The Woobie Cleanup

Okay, let's see... Lennon (sounds like a Jerkass Woobie to me), Shin, Garai, Gabby, Olrik and Kane.

Now, If My Calculations Are Correct, the Outnumbered candidates are all pretty much settled now. I'd have dealt with this sooner, but I've been away from home the last few days and the writeups were all on my computer. So:

• Outnumbered: While probably everyone on this show could do with a hug from time to time, there are some who stand out more than others:
  • Frank, Sue's father, suffers from Alzheimer's, and the show doesn't shy away from showing us the gradual loss of his faculties. Early on he seems stubbornly determined to deny he has a problem, although it eventually becomes clear that he's doing so mainly because he can't stand to see his daughter worry; he's only too well aware of what is happening to him. Over time he loses more and more touch with reality, eventually forgetting who Sue even is, as well as how he and his late wife met. His elder daughter, Angela — whom he rarely even gets to see, and clearly misses — offered to become his full-time carer in the first season, only to run off to America when the pressure got too much for her.
  • Jane, the Brockmans' neighbour, went through a divorce shortly before the series began which clearly went extremely badly, as her husband takes every opportunity to make things harder for her, bringing constant legal pressure to bear over child maintenance and the custody of their daughter Alexa (after winning a case to make sure Alexa spends Christmas with him, he then spends the holiday sending cruel taunts to Jane over text). As a result of all this she has become, in her own words, "what happens when all the confidence gets knocked out of a person". She's become very irresponsible and unreliable, frequently leaning too much on others; she knows this, but can't help it, and when Sue brings up the issue of her repeated failures to pick up Alexa from the Brockmans' house on time, she breaks down in tears, describing herself as a bad friend and a bad mother. Her life is basically a series of disasters — on one occasion she accidentally leaves the bath running and ends up destroying her house; on another, while suffering from norovirus, she takes what she thinks is Imodium but is actually strong painkillers — which on top of the alcohol she's consumed lands her in hospital. Her attempts at rebuilding her dating life don't go much better; every relationship she has fails, usually because her boyfriends turn out to be criminals of one sort or another.
  • Alexa, Jane's daughter, is stuck in the middle of her parents' feuding, to the point that she has become desensitised to it; in one scene, while playing with dolls, she casually re-enacts a vicious row between the two of them, which even Karen clearly finds disturbing. Her own relationships with them aren't much better; she's constantly let down by her mother to the point that she simply assumes she always will be, and her father seems to care less about her as his child than he does about using her as a tool to hurt Jane, given the aforementioned Christmas incident.
  • Taylor-Jean and Misty, Angela's stepdaughters in the third and fourth seasons, turn out to have suffered for years under their tyrannical father Brick. Taylor-Jean's mother ended up in an institution as a result of his treatment, and out of spite he banned her name from being spoken in the house and told his children they were better off without her; her daughter tries to act like she believes this, but she can't always keep it up and has run away from home on at least one occasion. Her sister Misty is utterly terrified of him, having spent years being repeatedly locked in her room for hours on end, and has developed an eating disorder as a result; Angela takes pity on her and tries to escape with her, but Brick ultimately manages to drag them both back. What's worse is that, while Angela does eventually manage to break free from Brick, the kids don't, and for all we know are still stuck with him to this day.
  • Iron Woobie: Sue. At the best of times, she has to juggle work with keeping the household running; her boisterous kids and well-meaning but feckless husband aren't much help. It gets worse, though, as she has to come to terms with her father's condition and watch his gradual deterioration; by the end, he doesn't even remember who she is. Despite all this, though, she never lets the stress get too much for her; she remains the rock upon which the Brockman household rests.
  • Jerkass Woobie: While Angela starts out as easily the least sympathetic character in the show — abandoning her father after she promised she would look after him, and generally acting spiteful and vindictive toward Sue and her family — it's hard not to sympathise with her when she thinks she's finally found true love, only for her new husband, Brick, to turn out to be a manipulative, psychologically abusive sociopath who drove his last wife into an institution. She attempts to flee from him and to protect his daughter, Misty, from his cruelty, only for Brick to respond with a two-fold attack — first sending his very expensive lawyers after her, then, once she is cornered, calling her up to convince her that he can change and everything will be fine. Even after she finally breaks free from his control, her life doesn't get a great deal better, as she becomes stuck in a cycle of disastrous relationships that inevitably end in heartbreak for her.

It's write up time!

• Warrior Cats
  • Crowfeather (formerly Crowpaw) is one of the cats sent by StarClan to represent WindClan on the Great Journey. He's prickly to a fault, but his troubles began when he fell in love for a RiverClan cat named Feathertail, who gave her life to protect him. After the Journey happens, he chooses his warrior name after Feathertail. After the journey, he meets Leafpool of and the two have a one night stand. Their love for each other seemed even stronger, yet Leafpool had to abandon him. By the third series, he's settled down with a third mate and had a son who he treats very poorly. After the first four series are resolved, Crowfeather breaks up with Nightcloud and vows to be a better father to Breezepelt and his ThunderClan kits. And he remains Amicable Exes with both Nightcloud and Leafpool.

