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3%% Zero-context examples have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them.
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8%%If you see a character listed as a Complete Monster, they don't belong here.
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11[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/{{Blame}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/466446802443795_6669.png]]]]
12[[caption-width-right:350: His life sucks. But he will never complain.]]
13
14->''"They'll realize that beneath your unfeeling exterior is a heart that's breaking. Silently, and in more pain than any of us can possibly understand because that's what it is to be Vulcan!"''
15-->-- ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', "Muse"
16
17These characters need a hug. Badly. [[BeneathTheMask But don't expect them to ask for one]]. A subtrope of TheStoic, unlike other {{woobie}} characters, they won't cry, angst, or outwardly show how much they're suffering at all. (Internally is another story). [[DontYouDarePityMe They don't want your pity]], and in a great number of cases, will [[TinMan deny having emotions at all]]. Don't be fooled. The plot has heaped complication after complication on them, and silently, internally, they're suffering. They may inadvertently show their suffering for a moment, in which case they are NotSoStoic, or they may just have {{Past Experience Nightmare}}s. If they are lucky they will find a ManicPixieDreamGirl to comfort them and live happily ever after as a reward for their stoicism.
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19See also JerkassWoobie and IronWoobie. This character is often a TinMan, SugarAndIcePersonality, BrokenBird, EmotionlessGirl, ShellShockedVeteran, or DefrostingIceQueen.
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21The polar opposite of {{Wangst}}, where a character overemotes at the most minor suffering. Compare DidYouThinkICantFeel Also compare {{Mangst}}.
22
23----
24!!Examples:
25[[index]]
26* StoicWoobie/AnimeAndManga
27* {{StoicWoobie/Film}}
28* StoicWoobie/{{Literature}}
29* StoicWoobie/LiveActionTV
30* StoicWoobie/VideoGames
31* StoicWoobie/WesternAnimation
32[[/index]]
33
34[[foldercontrol]]
35
36[[folder:Comic Books]]
37* ''ComicBook/{{Cyclops}}'', leader of the ''ComicBook/XMen''. Even though some think he acts like a KnightTemplar dick, you have to pity this guy. Starters he lost his family in a plane crash where he and his brother were the only known survivors; said brother would then be adopted and taken away from him, leaving him alone in a Crapsack of an orphanage where he was bullied by other children and tortured/experimented on by Mister Sinister. He can’t control his powers. His first two wives turned crazy and evil with one of them resurrecting and dying ''again.'' He's been {{Mind Rape}}d a number of times. Yet he never complains, ever.
38* ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'':
39** Wedge Antilles. [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/980722.html Pirates killed his parents]] when he was sixteen or seventeen. [[http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/1498235.html Imperials killed his girlfriend]] only a few years later. In both cases, and in plenty after that, he "[[PlotArmor luckily]]" survived. But he takes care to only express feelings of anger and helplessness when there's no one there to see - he takes being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure seriously. Must be part of the reason he and Tycho get on so well - they've both been hurt terribly, they've both had to pick up and keep going and have healed, more or less, even if there are scars.
40** Tycho's wife keeps her emotions very tightly under control most of the time, leading some in-universe (as well as some fans) to see her as an [[IceQueen ice]] [[MeaningfulName queen]], but [[DefrostingIceQueen underneath it all]], she is a caring person, she just has to keep her emotions tightly under control after [[DoomedHometown her home planet (Alderaan) was destroyed]] because [[BlessedWithSuck thanks to her eidetic memory she remembers every single detail of what she lost]].
41* ''ComicBook/{{X 23}}''. For all the hell she's put through, Laura seldom actually talks about it. This is mainly because her emotionally-abusive upbringing left her with a poor understanding of ''how'' to deal with her feelings. As a result, her main form of expression over the pain in her past is [[SelfHarm cutting herself with her claws]], and when she ''does'' [[NotSoStoic break down]], she's prone to bouts of severe if not suicidal depression.
42[[/folder]]
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44[[folder:Fan Works]]
45* Monster X is portrayed this way in ''Fanfic/TheBridge''. He may be an antagonist, but isn't an [[AntiVillain amoral]] character who's at worst a PunchClockVillain. Yet it seems like everything that could go wrong with his early life did, and is coming back to haunt him.
46* [[ManipulativeBastard Mercury]] from the Literature/InheritanceCycle fanfic series "A Dance of Shadow and Light" by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3779251/Ocadioan Ocadioan]] is a definite case of this. [[FreudianExcuse Traumatic, cruel and hellish childhood?]] Check. Repeated being used as the universe's [[TheChewToy chew toy?]] Check. Losing his few friends and loved ones one by one? Check. It is telling that as the story continues and the author's physical abuse of him lessens, the mental abuse just keeps escalating. At the end, [[spoiler:Mercury have been [[DeathSeeker wishing for]] [[ThanatosGambit and planning]] his own death for [[MilesToGoBeforeISleep 400 years]].]]
47* In the ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'' fanfic ''Fanfic/ThePandaChronicles'', Aaron Z is this when he deals with his boyfriend having pneumonia and in "Surface Pressure" when he has low self esteem. However he remains calm through it all.
48* ''Fanfic/InkopolisChaos'': Jade Grady is suffering a lot on the inside, and has a guilt complex. Regardless, her cold and serious attitude keeps her from opening up often. As Agent 3, she used to hate octolings due to being raised to think they were all evil, and losing her mother to one, and acted lethal towards them, but once she realised they were brainwashed, she felt immense guilt, believing herself to be a murderer and a monster. [[spoiler:Then, she lives with the guilt of Ruby having died so she can live, which shocked her and briefly made her feel that she should have died instead]].
49[[/folder]]
50
51[[folder:Music]]
52* The protagonist in ''Assemblage 23''s song "Light". Most of the lyrics talk about how he is [[TraumaCongaLine going through hell,]] but the chorus is about how he's [[TheDeterminator still gonna tough it out.]]
53--> "To the ones who want me on my knees,"
54--> "You cannot control my destiny,"
55--> "There is light that flows within my veins,"
56--> "There is darkness for the ones who bring me pain."
57* The unnamed narrator from "I Am a Rock" by Music/SimonAndGarfunkel admits in an OdeToApathy that they've found solace in being a complete [[{{Hikikomori}} shut-in]], and has [[TheStoic relinquished all emotion]] and relationships in favor of isolating themselves. However, it appears as though they've only reached this point due to a prior negative experience, due to their recounts of "friendship causes pain", and the reason why they prefer this state of a complete lack of caring is that, "a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries."
58* The subject in "Shadows Of The Night" by Music/PatBenatar. He's someone in a lot of pain who tries to keep it hidden. in response she [[PetTheDog tells him she's there for him and it's ok for him to cry and the like]].
59* The person sung about in "Trouble Me" by Music/TenThousandManiacs seems to be someone like this. One of the protagonist's lines is "Why are you building this thick, thick wall to defend me?"
60[[/folder]]
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62[[folder:Visual Novels]]
63* Miles Edgeworth from the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series was trapped with his father in an elevator by an earthquake as a young child. After hours in the dark, he was rescued, but his father was found dead of a gunshot wound, the third man with them was falsely accused, and Edgeworth secretly blamed himself. He was taken in by the man who actually committed the murder, who raised him to be a heartless prosecutor. His adult persona is the very picture of refined self-control, but earthquakes completely wreck him -- he panics, often faints, and kicks himself afterward for being so 'weak.' You just want to pat him on the back and tell him it's not his fault.
64* Henri Lambert from ''VisualNovel/PiofioreFatedMemories''. As a child, [[spoiler: his sister was driven insane and likely murdered by the mafia, after which he was sent away to a branch mafia family and repeatedly physically abused. He was not given enough food and would have died, but was helped by an older girl in the manor who demanded sexual acts in return. If he did a good job pleasing her, he would get some food]] and ultimately developed a severe aversion to touching people or eating food. In 1926, he is even taunted by the villain that it is his fault that [[spoiler: he was sexually abused because he is too beautiful]]. Despite all this, he shows little anger or sadness to others, and is noted as someone who has exceeding control over his emotions.
65* Ange Ushiromiya from ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry''. The poor girl grew up in a BadFuture where one entire side of her family (including the half-brother she hero-worshipped) died, with the exception of a now AxCrazy aunt, who loathes and resents her for still being alive while her child died on Rokkenjima [[spoiler:(And later it turns out it's not true, and the truth that her "crazy" aunt hid from her [[AwfulTruth is FAR worse]])]]. She got sent OffToBoardingSchool, where she was [[KidsAreCruel bullied and treated like a freak]], and her only remaining relative on the ''other'' side of the family is an ''even more'' AxCrazy aunt who actively tried to kill her. And as icing on the angst-cake, [[spoiler:Bernkastel manipulated all of these events ''specifically'' so she could bring Ange back in time with the false hope of fixing her world and then kill her, purely to torment the aforementioned brother, himself an IronWoobie.]] You wouldn't know any of this from talking to her, though; she's a DeadpanSnarker who keeps to herself and rarely shows any expression except for [[PerpetualFrowner a vague frown]].
