History BrokenBird / LiveActionTV

** Emily's ArchEnemy Victoria Grayson, who is NotSoDifferent from Emily herself. TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask, Victoria has suffered great heartache and loss, dating back to her childhood with her abusive mother Marion. Marion [[GoldDigger was more interested in scheming her way into wealth]], to the point when after shooting Tom, a wealthy man who she was seeing after he made it clear he had no interest in marrying, she made Victoria the scapegoat. Later, after reconciling with old husband Maxwell, the man is revealed to be a pedophile, and after being caught in Victoria's room, Victoria is blamed instead and kicked out of the house, though Marion believes she will land on her own feet with everything she taught her. Victoria shacks up with a man who treats her well at first but rapes and leaves her pregnant, leaving her the same cold, manipulative mess who ends up leaving her soon to be born child when she is accepted to an art institute in Paris, and later schemes and claws her way up the social ladder, ruling the social circles of the Hamptons as Conrad Grayson's wife. In the series finale, Victoria fully admits that she (figuratively) died years ago, long before Emily/Amanda was born, [[spoiler:and that her actual death is merely a formality]].

* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', [[TheSmartGuy Finch]] is one of the male examples of this trope. He is constantly paranoid (due to him being legally dead), walks with a limp [[spoiler: caused by an explosion which killed his OnlyFriend, set by men trying to kill them, causing him to also fake his own death]], has a major GuiltComplex over the deaths of innocent people which his [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou machine]] alerts him about, that he couldn't save due to being a cripple, before he could hire [[BadassInANiceSuit John Reese]]. He lives as a social recluse in an abandoned library (his only friend being the man he hired to save the numbers and [[TeamPet a dog]]. It doesn't stop him being a DeadpanSnarker though...)

* In ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' [[TheSmartGuy Finch]] is one of the male examples of this trope. He is constantly paranoid (due to him being legally dead), walks with a limp [[spoiler: caused by an explosion which killed his OnlyFriend, set by men trying to kill them, causing him to also fake his own death]], has a major GuiltComplex over the deaths of innocent people which his [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou machine]] alerts him about, that he couldn't save due to being a cripple, before he could hire [[BadassInANiceSuit John Reese]]. He lives as a social recluse in an abandoned library (his only friend being the man he hired to save the numbers and [[TeamPet a dog]]. It doesn't stop him being a DeadpanSnarker though...)

* Irisa on ''{{Defiance}}''. Also EmotionlessGirl and ApocalypseMaiden.

** One of the many interpretations in the fandom of why Amy Pond acts how she does is that she's one of these. Though let's be fair, you'd be broken too if [[spoiler:your parents had been erased from existence and even from your memory, except you had a constant nagging in your head that you can't remember who they were or how you lost them. If Amy really was a Broken Bird, by the end of series 5, she's definitely fixed after having her parents restored.]] And then she was broken again in Season Six when [[spoiler: she was kidnapped by Madame Kovarian, tortured, separated from her newborn daughter and later discovered that she could no longer conceive the children she knew her husband wanted. In her mind, she was doing Rory a favor by divorcing him; he may have been the Boy Who Waited, but she was convinced by this time she wasn't worth the wait.]]
** Clara Oswald becomes this at the end of Series 8 [[spoiler: when her boyfriend, Danny, is killed, causing her to betray the other man in her life, the Doctor, in an attempt to undo this.]] In the aftermath, her relationship with the Doctor becomes more intense as Clara tries to emulate him more and more. Ultimately, at the end of Series 9, [[spoiler: the trope takes on a literal meaning as Clara is killed by an entity that takes on the form of a bird, although the Doctor attempts a similar gambit as Clara did with Danny, with more success.]]

