History DarkAndTroubledPast / AnimeAndManga

** Guts' childhood is singularly horrific. His mother was hanged from a tree outside a town while she was pregnant with him, causing him to be born prematurely and likely only surviving due to the soft mud from the rain. He was found by Gambino's wife Sys when his mercenary company was passing by the town and she took him in only to die of plague a year or two afterward. Gambino continued to keep him around but brutally trained him as a [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]] to earn his keep. Gambino's believed that Guts was a bad omen due to the way he was born and that he was the reason Sys died, which led to young Guts being raped when Gambino sold him for a night to a pederast soldier in his band (whom Guts later killed in the chaos of a battlefield at age 9) in addition to the horrific violence of war and constant risks to his life. It all came to a head when Gambino, his leg having been blown off by a cannonball and thus making him unfit for combat, got drunk one night and tried to kill Guts despite Guts trying his best to use his mercenary earnings to take care of Gambino. Guts was forced to kill his adoptive father in confused self-defense, but only after Gambino told him how he sold Guts to the soldier that raped him and had always resented him. Guts was almost immediately spotted by the rest of the company who proceeded to attack Guts and he only barely escaped alive. Guts fought for years as a mercenary until he joined Band of the Hawk, where he formed emotional bonds again for the first time and found love... until his best friend sacrificed everyone in the band, branded Guts and Casca, raped the latter deforming

** Gintoki was an orphan living among the corpses on the battlefield when he was found and taken in by Shoyou sensei who raised him with the samurai values he still holds today. A few years later [[spoiler: Shoyou sensei was arrested and his school was burned down.]] When Gintoki and his friends fought in the Joui war, they lost, and lost badly. He was then [[spoiler: forced to choose between his teacher and his friends. He chose to kill Shoyou.]] After the war, Gintoki ended up in jail and was nearly executed. Upon his release, he wandered around and nearly starved before Otose found him at her husband's grave.
** Kagura comes from a lethally DysfunctionalFamily. Her mother died when Kagura was young, and her father left her and her brother, because he was afraid he might kill one or both of them someday. Her brother, unable to beat their father in a fight turned into the cheerful sociopathic BloodKnight he is today.

** Guts' childhood is singularly horrific. His mother was hanged from a tree outside a town while she was pregnant with him, causing him to be born prematurely and likely only surviving due to the soft mud from the rain. He was found by Gambino's wife Sys when his mercenary company was passing by the town and she took him in only to die of plague a year or two afterward. Gambino continued to keep him around but brutally trained him as a [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]] to earn his keep. Gambino's believed that Guts was a bad omen due to the way he was born and that he was the reason Sys died, which led to young Guts being raped when Gambino sold him for a night to a pederast soldier in his band (whom Guts later killed in the chaos of a battlefield at age 9) in addition to the horrific violence of war and constant risks to his life. It all came to a head when Gambino, his leg having been blown off by a cannonball and thus making him unfit for combat, got drunk one night and tried to kill Guts despite Guts trying his best to use his mercenary earnings to take care of Gambino. Guts was forced to kill his adoptive father in confused self-defense, but only after Gambino told him how he sold Guts to the soldier that raped him and had always resented him. Guts was almost immediately spotted by the rest of the company who proceeded to attack Guts and he only barely escaped alive. And that's just peaches compared to the stuff that comes afterwards.

** Farnese and Serpico. The former was emotionally neglected since childhood and had to force herself to find joy in her surrounding environment... which is a burning ground for heretics. The latter grew up with a mentally unstable mother, was relentlessly bullied by his peers, and had to burn his own mother
** Honestly, everyone could apply to some extent due to how [[CrapsackWorld bad]] the Bersserk world is.

*** Brook [[spoiler: saw his entire crew dying one by one, then died, then woke up as a skeleton and spent over 50 years alone on a corpse-filled ship. ''He had no food, no drink, not even the warmth of sunlight''. It's implied that Brook had turned insane from the trauma and loneliness, almost driven to suicide countless times, but held back because he promised Laboon he would return.]] His story was so good that it brought Franky and Brook himself to tears. It also fired off the ChekhovsGun set hundreds of chapter earlier.

*** Everyone in the 9 Scabbards fit this trope by default due to the tragedy that befalls Oden and their country. However even before it happens, some of them already come from dark backgrounds. Kiku[[spoiler: and her brother Izo had a debauched father, whose arrest torn their family apart, and left the siblings on the streets]], Kawamatsu [[spoiler: who was discriminated and almost killed for being a fishman]], and Kanjuro [[spoiler: saw his parents being killed on stage due to the Kurozumi persecution which prompted him to work for Orochi as a spy to exert revenge on the country]].

*** Pretty much everyone in the 9 Scabbards come from a dark background. And this is before the tragedy of Oden.
*** Yamato, [[spoiler:Kaido's child, was physically abused, made to wear explosive handcuffs and locked up bytheir own father.]]
*** Orochi [[spoiler: was hunted down and ridiculed for being a member of Kurozumi clan.]]

*** Nami's past was told here. Her backstory arguably set the formula for "recruitment backstory" which almost all of the Straw Hat’s later followed: Tragic backstory was caused by the current arc villain, after which Luffy was so pumped up and delivered a well-deserved beatdown to the ArcVillain.

*** The Donquixote's backstory was very dark and tragic but with a unique twist. [[spoiler: Doflamingo and his brother Rocinante both experienced the same tragic past but only one turn into a monster.]] Perhaps the only time in the series that Oda took Nature side in the NatureVsNurture debate. [[note]]This is before Doflamingo met Trebol, Diamante, Pica and Vergo who would then nurture his evil side even more.[[/note]]

*** Linlin herself had a disturbing history. [[Spoiler: Having been abandoned by her parents at a young age, she was adopted by mother Carmel, who was actually a child trafficker wanting to take advantage of her power. Since birth Linlin had no control over her power and often fell into a berserk state regarding food, whether if she's left hungry for too long or if she was too excited. At her 12th birthday party, Linlin was presented with a table full of her favorite sweets, causing her to fall delirious from excitement and ended up ''eating her adoptive mother as well as all her friends.'']]

*** Law. His past is up there with Robin's for how bad it is. [[spoiler:Law was born in the country of Flevance, also known as "The White City". It's a beautiful and prosperous country thanks to the Amber Lead. The people of Flevance began mining this mineral, bringing them untold amounts of prosperity. However, a hundred years before the beginning of the Amber Lead industry, the World Government conducted a geological survey and determined that the mineral was poisonous. Both they and the royal family of the country knew of its true nature, but kept it a secret due to the economic growth it brought Flevance. Though eventually, the buildup of Amber Lead poisoning became too great and a horrible breakout of disease struck Flevance, causing neighboring kingdoms to believe it to be an epidemic and quarantine the island (though the royalty of the country managed to escape thanks to the World Government). With the doctors unable to cure the disease, despair over being abandoned and desperate to escape, the population used the remaining Amber Lead as weaponry and went to war. The resulting conflict would kill almost all of the people of the White City, including Law's former friends and family; Law himself only managed to survive by hiding himself amongst corpses being carted out of the quarantine zone.]]
*** The Donquixote's backstory was very dark and tragic but with an unique twist. [[spoiler: Doflamingo and his brother Rocinante both experienced the same tragic past but only one turn into a monster.]] Perhaps the only time in the series that Oda took Nature side in the NatureVsNurture debate. [[note]]This is before Doflamingo met Trebol, Diamante, Pica and Vergo who would then nurture his evil side even more.[[/note]]

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': most characters just have a Dark And Troubled Present, but Kyouko [[spoiler:had her attempt to help her father spectacularly backfire when he finds out, causing him to go nuts and kill the family]], Mami [[spoiler:lost her family in an accident and contracted with Kyubey to save her life]], and Homura [[spoiler:has been resetting time in a futile attempt to save Madoka for nearly 100 time loops]].

*** The History of racism against Fishman and Merfolk was told again, this time from a more personal perspective of Jinbei, a Fishman who at one time and another support both Otohime and Fisher Tiger, the two major equal right leaders. Also, Koala's story was told.

*** Law. His past is up there with Robin's for how bad it is. [[spoiler:Law was born in the country of Flevance, also known as "The White City". It was said to be a land straight out fairytales -- everything, from the grass to the trees to even the buildings was pure white. Eventually, this phenomenon was discovered to be the result of a mineral beneath the country, callled Amber Lead. The people of Flevance began mining this mineral, bringing them untold amounts of prosperity. However, a hundred years before the beginning of the Amber Lead industry, the World Government conducted a geological survey and determined that the mineral was poisonous. Both they and the royal family of the country knew of its true nature, but kept it a secret due to the economic growth it brought Flevance. Though eventually, the buildup of Amber Lead poisoning became too great and a horrible breakout of disease struck Flevance, causing neighboring kingdoms to believe it to be an epidemic and quarantine the island (though the royalty of the country managed to escape thanks to the World Government). With the doctors unable to cure the disease, despair over being abandoned and desperate to escape, the population used the remaining Amber Lead as weaponry and went to war. The resulting conflict would kill almost all of the people of the White City, including Law's former friends and family; Law himself only managed to survive by hiding himself amongst corpses being carted out of the quarantine zone.]]

*** Moria [[spoiler: saw his entire crew being decimated by Kaido and lost all hope in the living, thus turned into manipulating corpses and ghosts to do his bidding.]] However this doesn't excuse his actions and he still remains a lazy, despicable.
*** On the other hand, Brook's story was so good that it brought Franky and Brook himself to tears. It also fired off the ChekhovsGun set hundreds of chapter earlier.

*** In what could only be described as the dark and troubled Past of an entire species, the history of racism against Fishman and Merfolk was revealed. It retroactively provided a backstory for Arlong and every villainous Fishmen the Straw Hats encountered.

*** One without a twist, but still absolutely ''horrible''. [[DefrostingIceQueen Hancock]] and her sisters. Slavery is never a pretty story.
** Impel Down Arc: There's no new backstory here but there's one humorous example that deserved special mention. And that is:
*** Buggy the Clown's history with the Pirate King's Crew comes back to bite him as the Marine labels him the mastermind. To Buggy this is tragic but to every prisoner he rescues, this is the ultimate badass confirmation of their savior and they pledge their life to him immediately. Buggy decided to go with the flow and led them all to Marineford.

*** Ace's past isn't very heartwarming either, putting aside all the time he spent with Luffy and Sabo. [[spoiler:Ace's father was none other than Gold Roger, the Pirate King. Now normally, being related to such a powerful and important figure would be a cause for joy, right? Not. In the eyes of many who actually met Roger (and didn't antagonize him), he was a great man. But the truth of the matter is that hiding his identity as Ace's father was imperative, seeing as his enemies basically amounted to the entire world. For ''years'', Ace was tortured with the fact that in the eyes of the world, he wasn't supposed to exist, that the world would be better off without him, making him far more jaded than a child should and causing him to despise his father for the rest of his life. Most of all, the only reason he bothered to continue living was to find out whether or not he ''deserved'' to be born, just because the blood of a Pirate King ran through his veins.]] Living only stopped being so painful when Luffy and Sabo, and eventually the Whitebeard Pirates, came into his life.

*** This arc devotes entirely to the story of a young Ace, Luffy and Sabo, especially. This will be important later.

*** Robin's long MysteriousPast was revealed in detail. It's arguably the most tragic backstory revealed thus far and is the most important to the entire series MythArc bar none.

*** Moria and Dr. Hogback had one. It only make them more disgusting and despicable.

* If anyone in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' appears ''not'' to have a Dark and Troubled Past, just keep reading/watching and one will be revealed. Ironically, the king of this trope in the series is none other than that irredeemable Johan Liebert. Or is he? The debate goes on and on...

* In ''Manga/AnatoliaStory'', Nakia was forced by her father to become a concubine to the Hittite king, who was basically the enemy of her country of Babylon at the time. Also, the king was old enough to be her father. When she got to his palace, she quickly became scared and lonely, since he already had a lawful wife, a huge harem full of other concubines, an elected crown prince and four more sons. It's later revealed that she also [[spoiler:went through a period of time when people gossiped openly about the legitimacy of her child, Juda, since he shared few features with the king]].

* ''Alice In Sexland''

* Vash the Stampede from ''{{Manga/Trigun}}.'' He was born as an ArtificialHuman on a space cruiser transporting most of humanity to a distant world, where the crew was paranoid of him. Thanks to his brother, he got to watch the cruiser destroyed, killing millions, including his mother figure. Years later, after the discovery of his destructive powers, he unwittingly caused the annihilation of an entire city.

* While a majority of ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' is silly and cute, the characters are still [[MoeAnthropomorphism countries]], thus, all of them have some negative points in their history. Nevertheless, [[PsychopathicManchild Russia]] takes the cake for troubled pasts; the best example would be the "Bloody Sunday" strip, in which he finally snaps and starts ''gunning down'' his own people as they're rioting in the streets ("If they hate me, they're not Russian.") before turning to [[TheWoobie Lithuania]] and stating "We don't want children who can't play nice, do we?".

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. Several. Upon learning Negi's, several of the girls were actually driven to tears.

* Soubi from ''{{Manga/Loveless}}'' was orphaned at the age of six, raised by a teacher who wanted to control him completely and [[spoiler: sexually abused him]], and then handed off to Seimei, who [[spoiler: viewed him as a possession and physically and emotionally abused him before abandoning him without explanation.]] Ritsuka is a little young for this trope, but is well on his way to acquiring one.

* No mentions of Ai Enma from ''Anime/HellGirl'' yet? That girl was made an outcast by her village, and was selected to be sacrificed to a mountain god at the age of 7. She escaped that fate, only to be faced with a worse one 6 years later, where she was betrayed by her only friend and she and her family were buried alive. Then she tried to deliver vengeance on her village and was condemned to carry souls to Hell for eternity.

* Inspector Himuro of Manga/{{Remote}} has one that is regularly hinted at but not revealed until the last few volumes

* ''Manga/KotouraSan''

* Manga/TheSevenDeadlySins:

* ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'': most characters just have a Dark And Troubled Present, but Kyouko [[spoiler:had her attempt to help her father spectacularly backfire when he finds out, causing him to go nuts and kill the family]], Mami [[spoiler:lost her family in an accident and contracted with Kyubey to save her life]], and Homura [[spoiler:has been resetting time in a futile attempt to save Madoka for years now]].

** Minako Aino/Sailor V/Sailor Venus was the first Senshi to have been awoken, and had to fight all the youma by herself for a year. Within that year, she'd not only [[spoiler: had to kill her first crush, who turned out to be a youma]], she is implied to have lost many friends because she was too busy being Sailor V to have a social life. At the end of ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'', she [[spoiler: learned that Kaitou Ace, her one true love was Danburite, a member of the Dark Kingdom, leaving her no choice to kill him]] and her only chance at happiness. Also, she remains cognizant of the Moon Kingdom's past life, [[spoiler: Serenity's suicide, and the subsequent destruction of the Moon Kingdom]], and shoulders the blame, thinking that it was her duty to [[spoiler: protect Princess Serenity at all costs]].

* The entire main crew of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' has this to some degree. Spike Spiegel used to be an enforcer for the Red Dragon crime syndicate, essentially Space [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triads]], only to fall out with them and his former best friend and fellow assassin Vicious over a girl named Julia, resulting in him [[FakingTheDead faking his death]]. Jet Black used to be a cop until his own corrupt partner and best friend set him up and tried to kill him, though he got off with merely losing his left arm and needing a cybernetic replacement -- this, after the love of his life dumped him for, basically, being too controlling. Faye Valentine lost her family, her memories, and her past after she was placed in cryogenic suspension after a space shuttle accident, and after she was revived, the one man who seemed to care for her "died"...and left her stuck with a debt reaching into the millions. Radical Edward's father was so absent minded that he was barely aware of her existence, so she spent her entire childhood wandering aimlessly in and out of orphanages and possibly over most of the planet. Even Ein, the "Data dog," was subjected to experimentation to make him a Data dog by people with questionable ethics.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', with Vegeta having his home planet destroyed at around age 5, and being a forced to serve as an underling of the creature who massacred his people for most of his life.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', with Vegeta having his home planet destroyed at around age 5, and being a forced underling of the creature who massacred his people for most of his life.

