History Main / TheGrotesque

-->-- '''Judge Claude Frollo''' to Quasimodo, ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'':

* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', because [[CrapsackWorld of course]]. The Unfleshed were a race of giant, skinless humanoids who were the rejected results of the Daemonculaba (an extremely {{Squick}}-y science/magic experiment). They lived in the sewers, hunting for meat wherever it could be found, and instinctively seeing the GodEmperor as their father (despite being created by enemies of the Emperor). In the book ''[[Literature/{{Ultramarines}} The Killing Ground]]'', they are rescued by a group of [[SpaceMarine Ultramarines]] who hid them from the wider Imperium. But, [[spoiler:it [[MercyKill didn't last for long]]]]

-->-- '''Judge Claude Frollo''' to Quasimodo, ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''.

Don't expect any of that to allow [[SortingAlgorithmOfMortality someone this ugly to get a happy ending]], ''especially'' if they're female. Grotesques are universally tragic characters.

* ''{{Manga/Berserk}}''.

* Much of the first volume of ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' involves the [[WasOnceAMan "muck-encrusted mockery of a man"]] inspiring fear in most people, when he is a kind scientist who wanted to help end world hunger. For a long time, very few people treat him as anything but a monster even when he saves their lives.

* Roger the [[Main/OurHomunculiAreDifferent Homunculus]] from ''Comicbook/{{Hellboy}}''. He sees himself as an inhuman abomination and is considered "expendable" by the BPRD due to being an artificial being, but he's one of the [[GentleGiant nicest]] characters in the series and willing to [[spoiler: kill his own brother]] in ''Almost Colossus'' to save humanity.

* Sloth in ''Film/TheGoonies'' is deformed, dimwitted, very strong, and kept as a BerthaInTheAttic by his family. Once he makes friends with Chunk, however, it's clear he's a good guy.

* Gonzales from ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem: Binding Blade]]'' is a recruitable axe fighter who has great deal of uglyness and a twisted, childlike mind even for a [[ObviouslyEvil bandit's standard]]. Like a classic Grotesque character, Gonzales is a GentleGiant who is bullied by people who judge him from his look and is sent into battle even though he doesn't want to hurt a fly. His traits are acknowledged by [[AllLovingHero Lilina]] as she befriends him.

* The titular ''Videogame/{{Dropsy}}'' is a fat and hideous clown with dull yellow eyes, rotten teeth and a gaping smile, but is also an innocent NonIronicClown who only wishes to hug and befriend all those around him.
* Undertale has [[spoiler: the tragic Amalgamates, hideous, invincible [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] generated from multiple monster corpses fused together with Determination that pursue you through the [[AbandonedLaboratory True Lab]] on your way to the true ending of the game. Most of them, however, retain some of their former intelligence, and none really want you dead: they just smelled the [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext popato chisps]] on you and hadn't been fed in a while. (It's actually impossible to solve an altercation with them with violence: As stated above, they're all invincible, except one that has incredibly high health and regeneration, and in ''Undertale'' you can solve monster fights peacefully. This is the intended solution, as you're working toward an ending you can only achieve without killing any monsters.)]]

** Not just implied. In "Birds of a Feather", he goes straight and actually means it. Then he meets a beautiful woman who, unbeknownst to him, is only dating him for the thrill and attention she'll get from dating a former super criminal (She secretly finds him ''repulsive''). He is head-over-heels for her, buys expensive gifts for her, and even saves her life from muggers, all the while so happy to be an accepted member of society that crime is the last thing on his mind. Like this he is surprisingly good-natured, brave, and kind. [[spoiler:Too bad the truth comes out and he is so hurt and shocked by it that he dives head first back into supervillainy.]]

* Seth Brundle in ''Film/TheFly1986'' is initially {{Adorkable}} but also TallDarkAndHandsome. After a TeleporterAccident genetically fuses him with a fly he undergoes a SlowTransformation into a HalfHumanHybrid from the inside out; at first the SuperStrength, virility, and stamina this grants him makes him DrunkWithPower, culminating in him tossing his lover Veronica out of his loft/lab because she's worried about the changes, which also include strange hairs and facial blotches. Then he learns what's actually happening to him and loses his haughtiness. A month later, terrified and lonely, he asks her to visit him -- [[BodyHorror whereupon she and the audience see that his entire body is horrifically disfigured]], and he now has to vomit on his food in order to consume it. His right ear even ''falls off'' before her eyes! Embarrassed and upset, he reaches out to her for an embrace...and, in a moment notorious for eliciting '''screams''' from audience members, she hugs him ''without hesitation'', even resting her head against the spot where the ear just molted away. Although Seth's transformation into an insectoid beast continues apace and his mind ultimately undergoes a SplitPersonalityTakeover that leads to him becoming a danger to her and others despite his best efforts, Veronica's love for him remains intact to the DownerEnding, in which [[spoiler: she mercy kills him at his request]].

* In the Netflix adaptation of ''Series/TheWitcher2019'', Yennefer starts off as a rather pitiful creature with a hunchback and crooked face who's treated as basically a slave by her own family. After becoming a sorceress, she undergoes a [[MagicPlasticSurgery transformation]] to become outwardly beautiful.

* Ellie May in ''Tobacco Road'', who would be easily marriageable if not for her harelip.

* ''Film/{{Darkman}}'': Dr. Peyton Westlake, a.k.a. Darkman, is a SuperHero version of this trope. At least, [[MasterOfDisguise in his natural form]].
* ''Film/{{Freaks}}'' mostly subverts this. We do not pity them, because they're all so damned cheerful, except for those tied up in the romantic plot (because LoveHurts ''everyone''), but even they get a happy ending.