** One of the many interpretations in fandom of why Amy Pond acts how she does is that she's one of these. Though let's be fair, you'd be broken too if [[spoiler:your parents had been erased from existence and even from your memory, except you had a constant nagging in your head that you can't remember who they were or how you lost them. If Amy really was a Broken Bird, by the end of series 5, she's definitely fixed after having her parents restored.]] And then she was broken again in Season Six when [[spoiler: she was kidnapped by Madame Kovarian, tortured, separated from her newborn daughter and later discovered that she could no longer conceive the children she knew her husband wanted. In her mind, she was doing Rory a favor by divorcing him; he may have been the Boy Who Waited, but she was convinced by this time she wasn't worth the wait.]]

* ''Series/KamenRiderGhost'' has a badass variety and [[spoiler:firsthand experience through]] Alain when he is [[BroughtDownToNormal brought down to a normal human]]. His father gets killed by his own brother right in front of him. And the second being when the elderly MoralityPet who serves him takoyaki passes away in #30, this left him cynically doubting his feelings in that very episode. [[spoiler:For added bonus, this also solidified his HeelFaceTurn.]]

* Morgana from ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}''. If she had not been hurt, lied to, and ignored by the people she called friends, then she would not be where she is now. Deconstructed with her behavior with Gwen, a guard and innocent people only (played straight for everything else, mostly in season 4), with which this trope is subverted. While [[spoiler: Morgana hurts the poor Gwen, her former best friend, because it is an easy way to attain her goal]], Gwen [[AllLovingHero is continuously generous to everyone]], and only betrays [[spoiler:Morgana after the latter tried to kill her (a thing she suspects because Morgana smiled when she was dragged to the cells where she should be imprisoned by Uther) to save her lover and her buddies]]. Gwen is tortured/looked down upon/neglected by everyone except Merlin ([[spoiler:who remains oblivious to her crush on him]]), Gaius (who keeps her out of the way as much as Morgana when serious matters concerning her that Merlin must resolve arise), Arthur ([[spoiler: who repeatedly breaks up with her because he thinks he must marry a princess and otherwise a noblewoman and thinks she cheated on him and banishes the poor innocent Gwen]]) and some minor characters, being lacking power because of her low social status. Yet, unlike initially kind and powerful Morgana, who arguably can only be furious and traumatized because of Merlin, Uther and (indirectly) Arthur, plus two minor characters and punishes poor [[spoiler: people who were indifferent/neutral in the conflict, and a guard who probably did horrible things, but was kind to her]], she insists that killing Uther would make her as bad as him, even [[spoiler: after he menaced to burn her at the stake and condemned her father to be imprisoned]].

* Melinda May on ''Series/AgentsOfSHEIDL'' had formerly been an easygoing and cheerful person until a mission in Bahrain [[spoiler: where, in order to save a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, innocent civilians, and herself, she was forced to kill a young girl who had mind-control abilities and had fallen into an AGodAmI complex]]. Afterward, she became cold and emotionally distant and had refused to go back into the field until Coulson recruited her [[spoiler: or rather, ''Fury'' had recruited her to watch Coulson]]. Working with the team gradually starts bringing her back, but she remains maintains a generally unemotional demeanor, so much so that when she's laughing and flirting while undercover as a trophy wife, it freaks the others out.

* ''Series/BatesMotel'': Norma Bates, mother of Norman Bates. Alex Romero, being the town's sheriff, becomes determined to get Norma to confess to Norman's crimes. During a confrontation, he really goes for it, eventually pinning her to a wall and barking at her to confess. A massive teary explosion and a subverted [[SlapSlapKiss Slap-Slap-Kiss]] follows.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': Janine starts out as tough and smart-mouthed, but the mistreatment she goes through at the reeducation center wears her down until she snaps. Every Handmaid is like this, to some extent, but poor Janine gets it the worst.

* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' has Alex Eames, an ''extremely'' good police detective who is still suffering from the fact that her husband Joe was killed in the line of duty years before the show began.

** Gibbs isn't the most emotional either.

* Tess Mercer of ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. She's a CorruptCorporateExecutive, MisanthropeSupreme, and WellIntentionedExtremist, who's driven by a need to escape her past with her alcoholic, abusive father. The cynicism, sarcasm, and ZenSurvivor attitude are all there, as is the desire for a HeelFaceTurn. Her desperate gravitation towards Clark as a [[MessianicArchetype Messiah]] figure is quite heartwrenching. Finding out who her biological family is [[ArchnemesisDad didn't do her any favors]]. An AlternateUniverse shows that if she had been raised by her blood family, she would have been ''even worse'' in this trope.

* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': Karen Page heavily implies that she came from a very rough past, the details of which are somewhat unclear because she's only ever let slip little tidbits to Matt and Foggy. She also says right before she empties a gun into James Wesley that he's not the first man she ever shot.
* ''Series/MrRobot'': Elliot fits this trope to a T. In the first episode, we learn that he lost his father to leukemia, he and his sister [[spoiler: Darlene]] were abused by their mother and suffers from severe depression, social anxiety, PTSD and [[spoiler: Dissociative Identity Disorder]]. As the series progresses, things end up getting worse for him.
* ''Series/TeenWolf'': Derek Hale. At fifteen he ends having to [[spoiler:Mercy Kill his first love.]] At sixteen he is seduced by a much older woman who uses him to infiltrate his home and murder his entire family save his sister and leaving his uncle comatose. He blames himself for all of this. Six years later his sister is killed leaving him completely alone in the world and as a werewolf being alone means he will slowly go insane and he knows it. He's found by the same woman again and tortured. His every attempt at regaining a pack blows up in his face in part to his extreme Guilt Complex and No Social Skills. The only time he's slightly okay is when he reunites with his long lost little sister who he didn't know survived. Nevertheless, he's the big guy of the group being much more competent and knowledgeable than the rest of the cast at first.

* Melinda May on ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' had formerly been an easygoing and cheerful person until a mission in Bahrain [[spoiler: where, in order to save a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, innocent civilians, and herself, she was forced to kill a young girl who had mind-control abilities and had fallen into an AGodAmI complex]]. Afterward, she became cold and emotionally distant and had refused to go back into the field until Coulson recruited her [[spoiler: or rather, ''Fury'' had recruited her to watch Coulson]]. Working with the team gradually starts bringing her back, but she remains maintains a generally unemotional demeanor, so much so that when she's laughing and flirting while undercover as a trophy wife, it freaks the others out.
* The titular character of ''Series/AngieTribeca'' has massive trust issues, has suffered heartbreak from the loss of her partner and fiance, and is an overly driven mess of a detective. Of course, being a massive spoof of the PoliceProcedural genre and [[StandardCopBackstory its associated tropes]], it's all [[PlayedForLaughs played for maximum absurdity]].

* Many of the main characters of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' could count

* Sara Sidle from ''Series/{{CSI}}''. Although she falls more into the badass version than the non-emotional one sometimes.
* For a single episode, one of the characters in ''Series/CSIMiami'', Phoebe Nichols, definitely counts. She wanted to be a pop star because she loved singing... unfortunately, her mother was a StageMom who wanted to live comfortably from her success and her manager was [[{{Jerkass}} only interested in his own career]]. She was forced to adopt the stage persona 'Phoenix' and had everything controlled by her manager who drove a wedge between her and her mother to have complete control over her life as well as suffered a massive CreatorBreakdown where she wanted to just abandon the music scene entirely. Then she's [[spoiler: kidnapped and drugged by a BackAlleyDoctor hired by her manager while one of her backup dancers starts masquerading as her so that Phoenix becomes a legacy character, only for that to go south when a LoonyFan]] set fire to Phoenix while she was performing a secret concert, killing her [[spoiler: successor. Luckily she gets saved from her prison and goes back to living with her mother... only to learn that her mother placed a tracking chip directly inside her without her knowledge [[ProperlyParanoid because she was afraid of losing her daughter]]... as well as convinced the LoonyFan to murder her successor. She only truly starts getting better when she starts singing in bars under her real name.]]

%%** The Doctor following the time war.