Edited by Klavice on Jul 25th 2019 at 4:29:18 AM

So, when I found that unproven entry on Echoes:

• The Woobie: Loads of them, such as Jinchuuriki Sakura (from the Wave-verse), N (from the Cloud-verse), and Fem-Gaara (same as canon). For more emphasis:
  • Kazama: His whole life has been a lie and has been manipulated by almost everyone he thought was his friend, & his parents turned him into a weapon at birth because a senile amphibian told them to Because Destiny Says So (in a universe where destiny doesn't exist)! He has been corrupted by a God of Evil and is its Chosen One, Word of God has confirmed his status as a Cosmic Plaything, the Shinigami wants to kill him, and the closest thing he has to a father is the Big Bad, Tsukiyomi.
  • Chibaku: He probably has it the easiest, having spent a few years as a homeless bum... He's also dangerously pragmatic and ruthless
  • Kitsune has had it the worst. His life was made a living Hell by all of the village due to the side effect of Shisui's Genjutsu. His best friend Hinata died due to her father branding her with the Caged Bird Seal, leading to him making a deal with his three Kyuubi, turning him into a monstrous Serial Killer werefox. Then he formed an Odd Friendship bond with Kisame which is cut short by Kisame dying at Amaterasu's hands.
  • Kamui/Kakashi, moreso than either his canon counterpart or the other multiverse versions of him. After his father commited suicide, he was subsequently raised and mentored by Kenta. He got away from him and married Rin and had a baby, but then Kenta came back and kidnapped Rin and his baby, killing them and mailing the baby's corpse back to him after having tortured Rin to death. Kakashi killed him, but he was set back further much later than this when his genin team was killed. On top of that, he was forced to put down their reanimated corpses when Susanoo ruthlessly reincarnated them. Furthermore, in at least some versions of the multiverse, his dead best friend who he has based his way of life around is a possible Big Bad. Thankfully, the poor guy never had to find out the last part...
  • Zabuza's parents were killed right in front of him as a child because they had bloodlines, and he was later forced to kill his entire graduating class to save his village. He lost half his friends in a failed coup. Then he lost his best friend, Kisame, and apprentice Kimimaro - a pain he shares with Haku. In turn, she has the same horrible backstory from Canon with the added bonus of being unable to save her mentor and father figure after he dies in the process of defeating Amaterasu.
  • Yugito: Was forced to fight and kill in a pointless war started by Orochimaru.
  • Naruko: She has deluded herself into thinking the multiverse works like a shonen manga, probably as a means of coping with all the crap thrown her way. Time will tell how long it lasts, too. It seems to have vanished after her fight with Kitsune's Kyuubi.

I'm going to cut them for now, but I'll EP two of them : Jinchuuriki!Sakura and Kamui/Kakashi. I'll deal with the rest later (There's indeed tons of Woobies there).

What's the work?

Quote from it's article : "Echoes, by Kagaseo is a Naruto fanfiction where a modification of the seal holding back the Kyuubi has surprising consequences. It's also something of a crossover with Yet again with a little extra help by Third Fang.

The story begins with a slightly different version of the canon Naruto's fight with Orochimaru in the Land of Grass. However, Sai betrays the group early, leading Naruto, renamed "Kazama" to avoid confusion, into a battle with Orochimaru, during which his seal is twisted. This alters the mechanics of the seal, giving Kazama the ability to travel into other worlds, meeting alternate versions of himself, his friends, families, or even enemies. Most prominently featured are Naruko, a female Naruto, Chibaku, one that was trained by Sasori, and Kitsune, one that had some issues with his Kyuubi."

On to the next candidate : Kamui/Kakashi Hatake, from the same fanfic, and the same world.

everyone I missed.

Any more votes on Lennon from Tweeny Witches, Shin Tsukimi/Sou Hiyori from Your Turn to Die, Olrik from Blake and Mortimer (The Septimus Wave), and Alan Kane from Steppenwolf The X Creatures Project?

for Lennon as a Jerkass Woobie, for Shin/Sou as a Jerkass Woobie (for now, we'll see if the final chapter does anything to make him irredeemable).

For Alan Kane, the Sympathy Standard talks of the other character's qualifications, but doesn't actually mention anything about how sympathetically Alan himself is treated by the work. I'd like some elaboration on that, if possible.

Anyway, sorry for my extended absense. Been kept busy elsewhere on the wiki and also in real life. I am still planning on getting through LOZ (and I've added my write-up of the Gorons to the draft page) but, before that, I want to tackle three potential WDOW's from another game while the details are still fresh in my mind.

What's the work?

Death Mark is a horror adventure game and the first in its series. You play an amnesiac hero, Kazuo Yashiki, as he arrives at the mansion of a spiritual healer, seeking information on the scar that's appeared on his body. It's revealed that the scar is a Mark, given to people by vengeful ghosts, and they must appease the ghost before dawn or else they'll be gruesomely killed. There's also the option to 'destroy' the ghost instead of appeasing them, but doing so causes the violent death of your companion character and, eventually, a Downer Ending.

I'll be tackling three of the seven spirits that you face off against.

Sure to Hanahiko, Hanayome/Seiko Hasegawa and Red Riding Hood/Sayako Shiina.

Any other vote on Olrik, Jinchuriki!Sakura and Kamui/Kakashi?

Yes to all of those.

Will do Jill tonight hopefully and possibly Sephiran as a WDOW too.

Edited by Klavice on Jul 26th 2019 at 4:23:18 AM

for Sakura as Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds

EDIT: Never mind, I’m dumb and missed the part above the folders. Still, I’d like to know a bit more about Kakashi’s meeting with alternate!Rin.

