History Main / TheGrotesque

* Dr. Jaming from ''[[VideoGame/DarkCloud Dark Cloud 2]]'' is described as a "Tragic Figure". He starts out as a bad guy, but is later said to [[spoiler: [[HeelFaceTurn have a change in heart]] shortly after you beat him. His grandson, who is just as ugly as he was, develops Ixion at his request to do something good and just.]]
* Subverted with ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'''s Necro. He's a young russian man turned into a freakish mutant by unethical experiments out for revenge against those who did it... But is mostly an easygoing, unangsty fellow who kinda likes the powers that came with the looks, and he even has a loving girlfriend.
* Gonzales from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' 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.

* Another inspiring example is Zaid Garcia, who due to an accident when he was a baby was left with horrific burns over 80 percent of his body, leaving him blind, missing both his hands, and horribly deformed. He didn't let that stop him, however, and he was made an honorary police officer (his dream). He also intends to become a motivational speaker.

A character that induces both [[UncannyValley fear]] and [[TheWoobie pity]] in viewers because his deformities belie a perfectly normal -- if not noble -- personality. The pathos associated with The Grotesque is the implication that he could easily have been a well-adjusted member of society if not for the hideousness that he is powerless to remedy.

* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-811 SCP-811]], aka the "Swamp Woman", is a hideous, dangerous creature riddled with BodyHorror, featuring [[PoisonousPerson an incredibly acidic mucus secreting from her palms and feet]] and [[AlienBlood liquid rot for blood]]. She's nevertheless a surprisingly docile, cooperative, even [[ThePollyanna cheerful]] character, so she ends up being quite endearing and sympathetic, especially since her condition causes herself serious problems, from vomiting out black, acidic blood as a result of her incomplete digestive tract to chronic tooth pain.

%%* ''Website/SCPFoundation'':

%%** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-811 SCP-811]] as well.

* Patrick in the aptly-named Creator/LindaBlair film ''Grotesque'' is a hideous monstrosity of a man, but despite developmental disabilities he can still tell right from wrong. When a pack of bikers lay waste to his foster family, we're treated to a MookHorrorShow of epic proportions.

* The shapeshifters from ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. Three episodes have focused on them as the MonsterOfTheWeek ("Skin," "Nightshifter," and [[spoiler:"Monster Movie"]]) and in two of them, each shapeshifter gets a speech about why he is what he is. Most of what we know about them are implied and hinted at in these two speeches: they are born to human parents, but they are supernaturally mutated and very hideous in appearance; they face physical abuse and then run away, but no one will take them in, and they're driven out of every community they go to; they then learn to harness their power of shapeshifting and take revenge upon the world, usually embodying some extreme form of a human flaw (such as aggression or greed). While they are probably the most tragic monsters on the show, the shapeshifters still [[ThouShaltNotKill break the one rule]], so the [[BeautyEqualsGoodness handsome and heroic]] Winchester brothers must put a silver bullet through their hearts every time.
* Several examples in ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episodes, such as Andro the mutant in "The Man Who Was Never Born", the Chromoite alien (a blob on legs) from "The Mice", and the scientist changed into a fake alien in "The Architects of Fear".

** Sharaz Jek turns out to be horribly deformed by the mud bursts that nearly killed him, but covers it for almost the entirety of the one serial he's in by wearing a black mask (and kinky leather) and living amongst androids "because androids do not see as we see!". Evidently the mud didn't manage to destroy his vanity.
** In the New Series episode 'Silence in the Library', Miss Evangelista fills this role...eventually.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'' episode "The Post-Modern Prometheus" is about a man with two (more or less fully functional) faces, who gets treated a monster and almost lynched by the local populace. In the culmination of the episode, Mutato [[YouCanTalk suddenly]] delivers a heartfelt monologue to the [[TorchesAndPitchforks angry mob]], revealing how he lived, suffered, and longed to be with other people, prompting one of the townspeople to exclaim "He is not a monster, he is alright!"

* In the Netflix adaptation of ''Series/TheWitcher2019'', Yennefer starts off as a rather pitiful character whose hunched back and crooked face lead her family to treat her as a slave. After becoming a sorceress, she undergoes a [[MagicPlasticSurgery transformation]] to become outwardly beautiful.

