History Main / BrokenBird

* In the ''{{Fingerprints}}'' series, [[spoiler:Yana Savari]] does a good job of pretending to be a GenkiGirl, but her backstory is revealed to be one big BreakTheCutie. In the final book, her Broken Bird nature finally comes to the surface.

* As with just about every other character trope in the book, you can play Commander Shepard as one of these in ''MassEffect''. The prize for Broken Bird, though, has to go to Talitha, the slave girl you can rescue in the Colonist's optional sidequest "I Remember Me".
** ''MassEffect2'' brings us Jack: "Turns out, mess with someone's head enough and you can turn a scared kid into an all-powerful bitch." Besides undergoing the training to be a Biotic {{Tykebomb}}, she's revealed the times she's been sexually abused.
*** When the sexual assault is the ''least'' traumatic aspect of a character's backstory, you know they've had it hard.

*** And some of the men, ''Kaidan''. (Admittedly, it's been ''years'' since he killed that turian...) Garrus in the sequel as well, given [[spoiler: the whole Archangel thing]].

* Cersei from ''Series/{{Game Of Thrones}}'' 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 [[TedBaxter 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.

* In ''FireEmblemAkaneia'', we have [[DragonRider Princess Minerva]] and [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Princess Nyna.]], and the remake adds [[spoiler: Katarina, aka Eine, who ''can'' get better if you manage to recruit her.]] (And [[spoiler: Eremiya, but ''only'' when we learn her tragic backstory.]])
* In FireEmblemJugdral's first game, ''SeisenNoKeifu'' we have Bridget of Jungby, [[DarkMagicalGirl Ishtar of Freege]], [[DragonRider Altenna of Thracia]] [[spoiler: (or, better said, of Lenster)]]; either [[spoiler: Tiltyu or Ethnia of Freege (by the end of their KillTheCutie years]]); [[spoiler: Sylvia's daughter Leen, her {{expy}} Laylea, Lakche's {{expy}} Radney (but ''not'' Lakche herself) fit in as well. In the meantime Tiltyu's daughter, Teeny/Ethnia's daughter Linda, mix this with ShrinkingViolet, but ultimately they get much better.]]

* Female DragonRider Vaida and LadyOfWar Karla, both from ''[[FireEmblemElibe Fire Emblem Blazing Sword]]''.

* FireEmblemAwakening gives us Cordelia. A serious, stoic, kind Pegasus Knight with two huge inner pains: [[spoiler: the deaths of her wingmates]] and her UnrequitedLove for [[spoiler: Prince Chrom]].

* Female DragonRider Vaida and LadyOfWar Karla, both from ''FireEmblem 7''.

** In the fourth game we have Bridget of Jungby, [[DarkMagicalGirl Ishtar of Freege]], [[DragonRider Altenna of Thracia]] [[spoiler: (or, better said, of Lenster)]]; either [[spoiler: Tiltyu or Ethnia of Freege (by the end of their KillTheCutie years]]); [[spoiler: Sylvia's daughter Leen, her {{expy}} Laylea, Lakche's {{expy}} Radney (but ''not'' Lakche herself) fit in as well. In the meantime Tiltyu's daughter, Teeny/Ethnia's daughter Linda, mix this with ShrinkingViolet, but ultimately they get much better.]]
** And the fifth game gives us, aside of Lady Evayle [[spoiler: aka the amnesiac!Bridget]], Misha, Sara, Amalda and ''specially'' FallenPrincess Miranda of Alster:
-->'''Miranda''' (to [[spoiler: Leaf]]): "It all started when you fled from [[spoiler: Lenster]]. My father was a kind man who loved peace. He had no reason to go against the Empire... But...but...! Just because [[spoiler: he hid you]], we were caught by the Empire and attacked! My father was [[spoiler: forced to turn me over as a hostage and lost his right to his throne...he died a miserable death.]] I will never forgive you, [[spoiler: Prince]]! If only you hadn't come to Alster...this never would have happened...”

* In ''FireEmblemAkaneia'', we have [[DragonRider Princess Minerva]] and [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask Princess Nyna.]], and the remake adds [[spoiler: Katarina, aka Eine, who ''can'' get better if you manage to recruit her.]] (And [[spoiler: Eremiya, but ''only'' when we learn her tragic backstory.]])

* [[http://images.wikia.com/deusex/en/images/0/02/Fedorova2.png Yelena Fedorova]], a boss of DeusExHumanRevolution, saw her entire family die when she was only a little girl. The experience was traumatic enough to render her nearly mute, even when she dies.

* Dieda from ''Forest House''. She is repeatedly confused with her niece, Eilan, whom she resembles almost identically. She is chosen by a priestess by the High Priestess when mistaken for her niece, despite being in love and soon to be engaged to Cynric. When Eilan is pregnant [[spoiler: despite having made a vow of chastity]], Dieda is required to take her place to alleviate confusion. Cynric is killed after slapping Eilan when Eilan is High Priestess, and most of her family is killed]] and Dieda [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself]]

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Onassis Christina Onassis]], daughter and heiress of Aristoteles. Older brother Alexander died in a plane crash, mother Tina killed herself afterwards, dad Ari married Jackie Kennedy (whom Christina detested) and [[DeathByDespair died few after Alexander did]]. The ex-LonelyRichKid, now rich and skilled businesswoman... married several times and never found love, was desperate enough to pretty much ''pay'' her last husband (and father of her only child), Thierry Roussel, for being with her and turned a blind eye [[YourCheatingHeart when he cheated on her and even had kids with a Swiss lady]], spoiled her daughter Athina as much as she could to make her happy, and finally died in TheEighties of a pulmonary edema, speculated to have been caused by her former druge abuse.

* Leitha from ''Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus'' is very much a broken bird - emotionally detached, very snarky, and traumatized by having to hear the thoughts of everyone she meets. Nearly getting burned at the stake didn't help.

* Whatsername in AmericanIdiot. Jesus Of Suburbia/Jimmy might be one by the end of the album as well, depending on interpretation

* Miranda in L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''ProsperosDaughter'', it turns out. Her BackStory actually did turn her into the EmotionlessGirl.
* ''InDeath'': Eve Dallas starts out as this before meeting Roarke. In fact, the series can be considered her journey to healing from the damage she received from her DarkAndTroubledPast.

* Oh, ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters''. First we have Mio, who uses her [[StealthInsult quietly]] [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]], EmotionlessGirl facade to hide [[spoiler:the ''huge'' guilt complex she has about forgetting an old friend of hers, to the point where she doesn't feel any reason to stay in this world and is totally okay with swapping places with her permanently - at first, anyway.]] Then we have Kurugaya - CoolBigSis, ActionGirl, and all around [[TheAce Ace]] extraordinaire. [[spoiler:Except she's constantly bullied and treated as a freak and has no-one in the world she can truly rely on (at first, anyway) and created a whole other world just so she could finally feel something.]] And then there's Haruka, one of the Genkiest of {{Genki Girl}}s you'll ever meet [[spoiler:covering up an ''incredibly'' depressed and insecure girl with one of the most fucked up families you'll see, even by VisualNovel standards. Or so it seems... at first, anyway.]]

* Lily Bard in Charlaine Harris' ''{{Shakespeare}}'' series, due to her having been gangraped, tortured (leaving her body permanently scarred), then left for dead.

* It should be noted that a number of [[RomanceNovel romance novel]]s lean on this trope when the love interest of the heroine is an AntiHero with a [[DarkAndTroubledPast scar]] from the past for her to [[LoveRedeems heal]]. Sometimes involves a bit of [[IntimateHealing that one]] as well. Women want to Heal the Cutie instead of BreakTheCutie.

* Lily Bard in Charlaine Harris' ''Shakespeare'' series, due to her having been gangraped, tortured (leaving her body permanently scarred), then left for dead.

* Talia (Sleeping Beauty) from Literature/ThePrincessSeries is an almost textbook example of this since her tragic past causes her to have a very stoic, sarcastic, and violent attitude.

* Susan Jagger of DeanKoontz's ''FalseMemory.'' She's crippled by agoraphobia so severe she can't even look out her apartment windows, and is completely convinced somebody is somehow breaking into her apartment at night and raping her. [[spoiler:She's right, too. Her agoraphobia was [[MindRape planted]] by her psychiatrist, who puts her into a hypnotic trance so he can get into her apartment and not just rape her, but MindRape her into playing whatever sick games he devises. These are all calculated to make her cry, because he [[{{Squick}} gets off on her tears]].]] He pretty much breaks her for his own amusement...and she's not the first person he's done that to, either.

* [[spoiler: Nicci]] of the ''SwordOfTruth''; her abusive and bafflingly-misguided mother and Brother Narev turned a nice, sweet little girl into a [[spoiler: Sister of the Dark and servant of the Imperial Order]]. Her backstory lingers a lot on how much she's actually this under her armor of unfeelingness, in lurid, horrifying, and tragic detail. An unusual example because she spends most of a year trying to fix herself, but being so broken, goes about it in a completely ridiculous way. Despite that, she manages to get healed, but not at all how she expects.

* Attolia of ''[[Literature/TheQueensThief The Queen’s Thief]]'' series. She is renowned by foreigners and even her own subjects, who are all dog-loyal, for being cold, ruthless, and unlovable. It’s heavily implied throughout the second book that this is due to her shattered childhood when her parents were killed—she was abruptly placed on the throne, humiliatingly forced to submit to a war between her power-hungry barons, driven into an arranged marriage with a man she hated, and earned the terror of her entire country by poisoning him at their wedding feast. She’s spent the years since unable to trust anyone, and even the one person she does actually trust to some degree [[spoiler:(Relius)]] ends up betraying her. By the end of the third book, however, with [[spoiler:her marriage to Gen]], she’s started to undergo [[DefrostingTheIceQueen defrosting]].

** This is Bree Pym's [[{{Backstory}} backstory]] as it unfolds in ''Aunt Dimity Down Under''. Her grandfather recently died, her abusive alcoholic father went on one last bender, and she fled the situation, only to find her long-lost mother had remarried and started another family (in part to forget her own sufferings at the hands of Ed Pym). She finds and quits a couple of jobs, gets several tattoos and numerous piercings, and is so upset when the tattoo artist advises her to slow down she trashes his studio and breaks his glasses. Of herself, she tells Lori:

* [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse Mara Jade]]. Ho boy. Taken from her family by the Emperor, who probably had them killed, and indoctrinated and turned her into his personal assassin. The ''one'' mission she fails, killing Luke Skywalker, comes back to bite her ''hard'' when Luke subsequently triggers Vader's HeelFaceTurn and killing of the Emperor to protect his son. Oh, and the Emperor was in telepathic contact with Mara at the time and showed her a false vision of what happened (Vader and Luke turning on the Emperor ''together'') to basically say "This is all your fault," with the vision tormenting her practically nightly ''for five years'' to ensure that eventually she kills Luke as vengeance on Vader from beyond the grave. She loses her power and prestige, her home and sense of purpose, and spends five years bouncing from meaningless job to meaningless job, often having to take off when her latent Force abilities awaken and the visions of the Emperor return, and she fears to let anyone get close. And then she meets Luke Skywalker and discovers that pretty much ''her entire existence'' has been a lie, and everything she ever believed was wrong. TimothyZahn picked her name [[MeaningfulName for a reason]].

