History Main / CosmicPlaything

** The [[MeaningfulName Lamenters]] chapter. The only Space Marine chapter formed during the so-called Cursed Founding to not display obvious mutations or other defects, and indeed seemed to fix the twin flaws of the Red Thirst (a vampiric thirst for blood) and the Black Rage (irretrivable total psychosis caused by a ten thousand year long psychic wound) found in all Literature/{{BloodAngels}} and successors, they nevertheless suffered distrust and prejudice - to the extent that during their debut campaign protecting a world from the forces of Chaos, an allied chapter actually abandoned them, leaving the Lamenters to suffer 80% losses before being rescued by the Literature/{{Ultramarines}} and Literature/WhiteScars. The surviving Lamenters were then lost in [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace the Warp]] and presumed dead for two thousand years. They only re-appeared after fighting the whole way back ''out'', which just made the Imperium distrust them even more. After rebuilding their strength (losing a bit more during a battle where they had to sacrifice hundreds of millions of civilians who they couldn't rescue, making them even more hated after rejecting honors from other Chapters as they felt they failed), the Lamenters were redeployed to the other side of the galaxy as part of a brotherhood of chapters guarding another warp storm. Unfortunately one of their allied chapters (and one of the few who actually showed some amount of brotherhood to them) went renegade and dragged the Lamenters onto the wrong side of a civil war, where the Lamenters once again suffered crippling casualties. After the revolt was put down and the Lamenters (and the Mantis Warriors who were also manipulated) surrendered upon realizing that the chapter they had allied with, the Astral Claws, fell to Chaos during the fighting, it was decided that the Lamenters had acted out of misguided honor, and were given the chance to atone through a century-long penitent crusade... right into the oncoming [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Hive Fleet Kraken]]. The seeming fix of the Red Thirst and Black Rage was also proven false as many brothers succumbed to the curses. Their last report before further contact was lost mentioned that they were down to three heavily-wounded companies.

** The universe hates Lelouch so much that he has to [[spoiler:"convince" God]] just to get a BittersweetEnding... [[spoiler:which he doesn't even live long enough to experience.]] On a meta note, the writing staff of ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has often proclaimed their love for the show's protagonist Lelouch...and then they smack him with DiabolusExMachina after DiabolusExMachina, causing everyone connected to him to suffer, including [[spoiler:Shirley (loses father, goes through severe emotional torment, dies), Euphemia (accidentally mind controlled, reputation destroyed, killed), and C.C. (loses powers and memories up to the age of 10)]]. They insist that they do this out of affection, wanting Lelouch to learn AnAesop about appreciating what you have in life; the Japanese fandom responded by coining the term "Lulu Quality" to refer to such treatment.
** Suzaku has his share too. Seeing his father was about to drive Japan into a war they couldn't win[[note]]His father was of the opinion he'd sooner see Japan destroyed than annexed to Britannia; he knew they were coming for the [[{{Unobtanium}} Sakuradite]].[[/note]], he decides to [[spoiler: kill him to stop the war and save lives. This haunts him as he grows up and he becomes very suicidal for it.]] Then he meets Euphemia, who is revealed to be a princess of Britannia, and they quickly fell in love, which leads to him stopping being suicidal and forming a plan to make the world a better place. But on the day this plan was initiated (the creation of SAZ) [[spoiler: she gets ordered by Lelouch (although accidentally) to kill all the Japanese people present. After the massacre Lelouch kills her,]] sending Suzaku into despair. The last nail was the F.R.E.I.J.A. incident which [[spoiler: was caused due to his "live" geass being activated and making him fire a nuclear weapon killing millions of people]]. In the end one can argue that he didn't get a happy ending because [[spoiler: Susaku Kururugui is now a dead man and he is trapped into the Zero persona.]]

** Alanna is chosen by the Great Mother Goddess in ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness''.
** Daine is watched over by the Badger God in ''Literature/TheImmortals'' and has an unusual strength in wild magic. [[spoiler:Later she discovers that it's because she's a half-goddess herself and winds up in the Divine Realms. Later, when she's pregnant, the kid starts shapeshifting in utero.]]

* Deconstructed with Kylo Ren [[spoiler:a.k.a. Ben Solo]] of ''Franchise/StarWars''. As various supplemental material reveals, he's been through ''hell'' his entire life, and it's been disastrous on his mental and emotional health. From being stalked by Snoke since infant-hood, to [[Literature/StarWarsLastShot being traumatized and almost killed as a toddler]], to being emotionally neglected by his parents, to [[spoiler:almost being killed by his uncle]], Kylo went through so much crap it led to his turn to the dark side and PsychopathicManchild mindset. [[TraumaCongaLine And that's just before the movies start]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': Whether from [[TraumaCongaLine constant tragedy]] or the Gods themselves, he's had to put up with a lot of crap, both pre- and post-Flashpoint. It's little wonder he's a little [[{{Pun}} crabby]]. Mera, his fiance, isn't too far behind.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Stumpy. He seemed to be the ButtMonkey before one episode proved him to be an ''actual'' cosmic plaything.

** The second film, ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbTheMovieCandaceAgainstTheUniverse'', deconstructs the trope by showing Candance as completely tired and exhausted from being beaten down by the universe all the time, resulting in her feeling overshadowed by her brothers and in general just feeling like "a tiny meaningless speck in the universe", especially considering that she went through the same busting routine for nearly ''the entire summer''. She finds a kindred spirit in Feebla-Oot's leader, Super Super Big Doctor, because of their similarities and even assumes her brothers are the reason for her being this trope.

Compare BornUnlucky, WeirdnessMagnet, NoFourthWall, and {{Hellistics}}. May be caused by a TrumanShowPlot. PlayedForLaughs with TheChewToy. For a more subjective version, see DesignatedMonkey. Would often includes elements of ContrivedCoincidence and TemptingFate. If the character arguably deserves mistreatment by the universe, they might be the victim of LaserGuidedKarma, an IneffectualSympatheticVillain, or a JerkassWoobie.

* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'': Axl Low is a funny, easy-going British guy who has been forcibly dragged away from his friends and his girlfriend Megumi into a mess of apocalyptic proportions by the machinations of beings who ''aren't even from his own time period''. The poor guy has no interest in any of their crap and just wants to go home, but to have a chance of doing that, he has to reluctantly work to their agendas. Add in the implication that his troubles are being caused by an unknown EvilCounterpart, and he ''really'' has a mess to get sorted out. [[spoiler:''Revelator'' cranks it up further by revealing that poor Axl isn't even human at all[[note]](rather, he's a [[PureMagicBeing sentient bundle of magic energy]] with RealityWarper and TimeMaster powers)[[/note]] and ''probably never was'', and going home ''is'' possible but it means wiping out ''this'' timeline and all his friends with it. Faced with this SadisticChoice in the finale, [[IChooseToStay he chooses]] [[HeroicSacrifice the latter]].]]

*** In general, Homer is one of the show's biggest [[ButtMonkey Butt Monkeys]], with a decent chunk of the humor being derived from his stupidity and the various ways that he suffers because of it, usually in the form AmusingInjuries and public humiliation, among other things.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'': While a lot of the misery in his life was his own fault, the rest of the hardships Kratos suffered came from him [[spoiler:being a demigod son of Zeus destined to destroy Olympus.]] He never really had a chance.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': Gumball Watterson in the entire series, honestly. Half the time he does bring it on himself due to his crazy schemes but other times it seems like the universe just wants to mess with him for no good reason. Case in point, in the episode "The Vegging" when he just wants to not go on any adventures and spend a day doing nothing, the universe [[ExaggeratedTrope goes out of it's way]] to make sure that doesn't happen. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen He was once going to be a black cat to reflect how unlucky he is.]] In "The Curse", he finds himself under a plague of bad luck for no explained reason.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Prince Zuko has resigned himself to the fact that everything in the universe seems to be working against him and his pursuit of his goals. He copes with this by priding himself on [[{{Determinator}} struggling and fighting for his victories]] with no help from cosmic luck.

** Whether it's PlayedForLaughs or PlayedForDrama, Sokka. "The universe just loooves proving me wrong, doesn't it?" To the point where this exchange actually comes to his ''advantage.''

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' has Eugene and Helga. The former is TheKlutz who always has bad things happening to him even when they should be logically impossible and the latter is an InsecureLoveInterest who never succeeds in winning the affections of Arnold, is treated like dirt by everyone and all of her schemes backfire in hilarious ways (most times deservingly so).

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Candace Flynn. Her relentless quest to "bust" her brothers and prove their outlandish activities to their parents means she gets dragged through the wringer and usually gets within a whisker of succeeding, only to have it all snatched away at the last moment thanks to Dr. Doofenshmirtz's inventions backfiring, leaving her looking crazy. Though like [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Wile E. Coyote]], Candace often brings it upon herself by refusing to give up her obsession, but it does seem that fate is against her: even if ''the entire universe'' has to expand to rob her of validation, it'll happen.

** Homer instantly becomes this whenever he enters UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has the four main characters. Cartman had been anal probed for starters, Kenny has been killed many times, and Stan and Kyle would sometimes get ridiculously short ends of the stick, especially Kyle for some reason.

