[spoiler:dying for real during the Suicide Mission]]) is almost comical, yet none of this will stop him/her from shrugging it all off and saving the galaxy. In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', S/he experiences an enormous amount of losses, experiences serious SurvivorGuilt and is forced to carry the fate of the entire galaxy on his/her shoulders. Joker notes at one point that ''while resting'' s/he's under more stress now than s/he was in his/her background (which involves either holding a platoon by him/herself, watching his/her squad get devoured by {{Sand Worm}}s, or leading a suicidal assault against an enemy fort). By the end, s/he's so exhausted that s/he can barely keep his/her eyes open, has suffered third-degree burns, is bleeding to death from a stomach wound, and got caught in a blast from [[EldritchAbomination HARBINGER]], but when Admiral Hackett calls him/her, [[HeroicResolve s/he immediately gets back up and responds.]]
-->'''Shepard:''' [through labored, steadying breaths] W...what do you need me to do?
** 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.
* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles'':
** Selvaria Bles. It's hard not to feel sorry at the way she willingly put herself through hell ([[spoiler:and later sacrifices herself]]) for a man who doesn't care about her - and she probably ''knows'' it. The way she faces her fate with pride and keeps leading her soldiers to the bitter end makes her very admirable. Even in her final defeat, all she asks of the FatBastard who came to take her as a prize and steal Squad 7's merits is that he spares her men...
** Imca from ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChroniclesIII''. Suffered from DoomedHometown, is put into a penal legion, [[FantasticRacism endures the standard crap Darcssens live with]], and [[{{Revenge}} is driven by a singular purpose]]: KILL SELVARIA. That she knows is waaay out of her league.
--->'''Imca:''' I ain't need no help from anyone.
* Take Marona from ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave''. Now take all the hate, and loathing directed at her; and take Ash away. That's Carona. Willing to be considered a villain, willing to save the world anyway. Willing to train the people she's being forced to bring into a trap so that they're strong enough to break out of it. Willing to go ''back'' to her world even though Marona and Ash would have welcomed her in theirs and she refused to take Ash with her when Marona offered.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'':
*** 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.
*** Tidus. He grew up verbally abused by his father, [[WellDoneSonGuy when all he wanted was love and acceptance]]. When Jecht disappeared one day ([[spoiler:when he crossed over into Spira]]), his mother died soon afterward, presumably of a broken heart. And despite [[AngstWhatAngst hiding it all quite well]], [[StepfordSmiler it's still easy to tell that he's deeply affected by this]]. And then we see Tidus' misfortune in Spira, and this goes ''way'' beyond his semi-ButtMonkey status because he's "new" to how things work there. [[LockedOutOfTheLoop Crucial pieces of information are witheld from Tidus]], and the one that hits him the hardest is that [[spoiler:Yuna, his love interest, will have to die if the Final Summoning necessary to defeat Sin is successful.]] He also discovers that [[spoiler:Sin, said EldritchAbomination that's been haunting Spira for many eons, is ''his father'']]. [[BlatantLies It gets better from here]]. Then Tidus learns that [[spoiler:he and his entire world are nothing more than the product of the Fayth's dreams, and if they were to wake up, Tidus would ''cease to exist''. They tell him that [[TheChosenOne they chose him]] to TakeAThirdOption in defeating Sin and ending the ViciousCycle without the Final Aeon]]. ''[[IronWoobie And Tidus goes through with it, with only the ever-slightest navel gazing]]''.
** ''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.]]
* Poor, poor Isaac Clarke of ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' is just an engineer who was sent on a clean-up job in space. What he finds is a ship simply filled bow-to-stern with NightmareFuel. Yet, in spite of it all, he goes through Hell and back to not only complete his repairs, but also save his girlfriend, Nicole, [[spoiler:who, it turns out, has been DeadAllAlong.]] After the spoiler makes him undergo a HeroicBSOD (that lasts for about five seconds), he sucks it up, moves forward, [[spoiler:[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu destroys]] an EldritchAbomination]], and escapes, unfortunately haunted by[[spoiler: hallucinations of Nicole]]. He is confined to a mental institute, where the government keeps him in and out of stasis for three years, [[spoiler: using his madness to construct another ArtifactOfDoom]]. Another Necromorph outbreak later, Isaac not only has to worry about the space zombies, government agents out to kill him, and the ChurchOfHappyology trying to kidnap him, but also [[spoiler: the hallucination of his girlfriend trying to drive him to suicide.]]
* The main character of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV''. No other character in the entire ''series'' compares to him. Where to even begin. [[spoiler: His father is murdered right in front of him as a child. He lives as a slave for the next ten years constructing an icon of blasphemy. He and his wife are turned to stone for another seven years, mere days after his twin children are born. They get seperated during this, and she does not get unpetrified until well after he is. And as probably the biggest PlayerPunch in the entire series, his mother, who he and his father had been searching for the entire game, is murdered right in front of him just ''minutes'' after he'd finally found her.]] And yet despite all this, he NEVER [[HeroicBSOD breaks down]]. If that's not an Iron Woobie, what is?
* 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.
* ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'':
** Dr. Litchi Faye-Ling. She is a kind doctor who knew she's slowly being corrupted by the Boundary in exchange of a great power that she uses for fighting and trying to discover a cure for her lover turned EldritchAbomination. And for that, she even left her previous job as scientist and endangers herself with a court-martial. Interaction with the townspeople where she resided, townspeople that looked up to her, would make you think that they'll make good moral support for her quest, but she never tells them her situation, which means she's carrying her burden alone. [[spoiler:Then, when she sought help from her superior and got refused, the corruption is catching up to her limit, her only option to continue was to join the rival organization, which stores one person that she knew to be a DevilInPlainSight, and she [[FaceHeelTurn did so anyway]], knowing that her previous organization would do even worse than court-martial from that point on if they ever catch her. And while at first she thought the organization was just 'normal' or better than her previous one, she starts seeing that it is rather... shady and questionable, but she decided to bear all that.]] In her own words... "I can't go back. Even if I have to sacrifice some of my humanity."
** One of the main characters, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Ragna]] the [[GoodIsNotNice Bloodedge]] 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 whose 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).
* Axl Low from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' is a nice English guy who has been ripped from his girlfriend Megumi and his home to be thrown through time by the machinations of beings who just want a pawn in their schemes. Axl himself wants none of it and is just looking for someone who might know how he can get home. In ''Xrd: Revelator'', he finds someone who knows what's wrong with him and can send him home: [[spoiler:It's I-no, who tells him that he's actually a magical RealityWarper who can erase and rewrite timelines at will, just like her... ''and he can never go home because he may have already erased his own timeline and everyone in it''. This news makes Axl fall into a deep depression, and when he's given a chance to go to his home time later, it comes with the SadisticChoice that he'll erase his friends in the future, as the two worlds are mutually exclusive. [[IChooseToStay He decides to save his friends.]]]]
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'''s own Samus Aran. The toughest warrior in the galaxy, destroyer of worlds... and everyone she knows and/or cared about dies in front of her. She has been forced by circumstance to wipe out entire species of super-predator (the sole survivor of one ''died saving her life''), and spends most of her time on-screen either wandering the crumbling ruins of the civilization she was raised in and its allies, or hunting down the ones responsible.
* Craig Boone of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas''. You ''poor man''. Take off your [[StoicSpectacles stoic sunglasses]] and let us see your pain. He was present at the Bitter Springs Massacre and suffers immense survivors guilt and PTSD as a result. He meets a girl who accepts him and becomes his wife but she doesn't get on with Boone's only friend causing tension between them. His wife, pregnant with his child, is sold into slavery by someone in their town. Boone tracks down the legion slavers to one of their biggest outposts where they are planning to sell her and faced with no other option kills his wife and flees (being outnumbered several hundred to one). When he gets back to Novac he an't trust anyone because any of them might have been the one to sell his wife and he can't fix his relationship with his friend. In various dialogue with him he outright states that he's stopped expecting a break and thinks the universe is just waiting for him to let his guard down so it can screw him over again.
* [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Cubone]] is more of a straight-up [[TheWoobie woobie,]] having lost its mother and [[SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset filling her empty skull with tears.]] However, the evolved form Marowak is pure Iron Woobie material: a badass [[BadWithTheBone club-wielding warrior]] who's gotten over mama's death and uses past anguish as fuel for its ferocious battling.
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/ZettaiHeroProject'', a HeroicMime who appears to be nothing but an OCStandIn and over-the-top example of ThisLoserIsYou, especially as a superhero. In Chapter 9, it's revealed that he actually has a backstory, and the countless [[HopelessBossFight Hopeless Boss Fights]] of the game are a reflection of his [[{{Determinator}} primary character trait]]. [[spoiler:Eight years ago, he and his sister were captured by a serial kidnapper/cannibal, and he protected her by getting the crap kicked out of him repeatedly until the police and Unlosing Ranger arrived. But she was so traumatized that all she remembers is him getting beaten up and crying, causing the whole family to blame what happened on his weakness, and completely tearing them apart. As in, his parents are getting divorced over who raised him to be such a wimp and his sister wants him to just die.]] After becoming humanity's ButtMonkey, he continues to protect everyone in the only way he knows how, even if they all mock him for it.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** Everyone WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse knows either dies, disappears, goes into a coma, or falls to darkness, he's an utter failure at protecting the worlds and his friends and loved ones from the encroaching darkness, and his life is best described as "hell". He is also frequently compared to [[Franchise/StarWars prequel trilogy era Yoda]] in combat prowess, and despite over 12 years of constant defeat and failure, refuses to give up, and stays pretty optimistic. Well, at least he still has his supporting cast of the [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Disney cartoons.]]
** The [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast Beast]] lives in a cold and dark castle in the middle of nowhere with a curse that had made him into a vicious-looking monster for several years can be depressing, no less with the fact that the curse can only be broken if a woman loves him for who he is. Depressed and angry for many years, a woman finally comes to his castle and after some hard time they learn to get along and Beast finally finds some happiness in his life. And [[YankTheDogsChain then]] the castle gets destroyed and the woman kidnapped by TheHeartless, and Beast ends up in nowhere of the universe. Through [[{{Determinator}} sheer force of will alone]] he ends up in Hollow Bastion and with all his strength fights through the forces of darkness to save his beloved without complaning or whining.
* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'':
First Scorpion's entire clan gets killed, then after being brought back as a spectre he's forced by Shang Tsung to work alongside the guy who killed his family. In life and in death his story is an endless stream of tragedy, his game endings are usually bad, right down to [[spoiler:becoming the vessel of Dark Kahn's rebirth in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse''. Yet he still continues on. Even worse, the Elder Gods are dicks to him. In ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception'', they make Scorpion their Champion to deal with the threat of Onaga. He agrees on the terms that his family and clansmen be revived by the Elder Gods. When he delivers, the Elder Gods [[ExactWords uphold their end of the bargain]]... [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor by reviving the Shirai Ryu as undead abominations]] in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon''. No wonder he goes all RageAgainstTheHeavens afterwards.
** VideoGame/MortalKombat2: Not only is Kitana's father is killed by Shao Kahn during his bloody takeover of Edenia, her mother Sindel [[DrivenToSuicide commits suicide out of grief for her departed husband]]. Shao Kahn then manipulates the poor girl into serving as one of his assassins and makes her falsely believe that he is her birth father. He also creates a disfigured clone of her to act as her "sister" and ultimately off her should Kitana prove to be unreliable. Who knows how long this lasted for, seeing as Kitana is ''[[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld over 10,000-years-old]]''. When she finally breaks free, Kahn then revives her mother and brainwashes ''her'' as a tool for his invasion of Earthrealm. Eventually, all of this is sorted out. Then comes Shinnok. And after ''that'' is resolved, Kitana proposes to her love interest Liu Kang, only for him to reluctantly decline due to his status as Earthrealm's Champion. Then Quan Chi and Shang Tsung get the jump on him before ''Deadly Alliance'' and kill him. And then ''she'' dies in battle with Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, and is later revived by Onaga and--you guessed it--brainwashed to serve him. The ''one'' time she breaks down (her ''Unchained'' ending) is justified, as her premonitions about {{the end of the world|AsWeKnowIt}} are coming true (as seen in ''Armageddon''). The girl's got it ''rough''. It gets more devastating in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 the 2011 reboot]] when she finds her "sister" and hears from her so called father that he killed her real father and nearly gets executed. [[spoiler:Then her mother gets brainwashed and unlike last time in the original timeline, she gets killed by her brainwashed mother who doesn't realize what she has done and is an undead warrior who is brainwashed.]]
* Leon from ''VideoGame/FZero 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.
* Recette, the protagonist of ''VideoGame/RecettearAnItemShopsTale'' [[[ParentalAbandonment not only was she abandoned by her dad in all but name & her mom might be dead,]] she also lived alone for 3 months, might've been starving by the time the game's events roll around, and has to perform child labor in order to pay off the enormous debt her dad left her [[SocialServicesDoesNotExist (and she loses her house, & has to live in a box, if she fails)]]]. It's amazing she's able to put up such a friendly smile each day.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'': Lost your parents in the war? Surrounded by the hostile [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead thoughts]], words, and deeds of paranoid warmongers on all sides? [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Forced into destroying the country and endangering the world?]] Brother commits a HeroicSacrifice to prevent you and a friend from doing the same? Saddled with responsibility for an entire nation without the understanding to help them?]] Welcome to [[TraumaCongaLine another day in the life of]] [[CuteMonsterGirl Sveta Czamaral]].
* Nautilus from ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends''. Oh boy. He was a sailor who was left to die by his fellow seamen after he dived into an unidentified, pitch-black section of the ocean and was grabbed by ''something'' and dragged down. When he awoke after who knows how long, his heavy diving suit had been fused with his skin, and he was lost in complete darkness. With nothing else left to do, he walked. Too heavy to swim and weighted down by the suit, he walked along the ocean floor until he eventually hit the shores. However, he found that there was nothing left for him on the surface. No home, no family, no friend, nothing. The only reason he joined the eponymous [[GladiatorGames League of Legends]] is that ''someone'' might be able to help him discover something about himself.
* 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 [[VideoGame/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.]]
* [[spoiler:All the Future Children]] from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' count in, in one way or another. [[spoiler:All of them come from a 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.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'':
** Having lost everyone she loved and cared about in the village destroyed by the Faceless (and having to watch her mother die right in front of her), one really has to feel sorry for Mozu. And despite all of this, she's a competent MagikarpPower PluckyGirl. Not to mention that while she does occasionally cry about it in her supports, Mozu always ends up becoming even more useful to the army.
** 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 ''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.]] But 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.
* The Wayne brothers from ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'': two {{Gadgeteer Genius}}es who produce advanced machines for the government in exchange for riches, only to discover said government using what they created for malicious conquest and aggression. Nonetheless, they take off in their SuperPrototype {{Cool Plane}}s and destroy their own war machines in order to stop the government, [[OneManArmy by themselves]]. The most emotion they show is some stoic pondering in their endings in ''VideoGame/ArmedPoliceBatrider''.
* [[spoiler: Asriel Dreemurr]] from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''. He loses both his SOUL and his best friend, causing his existence to be one of indescribable loneliness. And while he doesn't exactly take it in stride as [[spoiler: Flowey the flower]], upon being [[spoiler: briefly restored to his true form and getting his compassion back]], he seems happy to let you and your friends go, even though this means he will have to go back to living this way.
** It runs in the family. [[spoiler:His father]] Asgore [[spoiler:made a promise in the heat of the moment that has the biggest contribution to the basic plot of the game. It's a promise he can't take back, since it revived the hopes of his people who were once again on the brink of despair after what happened to Asriel, but it means he has to kill seven innocent humans and harvest their [=SOULs=], of which '''YOU''' are the latest, and the last]]. And yet, despite this, he can put a genuine smile on his face, acknowledge a good day, and is all around the big loveable goat-dad that Papyrus and Undyne say he is.
* VideoGame/ParasiteEve:
** At a young age, Aya Brea's mother and sister died in a car crash. Many years later, her spontaneous urge to see a play lead her to be [[SurvivorGuilt the sole survivor]] of [[BigBad Eve's]] initial massacre. Throughout the game she consistently [[JustInTime arrives just]] [[SubvertedTrope too late]] to save anyone from Eve, at best being able to comfort some of the victims in their last moments. On top of this she's saddled with the enormous responsibility of being [[ItsUpToYou the only one]] who can fight Eve. Despite all this she carries on, not only saving New York from Eve but also returning for [[VideoGame/ParasiteEve2 two]] [[VideoGame/The3rdBirthday sequels]]. The second game allows Aya to save many more people (although several of these people can die if the player fails to do certain things). However she also recieves the revelation that all of the [[BodyHorror mutated monsters]] she's been fighting throughout the game [[WasOnceAMan were originally human]] and were mutated by being injected with Aya's own cells. Despite all this, she goes on to have a seemingly happy, normal relationship with Kyle Madigan.
Eve Brea is no slouch either. She's a [[CloningBlues clone]] of Aya, held in a secret underground facility where she's treated as little more than a [[TykeBomb living]] [[PersonOfMassDestruction weapon]] and is manipulated by the BigBad to try and kill Aya. Still she survives, and is later HappilyAdopted by Aya...until the third game, where [[spoiler:Eve spends the entire game [[AmnesiacDissonance believing she's Aya Brea]], only for it to be revealed at the end that Aya was DeadAllAlong and that Eve was the one who killed her, thus [[NiceJobBreakingItHero triggering the events of the game]], culminating in [[PlayerPunch the player being forced to personally pull the trigger and kill the real Aya]]]]. On top of that she's forced to kill most of her closest friends, and has recurring nightmares of her [[BloodSplatteredWeddingDress wedding]] [[WidowedAtTheWedding day]]. But at the end of the game [[spoiler:Eve-as-Aya commits herself to continuing her work as a government agent to carry on Aya's legacy, even though the original Aya has been [[UnPerson erased from the timeline]] and [[RippleProofMemory Eve is the only one who remembers]]]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': Oh baby, let me tell you about Mei-Ling Zhou. She's an Overwatch scientist at a research point in Antarctica that goes into cryogenic sleep with her friends because an ice storm makes a resupply impossible. So she goes to sleep, wakes up, everything seems relatively normal...and then everything goes horribly wrong. First, Mei learns she's been asleep for 9 years, way beyond any reasonable expectation of rescue. Why? On to number two: Overwatch was disbanded while she'd been asleep, so never mind being out of a job, nobody even knows Mei and her friends are still there. And then, the ultimate cherry on top: she realizes she's all alone in the station, and that's because all of her friends' cryochambers suffered a malfunction and they all died a horrible frozen death. So Mei's the lone survivor on the South Pole in a research station with barely any power, supplies, no means of communication with the rest of the world, no way to get out as all the vehicles are frozen, and only her robot companion Snowball to keep her company. Despite all this, not only does she vow to take the years worth of climate data to the world in the name of her dead friends, she actively creates her endothermic blaster Tony Stark-style with odds and ends around the station and sets off ''on foot'' to rejoin and save the world.
* Axl Low from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' is a funny, friendly British NiceGuy who was torn away from his friends and his girlfriend Megumi to be a pawn in the conflicts of cosmic beings from another timeline. He doesn't care about any of their shit and just wants to go home, so he reluctantly follows along while looking for anyone who can get him out of his predicament. [[spoiler:He finally ''does'' meet this person, for them to tell him he's not even human, but a ''sentient bundle of time magic'', and his girlfriend, if she ever existed, ''[[YouCantGoHomeAgain has probably been wiped from existence along with his original timeline because of his own actions]]''.]] To twist the knife further, [[spoiler:he even eventually gets a chance to go home to his time, but he can't bring himself to leave his new friends and ''their'' timeline to their fate. [[IChooseToStay So he instead uses his power to help Sol Badguy seal the deal in his fight to save the timeline]].]]
