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{{trope}}
{{quote|''”In the fell clutch of circumstance''
''I have not winced nor cried aloud.''
''Under the bludgeonings of chance''
''My head is bloody, but unbowed."''
|'''William Ernest Henley''', ''[[Invictus]]''}}
{{quote|''"You know what you get for being a hero? Nothin'. You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah, blah, blah, attaboy. You get divorced. Your wife can't remember your last name. Your kids don't want to talk to you. You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me, kid, nobody wants to be that guy."'''
|'''John McClane''', ''[[Live Free or Die Hard]]'' }}
The Iron Woobie is a character who is not just ''a'' [[Woobie]]; he is ''the'' [[Woobie]]. Most Woobies are the victim of external circumstance. That may be how it started out for this little guy, but after having to deal with too much guff, he's lost the ability to feel sorry for himself, and will continue standing in the path of inevitable
Oftentimes the Iron Woobie is also a [[Determinator]], though this isn't an essential part of the character. The chief difference is that a [[Determinator]] usually has a specific reason whereas Iron Woobie can be someone who just bears up gamely to things that happen to him for no particular reason that he can see. Be that as it may he stubbornly insists on walking the same misfortune-laden path he was on before, and won't give up his personal ethical code just because things continue to go poorly for him.
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When his sufferings spring from his heroism, see also the [[Hurting Hero]].
Opposite trope to [[Sympathetic Sue]]. Contrast [[Martyr Without a Cause]] and [[Angst? What Angst?]], and compare the more snarky [[Knight in Sour Armor]]. See also [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!]] and [[Stoic Woobie]]. Most [[Inspirationally Disadvantaged]] characters are portrayed this way, often with [[What Do You Mean
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
* ''[[Angel Beats!]]'': Angel.
* ''[[
* [[
* ''[[Baccano
* ''[[
* ''[[Berserk]]'': Guts. He never asked for any of the stuff that's happened to him, from his horrific childhood to the Eclipse, but he utterly refuses to lay down and die, for anyone, no matter what gets thrown at him.
* ''[[Black Butler]]'': Hannah Anasfeloz. Poor abused Hannah, bearing all kinds of abuse from Alois without any complains.
* ''[[Blame]]'': [[Determinator|Killy.]] Good Lord, Killy. Let's see here...he has to go through:
** Travelling a city that can be best described as multiple galaxy sized megastructure that is filled with hostile Cylicon Life and the Safeguards which are always out to hunt him and anyone close to him down in gruesome way.
** Constantly having stuff blown out of him. Losing an arm? Headshot? Impalement? Decapitation? Being blown to pieces by explosions that rivals a supernova? '''''Regular occurences.''''' By the end of the series, he had suffered too much physical trauma (that would have easily killed entire cast of your average Shonen fighting series multiple times) that he {{spoiler|loses an eye and a leg}} permanently. Doctors? What doctors, just {{spoiler|stick a iron rod down your leg stump}} and keep going.
** Having no companions,
** Going through all that for at least three
** Massive suffering with absolutely no hope whatsoever. There's no guarantee that he actually
* ''[[Bleach]]'': Ichigo. Chad. Rangiku. Hitsugaya. {{spoiler|The Vaizards as a whole}}. And several others.
* ''[[Change 123]]'': Kosukegawa Teruharu. He has become one in a big way. 98-pound weakling? Check. Unapologetic otaku? Check. Willing to put himself on the line against combat-trained opponents when his friends are in danger, including some who definitely qualify as [[Ax Crazy]]? You bet.
* ''[[Code Geass]]'': It's a pretty crapsack world, so most characters with backstory are either this, or normal woobies. Main character Lelouch is on the extreme end of this: Murdered mother, crippled sister, father who invaded a country that was using him as insurance, fleeing in a war zone where the natives hate his race, and the invaders are killing everyone, all long before he hits puberty. [[Hurting Hero|It gets worse.]] Still, he's very rarely shown to feel bad for himself, and goes around standing up for the little guy while trying to get revenge on the people who made his life hard.
* ''[[Dancougar Nova]]'': Aoi. She has had a pretty crappy life. She deals with it by [[Talk to
* ''[[Darker
{{quote|
* ''[[D
* ''[[
** Oh, it's ''there''; or do you think that he had Goku, his ''father'' dish out an attack that could kill him to go Super Saiyan wiut ''reason''? Also, don't forget his [[Berserk Button]].
* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'': Nana. Despite being tortured, losing all of her limbs, and watching the person she loves most slip into insanity (and back out, fortunately), she still keeps on going.
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** Also from ''[[Fist of the North Star]]'', said potential lover of Rei, Mamiya, whose parents were killed when she was 20 years old, and then she was kidnapped and taken to a harem. Then her only family left, her brother, dies as well. After this, she falls for a man who is already fated to die for her.
*** Why do tears pour with such ease from Kenshiro? In spite (or because) of his kind and soft heart, he resolved to bear the sadness of the ''entire'' world, torn by nuclear fire, on his broad shoulders '''alone''' so ''nobody else'' has to cry ever again. The big guy himself puts it best:
{{quote|
*
* ''[[
* ''[[Hellsing]]'': Seras.
* ''[[He's Dedicated to Roses]]'' (manhwa): I-Da/Yo-Dah.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Let's see, from we have the titular character himself, Sango, Kohaku... Heck, pretty much every character in the series falls into this at some point or another, and most for darn good reasons.
* ''[[Karneval]]'': Gareki.
* ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'': Kimba. Look at him. He's a cute little white lion cub. Guess what? Both of his parents managed to die in the first episode. Guess what else? He's the hero, he's the only character other than Roger Ranger to freaking [[
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Rain, as well. She's always calm and kind, offering support to everyone as the good [[Team Mom]] that she is and serving as Domon's support. She only fully breaks down when {{spoiler|she think she's failed in her mission and to Domon}} and when {{spoiler|she finds out the role that her dad had in a certain
* ''[[Monster (
* ''[[Nagasarete Airantou]]'': Ikuto. Before coming to the island he was drifting on a life preserver for seven days without food or water. He spends the first episode/book futilely throwing himself against the same few whirlpools until it's absurd but only until he points out that he did that to '''learn''' their flow and sneak between them (there's an even larger one beyond it, sadly). His grandfather gives him through [[Training
** Ayane is definitely a woobie who can take a beating. As the [[Butt Monkey]] of the harem, she gets stepped on, used as her sister's plaything, and gets stuck with some pretty rotten luck for no good reason. Her punishment threshold is leagues beyond most other members of the island and, for her troubles, has a curious number of immunities that help her with smaller problems. Also, despite sometimes being looked down upon she gets depicted as more competent than most of the harem (though it may be narcissism) and character development has boosted her beyond most of the harem in terms of understanding how they feel about Ikuto.
* ''[[Naruto]]'': The title character himself is this, where he is the pariah of an entire
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'': Shinji Ikari. Say what you want, but it can't be denied that he saves the world on a regular basis despite the pain it brings him.
** The trope specifies someone who does not feel sorry for himself, Shinji
*** Do the new movies coming out count as canon? If so, he might still fit under this.
* ''[[Nightschool]]'': The [[Sealed Evil in
* ''[[Peacemaker Kurogane]]'': Tetsunosuke.
* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'': Homura. Basically, what would happen when [[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'': Utena.
* ''[[Saint Seiya]]'': All of the main Bronze Saints. Yes, that includes ''[[The Scrappy|Seiya]]'' himself. He may be ridiculously superpowered and an [[Idiot Hero]] and all, but he's got a good heart and loves his friends the Bronze Saints, and the few times Seiya cracks and ''cries'' are inevitable [[Tear Jerker
* ''[[
* ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'': Lain Iwakura.
* ''[[So Ra No
* Spandam from ''[[One Piece]]''. Very much a [[Miles Gloriosus]] , and a [[Dirty Coward]], but you gotta give the guy credit. Cutty Flam whacks him upside the head with the butt of a rifle, giving him a scar that never heals, and he's still standing. Even more impressive, he's gunned down by Sogeking, then Robin snaps his spine with her clutch technique, and then Sogeking guns him down ''again'', and all that is ''still'' not enough to kill him.
* ''[[
* ''[[
** And {{spoiler|Simon too. Sweet heavens, his ultimate fate would break
* ''[[Texhnolyze]]'': Ichise.
* ''[[
** The light novels also reveal that his powers gave him
* ''[[Trigun]]'': Vash. Yeah, he does [[Ten
** His brooding tendencies late in the anime damage this cred, especially the way he was so busy moping over being unable to stop Caine the Longshot from blowing out his own brains that he failed to notice {{spoiler|that Wolfwood had been mortally wounded in the meantime and was in the process of dying, and let him go off to die alone without looking up.}} But...still. All things considered, he passes.
** He complains all the time about little things, which seems to be either a coping behavior or [[Obfuscating Stupidity]], but when
*** He is usually distracted by someone else's pain or the need to protect. For example, he would have been within his rights to have wigged out in anger or guilt or ''something'' in the second part of the Inepril arc when Miss Elizabeth brought up July, but he just smiles a very sad smile and gives her a hug. Because that's what you do when people try to commit domestic terrorism on a horrific scale in order to murder you. [[The Messiah|You hug them.]]
* ''[[Violinist of Hameln]]'' manga: Pretty much the entire main cast. Don't be fooled by their crazy and goofy everyday behavior - only one of the major characters did not experience some soul-shattering tragedy and loss in the backstory. The actual story eventually corrects this oversight, and piles even more horror on the rest, [[Earn Your Happy Ending|yet still they persevere]].
* ''[[
* [[Those Two Guys|King Dedede and Escargoon]] in ''[[Kirby Right Back At Ya]]''.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[
* Dara Brighton from ''The Sword''.
* Cassie Hack from ''[[Hack Slash
* [[Spider-Man]] takes more crap, deals with more tragedy, [[My Greatest Failure|blames himself]] for his his shortcomings, and gets less credit than almost any other A-list superhero, all while constantly taking immense beatings by going up against threats way beyond his power level, but he [[Determinator|never lets it break his spirit.
* [[Gentle Giant|Colossus]] from the [[X-Men]] is a very [[Chrome Champion|literal]] example. He's seen his brother "die", come back after many years, and exile himself from this realm. He's seen his sister die from the Legacy virus. He the sacrificed his own life to find a cure for said virus. An alien resurrected and imprisoned him, tortured him for two years, and shortly after he was freed, his girlfriend disappeared in space. She came back recently... only to discover that she was trapped in her intangible form, and unable to interact with the rest of the world, including Colossus. And he's still one of the noblest of the X-Men.
** Recently{{when}} Colossus' sister also came back. She may or may not be a [[Damaged Soul|soulless]] [[Came Back Wrong|abomination]]. Regardless, she acts more emotionless and detached than before, and endangered the entire world for her own vendetta. Colossus still stands by her.
* Mother of Champions from [[The DCU]]'s ''Great Ten''. Essentially being prostituted by her country to strange men so that her [[Explosive Breeder|special gift]] can be exploited is bad enough, but the children that result from these unions have a lifespan of roughly ''one week''. She had never given birth before she had her first 25 boys, and eight days later they were all dead. The fact that she remains the picture of motherly dignity and poise is a testament to her emotional strength.
** And note that the "strange men" part is occasionally changed; she's slept with most of the male members of her team, though her heart belongs to Socialist Red Guardsman alone.
* [[Wolverine]] has over a century of bad memories starting with his father's murder, and after ''House of M'' he remembers all of them. His present
* [[Batman]] is the definition of the Iron Woobie. His parents were cruelly gunned down by a mugger when he was eight years old, and that's just the beginning. He's had one of his allies crippled by the Joker, then lost his adopted son to the very same man in the course of a year. To make matters even worse he had his spine broken once and then had aforementioned adopted son return to life, now permanently blaming him for his first death. Yet despite this he has NEVER broken his moral code (except once in [[Final Crisis]] when he {{spoiler|shot [[Darkseid]] with a substance that fatally poisoned him- and by that time he [[Asshole Victim|truly]] [[Complete Monster|deserved it]]}}- in any case there was no alternative). His refusal to break it, even in the face of the Joker (who Batman would like to kill but won't), is the reason he remains a highly prominent A-List superhero and the world's best detective.
** Dick Grayson is quite the Iron Woobie too, for many of the same reasons.
* [[The Hulk]]. Abused as a child, turned into a green monster, endured the death of ''three'' wives, chased around the world by the Army, shot into space, enslaved by an alien empire, loses the empire once he conquers it, has his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] crushed by a [[Heel Realization]], and fails to save one of his troubled sons. Man it ''
* Some incarnations of [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]] qualify especially if he's being [[The Determinator]] and disregards his health.
== [[Fan
* Takato Matsuki from the ''[[
* Akiko Yamaguchi/Star Reverie from [[Magical Girl]] [[Mega Crossover]] the ''[[
** That's what makes her a Woobie. The ''Iron'' part comes from how she ''still'' wants to be a Magical Girl after she's recovered, been depowered, and the [[Big Bad]] of the First Arc has been defeated. And from the consensus on the thread, she gains a new powerset, and becomes a [[Badass Teacher]].
* From the war-torn future of ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' comes an Ogryn named Gav from the fanfic ''[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Gav_and_Bob The Ballad of Gav and Bob]''. Ogryn are a [[Undying Loyalty|naturally loyal]] race of huge, [[Psychopathic Manchild|violent manchildren]] fanatically devoted to the Emperor, and Gav is no different. He remains steadfastly loyal even after {{spoiler|losing his Commissar and his best Ogryn friend Bob; seeing his new best friend Tarla gored by the tail of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh and losing his left arm to said Daemon; living to see Tarla turned into a mind-wiped servitor because of her repeated exposure to Chaos.}} Gav is so loyal that he [[Earn Your Happy Ending|ends up on the retinue of a Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor, Traela]].
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* George Bailey of ''[[
** Well, except that the plot kicks off when he finally breaks.
* Dr. Daniel Schreber of ''[[Dark City]]''
* The hero of ''[[The Karate Kid]]''. Few have such a knack for suffering.
* Noted for contrast is the aversion, Ebenezzer Scrooge. He was a [[Woobie]] who deserved to be a [[Woobie]] . The example is given to point out what an
* Barney Coopersmith from ''[[My Blue Heaven]]''. Despite the fact that his wife left him for another man, Barney is an FBI agent, and although he seems geeky (he was portrayed by Rick Moranis), Barney seems quite badass with a gun.
* [[Iron Man (
* In ''To Hell and Back'' Audie Murphy plays himself as one. And given how little credit he was willing to take for his real life heroic actions it would appear that he might be a Real Life example as well.
** He is. Just look into the Real Life Folder.
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* [[Jesus Was Way Cool|Jesus]] from [[The Passion of the Christ]].
* You could say [[Maggie Gyllenhaal]] has been [[Typecasting]] in this part. She's definitely capable of withstanding the slings and arrows, but you still want to give her a hug for being forced to endure them. And when she ''does'' start crying, if you don't start also, you have ice-water running through your veins.
* [[Word of God]] states that Selena from ''[[
* Sarah Connor of the ''[[Terminator (
* Po in the ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' series. Po learns about how his people were massacred by Lord Shen, including likely his mother. However, to Lord Shen's astonishment, Po manages to come to terms with his past to achieve an inner peace that enables him to defeat a warfleet armed with cannons by himself.
* Andy Dufresne in ''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]''.
* [[Lawrence Talbot]], Universal Studios' ''[[The
* Knives Chau in [[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]. Though an [[Action Girl]] in both the [[Scott Pilgrim|comic book]] and the [[The Film of the Book|film]], the film incarnation truly makes the transition to
* Bethany Hamilton in [[Soul Surfer]].
** She was actually a real person.
* Luli starts out as a regular [[The Woobie|Woobie]] but by the end of ''Hick'' has become this.
* [[Fantastic Four (
* Jason Bourne from [[The Bourne Series (
== [[Literature]] ==
* While Miles Vorkosigan in [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Vorkosigan Saga]] already takes this to extreme levels (born with abnormally brittle bones and needing multiple surgeries and painful physical therapy just to walk, and that was just the first six years of his life; it got worse), his brother Mark has it even worse. Created in a laboratory by absurdly insane and delusional terrorists to kill and impersonate his brother long enough to murder their father, raised by clone traders who sell their services to rich old people willing to murder their own cloned children and transplant their brains into the young bodies, every one of his childhood friends is dead by the time he starts trying to stop the clone trade. But after being physically, sexually, and psychologically tortured by someone vile by LITERALLY everyone else's standards (Mark makes millions from the assassination and ends up rescuing dozens of innocent lives), a beautiful female soldier touches his wrist and offers her pity for what he'd suffered. Mark's response: grab her wrist in a death grip and snarl viciously, "don't you DARE feel pity for me. I WON!"
* Jurgis in Upton Sinclair's [[The Jungle]] - he is not only a Woobie, but also an
* Danny Saunders from ''[[The Chosen]]''. He was a Hassidic Rebbe's son and an incredibly gifted young scholar. His father actually shunned him as a form of [[Training
* Jean Paget in ''[[A Town Like Alice]]''. Even when being marched by the Japanese with a party of women through the jungles of Malaya she always kept her spirits up.
* Túrin Turambar in J.R.R.Tolkien's [[The Silmarillion]].
* ...who in turn was based on Kullervo in [[The Kalevala]].
* [[The Bible|Jesus Christ]]. [[Your Mileage May Vary]] but [[Older Than Feudalism]].
** Paul may also count. The
* [[The Dresden Files|Harry Dresden]]. The entire universe hates him, but he still keeps saving it, usually [[Sad Clown|making bad jokes]] at the same time.
** Even more so, Thomas Raith.
* In [[Wen Spencer]]'s ''[[Endless Blue]]'', Mikhail suffers, and long has, from depression. He nevertheless plays [[The Stoic]] until those rare conditions that manage to break him. When his foster brother Turk apparently dies, he conscientiously locks away his gun and gives away his vodkha, to prevent [[Drowning My Sorrows]] and [[Driven to Suicide]]
* Lloyd Henried from the [[The Stand]] remains determined to stick with his evil ways, even if [[Big Bad|Randal Flagg]] scares the heck out of him.
* Huck from ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]''. He is utterly penniless, gets kidnapped by his abusive and alcoholic father, is nearly stabbed by said father, almost gets shot during a feud, has a run in with a homicidal gang of robbers and falls into the company of con men, among other things. Throughout all of this, he's infectiously cheerful, playful and heartbreakingly unaware of the [[Crapsack World]] surrounding him.
** Jim is a pretty decent candidate for this trope as well. Despite being a runaway slave, he risks capture several times to protect Huck.
* Edmond Dantes from ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]''. Starts out an all-around nice guy, is imprisoned after being falsely accused and having his life and fiancee ripped away from him, escapes, plans an elaborate vengeance against his accusers spanning several years and then, {{spoiler|despite those years of planning, spares the life of one of his enemies because he would have to take the life of his innocent and honorable son in addition.}}
** Abbe Faria, as well. Despite being innocent, he spends approximately a decade longer in prison than he has to because his most viable escape plan might involve killing a guard who's just doing his job.
* [[X Wing Series|Tycho Celchu]] is a Woobie ''in universe''. He was an Alderaanian flying for the Empire who had been placing a call to his family there on his birthday when Alderaan was destroyed. He fought for the Rebel Alliance and was kidnapped and tortured by [[Big Bad|Isard]], but never broke. When he was released the Alliance was suspicious of him, thinking that he'd turned into one of Isard's [[Manchurian Agent
{{quote|
* The title character of ''[[Literature/The Windrose Chronicles|The Windrose Chronicles]]'', by [[
* Niall from [[Wicked Lovely]], oh so much so. He gave himself to the Dark Court, [[Rape
* Jean Valjean in ''[[Les Misérables]]''.
* With all the crap that the Baudelaire siblings endure in ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' one would think they'd be [[Break the Cutie|broken]] about ten times over by now. While they may come close they always manage to continue on and survive in some epic way by sticking together through the hard times.
* Marshal-General Atkins, from [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[
* Despite having endured events that would have broken lesser peoples the princesses of [[The Princess Series]] refuse to give in to despair or anger(mostly). They have even managed to find some happiness and sense of family with each other.
* [[Robin Hobb]] loves a good Iron Woobie.
** ''[[
** Nevare Burvelle of ''[[The Soldier Son]]'' suffers in much the same manner as Fitz, though Hobb has only tortured him for three books thus far.
* [[My Happy Life]] is made of this. The nameless narrator describes being a beaten, neglected, friendless woman, with a mental deficiency who was abandoned, raised in a Dickinsonian orphanage, left homeless, kidnapped, abused, and eventually locked in an abandoned insane asylum to die in relentlessly cheerful terms. The reader may assume part of her insanity was an inability to feel unhappiness, but that's not explicitly stated.
* Sofia Mendes in ''[[The Sparrow]].''
* Georgie in ''The Fledgling''. She seems like your ordinary introverted, outcast child, until a Canada goose befriends her and teaches her to fly, and it seems all the other characters are bent on stopping her. In the end, the goose, the only true friend she's had {{spoiler|not only dies, but dies because Georgie calls him to her}}. And despite that, Georgie still never complains.
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** Even ''Harry'' lampshades it, when he learns Neville's backstory. After Dumbledore tells him and he goes back to the Gryffindor bedroom, he sees Neville sleeping and pities him, thinking about how his parents may be dead but what happened to Neville's parents was way worse.
* Toni Ware in [[The Pale King]] has a horrifying backstory, but she's easily the toughest and most dangerous of the main characters.
* Lissla Lissar from [[Robin McKinley]]'s ''[[
* Ruth Mallory of ''[[Someone
* Natalie Henry in Winds of War, and War and Remembrance is this all through. On the train to Auschwitz she keeps her strength up by thinking to herself,[[Patriotic Fervor|I am an American.]]
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Jack Bauer from ''[[
** He would need to invent a successful method of killing Jack Bauer first. Considering how many had tried and failed, it stands to reason that it simply cannot be done.
* Mr. Spock from [[Star Trek:
** Picard picks up the role in ''[[Star Trek:
** Also Data from TNG. He's constantly the victim of [[Fantastic Racism]] due to being an android, his "brother" turns out to be an [[Evil Twin]] and his body's been hijacked more than once. The fact that he can't feel emotion just seems to make it worse somehow.
* The title character of ''[[
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'': Edgar, a new Season 4 character, is an interesting case--{{spoiler|he kills people with his super-speed/weapon accuracy abilities, but he has said that he ''does not'' actually want to do it--and then Samuel started to [[Shout
** Claire has been one throughout. An alternate universe showed what would happen if she did break and it was frightening (but also awesome)
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'':
** Pretty much any hunter on the show would qualify, since hunters are usually created when their normal lives are ripped apart by some supernatural monster. Rather than drown in despair and alcohol, they pack up their lives, hit the road and chase those monsters.
** A case could be made for Crowley. Sure, he's a bad guy, but he also spent most of Season 5 alienated from his own kind and with a death sentence on his head that could just as easily have been delivered by the Winchesters as by the demons he betrayed. Yet he snarks on.
** Castiel, ''especially'' in Season 5 when he's falling. But even after he's {{spoiler|re-angelfied and accepted into Heaven, he finds that he has to become the figurehead for an incredibly personal civil war between his brothers}}, and he's more or less had to go it alone.
* Baldrick, Edmund Blackadder's hapless manservant in the British comedy series ''[[
* Cameron in ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', who is almost a ''literal''
* The title character of ''[[Veronica Mars]]''. No person should go through as much crap as she does, and the majority of people would have some kind of breakdown - but no. She'll move on with a plan and a quip, and try and help people.
* Chloe Sullivan of ''[[Smallville]]'' qualifies, particularly following season eight... You know what? It's easier just to watch it than explain it. But she still manages to be perky and upbeat despite what she's gone through. Must be something about those perky blonde girls...
* Fran from ''[[Power Rangers Jungle Fury]]''. Poor, poor Fran. As the only employee to not be a Ranger, she is consistently the only one left to deal with the mass lunch rush. While she occasionally confronts Theo and Lily about always being gone, once to the point of quitting, she just as easily sets it aside. And this isn't even covering her crush on Dom...
* ''[[
** Jack is probaly the biggest Iron Woobie of the series. Dear god, he's been buried alive, had all the life sucked out of him, was buried in concrete, and in ''[[Torchwood
** Then there's Tosh. She was forced to {{spoiler|commit treason because her mother was being held hostage. Then, instead of getting rescued, UNIT sentences her to isolation}} until Jack shows up and recruits her for Torchwood. The man she has a crush on is a jerk who won't give her the time of day, but at least she has regular contact with him. Another interest was a soldier suffering from PSTD who had to go back to a time that didn't understand the disorder. Then there was her other love interest Mary who was revealed to {{spoiler|have been using her the entire time.}} When Tosh finally does tell Owen she loves him, {{spoiler|she's dying from a gunshot wound and it turns out he didn't even hear it.}} That poor woman never got a break.
* Rory from ''[[
{{quote|
'''Rory:''' Can't do that, ma'am. Can't forget what's coming.
'''Amy:''' But it could activate any second.
'''Rory (with clenched, trembling fists):''' It has activated, ma'am. }}
* [[Christopher Titus]] plays up this part on ''[[Titus]]''; as does his fiance Erin. His father, though, is the ultimate, an
* From ''[[Numb3rs]]'': Josephine Kirtland, the victim in the Season 3 episode "Nine Wives". She grew up in a polygamist cult. She was forced to marry its leader, Prophet Stone, who subsequently raped her. Instead of giving up, she escapes from a desert hideout and treks through the wilderness at night. Later, she faces two awful truths: {{spoiler|her mother betrayed her to Stone, and she is the product of [[Parental Incest]] (she and her mother have the same father).}} Despite all of this, she's a mostly stable individual by the end of the episode. Oh, and did I mention that she's only sixteen?
* Aaron Hotchner from ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' is possibly the best example of an Iron Woobie on TV today. Hotch is trying to raise his son after his ex-wife - his high school sweetheart - was murdered by the Reaper, who made him listen over the phone while she died. Hotch was so grief-stricken that he beat the Reaper to death with his bare hands. Oh, and this was after he got stabbed and possibly raped by the Reaper, and had his son taken into protective custody. And after that time he nearly got blown up by a suicide bomber, lost an old flame in the same attack, and had painful hearing problems for some time afterward as a result of it shattering his eardrums.
* Bree Van De Kamp, from ''[[Desperate Housewives]]''. Let's get this straight: She lost 3 husbands and 2 boyfriends, her son hated her with passion for several seasons, her daughter does not like her very much either, and she succumbed to alcoholism. Despite all of this, she managed to get back on her feet each time, despite the odds, the people and the ''universe'' working against her. {{spoiler|That is, until season 8, where she finally snaps, and is on the verge of suiciding herself like Mary Alice by the end of the 9th episode.}}
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== Music ==
* The narrator of Labi Siffre's classic ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otuwNwsqHmQ Something Inside So Strong]''.
* The main character of the video of [[
* The main character of Joshua Radin's "Brand New Day" video. Heartbreaking that through it all, he keeps singing. Especially so since it's such a happy, upbeat song.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* The god ''Ilmater'' from the ''[[Dungeons
* Adamant caste Alchemical [[Exalted]]. Their duty is to keep the Eight Nations safe without the Octet ever finding out they exist. They spend most of their time in the dark, alone except for a tide of horrible monsters. They wait, and they watch, but if they do break protocol and reveal themselves to a small group of mortals or an assembly of Alchemicals, thanks to their anima effect it's likely their contacts will never remember who they are. Yet most of them keep carrying the torch of Autochthon's will into the darkness and use it to burn gremlins for people who will never know what they go through.
== [[Theater]] ==
* Tevye the Dairyman in ''[[Fiddler
* Elphaba from ''Wicked''. Not only is she green-skinned and thus shunned, her father has always blamed her (and thus she blames herself) for her mother's death and sister's paraplegia. Then the Wizard, whom she looked up to and was sure would help stop the animals from being silenced turns out to be the *cause* of it, and he not only disappoints her but calls for her death. Then her sister dies and she cannot even have the only thing that remains of her, Nessa's red slippers. Finally, just after reconciling with her best friend, she will never see her because {{spoiler|she either dies or fakes her death.}}
** On the upside, {{spoiler|if you assume she lives}}, she did finally get to be with her lover, Fiyero.
* Viola from Shakespeare's ''[[Twelfth Night]]''. After escaping from a shipwreck that her twin brother may have perished in, she takes a deep breath in lieu of mourning and dresses as a man to serve as the page of Duke Orsino. She goes on to fall in love with him and suffer in silence as he loudly pines over the woman he wants instead of her.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Several characters from the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' series could qualify. The most extreme of these cases is Jack from [[Mass Effect 2|the second game]]. She was kidnapped as an infant from Cerberus, forced into an experiment that was pure [[Nightmare Fuel]] day in, day out, for the sake of finding out if trauma increases biotic power. When she escaped, she flew with pirates, was used as a sex object repeatedly, dropped a moon onto a colony...
{{quote|
** The amount of suffering that [[Player Character|Commander Shepard]] can be put through (losing the entire family to Batarian slavers/growing up an Earthbound orphan, losing an entire squad on Akuze, facing routine accusations of being crazy by the very people he/she's trying to protect, {{spoiler|losing a love interest in either game}}, {{spoiler|dying in the beginning of the second}}, being forced to work with the people responsible for Akuze, facing the consequences of ''The Arrival'', and possibly {{spoiler|dying for real during the Suicide Mission}}) is almost comical, yet none of this will stop him/her from shrugging it all off and saving the galaxy.
** Shepard's status as this is multiplied by a thousand times in ''[[
{{quote|
** Javik, the downloadable {{spoiler|Prothean survivor squadmate}}, never seems to be anything less than calm and in control. However, talking to him reveals a lot of suffering in his past. Not only is he the last of his species, but if you tell him to use the Echo Stone, he shares with you the fact that he was the commander of a ship like the Normandy... except that, when the Reapers had it attacked and the crew carried off, they got ''everyone'' except for Javik himself. He singlehandedly stormed a Reaper fortress, desperately trying to save his people... but they were already indoctrinated by then, and he was forced to [[Mercy Kill]] them all to escape.
* [[Max Payne (
** Gulping pain killers like Pez helps a lot.
* Shirou and {{spoiler|Archer}} in ''[[Fate/stay
** Also, Saber. She doesn't just get over the terrible, heartbreaking events of her life; they're actually her bizarre form of motivation.
* Selvaria Bles from ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]''. It's hard not to feel sorry at the way she willingly put herself through hell ({{spoiler|and later sacrifices herself}}) for a man who doesn't care about her - and she probably ''knows'' it. And even so, the way she faces her fate with pride and keeps leading her soldiers to the bitter end makes her very admirable. Even in her final defeat, all she asks of the [[Fat Bastard]] who came to take her as a prize and steal Squad 7's merits is that he spares her men...
* Gorath from ''[[Betrayal
* Take Marona from ''[[Phantom Brave]]''. Now take all the hate, and loathing directed at her; and take Ash away. That's Carona. Willing to be considered a villain, willing to save the world anyway. Willing to train the people she's being forced to bring into a trap so that they're strong enough to break out of it. Willing to go ''back'' to her world even though Marona and Ash would have welcomed her in theirs and she refused to take Ash with her when Marona offered.
* Ramza from [[Final Fantasy Tactics]]. Sure, [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]. So get the whips and chains ready, because he's going to do good anyway.
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** Tidus and [[Stoic Woobie|Auron]] as well. Perhaps even ''moreso'' in the former's case.
* Ethan Mars from [[Heavy Rain]]. The man goes through hell, all to save his son from a serial killer.
* Timothy Pike from ''[[
* [[
* Poor, poor Isaac Clarke of ''[[Dead Space (
* The main character of ''[[Dragon Quest V]]''. No other character in the entire ''series'' compares to him. Where to even begin. {{spoiler|His father is murdered right in front of him as a child. He lives as a slave for the next ten years constructing an icon of blasphemy. He and his wife are turned to stone for another seven years, mere days after his twin children are born. They get seperated during this, and she does not get unpetrified until well after he is. And as probably the biggest [[Player Punch]] in the entire series, his mother, who he and his father had been searching for the entire game, is murdered right in front of him just ''minutes'' after he'd finally found her.}} If that's not an
* Ayane from ''[[Dead or Alive]]'' qualifies. She was born from her biological father, Raidou, raping her mother to get back at one of his enemies, and was hated and mistreated by her village of origin as a result, with the only two that ever treated her well being her friends Hayate and Kasumi, and her adoptive father Genra. And even though she and Kasumi are friends and she's crushing on Hayate, the rest of the village tries to keep her away from them due to associating her with Raidou. Then she finds out from her mother that Kasumi and Hayate are her half siblings, and that while they're treated like ninja royalty, she's outcast because her mother didn't claim her due to the trauma of her birth circumstances. Then Raidou comes back to the village seeking a technique they guarded, and while she's beaten aside easily, Hayate is crippled when she fails to protect him. Kasumi then leaves the village to seek revenge, and Ayane is assigned to kill her for breaking the code of secrecy surrounding the village. And this is all before leaving the backstory! She proceeds to have to face off with both her best friend and {{spoiler|her amnesiac love interest}} when {{spoiler|Hayate is brought back by DOATEC as Ein}} as part of Project Epsilon. Then in the third tournament, she finds out that her adoptive father {{spoiler|has been kidnapped by DOATEC and turned into the monstrous bioweapon known as Omega}}, forcing her to enter the tournament, {{spoiler|whereupon she defeats and kills him to set him free of DOATEC's slavery}}. And past that, with Hayate back as of the fourth game, Kasumi is still marked for death due to [[Honor Before Reason]], and Ayane is still loyally serving her clan to take her down. And through all of this, the only hint of the pain we ever see going through her is a single tear {{spoiler|when she's cremating Genra's body after he dies.}} One really wonders how Tecmo could hurt her ''worse'' if the series had gone on.
* If you are not [[Broken Base|feeling rather sarcastic due to the recent events]], then ''[[
* [[
* [[Metroid]]'s own Samus Aran. The toughest warrior in the galaxy, destroyer of worlds... and everyone she knows and/or cared about dies in front of her. She has been forced by circumstance to wipe out entire species of super-predator (the sole survivor of one ''died saving her life''), and spends most of her time on-screen either wandering the crumbling ruins of the civilization she was raised in and its allies, or hunting down the ones responsible.
* Reisen Udongein Inaba of the [[
* Ryuuguu Rena in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* [[Umineko no Naku Koro
* Craig Boone of ''[[
* [[Pokémon|Cubone]] is more of a straight-up [[The Woobie|woobie,]] having lost its mother and [[Skeletons in
* The protagonist of ''[[Zettai Hero Project]]'', a [[Heroic Mime]] who appears to be nothing but an [[OC Stand
* [[Mickey Mouse]] from [[Kingdom Hearts]]. Everyone he knows either dies, disappears, goes into a coma, or falls to darkness, he's an utter failure at protecting the worlds and his friends and loved ones from the encroaching darkness, and his life is best described as "hell". He is also frequently compared to [[Star Wars|prequel trilogy era Yoda]] in combat prowess, and despite over 12 years of constant defeat and failure, refuses to give up, and even stays pretty damn optimistic.'
** Well, at least he still has his supporting cast of the [[Classic Disney Shorts|Disney cartoons.]]
** Also, all three of [[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth By Sleep]]'s protagonists.
** Also [[Beauty and
* Scorpion from ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' is this. First his entire clan is killed, then after being brought back as a spectre he's forced by Shang Tsung to work alongside the guy who killed his family. In life and in death his story is an endless stream of tragedy, his game endings are usually bad, right down to {{spoiler|becoming the vessel of Dark Kahn's rebirth in ''Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe'' (luckily, the game is non-canon)}}. Yet he still continues on.
** Even worse, the Elder Gods are pretty much dicks to him. In ''Deception'', they make Scorpion their Champion to deal with the threat of Onaga. He agrees on the terms that his family and clansmen be revived by the Elder Gods. When he delivers, the Elder Gods [[Exact Words|uphold their end of the bargain]]... [[Be Careful What You Wish For|by reviving the Shirai Ryu as undead abominations]] in ''Armageddon''. No wonder he goes all [[Rage Against the Heavens]] afterwards.
** [[Mortal Kombat 2|Kitana]] even moreso. Not only is her father is killed by Shao Kahn during his bloody takeover of Edenia, but her mother Sindel [[Driven to Suicide|commits suicide out of grief for her departed husband]]. Shao Kahn then manipulates the poor girl into serving as one of his assassins and makes her falsely believe that he is her birth father. He also creates a disfigured clone of her to act as her "sister" and ultimately off her should Kitana prove to be unreliable. Who knows how long this lasted for, seeing as Kitana is ''[[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|over 10,000-years-old]]''. When she finally breaks free, Kahn then revives her mother and brainwashes ''her'' as a tool for his invasion of Earthrealm. Eventually, all of this is sorted out. Then comes Shinnok. And after ''that'' is resolved, Kitana proposes to her love interest Liu Kang, only for him to reluctantly decline due to his status as Earthrealm's Champion. Then Quan Chi and Shang Tsung get the jump on him before ''Deadly Alliance'' and kill him. And then ''she'' dies in battle with Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, and is later revived by Onaga
* [[Badass|Leon]] from ''[[F-Zero]] X'' onward. The kid was no more than '''four''' when [[War Is Hell|invaders ransacked and virtually razed his homeplanet of Zou]]. Leon lost both [[Parental Abandonment|his parents]] and [[Eye Scream|his left eye]] that day. Eleven years later, the F-Zero GP races are gearing up for a revival and the people of Zou choose him to be their representative. All he has is a second-hand machine created by a [[The Atoner|guilt-wracked]] [[Defector From Decadence|rebel]] [[Heel Face Turn|soldier]] from the big war years ago. His chances of winning are slim and Leon wants to make the children of his planet happy again. Yet, he never complains about the hardships he's had to endure even ''once'' and instead stays [[The Pollyana|optimistic]] and [[Keet|cheery]], standing head-and-shoulders above the rest of the cast as the most selfless character of the series.
* Arguably, Cloud Strife from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' fits quite well. He falls into depression for the first half of ''[[Advent Children]]'', but considering [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die|everything]] [[Mind Rape|he's]] [[Doomed Hometown|been]] [[Trauma Conga Line|through]], it's pretty amazing that he can get up in the morning.
* So many characters in the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' franchise. Solid Snake, Big Boss, The Boss, {{spoiler|Ocelot}}, etc. Snake is a notable example with all the shit you see him go through during the entire series especially in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''.
* Arguably Recette, the protagonist of [[Recettear]] {{[[[Parental Abandonment]] not only was she pretty much abandoned by her dad in all but name & her mom might be dead,}} she also lived alone for 3 months, might've been starving by the time the game's events roll around, and has to basically perform child labor in order to pay off the enormous debt her dad left her [[Social Services Does Not Exist|(and she loses her house, & has to live in a box, if she fails)]]]. It's amazing she's able to put up such a friendly smile each day.
* [[Fear Effect]]. Hana Tsu-Vachel is very much this.
* Arguably many of the characters in ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'', but Zoey most of all. Much of the supplemental material shows she's on the verge of breaking down, yet she keeps on fighting her way through waist-deep hordes of zombies.
* Poor [[Final Fantasy IX|Garnet]]. As a princess, her father the king dies, and her [[Gonk|mother]] [[God Save Us From the Queen|goes nuts]] and starts randomly attacking nations in across the continent. She escapes her home, only to eventually return in a vain attempt to negotiate- and gets imprisoned for her troubles. Then, her innate powers are stolen from her (by her mother, obviously) so they can be used as Weapons of Mass Destruction against her beloved Uncle's city, and she's almost killed, until she's rescued by her friends- three of which stay behind to delay her pursuers. She discovers her origins as an orphan of another village (which was destroyed by aliens); no sooner has she learned that her real family has been dead for years, her adopted mother is burned half to death when her weapons-dealer turns on her, and she and Garnet barely have enough time to reconcile before she dies. Garnet then becomes Queen... just in time for her kingdom to be devastated by the same alien ship that destroyed her original village, and in the aftermath of all this, she ends up with enough psychological damage to render her mute until she's recovered from the grief and self-loathing.
* ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' has not one, but an entire ''team'' of
* Cole from ''[[
* Lost your parents in the war? Surrounded by the hostile thoughts, words, and deeds of paranoid warmongers on all sides? {{spoiler|Brother got manipulated into destroying the country and endangering the world in a crisis that is only resolved when he saves you from a two-person [[Heroic Sacrifice]] by sacrificing himself instead?}} Welcome to another day in the life of [[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn
* [[League of Legends|Nautilus]], Oh boy. He was a sailor who was left to die by his fellow seamen after he dived into an unidentified, pitch-black section of the ocean and was grabbed by ''something'' and dragged down. When he awoke after who knows how long, his heavy diving suit had been fused with his skin, and he was lost in complete darkness. With nothing else left to do, he walked. Too heavy to swim and weighted down by the suit, he walked along the ocean floor until he eventually hit the shores. However, he found that there was nothing left for him on the surface. No home, no family, no friend, nothing. The only reason he joined the eponymous [[Gladiator Games|League of Legends]] is that ''someone'' might be able to help him discover something about himself.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [[
* Susan of ''[[
** The school uniforms plotline shows this too. She challenges the school administration over the new uniforms, which she finds sexist. The student body, who all HATE the uniforms, hate HER even more because she isn't challenging them enough. [http://egscomics.com/?date=2007-09-14 "Nothing that makes me happy ever lasts."] Eventually, the uniforms {{spoiler|are removed not by Susan's constant activism, but complaints from parents about laundry.}}
** Later a flashback shows us how, while on a class trip to France, {{spoiler|she was attacked by an [[Our Vampires Are Different|Aberration]], recruited/tricked by Immortals to help Nanase hunt it down and kill it, and ended up killing it herself. Immediately afterward, her expression shifts from happy to jaded, and stays there for years.}}
** Surprisingly enough, {{spoiler|Adrian Raven}} [http://egscomics.com/?date=2011-12-30 also counts], as was [http://egscomics.com/?date=2009-06-13 hinted] before. When one feels kinship with an enchanted boar because the critter also doesn't belong anywhere, well...
* ''[[Nodwick]]'' has died [http://
* Punch, AKA Adam, a [[
* Mecha Maid aka Marilyn Seong from ''[[Spinnerette]]'' has this in spades. She has, at most, ''three years to live'' thanks to ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). She can barely speak without technological assistance and is only mobile in a wheelchair or her [[Powered Armor|battlesuit]]. Yet she gets into the Mecha Maid suit and goes out to punch supervillains anyway. (Admittedly, part of this may be that the armour's systems allow her to actually ''walk''.)
* O-Chul of ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' is an example [[Made of Iron]]. Blasted through the air from the losing end of a brutal battle, captured and tortured by Team Evil, given half a chance to escape he takes the opportunity to strike out at Xykon and Redcloak, no matter how many times he's humiliatingly beaten down for the effort. O-Chul maintains his code of honor without complaint, and can even show consideration for others through the worst of his torments. His resilience and compassion throughout his imprisonment may also have laid the groundwork for a [[Hell Face Turn]] on the part of Xykon's most powerful minion (which could very well save the world at some crucial point down the line).
* All of the Exiles {{spoiler|on post-apocalyptic Earth}} in ''[[Homestuck]]'', to varying degrees. In particular, WV, who {{spoiler|was a simple farmer who rose up and led a rebellion against the Black King, then had to watch helplessly as his entire army was slaughtered by [[Big Bad|Jack Noir]]}}.
** PM maybe even more so. She was originally just a mail carrier, and was tasked with delivering a package to John. After a whole lot of things go wrong, she winds up {{spoiler|appointed queen of the Exiles, only to see all of her friends/subjects murdered when [[Big Bad|Jack Noir]] comes out of nowhere, destroying what little they had managed to rebuild. He only didn't kill her because he didn't think she posed a threat. But then she finds the [[Ring of Power|White Queen's Ring]] that WV had been carrying, and [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|follows Jack to kick his ass]] as Prospitian Monarch}}. The [[Oh Crap|look on Jack's face]] when he realizes how badly he underestimated her is glorious.
* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', Leutenant Haley Sorlie early after her introduction. Part of this was a direct result of [[Tough Love]] from her boss - apparently she recognized Sorlie as [[Birds of a Feather|a kindred spirit]], was grooming her for greater responsibilities. Considering a [[Field Promotion]] within hours after Sorlie refused to obey her order, the General Bala-Amin was satisfied with her development, and Captain Sorlie is [[Knight in Sour Armor|a different story]].
== Web Original ==
* [[
{{quote|
* [[Red vs. Blue|Tex]] {{spoiler|She was "literally" designed to fail at everything she does.}}
* [[
* Gino Gambino, especially in [[Gaia Online]]'s earlier storylines. Subjected to malnutrition, [[Evilutionary Biologist|immoral experimentation]], [["Well Done, Son" Guy|fatherly disapproval]], vampire kidnappings, [[Easy Amnesia]], and yet when his dad's been sniped off the top of a skyscraper, ''Gino jumps after him'', because he cares about him ''that damn much''. Sadly this has faded in some of the more recent storylines, where he's more of a whiny [[Butt Monkey]].
* In the best-known [[Let's Play]] for the [[So Bad
* To a certain degree, [[Chuggaaconroy]]. His deleted 50 facts video revealed that he had four siblings that died in miscarriages, he nearly died from an allergic reaction as a kid, and he was bullied in school. He's also admitted that he was only pretending to be enthusiastic in his [[Super Mario Sunshine]] LP since he had been worrying about health problems during it. However, he doesn't talk about it or let it stop him from being the goofy, nerdy gamer we all know and love.
* Chiaroscuro Themyst from ''[[Sinai
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Another literal example is [[WALL-E]]. That little guy's spirit is ''amazing.''
* [[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]. This trope is more or less the premise of the show.
* Raven of ''[[Teen Titans (
* The final lines in ''La Resistance'' from ''[[South Park]] Bigger Longer Uncut'' advise the reistance members that, if their dicks are cut in half, they should laugh it off and go out with as much defiance as possible. If that's not being an
{{quote|
** [[They Killed Kenny|Kenny]] is revealed to be this when it turns out that, in addition to having a crappy home life, he remembers every time he died, but noone else does.
* The titular [[Samurai Jack]] went through hell in his quest to return to his native time, and [[Failure Is the Only Option|never even achieved his final goal]]. And yet, he just soldiers on.
* All four of the protagonists of [[Up (
* Plankton from [[
* Wile E. Coyote and Sylvester of [[Looney Tunes]]. On a related note, Tom of [[
* Dukey from [[Johnny Test]].
* Ed Otter from [[Brandy and Mr. Whiskers]].
* [[Disney|Goofy]] as he appears in [[House of Mouse]]. Turns out he wasn't meant to be head waiter.
* Tina from [[Bob's Burgers]]
* Bessie Higgenbottom from [[The Mighty B!]].
* Tom Peters from [[Tom Goes to
* [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Prince Zuko]] is one, and summed it up this way: "I don't need luck, though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight and that's made me strong. It's made me who I am."
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* Sylvester McCoy. Never even ''met'' his father, as he died in a submarine explosion during World War II, mother had a nervous breakdown and died in an asylum, and yet he manages to put a rather inventive "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" spin on it: saying that [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsRbeG7dUxM as orphan-status increases your need to charm respect and love from others, it makes you who you are as a performer.]
* The last Emperors of the Habsburg Empire, Franz Josef and Karl, arguably fit this trope. In the case of "Franzi", it's almost a miracle that he kept his stern composure and sanity following the horrific deaths of his brother (Maximilian, executed in Mexico), son/original heir (Rudolf, who died alongside his mistress Maria Vetsera in the Mayerling Incident), wife (Elisabeth/Sisi, stabbed by an Italian anarchist - this one doubles as [[The Mourning After]])''and'' nephew/heir (Franz Ferdinand, murdered in public - which started [[World War I]]), plus having the Kingdom of Italy, the ancient enemy turned ally, betray the Triple Alliance and join the enemy. His successor, on the other hand, faced the eminent downfall of Austria-Hungary and strove to at least ease the pain for his subjects. Though he did attempt (with failure) to reclaim Hungary after the War. He eventually died on Madeira from pneumonia, about two months before the birth of his youngest daughter, at the age of 34.
** [
** It's also been argued that towards the end of his life, Franz Josef was a closeted [[Death Seeker]]. In a sense, the mere fact that he outlived just about ''all'' his contemporaries while having to cope with the deaths of those closest to him was a [[Fate Worse Than Death]].
* [[Anne Bronte
** Then again, it does [[Tear Jerker|explain]] [[Crapsack World|their]] [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|writing]]...
* Beethoven. Deaf composer. Considered by some to be the greatest composer of all time. He wrote some of the most moving pieces of music ever composed. While not able to hear them. The popular legend contends that he had a piano without legs, [[Memetic Badass|and he would compose at it]] while laying on the ground to [[Disability Superpower|feel the vibrations]] since he couldn't hear the notes.
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* Richard Hatch from ''Survivor'' fame. He was raped twice before he turned ten, was thrown out of his house when he was 15, almost didn't graduate high school, flunked out of college because of drugs and he only got his corporate trainer job due to getting it handed from him. Also, he got married to a person who abandoned him for a green card! It also doesn't help when you realize ''everything'' he's done after Survivor Borneo was a failure. Also he got accused for not paying his taxes when he was innocent. His life is practically one bad event after another.
* The [[Furry Fandom]] artist [http://www.furaffinity.net/user/evotrex/ Evo T Rex], once an active artist, lost his ability to draw because of brain cancer. He remains well-respected because of his artwork and his online presence, but he could no longer draw after the operation to have his tumor removed. The tumor since grew back, but he is usually in high spirits despite the sad series of status updates. It's uncertain if he'll ever draw again, but he is regularly greeted by respecting well-wishers.
* The Palestinians, who formulated the [
* Pitbulls. This is a breed that suffers pure [[Nightmare Fuel]] at the hands of humans, but humane organizations note it is extremely common for dogs seized from absolutely horrific circumstances to greet their rescuers with wagging tails and kisses.
* [
* Brian Price of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as shown [http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/bucs-brian-price-hospitalized-sister-dies-auto-accident-194931818.html here]
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