** Ace seems to fit this well as part of the badass type. That girl had ''issues''. And guidance councilors.

* Melinda May on ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' had formerly been an easygoing and cheerful person until a mission in Bahrain [[spoiler: where, in order to save a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, innocent civilians, and herself, she was forced to kill a young girl who had mind-control abilities and had fallen into an AGodAmI complex]]. Afterward she became cold and emotionally distant and had refused to go back into the field until Coulson recruited her [[spoiler: or rather, ''Fury'' had recruited her to watch Coulson]]. Working with the team gradually starts bringing her back, but she remains maintains a generally unemotional demeanor, so much so that when she's laughing and flirting while undercover as a trophy wife, it freaks the others out.

* Two thirds of the cast of ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', it seems like.

* Many of the main characters of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' could could count

** Agent Seeley Booth, Brennan's eventual husband, grew up with his little brother, Jared, in an abusive home. One night, his mom got sick of her husband's abuse and ran out, leaving her children behind. Booth took the brunt of the abuse to protect his brother, and it was made worse by the fact that he remembered how his father was before becoming an alcoholic. They eventually escaped once their grandfather wised up about his son's behavior and took them away. He became an army sniper, but was heavily traumatized, as he did not take claiming lives lightly. He had a son after leaving the service, but his child's mother wouldn't marry him and only gave him vague parental rights; he later struggled with gambling problems and needed professional help. If anything, it's only actually gotten worse over the seasons. [[spoiler:In season nine, he was thrown in jail after being framed by the government he was dedicated to protecting. After he is finally freed, he is treated with suspicion. Soon after, he is traumatized when a younger co-worker (who looked up to him and Brennan as both parental surrogates and adopted siblings)is murdered and dies in his arms.]] Following those traumas, he doubted his religious beliefs and had trouble trusting people for months and ends up [[spoiler:relapsing into gambling during an undercover investigation]] He eventually gets help and is able to reconcile with his family but [[spoiler:witnesses his brother being killed and is forced into hiding]]. Although, thanks to Brennan and his three kids, he seems to have become well adjusted.
** Dr. Lance Sweets, a young psychologist and profiler with the FBI, was bounced around the foster system since he was born, and was eventually adopted by a man who mistreated and brutally beat him (he still has the scars). Luckily he got up the courage to tell on his adoptive father to the police, and was happily adopted by an elderly couple who became his "real" parents. Unfortunately, they died right before he came to work with the FBI; he eventually latches onto Booth and Brennan as surrogates, despite the fact that they initially disliked him.
** Agent James Aubrey, who [[spoiler:took over Sweets' spot as a field agent after his death]], shows shades of this, despite being a extremely positive ManChild with a sweet tooth. As a child, his father was an investment banker who scammed his clients and then fled arrest with the money, leaving Aubrey and his mother penniless. A few years later, he helped land his father in prison. Years later, he still hates his father and is severely biased and mistrusting of anyone and anything to do with banking and money.

** One of the many interpretations in fandom of why Amy Pond acts how she does is that she's one of these. Though, let's be fair, you'd be broken too if [[spoiler:your parents had been erased from existence and even from your memory, except you had a constant nagging in your head that you can't remember who they were or how you lost them. If Amy really was a Broken Bird, by the end of series 5, she's definitely fixed after having her parents restored.]] And then she was broken again in Season Six when [[spoiler: she was kidnapped by Madame Kovarian, tortured, separated from her newborn daughter and later discovered that she could no longer conceive the children she knew her husband wanted. In her mind, she was doing Rory a favor by divorcing him; he may have been the Boy Who Waited, but she was convinced by this time she wasn't worth the wait.]]

** Cersei might be a sociopath, but her conversations with Sansa during the siege of Blackwater and her own descriptions of how she once loved Robert show that she's so broken that a lot of viewers are willing to forgive or excuse her actions. She had hoped for real happiness from her marriage, from being the Queen, but is appalled at what a sham it had become and has lost any ideals she once had. First she was trapped in a loveless marriage with an implicitly abusive man who would always hate her for her family affiliations, she grew up without a mother and with a controlling and manipulative father, and lost all control over her terrifying son years ago. She's [[SmallNameBigEgo not exactly hypercompetent]], and a lot of her problems are her own fault, but she just radiates damage and pain, and exhibits the emotional detachment and cynicism typically associated with this trait.

* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' has had a pretty rough time. When she was a teenager, her parents and little brother were killed in a car accident [[spoiler:that she was partially responsible for, starting an argument with her brother that distracted her father]]. She was then adopted by an abusive foster mother. When her foster sister convinced her to use her powers to help others as a new superhero, it only served to attract the attention of Kilgrave, who proceeded to [[MindRape mind-control]] her into a SexSlave for months, which only ended when he forced her to murder another woman, [[BloodOnTheseHands an act which shocked her out of his control]]. A year afterwards, when the series begins, all of this together has made her deeply cynical and bitter, and given her severe depression and PTSD, [[TheAlcoholic only numbing herself with a great deal of alcohol]] and pushing others away as much as possible.

%%* ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'': Policewomen and {{Action Girl}}s Olivia Benson and Dani Beck, as well as attorneys Alex Cabot and Casey Novak. ''Any'' female in the show ends up as this.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' thrives on this trope. We have Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin, Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, Killian Jones/Captain Hook, Zelena/The Wicked Witch Of The West, Ingrid/The Snow Queen, and Cora, in whose lives the DarkAndTroubledPast figures prominently and explains their recurrent badassery. Then there's Greg. Everyone who functions as a villain is a textbook example of the badassed type of Broken Bird; all of them started out as heroic and/or morally sound people and were traumatized into an endless quest for vengeance. Emma Swan, the heroine of the series is another example of this trope, but strictly the cynical/stoic variety.

* Lily from ''Series/{{Privileged}}'', Megan's younger troubled sister. Over the course of the series, she [[spoiler: takes Sage out to a bar, despite Sage being sixteen, steals one of Rose's tennis bracelets (and almost gets away with it, except she wears said bracelet to dinner in a later episode), and ends up spending time in jail because she was set up by her drug-dealer husband]]. Towards the end of the season, she appeared to be improving, but since the show was cancelled, we'll never really know.

** Emily Thorne/Amanda Clarke, who had been broken ever since her childhood when she was forcibly estranged from her father, went from psych ward to abusive foster home to juvie ward, and led to believe her father was a terrorist. Flash forward to her release on her 18th birthday, when she learns her father, recently murdered in prison was innocent via message, and betrayed by many of the people he trusted. Her father urged her to seek forgiveness. Having lost everything she held dear, and true to the series' name, there is only one thing she wants.
** Emily's ArchEnemy Victoria Grayson, who is NotSoDifferent from Emily herself. TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask, Victoria has suffered great heartache and loss, dating back to her childhood with her abusive mother Marion. Marion [[GoldDigger was more interested in scheming her way into wealth]], to the point when after shooting Tom, a wealthy man who she was seeing, after he made it clear he had no interest in marrying, she made Victoria the scapegoat. Later, after reconciling with old husband Maxwell, the man is revealed to be a pedophile, and after being caught in Victoria's room, Victoria is blamed instead and kicked out of the house, though Marion believes she will land on her own feet with everything she taught her. Victoria shacks up with a man who treats her well at first but rapes and leaves her pregnant, leaving her the same cold, manipulative mess who ends up leaving her soon to be born child when she is accepted to an art institute in Paris, and later schemes and claws her way up the social ladder, ruling the social circles of the Hamptons as Conrad Grayson's wife. In the series finale, Victoria fully admits that she (figuratively) died years ago, long before Emily/Amanda was born, [[spoiler:and that her actual death is merely a formality]].

* Tess Mercer of ''Series/{{Smallville}}''. She's a CorruptCorporateExecutive, MisanthropeSupreme, and WellIntentionedExtremist, who's driven by a need to escape her past with her alcoholic, abusive father. The cynicism, sarcasm, and ZenSurvivor attitude are all there, as is the desire for a HeelFaceTurn. Her desperate gravitation towards Clark as a [[MessianicArchetype Messiah]] figure is quite hearthwrenching. Finding out who her biological family is [[ArchnemesisDad didn't do her any favors]]. An AlternateUniverse shows that if she had been raised by her blood family, she would have been ''even worse'' in this trope.