* In ''Octopath Traveler'', Primrose Azelhart best embodies the trope out of the eight heroes. When she was a young girl, she watched the father she dearly loved get murdered by three men. She spent the following years alone and destitute with no clues about the killers' identities and nothing but the possibility of revenge to keep her going. Eventually she heard a rumor that one of the killers would occasionally patronize a certain tavern, so she got a job as a dancer there, enduring the owner's perverted advances and the scorn of her fellow dancers for a few years more. And this is ''before'' the game's story properly begins. [[spoiler:When she finally gets a proper lead on one of the killers, the tavern's owner punishes her for going off behind his back by murdering the only friend she had there before Primrose kills him. She hunts down her father's killers one by one until she reaches the mastermind, her childhood crush who turns out to be a sadistic sociopath. The whole time she's fighting him, she endures psychological attacks while a play he wrote recounting all of the worst moments of her life goes on in the background.]] In the end, despite having gotten her vengeance, Primrose doesn't feel happier. Nevertheless, she decides to keep soldiering on until she finds something to live for.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* 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 even more broken]], gets sentenced to death, serves 7 years of hard time for it (while 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'' evolves into this in several paths, to the point that [[spoiler: in one of them, she laughs and mocks the BigBad right before being shot to death.]]
* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', Battler Ushiromiya endures TraumaCongaLine after TraumaCongaLine. Will it stop him from trying to find the truth? No.
* Makoto Naegi in ''{{VisualNovel/Danganronpa}}''. The poor kid was literally BornUnlucky. He has [[NotMyLuckyDay the worst day ever]] before he receives an invitation to attend Hope's Peak Academy, which sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime...only to then be thrust into a killing game with 14 other students. The girl he has a crush on [[spoiler: dies after attempting to frame him for murder]], the other students [[spoiler: almost get him wrongfully executed]], and to top it all off, [[spoiler: when he and the five survivors finally escape, the outside world is revealed to be a hellhole of despair]]. Yet in spite of it all, Makoto remains a forgiving NiceGuy, still believes the best in people, and encourages his friends not to lose hope. He's such a believer that RousseauWasRight that [[spoiler: when given the chance to kill the fanatical followers of the person who put him and his friends through hell, he instead decides to give them all a second chance through rehabilitation in the Neo World Program]]. It's no wonder he earns the title of [[HopeBringer Ultimate Hope]].
* ''[[VisualNovel/ShallWeDateNinjaShadow Shall We Date?: NinjaShadow]]'' has its PlayerCharacter, Saori Shishido. She's a PluckyGirl ActionSurvivor who not only loses her beloved brother at the start of the game, but must carry on with his mission on top of hiding her true self (and not just because of the SweetPollyOliver disguise she has to [[DeadPersonImpersonation take on]]). And yet she's kind to a fault and never gives up on her goals.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'': Susan was introduced as warlike StrawFeminist, but turned out [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold mostly harmless]], except for those who ''deserved'' to taste a HyperspaceMallet. Then we find out that not only this quirk has a FreudianExcuse, the same [[FlashbackNightmare compulsive memory]] warps her whole life and [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2007-02-23 doesn't let her to be happy]]. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome And she manages to set aside even this to help a friend]]. In the school uniforms plotline, She challenges the school administration over the new uniforms, which she finds sexist. The student body, who all HATE the uniforms, hate HER even more because she isn't challenging them enough. [[http://egscomics.com/?date=2007-09-14 "Nothing that makes me happy ever lasts."]] Eventually, the uniforms [[spoiler: are removed not by Susan's constant activism, but complaints from parents about laundry.]] Later a flashback shows us how, while on a class trip to France, [[spoiler: she was attacked by an [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Aberration]], recruited/tricked by Immortals to help Nanase hunt it down and kill it, and ended up killing it herself. Immediately afterward, her expression shifts from happy to jaded, and stays there for years.]]
* ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}} has died [[http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/gamespyarchive/index.php?date=2009-08-17 538 times]], usually because his employers are too lazy to pick up a 10-foot pole. Many of these deaths have been slow and painful. He hardly complains, and when the forces of goodness offer to remove him from all this he turns them down (after seeing what this does to his companions or replacement). He still saves the world every other plotline.
* Punch, AKA Adam, a FrankensteinsMonster from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', is stated in [[ShowWithinAShow the shows about the Heterodyne Boys]] to be mute, because after all the shit 'n' abuse he goes through, "[[OhGodWithTheVerbing He's always with the dignity]]". The real reason is that he's a construct who wasn't well-made [[spoiler:though Gilgamesh is shown to have given him the ability to speak after rebuilding him]], and his wife, Judy/Lilith, has mismatched eyes for the same reason.
