History WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds / LiveACtionTV

** In Season 8, [[spoiler:they managed to make Doomsday to be something like this because of the horrible life Davis, his human host, has had.]] He was [[ForWantOfANail abandoned as a kid]] as opposed to [[HappilyAdopted having loving]] [[MuggleFosterParents foster parents]] like Clark, and is cursed to bring nothing but death and destruction.

* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'': Tyler. From being an [[Sandbox/AmbiguousDisorder awkward, friendless]] photographer and revealed StalkerWithACrush (taking pictures outside Hannah's window), he's bullied and mistreated by [[KickTheDog virtually everyone]] despite his part in Hannah's TraumaCongaLine not being nearly as terrible as, say, Sheri [[spoiler:fleeing after knocking down a stop sign and refusing to call the police in fear of her future being ruined, which leads to [[LovableJock Jeff]]'s death]], Bryce [[spoiler:raping her, which breaks her soul]] or Mr. Porter, [[spoiler:who [[AdultsAreUseless tells her that unless she admits to who raped her, she needs to just "move on"]]]]. In season 2, while the other recipients of the tapes gradually come together in solidarity, Tyler continues his descent, becoming friends with a fellow outcast, with whom he goes out shooting guns and exposing the unfair treatment the popular, wealthy students receive. Unfortunately, by the end of the season, he's alone once more and his last action against the baseball team (which causes the season to be canceled) [[spoiler:is the catalyst for [[HateSink Montgomery]], a {{sociopath}}ic school bully and Tyler's most consistent tormentor, to [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale violently sodomize Tyler in the boys' bathroom with a broken broom handle]]. This is Tyler's DespairEventHorizon and drives him to follow up on a plan to commit a mass shooting at the Spring Fling dance. Clay talks down an armed Tyler, and proceeds to help cover up the attempt by dumping the weapons in the river.]]

** Jack Bauer almost winds up becoming this. Throughout the entire series he's been betrayed, used, exploited, and almost all his friends and loved ones have wound up dead. In Season 8, his last potential love interest is killed and the President betrays him which proves to be the last straw, sending him on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge to expose the conspirators behind the day's events which in turn lead to his love interest dying and then mercilessly '''slaughter''' them, which turn out to be [[spoiler: former President Charles Logan and Russian President Yuri Suvarov]]. What sets him apart from most of the others is he does still have some rationality and does overall still refuse to harm any innocent life; when pressured into the fact that going down this path would lead to several casualties in the ensuing war between the United States and Russia, he realized what he was doing was in the wrong. He may have stopped himself after ''realizing'' what he was doing would kill more innocent than guilty, but prior to that he pulled some pretty risky moves, including opening fire on a crowd of civilians in order to get to said [[PresidentEvil corrupt President]] which could have backfired horribly and killed someone. I'd say he qualifies.

* Helena from ''Series/OrphanBlack''. A [[CloningBlues clone]], separated from her birth mother [[spoiler:and from her twin sister Sarah]], raised in a convent [[spoiler:before being abducted and turned into a TykeBomb by a religious psycho]] which led her to start performing large ritual scarifications on her back, was forced to [[spoiler:murder her fellow clones one-by-one]], and when she finally found the strength to [[RageAgainstTheMentor rebel]], she was taken by [[spoiler:another bunch of religious nutjobs who forced her to get married and performed invasive procedures to steal her egg cells in a very rape-y scene]], before one of them flat-out tried to [[VorpalPillow murder her]]. Oh, and that [[spoiler:twin sister]] she feels a connection to ? She impaled her on one occasion, and shoot her at point-blank range on another. The one and only character that ever showed any kindness to her was [[spoiler:[[MoralityPet Kira]], Sarah's daughter]].

* By the penultimate episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', [[spoiler:Daenerys Targaryen has lost two of her dragons, all but one of her friends she brought from Essos (one of whom is executed in front of her), and any semblance of support in Westeros; the North wants nothing to do with her, half of the people who know she's not the rightful Targaryen heir apparent spurn her off, while the others are alienated by the reckless actions she took on the way to the Iron Throne. Her march to Westeros is in tatters, and the only sane option would be to return to Essos, defeated but retaining her dignity. But sane she is not; Daenerys realizes that this means she has lost so much to achieve precisely ''nothing'', so there must be another option that will make her suffering less bitter. It turns out there's one: her last remaining dragon, named after her late husband, who once made a promise to bring the Seven Kingdoms to its knees. So she... fulfills the promise by torching the entire King's Landing with dragonfire, killing one of her two rivals to the Iron Throne, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope as well as tens of thousands of innocent civilians]].]]

