Woobie / Dragon Quest

• Dragon Quest IV:
  • Maya and Meena, twins who wander around looking for the man who killed their father in order to avenge him, but fail miserably at the end of their chapter, with their friend doing a Heroic Sacrifice so they can survive the battle with the boss.
  • Psaro's girlfriend Rose. She cries tears of ruby, so she was kidnapped by some thugs who abused her so they could become rich from her tears, which ended in her death. Psaro, despite her last wish, ends up wanting to destroy the world, and he does. Fortunately, The Remake allows him to do a Heel–Face Turn.
  • The hero/heroine doesn't have it too good either. His/Her hometown is destroyed, and everyone, including his/her best friend, is killed in his/her place.
• Dragon Quest V:
  • The Hero's father is killed, he himself is made a slave for many years, his home is destroyed, and when he's married, he gets separated from his wife for a major period of time as a stone, which also means he misses out on his twin children's infant years.
  • The Hero's twin children grow up without their parents and search the world for them when they're old enough. Fortunately they have Sancho for a Parental Substitute, but they make it abundantly clear to the hero (through party chat) how much they were dying to meet him and their mother.
  • Royal Brat prince Harry gets a major reality check involving him being kidnapped and enslaved for years by bad guys along with The Hero. And his father dies during all that. Sure, he meets his wife that way and his personality makes a definite turn for the better, but still...
  • Sancho feels guilty for his master's death and The Hero's disappearance. Do not bring him anywhere near Doomed Hometown Whealbrook. His Woobie status will increase when you do so, unless you're playing the original game.
• Dragon Quest VIII:
  • Princess Medea, who's turned into a horse for the entire game, and she's supposed to marry a Prince Charmless that she had never even seen before the game's events.
  • David, a lowly servant who is abused and treated like garbage by his caretaker. Eventually, David is later killed off by said caretaker's dog, possessed by Rhapthorne, because he was a descendant of one of the Sages.
  • Angelo is a mild example. Orphaned at a young age, he ends up at Maella Abbey. The first boy he meets (his half-brother Marcello) is friendly towards him... until he discovers Angelo's true identity afterward and antagonizes him because of the harsh treatment their father put Marcello and his mother through. Thus, Angelo grows up as a gambling womanizer. And then he gets to be treated to the sight of Dhoulmagus killing his father figure Francisco. Yeah... not cool. Even so, Angelo rises up to become a decent man in his own right, even going as far as to save his half-brother from falling to his death after his attempt to use Rhapthrone's power for himself, an act that results in Marcello simply spitting in his face (figuratively, not literally).
  • Even the Godbird Empyrea and her child are turned into these. A demonic griffon named Gemon kidnaps Empyrea's egg (at the behest of Rhapthrone), forcing the party to hound him. In retaliation, he destroys the egg, killing Empyrea's child before he was even born, and driving Empyrea into a hefty state of grief and anguish. In spite of this, spirit of the Godbird's son implores to his mother that he should help out the heroes regardless of what happened.