Line #87 Main/MaddenIntoMisanthropy


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10	[[quoteright:300:[[Theatre/TimonOfAthens https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/timon_madden_misanthropy_0.png]]]]
11	[[caption-width-right:300:Top: ''Timon of Athens'' by Nathaniel Dance, 1767\
12	Bottom: ''Timon laying aside the gold'' by Johann Heinrich Ramberg, 1829]]
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14
15	Have you ever been '''''so''''' annoyed with life, you just want to forget about "civilized" culture and become ADarkerMe? Or a different you? [[{{Ubermensch}} The kind of person]] [[BeneathTheMask who couldn't care less about social conventions]] and went about exacting [[DisproportionateRetribution Disproportionate (but poetic) Retribution]]?
16
17	Well, in fiction, some characters ''do'' get that bothered.
18
19	Start with a NiceGuy, maybe even a DeadpanSnarker, or any character who plays by society's rules. Mix with [[ButtMonkey frustration]], add a dash of [[NiceGuysFinishLast romantic rejection]] and [[EtTuBrute betrayal]], put them in the oven to 300 degrees {{Angst}}ius for a few years, months, weeks or, in some cases, ''days'' (indeed, the time to completion varies a ''lot'' by the main ingredient's willpower) and voilá! You now have a man or woman who has been maddened into misanthropy.
20
21	What comes next is usually [[BlitheSpirit pretty fun]]. The character in question will systematically [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruct]] the parts of modern living, culture, work, and their own life that they dislike, and rebuild these relationships from their end into something workable (again, for them). They will reject conventions like white lies, [[BrutalHonesty saying exactly what they feel and think]]. They will not dress to expectation, [[UnkemptBeauty going unkempt]], wearing only things that are comfortable, or switching to a highly unique personal style. If someone annoys them, they won't bother acknowledging their presence. If they try to pester the misanthrope, they won't hesitate to tell them exactly how much of a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] they are. If the misanthrope dislikes them enough or outright ''[[HumansAreBastards hates]]'' them, they will use threats or {{slapstick}}-level physical comedy to subdue or chase them off. They won't kill anyone, but likely because they now have such an efficient way of venting their anger, they either don't ''get'' that angry anymore or don't stay angry long enough to cause them stress.
22
23	It's not all an ego trip, though. They may act like a {{Jerkass}}, but they'll often be just as [[TheUnfettered unrestrained]] in their positive impulses and aspects, seeing no reason not to do a nice thing for someone they like, such as helping them to release their own inner fears and limitations, or even [[TeachHimAnger "teaching them"]] that they can ignore social convention every once in a while. If they have been pining for someone, they will now proceed to confidently and unconventionally romance them.
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25	Interestingly, they will only get mildly rejected for this behavior. Lifelong friends will be weirded out by the change, but nonetheless happy for their friend's newfound assertiveness and happiness. Of course, since they don't usually cause stress, they will avoid the sharp end of this knife. {{Love interest}}s who are shrewish will be horrified away, while those who were {{oblivious\|ToLove}} to them now take notice. While the PointyHairedBoss will want to fire them, his bosses will find his attitude refreshing and promote him up against the annoying middle-manager's wishes.
26
27	They do seem to temper this anti-social behavior some by story's end, though often never completely. One thing is certain: They now live life without regrets.
28
29	Related to BeneathTheMask, HumansAreBastards, and HumansAreTheRealMonsters. Can become a MisanthropeSupreme or WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds. For the exaggerated version, see MurderIntoMalevolence. Compare the MirrorMoralityMachine and PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] VideoGame/MaddenNFL. See also DidYouThinkICantFeel.
30	----
31	!!Examples:
32
33	[[foldercontrol]]
34
35	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
36	* A recurring theme in ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland''.
37	** BitchInSheepsClothing Minatsuki became a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] SerialKiller after her mother [[ParentalAbandonment left her to die during an earthquake]] when she was little. She slowly gets better thanks to DefeatMeansFriendship.
38	** SinisterMinister Genkaku was a Buddhist monk who practiced a warped version of his religion, [[DeathSeeker worshipping death as freedom from suffering]]. He became this way after being bullied [[RapeAsBackstory and raped]] while struggling to find meaning in life.
39	** Nagi [[spoiler:became a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds after Genkaku killed his wife and unborn child, going on a massive killing spree while ranting that nobody deserves to live]].
40	** [[spoiler:[[TheDogWasTheMastermind Shiro]] became the BigBad as a result of BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil, becoming a MisanthropeSupreme and developing an obsession with Ganta who she felt was responsible for her suffering.]]