Also, how does Kakashi deal with his angst? Asking mostly because I’m wondering if he’d fall under Stoic Woobie, or if he’s expressive about how much he suffers.

Edited by whizzerd on Jul 26th 2019 at 12:48:32 PM

Here's a write-up for Sigma as a Jerkass Woobie from Tweeny Witches. Does this work?

• Tweeny Witches: Sigma is a lying, manipulative scout with the philosophy of The Social Darwinist. When he was very young, his father advised Grande against using dark magic and foretold the coming of a savior, only for Grande to kill his father for disobedience in front of him; this act of injustice has given him the belief that he has no one but himself to depend on. Secretly planning to help the savior prevent the destruction of the Magical Realm in revenge, he spends most of his screen time feigning loyalty to his father's very killer until the time comes. When his superiors discard him for failure — later kicking him off a high place into prison — he is devastated like any child would do as Wil calls him a nuisance right to his face, refusing to take him along with Arusu and her friends — the very people he betrays earlier to keep the pretense. Near the Grand Finale, he is among the people who are driven to despair by dark magic until the magic of light dispels dark magic.

Edited by IukaSylvie on Jul 27th 2019 at 3:25:52 AM

whizzerd's trio. I would like to know how to distinguish a Jerkass Woobie and a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds from each other. Anyway, here's the fourth candidate from Tweeny Witches.

What is the work?

• For more information about the work, see my effort post for Atelia.
• For more candidates from the same work, see my effort posts for Sigma, Atelia, and Lennon.

Who is Jidan?

Jidan is an Adventurer Archaeologist and the Disappeared Dad of Arusu. His limited screen time portrays him as a serious, stoic man in contrast to his fun-loving, Hot-Blooded daughter, but he is the one who taught her to believe in magic, making him the Greater-Scope Paragon of the setting as well. Despite his background as an ordinary human, he had the True Book of Spells, which was stolen from the Grand Master of Witches 14 years before the events of the series begin. I'm going to explain how below.

What has he endured?

In the past, Jidan solved the mystery of the crow statue immediately before falling down the hole of the ruins on Crow Island into the Magical Realm. He woke up in Wizard Kingdom to find himself imprisoned by Grande, who callously rejected his desperate statement that he just wanted to know the truth behind the magic he always admired. He later had a Rescue Romance with the witch Atelia against the law of her people, secretly becoming Happily Married with a son named Lennon in an isolated village. But that changed when she decided to deliver the True Book of Spells back to the Grand Master of Witches in hopes of preventing the warlocks from destroying his home dimension with dark magic. As he knew, she would have to abandon their mixed-race family if she was to carry out her decision, lest they be outcasts in the traditionalist society of the Witch Realm. With the help of the wizard Wil, he went on board a ship for the Human Realm with Lennon and the book to prevent her from facing persecution and using her magic in feuds. Although he made it to the Human Realm with the book, an impact on the ship caused Lennon to fall in the middle of the Interdimensional Sea, separating the father and son for 14 years by accident. After giving Arusu the book as a gift for her 5th birthday, he left his new family for the Magical Realm in search of his son, only to endure 6 years of imprisonment in Wizard Kingdom.

In the present day, Sigma becomes cellmates with him and learns of his history. When Sigma complains about how bad prison food tastes, he stoically tells the boy that they must stay alive for a chance to get out one day. Afterward, Sigma asks Tiana for a job to redeem himself for his failure, suggesting that the warlocks take the human hostage to demand the True Book of Spells from Arusu. He accuses his cellmate of using her, but he soon learns that the boy only does so to keep the pretense of obeying Grande, as well as to help Arusu, the savior foretold by his father, prevent the destruction of the Magical Realm in revenge. When the warlocks mistake Lennon for Arusu and capture him away, they hold the human prisoner hostage for the whereabouts of the True Book of Spells, implicitly threatening to kill both the father and son unless their demand is met ("If you want us to spare your life, then tell us the whereabouts of the book! If you don't, then you might end up dead long before you can save your father, Arusu"). With the help of his cellmate, he gets out of prison at last, whereupon he disguises himself as a warlock soldier to release his first wife (who has pulled a Zero-Approval Gambit in exchange for their son's freedom). At the bottom of Hydra Lake, he asks her to give his daughter a clue about the magic of light before offering himself to Luca's men in her place. No one finds his body in the Magical Realm, leading Atelia and Luca (the latter of whom regrets his actions after Arusu and Lennon reunite him with his beloved son) to imply his death. In truth, however, he has survived his Heroic Sacrifice and returned home to the Human Realm, as revealed at the very end of the series.

Is he a Jerkass?

He doesn't seem as bad as one would expect from his two marriages and absence from the lives of his families, old and new. He only left his first wife with their child to protect her from the persecution their mixed-race family would face in the traditionalist society of the Witch Realm. The circumstances behind his second marriage and the birth of his daughter are unknown, but it's shown that he only left his new family in the Human Realm in search of his son, from whom he only lived apart by accident, and that his 6-year-long absence is nothing more than the product of his second wrongful imprisonment. He's Not So Stoic when he thinks that his cellmate is using his daughter. He later releases his first wife and pulls a Heroic Sacrifice for her before returning home to the Human Realm. It's tragic that he has to leave his first wife twice, but he at the very least has good intentions.

Can he defend himself?

Unlike his first wife, he has no combat skills at all. In fact, one of his prominent traits is that he's a Distressed Dude most of the time.

Sympathy standard?

Compared to other major characters, his screen time is limited. On top of that, both he and his first wife are Star-Crossed Lovers and have been separated from their only son for over a decade. In my opinion, he still passes with flying colors. He has wrongfully served in prison away from his families, old and new, for the longest time in the entire setting. Nothing suggests that he has a cellmate before Sigma, and the warlocks implicitly threaten to kill both him and his son unless his son tells them of the whereabouts of the True Book of Spells. However, he never lets all of his predicament break him in contrast to Sigma and Lennon, both of whom have let theirs turn them into bitter individuals.

Conclusion?

for an Iron Woobie or a Stoic Woobie.

Edited by IukaSylvie on Jul 29th 2019 at 8:15:17 PM

@ whizzerd

In this fanfic, Kamui/Kakashi clearly shows the pain he feels upon losing his students. His suicide attempt and Susanoo reanimating Naruto and Sasuke didn't help. Oh? And in the Alive!Yondaime world, once he met Alternate!Rin? Immediately started crying and remembered his world's Rin's... Unpleasant fate.

That said, he started to heal, but the damage was done and he still thinks about his world's Rin, Obito, Minato, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto. He knew that in the Alive!Yondaime timeline, he did something right (i.e., save Rin and their child from Kenta). Doesn't change the fact that in his original timeline... He was unable to do so.

Sure to Jidan.

In that case, for Kakashi as a Woobie.

Jidan... I'm undecided on. I really hate Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You as a trope, so that it's one of his sympathetic points isn't really endearing him to me.

Also, regarding Jerkass Woobie and Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, from their respective pages:

There seems to be confusion as to how the tropes relate to each other. JW says that it's contrasted to WDOW, but WDOW says that a character can be both a WDOW and a JW. Also, on their Playing With pages, JW is listed as a Downplayed WDOW while WDOW is listed as an Exaggerated JW.

However, both pages seem to agree that the difference between them is 1) a Jerkass Woobie is, well, a jerkass; a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds won't necessarily have nasty personality traits like being selfish, immoral, sadistic, abrasive, etc. 2) a WDOW is someone who's crossed the Despair Event Horizon; a JW has suffered, but they haven't let it break them completely.

Yes to Jidan.

Time for Jill Fizzart's effortpost.

Who is Jill? And what is her situation?

Jill Fizzart is the daughter of a Daein general named Shiharam. Jill is desperate to please her father so she joined the army at 16. She at first is racist towards the laguz, due to being raised by Daein to hate them, but finds she was actually wrong and can actually get an A support with the laguz (half human half animals) adult female Lethe making her an Innocent Bigot, as well as a somewhat "Romantic" Two-Girl Friendship with Mist, Ike's little sister. When she finds Ike's group in the Kilvas seas after being ordered to pursue them, she joins up with them, at first thinking she can defeat the "sub-humans" but then later is horrified to find out everything she was taught at school was a lie. She is extremely nice to anyone who will even consider forgiving her for her unwitting bigotry that she often cries when she's alone or with Mist. If that wasn't bad enough her father Shiharam is ordered to kill the Crimean/Begnion liberation army and if you are cruel enough to bring her to the fight she can change sides to the Daein army. Her people of her hometown Talrega suffer majorly as a result of Shiharam being forced by Petrine to open the floodgates destroying much of Talrega in a massive mudslide, which the Daein people blame on the Crimeans despite it being entirely their own ebil General's ideas that forced Shiharam to dovthus that they gather everything they have or rather what little money they have amd unwittingly give it to Jill and by extension the Crimeans. Thankfully Ike is able to bring her back to the good side. It doesn't help that poor Jill loses her dad as a result of the fight and we find out her mother died a long time ago from Shiharam before he dies. After watching her friends ravage her homeland and Ike accidently killing her father, she sits down in the snow to cry. She starts off as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold in the first game but quickly becomes nice. Then, in the second game she sides with Daein once more though a significantly nicer Daein, and is forced to fight her friends and laguz again when Begnion's corrupt senate reveals they have a blood pact that forces Daein to obey them or risk annihilation of their entire nation. Throughout the games Haar develops a crush on her despite being significantly older (hey it's not that weird, everyone did that in medieval times) and tries to be her voice of reason as only he or Mist with an A support can recruit Jill to the Crimeans in the second game. This poor young woman has suffered plenty throughout the games if the above paragraph was enough and she is forced to choose between her friends and her country several times.

Is she a Jerkass? Can she defend herself?

Not really. The worst she does is be racist to the laguz, which even Ike was a little bit before he was re-educated but that's before they tell her she was in the wrong and she realizes how awful Daein was. As for defending herself, she fights pretty well but easily breaks down in self loathing and tears. So yeah combat wise she can defend herself but can't otherwise.

Sympathy Standard?

Out of all the Daeins, Jill suffers the most if the fact she loses her hometown and father is any indication. An exceedingly sweet young woman who was forced into evil? Easy pass.

Verdict?

Keep for vanilla or Iron Woobie.

Sure to Jill as The Woobie.

Jill.

Any more votes for Shin?

He has already gotten 5 votes.

Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds

• Doki Doki Literature Club!: Monika is the self-appointed president of the Literature Club. Growing insane due to her title, Monika becomes angered at not having her own route. To this end, Monika accentuates the girls' negative traits to make them less appealing before opting to delete their character files when that fails. Destroying her world so she could be the only being in the game, Monika realizes what she had become when deleted. Monika's attempts at fixing her mistake goes awry, forcing her to permanently delete the game, declaring that no happiness could be found in the Literature Club.
• Nidome No Yuusha:
  • Ueki Kaito, The Protagonist, was dragged to a new world against his will by Princess Alesia ostensibly to save her people from the Demon Lord. He spends three years doing just that, training and adventuring with little if any rest until he succeeds. Once he succeeds, the suffering truly begins. The companions picked out for him, including the princess herself, all turn on him. For an entire year, he is hunted like an animal, framed for every crime imaginable, and every single time someone reached out to him, offering aid and shelter, the person in question would happily sell him out the moment his guard was down. The princess herself even corners him once, purely to taunt him concerning the fact that the 200 hundred people physically closest to him at the time he was summoned were slain, and five close relatives died horribly, just from the summoning alone, and it would take a similar sacrifice to even think of going back. At the prologue, the so-called companions all caught up to him and repeatedly stabbed him in the chest, looking upon him with derision for the fact that it's taking so long to kill him, patting themselves on the back "for slaying evil" as he dies, swearing vengeance. Then he wakes up, four years in the past, right back in the summoning chamber, face to face with the very Princess Alesia who summoned him. Not letting himself become her pawn this time, he sets off on the path of vengeance.
  • Originally, Millanis (Minnalis) was a sweet little girl, taught an illusion spell by her mother to hide her beast-man features from the world, not comprehending the concept of racism. At the age of seven years old, while she was searching for food in the forest with her best friend, Lucia, due to early winter, the two of them chanced upon an Ice Goblin. Lucia panics, screams, and freezes in terror drawing the Ice Goblin's attention, endangering the both of them. Rather than fleeing and leaving her friend to die, or worse, Millanis uses her full strength to fight and drive off the Ice Goblin, revealing her beast-man traits. Initially grateful, Lucia promises to keep the beast-man heritage a secret. Millanis learns, to her horror, that Lucia did not keep her word, as the entire village was up in arms, dragging her out of her home, demanding she should reveal herself as a beast-man, and demanding her mother reveal herself too, with Lucia loudly proclaiming that Millanis forced her into silence, by threats of violence, then smirking and taunting Lucia hiding behind the backs of the mob of angry villagers. Not getting a chance to defend themselves, Millanis and her mother were stoned, beaten, driven out of the village and sold into slavery, where the slave merchant and their fellow slaves beat and abused them horribly for ten years, Millanis's mother dying in the process. When Ueki Kaito found her in the slave tent, she was on the verge of starving to death and being thrown away. She wasted no time in carrying out her vengeance on the merchant and her fellow slaves the moment Kaito gave her the chance.
  • Originally a sweet, blonde, happy little girl born of an illicit union between her mother and a duke, Shuria grows up in a remote village after the duke's legitimate wife throws her mother, expecting her, out of the family home. She takes up adventuring, and is quite skilled at it, due to her peerless magical talent. One day, her younger half-sister, Selena becomes ill with a fatal disease, but no matter how hard she works, she can't afford an elixir, the only known cure. Her older half-sister, Yumis turns up at the village, promising to provide the cure, if she'll turn over her superior magical talent. Having no other valid option, she agrees and spends three years locked up in a room, unable to leave, but sitting in the lap of luxury, provided with audio recordings proving that her friends and family are safe and sound. Upon the day the ritual to extract her magic is complete, and she's allowed to leave, Yumis takes her around town for a farewell "date." At the end of the date, she begins growing suspicious as Yumis doesn't take her to her home village, but instead a run-down shack. It is at this point that Yumis stops pretending and adopts her true personality, revealing that the entire village was fed to a demon to power the ritual to transfer her magic talent, her mother and younger sister greet her as undead corpses, the audiotapes were faked, and the same demon who killed her village was promised her own soul. She struggles valiantly in impotent rage, promising vengeance. Kaito rescues her, promises her the chance for revenge, and she happily takes it.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: Dr. Zalost is a clinically depressed Mad Scientist envious of other people's happiness. Desiring to make everyone as miserable as him, Zalost rains cannonballs down on Nowhere, converting its denizens into hollow shells of their former selves. Even when the mayor of Nowhere relents and pays him handsomely to cease his attack, Zalost decides to continue it after noting that the money still didn't make him any happier.
• Star Trek: The Next Generation: Kevin Uxbridge, from the season 3 episode "The Survivors", was a powerful god being called a Douwd. He took human form and married a woman named Rishon and put aside his powers. Kevin also became a pacifist and took an oath to never kill another being. Moving to a Federation colony on Rana IV, the colony was attacked by aliens called the Husnock. Kevin tried to use illusions to drive the Husnock away, but after they killed his wife, Kevin destroyed all the Husnock, 50 billion of them, in a moment of rage and grief. Horrified at his actions, Kevin went into self-imposed exile on Rana IV, recreating his house and his wife on the ruined planet. When the Enterprise comes to investigate a distress call sent by the colony, Kevin tries to use illusions to drive them away. When Picard confronts Kevin for all this, Kevin breaks down and admits his crime, his actions still tormenting him.
• Us: Red is the de facto leader of the Tethered who is in truth the real Adelaide Wilson. Having been kidnapped and switched out by her Tethered at the age of eight, Red is subjected to replicating her Tethered's actions including eating raw, bloody rabbit meat; marrying Gabe's Tethered against her consent; and performing a crude C-section on herself when pregnant with her children. Desiring vengeance on her Tethered, Red orchestrates the Untethering, convincing the Tethered to invade the surface to Kill and Replace their counterparts. When mortally wounded by her Tethered, Red whistles the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" to reassert herself as the original by reminding her Tethered that she was just a clone.
• RWBY: Salem yearned for freedom, locked in isolation by her father until rescued by the legendary hero, Ozma, with whom she fell in love. Devastated when he dies from sickness, she begs the God of Light to resurrect him and then, when he refuses, the God of Darkness. Restoring Ozma provokes a confrontation with the God of Light, where Ozma is repeatedly killed and resurrected in front of Salem's eyes until she turns on the two gods in rage. They punish her with immortality to prevent her reuniting with Ozma in the afterlife until she learns the value of life and death. Driven to Suicide, but unable to die, Salem raises an army against the gods; in retaliation, the God of Darkness destroys humanity before both gods depart the world, leaving Salem to exist alone for years until she tries to end her curse by throwing herself into the God of Darkness's Pools of Annihilation. She's instead transformed into a being of pure destruction. When humanity returns to the world, the God of Light reincarnates Ozma to guide them to redemption. Salem finds freedom by raising a kingdom and family with Ozma until he becomes so worried by her destructive urges that he absconds with their children. Confronting him, their ensuing battle destroys her freedom, home, kingdom, and children. Now Salem is determined to ruin Ozma's mission by destroying humanity, trapping them forever in a war of hate that has no end.

Iron Woobie

• Chivalry Of A Failed Knight:
  • Ikki comes from the prestigious clan of White Mage Knights known as the Kurogane clan. He is called the "Worst One" due to his F-Rank. In his childhood, he was horribly abused by other people, especially the power-hungry Mamoru Akaza. Ignored by his father, Ikki runs away from home but even then, he was encountered by his great-grandfather which resulted in Ikki regain confidence. He also studies on an academy known as Hagun Academy as a repeater due to his low rank due to his weak Blazer skills despite their great power. But even then, Ikki was actually mocked by some of the people in school due to his inferior rank. But that's just a tip of the iceberg. When he fought against one of the top students in Hagun Academy, Kirihara Shizuya, Ikki was constantly tortured several times thanks to Shizuya shooting arrows to give him a painful death. later Akaza tried many ways to torment or even murder Ikki such as sending a mercenary to murder him or scandalize his relationship between him and Stella. The latter succeeding in Ikki getting falsely imprisoned and was tortured for days by forcing him to fight the selection matches which resulted in Ikki having sleep deprivation. Not helping matter is that his stepfather, Itsuki Kurogane, didn't acknowledge him and said to Ikki that it's better on to do nothing because of Ikki's lack of talent which resulted in him losing any hope. But even then, he suddenly regains the hope thanks to Stella and his friends at the end of the day and then manages to win the festival.
  • Y(u)uri Oreki was born with a weak constitution and vomited a liter of blood each day since childhood, requiring her to keep spare liters of blood for transfusion. She cares a lot about her students and wants them to try their hardest in the matches to qualify for the Seven Star Sword Art Festival; even at the cost of her overworking herself to the point of spitting up blood or experiencing seizures. During his admission into Hagun Academy, Yuuri was able to fight against Ikki wielding her cutlass and using her innate power, which lets her share her own pain with others. Her illness, combined with her lack of administrative clout, kept her from doing anything about the teachers that mistreated him.
  • Ayase Ayatsuji is the daughter of her family dojo's owner. He trained her from childhood until he became ill. One day, a blazer nicknamed the Sword Eater defeated her father, hospitalizing him and taking over the dojo. Wanting to reclaim it, she sparred against Ikki in swordsmanship. Ikki fixed her stance as she was mimicking her father, making her slashes faster than before. Ayase also has the power to worsen the wounds that she opens, and a technique that leaves scars in the atmosphere, letting her create a vacuum blade as soon as the person comes close. Upon learning that Ikki's her next opponent, she faked attempting suicide to get Ikki to save her by using Ittou Shura, which he can only use once daily, while also setting traps before the match, all out of desperation to fight the Sword Eater. But, in the end, she lost to Ikki who forgave her and won back her families' dojo for them.
• The Loud House: Luna Loud is the third oldest of the Loud siblings and a lover of Rock and Roll. In "L is for Love" the siblings find a secret admirer letter addressed to L Loud. While the others give signs to their crushes, Luna chickens out thinking Sam wouldn't be into her. After the last letter seems to be for her, she and her siblings rush to the restaurant it said to meet at. Only to find it was from their mother to their father. However, inspired by her mother's story Luna decides to give Sam a letter to tell her about her feelings. In "Really Loud Music" Luna enters a music competition but decides to use a safe bubblegum pop song after she doubts her old one. After getting in, the hosts try to model into someone else. However, in the end, Luna decides to play her old song and manages to win over most of the crowd.
• Danganronpa: Aoi Asahina, also known as Hina, hangs out with fellow tomboy and MMA master, Sakura Ogami, whom many people, Kiyotaka included, thought was a guy at first until they found out her gender. Hina starts off as a talented swimmer until the apocalypse outside Hope's Peak Academy and the headmaster sealed her inside along with the other students. She woke up two years later forgetting of the times she got to know everyone, and at first, forgets Makoto's name, forcing him to repeat it to her three times. Hina was one of the people who didn't think Makoto killed Sayaka, as she found out Sayaka was planning to kill someone. She finds out her family was killed with possible including of her little brother who looked up to her but is one of the only students to never commit murder or be a victim. She does, however, discover Alter Ego after a mental breakdown of not wanting to kill anyone. Chapter 4 utterly breaks her as she finds out Sakura seemingly killed herself because of the surviving students, and blames them for her best friend's death, attempting to commit Suicide by Cop by misleading the investigation and getting everyone killed. However, she does feel horrible for this when Monokuma reveals Sakura's real intention was to stop them from killing each other. In the bad ending, she ends up giving birth to the children of Makoto, Yasuhiro, and Byakuya living in fear, but deluded happiness, being the only surviving female. In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, she is supposedly murdered but survives as it was just a prank one of the antagonists played on her. Ultimately, despite being seemingly bubbly and cute, she's got a tough exterior but weak interior, and like quite a few of the class, is very tragic.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog:
  • The titular Courage is the perpetually fearful protector of the Bagge residence. Abandoned as a pup after his parents were sent to outer space, Courage had since devoted himself to keeping Muriel safe. Despite his fears, Courage constantly puts himself in harm's way whether it be getting beaten within an inch of his life in a game of dodge ball, or taking grievous injuries. In the end, Courage lives up to his name in spite of being afraid.
  • The Hunchback of Nowhere is a man of unsightly appearance. Constantly shunned for his looks, the Hunchback finds kindness in the form of Muriel and Courage, playing shadow games and bell ringing for the latter, and staging a live performance for the former. When Eustace tries to demean him for his psyche, the Hunchback retaliates by calling him bald. He also stands up in Courage's defense by making Eustace realize that he was ugly on the inside.
• Final Fantasy IX:
  • Zidane Tribal is the 16-year-old Chivalrous Pervert hero of the group. As the story begins, he falls in love with a princess named Garnet. On the way to Lindblum, Zidane sees the horrible misdeeds of Queen Brahne. As he continues his journey, he witnesses many deaths at the hands of Vivi's race, The Black Mages. By the time Zidane has found out about the true author of the war, his hometown of Lindblum is destroyed and his adopted brother, Blank, is turned to stone by the Evil Forest. When the remaining group of Zidane, Vivi, Dagger (formerly Princess Garnet), and Quina head to the Outer Continent, Zidane discusses his Calling the Old Man Out to Baku, his abusive adoptive father, and how he was looking for his home, with the only clue being a blue light. When Zidane finds out he is an Artificial Human from the neighboring planet of Terra, he falls under Garland's mind spell causing him to reject his friends. It is only after Dagger saves him that he realizes that he was under a mind spell and his resolves grow to stop both Kuja, now revealed to be his brother, and his actual father, Garland. In spite of all this, the kid still manages to keep a smile. When the Iifa Tree threatens to consume the world, and Necron tries to absorb the souls of it, Kuja pulls a last-second redemption and dies in the process, causing even Zidane to feel sorry for him. At the end, when Zidane is thought to be dead, it turns out he survived, and the ending has Queen Garnet embracing him.
  • Freya Crescent starts off the game as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold dragon knight to the Kingdom of Burmecia. Throughout the game, both her entire hometown (including the women and children) are massacred by Kuja's black mages with only a few survivors. Upon heading to the neighboring settlement of Cleyra, Freya's resolve to protect it grows, especially when the stone creating the sandstorm protecting the village shatters. When the Alexandrian Army and Kuja's mages invade Cleyra, Freya witnesses even more death of innocents from her hometown, and meets her boyfriend Sir Fratley, who sadly doesn't remember her at all. When Brahne summons Odin to destroy Cleyra, Freya is among the few survivors of her hometown and Cleyra both in ruins. After all this, Freya barely keeps it together, having lost everything.
• Outnumbered: At the best of times, Sue has to juggle work with keeping the household running; her boisterous kids and well-meaning but feckless husband aren't much help. It gets worse, though, as she has to come to terms with her father's condition and watch his gradual deterioration; by the end, he doesn't even remember who she is. Despite all this, though, she never lets the stress get too much for her; she remains the rock upon which the Brockman household rests.

Edited by IukaSylvie on Jul 28th 2019 at 8:16:18 PM

to Sakura (WDOW), Kamui, Death Mark trio (WDOW), Jidan (tricky — sounds like he could indeed fall under either Iron or Stoic) and Jill.

Thought I'd try my hand at my first effortpost for this thread; here we go.

What's the Work?

Brimstone Angels is a six-novel Heroic Fantasy series in the Forgotten Realms setting, written by Erin M. Evans. It follows the adventures of the tiefling warlock Farideh, her twin sister Havilar, and their family and companions as they travel across the Realms, get involved with the dealings of various powerful and shady people, and gradually uncover the legacy of Fari and Havi's distant ancestor Bryseis Kakistos, the Brimstone Angel, and her pact with Asmodeus whose effects continue to resonate across the series.

Who is Farideh? What's her predicament?

Farideh ("Fari" for short) is the main protagonist of the Brimstone Angels saga. She and her twin sister Havilar are orphans, discovered abandoned as infants at the gates of a remote village and adopted by the dragonborn warrior Mehen. As the twins grew, their personalities diverged, with Havilar being the outgoing, athletic one and Farideh more responsible and reserved; however, while everyone loved Havilar, people were often mistrustful of Farideh, seeing her more withdrawn nature and interest in secrets and arcane knowledge as a sign that she'd grow up to be dangerous (even though more often, it was Fari keeping Havi out of trouble). When the twins were seventeen, Havilar made a botched attempt at a magical ritual she dug out of one of the village wizard's books and accidentally summoned the devil Lorcan; Havi herself wasn't interested in anything Lorcan might offer, but he managed to sweet-talk Farideh into making a pact with him, gaining the magical powers of a warlock. The side-effects of making the deal blew up a building and resulted in the twins and their adoptive father being kicked out of the village.

Lorcan continued to take an interest in Farideh's life as her family traveled, proving himself to be charming but also incredibly ruthless and controlling, while Fari tried to keep her powers a secret, knowing that as a tiefling and a warlock, most people would see her as little more than an Evil Sorcerer waiting to happen. Nonetheless, she tried to be as good a person as her situation allowed. Along the way, she learned that she was the blood descendant of Bryseis Kakistos, a notorious warlock who helped Asmodeus become a god, and that's why Lorcan was interested in her; other evil forces were too, ranging from Lorcan's even more evil sister Sairche and going all the way up to Asmodeus himself. Over the course of the books, Farideh suffered numerous difficulties, including the constant Fantastic Racism from non-tieflings, she and her sister losing seven years of their lives to a plot by Sairche (for which Havilar initially blamed her), being forced to help a sadistic Netherese wizard experiment on Chosen (before she was able to turn the tables on her) and nearly losing Havilar for good when her sister was possessed by the ghost of Bryseis Kakistos. Eventually it comes out that the twins were specifically sired as part of a plot to resurrect Bryseis and the only reason they're alive is because the spell went wrong (they weren't supposed to be twins, see) and then one of the warlocks doing the ritual got gold feet and saved them, then arranged behind the scenes for Mehen to take them in. Oh, and Lorcan's still hanging around throughout all of this, sometimes being helpful - and other times ruthlessly manipulating Fari and trying to destroy her other relationships to make her completely dependent on him.

Despite the misfortunes life throws at her, Fari never gives up trying to escape the dark legacy of her ancestors and trying to protect the people she cares about, and by the end of the series has at least attained a measure of peace.

Can she defend herself? Is she a jerkass?

From physical threats? You bet; Fari's a warlock fully capable of blasting anyone who gets in her way with magic, and by the back half of the series she's also a decent, though not great, swordswoman (Havi's the better fighter of the pair). However, that's not always enough against the threats she faces, which include pervasive Fantastic Racism, the machinations of Lorcan and Sairche, the legacy of the Brimstone Angel and, of course, the interests of the god Asmodeus himself. All told, Fari spends much of the series stuck between a rock and a hard place, forced to navigate it as best she can. But she never goes down without a fight if she can help it. As for being a jerkass, well, she can definitely be prickly when rubbed wrong, but she's still fundamentally a decent person trying desperately to do the right thing, even if she's not always able to manage it as well as she'd like.

Sympathy Standard?

Farideh's the main character of the series, and the person whose head the reader spends by far the most time in. She's certainly not the only person in these books' whose suffered - among others, Havilar's gone through much of the same stuff she has (though unlike Fari, Havi's not really one to brood over it), Mehen has a tragic backstory of his own that's gradually revealed, Bryseis Kakistos herself is ultimately revealed as a Tragic Villain, and even Lorcan has had a really awful life that's profoundly shaped the person he is now. However, because Farideh is the central character of the saga and the one through whom we largely view everyone else, we spend the most time dealing with her problems and they're hte ones that tie most strongly into the overall storyline as a whole.

Verdict?

Life pretty constantly throws troubles at Farideh, and often times she ends up taking the blame for them, but she also never gives up trying to power on through them. I'd feel comfortable putting her down as an Iron Woobie. Anyone else have thoughts?

Edited by MasterGhandalf on Jul 29th 2019 at 11:41:14 AM

Farideh.

~Cloister The Stupid, how can I help you identify which type Jidan belongs to?

Sure to Farideh.

Farideh.

@IukaSylvie I guess really it boils down to whether the Not So Stoic thing was the exception rather than the rule (which it does sound as if it was, based on the post). If so, then he probably falls under Stoic Woobie.

The other times he's Not So Stoic are:

• When he insisted on his innocence, only for Grande to reject it more than 14 years ago.
• When he learns that the human girl his cellmate met before has the True Book of Spells in the Magical Realm. He sounds shocked upon realizing that she's his daughter.
• When he repeatedly knocks loudly on the door of his cell screaming that he wants to get out of prison and see his daughter. No authority figure of the warlocks listens to this.

Edited by IukaSylvie on Jul 29th 2019 at 8:14:36 PM

Well, if he's stoical most of the time but cracks on four occasions, I can still see that going under Stoic Woobie. What does everyone else think?