Heartbroken Badass



Sometimes a Badass, usually The Lancer (though not necessarily), falls head over heels in love. Usually, the lucky one is a sweet girl who may be just a little naive (perhaps a Damsel in Distress, a Yamato Nadeshiko, Proper Lady an Ojou or is a Defrosting Ice Queen).

Since Love Hurts, their hearts are often broken, sometimes because their love interest outright rejects them, sometimes because they fall upon an unknown type 4 love triangle, and the object of their affections falls in love or is already in a relationship with another, who may or may not be the Romantic False Lead or worse dead, or some other tragic event happens that denies the badass the affections of the love interest. Occasionally, after this direct or indirect rejection, the badass will fall victim to Heroic BSOD.

But the worst case scenario by far is when their love interest is killed off. Hell befalls the person who pulled that trigger... Yeek.

The trope does not only apply to love interests, but also to friends and family members. See also You Killed My Father.

Anime and Manga

 * Kenshiro is heartbroken when Yuria fails to recognize him when he faces Shin in Fist of the North Star.
 * Happens with alarming frequency to Joe Asakura in Gatchaman / Battle of the Planets.
 * In Pokémon the most notable example is when Ash's Grovyle fell in love but was rejected; he had a Heroic BSOD just after. It Got Worse, as he evolved into Sceptile immediately afterward, and the shock of rejection made him unable to use his attacks!
 * The Team Rocket trio's Meowth in "Go West, Young Meowth". (Note that he's not usually particularly badass, but he did wear a Badass Longcoat in that episode.) Meowzy rejected him even before she hooked up with the Persian Meowth had just fought.
 * Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
 * Simon, after he sees Kamina kiss Yoko. He snaps out of it thanks to blunt impact from Kamina.
 * Yoko herself, due to . Much later, history repeats itself with, but at least she has a little forewarning there. The ending of the show implies that
 * All the women Black Jack’s even come close to loving at this point have been already married, enveloped in their careers or.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! has  in the second half of season 4 (Atlantis/Doma arc)
 * Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's has Jack Atlus falling in love with Carly, which leads to problems when.
 * Seiji from Midori Days.
 * Harima Kenji from School Rumble.
 * Guts from Berserk fits this big time. The romance that he had with Casca was cut tragically short by Griffith's actions during the Eclipse, which served to drive her completely insane. Casca's unfortunate condition has completely deprived Guts of the affection he wants from her so badly. And even worse, ever since, she wants nothing to do with him anymore, which only further frustrates him. Still, this might change if the quest to Elfhelm is successful. In the meantime, all that Guts really has left to hang onto are the memories from the old days.
 * Terry Bogard from the Fatal Fury anime.
 * Shogo Kawada from Battle Royale.
 * The first time we actually get to see Jigen have a life, and she turns out to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing . Jigen gets over it pretty quickly though.
 * Shizuo Heiwajima of Durarara!! learned the hard way that schoolboy crushes and uncontrollable rage disorders do not mix. In his words, "I screwed up."
 * Suzaku Kururugi of Code Geass after.
 * A different kind of badass, but Lelouch after.
 * Spike from Cowboy Bebop is pretty much a perfect example of this trope. He loses his love Julia, spends a large part of the series searching for her in vain, and  This leads to an epic Storming the Castle moment
 * Kenshin in the first OVA. Especially the fact that
 * Kazuma Yagami of Kaze no Stigma.
 * In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Homura.
 * Issei Hyoudou in High School DxD when it's revealed that

Comic Books

 * Bruce Wayne/Batman, often. Most notably in The Dark Knight.
 * Wolverine. Love tends to go badly for him.
 * Hamato Yoshi of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in various continuities, including the second animated series.
 * Marv of Sin City. His only starring role in a full length story starts with him discovering the first woman to ever sleep with him has been murdered. Seeing how he normally responds to violence against women and violence against friends.... you get the idea.
 * Spider-Man lost Gwen Stacy to the Green Goblin. It's one of the most iconic moments in his history but damn, poor Peter. Meanwhile, in stories set in the Alternate Universes/What Ifs, it’s common for his most famous love interest, Mary Jane Watson, to die or disappear.
 * Cyclops from X-Men has lost Jean twice. He's often Misblamed for her loss the second time around.
 * Spawn. He made a Deal with the Devil just so he could go back to earth to see his wife Wanda again, and what does he get to see?  Ouch.