41	* ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' has Ren Sohma, mother of [[spoiler:Akito]]. While the death of her husband Akira was the tipping point, the rest of the Sohma family did their best to marginalize her as soon as Akira began showing interest in her. Eventually, Akira became the only positive influence in her life, and when he died, her mental health went downhill and led to her becoming [[AbusiveParents abusive]] to [[spoiler:Akito]]... which led to [[DysfunctionJunction a lot of unhappiness in the family]]. Well, [[BigScrewedUpFamily more unhappiness than was already there]].
42	* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Played with in the case of Trafalgar Law, a man nigh infamous for his cruelty, and who is still a rather laid-back person, if a bit cold. Though, as bad he is, he was even ''worse'' as a child -- [[spoiler:if it weren't for Corazon showing him compassion and love]], he would've been a ''lot'' more cynical after [[spoiler:the world abandoned his city to burn a fiery death after using its people to dig up the poisonous Amber Lead for profit]]. Instead, while he still has a remarkably jaded view of the world, he hasn't lost his capacity for mercy and compassion, even if he doesn't show it all the time. That being said, he's still a pirate, and he is primarily concerned with himself, those allied with him, and his goals: [[spoiler:particularly, his goal of killing Doflamingo for Corazon's death]].
43	* Naofumi in ''Literature/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' starts off quite upbeat and positive. However, the horrendous treatment he suffers at the hands of Malty, the King, and his fellow heroes sours his outlook considerably.
44	* 4Kids's attempt at doing [[{{Bowdlerise}} what they usually do]] actually had this happen to Rafael in ''Anime/YuGiOh'''s filler season. In the original version, Rafael's DarkAndTroubledPast was that he was the sole survivor of his family after the cruise ship he was on was driven into a tidal wave by Dartz... and after being rescued, he randomly decides [[PlotHole that humans are bastards, with no discernible reason as to why]] other than the news. The dub, however, didn't mention anything about his family dying, instead implying that they had moved on and weren't ready to accept him back into their lives... which pretty much maddened him into misanthropy.
45	* This happened to Sensui in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. He acquired a copy of the Chapter Black, a videotape kept by the Celestial Bureaucracy containing every single evil deed ever performed by humanity. On watching it, he became convinced humans had no justification to continue existing. His recruits were also forced to watch it. (What he didn't realize is that the Chapter Black has a counterpart, the Chapter ''White'', which records every ''good'' deed humanity has ever done. The two were never meant to be watched separately; Koenma even dismisses the Chapter Black as "a one-sided argument".)
46	* Epsilon Alioth Fenrir in ''Anime/SaintSeiya'' was orphaned as a child following the death of his parents and was saved by a pack of wolves and decided to adopt their lifestyle and live with them in the forest.
47	[[/folder]]
48
49	[[folder:Comic Books]]
50	* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'':
51	** While normally a KnightInSourArmor Batman himself can be this DependingOnTheWriter, particularly in ''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns''.
52	** In ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'' this is revealed to be ComicBook/TheJoker's entire reason for existing. After suffering a brutal TraumaCongaLine that culminated in [[CreateYourOwnVillain Batman causing him to fall into the chemicals that bleached his skin]], he became a StrawNihilist completely convinced that HumansAreBastards and sought to spread his suffering to others to make [[ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil everyone else go mad after "one bad day"]]... starting with Batman to finally [[HopeCrusher prove to him that mankind is irredeemable]]. Batman on the other hand [[ThouShaltNotKill refuses to kill him]] in the belief that RousseauWasRight and even he could be redeemed in the end.
53	* In ''ComicBook/DCRebirth'', ArcVillain Mr. Oz is revealed to have been the result of this. [[spoiler: His true identity is ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s father [[SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome Jor-El]], who was rescued from the destruction of Krypton by [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Dr. Manhattan]] and forced to continually bear witness to the worst mankind had to offer while already being embittered by [[IgnoredExpert his warnings about Krypton being ignored]] and the Kryptonite shards lodged in his brain. He then becomes TheDragon to Manhattan and starts an ApocalypseCult on Earth in an attempt to [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism prove to Superman that]] HumansAreBastards.]]
54	* Gertrude from ''ComicBook/IHateFairyland'' was a six-year-old girl who ventured into a bright, sparkly world of magic and joy. After being stuck there for ''27 whole years,'' she's completely sick and tired of the place and wants to go home... and has [[AxCrazy no qualms about murdering anyone]] who gets in her way.
55	* ComicBook/{{Magneto}} had this happen to him ''twice:'' once when he was driven into his supervillainous status by his experiences in UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, the death of his daughter Anya, and the abandonment of his wife Magda, and a second time after [[ILetGwenStacyDie losing two of his students]] and being [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured almost to the breaking point]] by someone trying to steal his powers.
56	* Maika from {{ComicBook/Monstress}} can be pretty accurately described as a misanthrope, and with good reason. She ''was'' a child slave, and she's not exactly moral now.
