A "woobie" is a name for any type of character who makes you feel extremely sorry for them. Basically, the first thing you think to say when you see the woobie is: "Aw, poor baby!" Woobification of a character is a curious, audience-driven phenomenon, sometimes divorced from the character's canonical morality.
A story with the Woobie allows the audience to vicariously experience relief from some pain by fantasizing about relieving the Woobie's pain. (No, not
that way! Well, okay,
sometimes.) Woobification can also tie into a disturbing hurt/comfort dynamic, in which fans enjoy seeing the Woobie tortured so they can wish the hurt away. This is often explored in
Hurt/Comfort Fic.
An important aspect of the Woobie is that their suffering must be caused by external sources. A character who suffers as the result of their own actions is a
Tragic Hero and does not qualify.
The difference between the Woobie and such
Sickeningly Sweet characters as the
Littlest Cancer Patient is that the audience actually finds the Woobie compelling rather than pathetic. Where you draw the line is sometimes a matter of opinion.
Sometimes a Woobie goes
Omnicidal Maniac and seeks to destroy the world in a bid to make the pain stop, in which case you're dealing with a
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Sometimes it's possible to bring such a woobie back from the edge, but other times, only his or her destruction in a
Shoot the Dog moment will stop things.
In
Lighter and Fluffier fiction, the Woobie can sometimes
earn their happy ending.
In many versions there is also something about the Woobie's suffering that is notably heroic or noble. In this case the character is an
Iron Woobie. When the Woobie does not show much outward emotion about their hurts (or anything else, for that matter), they are a
Stoic Woobie.
In
anime, the Woobie makes up a large part of
Moe characters. Part of their appeal can come from them constantly striving against
their chains. Can be taken to the point of
Break the Cutie, and if the amount of misfortune seems too great it may result in
Deus Angst Machina.
If the character is
The Chew Toy, a
Jerkass, or evil, he is not the Woobie (
unless the character is also meant to be sympathetic). If the character doesn't let bad events faze him, he is not the Woobie. A small, one-off bad event does not make the character the Woobie, though it may qualify as a
Tear Jerker.
If in your opinion the character desperately needs to die, that's likely
Damsel Scrappy. Should
not ever be confused with
Butt Monkey. However, a Butt Monkey can often become a Woobie if abused too mercilessly.
A character who is considered a woobie can also be considered a
Tragic Hero on some occasions, though not every woobie may have a
Fatal Flaw that defines such classifications.
For the curious, the fanspeak term "woobie" is ultimately derived from a word for a blanket, stuffed animal, or other soft object that a child keeps for its comforting properties (hence the name—some of these characters really
could use a snuggling!).
Subtropes include
Iron Woobie,
Stoic Woobie,
Jerkass Woobie,
Monster Sob Story, and
Wheelchair Woobie.
Not to be confused with a species of
hairy bipedal humanoids that inhabit the planet Kashyyyk.
, or
a Linux installer.
Examples:
