The Woobie / Identity V

The world of Identity V is in fact a cruel one and thus many Survivors and Hunters qualify as this.

Jerkass Woobie

Survivors

• Naib Subedar/The Mercenary. A Shell-Shocked Veteran, and victim of racism, who nevertheless has likely killed people for money, and may have murdered a fellow Survivor.
• Vera/Chloe Nair/The Perfumer: Murdered her twin sister and stole her identity, due to a fatal misunderstanding. Came to the manor searching for the ingredient to complete a perfume that would allow her to forget her guilt, instead of turning herself in and atoning for her actions. Despite this, she is implied to have spent her life as The Un-Favourite, and her guilt over her sister's death is genuine.
• Aesop Carl/The Embalmer: While it is implied that he is on the verge of becoming, or possibly already is, a Serial Killer, Aesop is nonetheless a figure that provokes pity, given that he was groomed to follow in the footsteps of a delusional man who imprinted his beliefs that his murders were moral and just on Aesop. Said man was also allegedly a close confidante of Aesop's mother, who trusted him to raise her son to be a good man.
• Norton Campbell/The Prospector. A Secretly Selfish opportunist, implied to have exploited people who trusted him, who was inadvertably responsible for a mining collapse that killed a large number of his fellow miners. When one takes into account just why he was so desperate for a better life, and acknowledges the apparent guilt he feels for causing the accident, however, it is possible to feel sorry for him.
• Mike Morton/The Acrobat. Possibly a self-serving person. Was nevertheless broken by the tragic loss of both everything and everyone he knew and loved.
• Servais Leroy/The Magician. He was an unpleasant man and disliked by his teammates and by the writer of his letter. The reasons for him acting like this was that any of his hopes were crushed long ago, he accidentally killed his master (when the general opinion in universe seems to be that he did it just because he was a greedy jerkass), is unable to work with the magic he is so proud of, uses alcohol to control his anxiety. He was the first survivor to be forced to participate in a game rather than just being tricked into being a experiment subject like the others and again because of his memory problems he accidentally creates more confusion and mistrust by accidentally poisoning William. The only person he seemed to be able to trust was Kurt and even Kurt didn't seem to like him in reality describing him as a villain and attacking him.

Hunters

• Bane Perez/The Gamekeeper. He used to be a pretty friendly person until he was mutilated by a boy he had once shown mercy and kindness to. After the group of poachers the boy was a part of placed the decapitated head of the black-nosed moose Bane had been taking care of on him (basically forcing him to wear the corpse of his own child), they left and the manor’s dogs dragged him back to the manor. Although he recovered, any traces of kindness within him died that day and he had transformed into a Minotaur, who would show no mercy to anyone who set foot on his land. May arguably also be considered a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
• Joseph Desaulnier/The Photographer. Broken by the tragic death of his twin brother at a young age, and inflicted with Survivor's Guilt, Joseph was driven to find a way to preserve life. This led to him subjecting a large number of innocent people to what is implied to be a Fate Worse than Death. His stage play episode is emotionally intense, and he actually cries during it. It holds up Joseph's desire for permanence with Aesop's over-acceptance of impermanence, to create a story that deepens sympathy for both of them.