57	* This is [[Film/StarTrek2009 Captain Nero's]] {{backstory}} in ''Franchise/StarTrek Countdown''. He started off as a hard-working family man, but then his wife died and his planet blew up, so he shaved his head and became the silent, tattooed psychopath we all know and love.
58	* A {{deconstruction}} of this happens in the 2000s version of ''ComicBook/SupremePower'' with Mark, albeit he goes more to the {{Ubermensch}} side of the scale.
59	* ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' (both the film and comic) has Fox systematically madden and train Wesley into a badass who has zero regards for playing by the rules that made his pre-fraternity life miserable. Amazingly for a career killer, he handles the breakup with his girlfriend by casually breezing into and out of their apartment, much to her anger and confusion. The comic has Wesley brutally beaten weekly (only to later let him free to have a go at hurting his 'trainer'). The film adds a nice ShutUpHannibal confrontation with his former boss and a keyboard comeuppance to the friend who was cheating with his girlfriend.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Fan Works]]
63	* ''Fanfic/AceOfSpades'' has this happen to Harry. After he loses control of his magic and [[AccidentalMurder accidentally kills one of his friends]], he gets quietly shunted into a Muggle Asylum, then gets shuffled from one institution to another until he winds up in Arkham, having [[GoAmongMadPeople fallen into full-fledged psychosis]] long ''before'' he has to deal with a PsychoPsychologist and the Joker.
64	* Franchise/{{Harry\|Potter}} in ''Fanfic/TheDarknessSeries''. Harry becomes disgusted by his school and his so-called "friends." Sure, they'll support him when he's playing hero or won them a house cup but when the chips are down, [[FairWeatherFriend they'll readily abandon him at the first sign of trouble]].
65	* In ''Fanfic/DragonsButterfliesAndWhoKnowsWhatElse'', winding up stranded caused Dagur's hatred to solidify into a vendetta against everybody in his life, eventually spurring him to join Drago Bludvist when the other promised him the chance to take revenge against Hiccup.
66	* ''Fanfic/ForHisOwnSake'': Three years of constant abuse at the hands of most of the Hinata girls -- particularly by Naru -- causes Keitaro to go from being a NiceGuy to TheResenter who finally snaps and calls ''all'' of them out on their {{Fatal Flaw}}s with a series of blistering [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "The Reason You Suck" Speeches]]. Including [[ShrinkingViolet Shinobu]], whom he lambasts for being an AccompliceByInaction.
67	* Two common {{Fandom Specific Plot}}s for the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' series are independent!Harry and "Harry is falsely sentenced to Azkaban". These sort of stories frequently involve Harry rejecting manipulative headmasters and his once friends for new friends (frequently [[OriginalCharacter OCs]], Slytherins, and/or Crossover characters), learns [[TheDarkArts awesome and questionable new skills]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking gets gothic clothing and tattoos]].
68	* ''Fanfic/{{Raise}}'': Over the course of the series, Jaune goes from an AllLovingHero who is more than happy to use his ability to bring people BackFromTheDead to help as many people as possible... to somebody who has StoppedCaring after being worn down by how massively [[EntitledBastard entitled]] and [[UngratefulBastard ungrateful]] the public keeps acting about his powers. This reaches the point where he starts getting frustrated at [[BlamingTheVictim the victims]] for being TooDumbToLive.
69	* In ''Fanfic/ThoseWhoStandForNothingFallForAnything'', L already has this attitude from [[BreakTheCutie the things that have happened to him pre-story]] and Light is also {{s\|anitySlippage}}lipping into this as his mask of perfection begins slipping. However, the people around him frequently make excuses for his behavior [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem because of who he is]] and try their best not to notice--such as when his wife excuses his foul moods as "headaches."
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
73	* ''Film/AmericanBeauty'': The whole point of this movie, too, ultimately played for tragedy. At least, the implication is that Lester's misanthropy leads him to a much greater understanding and acceptance of himself, up until [[spoiler:his ArmouredClosetGay neighbor shoots him dead after [[MistakenForGay mistaking him for being gay]]]].
74	* Played for [[HilarityEnsues laughs]] in ''Film/AngerManagement'', where bringing the timid [[Creator/AdamSandler David Buznik]] to this point is the goal of the entire movie. It's very strongly implied, without browbeating him into learning a better way to [[TeachHimAnger deal with his emotions]], he might [[GoingPostal do something far worse than misanthropy]].
75	* ''Film/TheBraveOne'': At the very beginning of the film, Erica Bain spouses a great love for New York and the people in it on her radio show. By the end of the first act, what has happened to her ([[spoiler:thugs killing her husband, taking her dog, and beating her within an inch of her life]]) had driven her to espouse that she is ''terrified'' of the city, and what she does to the people who had done said wrong [[VigilanteMan is not pleasant at all]].