** Squidward. It seems that the whole universe is out to make him miserable, whether it be his dreams being shattered like glass (no doubt by [=SpongeBob=] and Patrick, or just being [[YankTheDogsChain yanked away by anything]]), or just being hurt for no reason. It's little wonder that fans of the show have declared him TheWoobie.
** Plankton. If, even for the BigBad. It seems that even the most wretched attempts of wanting to steal the Krabby Patty formula, the karma will come back at him with a worse punishment.

** In ''VideoGame/Persona4'', [[spoiler:[[RedHerring Taro Namatame]]]], [[spoiler:[[SerialKiller Tohru Adachi]]]], and the protagonist are all pawns in a cosmic game orchestrated by [[spoiler:Izanami]] to determine humanity's truest desires. [[spoiler:Namatame]] in particular gets his warnings about the Midnight Channel dismissed out of hand and gets played like a fiddle by [[spoiler:Adachi]].

*** [[spoiler:Akechi]] suffered through a horrendous childhood. [[spoiler:He was abandoned by his father before he was even born]], became a ward of the court, and was passed around to various foster homes throughout his childhood, is manipulated by literally ''every faction in the game'', and ultimately ends up DyingAlone in the depths of the Metaverse, his fate known only by the heroes.

* Liara really gets the short end of the stick in ''Fanfic/SuddenContact''. [[spoiler:First captured and indoctrinated by Sovereign, then captured by the Zerg and infested...]]
* Lampshaded in ''Fanfic/HolidayVacation'' when Tsukasa slips on wet concrete and sprains her ankle while thinking about her relationship with Miyuki.
* Jaune in ''Fanfic/NotThisTimeFate'' is stuck in a variation of GroundhogDayLoop - well, more like a year or two - in which he has to see all of his friends die over and over again with no end in sight. [[spoiler: He turns out to be a literal example, as his misfortune is caused by some metaphysical manifestation of fate, which is constantly trying to steer him towards some unknown goal.]]

* In the fanfic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/21393373/chapters/50964985 Level Up]], Izuku has a Quirk that gives him a SuddenGameInterface. However, the interface hates him, and the spats against Izuku got so bad that some fans feared that the author would have One For All go to someone else after Izuku was given All Might's hair. ''And the fears were justified.''
* In ''WebVideo/DeathNoteTheAbridgedSeriesKpts4tv'', [[Manga/DeathNote Light]] is this, sometimes ''[[IHaveYouNowMyPretty literally.]]'' Also [[spoiler: Mikami]], [[RageAgainstTheAuthor the writer really has it in for him.]] And L [[spoiler: [[FirstLawOfResurrection who is resurrected]] [[TheyKilledKennyAgain just to be killed off again.]]]]

** In a funny way the whole plot is set in motion with Bruce believing he's one himself- that God likes toying with him "Like a mean kid with a magnifying glass" and that he just wants to 'burn his feelers off and watch him squirm'
* Larry Gopnik of ''Film/ASeriousMan''. It ''is'' based on the Book of Job after all.

* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/{{Chalion}}'':
** Cazaril, the hero of ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion''. A god using you as a tool isn't nearly as fun as it sounds.
** Then there's Ista, heroine of the sequel ''Literature/PaladinOfSouls'', who ''knows'' she's a tool of the gods, and resents it deeply.
* ''Literature/{{Circleverse}}'': The idea is alluded to by Tris in ''[[Literature/TheCircleOpens Shatterglass]]'' while she's trying to comfort a grieving child. She says it's much nicer to think that the gods are giving you hardships to make you stronger than it happening for no reason at all.

* ''Literature/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs'': [[FailureHero Willem Kmetsch]] is without a doubt one of the most unfortunate light novel protagonists in history. After promising to return home to his adopted family, he was frozen in time for 500 years. Upon awakening he discovers that the rest of mankind was wiped out by the [[EldritchAbomination 17 Beasts]] shortly after he was frozen. The last living human is then forced to live in a world where humanity is reviled for their alledged role in the beasts’ emergence. Fortunately he has a chance encounter with a young fairy named Chtholly and the two eventually fall in love. He also manages to find himself a new family, similar to the one from his past life. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:Chtholly is a literal TykeBomb with an extremely short lifespan and she dies despite Willem’s best efforts. Around this time Willem also discovers that the monsters that destroyed all life on the surface were originally human, meaning that his old friends and family have been the cause of so much suffering in the present.]] Things only spiral downward from there. [[spoiler: He ends up being forced to relive the destruction of his old hometown by an EldritchAbomination seeking to break his mind. The creature as it turns out was none other than Willem’s ChildhoodFriend, who had never stopped waiting for him to return home. Willem can only apologize for never coming home as he performs a MercyKill on the unfortunate beast. To make matters worse the EldritchAbomination inhabiting her decides to use him as it’s new vessel and he begins turning into a beast himself. The process is only stopped by advanced magic which seals away all of his memories, preventing him from ever seeing his new family again, lest the seal on the beast weaken. Willem tries to live a normal, if amnesiac, life with this reprieve. However, events conspire to present Willem with a choice between letting those he once cared about suffer a FateWorseThanDeath or completely give in to his inner beast. Willem chooses to unleash the monster inside of him and thus turn himself into the series’ final antagonist; allowing himself to be killed in a SuicideByCop scenario. Fortunately, he’s NotQuiteDead and is able to return sometime later.]] [[spoiler:The amount of suffering he goes through makes the [[EarnYourHappyEnding ending]] all the more satisfying.]]