*** Chouchou's past played homage to UsefulNotes/Hachiko. It’s a simple but both tearjerking and heartwarming story about the UndyingLoyalty of a CanineCompanion.

* ''Manga/DearNOMAN'': Bazu was once a crow who was taken care of by a human after getting injured. When she decided to go back to check up on her, another human grabbed her and cut off her wings and feet. She then became a [[OurGhostsAreDifferent noman]] based on her encounters with humans.

* ''Anime/YokaiWatch'': Several yokai had traumatic death, though most don't tend to think of them much. For example, the CuteKitten mascot Jibanyan was hit by a car [[spoiler:committing a HeroicSacrifice for his owner]] while [[YukiOnna Blizzaria]] was a little girl who got lost in the mountains and froze to death.

* ''Anime/YokaiWatch'': Several yokai had traumatic death, though most don't tend to think of them much. For example, the CuteKitten mascot Jibanyan was hit by a car [[spoiler:committing a HeroicSacrifice for his owner]] while [[YukiOnna Blizzaria]] was a little girl who got lost in the mountains and froze to death.

* [[TheCasanova Rambler]] [[MeaningfulName the Rambling]] [[http://cytolo.skr.jp/graphic/tbus.jpg Rabbit]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Happy_Clover from the Happy Happy Clover Anime/Manga]] by Creator/TatsuyamaSayuri. Is an adult rabbit who usually visits Crescent Forest at random. He would usually go on dangerous adventures and travels around the world. Clover the main protagonist of the series, really admires him and wants to go traveling with him. But each time she would ask him that same question, he would refuse to answer her question. He says that she will have to wait until she gets older. In the characters mini-bio in the 3rd,4th and 5th volume for the main characters. It reveals that Rambler's homeland has been destroyed by humans. In the 4th volume of the manga, one story involved Rambler coming to stay with Clover for the night. Clover and her parents wants him to stay at her home for the night. Rambler refuses and prefers to sleep outside. However Clover, starts getting very worried about him and [[TheDeterminator continues to ask him to stay for the night.]] Later, Clover starts looking for him in the rain just to let him stay. But when she finally, finds him out in the rain. She tries to let him come to her home, and starts pulling his arm hard. Rambler responds by snatching his hand away from her, causing Clover to cry and believes she really was a busybody and starts running back home. The next morning, Clover finds Rambler crying and starts asking him whats wrong. He then explains to Clover why he didn't want to stay at her house. He tells her that, sleeping in a bed and staying at her house reminded him of his old home and forest before it got destroyed. After he finished, he tells Clover to keep it a secret between him and her.

** [[CuteLittleFangs Ranka]] is also an orphan who [[spoiler: lost her family during a Vajra attack on their research fleet]], an event so traumatic that she [[LaserGuidedAmnesia lost her memories]] and, for a time, the [[TheVoiceless ability to speak]] before her adoptive brother got to her. It's made worse for her that [[spoiler: the cause of the attack was her singing, which, thanks to the Vajra germs she got from her mother, allowed her to unknowingly comunicate with the Vajra.]]

** [[DysfunctionJunction Practically everybody]]. Ed and Al lost their mother when they were young, tried to resurrect her, and failed; and, as a result, [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler Ed lost two of his limbs and Al his entire body]]. Roy and Hawkeye, among others, participated in the Ishvalan genocide and feel extremely guilty about it. Scar lost his brother in said genocide, Winry's parents were killed on the battlefield, Hohenheim [[spoiler:unknowingly helped kill off the population of an entire country]], and Bradley [[spoiler:grew up as a test subject, was injected with the Philosopher's Stone, and does not know whether his present personality is the one he had prior to the injection]].

*** On the other hand, Brook's story was so good that it brought Franky and Brook himself to tears. It also fired off the ChekovsGun set hundreds of chapter earlier.