Line #737 Main/BrokenBird


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20	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/StrangersInParadise https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/katchoo.png]]]]
21	[[caption-width-right:350:She's in a tight spot and may stay there.]]
22	-> "''Oh! I have a heart to be stabbed in or shot in, I have no doubt, and of course, if it ceased to beat I should cease to be. But you know what I mean. I have no softness there, no--sympathy-sentiment--nonsense.''"
23	-->-- '''Estella''', ''Literature/GreatExpectations'' [[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Great_Expectations/Chapter_XXIX Chapter XXIX]]
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27
28	These characters ([[AlwaysFemale often female]]) are coping with a CynicismCatalyst, DespairEventHorizon, or DarkAndTroubledPast [[MiseryBuildsCharacter by becoming]] as [[TookALevelInCynicism cynical]], [[TheStoic stoic]], and/or [[TookALevelInBadass badass]] as possible.
29
30	Her deep experience and [[SafetyInIndifference emotional detachment]] almost always give the impression of competence, though she doesn't always live up to her own hype. Varying between CoolBigSis, EmotionlessGirl, LittleMissSnarker, and [[TheSnarkKnight Snark Knight]], she marks herself as more experienced and worldly than the other characters, even if the CompetenceZone means she herself is barely out of her teens.
31
32	In fact, she can sometimes fill a mentor role for less experienced and more idealistic characters, all the while loudly expressing her irritation with said arrangement, so no one gets the impression she's softening up. Sometimes, this is to {{Jerkass}} levels; however, she is often a sympathetic JerkWithAHeartOfGold, [[{{Tsundere}} giving an impression of independent toughness to hide a sincere affection for the other characters]]. In the latter case she'll almost certainly be a MentorInSourArmor. May show CracksInTheIcyFacade.
33
34	This character was a hero herself once and failed miserably, or maybe she was [[FreudianExcuse abused]] in some way as a kid; whatever the case, her cynicism undoubtedly stems from some [[BreakTheCutie traumatic event in her past]] that destroyed her faith in just about everything. This revelation is normally accompanied by a FreakOut, said past often delivered in a [[DontYouDarePityMe bitter diatribe towards someone]] who proved a bit too stubborn in their desire to know what it was. At this point, [[TenderTears tears are guaranteed]], probably more of them the less she's expressed emotion in the past. She also has [[LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics a 65% chance]] of engaging in serious physical violence against whoever is closest at the time. This is always treated seriously and Broken Birds have a tendency to be both [[AxCrazy prone to violence]] and very good at it, therefore, potential {{Love Interest}}s should always prepare to be at least slightly maimed during these breakdowns.
35
36	If she is [[EpiphanicPrison cured of her emotional torment]], expect any of a number of paths. At best, she will continue on as a [[CharacterDevelopment deeper]] and [[DefrostingIceQueen less emotionally constipated]] version of who she was before... but she may also fall prey to GoodIsDumb or mutate into a SatelliteLoveInterest or SatelliteCharacter. Expect HopeIsScary on the road to recovery, unless she has an AdrenalineMakeover. Once she recovers, she's quite likely [[NeverBeHurtAgain to swear not to become one ever again]].
37
38	A number of {{Romance Novel}}s lean on this trope when the love interest of the heroine is an AntiHero with a [[DarkAndTroubledPast scar]] from the past for her to [[LoveRedeems heal]]. Sometimes involves a bit of [[IntimateHealing that one]] as well. Women want to HealTheCutie instead of BreakTheCutie.
39
40	This trope can be [[AppliedMathematics summed up]] as TroubledButCute + DarkAndTroubledPast.
41
42	Popular with the ByronicHero. A SubTrope of TroubledButCute, which sometimes they start as before [[BreakTheCutie becoming]] [[BreakTheHaughty broken]]. Overlaps with StoicWoobie and JerkassWoobie. Also see DarkMagicalGirl when the Broken Bird happened to be a MagicalGirl, RapeAsBackstory and RapeAsDrama for when the traumatic event involved [[SexualHarassmentAndRapeTropes sexual violence]], MyGreatestFailure for when the trauma was brought on by a mistake the character made (or ''[[GuiltComplex thinks]]'' she made) and ShellshockedVeteran when her trauma was brought by warfare. Do note that in RealLife, not everyone who experiences trauma (even the same type of trauma) will react or respond in this way; just because they don't act like or come across as this trope doesn't mean they're lying about whatever it was they experienced.
43
44	The logical extreme of this becomes an EmptyShell. Compare/contrast StepfordSmiler, StepfordSnarker, and SourOutsideSadInside, for characters [[BeneathTheMask trying to hide]] their Broken Bird state. Contrast AngstWhatAngst and ThePollyanna.
45	----
46	[[noreallife]]
47
48	!!Example subpages:
49	[[index]]
50	* BrokenBird/AnimeAndManga
51	* BrokenBird/ComicBooks
52	* BrokenBird/FanWorks
53	* BrokenBird/{{Film}}
54	* BrokenBird/{{Literature}}
55	* BrokenBird/LiveActionTV
56	* BrokenBird/{{Music}}
57	* BrokenBird/VideoGames
58	* BrokenBird/VisualNovels
59	* {{BrokenBird/Webcomics}}
60	* BrokenBird/WebOriginal
61	* BrokenBird/WesternAnimation
62	[[/index]]
63
64	!!Other examples:
65
66	[[foldercontrol]]
67
68	[[folder:Mythology & Religion]]
69	* OlderThanDirt: Ereshkigal, the Mesopotamian goddess of the Netherworld, is the mythological variant of this trope to a tee. While she mainly shows up as the bitter, [[LonersAreFreaks lonely]], and adversarial older sister of the GenkiGirl goddess Inanna/Ishtar, Ereshkigal's character is more elaborated elsewhere through her [[FreudianExcuse unhappy backstory]] and her encounter with the TroubledButCute plague god Nergal. In a rare happy ending in a mythological love story, the two outcast gods eventually resolve their differences and resolve to rule the Netherworld together. (Scholarly opinions are divided on whether this resulted in BadassDecay of her.)
70	* If the Romans are to believed, Queen Dido of Carthage from ''Literature/TheAeneid'' is this. She is happily married, then her brother kills her husband and forces her to flee her homeland. Then, she has to start a new city from scratch with a few men, and then Aeneas turns up. He has a love affair with her that ends badly (he leaves her because of the {{Jerkass}} gods). Later, she [[DespairEventHorizon loses her sanity]] and [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself]]. To show just how badly she is broken when Aeneas leaves her, Vergil stretches to its limits the inherent flexibility of Latin word order (an effect lost in translation)--the word order and grammar are so horribly broken that the subject and direct object can be several lines apart.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
74	* Elspeth Tirel from ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has lived through a childhood of Phyrexian horror and has seen her self-proclaimed homeworld of Bant fall, even as she tried her hardest to defend it. Because of this, she is portrayed as a cynic and a CowardlyLion who just wants to put down her sword and live a normal life - unfortunately for her, [[DoomMagnet conflict seems to follow her to every world she visits]].
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Theatre]]
78	* Depending on the interpretation, Joanne from ''Theatre/CompanySondheim'' could be a cynical example: She is an alcoholic who has been twice divorced and is currently on her third husband. She is rather different from Bobby's other friends, spends most of the scenes making occasional snarky remarks, and is shown being extremely critical of both her husband, who clearly loves her with all his heart, and of Bobby. However, Bobby describes her as "warm", and her husband says that her behaviour comes from her being "wildly conceited" with "no self-esteem", and in the end, she also plays something of a mentor role to Bobby, as she is the one who makes him question what he wants from a relationship.
79	* Mrs. Linde, Nora's childhood friend, from ''Theatre/ADollsHouse'', sacrificed marrying the man she loved to marry for money to help her sick, widowed mother and little brothers. By the start of the play, she is so tired and thin Nora doesn't recognize her, and she admits she only feels adrift, not grief, now her mother and husband are both dead and she has no further task to work for.
80	* The titular Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}, Empress of Austria (nicknamed Sisi by her family). Her life was a TraumaCongaLine: having a hands-off father (whom she nonetheless loved and admired because she envied his freedom); married off to Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria and [[KissingCousins her first cousin]], as a child bride (they did love each other initially, but Sisi's love faded); winding up with a demanding, KnightTemplarParent of a mother-in-law; accidentally causing the death of her eldest daughter Sophie due to insisting that she and her younger sister Gisela come along on a trip to Hungary; getting cheated on by her husband and infected with syphilis; having to fight for control to have a say in her own children's upbringing (thanks to Franz Joseph being a MamasBoy); realizing that trying to model her life after her father's damaged her relationships with other people and resolving to be "made of stone"; then accidentally [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide driving]] her only son and heir Rudolf -- ''for whom she had fought earlier'' -- to take his life by refusing to intercede in the political scandal in which he was embroiled.]] She winds up a heartbroken, cynical DeathSeeker who constantly traveled to get away from the Viennese court. Her journey ends when she is [[spoiler:stabbed to death]]. The kicker? Elisabeth was a real person. All of the aforementioned trauma was real.[[note]]Minus, perhaps, the STD. It was never confirmed. However, her son Rudolf ''did'' also wind up in an unhappy marriage, constantly cheated on his wife Stéphanie, and made her infertile via gonorrhea. Sisi deeply disliked her daughter-in-law.[[/note]]
81	* Rienne Boilou in ''Theatre/TheHammerTrinity''. Loses the love of her life to an arranged marriage, loses her husband to war, [[spoiler: gets keelhauled by pirates,]] loses all faith in the cause she gave her life for and finally [[spoiler: loses the love of her life, again, to war, after an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove.]]
82	* The Witch in ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' consistently embodies the cynical and badass qualities, warning Rapunzel, "the world is dark and wild." It never becomes entirely clear where the Witch's brokenness stems from, but she is persuasive enough in pointing out the failings of others to make us suspect that her ruthless and misanthropic ways came from somewhere.
83	* In ''Theatre/TheLittleFoxes'', Birdie married twenty years ago into a BigScrewedUpFamily, who took her cotton plantation and sired on her an unlikable twit of a son. She spends a lot of time [[DrowningMySorrows drowning her sorrows]] in her own room, which they try to hide by lying and saying she has a headache.
84	* Niobe from ''The Love of the Nightingale''. Procne and Philomele become birds after their BreakTheCutie.
85	* Aldonza in ''Theatre/ManOfLaMancha''. "Aldonza" (the song) is a great portrayal of anger and cynicism overlaying a very unhappy backstory.
86	* [[spoiler:Meg Giry]] in the sequel to ''Theatre/ThePhantomOfTheOpera'', ''Love Never Dies'', due to [[spoiler: a combination of her falling for the Phantom, who still pines for Christine, and too much time on the CastingCouch over the ten years separating the two shows. She ultimately tries to kill Christine's son; she winds up ''actually'' killing Christine.]]
87	[[/folder]]
88

Context Main / BrokenBird