76	* ''Film/TheDivide'' is a long view into the ride of a bunch of people trapped in a New York bunker after a nuclear attack into this. The ones that do not are dead ([[FateWorseThanDeath or taken for something probably worse]]) by film's end.
77	* Ash in ''Franchise/EvilDead'' series is a sensitive, fairly average man in the [[Film/TheEvilDead1981 first movie]]. Then over the course of a weekend which consists of all of his friends and loved ones [[EvilHand (even his own hand!)]] possessed by ancient demons and MindRape, he's turned into a callous badass fountain of one-liners. Though during the adjustment period between the two he's reduced to a gibbering lunatic...
78	* A very dark variant in ''Film/FallingDown''. The lead is fired, divorced, and stuck in traffic. Already mentally unstable and prone to violent outbursts, he decides his mission is to spend the day with his daughter on her birthday, ''[[GoingPostal no matter what]]''. [[spoiler:Turns out, he always had a dark side...and was fired a WHILE back, only to keep commuting. And had a restraining order against him...]]
79	* ''Film/FightClub'': That's pretty much the whole point. (Apart from the "only mildly rejected" part.)
80	* After a few nights of wearing ''Film/TheMask'', Stanley Ipkiss can't stand living a normal life and begins doing things like threatening to call the IRS when his boss attempts to give him a hard time.
81	* In ''Film/Joker2019'', similar to the comics ComicBook/TheJoker became the way he is after a lifetime of battling mental illness and mistreatment from others resulted in him becoming a lunatic who thinks all HumansAreBastards and deserving of death.
82	* ''Film/OfficeSpace'' has the lead hypnotized into vanishing his stresses, but the hypnotist dies before "waking" him up. He begins ignoring his boss, showing up to work to play Tetris, and wooing the female lead. It wears off halfway through the movie, but the female lead is eventually driven to a natural point on this when she flips off her boss.
83	* Elisabet in ''Film/{{Persona 1966}}'' is an extreme version of this. She refuses to talk to anyone because she's sick of telling white lies. In a partial aversion, she's considered somewhat nuts, and a nurse is sent to take care of her.
84	* ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'': John Rambo. In [[Film/FirstBlood the first film]] he is a cynical Vietnam Vet. By the [[Film/RamboIV fourth movie]] he has abandoned civilization and humanity almost entirely.
85	* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Anakin Skywalker's ego and arrogance lead him to believe he's being held back purposely by the Jedi, creating some resentment and giving him a more aggressive, angrier, and distant demeanor (for a Jedi). However, by the time he really starts getting into it, he turns to TheDarkSide thanks to the influence of Palpatine.
86	* ''Film/YesMan'' has a variant where the perennially negative lead simply always agrees to everything, leading to a much more exciting life.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Literature]]
90	* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': Captain Nemo’s BackStory is not fully revealed in this novel, but he declares he has lost all his family because of TheEmpire, and definitely he shows {{Angst}} about it. [[HandshakeRefusal He never shakes hands with Professor Aronnax]], he [[LonersAreFreaks has severed all contact with the "civilized" world]] [[AboveGoodAndEvil and its morality]], and [[StartMyOwn creates his own society]] of people that also had been maddened into misanthropy that will become an NGOSuperpower. Oh, and he tries to become an {{Ubermensch}}. When Aronnax calls him out about the cruelty implied in never letting them leave the ''Nautilus'', he answers:
91	-->''"What! We must give up seeing our homeland, friends, and relatives ever again?"''\
92	''"Yes, sir. But giving up that intolerable earthly yoke that some men call freedom is perhaps less painful than you think!"''
93	* At the conclusion of ''Literature/GulliversTravels'', Gulliver sees humans as nothing more than Yahoos who talk and wear clothes. He avoids human contact, including from his own family, as much as possible.
94	* In ''Literature/{{Heidi}}'', this happened to the main character's grandfather in the past, after the death of his son Thomas (Heidi's dad) followed soon by Heidi's mother Adelheid kicking the bucket as well. The old man never was one for socializing, but after ''that'' he went up into the mountains and left everything until he starts defrosting when Heidi goes live with him. [[spoiler:It happens again when she's taken away from him by aunt Dete, apparently becoming even worse than in the past, until Heidi comes back to his side.]]
95	* ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Arthur Dent does this while stranded on prehistoric Earth with the Golgafrinchans, and makes the transition from FishOutOfWater to UnfazedEveryman. It's implied that Ford Prefect does this quite often, as he shares sound advice on how to go mad.
96	* Seerdomin from the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' is a gruff loner, not even trying to hide his legacy as a former follower of a cannibalistic holy war and still wearing his old uniform, so that everyone who sees him will immediately understand what he has done.
97	* ''Literature/NimsIsland'': Mild example. After his wife's death, Jack effectively isolates himself and his daughter from human society and doesn't plan on returning anytime soon.