** The demon Meg - who hates emotionality and poetry, spent so long being tortured that she lost her humanity, and seems split between being wanting to hurt everybody else and wanting to be loyal- is the key female example, but this is the trope that defines many of the show's female characters (for example, Amelia, Bela and Ruby). And given how much the show likes to torture all its characters, this is an extremely common trope for males as well as females. Castiel, Bobby and Benny also fit this trope to a tee. Especially Cas- Watching him get broken over and over again has been one of the show's key advertising draws.

* ''Series/TeenWolf'': Derek Hale. At fifteen he ends having to [[spoiler:Mercy Kill his first love.]] At sixteen he is seduced by a much older woman who uses him to infiltrate his home and murder his entire family save his sister and leaving his uncle comatose. He blames himself for all of this. Six years later his sister is killed leaving him completely alone in the world and as a werewolf being alone means he will slowly go insane and he knows it. He's found by the same woman again and tortured. His every attempt at regaining a pack blows up in his face in part to his extreme Guilt Complex and No Social Skills. The only time he's slightly okay is when he reunites with his long lost little sister who he didn't know survived. Nevertheless he's the big guy of the group being much more competent and knowledgeable than the rest of the cast at first.

* Morgana from ''Series/{{Merlin}}''. If she had not been hurt, lied to, and ignored by the people she called friends, then she would not be where she is now. Deconstructed with her behavior with Gwen, a guard and innocent people only (played straight for everything else, mostly in season 4), with which this trope is subverted. While [[spoiler: Morgana hurts the poor Gwen, her former best friend, because it is an easy way to attain her goal]], Gwen [[AllLovingHero is continuously generous to everyone]], and only betrays [[spoiler:Morgana after the latter tried to kill her (a thing she suspects because Morgana smiled when she was dragged to the cells where she should be imprisoned by Uther) to save her lover and her buddies]]. Gwen is tortured/looked down upon/neglected by everyone except Merlin ([[spoiler:who remains oblivious to her crush on him]]), Gaius (who keeps her out of the way as much as Morgana when serious matters concerning her that Merlin must resolve arise), Arthur ([[spoiler: who repeatedly breaks up with her because he thinks he must marry a princess and otherwise a noblewoman and thinks she cheated on him and banishes the poor innocent Gwen]]) and some minor characters, being lacking power because of her low social status. Yet, unlike initially kind and powerful Morgana, who arguably can only be furious and traumatized because of Merlin, Uther and (indirectly) Arthur, plus two minor characters and punishes poor [[spoiler: people who were indifferent/neutral in the conflict, and a guard who probably did horrible things, but was kind to her]], she insists that killing Uther would make her as bad as him, even [[spoiler: after he menaced to burn her at the stake and condemned her father to be imprisoned]].

* ''Series/TheInspectorLynleyMysteries''' Barbara Havers had any semblance of optimism ground out of her with extreme prejudice after her little brother's death from cancer tore her family apart and her parents succumbed to mental illness and lung disease right before her eyes. When combined with the fact that she has NoSocialSkills (which have left her alone and misunderstood her entire life), a HairTriggerTemper (ditto), and massive class resentment issues, it's no wonder the poor thing was on the verge of being kicked off the force, [[BunnyEarsLawyer Bunny Ears Detective]] or not, before she teamed up with Thomas Lynley. Although the show proceeds to further BreakTheCutie (and also [[BreakTheHaughty the haughty]] - her partner isn't spared), she [[DefrostingIceQueen softens and blossoms]] when paired with the one man who refuses to give up on her no matter how much [[JerkassFacade she tries to drive him away]]. The result is a far more likable - but still [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]] - Havers, in a rare case of a show helping put the bird back together again. [[TheWoobie Sort of.]]

** {{Averted}} by Gilly, whom Sam notes remains totally unbroken by all the horrible things that have happened to her in her life.