* By the penultimate episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', [[spoiler:Daenerys Targaryen has lost two of her dragons, all but one of her friends she brought from Essos (one of whom is executed in front of her), and any semblance of support in Westeros; the North wants nothing to do with her, half of the people who know she's not the rightful Targaryen heir apparent spurn her off, while the others are alienated by the reckless actions she took on the way to the Iron Throne. Her march to Westeros is in tatters, and the only sane option would be to return to Essos, defeated but retaining her dignity. But sane she is not; Daenerys realizes that this means she has lost so much to achieve precisely ''nothing'', so there must be another option that will make her suffering less bitter. It turns out there's one: her last remaining dragon, named after her late husband, who once made a promise to bring the Seven Kingdoms to its knees. So she... fulfills the promise by torching the entire King's Landing with dragonfire, killing one of her two rivals to the Iron Throne, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope as well as tens of thousands of innocent casualties]].]]

* By the penultimate episode of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', [[spoiler:Daenerys Targaryen has lost two of her dragons, all but one of her friends she brought from Essos (one of whom is executed in front of her), and any semblance of support in Westeros; the North wants nothing to do with her, half of the people who know she's not the rightful Targaryen heir apparent spurn her off, while the others are alienated by the reckless actions she took on the way to the Iron Throne. Her march to Westeros is in tatters, and the only sane option would be to return to Essos, defeated but retaining her dignity. But sane she is not; Daenerys realizes that this means she has lost so much to achieve precisely ''nothing'', so there must be another option that will make her suffering less bitter. It turns out there's one: her last remaining dragon, named after her late husband, who once made a promise to bring the Seven Kingdoms to its knees. So she... fulfills the promise by torching the entire King's Landing with dragonfire, killing one of her two rivals to the Iron Throne, as well as tens of thousands of innocent casualties.]]

** [[AntiVillain Jesse Pinkman]] is one, himself. Oh, you can taunt him all day, everyday: for years. And, he'll just take it. With, perhaps, the odd, nasty prank in retaliation, but nothing more. The minute you press his {{Berserk Button}}s of 1) harming people he cares about, 2) [[FriendToAllChildren harming children]] and/or 3) harming or threatening to harm children he cares about as the utter worst, however... you will find out that all that taunting? Has created an unstable, dirty nuclear device with [[ChaoticStupid a dodgy timer]]. [[HonourBeforeReason Which you have just primed]]. He [[UnstoppableRage won't care about the consequences]]: [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he'll take you down as soon as he is able to get a solid fix on your position and has a clean line of sight.]] And, the fallout won't be pretty or discriminate, however low-yield he appears in comparison to others on this list.

** Willow, in the Season 6 finale. Her RoaringRampageOfRevenge over [[spoiler:the death of Tara]] ended with a magical overload that briefly attuned her to the thoughts and feelings of everyone else on the planet. Overwhelmed by the world's collective pain, she decided that [[PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery "your suffering has to end"]] and turned her newfound power towards bringing about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. She was finally stopped by the ThePowerOfLove.

* ''Series/ColdCase'' tends to feature lots of {{Tragic Monster}}s and {{sympathetic murderer}}s, but a particularly [[AxeCrazy gruesome]] example is the Serial killer in ''it takes a village''. Surely someone who [[WouldHurtAChild tortures, mutilates and murders young boys]] just because they are able to [[WorthyOpponent beat him]] at a ''video game'' couldn't possibly have any sympathetic qualities right? As it turns out [[spoiler:the game is symbolic of a room in a particularly awful foster home where he spent his childhood]]. During which he and five other boys were made to stand naked on a square ''for days at a time'' by his counselor. He attempts to stand up to said counselor. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Instead of joining in, the other boys gang up on him]] [[{{Fingore}} and cut his finger off]]. He targeted boys who reminded him of the ones who attacked him and at times seems to legitimately believe its ''them'', even though its been over twenty years. By the time the detectives catch up to him, he's an [[TalkativeLoon incoherent mess]] who slips in and out of {{third person|Person}}. He finally comes to his senses long enough [[spoiler:to realize that his latest intended prey is just an innocent little boy who has nothing to do with what happened to him so he lets him go.]] As awful as his crimes were, even the detectives couldn't help but feel a tinge of [[SympathyForTheDevil sympathy]] for him, or at least for the little boy he was.

* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' has the Trinity Killer. Notable in that this trope is used to make the character more disturbing, rather than more human (the usual utilization of this trope).
** [[VillainProtagonist Dexter Morgan]], himself.

* In ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', [[spoiler:Walternate. His son was kidnapped. His world is in the process of tearing itself to pieces, and millions of his fellow human beings have been killed. He's also waging a shadow war on our universe, since he thinks that it's the only way his can survive.]]
** Interestingly, in the alternate reality where Peter died as a boy ([[spoiler:an Observer did not save him]]), Walternate is better than Peter initially assumes him to be.

* The Greeed from ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'' are monsters whose MO is consuming the world and are generally causing massive pain to everyone. Then we find out why they're doing it. Their 10th Core Medal was destroyed, leaving them sentient, but even if they get all 9 of their remaining Cores, they have a void inside them that can never be filled due to the destruction of the 10th. They've been that way since they've become sentient, they're only trying to consume the world to fill a void inside them that they were born with. If that hunger is enough to drive them to the extremes they go to, then they definately qualify.
* The [[GrandFinale final]] perp on ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' turns out to be [[spoiler:a woman who runs an internet company (a sweeter, female Mark Zuckerberg {{Expy}}) who, tipped off to a break-in at her headquarters, returns to confront the offending party and finds that he has killed her boyfriend. He runs at her and she retaliates with a scissors to the neck. She]] actually breaks down into TenderTears when confronted with the evidence, and it is clearly intended that our sympathy should be with [[spoiler:her.]]
* One suspect on ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'', who suffered from a terribly-painful terminal health condition, started a website on which she advised other people on how to commit suicide. Her willingness to facilitate suicide even in the clinically-depressed made her morally culpable in several preventable deaths.

** Regina, a.k.a. The Evil Queen is a powerful sorceress who has murdered several innocent people, has an [[RevengeBeforeReason irrational grudge against SnowWhite]], and wipes the memories of everyone in her ''world'' because of that grudge. [[spoiler:But she was also [[FreudianExcuse raised by a heartless queen]] who murdered the [[InterClassRomance servant boy]] she was in love with after a young Snow was manipulated into revealing their relationship]]. Also, the adoptive son she genuinely loves is disgusted with her past and (at least at the beginning of the series) wants nothing to do with her. She tries to reform, but [[BeingGoodSucks things always seem to get worse for her when she does]]. And it helps that actress Creator/LanaParrilla is an absolute ''master'' of making kicked-puppy-dog faces.

** Tremaine is also this to an extent, [[spoiler: seeing as how her actions were caused by her husband Marcus and Drizella essentially [[ReplacementGoldfish replacing]] her with the latter' stepmother Cecelia when she was locked in a tower, along with Anastasia's death.]]
** The second half of Season 7 introduces two more ones: [[spoiler:Jack/Nick and Gothel.]]
* Helena from ''Series/OrphanBlack''. A [[CloningBlues clone]], separated from her birth mother [[spoiler:and from her twin sister Sarah]], raised in a convent [[spoiler:before being abducted and turned into a TykeBomb by a religious psycho]] which lead her to start performing large ritual scarifications on her back, was forced to [[spoiler:murder her fellow clones one-by-one]], and when she finally found the strength to [[RageAgainstTheMentor rebel]], she was taken by [[spoiler:another bunch of religious nutjobs who forced her to get married and performed invasive procedures to steal her egg cells in a very rape-y scene]], before one of them flat-out tried to [[VorpalPillow murder her]]. Oh, and that [[spoiler:twin sister]] she feels a connection to ? She impaled her on one occasion, and shoot her at point-blank range on another. The one and only character that ever showed any kindness to her was [[spoiler:[[MoralityPet Kira]], Sarah's daughter]].
* The adaptation of Creator/AgathaChristie's ''Elephants Can Remember'' by ITV's ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' features a CanonForeigner, [[spoiler:the daughter of the mentally unhinged killer from the original story, who is embittered and broken by what happened to her mother and takes murderous revenge.]]