98	* ''Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi'': The result of the TraumaCongaLine that [[spoiler:the not-Avatar Yun]] is going through. [[spoiler:After learning that he's not the Avatar, something that has been his main defining identity for years, and being abandoned by his mentor/father figure, Yun fought tooth and nail to get back from the Spirit World to the Human World. When a teahouse owner refused to let a parched Yun have some water to drink, Yun realized that all the people he had sworn to protect as the Avatar were not only UngratefulBastards, but were openly ''mocking'' him, Yun ends up becoming an angry, walking RoaringRampageOfRevenge to take out his hurt and pain on everyone that lied to him about being the Avatar -- which ends up meaning his violence is aimed at ''everyone''.]]
99	[[/folder]]
100
101	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
102	* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' ended with Chief Tyrol planning to become a hermit in [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries what will eventually become Scotland]]. His reasoning? There's no people ''or'' Cylons to further screw up his life.
103	* Bernard Black in ''Series/BlackBooks'', who in the final episode admits that most of his bitterness stems from the death of his fiancee. Fran later reveals that the fiancee actually faked her death to get out of the relationship because Bernard was ''already'' an unbearable misanthrope and ''everyone'' knew she was still alive except for Bernard. After initially being upset, he forgives Fran, apparently happy to continue believing that HumansAreBastards.
104	** It could just be that he was awful in a different way; an earlier episode shows that when he is in love Bernard becomes pretty insufferable, showering his (believed) love interest with flowers and chocolates.
105	* ''Series/BlackMirror'''s episode ''Nosedive'' implies this to have happened to the truck driver that gives Lacie a ride. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer, but their ratings-obsessed society meant he was pushed to the side in favor of a higher-rated person for getting treatment, and ended up dying. This caused the truck driver to live in a way that doesn't care about playing nice with society's ratings system and what other may or may not think of her.
106	* {{Downplayed\|Trope}} for laughs in ''Series/DeadLikeMe'' when Mason decides to become TheUnfettered -- by helping himself to people's lunches and stealing tip money, which promptly gets him banned from Der Waffle Haus until he smartens up.
107	* The premise of ''Series/TheFallAndRiseOfReginaldPerrin'' is Reggie just getting sick of his pointless job and diving into eccentricity.
108	* Koga Saejima, the hero of ''Series/{{GARO}}'' has this as one reason behind his {{Tsundere}} attitude -- losing his father at a young age and assuming the family mantle makes him rather... impatient with anything not to do with hunting Horrors. It also allows him to cut directly to what needs to be done in that hunt.
109	* Blair attempts this in Season 2 of ''Series/GossipGirl''. Chuck seems to be heading down this route in season three.
110	* ''Series/{{House}}'': Dr. Gregory House, though he suggests he was always like this. "Since age 4."
111	* In ''Series/{{The Librarians\|2014}} and the Curse of Cindy'', the titular Cindy was a sweet girl who was cruelly turned into the resident ButtMonkey on a reality TV show, and was completely unaware that her castmates were using her until after they voted her off the show. Naturally, she didn't take it well, and then a seemingly sympathetic member of the production crew offered her the chance to be adored forever, and all she had to do was help create a missile...
112	* In an episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George, unsatisfied with his lot, decides to take the opposite approach to everything he does, starting by asking a woman out by being honest and saying he's "unemployed and lives with his parents." Everything drastically improves for him from there: he ''gets'' the girl, moves out of his parents' apartment, and gets a job with the Yankees!
113	* Claudia Donovan in the third season finale of ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' is suffering an acute version of this, being so angry and hurt over [[spoiler:the death of her friend Steve Jinks]] that she lashes out at the Regents and everyone around her, while simultaneously [[spoiler:saving an artifact to try and SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong]] against the laws of the organization. Fortunately, things actually start to look up and, if anything, Claudia actually gets a lot more mature for all the effort. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Artie is warned of an unspeakable evil created by his use of the [[ResetButton astrolabe]] to restore the destroyed Warehouse, and acutely fears that this evil may manifest through Claudia]].
114	** A more clear-cut example is H.G. Wells in Season 2. When her daughter died, she started seeing only the worst in people, and eventually had herself [[HumanPopsicle bronzed]], in the hopes that when she'd be eventually thawed, the world would be a better place. [[spoiler:When she figures that it's only gotten worse, she becomes a total StrawNihilist and attempts to cause a second Ice Age before Myka talks her down.]]
115	[[/folder]]
116
117	[[folder:Podcasts]]
118	* The BigBad of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' is an {{exaggerated}} example. [[spoiler:John was, once, an ordinary human man who contemplated the truth of existence and the nature of death, and found the notion of eternity -- be it eternal life or [[CessationOfExistence eternal nothingness]] -- ''horrifying'', and decided that if this was the cost of existing, it was too high. Not only did he go completely insane and come to view everything as utterly meaningless, he also felt he had to convince every single thing -- not just every person, but ''every single thing'' -- on his plane of existence of this point. And somehow, he ''succeeded'', thus allowing the entire plane to become [[EldritchAbomination the Hunger]].]]
