History Woobie / FireEmblem

* Mercedes has a difficult past and present. House Martritz fell when Mercedes was small, and her mother married Baron Bartels, but [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he neglected Mercedes and her mother after the latter bore him a Crest-bearing son, Emile]]. Mercedes and Emile ended up being bullied by their half-siblings for having a Crest, not unlike what Miklan did to Sylvain. Eventually, Mercedes and her mother were forced to flee and leave Emile behind. The two took refuge in a church in Faerghus, but a greedy and ambitious merchant bribed the church to force them to let him adopt Mercedes, intending to marry her off to improve his own status. If Mercedes opposes the Empire, she will have to fight against and kill Emile, while if she joins the Empire, she will have to fight against the church she believes in and her best friend Annette. ''Three Houses'' allows you to recruit Annette to make joining the Empire easier for Mercedes, but no such option exists in ''Three Hopes.''

* Alear's past was - to say the least - rather horrible. [[spoiler:Born to [[AbusiveParents Sombron, the Fell Dragon Monarch]], Alear had it made very clear to them at a young age that their father saw them as nothing but a disposable pawn, with emphasis on the "disposable". Past Alear recounts in a tone best described as "numb" how they saw most of their siblings die at the hands of their father, rather than the hands of their enemies, and were terrified of suffering the same fate. [[TrappedInVillainy Forced to serve Sombron under the threat of immediate death]] if they ever [[YouHaveFailedMe failed]], [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness disobeyed]], [[PunishedForSympathy or showed weakness]] around him even though they [[BeingEvilSucks clearly never enjoyed any of it]], they pulled a HeelFaceTurn after meeting Queen Lumera, who eventually adopted them and gave them the love they never received from Sombron (no mention is ever made of their birth mother). At the end of the first war against Sombron, they helped fight and defeat him, finally freeing themselves from him - only for their abusive father to hurt them badly enough they fell asleep for a thousand years, and for them to develop amnesia after waking up]].

* Elincia has witnessed her mother and father killed before her eyes by Mad King Ashnard, her uncle seemingly left for dead [[spoiler: we later find out he survived but not before being [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashed]] into the vicious psychopathic Bertram]], and many of her countrymen (including her retainers) imprisoned or massacred. She's constantly on the run from Daein who follow her as far as Crimea goes, her castle has been taken over by Ashnard, she witnesses countless atrocities causing her to take up arms against Ashnard's army in Chapter 26. When everything seems to be alright in the second game, the peace is later disturbed by Duke Ludveck and his supporters causing dissent among the Crimean people who wishes to kill her, usurp her, and nearly kills her beloved adopted sister and retainer Lucia (who is only barely saved by Ike and the Greil Mercenaries returning). She is almost killed by vile Senator Valtome and his men for daring to stop the fighting between Begnion and the Laguz Alliance. [[spoiler:Then she witnesses the Goddess she thought was omnipotent and loving committing countless atrocities by turning her men aside from her closest retainers into stone and realizes that the "evil goddess" imprisoned in Lehran's medallion was actually GoodAllAlong, and she leads her group with Tibarn to fight against the Disciples of Order.]]

[[folder:''Engage'']]

[[folder:Engage]]

* [[BreakTheCutie Nino]]. [[spoiler:Her family was murdered by Sonia, and was taken in by her only because Nergal thought she could be some use to them. She would then grew up being neglected and verbally abused by Sonia, not even learning how to ''read''. Even after recruiting her and [[MagikarpPower training her up]], she still inevitably witnesses the deaths of her step-family that she loved dearly.]]

* Dimitri was the SoleSurvivor of a violent massacre that led to the deaths of his father and a beloved older brother figure. He was helpless to stop the near destruction of the country he was visiting (they were on a diplomatic trip) as they were [[MisplacedRetribution wrongly blamed]] and scapegoated despite the fact he knew they weren't responsible, but [[CassandraTruth no one believed him.]] Afterwards, he is constantly haunted by the dead calling for vengeance. This leads him to pursue revenge, which comes with dire consequences in the academy phase. He witnesses a battle that triggers his trauma, his beloved stepsister who doesn't remember him is revealed to be in cahoots with the very people who killed his family and war breaks out, leading him to snap and be hellbent on claiming [[spoiler: Edelgard's]] head. Come the five-year timeskip, he's a broken shell of himself, and it takes the death of his father figure to snap him out of his bloodthirsty attitude. However, it's ultimately a BittersweetEnding for him as he admits in his S support that he will likely hear the voices of the dead until he dies. It's even worse in routes outside of his own where he never gets your help and support for his trauma (and if you chose to recruit all the Blue Lions to save yourself from killing them, it means almost all his housemates, including his ''childhood friends'' have left him alone save for his NumberTwo) and his desire for revenge costs him his life.

* Marianne was born with a cursed Crest that led to her being ostracized. There is at least one Crest scholar who constantly accused her of being a beast who eats people, and she often pushes people away in the fear that she will bring them misfortune. Worse, if you're not in the Golden Deer and don't recruit her, it's heavily implied that she was DrivenToSuicide.

* Dimitri was the SoleSurvivor of a violent massacre that led to the deaths of his father and a beloved older brother figure. He was helpless to stop the near destruction of the country he was visiting (they were on a diplomatic trip) as they were {{Misblamed}} and scapegoated despite the fact he knew they weren't responsible, but [[CassandraTruth no one believed him.]] Afterwards, he is constantly haunted by the dead calling for vengeance. This leads him to pursue revenge, which comes with dire consequences in the academy phase. He witnesses a battle that triggers his trauma, his beloved stepsister who doesn't remember him is revealed to be in cahoots with the very people who killed his family and war breaks out, leading him to snap and be hellbent on claiming [[spoiler: Edelgard's]] head. Come the five-year timeskip, he's a broken shell of himself, and it takes the death of his father figure to snap him out of his bloodthirsty attitude. However, it's ultimately a BittersweetEnding for him as he admits in his S support that he will likely hear the voices of the dead until he dies. It's even worse in routes outside of his own where he never gets your help and support for his trauma (and if you chose to recruit all the Blue Lions to save yourself from killing them, it means almost all his housemates, including his ''childhood friends'' have left him alone save for his NumberTwo) and his desire for revenge costs him his life.

%%Good Evening Editors, If you wish to add more woobies, please consult the cleanup thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15391212720A38366900&page=1

* Dimitri was the SoleSurvivor of a violent massacre that led to the deaths of his father and a beloved older brother figure. He was helpless to stop the near destruction of the country he was visiting (they were on a diplomatic trip) as they were {{Misblamed}} and scapegoated despite the fact he knew they weren't responsible, but [[CassandraTruth no one believed him.]] Afterwards, he is constantly haunted by the dead calling for vengeance. This leads him to pursue revenge, which comes with dire consequences in the academy phase. He witnesses a battle that triggers his trauma, his beloved stepsister who doesn't remember him is revealed to be in cahoots with the very people who killed his family and war breaks out, leading him to snap and be hellbent on claiming [[spoiler: Edelgard's]] head. Come the five-year timeskip, he's a broken shell of himself, and it takes the death of his father figure to snap him out of his bloodthirsty attitude. However, it's ultimately a BittersweetEnding for him as he admits in his S support that he will likely hear the voices of the dead until he dies. It's even worse in routes outside of his own where he never gets your help and support for his trauma (and if you chose to recruit all the Blue Lions to save yourself from killing them, it means almost his housemates, including his ''childhood friends'' have left him alone save for his NumberTwo) and his desire for revenge costs him his life.

* Dimitri was the SoleSurvivor of a violent massacre that led to the deaths of his father and a beloved older brother figure. He was helpless to stop the near destruction of the country he was visiting (they were on a diplomatic trip) as they were {{Misblamed}} and scapegoated despite the fact he knew they weren't responsible, but [[CassandraTruth no one believed him.]] Afterwards, he is constantly haunted by the dead calling for vengeance. This leads him to pursue revenge, which comes with dire consequences in the academy phase. He witnesses a battle that triggers his trauma, his beloved stepsister who doesn't remember him is revealed to be in cahoots with the very people who killed his family and war breaks out, leading him to snap and be hellbent on claiming [[spoiler: Edelgard's]] head. Come the five-year timeskip, he's a broken shell of himself, and it takes the death of his father figure to snap him out of his bloodthirsty attitude. However, it's ultimately a BittersweetEnding for him as he admits in his S support that he will likely hear the voices of the dead until he dies. It's even worse in routes outside of his own where he never gets your help and support for his trauma and his desire for revenge costs him his life.

* Flayn has [[spoiler:been through the near-genocide of her species, participated in the War of Heroes that founded Fodlan when she (at least appeared to be) barely a teenager, and after being gravely wounded in said war, fell asleep for almost a thousand years, then woke up recently to discover that her mother (and presumably any human friends she had) were dead, her two uncles had left while she slept, and her father had become extremely overprotective of her. Then, she gets kidnapped by the Death Knight, and then discovers that one of her schoolmates (possibly her ''House Leader'' if you picked the Black Eagles) is planning to, and starts, a continent-spanning war. Then, Byleth and Rhea both either vanish for five years, or in Crimson Flower, betray the Church and go crazy, respectively]]. You [[IronWoobie wouldn't be able]] [[NiceGirl to figure this out]] by looking at her, though.