66* Yomogi Seiji from ''VisualNovel/Remember11''. This 35-year-old athlete is responsible without complaint for the survival of a small group of people in extreme cold conditions after a terrible plane crash, while being insulted and threatened by a mentally unstable young woman whom he saved from freezing. As the game progresses, you can learn about his phenomenally tragic family experience[[spoiler: which his beloved wife couldn't endure in her right mind]]. The player's task is not to let this strong phlegmatic man break down under the burden of responsibility in the face of mortal danger. By the way, the main female character, a student psychologist, manages to feel his hidden pain soon after meeting him, and she immediately gives him a hug in the manner of a ManicPixieDreamGirl. Unaccustomed to such compassion, he asks in great confusion to stop.
67[[/folder]]
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69[[folder:Web Animation]]
70* From WebAnimation/JaidenAnimations' ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' session, Paul. His life is the very definition of miserable, with his wife leaving him, his son going missing at age 6, and his manager preventing any and all upward mobility, yet despite how depressed he is from the hardships, Paul never complains and maintains a cold, emotionless complexion.
71* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Lie Ren. Despite being very calm and polite most of the time, his backstory is easily among the most traumatizing of the main characters: during one night, a devastatingly powerful Grimm invaded his village; during said invasion, his mother died before his eyes and his father died attempting to give him time to survive; the trauma awoke his Semblance in time for him to save himself and Nora, which leaves them as the two sole survivors of the entire village. Volume 4 makes it clear that the same Grimm that killed his father and destroyed his village is back and just a few meters ahead of him. [[spoiler:His bottling of emotions and trauma become a problem in the Atlas Arc, as he struggles with the overwhelming truth that Salem cannot be killed; in Volume 8, his [[RageBreakingPoint unbottling]] leads to a Semblance evolution and a much better mindset; now he is TheEmpath, able to discuss his and others' emotions in a healthier way.]]
72[[/folder]]
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74[[folder:Webcomics]]
75* Susan of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' seems to fit quite well. She rarely shows any emotion or talks about her problems despite the fact that [[spoiler:both she and her mother have been rather messed up after her parents went through a nasty divorce because her dad was cheating. On top of that, Susan discovered the cheating by walking in on her dad at a rather young age.]] [[FromBadToWorse And if that wasn't bad enough]] [[spoiler:she had to kill a very human-like monster at the age of 14.]]
76* Dante from ''Webcomic/TheStoryOfAnima''. An [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Animus]] so powerful that the [[PsychoForHire Bloody Flames]] were [[http://tapastic.com/episode/74794 instructed specifically not to engage him]]. [[http://tapastic.com/episode/65505 Of course, he grew up under an abusive clan head that was only interested in cultivating his brother's Animus, who then focused on him after his brother gauged out his eye in a fit of rage and was subsequently banished]]. It's amazing he's still one of the more genuinely kind characters in the comic.
77[[/folder]]
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79[[folder:Web Original]]
80* ''WebVideo/DontHugMeImScared'': Red Guy, by virtue of the fact that he's the show's OnlySaneMan, is extremely pitiable. From the outset, he always puts his friends' needs first, but only does so in vain as they get swept up in a "lesson" of the day, causing his friends severe psychological trauma. Come DHMIS 4, and he manages to find a way out of the simulation and into the real world, but ends up leaving his friends behind as a result. He spends the entirety of DHMIS 5 trying to call them in order to help them escape, but this [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom ends up resulting]] in Duck Guy being murdered, and he ends up being unsuccessful in trying to free them. DHMIS 6 shows Red Guy [[GrassIsGreener feeling nostalgic]] for his time in the nightmare world, if only because he misses his friends, causing him to be [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer outcasted]] by the world filled with [[TheStoic emotionless people]] like him, and once he sees for himself what's become of his friends, he tries once and for all to end their suffering by pulling the plug on the simulation. Red Guy never once complains or raises his voice towards any of the disturbing occurrences surrounding him, and yet he ultimately lives a sad, empathetic life.
81* In the ''Website/{{Neopets}}'' "Tale of Woe" plot, Bruno is a handsome, if gangly, young [[Characters/NeopetsSpecies Gelert]]. When [[SnakeOilSalesman Mr. Krawley]] offers him a potion that will make him stronger, he accepts it because he is desperate to impress his love interest. Unfortunately, he was tricked as the potion came with the side effect of turning him into [[TheGrotesque a grotesque monster]]. At the end, when an antidote is found, it does not work on him. It is assumed that this is because he's been under the effects of the potion for too long. He accepts his fate, saying that he is used to the way he looks now.
82[[/folder]]

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