Film

 * Mina Harker, in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, turns into one of these after she revives her old romance with The Mole only to have him show his True Colors and take off.
 * James Bond in Quantum of Solace, following on from the events of Casino Royale, as well as in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
 * Mad Max, full stop.
 * Darth Vader is revealed to be this trope. Sure he was pretty badass in the Clone Wars as Anakin Skywalker, but as soon as his wife died, well, The Empire Strikes Back and A New Hope can testify to just how more threatening he became.
 * The titular character from The Outlaw Josey Wales starts out as this, though he later evolves into a Bruiser with a Soft Center, as well as the Team Dad.
 * In Zombieland, it's revealed

Literature

 * F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby: Jay Gatsby, a genius from a humble background who, after returning from WWI to find his teenage crush married to a wealthier and hunkier man, turns himself into the richest and most popular playboy-gangster around. But of course, all he ever wanted was her.
 * Since Stephen King's The Dark Tower contains pretty much every other Badass-related trope, it's not entirely surprising that they've got this one as well. Most of Wizard and Glass is spent exploring Roland's Heartbroken Badass past.
 * Sir Pelleas in Le Morte Darthur. Sir Gawain promises to help him win the heart of Ettarde, who finds him weak and doesn't return his feelings. Upon meeting her, Sir Gawain forgets his vow to Pelleas and ends up falling in love with her. Some time later, Pelleas comes across the two sleeping together and he struggles with himself whether to kill them. He decides against it and goes off, heartbroken. It's also implied that he subsequently becomes the Red Knight of the North, who ends up horribly mutilating a peasant, among other things.
 * Surprisingly, Nick Chopper in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He's by far the best fighter in the party, and positively deadly with the axe when Baum still had death as part of Oz. Still, the whole reason he wants a heart? He wants to return to his girlfriend and be a proper husband for her. When he does find her again? It doesn't end well for Nick. One of his live-action counterparts had equally bad luck.
 * In J.R. Ward's third entry in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Lover Awakened,  falls victim to this
 * In Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novel Lady, Lady I Did It! Bert Kling is completely broken by . It turns him not only to mere Heartbroken Badass, but to real Incompetent Cop. Despite of his recovery from this, McBain have made him constantly heartbroken because of.
 * Vampire Hunter Aeneas in Midnight World, after losing his wife. It took him more than 2 months to recover from Heroic BSOD, and 2 years to start a new romance... which caused a new heartbreak.
 * Harry Potter gives us Albus Dumbledore, who many decades ago had to defeat and help imprison the love of his young life, Grindlewald. Also,.
 * The supplementary website, Pottermore, has also revealed that Professor McGonagall is one.
 * Dresden Files: What Murphy has become in Ghost Story following . A rare genderswapped version.
 * This happens often to Harry, Susan being the cause on at least on occasion.
 * Herald Vanyel in the Heralds of Valdemar series. The love of his life commits suicide shortly after the near-fatal accident that turned Vanyel into a mage. He goes on to become one of the most powerful Herald-Mages adepts ever to live, yet to a large extent lives most of his life in mourning.

Live Action TV

 * The Doctor from Doctor Who can fall into this. His longevity and lifestyle means that he manages to out live most of his friends, family and loved ones. Although he rarely breaks down visibly, many an episode has ended with him standing in the TARDIS, alone, the pain clearly on his face.
 * Most of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer could sometimes or often be described as a heartbroken Badass, including Buffy, Angel, Spike, Willow, Anya, and Giles. Some of them suffered Badass Decay as a result, especially Spike and Angel.
 * And let's not forget Mr. Wyndam-Pryce. He was heartbroken before he Took a Level in Badass, but every appearance of his in Angel's fourth season just SCREAMS Heartbroken Badass.
 * It gets topped in Angel's fifth season, where
 * The main character in Boys Before Flowers, has Jun Pyo collapsing to the floor in his Armani suit after his love interest told him to take a hike.
 * Echo, after
 * On The Vampire Diaries, Damon has been in love with Katherine for over a century. It really didn't go well.
 * Sayid Jarrah of Lost, particularly in the episode 'Sundown'.
 * Chuck Bass falling for Blair Waldorf on "Gossip Girl".
 * Wyatt freakin' Cain from Tin Man - like his metallic counterpart in the literature section, he's arguably the best fighter in the party (though Glitch can be pretty scary if he sets his half a mind to doing so), but he's pretty much a broken man at the start, having endured eight years of being Forced to Watch a holographic playback of his wife and son being tortured and drug away by the Sorceress's Mooks.
 * Jen in Power Rangers Time Force seeing her boyfriend being killed before her very eyes, causing her to become The Stoic and disapproving of Wes who physically resembles Alex.
 * Marcus Cole and Lennier in Babylon 5.

Theater

 * The classic case is Cyrano De Bergerac; the titular big nosed master swordsman helps his rival and best friend get the girl, and makes this Older Than Radio.
 * In The Phantom of the Opera, the titular character, Erik, was one of these. One of the main examples comes at the end of Act I.