* Fasalina from [[GunxSword GunxSword]] is an [[AffablyEvil Affably Evil,]] AloofDarkHairedGirl ex-prostitute/pole dancer that had no parents growing up. She so resents and wants to redeem her unclean body that she joins up with [[AffablyEvil The]] [[BigBad Claw]] and helps him bring [[AssimilationPlot his plans]] to fruition. It's pretty apparent that her past has left her a ''very'' broken individual that truly sees The Claw's plan as her best and only way to redeem herself. Even though she's a villain that can be [[EvilIsSexy VERY provocative]], it's hard not to feel sympathy towards her at times.

* Nearly all of the women in {{A Cruel God Reigns}}. Vivi had her heart broken when [[spoiler: Jeremy admits that he slept with a man twice, although he was forced to do so.]] Sandra, whose first husband died and was then dumped by her boyfriend, resulting in a {{Bungled Suicide}}. Her marriage to Greg starts to slide downhill toward the end as well. It was heavily implied that Valentine was [[spoiler: sexually abused]], resulting in her {{Dumb Struck}} status for most of the series. Nadia is dedicated heart and soul to Ian, and get her heart broken when [[spoiler: Ian starts to fall in love with Jeremy, and eventually cheats on her with him.]] Liliya, Greg's first wife was [[spoiler: {{Mistaken for Cheating}} and pressured by Greg into committing suicide.]]

* Renge from TenkuuSenkiShurato. She already had self-esteem issues due to being [[TheSmurfettePrinciple the only girl in the Royal Guard]], but falling in love with [[spoiler: her FaceHeelTurn-ed mentor Indrah]] as well as [[spoiler: the death of the UnluckyChildhoodFriend whose love she simply couldn't return]] push her over the edge [[spoiler: and to her own death at the hands of her other friend, Hyuuga.]] [[spoiler: Thank the Gods that she gets better.]]
* [[spoiler: Kaede Kunikida]] from BlueSeed. [[spoiler: As one of the two {{Barrier maiden}}s of the story, the Terrestial Administration Center (TAC) used her abilities to fight the Aragami but never really saw her as a person - specially in the case of [[ParentalNeglect her adoptive father]], Daitetsu Kunikida. As a result, Kaede grew up VERY embittered and faked her death, going through a FaceHeelTurn. Her twin sister is the main character Momiji, and when she learns about Kaede being alive an with the enemi, she decides to try redeeming Kaede instead of killing her.]]

* The Witch in ''Into the Woods'' consistently embodies the cynical and badass qualities, warning Rapunzel, "the world is dark and wild." It never becomes entirely clear where the Witch's brokenness stems from, but she is persuasive enough in pointing out the failings of others to make us suspect that her ruthless and misanthropic ways came from somewhere.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' thrives on this trope. We have Mr.Gold/Rumpelstiltskin, Regina Mills/The Evil Queen, and Cora, in whose lives the DarkAndTroubledPast figures prominently and explains their recurrent badassery. Emma Swan, the heroine of the series is another example of this trope.

* As a TeenDrama, ''{{The OC}}'' just *has* to angst over this trope from time to time. Kirsten Cohen is probably the most traditional version, born into a wealthy, emotionally-detached family with a cheating, power-hungry father and an alcoholic mother who dies long before the series begins. She channels this trauma into becoming a [[WellDoneSonGuy Well Done Daughter Girl]] and eventual LadyDrunk. Marissa Cooper is a less consistent example, starting off as a privileged do-gooder whose family falls apart, and is then forced to deal with her [[RichBitch conniving mother]], all of which tracks pretty well. However, her subsequent behavior bounces between lashing out, self-destructing, clinging to any remotely available teenager in a two-mile radius, and generally whining about all of the above. This makes her a little too emotionally spastic to qualify as a true BrokenBird, but might work as a teen soap version.

* {{X-23}}, Marvel comics.

* The cast of ''Avengers Arena'' is filled with these including {{X-23}}, [[AvengersAcademy Hazmat]], and Cammi.
** And as of issue eight [[spoiler:Juston Seyfert]] is looking like a male one.