The Woobie/Video Games: Difference between revisions

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* [[Arc Rise Fantasia]] gives us the final boss of the game, the [[Designated Villain]], {{spoiler|Eesa}}. Unfortunately for the heroes, they either have a choice of letting most of mankind die off, or kill {{spoiler|Eesa}}, who is only in the situation she is in because mankind wanted her to {{spoiler|become God}} in the first place. The reason she even ended up as an antagonist is because the same humans who {{spoiler|made her into a God later decided they no longer needed her and decided to kill her.}} While she {{spoiler|survived their attempts to kill her}}, the aftermath is the world covered in hozone, and the only way {{spoiler|Eesa}} can save mankind while keeping herself alive is to either {{spoiler|reset the world(killing everything), or wipe out 90% of humans stuck on the ground.}} The party's solution in order to save humanity? Kill the {{spoiler|God they created who is only doing everything in her power to save humanity}} while desperately trying to preserve her own life at the same time. The cutscene after beating her only hammered down the fact that she never wanted to be like this in the first place and that she wanted to live.

** Chris Lightfellow could also count, what with the beloved dead parents, and the fact that she's trying to be even a fraction as great of member of the military as her father was at the beginning while suddenly shouldering the leadership due to the recent deaths of the previous Generals. Then there's the whole "set up to be a sacrifice to fuel the war" part which leads to her killing [[The Scrappy]]. All around just a poor, pitiable soul [[Iron Woobie|who overcomes whatever is thrown at her.]]

** Let's not forget Hugo. What looks like a simple errand for [[The Chief's Daughter|The Chief's Son]], delivering a message to the Zexen capital about the cease-fire agreement, goes astray when the Council decides to treat him like crap just because they can, delaying him for several days before having a go-between just take the letter, denying him even an audience with them. Then they decide "Hey, the Chief's kid could make a good bargaining chip!" and try to kidnap him from the inn, setting off a [[Stern Chase]]. And when he finally makes it back home, it's to find Karaya in flames. His best friend goes into an [[Unstoppable Rage]], [[Leeroy Jenkins|charges one of the soldiers]], and is promptly cut down right in front of him. And that's all just in his first chapter!

* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'':

** Everyone to some extent: Deionarra and Dak'kon deserve special mention though.

** Wolf herself is also somewhat of a [[Woobie]] - she even confesses just before her senseless death that she's essentially spent her entire life waiting for someone to come and kill her.

** Not to mention Raiden in the fourth game, who not only suffered head breaking unreasonable torment before the game even begins, but ends up suffering and bleeding in quite literally every single appearance he makes.

** And then there's The Boss, Big Boss' mentor. She is arguably the biggest [[Badass]] of the series but the lengths she goes through to protect the country that she loves is what makes her such a tragic figure. {{spoiler|While it at first appears that she betrayed the United States, she was actually set-up to by her superiors and would go down in history in America as the greatest traitor since Benedict Arnold and one of the worst war criminals in Russian history and she would have to be killed by her student And she did it with that knowledge.}}

* Latooni from the ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' was turned into a expert pilot by way of [[The Spartan Way|intense training]] that killed most of the participants including the rest of Latooni's entire group. She ends up finding three of her remaining school-mates, only to find they're on the ''other'' side of the war. She ends up nearly killing one, the other two were [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed to kill her]], and one of them died in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. Her best friend was kidnapped, and also brainwashed into killing her. Even worse she's stuck in a love triangle with Ryusei Date, and Mai Kobayashi, and she's at a disadvantage because Mai has a [[Combination Attack]], in a series where love interests always have a combination attack.

** They're all preceded by Tytti Noorbuck, actually. So when we first hear about her past, it's about {{spoiler|Her parents being killed brutally in front of her, by [[Psycho for Hire|Lubikka]] [[Complete Monster|Hakinnen]], followed with him gloating that he would take extra delights on seeing her shiver in fear and terror.}} Later on, {{spoiler|Lubikka reappears and [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed her]] into attacking her lover Ricardo Silvera, which he managed to pull her out of the brainwashing stance... only for Lubikka to shoot him dead in front of her AGAIN, then Ricardo died just after Tytti officially returned his love, and from thereafter, she became [[Allergic to Love|fearful of striking a relationship with another man.]]}} And this is just the earlier version, let's see if OG (if she ever appears there) will crank this up to an eleven.

* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'':

** Terra is the closest thing the game has to a main character. Her first memories are being brainwashed by the empire to kill people. Feared by people both because she worked for the empire and because she knows magic, she questions her ability to feel love. She finds that she is half "esper" and that her people are being tortured to provide the empire with magic, at which point she goes crazy and flies into the sky as a flaming purple banshee.

* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'':

** Yuna. {{spoiler|Having her father leave her when she was little to perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] for all of Spira, becoming a summoner herself, enduring the same trip her father made, being labeled a traitor of the [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|god]] she was worshiping, having kill off all of her beloved Aeons, and worst of all, saying goodbye to the one man she loved, who was actually a dream of the Fayth.}} Someone give the poor girl a hug.

** [[Jerkass Woobie|Jecht]] doesn't fare much better either. {{spoiler|Later on in the game, he begin to see great strides of [[Character Development]] for this man. It's shown that Jecht, in his own way, genuinely loved Tidus, but [[Cannot Spit It Out|could never properly express those feelings]], so he tries to shape Tidus into a better and stronger man than he in his own way. This is further compounded when Jecht realizes that [[Trapped in Another World|he'll never be able to return home]]. And as such, he decides to be Braska's Final Aeon, seeing it as a chance to finally be of some worth somewhere. Only this ends up backfiring, as due to the continuation of a 1000-year status quo, Yu Yuvon possesses Jecht and slowly reshaped him into the next Sin. ''[[Senseless Sacrifice|It was all for naught!]]'' So, over the course of several years, Jecht was trapped in an [[And I Must Scream]] situation of almost unparalleled magnitude. It was only by luck that he and Auron were able to orchestrate the majority of the game's events, and even this plan was simply constructed so that Jecht could be felled by ''his own son''.}}

** And then we have [[Stoic Woobie|Auron]]. At first, he comes off as an aloof, stoic mentor. Then comes the [[Backstory]]. {{spoiler|He started out as an ostracized monk and decides to go on the pilgrimage with Braska and Jecht because he had no other purpose in his life. One of his best friends from this time is later introduced as a corrupt Yevonite, and while he is killed, Auron is visibly angered by this. When the three are told by Yunalesca that the Final Aeon requires the sacrifice of both the summoner and one of his guardians, Auron relents, but fails to convince Braska and Jecht. It then turns out that this is all a lie, as the Final Aeon that kills Sin ''becomes'' Sin. Enraged, Auron attempts to avenge his fallen friends, and Yunalesca mortally wounds him. But Auron, [[Miles to Go Before I Sleep|being a]] [[Determinator]], instead reforms as an [[The Undead|unsent]], and in a heartbreaking display of resolve, kick-starts a good majority of the game's plot by crossing over to Dream Zanarkand and watching over Tidus, hoping to guide the next generation to finally end this terrible spiral of destruction. Auron's unexpected [[Not So Stoic]] moment, where he lashes out in an emotional frenzy at Zanarkand's projection of a younger him trying to get Braska and Jecht to not go through with the Final Summoning just shows [[Shell-Shocked Veteran|how profoundly this event affected him]], [[Failure Knight|and his attempts to]] [[The Atoner|ultimately atone for it.]]}}

** Whether or not Larsa remembers it is debatable, but Vayne also killed their two brothers as well.

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'': [[Blessed with Suck|The]] [[Cosmic Plaything|entire]] [[Butt Monkey|main]] [[Dead Little Sister|cast]].

** Vanille. [[Tear Jerker]] Woobie. {{spoiler|An ''exceedingly'' [[The Cutie|sweet girl]] who failed to be courageous when it mattered most. Results in pain, suffering, and fear for her friends and pretty much the world. Feeling her guilt, she carries a death wish for most of the whole game. And she's the cheeriest character of the cast.}}

** Hope. Annoying Woobie. {{spoiler|Mother dies in chapter 1. Wants revenge on the person responsible, who is really a nice guy and only wants to help the boy. Come on, the kid's also only fourteen.}}

** Lightning. Lightweight Woobie. {{spoiler|She's a vulnerable woman beneath all that soldier training. Younger sister Serah involuntarily becomes the enemy she's sworn to kill. Feels guilty at not having spent more time with said sister.}}

** Snow. Unlikely Woobie. {{spoiler|A compassionate, upbeat guy. Then his girlfriend Serah becomes an enemy of the state against her will. Future sister-in-law hates him. Can't save fiance from turning to crystal. Feels horrible that he's inadvertently responsible for Hope's mother dying.}}

** Sazh. Heavyweight Woobie. {{spoiler|A kind and often humorous man whose son gets frozen in crystal. Finds out that the one responsible is the adorable [[The Cutie|Vanille]] whom he has grown quite fond of. She in turn feels so awful about it that she just stands there forlornly waiting for him to pull the trigger on her. Very nearly ends up shooting himself shortly afterward.}}

** [[Hero Antagonist|Wiegraf]] displays some symptoms of woobiness early on in the game, {{spoiler|but subsequently evolves into a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds]]}}.

* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' also contains one very legit [[Woobie]]. In the end, Marche, Mewt, and Ritz decide to get over their real-world problems instead of going into a fantasy world where they're a stronger person naturally, have red hair, and have a mother. {{spoiler|Even though that wasn't Mewt's true mother...}} However, Doned's wish for Ivalice was simply to be able to walk again - he has to go back to being a wheelchair bound [[Ill Boy]]. Even if he gains friends in the hospital, come on, ''anyone'' can understand his wish...

* In ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', we have Samantha of the Crimson Blades. {{spoiler|Though technically an antagonist, she appears to be a sympathetic character who [[Tragic Dream|dreams]] of gaining immortality with her lover, [[Dark Messiah|Guildernstern]]. However, Guildenstern eventually stabs her as a sacrifice for his own 'cause'. His final words to her are "I love you, Samantha. As God is my witness." to which she responds "[[Was It All a Lie?|"I...too, once thought so..."]] before [[Tear Jerker|falling off the Grand Cathedral's rooftop]].}}

* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'':

** And then...there's [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|Xion.]] [[Trauma Conga Line|Poor]], [[Break the Cutie|poor,]] [[Cloning Blues|Xion]].

** And, from the same game, [[Everything's Better with Monkeys|Salsa]]. In his introduction chapter, he's forced to go with [[Jerkass|Fassad]], who puts a shock collar on him, proceeding to [[Electric Torture|shock the poor monkey]] ''[[Kick the Dog|all the freaking time]]''. Salsa is forced to deliver Happy Boxes to the villagers of Tazmily, and, no matter how quickly you did it, you'll still get punished. Oh, and [[I Have Your Wife|the Pigmasks have his girlfriend]]. Luckily, Salsa is rescued by [[Black Magician Girl|Kumatora]] and [[Cool Old Guy|Wess]], and by Chapter 7, he's reunited with his girlfriend, but captured by the Pigmasks, and held in the Chimera Lab. {{spoiler|Of course, he does pull a [[Big Damn Heroes]] by [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|shutting off the Ultimate Chimera]].}}

* Saavedro, from ''[[Myst]] III: Exile.'' Seriously - two evil guys who are your friend's sons nearly destroy your home world and you follow them only to get knocked out, tied up, and tortured by said evil sons and stranded on a world you know nothing about for twenty years while thinking your family - no, your entire ''world'' - is dead? Serious Woobie fuel. At least this editor thinks so.

* [[Badass Princess|Melia]] in ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]''. {{spoiler|Four of her trusted friends die trying to protect her, she becomes the target of an assassination plot made by her stepmother, her father is killed, and to top that all off, the majority of her people end up being transformed into mindless Telethia by the [[Big Bad]], including her half brother, who she is then forced to fight against.}} She takes all of it surprisingly well, though.

* How come [[Siren (video game)|Siren]] isn't here yet? Harumi just makes you want to hug her on sight, and then there's [[Tear Jerker|Tomoko...]]

** Bonus points if she's the [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] during the playthrough.

** Her woobification works to a degree. Some fans just want to give her a big hug, like Lloyd, the object of her affection, does in one of the scenes in which she's going through her first [[Painful Transformation]]; [[Internet Backdraft|others want to kill her dead]].

** Sheena is quite the woobie as well. {{spoiler|She was found in the Gaoracchia Forest when she was an infant, and while the chief of Mizuho took her in, some still consider her an outsider. Because of her hereditary ability to summon, she's made to try and make a pact with the Summon Spirit of Lightning, Volt, when she's just a kid, which backfires so horribly that Volt goes berserk and kills several people in her village, including and puts the chief of the village (who's also her grandfather) in a coma. In the end, she's become the outcast of her village and ends up with serious self-esteem problems. After joining the party, she eventually succeeds in making a pact with Volt, but her familiar/one of her oldest friends ends up sacrificing her life to save her. Oh and another one of her friends? His parents were also killed during Volt's initial rampage, and he's secretly held a grudge against Sheena ever since, to the point where he even joins Cruxis to get a chance to get back at her.}}

** It's safe to say that almost every party member in the game is a [[The Woobie|woobie.]] Whether it's Genis and Raine {{spoiler|having to constantly deal with racial persecution,}} with Genis {{spoiler|having only one friend in his entire life who's his own age, and he turns out to be the [[Big Bad]],}} and Raine {{spoiler|revealing that two of her biggest quirks, her fear of water and her obsession with ancient ruins, stems from her very messed up childhood. Not to mention that she eventually runs into her mother again, who's gone insane and treats a doll as Raine, even rejecting the REAL Raine.}} Or Zelos' own messed up childhood {{spoiler|with his own mother getting killed by an attack aimed at him and her dying words being that she wished he'd never been born; and the fact that his carefree, laissez-faire attitude about life is actually because he's absolutely miserable and just doesn't care anymore.}} Even the [[Big Bad]] himself is very sympathetic once you get to know him more.

* With the exception of [[Complete Monster|Mohs]], ''every single recurring character'' in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' is a [[Woobie]] to some extent. And hell, since the game tries to give Mohs an [[Alas, Poor Villain]] send-off, you could probably argue he's a [[Woobie]] too.

** Most God Generals would count, but the one that stands out the most would be Arietta the Wild. First, her family got killed during the Hod War, and she's left to be [[Raised by Wolves|raised by the Ligers]]. Then she got handpicked as a Fon Master Guardian for Ion, but quickly lost her position to Anise, {{spoiler|not knowing that the Ion she loved is a replica,}} not to mention Anise continuously teasing her as "Gloomietta". Then, her mother got killed. {{spoiler|And later, just when it looked like she may pull a [[Heel Face Turn]], Anise lets Ion get killed, which revokes just about everything Arietta thought about changing sides.}} Then, she challenged Anise for a final duel and... {{spoiler|she's not even told about the truth about Ion, leaving her to die miserably and not realizing the reality.}}

** {{spoiler|Raven/Schwann}} turns out to be one, too. He lost both his [[All Love Is Unrequited|unrequited love]] and his own life ten years before, was revived for the sole purpose of doing the [[Big Bad|Big Bad's]] dirty work, [[Death Seeker|has an honest-to-God deathwish]], has {{spoiler|[[Becoming the Mask|come to enjoy being Raven far more than Schwann]]}}, and ends up fighting the friends he's made, where he is left to die with them by {{spoiler|Alexei}} and [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifices himself to save all of them]]. {{spoiler|Luckily, [[Unexplained Recovery|he gets better]]}}.

* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.]]'s'' [[Man Behind the Man]] (well, 'Girl'' Behind The Man in this case) is Alma, who spends most of her time making your comrades' flesh boil off or sending flaming killer ghosts after you in your dream sequences, so sympathy for her might not seem all that forthcoming...until you learn just what Armacham Technology Corporation did to her.

** The Woobification hits truly epic levels with the final hallucination, where {{spoiler|intermixed with pained sobbing and images of brutal, explosive, and bloody violence, Alma is trying to hug the Point Man, her only surviving son... and the Point Man is forced to shoot her repeatedly or ''die.''}} Damn, man. Just... ''damn.''

** ''Project Origin'' manages to take an already powerful Woobie and [[Beyond the Impossible|cranks the woobification past eleven.]] At one point, there's a hallucination showing Harlan Wade ordering a pair of massive, fully-armored ATC soldiers to haul her to the Vault, and she's shown being violently dragged away, sobbing and clutching a teddy bear.

** Satsuki is the [[Chew Toy]]. Len and Nanako however are legitimate examples. The biggest woobie in Tsukihime is however {{spoiler|the real [[Tragic Monster|SHIKI.]]}} This will not make the slightest bit of sense until you've beaten every route of course.

* Wally, the little ginger pirate wannabe from the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series. He actually had a scene where he is stranded on a raft and his monocle falls in the water, he then falls in trying to retrieve it; this was taken out because the developers felt so sorry for him.

** It's not that he's emotionless. He's just not very emotional. He clearly has affection for Milla, a borderline hatred for tackiness, and is obviously angry as hell when he encounters the ''[[Big Bad]]'' near the end of the game. Which may only enhance his appeal to fangirls...

** How could you put Sasha without also mentioning Milla? The {{spoiler|entire family of orphans she took care of died in a fire. By listening to her nightmares, you can tell she blames herself for not being there to save them.}}

*** While she ''does'' get little character development in the sequels, Flora only gets to take a grand total of ''one'' plot-important puzzle, she gets {{spoiler|kidnapped and left behind in a barn for most of the game}} in ''The Diabolical Box'', Layton actively tries to leave her behind in her first appearance in ''Unwound Future'', and it's implied that she's got major issues with being left alone. She does act like a "stereotypical girl" sometimes, but she's still fairly easy to feel sorry for.

** {{spoiler|Anton}} from the sequel, ''Professor Layton And The Diabolical Box'', is played more straight. {{spoiler|As we find out, he gets hit with the emotionally devastating equivalent of [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now]]. His brother leaves, meaning that he has no choice but to stay in his town to become Duke, even if he doesn't want to. He falls in love with a member of a rival family, causing his father to go cold toward him. His father's mining causes the town to be saturated with hallucination gas. His lover flees the town, to keep their unborn child safe; the child he doesn't even know exists, making him think she has betrayed him. He constructs an elaborate device and sends it out into the world in an attempt to communicate with his lover; he thinks that she chooses not to respond, although after fifty years she does from her deathbed, but the response doesn't reach him until the events of the endgame when she has already passed on. The device, the titular Diabolical Box, also ends up causing the deaths of a number of innocent people. The hallucination gas makes him think he is cursed to be eternally young.}} Quite frankly, this troper finds it amazing he held on to any sanity at all. {{spoiler|Thankfully, he gets a [[Happily Ever After]] as he meets the granddaughter he didn't know he had and becomes a loving granddad, sees the hallucination gas finally stopped, and is reunited and reconciles with his estranged brother.}} If you can play through the last act without [[Tear Jerker|without at least misting up]] you have no soul.

** Arianna from [[Professor Layton and the Last Specter|Last Specter]]. Let's see... her parents are dead, everyone hates her family, she's {{spoiler|dying}}, everyone thinks she's a witch because of {{spoiler|her brother's attempts to protect her}}, and she doesn't even get her inheritance because {{spoiler|Jakes changed her father's will}}. [[It Gets Better]] over the course of the game, but she still has to deal with {{spoiler|Loosha's death and Luke, her only real friend, leaving town forever}}.

* You've gotta feel sorry for [[Mega Man X]]. Not only is he the progenitor of all Reploids (and therefore Mavericks), he's also the one best equipped to hunt them down and kill them, and thus feels duty-bound to do so even though he hates violence. Fate hasn't been kind to Zero either, but he's a [[Jerkass]], so it's not so bad.

*** ''Except maybe Cornelius''? Are you kidding? {{spoiler|His father doesn't believe him when sees him in Pooka form and sends guards after him, and all of the crap that happens to him was just because he dared to love a fallen Princess}}. It's "all the protagonists ''period''".

* ''[[Phantasy Star]] Universe'' has a class of enemies in the free mission Bladed Legacy. They are young beast women who sort of act like Magical Girls. They are known as 'Wikko' and they sound very cute. It's too bad that you have to fight them and kill them.

** Laura: Spends her whole time searching for Mary, not knowing until the end that she's dead. ** Maria: Brought into existence solely so that she can die over and over to punish James for his sins.

* Heather from ''Silent Hill 3'' and Alex from ''Homecoming''.

** Acro in the [[That One Level|much-hated]] Case 2-3: a former acrobat and [[Friend to All Living Things]] orphaned at a young age and adopted by the circus owner, now [[Wheelchair Woobie|confined to a wheelchair]] and unable to leave his room by himself after {{spoiler|a stupid prank by the girl his brother was in love went wrong, leaving him crippled and his brother in a permanent coma, and the girl blissfully unaware that she could possibly have done anything wrong}}. And to make things worse, {{spoiler|when he tried to get revenge on her for effectively killing his brother, he accidentally murdered his beloved adoptive father instead}}.

*** On that note, how about {{spoiler|Diego Armando/Godot?}} Yes, yes, I know {{spoiler|he's a real jerk to Phoenix and his plan of dealing with Morgan Fey's plan to kill Maya was stupid and self-centered and he personally killed Misty. But come on! He gets poisoned by a murderous bitch, the woman he loves is murdered while he's in a six-year coma, and he has to constantly go through agonizing medical treatments just to stay alive! Deep down, he's hiding so much despair, guilt, and self-loathing that it's amazing he can even show up to court. Maybe he's a better example of [[Jerkass Woobie]], but if his story doesn't make your heart wrench...}}

*** And Betrayal, don't forget Betrayal.

** And no list would be complete without mentioning [[Cosmic Plaything|Maggey Byrde]]. As she states in each appearance, she's been experiencing a string of bad luck since she was six months old, when she fell off the balcony of her ninth-story apartment. In-series, she's been (wrongfully) accused of (at least) ''three'' murders, been on trial for said murders twice (three times if you count one retrial), and even convicted of one (though that one eventually was overturned). In addition, she's lost her job three times, each time as a direct or indirect result of a murder accusation. And that's just ''part'' of the bad luck we get to see for ourselves.

** In the first game, many of the Einherjar. Understandable, since you only meet them when they're dying.

*** The biggest, though, is someone who survives the game. Celia is the [[Sole Survivor|last survivor]] of a mercenary group that was [[Nakama|like a family to each other]], and most of whom end up as your Einherjar. Her biggest scene is when she goes to confront the one other survivor, who she believes killed his lover. The whole scene is set up as if it's ''her'' recruitment scene, only for you to get that other survivor instead, and the last you see of poor Celia is her just utterly breaking down in despair as the very last connection to her happier times is taken away from her.

[[Selfless Wish|I wish that Yumei could be with her parents!]]" This unfortunately has the result of ''killing'' her.]]

** Second Game: The Einherjar again, though that's [[All There in the Manual|mainly in their character bios]]. More obvious is Alicia, a princess that was disowned for something that was not her fault and later had to watch her father being executed. Minutes later, her kingdom is destroyed, and she learns her mother committed suicide.

*** Don't forget Rosea and Lieselotte. Initially students of the palace Archmage with promising futures, they were both banished when the Archmage was mysteriously murdered one night (with evidence that cast suspicion on the both of them) and left to wonder the land. {{spoiler|It was the third student of the Archmage who had killed him and framed the others. Since both girls only know that she herself is innocent, they believed the other responsible and too much of a coward to own up to it, thus driving the former friends to hate each other. No matter which of the three paths you take, at least one of the girls will die, and by the hand of the other one. And if you take the "A" path, they ''kill each other''.}}

*** Liesel, however, is far less sympathetic than Rosea and is really more of a [[Jerkass Woobie]]. she does reform in the "B" path.

* Polka from ''[[Eternal Sonata]]''. Because of the myth that her fatal illness is contagious, most members of society treat her like a leper. People don't even bother to thank her when she uses her magic to heal injured people because being able to use magic is possible only if you're going to die soon. In spite of it all, Polka is still a good person who wants, more than anything else in the world, to simply help everyone she can while she still has the time.

* The lack of dialogue makes this highly reliant on [[Alternate Character Interpretation]], but in ''[[Yume Nikki]]'', Madotsuki's dreams (which make the entirety of the game) are filled with [[Nightmare Dreams|nightmares]] that may or may not be indicative of a past involving isolation, gender identity disorder, neglectful or possibly abusive parents, and possibly rape. Any of which may help explain why she [[Hikikomori|refuses to leave her room when awake]].

** Within the dreams themselves, there's Masada, who plays the piano on a spaceship, and generally seems to be very lonely in space, and is completely harmless to the player, and is easily one of the least threatening looking characters in the game. He will also run from you if you equip the knife. Whilst many characters do run from you if you equip the knife, Masada is easily the most obvious in this behavior, and looks terrified when doing so, thus often being assumed to be the only one who does so.

** Maki Sonomura/Mary. A bedridden girl forced to stay in the hospital near damn everytime with her mother constantly at work, which caused her to hate her mom. {{spoiler|Then she's unwittingly used as an experiment which creates another world with herself being split to three, her ideal self joining you and seemingly are honky-dory and cheerful... and when she learns the truth, she's utterly broken and nearly lost her ideals.}}

** Kei Nanjou/Nate Trinity is the snotty pragmatic guy who even suggests most of the sadistic choices. But when it comes to it, he's a shining example of [[Lonely Rich Kid]] with his butler Yamaoka/Alfred as his constant companion (and embarrasses the hell out of him). {{spoiler|Said butler get killed VERY EARLY in the game and Nanjou witnessed his last moments tearfully, made one last promise to be the best there is and made him truly lonely. He's still a snotty jerk in the rest of the game, but [[Jerkass Woobie|a snotty jerk we can feel sorry for]], and we know him being snotty and always aiming for the top is the promise he made for his only most treasured person.}}

** Ragna the Bloodedge: Getting his beloved sister snatched away, his arm chopped off by a ghost while his little brother only watched in glee, his home burnt down and gotting turned into a half-vampire in a span of ''one frigging day''? Oh, how about when you realize he's destined to destroy the world, get destroyed and repeat the event over and over and over? And at the end of the 2nd game, how about {{spoiler|the big reveal that it's his beloved sister who's the [[Big Bad]]?}}

** Jin Kisaragi: Getting ignored by his big brother? Getting adopted to a family that alienized him and made him an outcast despite his excellent prowess? Is destined to kill his beloved brother so much it drove him crazy? {{spoiler|His 'girlfriend' turning evil even though they used to be on good terms previously?}} Well, he's more of a [[Jerkass Woobie]], though... But still a Woobie.

** Taokaka: {{spoiler|Suffers from [[Clone Degeneration]]}} and, in her ''Continnum Shift'' ending in Story Mode, {{spoiler|she can't hold her own against Hazama, and it looks like she's not going to survive the fight, at which time she breaks from her usual demeanor and laments that all she wanted to do was protect the village and her friends.}}

** Iron Tager: Man died during the war of Ikaruga, got rebuilt as a cyborg by a cranky cat lady (Kokonoe) and must swear loyalty to her and put up with her crazy antics. He also had to watch his friend (Arakune) go crazy, and his other friend (Litchi) go off to save him, but he can't do anything as a friend since he's too duty-bound on his master. {{spoiler|When eventually Litchi is forced to take the side of Kokonoe's enemy to save Arakune, Tager is going to have a lot of guilt fighting his friend off.}}

** Arakune: Normally a decent man with inferiority complex... which led him to seek the impossible... and driven mad with it, [[And I Must Scream|turned into something really freaky]] thanks to some tinkering from the resident [[Complete Monster]], and worse of all, he wanted to warn his lover to stop pursuing her and he couldn't get his point straight. {{spoiler|Then [[It Got Worse]]... he got subdued by your resident [[Complete Monster]] [[Mad Scientist]]... whom he once thought to be a target to surpass!}}

** Bang Shishigami: Had to watch his homeland burn, his master killed and spending his time as an eternal [[Butt Monkey]] or [[The Chew Toy]], never to be taken seriously. There's also the fact that he just cannot succeed in earning Litchi's love despite his well-meaning, and {{spoiler|will probably be very crushed if he ever realized that she made a [[Face Heel Turn]].}}

** Tsubaki Yayoi: Starts with getting assigned to assassinate her best friend Noel and her beloved 'brother' Jin. It just got worse when she was told that {{spoiler|Noel took everything from her, from her sight, as well as being relegated into a job she hated, since her previous position in life, being Jin's secretary and being on the frontline, got taken by Noel... all while going completely blind.}}

** Lambda-11: How would YOU feel if {{spoiler|you had your emotions taken away from you and you are now an [[Empty Shell]]? Not only that, but no matter what happens to you in your story, you die.}} These things are also some of the BETTER experiences in Lambda's life. Yeah... It isn't easy being a Murakumo unit, is it?

* And do we have to mention her too? Oichi in her ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'' incarnation is the personification of Woobiedom. She is the little sister of [[Oda Nobunaga]], here being a [[Complete Monster|completely demonic]] [[Evil Overlord]] who cares nothing about her and whenever possible, uses her to his own advantage. Marrying [[Justice Will Prevail|justice loving]] [[Knight in Shining Armor|Azai Nagamasa]] doesn't get her condition better (unless it's his story you're playing) as in her story, {{spoiler|[[Heroic Sacrifice|he covers her from a shot from Nobunaga, killing him]]}}, ''all in front of her'', then Nobunaga forces her to fight his battles, killing his enemies and not even listening to her begging to stop, eventually resulting her falling to her dark powers and enters a murderous rampage on Nobunaga and his allies, and when that's over, she regained her sanity a few moments before [[Diabolus Ex Machina|the burning temple where she's at fell on and killed her]]. And in the anime? It's just 5 episodes, and then {{spoiler|she gets to see Nagamasa getting riddled on bullets to death thanks to a plot by [[Psycho for Hire|Mitsuhide]]}} ''right in front of her eyes''. Ouch, ouch, [[Rule of Three|and ouch]].

** It's not exactly better for her in the third game, where she's a [[Humanoid Abomination]] that's barely aware of her surroundings and is treated with fear and contempt by almost every other character save for a few. While she does get a [[Throw the Dog a Bone]] moment if she ends up following Ieyasu (who decides to be her caretaker), the storyline where she ends up becoming Yoshitsugu's attack dog is not all that different from the above. The path where she defeats her brother and drags him to hell could be seen as better in that it's the ending where they both find some sort of peace.

* The ''[[Touhou]] Project'' has several woobies among its ranks:

** Hong Meiling's popularity is mainly due to how badly she's treated by the main cast, especially [[Ninja Maid|Sakuya]]. On top of that, people keep calling her [[My Name Is Not Durwood|China]].

** Reisen Inaba's woobie-ness is often played for comedy in fanon. In canon, she's also subject to lots of Punishment Time by Eirin, and constantly gets pranked by Tewi.

** Byakuren Hijiri used to be a Youkai exterminator, but grew to love her quarry as much as the humans she was protecting, so she started covertly helping them hide away safely instead of killing them. She ended up imprisoned in Makai for more than a millenium for her troubles. Oh yeah, and [[Dead Little Sister|her little brother died too]].

** Fujiwara no Mokou certainly counts. Her father was humiliated by Kaguya, and she wound up stealing the Hourai Elixir (and in the process, murdering someone who'd previously saved her life) and became completely incapable of dying. She's unable to exact her desired revenge because her rival is ''also'' immortal, and basically the only friend she's ever really had is a mortal half-beast... and she ''still'' gets picked on by the main characters in the Extra stage.

* Frog/Glenn from ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'' has been through a lot, with the transformation to a frog and all, yet he handles it with as much chivalry and honor as he can. Somebody give him a hug.

** Not to mention Robo. Beaten up by his "brothers", forced to kill his brainwashed girlfriend, committing final genocide on his "species"...

* Saria from ''Ocarina of Time'' tends to get the woobie treatment quite handily from the fandom, what with being an [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]] who "really liked" Link but [[Never Grew Up|couldn't grow up along with him]] due to being a Kokiri, as well as having to spend the seven years that Link spent in the Sacred Realm having to deal with a [[Jerkass]] who hated his guts and blamed him for what happened to the Great Deku Tree. And that's not even mentioning the fan speculation that {{spoiler|she, along with the other five Sages, died in the process of trying to deal with the evil that had taken hold of the temples}}.

** It's possible the sheer [[Ensemble Darkhorse|popularity]] and fangirl following that Byrne gets in [[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|Spirit Tracks]] is down to this trope - he's easily the game's resident [[badass]], but after {{spoiler|getting betrayed by Malladus and Cole, his subsequent [[Heel Face Turn]], spending the rest of the game injured, and his eventual [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifice]] [[Redemption Equals Death|to save Zelda]],}} he's well on the way to being considered an all-out woobie.

** Zelda in [[Twilight Princess]], [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask|for various]] [[Brainwashed and Crazy|reasons]].

** Lulu - along with the Deku Kid, one half of the personified proof that the worst part of the already in-many-ways unsettling ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|Majora's Mask]]'' is [[Fridge Horror|everything they don't actually tell you]].

** Heck even Link can qualify at times. OoT/MM most definitely. To wit, as a kid he witnessed his mentor figure die and sets off on adventure to save Hyrule. It's all fun and games until he has to go into a [[Time Skip]] and find that Hyrule is under control of Ganon. Saves the day but thanks to Zelda, gets sent back in time to live as a kid again but thanks to what he's seen, how could he? Majora's Mask sends him through a mental torture session all for trying to find a friend he lost. And if he IS the Hero's Spirit in Twilight Princess...

* Nina from ''[[Breath of Fire]] Dragon Quarter''. Whereas Nina is usually a princess in the Breath of Fire games, in this one she is a genetically altered orphan, designed to act as an air filtration unit (The poisoned air, of course, remains in her body), who had her tongue cut out. [[Crapsack World|Dragon Quarter is not a happy game.]]

** [[Earn Your Happy Ending|Not until the end, at least.]]

* Dana Mercer from ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]''. She is the ''only'' major character who is not evil or twisted (Ragland might count too). In her first scene, some Blackwatch asshole is about to blow her brains out. Alex saves her by ''punching through the guy's head right next to her''. [[It Got Worse|Things don't get any better for her]]. She finds out her brother has become a viral monster, she later finds out he ''eats people'', and then {{spoiler|she gets kidnapped by a Leader Hunter and taken to Elizabeth Greene, who does God knows what to her that renders her comatose (possibly Infected?)}}. It gets even worse after [[The Reveal]] that {{spoiler|the real Alex Mercer is dead and that he was the one who unleashed the Blacklight Virus in the first place. Not only is her brother actually dead, but the fact that he released the Virus knowing his sister was still in the city means that he didn't really care about her.}} At least {{spoiler|the Blacklight Virus itself [[Morality Pet|cares a great deal about her]].}}

* Several from ''[[Chibi-Robo!]]''. Welcome to [[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer|the Island of Misfit Toys]].

*** The third game ups Shepard's woobie factor a thousand fold. When others are not dying\killing themselves in front of him\her, or condemning him\her for what s\he's done, they're trying to tell Shepard everything will be alright. At the end, when the Alliance still calls on Shepard, s\he is just so tired, beaten, bruised, and probably bleeding to death and this is before having to make the ultimate choice and sacrifice to determine the fate of the galaxy.

** Ashley Williams is constantly screwed by the higher ups {{spoiler|because her Grandfather was the Commander at the Shanxi defeat. She also sees her entire unit slaughtered by the [[Mecha-Mooks|Geth]]. She can also die in an atomic explosion as a result of a decision by her potential love interest, or be saved only to be dumped for an asari.}}

** The sequel really ups Tali's woobie factor. {{spoiler|She finds her father dead at the same time she finds out he was doing illegal experiments on Geth, making him a war criminal against the quarians. And unless you do some fast talking during her trial, she potentially could be exiled forever from the one home she's ever known. Not to mention that, if you pursue her romance path, several conversation options imply that she's had feelings for Shepard since the events of ''[[Mass Effect]] 1'' two years ago.}} With all this, is it any surprise that one of the Paragon interrupts is to give her a comforting hug and let her cry in your arms? (Very nice of [[BioWare]] to put this in, considering that is exactly what a person would want to do when confronted with a Woobie. Now you finally have the option to do it in-game.)

*** Some consider the entire Quarian race as Woobies, considering the treatment they get and their involuntary vagrancy.

**** Quarian woobieness is subverted to some extent by their treatment of the Geth, explained by Legion. The actions of the Admiralty subvert it further and Tali loses a little of her own during her confrontation with Legion, depending on the outcome. Ironically, Legion gains a certain amount of woobieness because of seeming feelings of hero-worship for Shepard.

** Jack in the sequel proves to be this in her personal mission, where {{spoiler|you two return to the [[Start of Darkness|facility where she was experimented on.]] The mission ends with her reminiscing about the items in her cell, each a reminder of the hell she went through.}}

** Where the hell is Thane? I mean, yes he's a [[Badass]], but {{spoiler|he's dying of an incurable disease, had his wife killed by thugs trying to get back at him, and his son hates him as a result.}} You can fix the last part, but still.

* The schoolteacher [[Complete Monster|Westin Phipps]] assigns you to torture in ''[[City of Heroes]]''.

* {{spoiler|Mir}} from ''[[Ar tonelico]]''. {{spoiler|She was kept in solitary, stripped of her emotions, and forced to create Song Magic for use in battle-- and when she created a song that was ''just to express her love of and hope for humans'', since the synapses that they stripped to make her emotionless grew back, the song was trashed and she was discarded as a failed project.}}

* In the ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series of games, theres Julanar in the second game, a woman who, because she wanted to be a healer, a profession forbidden to women, was exploited and captured and abused by brigands, who she escaped from by running through the desert and pleading to a djinn for help, who did so by [[Baleful Polymorph|turning her into a tree]]. The hero can help her remember her humanity, but it is said that she will not be able to turn back into a human until someone comes along who can love her enough, and that someone is not you. Although later in the series this subplot becomes a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]], as after telling someone about her in the third game, you later meet him again in the fifth game, alongside the restored Julanar, who is now his wife.

** And in the fourth game you learn what happened to Erana, the powerful mage and [[Friend to All Living Things]] whose work you have seen throughout the series. She ended up attempting to seal an [[Eldritch Abomination]] by trapping herself with it, damning herself to eternal suffering. The hero dreams about her pain if he rests near her staff in the town or in her garden at night. In the fifth game, you can choose to bring her back from the land of the dead.

** Also in the fourth game is Tanya, a little vampire girl who just misses her parents and doesn't seem to realize why she can't come back to them as "they would be afraid of her now."

* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'': The Witch just wants a hug... [[Your Mileage May Vary|Or she's just a wangsty psychopath who tears peoples' faces off.]]

** Eleanor Lamb in the sequel. An innocent girl raised to become the socialist Messiah by her mother [[Complete Monster|Sofia Lamb]], the first cutscene witnesses her seeing mummy forcing Delta, her [[Papa Wolf|Big Daddy]] to shoot himself at around the age of eight. Subject to multiple Plasmid experiments since she's [[Blessed with Suck|immune to the side-effects of splicing]]. To say Sofia cares little about her as a person is something of an understatement as she's {{spoiler|later smothered in order to mess with Delta}}.

* [[Metroid|Samus Aran]] is [[Statuesque Stunner|a 6'3"]] ([[Power Armor|in armor]]) trigger happy bounty hunter who defines [[Badass]]. Why might she be on the list? Her parents were killed when she was 3, with her dad dying in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and her mom being ''eaten'' by [[Extreme Omnivore|Ridley]], and was adopted by the bird-like Chozo only for them to be possibly wiped out. To make matters worse, the guy who killed her mother, [[Arch Enemy|Ridley]], [[Why Won't You Die?|just won't die]], and attacks another colony she is on, forcing her to relive the murder of her mother. When she mentally and emotionally shuts down and begs for death, you want to hug her. [[Action Girl|More than normal]], [[Hot Amazon|that is]].

** Perhaps this is more an instance of a [[Just for Pun|literal]] [[Iron Woobie]].

* And in second place in the [[Action Girl]] compartment we have [[Parasite Eve|Aya Brea]]. Just watch her crumble in [http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-the-3rd/101620 the trailer] for ''The 3rd Birthday'', and join the Give-poor-Aya-a-break-already-she-has-experienced-her-share-of-[[Eldritch Abomination|Eldrich-Abominations]] movement.

** To be fair, Aya is pretty strong to cope up with her woobie-ness. But then, we have {{spoiler|Eve}}. Created as a {{spoiler|clone of Aya and kept in a facility at a very young age to control mitochondria creatures against her will.}} Check. And in [[The 3rd Birthday]], {{spoiler|poor Eve witnessed Aya got killed in the middle of her supposedly happy wedding, wished only to save her, but instead put her soul into Aya's body and resulting the birth of two kinds of [[Eldritch Abomination]].}} Check. Lost her memories because of the incident and manipulated by the [[Big Bad]] with it. Check. People who help her during the game had to die {{spoiler|because one of the Abominations habituating in their bodies}}. Check. Finally {{spoiler|by help with [[Time Travel]] she is forced to kill Aya to prevent all the incident from happening.}} And most of the gameplay you are forced to hear her wail or cry, or seeing her looking confused and lonely. Girl needs a terrible big hug.

*** It gained Woobie status ''because'' [[Base Breaker|some people]] [[The Scrappy|despised it]]. Fandom is weird, oy.

*** That and a comic that portrayed Oshawott as the poor, neglected starter who just wanted to see the world but was neglected and never chosen until [[The Hero|Hilbert]] came along.

** The fifth generation also gives us Yamask, a Pokémon who [[Was Once a Man|used to be human thousands of years ago]]. The mask on its stomach [[Nightmare Fuel|is its human face]] and [[Tear Jerker|it cries whever it sees it]]. Yamask's plight is exemplified by [http://pettyartist.deviantart.com/art/Yamask-201182029 this picture].

*** It becomes [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] upon evolving into Cofagrigus, at least.

** In story, [[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire|Wally]] and [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Barry (Damion)]] count. Wally is a [[Ill Girl|sickly boy]] who wants to go on a journey but is too ill and must move to Verdanturf, the only town with clean enough air for him. Barry is a [[Keet]] who suffers [[Heroic BSOD]] when {{spoiler|[[My Greatest Failure|he fails to stop Galactic Commander Jupiter from kidnapping the legendary Pokémon Uxie]].}}

** Another ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]'' character that falls under this is Volkner. Due to a lack of challengers to his Gym in Sunyshore City, Volkner leaves for the lighthouse out of depression. But once you talk to him, he'll go back to the Gym, and when you battle him and win, he'll be in high spirits again.

*** To make things worse, {{spoiler|it's revealed at the end that several members of Team Plasma knew about Ghetsis' real plans all along and were playing charades with N to garner support from him and make the plan work. This is hinted at several times in the game, from the Grunts [[Kick the Dog|kicking a young girl's Munna]] [[Hypocrite|that they claim was "liberated"]] to the Sages referring to Ghetsis as their Leader. How does this make things worse? It implies that '''very few human beings in the world supported his ideals or could confide with him, from the very day that he was born.'''}} ''[[Tear Jerker|Damn.]]''

* ''[[Heavy Rain]]''. Oh man, where do you start? Half the cast deserves to get a hug after the crap they put up with in this game:

** Ethan Mars. God''damn'', this game puts the poor guy through the wringer. The idyllic life portrayed in the prologue is shattered when his son, Jason, is {{spoiler|hit by a car}}. Then, depending on the decisions you make, Ethan can either be run over by a truck, caught by the police (during which he has to escape), get into a car accident, break two ribs and have his ex-wife accuse him of being the Origami Killer. This is aside from all the character's mandatory plot missions, which include crawling through ''glass'', jumping through electrical transformers, running from the law and '''cutting off his own finger'''. Is it any wonder that the [[Earn Your Happy Ending|ultra-happy endings]] for his character involve him reunited with his family (and, if you save Madison, a better wife)?

** ''Radiant Dawn'': Pelleas

* Kaori Yae of ''[[Tokimeki Memorial|Tokimeki Memorial 2]]'', very much so. The girl is so [[Heroic BSOD|deeply hurt, depressed]] and [[Broken Bird|completely closed to others]] after the cruel [[Break the Cutie]] moment she endured before the protagonist meets her, [[Fridge Logic|it's incredible]] that her parents [[There Are No Therapists|haven't took her to a psychiatrist]] already. Seeing her gradually [[He's Back|coming back]] to her former self through [[The Power of Love|patient affection and care]] from the protagonist, thus turning her into a walking factory of [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Crowning Moments Of Heartwarming]] (and conversely, [[Lost Forever|a powerful source of]] [[Player Punch]] if you fail to put her out of her [[Heroic BSOD]]), is what made her, with good reason, the absolute [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] of this game.

** near the end of her storyline, by being at the wrong place at the wrong time, she {{spoiler|becomes a [[Cute Mute]]}} ;

** and if you manage to get her Happy Ending, {{spoiler|she'll still have to leave behind her family ([[Big Screwed-Up Family|which is still screwed up]], so her leaving them will make things ''[[It Got Worse|even worse]]'' for them) to follow [[The Hero|the Asian]], even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading herself]] that she'll be seen as an egoist who may go to Hell for her sin.}} ''Ouch''.

** Another female [[Woobie]] is Sylvanas Windrunner, the Banshee Queen. A heroic High Elven general, she led the futile defense of the elven kingdom of Quel'thalas. Despite great skill and heroism her forces were overwhelmed by the undead, and Sylvanas herself was tortured, defiled, and raised as a banshee, forced to massacre her own countrymen and innocent people. Despite having later won freedom for herself and a small remnant of undead rebels, she remains, at heart, deeply unhappy, loathing the monster she has become.

*** Bonus points since, in the ''Warcraft III'' campaign, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|the player controls Arthas as he kills and raises her]].

** Several quests in the game involve other Woobie characters. The tortoise Tooga, in the Tanaris desert, is one example. Sent out by his wife Torta to get dinner, he gets lost, and needs you to lead him home, while he says pathetic things like "I'm thirsty" and "Torta must be so worried!" When you do get him back to his wife, she simply scolds him for being late and sends him to catch dinner again.

** [[All Trolls Are Different|The Darkspear Trolls]] up until now deserve a mention as a whole. Their entire tribal history is essentially a list of places they used to live and who drove them out until they were relegated to sleeping on Orgrimmar's couch. Come Cataclysm, however, they're [[Status Quo Is God|officially done taking this crap]].

*** And for that matter, much of the Draenei race as a whole, whom the Broken devolved from. Pursued across the universe for centuries and hunted down to near-extinction by the Burning Legion and its minions, simply for daring to reject the [[The Dark Side|temptation of its corrupting power]].

** The Oracles in Sholazar Basin are a race of simple fish-like creatures (think nicer Murlocs) who revere nature and only want to collect "shinies" to give the great gods, and are constantly attacked by the more aggressive Frenzyheart Tribe who are encroaching on their land and the Scourge, which wants to destroy all life. One particular quest sends you to an Oracle village that has been overtaken by the Scourge to try to rescue any survivors. The Oracles are dragged around attached to chains by these mindless zombie creatures and will give the most heart-wrenching dialogue when you talk to them:

{{spoiler|I do something bad? I sorry...}} }}

** Garona Halforcen's whole life just plain sucks. She was born as an experiment by the orc leader Gul'dan to cross an orc with a draenei, implying her draenei mother was raped, and as a half-blood, was always an outcast in orc society. Gul'dan then magically [[Plot-Relevant Age-Up|aged]] and [[Brainwashed and Crazy|brainwashed]] her, telling her that she was half-human, and using her as a spy against the humans. Amongst the humans, she found a trusted confidant and lover with Medivh, only to be crushed when it turned out he was [[Demonic Possession|demonically possessed]] by Sargeras, and brought the orcs to Azeroth. She was manipulated by the Shadow Council to kill King Llane Wrynn, [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|tortured by Ogrim Doomhammer]] to get the location of the Shadow Council, all the while pregnant to a son with Medivh, Med'an. Meanwhile, an ogre mage, Cho'gall figured out Gul'dan's brainwashing, and used it to take control of Garona, and tried to asassinate King Varian Wrynn, Prince Anduin Wrynn, and Warchief Thrall. Leaving Med'an with her draenei uncle, she is currently in hiding, waiting for a chance to kill Cho'gall.

*** A Human Noble's entire family except their brother (but including their nephew and sister-in-law) is betrayed and slaughtered by a corrupt noble.

**** If you decided to sleep with either a human male or a female elf, they will die before your eyes in the raid. The female elf has a daughter waiting for her in the alienage. She's a standard NPC who will comment that she is waiting for mother and how her mother promised she would bring back a present from Highever. Not being able to properly talk to her can be hearbreaking. Who knows how long she waited there?

*** The Dalish Elf loses their best friend while exploring and aren't allowed to look for him, being told it's hopeless as they were found horribly sick, and are drafted into the Wardens whether they like it or not to cure them (though they ''do'' find that friend eventually - [[Tragic Monster|he's a darkspawn]] who gives the Warden an [[Anguished Declaration of Love]] if it's a female before they have to kill him themselves)

*** The Casteless Dwarf's family is so low in the social heirarchy they're below the ladder with their sister forced to be essentially a prostitute and themself a [[Punch Clock Villain]] for a mob boss to support themselves

*** The Mage has it the easiest, and their life story is no walk in the park: he or she was taken away from his/her family as a kid (never to see them again), upon graduating from apprenticehood is lied to and betrayed by his/her best friend and left behind to certain death or [[Fate Worse Than Death|Tranquility]] by said friend after everything falls apart. Once they leave, their home is destroyed and almost everyone they know killed or turned into an abomination.

** Someone posted a comment on the character sheet page that summed it up:

* Definitely Fenris from ''[[Dragon Age]] II''. Though technically most of the terrible things which happen to him (such as being branded with lyrium tattoos and losing all his childhood memories) are restricted to his past and he does have a [[Jerkass|really shitty attitude]] at the best of times, you really have to feel sorry for him. But things get nasty when you find out that {{spoiler|he has a sister- a mage- who's trying to get apprenticed to Fenris's former master, and who sells out Fenris to said former master.}} And just to [[Kick Them While They Are Down|make things worse]] {{spoiler|apparently Fenris volunteered for the branding to free his mother and sister from slavery... and the reason why his sister is trying to become an apprentice magister is because the freedom they got was just as bad as the slavery.}} Talk about serious family issues.

** ''Just'' Fenris? [[Dysfunction Junction|Dude, have you seen the party?]] There's the main character, Hawke, who is forced to flee his home to one of the most [[Wretched Hive|despicable cities in the world]] and loses {{spoiler|almost his entire family}} over the course of the storyline; Merrill, the adorable, scatterbrained Elvish blood-mage who is demonized by her own clan for her experiments and bullied viciously by Fenris and Anders; Aveline, the hard-as-nails guardswoman who's forced to perform a mercy-kill on her own husband; Anders, the renegade mage who's driven mad by the corrupted spirit possessing him... in fact, the only people who manage to keep relatively light-hearted are Varric and Isabella, and they spend most of the game playing [[Team Dad]] and [[Cool Big Sis]] to the others.

*** Even Isabela's past is rather depressing and Varric {{spoiler|ends up betrayed by his own brother and left in the Deep Roads to die, either forced to mercy-kill him later or spending years trying to nurse him back to sanity (probably in vain).}} There's also [[Former Teen Rebel|Sebastian]]... {{spoiler|Pretty much everyone the man could call family by the end of the game has been murdered.}}

* I guarantee you [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoYdSzsd5So will not look at a chicken Mc Nugget the same way again]. Also a [[Tear Jerker]].

* ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'' has quite a few examples. Hanako is the most noticeable, but most of the main cast gets Woobie moments at one point or another.

** Rin Tezuka suffers from difficulties making herself understood in social interactions and art, causing her a great deal of pain. She also struggles with what it means to be an artist, and fears that she will change herself to someone she is not in order to succeed.

** Shizune Hakamichi grew up with an abusive father who belittles her, has no respect for her accomplishments and refuses to learn sign language to speak with her. Despite her wishes to make people happy, she often comes off as overbearing and bossy, partly due to her [[Spirited Competitor]] personality and partly because of communication problems caused by her deafness.

* The [[Companion Cube]] from ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]''. Poor little cube, it was more than happy to help you and be an unquestioning friend through good and bad. It saved your life, had little hearts and was then forced into an incinerator. /tears

** WHEATLEY. In the post-credits scene {{spoiler|he apologizes for the things he's done, in abject remorse and depression, and it's blatantly evident that he's ''really sorry'' and ''truly'' feels remorse.}} The worst part? {{spoiler|He will likely ''never'' get to properly apologize to Chell, because he's in SPACE.}} Valve cruelly {{spoiler|makes this scene the default menu background. When next you start the game, all you see is Wheatley aimlessly floating along, dejectedly flitting his photoreceptor around.}} D'aww, Wheatley, you need a hug? C'mere...

** Doug Rattmann. The man has dealt with being trapped in the facility, constantly evading the [[Paranoia Fuel|watchful eye of GLaDOS,]] and yet, the whole time, he manages to leave behind hints for Chell. He may have {{spoiler|sacrificed his life for Chell, being shot by a sentry turret in the ''Lab Rat'' comic.}} But according to the drawings on the walls in Portal 2, {{spoiler|he may still be alive.}} The only friend he has is the [[Companion Cube|Weighted Companion Cube.]] He is alone.

** The frankencubes in ''2'', which are made from two turrets and a cube, are creepy, but you can't help but feel bad for them.

* [[I Wanna Be the Guy|The Kid]]. I mean, come on. He's only [[Kid Hero|15 years old]], and he has to fight his way through spikes, fruit, giant monsters, and all manner of deathtraps in order to become the Guy. It takes a monster not to feel bad for the dozens of times [[Ludicrous Gibs|he explodes into little bitty pieces]].

* Ted Smith from ''[[Dead Rising 2]]''. He's an overweight animal trainer with an obvious mental disability, who has been mocked by people so often that he now considers his only friend to be a Bengal tiger named Snowflake. {{spoiler|And you're forced to hug him with a pair of Knife Gloves, because he intends to feed you to Snowflake as "fresh meat". And to top it off, his death scene is a real [[Tear Jerker]].}}

* Arcade Gannon from [[Fallout: New Vegas]]. Virtually every ending, including many of the "good" ones, still end with him either {{spoiler|being hunted down or killed}}. He is also one of the few characters that is primarily motivated by a desire to help people.

** Boone as well. {{spoiler|He was one of the snipers at the 'battle' of Bitter Springs, and is tormented by regret for his actions. He also saw his pregnant wife get sold into Caesar's Legion as a slave, and [[Mercy Kill|sniped her]] to save her the torture of slavery.}}

** Lily as well. A loving grandmother before becoming a Nightkin, she treats The Courier as her own, despite the fact that the first thing you tell her is that you are not Jimmmy. Being a Nightkin, she also has schizophrenia that manifests itself in "Leo", a voice in her head that represents her [[Ax Crazy]] side as well as trying desparately to hold onto the last memories of her grandchildren.

** Your Mileage May Vary, but this troper considers {{spoiler|The X-13 Stealth Suit from Old World Blues}} a woobie because of some of her lines. See "Will you love me if I help you hide?"

* The titular character in [[Iji]], though it can veer into [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]] at times...

* How has Toroko from ''[[Cave Story]]'' not been mentioned yet? When the game starts, she's being aggressively harassed by the leader of the village for not turning over [[Friendless Background|her only friend]] to basically be sacrificed, {{spoiler|and Sue really seems to only be interested in just getting off the island anyway,}} and [[It Got Worse|it only gets worse]] from there.

* ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' series, even though is swarmed with [[Heroic Mime]] issue, have some:

** ''[[Dragon Quest IV]]'' has Maya and Meena, a twin who wanders around finding their former master for the sake of [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]], and fails messibly at the end of their chapter with their friend doing a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] so they can survive the battle with the boss.

*** Also, we have Psaro's girlfriend Rose, a [[Mary Sue]] who's abused by thugs to death due to a a speciality of her tears. Psaro, despite his girl's last wish, [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|ends up wanting to destroy the world]], [[Big Bad|and he did.]] Fortunately, [[The Remake]] allows him to do a [[Heel Face Turn]]. The hero/heroine isn't good either. [[Doomed Hometown|His/Her hometown is destroyed]], and everyone includes his/her best friend is killed in his/her place.

*** A part of [[Character Development]] of a brat prince Henry involves him being kidnapped and enslaved by bad guys along with [[The Hero]]. Sure, he meets his girl that way, but still...

*** The original SNES Bianca [[Diabolus Ex Machina|will face a hellish life if you don't pick her as a wife.]]

*** Even {{spoiler|''the Godbird Empyrea and her child'' are turned into these. A demonic griffon named Gemon kidnaps Empyrea's egg (at the behest of [[Complete Monster]] [[Big Bad|Rhapthrone]]), forcing the party to hound him. In retaliation, he ''[[Moral Event Horizon|destroys the egg, killing Empyrea's child before he was even born]]'', and driving Empyrea into a hefty state of grief and anguish. In spite of this, spirit of the Godbird's son ''implores'' to his mother that he should help out the heroes regardless of what happened.}}

* Believe it or not, ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'', [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|the series where it's your goal to see how many ways you can viciously maim, dismember, and mutilate your foe]], is not without characters that are in need of a big hug.

*** And to make things worse, everyone save for Shao Kahn, Shinnok, Taven, and Liu Kang's spirit ''dies'' in ''[[Mortal Kombat Armageddon|Armageddon]]'', with [[The Bad Guy Wins|Shao Kahn gaining complete control over all of the realms]].