119	-->''To exist, to live, is ''horrible''.''
120	[[/folder]]
121
122	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
123	* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': This was the impetus for FallenHero Konrad Curze's StartOfDarkness. Unlike the rest of the GodEmperor's sons, he had no parents to raise him and lived as a WildChild on a WretchedHive planet. With little human contact and being constantly surrounded by the absolute worst humanity had to offer, he became a proponent of a much darker version of his father's HobbesWasRight views and conquered his homeworld before destroying it entirely for rejecting [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans the order he previously forced onto it]].
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Theater]]
127	* ''Theatre/TheManWhoCameToDinner'': Nurse Preen. Blame her patient, [[{{Jerkass}} New York]] [[TheThingThatWouldNotLeave critic]] [[EvilCripple Sheridan]] [[AnnoyingPatient Whiteside]], and the plot's [[ButtMonkey treatment]] of her.
128	-->''"I am not only walking out on this case, Mr. Whiteside, I am leaving the nursing profession. I became a nurse because all my life, ever since I was a little girl, I was filled with the idea of serving a suffering humanity. After one month with you, Mr. Whiteside, I am going to work in a munitions factory. From now on, anything I can do to help exterminate the human race will fill me with the greatest of pleasure."''
129	* ''Theatre/TimonOfAthens''. He likes people and people like him, and he gives people money and lavish gifts; then he gets in some financial trouble and his friends won't help him, so he becomes a misanthrope and lives in a cave. His one true friend, an actual misanthrope, berates him for being a copycat.
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Toys]]
133	* ''ComicBook/BeastWarsUprising:'' Galva Convoy was created by [[AbusivePrecursors the Builders]] as a counter-agent to Lio Convoy. But in the four years after his creation, an interested party shows him information on [[ForeverWar the last eleven million years of Cybertronian history]], and Galva comes to the conclusion that it will ''all'' have to go.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Video Games]]
137	* The final game in ''VideoGame/TheBlackwellSeries'', ''Epiphany'', has this for [[spoiler:Madeleine, the spirit guide before Joey Mallone came into the picture. After meeting with Joey as a complete matter of routine, Madeleine is betrayed by her Bestower partner, Jocelyn, and trapped in the void unable to return. Being trapped there for 70 years, in addition to the perhaps centuries she worked as a spirit guide being denied the release of death she craved, she finally resolved to consume the spirits of a self-help group, then tear a hole in reality to overwhelm souls with void energy, in the hopes that she herself will be one of the annihilated.]]
138	* In ''VideoGame/{{Darkwood}}'', this is deconstructed with the Doctor, who undergoes this after getting fed up with the ungrateful Villagers of the Silent Forest he tried to help cure after being infected by a dangerous plague. This leads to him unleashing his rage upon the Protagonist when they first met and beating him senseless when he wouldn’t reveal the exit to escape the forest (or rather he couldn’t because [[BodyHorror he can’t talk in his current plague-infected state]]). But when he re-confronts the Doctor once more in the Old Woods and has him cornered, [[spoiler:he pleaded his case and revealed that all he [[DesperatePleaForHome desperately wanted was to go home]] — the same motive driving the Protagonist to escape the forest. As a result, the Protagonist’s first dialogue choice (which hints at what his true feelings on the matter are) is to help the Doctor, despite everything he did to the Protagonist. This meant that had the Doctor been nicer and struck a deal with the Protagonist from the get-go that he would’ve likely agreed to help the Doctor; his {{Jerkass}} behavior only made the situation worse for him even if it made him feel better at first]].
139	* After having been experimented on, used as a slave, paralyzed for 30 years in a small village, and fully aware the entire time, [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins Shale]] has NOT come to have any love for "squishy" organic creatures.
140	** [[ArchEnemy Especially hating the birds for the constant crapping]]... And the villagers even more for encouraging them -- you can see a basket of birdseed right next to Shale.
141	* VideoGame/GoddessOfVictoryNIKKE: This happened in [[spoiler:Mary's]] backstory. [[spoiler:She was once a kindly, caring doctor who tried her best to help her patients, but day after day of watching them suffer and die slowly [[SlowlySlippingIntoEvil ground away at her morals]] and resilience until she snapped and decided that her goal should be preserving life [[TheUnfettered at any cost]], leading her to begin secretly selling the brains of her dying patients to be [[FullConversionCyborg converted]] into [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots Nikkes]]...[[UnwillingRoboticisation whether or not they were willing]].]]
