View source for Break the Cutie

{{trope}}
[[File:Breaking 2753.jpg|link=Puella Magi Madoka Magica|frame|'''First''': [[Naive Everygirl]]. '''Second''': [[Heroic BSOD]]. '''Third''': [[Despair Event Horizon]].]]

{{quote|''"Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of."''|'''[[Kurt Vonnegut]]'''|"Eight Rules for Writing Fiction"}}

A series introduces a [[The Cutie|character as sweet and lovable]], more comic relief than anything, who likes nothing more than to [[Pet the Dog|pet little puppies]]. [[Moe|They make you adore them, root for them and love them]].

Then the writers proceed to slowly torment them in front of your very eyes. [[Deus Angst Machina|They destroy everything important to them, kill everyone they love and make them suffer from horrible accidents, diseases and acts of violence]]. They beat the character with one cruel stroke of fate after another until they are just a shell of their former cheerful, carefree self.

This technique is often used to build [[The Woobie]]. Writers have to be careful though, else it seems [[The Cutie]] becomes the universe's [[The Chew Toy|Chew Toy]].

Be careful about tormenting [[Beware the Nice Ones|sweet little things]], though—sometimes instead of breaking, they ''[[Freak-Out|snap]]''. If they do, you'd better hope your [[Unstoppable Rage|life insurance policy]] [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|is up to date]], [[Bullying a Dragon|especially]] if the cutie was quite the [[Badass Adorable]] to begin with. If they do break but refuse to show it, they could be a type-a [[Stepford Smiler]].

Sometimes it can be [[Corrupt the Cutie]], where via [[Pygmalion Plot]] or [[Wife Husbandry]], the girl in question breaks it by herself. Frequently a part of a character crossing the [[Despair Event Horizon]]. Also, this is frequently part of the backstory of the [[Broken Bird]], and instrumental in the [[Freudian Excuse]] of a villain who [[Used to Be a Sweet Kid]]. Compare [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]].

Contrast: [[Break the Haughty]], where bad things happen to an arrogant person (who had it coming), or the even worse variation [[Kill the Cutie]].

On a positive note, sometimes '''breaking the cutie''' can result in a cute but weak character [[Took a Level in Badass|Taking a Level in Badass]] as they [[Did You Think I Can't Feel?|confront their tormentors]] and [[Character Development|become more assertive]]. When the cutie refuses to break, they might become an [[Iron Woobie|iron]] or [[Stoic Woobie]], a [[Determinator]], or a [[Plucky Girl]]. If they are simply unbreakable to begin with, they are probably a [[The Pollyanna|Pollyanna]].

{{noreallife|tropers tend to overestimate their own cuteness and their own brokenness.}}

{{examples on subpages}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]
[[Category:Depressing Tropes]]
[[Category:Hentai Tropes]]
[[Category:Madness Tropes]]
[[Category:Sadness Tropes]]
[[Category:Tear Jerker Tropes]]
[[Category:A Tortured Index]]
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]