* Mecha Maid aka Marilyn Seong from ''Webcomic/{{Spinnerette}}'' has this in spades. She has, at most, ''three years to live'' thanks to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). She can barely speak without technological assistance and is only mobile in a wheelchair or her [[PoweredArmor battlesuit]]. Yet she gets into the Mecha Maid suit and goes out to punch supervillains anyway. (Admittedly, part of this may be that the armour's systems allow her to actually ''walk''.)
* O-Chul of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' is an example MadeOfIron. Blasted through the air from the losing end of a brutal battle, captured and tortured by Team Evil, given half a chance to escape he takes the opportunity to strike out at Xykon and Redcloak, no matter how many times he's humiliatingly beaten down for the effort. O-Chul maintains his code of honor without complaint, and can even show consideration for others through the worst of his torments. His resilience and compassion throughout his imprisonment may also have laid the groundwork for a HeelFaceTurn on the part of Xykon's most powerful minion (which could very well save the world at some crucial point down the line).
* ''{{Webcomic/Homestuck}}'':
** PM was originally just a mail carrier, and was tasked with delivering a package to John. After a whole lot of things go wrong, she winds up [[spoiler:appointed queen of the Exiles, only to see all of her friends/subjects murdered when [[BigBad Jack Noir]] comes out of nowhere, destroying what little they had managed to rebuild. He only didn't kill her because he didn't think she posed a threat. But then she finds the [[RingOfPower White Queen's Ring]] that WV had been carrying, and [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge follows Jack to kick his ass]] as Prospitian Monarch]]. The [[OhCrap look on Jack's face]] when he realizes how badly he underestimated her is glorious.
* ''WebComic/CriticalMiss'' strip [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/critical-miss/10452-Full-Metal-Genesis "Full Metal Genesis"]] uses this trope as a TakeThat contrast between [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Alphonse Elric]] and [[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji Ikari]].
* Yuri Hasagashi, aka "WebComic/IronVioletTheShyTitan" is a very shy and insecure girl. AbusiveParents has been implied to be the source of this. Despite this past trauma (and other referenced moments of bullying), Yuri is a sweet, caring girl who uses the vast superhuman strength she developed to protect others instead of lashing out with them. It's a wonder how she would have turned out if not for the kindness and care of her loving best friend and caring father figure...
* Bubbles in ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' is an unusually literal example: a retired combat droid, implied to be the only survivor of her human squad, who was censured by the other robots for getting involved in human conflict; an ExtremeDoormat to a boss who cheerfully tells her that humans will never accept her; and a shut-in with NoSocialSkills who avoids being seen by humans. While she's usually quite [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3092 stoic]] about it, when she's [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3066 rattled]], it [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=3070 shows]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Gino Gambino, especially in Website/GaiaOnline's earlier storylines. Subjected to malnutrition, [[EvilutionaryBiologist immoral experimentation]], [[WellDoneSonGuy fatherly disapproval]], vampire kidnappings, EasyAmnesia, and yet when his dad's been sniped off the top of a skyscraper, ''Gino jumps after him'', because he cares about him ''that damn much''. Sadly this has faded in some of the more recent storylines, where he's more of a whiny ButtMonkey.
* Chiaroscuro Themyst from Roleplay/SinaiMuck is a cute mongoose character who got trapped in another world, has to deal with a constant buzzing noise in his head, originally speaks in broken English and gets mistreated because he's often mistaken as a kavi yet he seems to function rather well. He crosses the line from Iron Woobie to pure {{Woobie}} in [[http://sinai.critter.net/log.php?title=The+Trial+of+Envoy this log]] though.
* Ruby Rose by the end of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''[='s=] third volume: [[spoiler:thanks to the actions of [[BigBad Cinder Fall]], Beacon Academy is destroyed, the headmaster who put her there is MIA, she watched the death of two of her dearest friends - Penny and Pyrrha - and was unable to save them, had her CoolBigSis Yang mauled and driven into a HeroicBSOD, Blake disappeared for places unknown without saying goodbye or saying why, Weiss was dragged back to Atlas and she's come to find out that she's a special breed of person, one who lives for battle and has special powers. Despite all of this, Ruby ended up picking herself back up and allied with the remains of Team JNPR to find Cinder Fall and pay her back for the harm she caused, her desire to be TheHero never wavering.]]
* Katy Towell's ChildrinRSkary has a few examples, most notably the titular Ida from "Ida's Luck", who is tormented and finally almost killed but who still manages to muster the energy to fend off monsters. The protagonist of "The Mockingbird Song" also fits this trope by the end.
* ''WebAnimation/CampCamp'': David is always beaten up, mauled, insulted, and humiliated by everyone and everything at Camp Campbell. Yet even with all the abuse he takes in life, he always stays positive and cares about making sure everyone at camp at least has fun.
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[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The titular WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack went through hell in his quest to return to his native time, and [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption never even achieved his final goal]]. 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]].
* Eddy from WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy. It is revealed in [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow the movie]] that he was only [[JerkassFacade pretending to be a jerk]] as a desperate cry for friendship after years of abuse from his older brother. It is especially hard to stomach considering all the times Eddy is beaten, humiliated and punished throughout the series.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'':
** Prince Zuko is one. [[spoiler: All his childhood he's been shunned and treated horribly by his own father and his sister for not being a prodigy in firebending. His mother who loves him left one night for mysterious reasons. When Zuko was 13, his father challenged him to a cruel duel because "he shamed his father" by speaking up in a war meeting. When Zuko refused to fight, his father burned his face in public, banished him and sent him to hunt the Avatar who has been gone for a hundred years to regain his honor. Then he lost his men, his small ship, and all his possessions and became a wanted fugitive of the Fire Nation along with his uncle. He experienced hunger and watched his uncle beg for money and finally he was forced to do dishonorable things such as stealing to survive. When he was welcomed back to the Fire Nation he realized he wasn't happy being on the bad side so he betrayed his family, left his girlfriend and sacrificed his status as a prince to help the Avatar.]] Summed up as this way: "I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am."
** Aang also qualifies: he had his entire culture wiped out, slept through a war which has hurt millions which he could have done something about, and has found that of everyone he ever knew and loved, only one boyhood friend and his beloved pet have survived. Despite this, he never breaks.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'':
** Asami Sato from WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra. It's just sad to watch her. To sum it up, and most of this happens within a few weeks time, [[spoiler: her mother was killed by a Firebender when she was six, she discovered her father was an Equalist after spending a whole day defending him, has to turn on her father because she wanted to do the right thing and has to leave the comfortable life she has always known, she finds out that Korra has a crush on her boyfriend and he might reciprocate, she gets arrested because of her father, then has to see her boyfriend go crazy trying to find Korra and neglect her, and when she chooses to confront Mako, since he's horribly NotGoodWithPeople he reacts badly and things go worse]]. And yet she refuses to break for a long time, until The Sting" when [[spoiler: Future Industries goes bankrupt after a robbery.]] She also witnesses the near death of Korra, her close friend, and for three years, was the only one to know how much Korra was suffering while recovering far away from her, since Korra only wrote letters to her. During the final fight with Kuvira, she watches [[spoiler: her father]] perform a HeroicSacrifice for her. And her company is destroyed in that fight again. And ''then'', she [[PluckyGirl does her best to bring herself back together]].
** Korra herself, especially by Book 4. She's been cut off from the avatar cycle, [[spoiler:poisoned, nearly paralyzed due to severe injuries (and spends two years in a wheelchair, relearning how to walk)]], and nearly killed. The very skill she enjoyed using the most, fighting, [[spoiler:deteriorated to the point that even after somewhat physically recovering, can't even stop a common thief]]. But with years spent hard at work [[spoiler:recovering (and help from loved ones, previous friends of the last Avatar, and the very person who caused her that trauma)]], she becomes the incredibly powerful Avatar she used to be, and [[spoiler:saves Republic City from Kuvira's FantasticNuke]] by relating to her pain and fear.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheHuckleberryHoundShow'': Huckleberry Hound spends the majority of his appearances playing ExtremeDoormat and taking slapstick abuse from the universe around him, however his mellow, easy going nature rarely fades, even when he's indented into a nearby wall.
* Franchise/{{Batman}} himself in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold'''s LighterAndSofter AnimatedAdaptation of ''ComicBook/EmperorJoker''. He is tackled by ComicBook/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.
[[/folder]]