142	* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'': ''[[VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain Blood Omen]]'' is about [[VillainProtagonist Kain's]] descent from a haughty nobleman to the last of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] in Nosgoth. While born a human, he gets turned into a vampire after being killed by a group of bandits, and throughout the game, he bears witness to [[SanitySlippage sorcerers driven to insanity]], [[RapePillageAndBurn devastation]] caused by TheEmpire, a [[{{Ephebophile}} pedophilic doll-maker]], and [[KnightTemplar heretical vampire crusades]]. By the end of the game, Kain has become so thoroughly disgusted by humanity that he chooses to let Nosgoth fall in decay and ruin, and establish a vampiric empire to rule and subjugate humans with. By the time of ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKainSoulReaver Soul Reaver]]'', Kain's mortal origins have been all but forgotten.
143	--> ''"He was mortal once, as were we all. However, his contempt for humanity drove him to create me and my brethren."''
144	* [[spoiler:Oersted]] from ''VideoGame/LiveALive'', after being shunned by his kingdom for accidentally killing the king, decides that if [[ThenLetMeBeEvil the world views him as a villain, he might as well become one]] and becomes the BigBad. Unfortunately for all of time and space, he had the powers of a demon king at his disposal.
145	* Jack from ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' certainly qualifies; when she was just an infant, she was kidnapped from her parents by Cerberus due to her biotic potential. She subsequently spent her entire childhood being tortured and experimented upon in an attempt to make her some sort of Biotic super-weapon until she and the other captives finally rebelled. But even then she didn't catch a break and basically spent the next few years being used and sold from one person to the next, from pirates to gangs and so on, and causing all sorts of havoc along the way until she was finally captured and locked in cryo on a prison ship. By the time Shepard actually meets her, she is so jaded that the mere concept of someone genuinely wanting to help her for reasons other than their own personal gain [[EvilCannotComprehendGood is practically foreign to her]].
146	* In ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'', Halara Nightmare is exactly this trope down to the last detail, formerly being a NiceGuy/Girl who trusted and believed in anyone, before betrayal from a FalseFriend resulted in family and home difficulties, encouraging them to take a life of {{Angst}} and [[HatesEveryoneEqually hatred]]. However, those tendencies from before show up occasionally throughout the story.
147	* Porky Minch underwent this throughout the ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' series. He starts out as an obnoxious and unpopular next-door neighbor to Ness, but he starts doing progressively more cruel and evil things throughout the course of the game. [[spoiler:This is due to the influence of Giygas, who selected Porky to be his herald in order to spread his influence throughout the Earth and hinder Ness. Porky eventually escapes at the end of the game, where he travels through time into the far future to corrupt and ultimately destroy what's left of the world.]]
148	* All the Guardians in ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'', but especially Japhet, who built the huge city that occupies Zone 2 and just wants acknowledgement for everything that he's done for the Elsens living there. The Elsens, meanwhile, have become far too paranoid and fearful of even the simplest things [[UngratefulBastard to appreciate anything he's done]], and in fact ''don't even recognize him'' (though [[spoiler:when the Batter finally meets him, he's occupying someone else's body]]), frustrating him to the point that now he just wants to destroy everything he's created.
149	* The ManBehindTheMan of ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' is [[spoiler:Nyrissa, aka the [[BitchInSheepsClothing helpful]] Guardian of the Forest you meet early into the adventure]]. However, they weren't always like that - it was only after [[spoiler: ''having her heart removed'' and banished from the First World until she completes her RedemptionQuest of toppling a ''thousand'' kingdoms in apology for [[DisproportionateRetribution the one she'd "stolen"]] that she became the way she is now]]. Prior to this, they fell very much under the ChaoticGood, AllLovingHero category, based on the flashbacks the player can witness.
150	* [[spoiler:[[BigBad Tohru Adachi]]]] in ''VideoGame/Persona4''. As a result of his FriendlessBackground and being reassigned FromNewYorkToNowhere, he spent all his free time drinking and watching TV in his apartment out of SmallTownBoredom. The [[GoMadFromTheIsolation lack of positive outlets in his life]] alongside his sociopathic tendencies and superiority complex [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkcmxrkHXD0 were the perfect ingredients to turn him into one of the more realistic depictions of a]] SerialKiller and a MisanthropeSupreme.
151	* [[BigBad Lysandre]] in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' was a MadScientist whose earlier attempts to fix the world legitimately, through the inventions and profits of Lysandre Labs, didn't have the effect he was looking for -- where he expected the needy to be sated, they instead yearned for still more. His two main conclusions: (1) World aggregate happiness is effectively finite; after a certain amount of beings, happiness and survival can only be attained by taking it from/denying it to another. (2) [[MisanthropeSupreme The vast majority of humans]] (and maybe even Pokémon, if his musings about Mega Evolution are anything to go by) are irredeemable, incapable of anything beyond the most narrow selfishness. [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Therefore]], the only way the world will ''ever'' know beauty and hope everlasting is to [[FinalSolution expunge all those imperfect creatures]] who ought never have existed, who can only ever ''be'' plagues on existence. As his report in Lysandre Labs puts it, "[[OverpopulationCrisis either everything is lost, or only a handful are saved]]". After being defeated he has a VillainousBreakdown, screaming that the player's "condemned the world to a future of misery and death".
