History Woobie / ASongOfIceAndFire

* Aegon III. He thought he had lost his brother Viserys when enemy forces attacked their ship, his dragon died after helping him escape and his brother Jacaerys died during the battle. Later his mother Rhaenyra took King's Landing, but Aegon and his mother were forced to flee once the citizens of the city turned on them. Aegon was ForcedToWatch as his mother was eaten by his [[CainAndAbel uncle's]] dragon, was forced to marry Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera, and was imprisoned by Aegon II as a hostage. After Aegon II's death Aegon was released and became king, but he remained in melancholy for the rest of his life, never smiling and always wearing black in mourning for his mother. He would brood in his room for days, meaning his brother Viserys had to run the realm, and didn't even like being touched by his wife Daenaera Velaryon. He also died relatively young, at the age of 36.

** Pretty much all of the Dragonstone group qualifies, actually. Shireen is a sweet girl who is mocked by everyone up to and including her uncle, simply for being disfigured; Davos Seaworth grew up very poor and is disrespected by everyone around him; Melisandre grew up a slave in Asshai, one of the most unpleasant and terrifying places in the aSoIaF universe, and is so traumatized by her childhood that she can't even stand the dark; Selyse Baratheon is neglected in her marriage and implied to have latched so thoroughly onto R'hllor because of loneliness; and Patchface is mentally disabled due to drowning when he was younger. And they are all going to have to deal with the Others soon enough.

* Aegon III. He thought he had lost his brother Viserys when enemy forces attacked their ship, his dragon died after helping him escape and his brother Jacaerys died during the battle. Later his mother Rhaenyra took King's Landing, but Aegon and his mother were forced to flee once the citizens of the city turned on them. Aegon was ForcedToWatch as his mother was eaten by his [[CainAndAbel uncle's]] dragon, was forced to marry Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera, and was imprisoned by Aegon II as a hostage. After Aegon II's death Aegon was released and became king, but he remained melancholy for the rest of his life, never smiling and always wearing black in mourning for his mother. He would brood in his room for days, meaning his brother Viserys had to run the realm, and didn't even like being touched by his wife Daenaera Velaryon. He also died relatively young, at the age of 36.

* The late Viserys Targaryen can be considered a JerkassWoobie when you get a good long look at his backstory. His entire family was killed expect a little sister he had to raise in exile while begging powerful people in Essos to help him reclaim his homeland.

** Also the fact that Stannis was always by the standards of the Seven Kingdoms one of its most upright men. He followed his brother even if it was treason against his King, holding Storm's End for a year and almost starving, taking Dragonstone and defeating the first Greyjoy Rebellion, and promotes people for merit rather than nobility. He finally claims the throne because he knows he is Robert's rightful heir. Yet he barely gets appreciated during Robert's' reign and most of the Seven Kingdoms believes him an EvilUncle and DarkLord.

* Edmure Tully. First he fails horrendously at lighting his father's body alight, looking like an idiot in front of everyone. He's basically considered worthless at war by everyone else in the council when he realizes how badly he exceeded his command, which was partly Robb's fault due to the two not [[PoorCommunicationKills actually discussing what Robb was planning]]. He's forced to marry against his will and just when it looks like he might actually win from that, the Red Wedding happens and he's imprisoned, humiliated by the Freys to negotiate a surrender with the Blackfish, his only moment of awesome being a gambit to screw over Jaime Lannister and the Freys by helping the Blackfish escape.

* Sansa [[spoiler: loses her wolf, her family, her friends, her dignity, her idealism, and almost loses her life on several occasions]].

* For such a minor character, Queen Rhaella Targaryen manages to rack up quite a few woobie points: she wasn't allowed to marry the man she loved and was forced to marry her brother instead; Aerys spent the early part of their marriage cheating on her and the later part raping and beating her; she had a number of stillbirths, miscarriages and crib deaths, to the point it was rumored that the gods were punishing her for alleged infidelity; Robert's Rebellion ended up killing off her son, daughter-in-law-and grandchildren; and then finally she died giving birth, not knowing if her surviving children will even live to the next day.

* Poor, poor [[BrokenBird Queen Helaena]]. The horrific Blood and Cheese incident left her severely depressed and [[spoiler: lead to her committing suicide ([[NeverSuicide allegedly]])]].

* Edmure Tully. First he fails horrendously at lighting his father's body alight, looking like an idiot in front of everyone. He's basically considered worthless at war by everyone else in the council when he realizes how badly he exceeded his command. He's forced to marry against his will and just when it looks like he might actually win from that, the Red Wedding happens and he's imprisoned, humiliated by the Freys to negotiate a surrender with the Blackfish, his only moment of awesome being a gambit to screw over Jaime Lannister and the Freys by helping the Blackfish escape.

* Edmure Tully. First he fails horrendously at lighting his father's body alight, looking like an idiot in front of everyone. He's basically considered worthless at war by everyone else in the council when he realizes how badly he exceeded his command. He's forced to marry against his will and just when it looks like he might actually win from that, the Red Wedding happens and he's imprisoned, humiliated by the Freys to negotiate a surrender with the Blackfish, his only moment of awesome being a gambit to screw over Jaime Lannister and the Freys by helping the Blackfish escape.

* Edmure Tully. First he fails horrendously at lighting his father's body alight, looking like an idiot in front of everyone. He's basically considered worthless at war by everyone else in the council, mainly because of something that was entirely Robb's fault for not telling him the plan. He's forced to marry against his will- again, Robb's fault- and just when it looks like he might actually win from that, the Red Wedding happens and he's imprisoned, with no foreseeable way out.

* Aegon III. He thought he had lost his brother Viserys when enemy forces attacked their ship, his dragon died after helping him escape and his brother Jacaerys died during the battle. Later his mother Rhaenyra took King's Landing, but Aegon and his mother were forced to flee once the citizens of the city turned on them. Aegon was ForcedToWatch as his mother was eaten by his [[CainAndAbel uncle's]] dragon, was forced to marry Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera, and was imprisoned by Aegon II as a hostage. After Aegon II's death Aegon was released and became king, but he remained melancholy for the rest of his life, never smiling and always wearing black in mourning for his mother. He would brood in his room for days, meaning his brother Viserys had to run the realm, and didn't even like being touched by his wife Daenaera Velaryon. He also died relatively young, at the age of 36.

* Tyrion is the biggest one in the series, and that's saying a lot. He suffers horrible abuse at the hands of his father and sister and is derided by nearly everyone he meets because of his dwarfism, despite being one of the most kindest characters in the series.

* Aegon III. He thought he had lost his brother Viserys when enemy forces attacked their ship, his dragon died after helping him escape and his brother Jacaerys died during the battle. Later his mother Rhaenyra took King's Landing, but Aegon and his mother were forced to flee once the citizens of the city turned on them. Aegon was ForcedToWatch as his mother was eaten by his [[CainAndAbel uncle's]] dragon, was forced to marry Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera, and was imprisoned by Aegon II as a hostage. After Aegon II's death Aegon was released and became king, but he remained melancholy for the rest of his life, never smiling and wearing black in mourning for his mother. He would brood in his room for days, meaning his brother Viserys had to run the realm, and didn't even like being touched by his wife Daenaera Velaryon. He also died relatively young, at the age of 36.

** Also the fact that Stannis was always by the standards of the Seven Kingdoms one of its most upright men. He followed his brother even if it was treason against his King, holding Storm's End for a year and almost starving, taking Dragonstone and defeating the first Greyjoy Rebellion, and promotes people for merit rather then nobility. He finally claims the throne because he knows he is Robert's rightful heir. Yet he barely gets appreciated during Roberts' reign and most of the Seven Kingdoms believes him an EvilUncle and DarkLord.

* Aegon III. He thought he had lost his brother Viserys when enemy forces attacked their ship, his dragon died after helping him escape and his brother Jacaerys died after this. Later Rhanyra his mother took King's Landing, but Aegon and his mother were forced to flee King's Landing, Aegon was ForcedToWatch as his mother was eaten by his [[CainAndAbel uncle's]] dragon, he was forced to marry Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera but imprisoned by Aegon II as a hostage. After Aegon II's death Aegon was released and became King. He remained melancholy for the rest of the life, never smiling and wearing black in mourning for his mother, would brood in his room for days, meaning his brother Viserys had to run the realm, didn't even like being touched by his wife Daenaera Velaryon and died at the age of 36.

* Aegon III. He thought he had lost his brother Viserys when enemy forces attacked their ship, his dragon died after helping him escape and his brother Jacaerys died after this. Later Rhanyra his mother took King's Landing, but Aegon and his mother were forced to flee King's Landing, Aegon was ForcedToWatch as his mother was eaten by his [[CainAndAbel uncle's]] dragon, he was forced to marry Aegon II's daughter Jaehaera but imprisoned by Aegon II as a hostage. After Aegon II's death Aegon was released and became King. He remained melancholy for the rest of the life, never smiling and wearing black in mourning for his mother, would brood in his room for days, didn't even like being touched by his wife Daenaera Velaryon and died at the age of 36.

* [[JerkassWoobie Lysa Tully]] is paranoid, cruel, murderous and clearly off her nut by the time she enters the series, but her backstory is fairly tragic: [[spoiler:As a girl, she had an unrequited crush on Petyr Baelish, who loved her more attractive sister. Her father forced her to miscarry their bastard child, implicitly damaging her womb, and then married her off to a much older man. For years she had nearly a dozen pregnancies which ended in either stillbirth or miscarriage; when she finally had a living child, Robert "Sweetrobin" Arryn, he turned out [[IllBoy sickly with a weak constitution]], and the trials of her life had by this point already driven Lysa off the deep end]].