Video Games
""This isn't happening! There's no reason for me to go on! What...what am I FIGHTING FOOOOOOOOOOOOOR?!"
 * Any of the love interests from Mass Effect go through this in the timeskip between ME 1 and Mass Effect 2 (or even during, in Liara's case) after Shepard's death (s/he gets better). Shepard and Liara dealing with this trope is a significant aspect of the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC if that relationship exists.
 * Poor Female Shepard, two of her three possible love interests in Mass Effect 2 will wind up dead or breaks up with her (save for . Male Shepard has only slightly better luck, , but can easily become this as well.
 * Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV; with Porom's "Cry" augment.
 * Edward from Final Fantasy IV: The After Years continues to grieve over his dead girlfriend Anna while he handles almost every threat harming his castle and people when he's at it. He just got that better.
 * Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy VII.
 * Also, Rude. His entire reason for being uncomfortable talking to people is because the girl he fell in love with was a terrorist who was only using him for information.
 * Cloud Strife spends most of Advent Children beating himself up over not being able to save Aerith.
 * Locke and Cyan from Final Fantasy VI (Fiancée killed by The Empire, wife and son poisoned by the same, respectively), Lulu from Final Fantasy X (boyfriend killed by the local Eldritch Abomination), Ashe from Final Fantasy XII (widowed by The Empire), in each case, the death of their loved one serves as their motivation to go after the Big Bad (Ashe comes pretty close to ).
 * Kratos Aurion and Regal Bryant from Tales of Symphonia, both of whom have . Kratos had the added layer of , until he meets up with your party.
 * Yuri Lowell from Tales of Vesperia also has shades of this when faced with.
 * Zero from Mega Man X. In this case, however, Iris, the girl he had feelings for, attacked him because he killed her brother The Colonel in a war and was forced to fight back in self-defense. Suffering from her injuries, she said all she wanted was to live happily with him before dying in his arms. Cue Zero's scream of grief.


 * And later he gets to break the heart of two other girls...Geez...
 * The Branstein family and anyone remotely related, plus Latooni and her adoptive brother and sister from Super Robot Wars Original Generation. And HOW!
 * Johnny Vincent of Bully. For some inexplicable reason, he's head over heals for Lola, and even he admits what a slut she is.
 * In Dragon Age: Origins, if the Warden romances Zevran and then, the epilogue shows him becoming one of these.
 * Elc from Arc the Lad II: after what happens, it is no wonder he chooses to side with internationally wanted terrorists
 * The Xeno series has a lot of them: the most famous are Fei in Xenogears,, Shion, Junior and Ziggy in Xenosaga. And, of course, thanks to a couple of Crazy Awesome scenes in the end of the third game,
 * Heartbreak One, about fifteen years ago in his backstory.
 * Flint from Mother 3 when
 * Elisabeth Blanctorche. Spends most of the saga trying to stop the schemes of someone she called her brother, the only one who remained from her past... only to find out that  Her reaction is something that most people would expect.
 * Princess Kitana of Edenia. After her romantic relationship with Liu Kang was ported over from the movies, Mortal Kombat 4 had Kitana outright propose to him in his ending. Liu Kang reluctantly declines, as due to his status as Champion of Mortal Kombat, his place is in Earthrealm, not in Edenia by Kitana's side.
 * And if you were thinking that things would get better for the two in the reboot, guess again. Here, One would think that fate has it in for this couple.
 * Professor Layton and The Lost Future reveals that  The cutscene that shows his heart being broken is not very sympathetic towards him in the slightest.
 * In Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations,
 * In Assassin's Creed, at some point of their life. Ezio and Altair lose someone close to them and state how it felt like a part of them withered away. Ezio's situation was so bad that it became a repressed memory.
 * Asura from Asura's Wrath, both when his wife is killed and his daughter is taken from him, and when.
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic's darker counterpart Shadow the Hedgehog lost his surrogate-sister Maria during a raid of his home on the Space Colony ARK. He spends about three games dwelling on it before deciding to let it go by his most recent appearances.
 * In Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic's darker counterpart Shadow the Hedgehog lost his surrogate-sister Maria during a raid of his home on the Space Colony ARK. He spends about three games dwelling on it before deciding to let it go by his most recent appearances.

Western Animation

 * This has happened to Brooklyn from Gargoyles three times, two in the canon TV episodes and once in the canon comic book. He finally finds his true love on his Timedancer adventures, Katana, and starts a family by the time he gets to his home time period.
 * It is hard to call him heartbroken when he merely had crushes on those others.

Real Life

 * Supposedly T.E. Lawrence aka "Lawrence of Arabia" aka "Emir Dynamite" loved Janet Laurie who rejected him.