** Played with in "Absolute Power" with Daniel Jackson, the show's typical {{Woobie}} of various other types. [[spoiler:In the episode, Daniel is trying to sensitively obtain information about the Goa'uld from a small child, who touches his head in an apparently hostile act, as it renders him unconscious. When he awakens, he proceeds to have all of the needed knowledge revealed to him and proceeds to build the weapon that would apparently defend the Earth, but at the cost of having become at least a JerkassWoobie if not outright evil. He fantasizes about very violent things until, finally, his goal is met. He then proceeds to take over the most powerful weapon in the world from his SupervillainLair and destroy Moscow before waking up and realizing that having absolute power to defeat the Goa'uld in one fell swoop is not such a good idea after all. He wakes up to discover that it was AllJustADream, but during]] the episode, it was implied that this trope actually simply a part of his subconscious, with or without special knowledge. Not surprising, really.
** [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot The scared, lonely robot girl]] who created the Replicators.

* ''Series/TheUmbrellaAcademy'' has the example of [[spoiler: Vanya. Belittled and abused by her father, ignored by her siblings, left out of everything, constantly reminded that she is ordinary and useless by everyone. Her sole confidante, Five, disappears. Her brother Ben dies. She gets nowhere with her violin playing and remains stuck at third chair for years. And then Leonard (or rather Harold) starts manipulating her, and she discovers her immense powers. And ends up nearly killing her sister, killing Leonard when she discovers his lies, collapsing her family's house (after being locked in a small, soundproof room by her brother), killing Pogo and their mother, flipping a car after the driver shouts at her, and ending the world via a burst of energy that destroys the moon.]]

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' had a textbook example in [[spoiler:H.G. Wells. It started out with her daughter being murdered, who proceeded to hunt the killers down and cause them more pain than she felt. Then, after being turned into a statue for a century ([[FateWorseThanDeath while still awake the whole time]]), she found today's world [[HumansAreBastards even more lacking]], and decided to explode the Yellowstone supervolcano to start an ice age. In a twist similar to the ''Series/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}}'' example above, HoYay saved the day.]]
* The entire premise of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'' is based on [[ComicBook/{{Scarlet Witch}} Wanda Maximoff]] being so [[SanitySlippage mentally broken]] after seeing her love interest, Vision, '''[[Film/{{AvengersInfinityWar}} killed twice]]''' that she [[spoiler:'''unknowingly''' enslaved the population of an entire New Jersey town to create a fictional sitcom world in which Vision was still alive and they had children. When she realized that this world was her doing, she was fearful of ending it because she thought her magic was making everyone's lives ''better'' - because nobody was able to break character and inform her that she was mentally torturing them all this time]]. [[UpToEleven Even worse,]] [[spoiler:if she tried to end the spell prematurely without coming to the stage of acceptance, Vision and her children would be brutally and excruciatingly ripped apart by the lack of magic allowing them to maintain physical form. After accepting what she must do and letting the Hex dissipate, causing her family to peacefully vanish, she indirectly states that she deserves NoSympathy despite what she had to give up and punishes herself by going into exile in order to repent for what she did to Westview - [[OhCrap except she takes the corrupting tome known as the Darkhold with her]] because she ''has to'' in order to learn how to control her powers if she is ever to interact with anyone ever again]].

** Another suspect, while not [[spoiler: the episodes main killer]] he has killed for as little a crime of ''taking his photo'' and has attempted to kill others and his cult of [[TheSchizophreniaConspiracy conspiracy theorists]] even [[spoiler: indirectly caused the main victim’s death]] and probably other untold tragedies. Suffice to say it’s easy to hate him… until you remember that he’s a severely schizophrenic man due to losing his parents in a plane crash as a child causing him to believe that the whole world was "out to get him". That’s enough to make anyone sympathetic!

* The entire premise of ''Series/{{WandaVision}}'' is based on [[ComicBook/{{Scarlet Witch}} Wanda Maximoff]] being so [[SanitySlippage mentally broken]] after seeing her love interest, Vision, '''[[Film/{{AvengersInfinityWar}} killed twice]]''' that she [[spoiler:enslaved the population of an entire New Jersey town to create a fictional sitcom world in which Vision was still alive]].

* ''Chloe'', a 2022 MiniSeries from Creator/TheBBC has the protagonist Becky who has NoSocialSkills, an AmbiguousDisorder looking after a mom with dementia in Bristol( a British equivalent to Rust Belt American cities), and she's got a StalkerWithoutACrush obsession about the titular Chloe, who is a PosthumousCharacter (apart from in flashbacks) which is the DrivingQuestion. Becky's main sympathetic qualities are her poor home and work life, and lack of friends, aside from Chloe in her past in high school, although it's an AmbiguousSituation if they were friends or more [[FriendlyEnemy Friendly Enemies]]. She social-media-stalks people and uses fake identities to get things done, but although she's villainous, she seems more misguided than truly evil, at least from the first episode aired.