%% OlderThanRadio: Quasimodo of Creator/VictorHugo's ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is an archetypal example.
* Gwynplaine, of ''Literature/TheManWhoLaughs'', was, due to a bizarre torture inflicted upon him, not so much ugly as [[SlasherSmile unbelievably disturbing-looking.]] This being another Victor Hugo novel, he didn't end too well.

** While he's supposed to be the villain, the book humanizes the Phantom after his act of mercy; the [[DracoInLeatherPants increasingly sympathetic view]] of the motives behind his actions in later film adaptations has largely overridden his villainous role. It doesn't help that the transfer from book to play and movie has the level of his deformity lowered from "Skeletor" to [[HollywoodHomely "Gerry Butler fell asleep while sunbathing, so his face is a little red"]].
** In the original book by Gaston Leroux, Erik (the titular phantom) subverts this trope in two ways: First: He is not a GentleGiant, but a PsychopathicManChild. Second: Ironically, his VideoGame/BeyondGoodAndEvil attitude lets him fit into society very well, as a TortureTechnician, ProfessionalKiller and succesful {{Blackmail}}er, because HumansAreBastards. The {{Narrator}} lampshades in the Epilogue that Erik, with an ordinary face, ''would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind''. However, even after his [[EvilCannotComprehendGood act of mercy]] he doesn't value human life, and talks casually about Count Phillipe's murder.

* Boo Radley in ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'', the former trope namer for what is now MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold, is an albino take on this trope, feared and hated by most of the community. When we finally meet him at the end, he's definitely a little odd but he's unambiguously a good guy.

* The Nosferatu clan of both of ''TabletopGame/TheWorldOfDarkness'' Vampire games have this as a defining trait.
** In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade Masquerade'', the Nosferatu are all horribly disfigured; most of them [[LooksLikeOrlok look like their namesake]], but a good number of them "just" have hideous growths and scar tissue that could stop a tank shell. It usually reaches the point that merely going in public uncloaked as a Nosferatu breaks the {{Masquerade}}.
** In ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'', they can still look butt ugly, but the "wrongness" about them is more of a floating quality not tied directly to appearance. One of them can be as pretty as a supermodel, but still disquiet people because they smell strongly of embalming fluid.
** ''Requiem'' also features the Carnival, a bloodline founded by "the Andalusan Mermaid", a circus freak who was saved from her sadistic owner by a passing vampire. Every last one of the Carnival is deformed in some way or another. The book discussing them specifically warns that they tend not to be as nice as traditional freaks were. Their clan of origin, for irony's sake, are [[TheBeautifulElite the Daeva]].
* The ''[[SerialKiller Slasher]]'' {{Sourcebook}} for ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'' features Freaks and Mutants as Slasher archetypes. The Freaks draw from sources like ''Film/TheHillsHaveEyes2006'' -- individuals who've turned reclusive and atavistic due to their deformities. The Mutants, their natural progression, draw more from sources like ''Film/TheDescent'', as their mutations have caused them to become something other than human.

* Klungo, Gruntilda's henchman in ''Banjo-Kazooie''.

* Joseph Carey Merrick fit this trope to a tee, especially in Creator/DavidLynch's film adaptation of his life, ''Film/TheElephantMan''.

* They often took to the only life they could as members of TheFreakshow.
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Robinson_(Green_Man) Raymond "Ray" Robinson]] a.k.a "The Green Man" or "Charlie No-Face" . A man from Pennsylvania who was deformed as the result of a childhood accident, he became the subject of an urban myth regarding a "monstrous-looking man" who would venture out into the night and had "glowing green skin". In reality, he was a loved, respected man amongst locals who would take walks at night since he couldn't bear to show himself to the public in broad daylight.

* ''VideoGame/Undertale'' has [[spoiler: the tragic Amalgamates, hideous, invincible [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] generated from multiple monster corpses fused together with Determination that pursue you through the [[AbandonedLaboratory True Lab]] on your way to the true ending of the game. Most of them, however, retain some of their former intelligence, and none really want you dead: they just smelled the [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext popato chisps]] on you and hadn't been fed in a while. (It's actually impossible to solve an altercation with them with violence: As stated above, they're all invincible, except one that has incredibly high health and regeneration, and in ''Undertale'' you can solve monster fights peacefully. This is the intended solution, as you're working toward an ending you can only achieve without killing any monsters.)]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

* Quasimodo from ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. No explanation needed.

-->-- '''Judge Claude Frollo''' to Quasimodo, ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''

* OlderThanRadio: Quasimodo of Creator/VictorHugo's ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' is an archetypal example.

-->-- '''Judge Claude Frollo''' to Quasimodo, ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''

* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'': Jason Voorhees already had some hydrocephaly. Then he drowned. And upon coming back to life, he's always suffering from both decomposition and [[MadeOfIron injuries that he usually comes over]]. Believe us, the [[CoolMask hockey mask]] [[http://www.moviefanfare.com/jason-voorhees-unmasked/ is doing us a favor]].

* Boo Radley in ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'', the former trope namer for what is now MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold, is a HeroicAlbino take on this trope, feared and hated by most of the community. When we finally meet him at the end, he's definitely a little odd but he's unambiguously a good guy.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

Contrast RedRightHand, where the outer deformity is symbolic of an inner corruption. Not to be confused with the kind of "grotesque" that adorns old gothic rooftops -- see OurGargoylesRock. Compare GentleGiant. May result from a PowerUpgradingDeformation.

Not to be confused with mindless violence film ''Grotesque''.