History Main / TragicIceCharacter

** In the present, one of the Valkyries (female warriors of Schicksal Organization), Ana Schariac, was "chosen" by the Honkai against her will to become the "Herrscher[[note]]"agents" of Honkai, meant to lead the Honkai forces to eradicate humanity[[/note]] of Ice". In a recording that shows her "awakening", she was desperately struggling against the Honkai's control of her body, and in anguish, told her subordinates to get away from her; but it's too late as she immediately caused the whole city she's in to be covered in ice when she "awakened", killing her subordinates in the process. When Mei (one of the protagonists) first finds her in said city, she has covered herself in ice out of SelfRestraint; when Mei's partner Raven breaks the ice, Ana was first shown writhing in pain and struggling to say anything, causing them to hesitate at first.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villain ComicBook/MrFreeze is often (DependingOnTheWriter) characterised as an AntiVillain who was mutated into AnIcePerson by a FreakLabAccident and is [[HealthcareMotivation motivated to villainy by his desire to preserve and revive his wife Nora]], whom he was forced to [[HumanPopsicle place into cryogenic suspension]] to prevent her from dying from an incurable disease.
* Mr. Freeze isn't the only tragic ice character DC's put out. A special mention also goes to the third version of {{ComicBook/Firestorm|DCComics}}'s nemesis Killer Frost. Her real name is Caitlin Snow, and she was once a brilliant young scientist with a bright future ahead of her- one who wanted nothing more than to help people. Unfortunately, some of her own coworkers locked her in a thermodynamic machine, intending to kill her. When she emerged, she was unable to generate her own body heat, and now needed to kill others (by freezing them) in order to survive. She becomes a stone-cold supervillain- but all she really wants is to feel warmth again. Thankfully, her story ultimately has a happy ending, as she learns to control her hunger and ends up joining the Justice League of America.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', the Ice King, whose crown gives him ice powers, at first seems to be a creepy PsychopathicManchild only interested in kidnapping princesses for his love, but in the ChristmasEpisode "Holly Jolly Secrets," it's revealed that [[spoiler:he was an archaeologist named Simon Petrikov who found the crown in northern Scandinavia, and putting it on made him age rapidly and made his heart cold, also causing him to go insane and lose the love of his life]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'':
** Queen Elsa was born with ice powers that she finds hard to control. She is forced to hide her powers for most of her life out of fear that she would be seen as a monster. When she loses her temper and uses her powers in public, revealing them, she becomes so panicked that she [[PowerIncontinence accidentally]] [[EndlessWinter freezes the entire kingdom]] and runs away in fear. "Let it Go" connects both her isolation and later rebirth with her ice powers.
---> The snow glows white on the mountain tonight\\

* ''Film/BatmanReturns'': The Penguin was despised by his parents for his physical deformities. They were so repulsed by him that they threw him (as an infant) into a river leading to the sewer on a snowy Christmas Day. The sewer, which he turns into his evil lair, is filled with ice and inhabited by penguins, and the Penguin enacts his evil plans around another Christmas time.

** Jaina Proudmoore is a powerful sorceress, master of all schools of magic, but most often seems associated with ice, especially since the destruction of her city of Theramore, after which her life became one tragedy after another.

** Arthas Menethil is a FallenHero who got {{Brainwashed}} by the runic sword Frostmourne, became a Death Knight and killed his father King Terenas and most of his own people of Lordaeron when he let the Scourge invade and devastate the kingdom. He became the Lich King at the very end of ''[[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne]]'', a death and ice-themed/powered EvilOverlord who can summon various undead creatures including some that have ice powers. By the time of ''World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King'', an IronicEcho of the voice of his father in the opening cinematic says that one day he'll become king and rule for the good of his people (which he killed). By the end, he [[DyingAsYourself dies as himself]] in the arms of his father's ghost.

** Arthas Menethil is a FallenHero who got {{Brainwashed}} by the runic sword Frostmourne, became a Death Knight and killed his father King Terenas and most of his own people of Lordaeron when he let the Scourge invade and devastate the kingdom. He became the Lich King at the very end of ''[[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne]]'', a death and cold-themed EvilOverlord who can summon various creatures including some that have ice powers. By the time of ''World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King'', an IronicEcho of the voice of his father in the opening cinematic says that one day he'll become king and rule for the good of his people (which he killed). By the end, he [[DyingAsYourself dies as himself]] in the arms of his father's ghost.

* ''{{VideoGame/RuneScape}}'': Lumi, the Queen of Snow and AnthropomorphicPersonification of winter, appears in one Easter event where she was supposed to [[PaintingTheFrostOnWindows hand over the world to spring in a magical realm that controls seasons]]; she was later found to be hiding in the last frozen cave, trying to [[SpringIsLate hold onto winter]] as long as she could because she cannot comprehend anything else; in her eyes, everything turns dark and empty when winter ends.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Jaina Proudmoore is a powerful sorceress, master of all schools of magic, but most often seems associated with ice, especially since the destruction of her city of Theramore, after which her life became one tragedy after another.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'':
** Weiss Schnee is associated with ice and snow: she's from the cold northern continent, her name means "white snow", and her emblem is a snowflake; early in the series, two love interests independently refer to her as "Snow Angel" because of this while several characters call her "Ice Queen" due to both her cold, aloof demeanour and her ice powers. However, behind her initially frosty exterior is a girl who grew up with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father, and all her theme songs are about trying to figure out who she really is, such as "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89P6uir40ZI The Path to Isolation]]", which uses cold and snow as imagery when discussing loneliness.
** The entire Schnee family qualifies, though the extent to which they are ice-themed varies. Weiss's mother Willow leans more on the tragedy than the ice theme, drinking herself into a stupor and avoiding the family's emblem. Weiss's younger brother, Whitley, is very frosty, but it's heavily implied he's that way to avoid upsetting the man that abused his siblings. Weiss's older sister is literally named Winter, has the same Glyph semblance, and an even colder demeanor, though she rarely uses ice Dust. [[spoiler:At the end of Volume 8, Winter becomes [[ElementalEmbodiment the Winter Maiden]] and watches Weiss fall into the void, making her even more of this trope.]]

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Haku was born with a [[SuperpowerfulGenetics kekkei genkai]] inherited from his mother that allowed him to generate and manipulate ice. Due to there being a serious prejudice against kekkei genkai bearers in his village, the local villagers, including Haku's own father, killed his mother and [[OffingTheOffspring tried to kill him]], only for Haku to wind up [[SelfMadeOrphan killing all of them instead]] using his powers. Haku was reduced to living on the streets until he was taken in by Zabuza, who trained him to become just as skilled an assassin as him, however Haku only sees himself less as a human and more as a tool as does his teacher. Despite this, he is almost incapable of killing people and prefers invoking a FauxDeath. During the fight against Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi, Haku ends up dying [[TakingTheBullet saving Zabuza from Kakashi's Lightning Blade]], with Zabuza realizing how much he cared for him thanks to Naruto and decides to turn against his employer Gato, eventually dying from his injuries after he kills him and his minions.

* ''Literature/InCryptid'': James Smith has ice powers, and has a pretty terrible lot in life before meeting Antimony and her friends. His mom died when he was young from a HereditaryCurse that [[ClosedCircle traps him in the town he was born in]], his best friend was taken by [[EldritchAbomination the Crossroads]] in an attempt to end that curse, and his dad is homophobic and resents him for the death of his wife. And when Annie meets him, the Crossroads try to make her kill him. Once [[spoiler:the Crossroads are destroyed and Annie adopts James into the family]], things start getting better for him, though he's still quiet and reserved.

* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'': Frostbite, whose PowerIncontinence of freezing all water around her makes it hard for her to be a normal kid, and she is confined in a room specifically made to mitigate her powers.

* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' villain ComicBook/MrFreeze is often (DependingOnTheWriter) characterised as an AntiVillain who was mutated into AnIcePerson by a FreakLabAccident and is [[HealthcareMotivation motivated to villainy by his desire to preserve and revive his wife Nora]], whom he was forced to place into cryogenic suspension to prevent her from dying from an incurable disease.

* ''Literature/TheMoomins'': The Groke is a strange being that freezes everything she touches. Most of Moominvalley's inhabitants are scared of her, although later stories portray her as lonely and tragic due to the fact that she craves warmth and light, but cannot obtain them because of the uncontrollable ice spreading around her. When Moomin finally befriends her, she warms up enough that she at least no longer freezes the ground she walks upon.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'': Queen Elsa was born with ice powers that she finds hard to control. She is forced to hide her powers for most of her life out of fear that she would be seen as a monster. When she loses her temper and uses her powers in public, revealing them, she becomes so panicked that she [[PowerIncontinence accidentally]] [[EndlessWinter freezes the entire kingdom]] and runs away in fear. "Let it Go" connects both her isolation and later rebirth with her ice powers.
-->The snow glows white on the mountain tonight\\

* Jack Frost in ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians''. He is a kind, playful winter spirit who HatesBeingAlone and is left alone with no friends and no purpose for 300 years which makes him think he is doing something wrong and doesn't even know what. Then, it turns out he has GhostAmnesia, and what he doesn't remember is [[spoiler:that he was once human and died [[HeroicSacrifice saving his little sister]].]]

[[folder:Myths and Religion]]

* ''Literature/TheMoomins'': The Groke is a strange being that freezes everything she touches. Most of Moominvalley's inhabitants are scared of her, although later stories portray her as lonely and tragic because she craves warmth and light, but cannot obtain them because of the uncontrollable ice spreading around her.

* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'': Season 8 reveals that [[spoiler:[[WickedWitch Icy]] had a little sister named Sapphire, who was [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a fox cub]] by a shaman witch who [[DoomedHometown cursed her home planet of Dyamond into a frozen wasteland]]. Since then, she is determined to find a way to obtain enough power [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes to save her world and her sister]], [[DrivenToVillainy even if it meant becoming one of the most villainous witches in the Magic Dimension]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' reinvented the character of Mr. Freeze. While Freeze was previously just a goofy MadScientist with an ice gimmick, this series gave him a much more tragic backstory. Freeze was formerly a mild-mannered scientist trying to save his terminally ill wife, but his experiments were ruined by a greedy CorruptCorporateExecutive, and he was exposed to chemicals that left him unable to survive temperatures warmer than sub-zero. He acts quite cold and emotionless due to his determination to save his wife but is quite torn up inside.