** Olyvar is the 18th son of Lord Walder, who was made Robb Stark's squire as part of the crossing agreement between the Starks and Freys. He genuinely looked up to Robb despite being a couple years older, had a lively personality and when the Freys withdrew their support in anger over Robb breaking the deal (by marrying Jeyne Westerling), he was the only one present (and still alive, unlike his brother Stevron) who still supported Robb. He's not at the Twins for Edmure's wedding to his full-sister Roslin, obstensibly "on business" along with his cousin Alesander and his full-brother Perwyn; the real reason is that [[spoiler:all three they were judged to be ''too'' sympathetic to the Northerners]], and it's implied that Perwyn [[spoiler:knew about the Red Wedding, yet despite objecting he didn't stop it out of family loyalty]]. Olyvar only found out about this ''well after'' [[spoiler:his former lord and sworn King, along with many people he fought alongside during the campaign, were already massacred.]] This guy really needs a hug.

* Tyrion is the biggest one in the series, and that's saying a lot. He suffers horrible abuse at the hands of his father and sister and is derided by nearly everyone he meets because of his dwarfism.

** The most sympathetic of the Freys is the poor fool, Aegon "Jinglebell" Frey. The poor guy was born with substantial learning difficulties and was thus made the butt of family jokes for decades. And, with ''that'' [[HateSink family]], well... you just have to pity him, as its all too easy to picture what he must have gone through. [[spoiler: In the end, he was considered a throw-away sacrifice of not much note, too.]]

* Stannis Baratheon's wife is a Rhollor fanatic, his daughter is disfigured, his only friend is an ex-smuggler whose fingers he chopped off and he is off fighting wildlings and gods know what else beyond the Wall when he should be regrouping and reinforcing his army. Stan needs a hug.

* Hodor is mentally disabled and Catelyn's Frey wards viciously mock him for it.

** Pretty much all of the Dragonstone group qualifies, actually. Shireen is a sweet girl who is mocked by everyone up to and including her uncle, simply for being disfigured, Davos Seaworth grew up very poor and is disrespected by everyone around him, Melisandre grew up a slave in Asshai, one of the most unpleasant and terrifying places in the aSoIaF universe, and is so traumatized by her childhood that she can't even stand the dark, Selyse Baratheon is neglected in her marriage and implied to have latched so thoroughly onto R'hllor because of loneliness, and Patchface is mentally disabled due to drowning when he was younger. And they are all going to have to deal with the Others soon enough.

** Olyvar is the 18th son of Lord Walder, who was made Robb Stark's squire as part of the crossing agreement between the Starks and Freys. He genuinely looked up to Robb despite being a couple years older, had a lively personality and when the Frey's withdrew their support in anger over Robb breaking the deal (by marrying Jeyne Westerling), he was the only one present (and still alive, unlike his brother Stevron) who still supported Robb. He's not at the Twins for Edmure's wedding to his full-sister Roslin, obstensibly "on business" along with his cousin Alesander and his full-brother Perwyn; the real reason is that [[spoiler:all three they were judged to be ''too'' sympathetic to the Northerners]], and it's implied that Perwyn [[spoiler:knew about the Red Wedding, yet despite objecting he didn't stop it out of family loyalty]]. Olyvar only found out about this ''well after'' [[spoiler:his former lord and sworn King, along with many people he fought alongside during the campaign, were already massacred.]] This guy really needs a hug.

* Arya has low self-esteem due to always being compared to her beautiful, talented, and feminine older sister. But that pales in comparison to [[spoiler: seeing her father executed. She is forced to travel through war-torn Westeros as a common refugee and exposed to deprivation and horrific violence. The fact that she's been forced to take on several identities is slowly ebbing away her sanity. She believes that her entire family has been killed and that they wouldn't even want her back because she's kill people]].

* Brienne has been mocked and rejected by many people for her lack of beauty and desire to be a KnightInShiningArmor. Despite being the closest thing to the ideal that [[Crapsackworld Westeros]] has, it actually makes things a lot more difficult for her as men try to "[[AttemptedRape put her in her place]]". [[spoiler: Now she's being forced by the undead Catelyn, a woman she a duty to, to betray Jaime, a man that she has come to respect.]]

* Poor Bran Stark wanted nothing more than to be a KnightInShiningArmor, and ''loved'' climbing. Then Jaime pushed him out of a window, paralyzing him from the waist down. Now not only can he never be a knight, not only can he never climb again, he can't even ''cross the room'' without someone's help.

* Sansa. Will this poor, mistreated young DamselInDistress ever find her KnightInShiningArmor?
* Jon Snow
* Dany was set up as one. Then it's totally subverted with her [[YouGoGirl ascent to awesomeness.]]
* Tyrion is the biggest one in the series, and that's saying a lot.
* Hodor
* Jeyne Poole manages to claim this title in ADWD despite being a very minor character. [[spoiler:Being married to ''Ramsay Bolton'' is exactly as bad as it sounds.]]
* Theon Greyjoy, [[spoiler: as Reek.]]

* Podrick Payne.
* Sandor Clegane needs more hugs.

* Cat. That poor, poor woman.

* Jaime, since ''A Storm of Swords''.
* Littlefinger as a boy, who by all accounts [[UsedToBeASweetKid was adorably mischievous and full of idealism]]. As an adult, he can be interpreted as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds.