Iron Woobie: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

''My head is bloody, but unbowed."''|'''William Ernest Henley''', ''[[Invictus]]''}}

 

* ''[[Dancougar Nova]]'': Aoi. She has had a pretty crappy life. She deals with it by [[Talk to the Fist|punching stuff in the face.]]

* ''[[Darker Than Black]]'': {{spoiler|[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Havoc]]}}. She goes a long way from [[Person of Mass Destruction]] to [[De-Power|depowered]] amnesiac to The Woobie to Iron Woobie -- for extra [[Mind Screw|head-spin]], it's covered in but two episodes mostly not dedicated to her:

* ''[[D.Gray-man]]'': Allen Walker.

* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'': Son Gohan. Poor guy saw his father tortured to near death, was later informed, carelessly and brutally, by a third party that his beloved father was dead and then [[It Got Worse|he was dropped alone in the wasteland for six months.]]. Piccolo made sure he survived, yes, but only that. He was later [[Training From Hell|trained in full DBZ-Style]] by Piccolo for the next six months, in order to have what would be his first fight to the death in the series. Understandably, he was scared shitless. Then he was pummeled brutally by the much superior Nappa, of course after having seen all of his other friends die, culminating in the death of [[Defrosting Ice Queen|Piccolo]], who by this point had warmed up to Gohan. Saw his father being tortured to near death ''again''. Then went into a journey into space towards a planet he did not know, was forced to fight his way through his whole stay there, and there he saw his remaining friends being brutally destroyed by his enemies. All through out this, he is ''six'', mind you. What does he do? [[Angst? What Angst?|he beats the living shit out of everything that opposes him, instead of laying down and crying himself to sleep.]] His life basically amounts to seeing everyone he cares for and loves, and himself, brutally beaten, killed, tortured or otherwise harmed. At no point does he ever show a hint of angst.

** 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:

* '''''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''''': This is pretty much the defining trope of the manga and Brotherhood series. Every good character in this manga had their woobie moment, like [[Walking Shirtless Scene|Alex]] [[Gentle Giant|Armstrong]] who goes through a rather messy breakdown when he sees atrocities done by his troops in Ishbal, [[Supporting Leader|Roy]] [[Playing with Fire|Mustang]], who starts as idealistic soldier, but is then faced with harsh reality on Ishbal, [[Cold Sniper|Riza]] [[Puss in Boots|Hawkeye]], who joins army for the same reasons as Mustang, and finds, to her horror, that killing people is not as easy as just pulling the trigger, and many more. The good part, though, is that they're all so [[Badass]] that they just decide to [[Iron Woobie|live with it]] and [[Character Development|continue forward]].

* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'': Hayate. Despite surviving [[Social Services Does Not Exist|terrible neglect and danger and loneliness as a child]], he retains a noble and compassionate demeanor as well as an [[The Determinator|unbreakable determination]]. Small wonder everyone loves and admires him.

** 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|Manchurian Agents]], and he was put under all kinds of restrictions. His old CO Wedge Antilles still trusted him absolutely and relied on him, even giving him roles in secret plans. Then someone who was suspicious of him died in suspicious circumstances, and he was put on trial with a mountain of evidence set against him. ''Everyone'' but Wedge, or nearly everyone, thought he was a traitor, wittingly or not, and even Wedge had a moment of doubt. So how did Tycho bear up with this? Stoically, and with an endless reserve of patience. Before Isard got him he was a hothead and impulsive - after that, he was subdued, haunted, and his [[The Cape|nobility]] was laid bare.

* The title character of ''[[Literature/The Windrose Chronicles|The Windrose Chronicles]]'', by [[Barbara Hambly]], winds up going through fifteen kinds of hell at the hands of the good guys as well as the bad guys. He's been traumatized enough to go completely insane - and his insanity gives him the ability to sustain hope even when such is unrealistic - leading to such Awesome Moments as {{spoiler|gaining secret control of the prison where he is being tortured, not that that makes the torture hurt any less,}} and dealing with everyone throughout courteously and cheerfully...

* Niall from [[Wicked Lovely]], oh so much so. He gave himself to the Dark Court, [[Rape as Backstory|and we all know what that meant]], to save a few mortals (who died anyway.) He managed to escape from them, becoming one of the Summer Court's most trusted advisors. Oh, but then, well, [[It Got Worse|Shit happened.]] He would have every reason in the world to be all angsty and depressed, but he very rarely does, or at least not visibly. He's a "survivor", as Leslie put it.

** 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 ''[[Doctor Who]]'', particularly {{spoiler|the resurrected Auton Rory}}. To make up for a moment of weakness where his {{spoiler|his Auton programming}} overrode his mind, he spends {{spoiler|''two thousand years'' guarding a box holding the body of his girlfriend. ''Two thousand years'' with nobody to talk to, no way to heal injuries, and nothing to think of but his love, his guilt, and his worry. And despite having no way to heal injuries, two thousand years later, he hasn't a scratch}}. His [[Iron Woobie]] status got another major upgrade in the series 6 finale, when a device he was wearing would cause him agony or even death if he kept it on. But since he needed the device to save the others, he refused to take it off:

'''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 [[Iron Woobie]] [[Jerkass Woobie]].

== [[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...

** 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 ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''. S/he experiences an enormous amount of losses, experiences serious [[Survivor Guilt]] and is forced to carry the fate of the entire galaxy on his/her shoulders. Joker notes at one point that ''while resting'' s/he's under more stress now than s/he was in his/her background (which involves either holding an entire platoon by him/herself, watching his/her squad get devoured by [[Sand Worm|Sand Worms]], or leading a suicidal assault against an enemy fort). By the end, s/he's so exhausted that s/he can barely keep his/her eyes open, has suffered third-degree burns, is bleeding to death from a stomach wound, and got caught in a blast from [[Eldritch Abomination|HARBINGER]], but when Admiral Hackett calls him/her, [[Heroic Resolve|s/he immediately gets back up and responds.]]

** 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 (series)|Max Payne]] talks a lot about how bad his life is, yet he manages to keep his emotions in check through and through. And [[Badass|kill lots of people]].

== Web Original ==

* [[The Nostalgia Critic]]. For a hammy internet reviewer, he's gone through a [[Break the Cutie|lot of shit]] (granted, [[Jerkass Woobie|some of it]] is his own fault), but he'll have a cry or a rage and then come back fighting.

* [[Red vs. Blue|Tex]] {{spoiler|She was "literally" designed to fail at everything she does.}}

* [[Billy MC]] is generally seen as this in that despite the woobie-ish elements of his life, he ultimately perseveres in his [[Let's Play|Lets Plays]] and will beat whatever [[Nintendo Hard]] game he's playing.

* Raven of ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|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 [[Iron Woobie]], what is?

** [[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.