152	* One of the central plot elements of the ''Videogame/ShadowHearts'' series is a TomeOfEldritchLore called the Émigré Manuscript -- a book that has all manner of dark spells but is coded to the point where the spells are the diversion and anyone smart and selfless enough to ignore the spells and look at the books, greater meaning receives a revelation into the true nature of God's plan. Only three people in the entire series have achieved this level of clarity and all three have become complete Misanthropes, after realizing basically how little the universe cares about petty human nonsense, aside from the tome itself, all three have had really messed up lives that did not mix well with said revelation.
153	** First we have the translator of the text Roger Bacon -- a former philosopher who upon trying to share his enlightenment with man-kind received nothing but fear-mongering and elitist gatekeeping to the point where he no longer views humanity with anything but disappointment, that only occasionally produces genuinely worth-while people.
154	** The second character encountered is the heroine of the first game, Koudelka Iasant. Koudelka was hardly a fan of humanity, being a Roma witch with a DarkAndTroubledPast, but when she channels the knowledge of the Émigré Manuscript, her investment in man-kind completely dries up. While in the first game she is a cynic, she wants to help people, but come the second game (after her revelation) we see her learning of a plan to wipe out the world and basically only care enough to try to stop it because that's where her son lives.
155	** Our third and final comprehender of the Émigré is a student of Roger, Albert Simon, who was thrown into misanthropy ''before'' his revelation; He tried to use his position in the Vatican to stand up for civil rights, only to find the people in the Vatican, were very much against it. After that, he tried to make his own revival movement... only for his star-acolyte to go full evil -- which broke the last of his idealism. By the time he decided to read the Émigré Manuscript, he was already ready to wipe out humanity to keep from being disappointed in it anymore, the book wound up not only telling him how to do exactly that but gave him a form of clarity so that he goes about it in a TranquilFury.
156	* ''Videogame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'': [[spoiler:Jaesa Wilsaam]] if you take the dark side option in the Sith Warrior story. This trope is also how Kaliyo in the Imperial Agent story comes across.
157	** The backstory for the Sith Inquisitor is that they were MadeASlave by the Empire before it was discovered they were Force-Sensitive. It's apparently the reason why nearly every line out of their mouth is pure, unadulterated [[TheSnarkKnight sardonicism]].
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder:Webcomics]]
161	* {{Inverted\|Trope}} in ''Webcomic/LsEmpire'', as constantly exposure to small creatures caused [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Phala]] to ''regain'' her sanity.
162	[[/folder]]
163
164	[[folder:Web Original]]
165	* [[Creator/BenCroshaw Yahtzee]] of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' routinely mentions that he is a jaded misanthrope and blames this on [[HumansAreMorons the stupidity of human society]]. Whether this is SelfDeprecatingHumor or is actually true of the man seems to be an exercise for the viewer.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Western Animation]]
169	* Dracula in ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'' he is pushed into this trope after his wife Lisa is burned at the stake by the Church for supposedly being a witch, making matters worse is the fact that despite giving them a year to repent, exactly one year later the Church celebrate Lisa death.
170	* In ''WesternAnimation/HazbinHotel'', [[SatanIsGood Lucifer]] was a WellIntentionedExtremist who gave humanity free will in the GardenOfEden [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill against the rest of Heaven's wishes]] because he believed they'd do great things with it. After his actions introduced evil into the world and he was [[FallenAngel cast into Hell as punishment]], he was forced to spend thousands of years seeing nothing but the absolute worst of humanity [[IronicHell and none of the great works he inspired]], turning him into a jaded BrokenAce who firmly believes HumansAreBastards that deserve everything coming to them.
171	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'': Toki, tired of being thought of as "the nice one", becomes a child-hating demon of venom -- until he forms a bond with a dying little girl through her music. And then [[BreakTheCutie gets even more broken]].
172	* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' has a hilarious, and disturbing, example from the episode "Hermit Ren," in which Ren becomes so infuriated by his best friend's obnoxiousness that he decides to lock himself in a cave, with only the company of his hallucinations.
173	* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'', Creator/EdgarAllanPoe is shown as a SickeninglySweet StepfordSmiler {{Manchild}} whose writings areall about {{Sugar Bowl}}s and other cute, fluffy things. However, in the end, the main characters openly criticize a pink cake he baked for them, which eventually drove him into becoming... Well, Edgar Allan Poe.
174	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MaddenIntoMisanthropy