%%* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

-->-- '''Judge Claude Frollo''' to Quasimodo, ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}''

* Pennsylvanian cryptid, the Squonk, is described as pitifully ugly, constantly crying over its hideous, unlovable appearance.

* Bruno from the ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' ''Tale of Woe'' was handsome before being [[BalefulPolymorph transformed by a potion]] [[BeautyToBeast into a deformed monster]]. He still is as goodhearted inside as he was prior to this, though now his appearance could be described as UglyCute at best.

The defining trait of The Grotesque is that his [[GentleGiant hideous appearance belies a gentle personality]] that is doomed to mistreatment because of society's shallowness. We, the viewers, are left feeling like the only ones who can see him for who he truly is, and [[TheWoobie want to comfort him]] with the knowledge that he's not alone in his quiet suffering.

* Creator/{{CHONANSHOW}} is extremely ugly, to the point that .is called him "Saint Sinister".

He is very rarely presented as the villain and frequently overlaps with the ReluctantMonster and TragicHero. The defining trait of The Grotesque is that his [[GentleGiant hideous appearance belies a gentle personality]] that is doomed to mistreatment because of society's shallowness. We, the viewers, are left feeling like the only ones who can see him for who he truly is, and [[TheWoobie want to comfort him]] with the knowledge that he's not alone in his quiet suffering.

* It's probably worth nothing that ''most'' deformed people in real life, despite any mockery and discrimination, are in fact perfectly decent people.

* Creator/CHONANSHOW is extremely ugly, to the point that .is called him "Saint Sinister".

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 and MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold. May result from a PowerUpgradingDeformation.

A character that induces both [[UncannyValley fear]] and [[TheWoobie pity]] in viewers because his deformities belie a perfectly normal -- if not noble -- personality. The pathos associated with The Grotesque is the implication that he could easily have become a well-adjusted member of society if not for the hideousness that he is powerless to remedy.

* Jaws, from the ''Film/JamesBond movies'', becomes this after his HeelFaceTurn in ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''. The actor who played him, Creator/RichardKiel, has acromegaly like Creator/RondoHatton, below. In a twist, not only does Redemption ''not'' Equal Death, but he manages to get himself a girlfriend out of the deal (and a BespectacledCutie who's [[PintsizedPowerhouse almost as strong as he is]], to boot; lucky bastard). Especially when said girl saves Jaws while he was pinned by debris [[spoiler:after chasing Bond in a car that went over a cliff]]!

* Creator/RondoHatton (April 22, 1894 -- February 2, 1946) was an American actor who had a brief, but prolific career playing thuggish bit parts in many Hollywood B-movies (i.e. ''Film/TheBruteMan''). He was known for his brutish facial features which were the result of acromegaly, a disorder of the pituitary gland. His primary role was 'The Creeper', a killer who crushed his victim's spines in a bearhug. However, the Creeper was played as a deformed, dim-witted character that acted as a foil to some other villain's ambitions. Some person would befriend this pathetic, angry hulk of a man, and then use him as a weapon. So partial subversion here.

* In ''Series/{{Grimm}}'' the intern Ryan was wannabe Grimm believes that all Wesen must be killed. But its revealed that he's is in fact a Wesen and a very hideous one.

* Jaws, from the ''Film/JamesBond movies'', becomes this after his HeelFaceTurn in ''Film/{{Moonraker}}''. The actor who played him, Creator/RichardKiel, has acromegaly like Creator/RondoHatton, below. In a twist, not only does Redemption ''not'' Equal Death, but he manages to get himself a girlfriend out of the deal (and a {{Meganekko}} who's [[PintsizedPowerhouse almost as strong as he is]], to boot; lucky bastard). Especially when said girl saves Jaws while he was pinned by debris [[spoiler:after chasing Bond in a car that went over a cliff]]!

* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'': Jason Voorhees already suffered from hydrocephalus. 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]] [[https://web.archive.org/web/20141010001447/http://www.moviefanfare.com/jason-voorhees-unmasked/ is doing us a favor]].