The Woobie

Survivors

• Lisa Beck AKA Emma Woods/The Gardener. After her mother ran off with Freddy Riley/The Lawyer and her father (Leo Beck/The Hell Ember) was tricked into buying an arms factory severely in debt (also by Riley), she was placed in Kreacher Pierson/The Thief's orphanage. There, something happened to her which gave her psychological trauma and had her be admitted to an asylum.
• Fiona Gilman/The Priestess. When she was young, her father abandoned both her and her mother in order to pursue "heroes and beauties" when she was still a child. Growing up, Fiona constantly tried to live up to her mother’s expectations but nothing seemed to be good enough for her. Her mother would also constantly shoot down any interests Fiona had that wasn't related to science and even asked why she couldn't have been more like her. Needless to say, this left Fiona with poor self-esteem and left her unsure what to believe in for a long time.
• Kevin Ayuso/The Cowboy. A Chivalrous Pervert on the outside, a broken man filled with guilt on the inside. After realising that his parents had turned in a young Native American girl he had befriended for a bounty, Kevin fled home, unwilling to continue to live with the people who had taken his friend from him, but also unable to turn against the people who had loved and cared for him. Kevin then spent his life roaming the Americas, unable to find a place where he belonged.
• Natasha/Natalie AKA Margaretha Zelle/The Female Dancer. She originally ran away from home so that she wouldn't be stuck living in a fishing village. However, she ended up being physically abused by one of the other circus members (implied to have been her own husband, who had convinced her to run away from home in the first place). It is later revealed that her husband would isolate her by tearing up any letters that she would presumably send to her aunt and uncle. Financially broke, following her and husband's vague separation, she accepted a letter inviting her to Oletus Manor, believing that she had the opportunity to become a millionaire.
• Murro/The Wilding. After spending ten years of his life locked up in a cage, almost completely devoid of human contact, Murro was forced to perform death-defying stunts at the behest of his abusive uncle. After escaping from the circus, Murro ended up prey to the forces behind Oletus Manor. With his whereabouts currently unknown, and his beloved animal partner found dead by his fellow Survivors, Murro's fate is unlikely to have been a happy one.
• Patricia Dorval/The Enchantress. An illegitimate child of an implied slave, Patricia was taken in by the local people of New Orleans who raised her as their own. Hoping to communicate with the spirit of her deceased biological mother, Patricia was instead disowned and verbally attacked by the woman she had spent her whole life wanting to meet. After departing from New Orleans, desiring to find herself, Patricia found herself the victim of a curse that persisted for over a decade.
• Demi Bourbon/The Barmaid. Spent a large portion of her life struggling with illness, which everyone expected her to eventually die from, while being raised by her foster brother following their mother's death. Upon finding out that she had made a full recovery, and was likely to live a healthy life, Demi was made aware of the apparent whereabouts of her missing brother (who had vanished after receiving a letter from Oletus Manor). Wanting nothing more than to reunite with her only remaining family, Demi set off to Oletus Manor.

Hunters

• Whoever Jack the Ripper's host is. From the deductions, he seems to be a normal person which is a shame considering how his Split Personality is a sadistic Serial Killer and how he can't do anything about it.
• Violetta/The Soul Weaver. She was born without limbs and was abandoned by her biological parents at a freak show. She considered Max, the owner of the freak show to be like a father to her despite his constant abuse of her and the other attractions because he didn’t pity her. Once the audience had lost interest in her, Max sold her off to third-rate circuses. In order to perform again, she had mechanical limbs grafted onto her body and still Max refused to let her back onstage. The only reason why she accepted the invitation from Oletus Manor was so that she could perform again and there is no actual indication that she is evil in any way.
• Xie Bi'an/White Guard and Fan Wujiu/Black Guard. Both of them used to be noble government officers until they were forced to take the blame for an incident that the governor's son was responsible for. Fan Wujiu then drowned himself under a bridge in order to take the blame. Xie Bi'an soon hung himself from the same bridge as he was unable to live without his friend. Even after he became a Hunter, Xie Bi'an still feels guilty about Fan Wujiu's death and feels as though he's unworthy of love.
• Robbie White/Axe Boy. He and his sister Dolores lost both their parents at a young age and were forced into child labor after being placed in Kreacher Pierson/The Thief's orphanage. When the orphanage was taken over by the church, Robbie and Dolores were (possibly) separated from each other. Despite this, he still visited her until he was decapitated by a broken window. No wonder he’s always crying.
• Sangria/Opera Singer. She was abused by her father and forced to be an opera actress, she was manipulated by the closest thing to a mother figure in her life to kill her father, and abandoned when she lost her voice. It's hard not to want to hug Sangria after everything she's suffered.