History Main / VillainBallMagnet

* Both Tyrion and Jaime Lannister from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Tyrion is a fundamentally decent guy who actively tries to help the people of King's Landing while serving as Hand of the King. However, the deck is stacked against him because he's a dwarf; most of his family hates him and the common people regard him as a monster. Being [[GoodScarsEvilScars mutilated]] doesn't make him much popular either. [[spoiler:When Tyrion is blamed for the death of King Joffrey he decides that, if he's being punished for murder, then he may as well commit one, and kills his father.]] His brother Jaime, on the other hand, is regarded as an oath-breaker for killing King Aerys, even though he secretly saved the lives of a city's worth of people doing it. Even as he tries to redeem himself and become a better knight, his name becomes associated with treachery due to circumstances beyond his control. An especially striking example of this trope for him: he threatens to send a baby to its death in a trebuchet to prevent a bloody siege of Riverrun castle. He'd previously made an oath not to raise his sword against House Tully, and this helped solve the situation without bloodshed - but everyone in listening distance got the impression that he was evil.

Generally treated by the author as either a figure of comedy or of tragedy. A comedic mandatory character will generally keep on trying throughout the entire series or story to make themselves good, and will generally keep their spirits up despite the misfortune visited upon them. On the other hand, a tragic mandatory character will sometimes become so fed up with their lot in life that they decide to [[ThenLetMeBeEvil deliberately cross]] the MoralEventHorizon into genuine villainy, and doing so may be treated either as a sign of the character's deep inner pain, as a sign that YouCantFightFate, or as a sign that the character was too morally weak depending on both the author's intent and in the seriousness of their suffering. When stereotyping is the thing that forces the villainy, there will sometimes be a stated or implied {{Aesop}} that all the suffering could have been avoided but for the type-casting committed by the less sympathetic characters.

If they kick a soccer ball to a child who lost it, it will instantly [[KickTheDog morph into a puppy]] before the poor kid's very eyes just to retroactively force evil on this villain. If they have a LoveInterest, almost all other characters (and possibly even the viewer) will think of their affections as StalkerWithACrush or worse material. This character is often the object not merely of bad luck or karma but of active stereotyping, with the world at large openly calling their lifestyle, deeds, or even their very ''existence'' ([[BadPowersBadPeople in the case of those with powers]]) things like "criminal", "wrong", or "abomination against [[[HelloInsertNameHere insert god here]]]."

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9396873/ The Art of Failure]]'' shows a possibility of why [[{{BeadyEyedLoser}} Jack Spicer]] [[{{Main/Determinator}} keeps on trying]] despite the fact that he never seems to win