* In Franchise/TheDCU, ComicBook/AnimalMan is a combination of this and the MetaGuy; he realizes that he's a fictional character, at the whims of his writers. However, this awareness decreases and increases over time (naturally, due to the aforementioned whims).
* Charles Brigman from ''ComicBook/PS238'' has [[http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/07162008 officially]] [[http://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/07302008 become]] a Cosmic Plaything.
* Franchise/SpiderMan is Marvel's ultimate Cosmic Plaything. Sure, he is TheEveryman. But apparently part of why he's so relatable is because nothing goes his way. Even in the video games and the movies.
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} doesn't really mind being a Cosmic Plaything so much when it's Death wanting to use him as a willing boytoy. He's not so happy however, when it's Thanos making him immortal so that he can't steal Thanos's love interest.
* ComicBook/{{Deadman}}'s actions generally revolve around the whim of some higher being, whether it's Rama Kushna or the White Lantern Entity.
* The title character of ''ComicStrip/{{Nodwick}}'' is referred to by the gods as a "destiny sponge". The more he suffers, the less others have to. This makes him sort of a martyr, who then gets resurrected so he can be martyred again, who gets resurrected again so that he can be martyred a third time, and so on, and so on.
* Calamity James is a character in ''ComicBook/TheBeano'' whose main trait is his extreme [[BornUnlucky unluckiness]]. James knows how unlucky he is but is unable to stop it, and whatever he does is doomed to end in disaster.
* ''ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}'' has the worst of luck among the X-Men. It's like his secondary power.
* The titular character of ''ComicBook/{{Squee}}'' would simply not be himself if he weren't suffering every second of his existence. Of course, this is a bit DarkerAndEdgier in that Squee is [[HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood six years old]].

* Then there's DC Comics' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pariah_%28comics%29 Pariah]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Diabolik}}'' has the Grey Ravens: whenever their plans come close to fruition, Diabolik shows up from nowhere, kills as many of them he can find, robs them blind and generally beheads their organization. Given they're extremely unsympathetic WesternTerrorists of fascist leanings, we CallItKarma.
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'':

* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': Whether from [[TraumaCongaLine constant tragedy]] or the Gods themselves, he's had to put up with a lot of crap, both pre- and post-Flashpoint. It's little wonder he's a little [[{{Pun}} crabby]]. ComicBook/{{Mera}}, his fiance, isn't too far behind.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomGoesToTheMayor'': The universe just seems to ''hate'' Tom Peters. He genuinely means well with his ideas and only wants to help make Jefferton a better place, but due to the [[MayorPain the Mayor]] and everyone else in town often going to absurd lengths to take advantage of Tom, sabotage his ideas, and screw him over, combined with his own ExtremeDoormat attitude, circumstances beyond his control, and just plain bad luck, anything that can go wrong for Tom does go wrong. It helps that [[Creator/TimAndEric Tim Heidecker and Eric Warheim]] [[WordOfGod have confirmed]] that on top of Jefferton being a mishmash of every real-life shithole town they've ever been to, it's also actually Tom's own personal hell; a WorldOfJerkass where everything bad always happens to him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TomGoesToTheMayor'': The universe just seems to ''hate'' Tom Peters. He genuinely means well with his ideas and only wants to help make Jefferton a better place, but due to the [[MayorPain the Mayor]] and everyone else in town often going to absurd lengths to take advantage of Tom, sabotage his ideas, and screw him over, combined with Tom's own ExtremeDoormat attitude, circumstances beyond his control, and just plain bad luck, anything that can go wrong for Tom does go wrong. It helps that [[Creator/TimAndEric Tim Heidecker and Eric Warheim]] [[WordOfGod have confirmed]] that on top of Jefferton being a mishmash of every real-life shithole town they've ever been to, it's also actually Tom's own personal hell; a WorldOfJerkass where everything bad always happens to him.