* ''Series/BatesMotel'': Norma Bates, mother of Norman Bates. Alex Romero, being the town's sheriff, becomes determined to get Norma to confess to Norman's crimes. During a confrontation, he really goes for it, eventually pinning her to a wall and barking at her to confess. A massive teary explosion and a subverted [[Slap-Slap-Kiss]] follows.

** Emily's ArchEnemy Victoria Grayson, who is NotSoDifferent from Emily herself. TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask, Victoria has suffered great heartache and loss, dating back to her childhood, with her abusive mother Marion, who [[GoldDigger was more interested in scheming her way into wealth]], to which point where after shooting Tom, a wealthy man who she was seeing, after he made it clear he had no interest in marrying, she made Victoria the scapegoat. Later, after reconciling with old husband Maxwell, the man is revealed to be a pedophile, and after being caught in Victoria's room, Victoria is blamed instead and kicked out of the house, though Marion believes her will land on her own feet with everything she taught her. Victoria shacks up with a man who treats her well at first but rapes and leaves her pregnant, leaving her the same cold, manipulative mess who ends up leaving her soon to be born child when she is accepted to an art institute in Paris, and later schemes and claws her way up the social ladder, ruling the social circles of the Hamptons as Conrad Grayson's wife. In the series finale, Victoria fully admits that she (figuratively) died years ago, long before Emily/Amanda was born, [[spoiler:and that her actual death is merely a formality]].

* Melinda May on ''Series/AgentsOfShield'' had formerly been an easygoing and cheerful person until a mission in Bahrain [[spoiler: where, in order to save a S.H.I.E.L.D. team, innocent civilians, and herself, she was forced to kill a young girl who had mind-control abilities and had fallen into a AGodIAM complex]]. Afterward she became cold and emotionally distant and had refused to go back into the field until Coulson recruited her [[spoiler: or rather, ''Fury'' had recruited her to watch Coulson]]. Working with the team gradually starts bringing her back, but she remains maintains a generally unemotional demeanor, so much so that when she's laughing and flirting while undercover as a trophy wife it freaks the others out.

** Cersei might be a sociopath, but she's so broken that a lot of viewers are willing to forgive or excuse her actions. She once loved Robert and had hoped for real happiness from her marriage, from being the Queen, but is appalled at what a sham it had become and has lost any ideals she once had. First she was trapped in a loveless marriage with an implicitly abusive man who would always hate her for her family affiliations, she grew up without a mother and with a controlling and manipulative father, and lost all control over her terrifying son years ago. She's [[SmallNameBigEgo not exactly hypercompetent]], and a lot of her problems are her own fault, but she just radiates damage and pain, and exhibits the emotional detachment and cynicism typically associated with this trait.

** Cersei might be a sociopath, but she's so broken that a lot of viewers are willing to forgive or excuse her actions. First she was trapped in a loveless marriage with an implicitly abusive man who would always hate her for her family affiliations, she grew up without a mother and with a controlling and manipulative father, and lost all control over her terrifying son years ago. She's [[SmallNameBigEgo not exactly hypercompetent]], and a lot of her problems are her own fault, but she just radiates damage and pain, and exhibits the emotional detachment and cynicism typically associated with this trait.

* ''Series/TheHandmaidsTale'': Janine starts out as tough and smart-mouthed, but the mistreatment she goes through at the reeducation center wears her down until she snaps.

