Stoic Woobie: Difference between revisions

[[File:466446802443795 6669.png|link=Blame|frame| His life sucks, [[The Stoic|but he'll never complain]].]]

 

 

This character needs a hug. Badly. [[Beneath the Mask|Don't expect them to admit it]], though. [[Captain Obvious|A subtrope of]] [[The Stoic]], unlike other [[Woobie]] characters, they won't cry, angst, or outwardly show how much they're suffering at all. (Internally is another story). [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|They don't want your pity]], and in a great number of cases, will [[Tin Man|deny having emotions at all]]. Don't be fooled. The plot has heaped complication after complication on them, and silently, internally, they're suffering. They may inadvertently show their suffering for a moment, in which case they are [[Not So Stoic]], or they may just have [[Bad Dreams]]. Sometimes, however if they are lucky they will find a [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]] to comfort them and live happily ever after as a reward for their stoicism.

 

Polar opposite of [[Wangst]], where a character overemotes at the most minor suffering. Compare [[Did You Think I Can't Feel?]] Also compare [[Mangst]].

{{examples}}

* Pictured above: Killy from ''[[Blame]]!'', especially near the end when it is clear his mission is finally taking a toll on his [[Made of Iron|nigh indestructible]] body.

* Hei and Yin from ''[[Darker than Black]]'' are rather woobieish once [[Dark and Troubled Past|their backstories]] come out. [[Anti-Hero|Hei]] {{spoiler|was dragged into a war [[Child Soldiers|as a child]] while trying to [[Big Brother Instinct|protect his little sister]], who he had to watch turn into a sociopathic killing machine. He was then (apparently) betrayed by the only other person he trusted, leaving him the sole survivor of his team, lost and alone with his sister's powers, no idea what happened to her, and the Syndicate basically holding a gun to his head to make sure he stays [[Punch Clock Villain|working as their assassin]].}} Yin is an [[Emotionless Girl]] due to [[Mind Rape]], is blind, and {{spoiler|lost both her parents in tragic circumstances. Her father died in a plane crash, and shortly afterward, she realized her mother and piano tutor were in love and tried to run away; her mother had to sacrifice herself to save her from an oncoming truck after Little Yin ran into the road, and Yin holds herself responsible for this.}} No wonder Hei's a [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|shell-shocked]] [[Stoic]].

* Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton of ''[[Gundam Wing]]''

* Kuroo Hazama, aka Dr. [[Black Jack]].

** Except maybe [[Lady of War|Signum]] and, to a lesser degree, other Wolkenritter from season two. {{spoiler|Fate has been through roughly a year of abuse by her maddened mother. The Wolkenritter are implied to have been through ''centuries'' of abuse by various masters who treated them like crap and whose orders they could not disobey}}.

* {{spoiler|Frederica Bernkastel}} of the ''[[When They Cry]]'' series goes through the ordeal of {{spoiler|being murdered by her closest friends over and over.}} Once she's escaped that fate, an old enemy comes to torment her again, dragging her into a similar situation. She's obviously completely broken, but manages to hide it behind an [[Emotionless Girl]] facade. {{spoiler|Subverted. She's [[Complete Monster|a twisted psychopath]], and the "old enemy" is in fact her just-as-nuts girlfriend; they've been setting up the fake rivalry to mess with everyone's heads.}}

* Unsui Kongo from ''[[Eyeshield 21]]''. Where to begin...

** From the day he was born he's been compared to and completely overshadowed by his brother, who's better than him in every possible way without even ''trying''.

** Said brother, Agon, is a total jerk to him (and to everyone else) but gets away with it because he's just THAT special.

** Yet despite having every reason to angst and despise Agon, he instead focuses all his energy into helping his brother live up to his full potential. On top of that, whenever someone starts to feel sorry for him, he tells them not to bother themselves with someone like him.

* Both Ritsuka and Soubi from ''[[Loveless]]'' could qualify when you look at their backgrounds, though Soubi is arguably more of a [[Stepford Smiler]] than legitimately stoic.

* Chirico Cuvie in ''[[Armored Trooper VOTOMS]]''.

* Major Motoko Kusanagi from [[Ghost in the Shell]].

 

* Cyclops, leader of the [[X-Men]]. Even though some think he acts like a [[Knight Templar]] dick, you have to pity this guy. Starters he lost his family in a plane crash where he and his brother were the only known survivors; said brother would then be adopted and taken away from him, leaving him alone in a Crapsack of an orphanage where he was bullied by other children and tortured/experimented on by Mister Sinister. He can’t control his powers. His first two wives turned crazy and evil with one of them resurrecting and dying over and over. Not to mention he's been [[Mind Rape]]d a number of times. Yet he never complains, ever.

* [[Batman]] just embodies this trope. First ''[[Orphan's Ordeal|his parents are killed before his eyes,]]'' and then his sidekick and ward, Jason Todd, is '''''brutally murdered''''' by none other than [[Complete Monster|the Joker.]] But Batman never complains- If he did, he wouldn't be [[The Determinator|Batman.]]

 

 

* Many ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' fanfics that focus on Rika and Renamon prior to the former's [[Defrosting Ice Queen|defrosting]] tend to depict the latter as this, usually with one or two [[Not So Stoic]] moments (like silently crying when no one's looking).

 

== Films -- Animation ==

** At the end, {{spoiler|when he sees a picture Bonnie (the girl he belongs to) drew of him, he [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|smiles for the first time]], realizing that he is indeed loved.}}

 

** "I stand corrected."

* Olivia Dunham in ''[[Fringe]]''. She's a tough FBI agent; she's not allowed to cry. That, and she cares about other people's feelings too much to dump her own on them.

** Spock had his moments in TOS as well.

*** So, believe it or not, did Kirk.

* After season five and the Reaper arc? Half the fanbase and nearly all the main characters of ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' want to tuck Aaron Hotchner (and his son) up in blankets somewhere and shoot anyone who tries to drag them back out.

** To elaborate: Despite having been abused as a child, almost blown up (suffering hearing damage as well as having to treat a friend {{spoiler|as she lay dying}} in the immediate aftermath), being psychologically tortured and later {{spoiler|stabbed nine times}} by the Reaper, he rarely ever does more than wince and/or collapse, and almost never raises his voice. [[Despair Event Horizon|The only time he ever loses it]] is when {{spoiler|the Reaper kidnaps his ex-wife and forces him to listen to her murder, before threatening to kill his son.}}

* [[Street Fighter|Cammy White]], when she's mid-awakening from Killer Bee to human being and starting to question her actions and orders.

* When you look at his personality, his goals, and his motive for fighting in the 2nd Maverick Wars never mind him being on the wrong side of said war, [[Mega Man Zero|Harpuia]] is quite a complex, tragic character, and people [[Ensemble Darkhorse|love him for it]].

* [[Fear Effect]]. Royce Glas is very much this.

* The point Man in ''[[F.E.A.R.]]'', especially in the third game, when we see firsthand what he went through as a child.

* [[Deadpan Snarker]] Noah from ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]'' definitely qualifies, he gets severely injured in almost every episode he appears in, has a HUGE family in which he's the youngest kid, is generally ignored and made fun of, and yet never complains about it.

* [[Phineas and Ferb|Ferb]] comes off this way any time you get the feeling he's sad.

'''Ferb:''' She left me for someone else. }}