** Teresa Lisbon loses her mother in a car accident and has to raise her brothers after their abusive and alcoholic father killed himself. She also has major trust issues.
* Morgana from ''Series/{{Merlin}}''. If she had not been hurt, lied to, and ignored by the people she called friends, then she would not be where she is now. Deconstructed with her behaviour with Gwen, a guard and innocent people only (played straight for everything else, mostly in season 4), with which this trope is subverted. While [[spoiler: Morgana hurts the poor Gwen, her former best friend, because it is an easy way to attain her goal]], Gwen [[AllLovingHero is continuously generous to everyone]], and only betrays [[spoiler:Morgana after the latter tried to kill her (a thing she suspects because Morgana smiled when she was dragged to the cells where she should be imprisonned by Uther) to save her lover and her buddies]]. Gwen is tortured/looked down upon/neglected by everyone except Merlin ([[spoiler:who remains oblivious to her crush on him]]), Gaius (who keeps her out of the way as much as Morgana when serious matters concerning her that Merlin must resolve arise), Arthur ([[spoiler: who repeatedly breaks up with her because he thinks he must marry a princess and otherwise a noblewoman and thinks she cheated on him and banishes the poor innocent Gwen]]) and some minor characters, being lacking power because of her low social status. Yet, unlike initially kind and powerful Morgana, who arguably can only be furious and traumatized because of Merlin, Uther and (indirectly) Arthur, plus two minor characters and punishes poor [[spoiler: people who were indifferent/neutral in the conflict, and a guard who probably did horrible things, but was kind to her]], she insists that killing Uther would make her as bad as him, even [[spoiler: after he menaced to burn her at the stake and condemned her father to be imprisoned]].

** Ducky, the NCIS medical examiner, had an episode titled this, where a painful event in his past is brought up. [[spoiler: During the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, he was with the Royal Army Medical Corps and volunteered at a refugee camp on the Pakistan border. Unfortunately, the CIA was using the camp as a way to interrogate people who were suspected of being Soviet spies. Their main interrogator tortured a civilian named Javid, then would continually send him to Ducky to patch him up so he could be tortured ‘’again’’. Ultimately Ducky {{Mercy Kill}}ed Javid with a morphine overdose. Thirty years later, he still feels guilty about it, so he willingly turns himself into the Afghan Embassy in D.C. when Javid’s younger sister recognized him. Gibbs manages to track down the interrogator and set up an EngineeredPublicConfession in order to clear Ducky’s name. During it, the interrogator reveals to Ducky that he ''knew'' Javid didn’t know anything, he was just using him to psychologically torture Ducky. While the revelation ultimately makes the sister decide to not to press charges against Ducky, he finds no absolution in this action as he still has to spend the rest of his life living with what he did. The episode ends with him breaking down weeping]].

** Ziva David has been brought by her father her up to kill people, up to and including [[spoiler: directly ordering her to kill her own brother, Ari,]] which she does, and then never really gets over. Most of her close family members are dead (and ''not'' of natural causes), and the two men she's fallen in love with [[spoiler: [[CartwrightCurse have both died]], one of radiation poisoning and one was shot by her partner, Tony.]] Ziva is consistently unemotional: while she does get angry, she is unlikely to show sadness or hurt; this is directly referred to by other characters. She is a skilled assassin and normally shows little or no remorse for killing.
** Ducky, the NCIS medical examiner, had an episode titled this, where a painful event in his past is brought up. [[spoiler: During the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, he was with the Royal Army Medical Corps and volunteered at a refugee camp on the Pakistan border. Unfortunately, the CIA was using the camp as a way to interrogate people who were suspected of being Soviet spies. Their main interrogator tortured a civilian named Javid thought to be a spy, then would continually send him to Ducky to patch him up so he could be tortured ‘’again’’. Ultimately Ducky {{Mercy Kill}}ed Javid with a morphine overdose. Thirty years later, he still feels guilty about it, so he willingly turns himself into the Afghan Embassy in D.C. when Javid’s younger sister recognized him. Gibbs manages to track down the interrogator and set up an EngineeredPublicConfession in order to clear Ducky’s name. During it, the interrogator reveals to Ducky that he ‘’knew’’ the civilian didn’t know anything. He just used the guy to psychologically torture Ducky. While the revelation ultimately makes the sister decide to not to press charges against Ducky, he finds no absolution in this action as he still has to spend the rest of his life living with what he did. The episode ends with him breaking down weeping]].

** Ducky, the NCIS medical examiner, had an episode titled this, where a painful event in his past is brought up. [[spoiler: It ends in him breaking down weeping, if that tells you anything.]]