*** Smoke? {{spoiler|[[Throw the Dog a Bone|Manages to avoid his fate of becoming a cyborg,]] only to see the same fate befall his brother figure Sub-Zero, a fact that distresses him ''tremendously''. He then gets unceremoniously offed by Sindel in a [[Groin Attack|one]]-[[Neck Snap|two]] combo.}} And this isn't even factoring in his ending, where he {{spoiler|remembers his past, [[Quest for Identity|the one thing he's been searching for all his life.]] Said recollection involves him ''being sacrificed to a demon by a cult as an infant'', [[Tragic Monster|returning to life as an]] Enenra (a monster made of smoke and vapor). Smoke then killed his captors and [[Humanoid Abomination|reassumed to his human form]], [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|with no memory of the ordeal]].}}

*** Sub-Zero? {{spoiler|After defeating Scorpion ([[You Killed My Father|his brother's killer]]), the Cyber Lin Kuei interrupt and haul Subby back to be used in the Cyber Initative, much like Smoke was in the original timeline. He manages to have his free will restored and [[My God, What Have I Done?|is wracked with guilt over]] all of the actions he had no control of. Upon attempting to stop Quan Chi from creating a Soulnado, he's blocked by Noob Saibot, who reveals himself to be Sub-Zero's elder brother (compare this to the first timeline, where Sub-Zero didn't discover this fact until ''Deception''). [[Came Back Wrong|Noob]] then [[Kick the Dog|kicks the dog]] by telling his little brother (the very same one who idolized him and entered the Outworld tournament to ''avenge his death'') "We share blood. We are ''not'' brothers." Later, Cyber Sub-Zero is killed by Sindel. Even worse, his ending (as Cyb-Zero) has him defeating Shao Kahn, only for Kahn's soul to commit [[Grand Theft Me]] on him.}}

*** Kabal? {{spoiler|Tries to protect New York City from Shao Kahn's invasion forces [[Bash Brothers|alongside]] Stryker. Is ''roasted alive'' by Kintaro, severely disfiguring him. Former Black Dragon cohort Kano [[Pet the Dog|gets Shang Tsung to heal him up with magic]], but Kabal would have rather died and remarks, [[I Am a Monster|"I'm a freak."]] After deciding to put [[Super Speed|his new skills]] to good use as one of [[Big Good|Raiden]]'s [[The Chosen Many|chosen warriors]], he's killed by Sindel.}}

*** Raiden? Trying to decipher a vague warning from his future self to no avail, Raiden seeks the aid of the Elder Gods, who are [[Neglectful Precursors|callous]] [[Jerkass Gods|assholes]] and turn down his pleas. Even though he manages to save the day at the last second, it is a '''major''' [[Pyrrhic Victory]]. Raiden, having crossed the [[Despair Event Horizon]], experienced ''at least'' two [[Heroic Blue Screen of Death|Heroic BSODs]], and now suffering from a massive [[Guilt Complex]], [[It's All My Fault|handily blames himself]] ''[[Hurting Hero|for everything.]]'' Someone ''please'' give this man a Friendship.

*** If there's anyone who has it worse than Raiden, it's [[The Hero|Liu Kang]]. He grows increasingly intolerant of Raiden's visions. He then watches as {{spoiler|Shao Kahn [[What the Hell, Hero?|snaps the neck]] of [[Heterosexual Life Partners|his stalwart companion]] Kung Lao and later sees his lover Kitana die mere seconds after he and Raiden return from their meeting with the Elder Gods. This is the straw that breaks the camel's back, and Liu Kang [[What the Hell, Hero?|calls out his mentor for]] [[Senseless Sacrifice|the futility of the other heroes' sacrifices]], believing Raiden to have gone mad. His faith in the Thunder God shattered, Liu Kang attempts to fight Shao Kahn, only to be stopped by Raiden. [[Fighting Your Friend|A fight ensues]], culminating with Raiden accidentally frying Liu Kang in self-defense. As Raiden [[My God, What Have I Done?|grieves]], Liu Kang curses him with his dying breath and says, "You have doomed us all."}} [[Trauma Conga Line|Poor Liu.]]

** Well, if it's any consolation at all, {{spoiler|she did push that [[Complete Monster]] calling himself her therapist right in front of a speeding train and killed him}}. All things considered, that was probably as much justice as she was ever going to get.

* [[Fear Effect]]. Rain is very much this. Why? {{spoiler|Her father is the first emperor of China, made immortal and forever rooted to one spot like a statue. Her mother is a scientist who engaged in experiments that transformed her into a literal monster and eventually an [[Eldritch Abomination]]. Her twin sister Mist is trying to help her father get out of his statue pose. Unfortunately, Mist's method of achieving this involves merging herself and Rain to their mother, and pretty much destroy the entire world. Rain ran away from this, and ended up with amnesia, as well as memories, dreams and nightmares that made no sense to her. Rain ends up having to kill off both her mother and twin sister}}. Hana is an [[Iron Woobie]] and Glas is a [[Stoic Woobie]].

* [[Stoic Woobie|Although it's not obvious at first]], Ethan, the [[The Quiet One|quiet]], [[An Axe to Grind|axe-wielding]] [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|amnesiac]] from ''[[Last Scenario]]'', is badly in need of a hug. When he first joins the party, he says he doesn't remember much beyond the fact that he used to work for the Rosehart Kingdom, but was betrayed and imprisoned. This means many of the people he's fighting used to be his friends, but it's a bit worse than that. {{spoiler|He used to be the head of [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|a prestigious special-ops group]], but he started to suspect that his superior, Castor, was hiding important information from them, and began to investigate on his own. An ambitious internal affairs officer, Helio, found out, and reported Ethan- as punishment, he was locked up as a test subject in Helio's [[Mad Scientist|laboratory]] and spent the next three years [[And I Must Scream|buried alive and semiconscious]] in a magical substance called biorite, which was responsible for his memory loss.}} Even early on, he worries that maybe since the things he remembers most clearly are the ones he wanted to remember, the ones he forgot were things he wanted to forget; when a few things start coming back to him, you find out he was right. {{spoiler|Fourteen years ago, his entire hometown was razed by the Imperial army, leaving him and his older brother as the only survivors. He wound up killing a soldier in a panic to protect his brother, and only avoided being killed himself by the timely intervention of Zawu. His older brother? Castor, the guy who had him sealed in a pile of rocks for three years, and the [[Big Bad]] of the game. Naturally, he remembers this just as Castor has started going into a full-scale mental and emotional breakdown which he was indirectly complicit in. And the man he killed when he was fourteen? His name was Wolfram, and [[One Degree of Separation|his father and best friend are in the party]]. Ethan's guilt-stricken and awkward attempts to tell Randolph are simultaneously heartbreaking and adorable.}} All in all, his life kind of sucks. A lot.

* Fiona Belli from ''[[Haunting Ground]]''. {{spoiler|Not only did one of the stalkers kill her parents, but he kidnapped her as well, and is trying to impregnate her in order to be reborn with her Azoth. She is also pursued by a hulking man with the mind of a child who thinks she is a doll and just wants to [[And Call Him George|play with her]], a homunculus maid who wants to cut her Azoth out of her in order to become "complete", and an old man who helps her at first, but then turns out to be the [[Big Bad]], and is also trying to take her Azoth.}} The only companion she has is a white German Shepherd that is also a Woobie itself due to the excessive amounts of literal [[Kick the Dog]] moments.

* ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]'' has quite a few Woobie characters as well.

** Spiritia Rosenberg, [[The Heroine]] of the first game, is going around beating up her friends asking them to cease their part in RKS's rebellion and listen to her, and they usually don't listen until she defeats them (although some of them still refuse to listen to reason, even after their defeat, until a certain cute blond-haired girl in pink-and-white elegant clothing {{spoiler|shows her true colors, of course}}). How do you feel for her that she ends up having to fight those she respects, including the now-undead Sir Raimund Seyfarth, and {{spoiler|eventually learns that Iris was USING EVERYBODY for her own amusement}}? And then we have the part where {{spoiler|Iris herself reveals that Tia's the other reincarnation of Rosenkreuz, the "Blade of Rosenkreuz", born with his ability to tap into the strength of others'}}. [[Tomato in the Mirror]] much?

** Grolla Seyfarth becomes this in her own [[Darker and Edgier]] side-game, Grollschwert. When {{spoiler|Iris}} humiliates her and makes her look like a traitor to all of RKS, Grolla has to put up with beating up her colleagues just to get them out of her way. Then she fights her undead grandfather in order to master Grollschwert, and after that, she, both infuriated and deeply hurt, declares that she will make Graf Sepperin pay for disrupting his peaceful slumber with his life.

** According to her profile, Sichte Meister often frets about her troubled childhood that she had in the past, which leads to having trouble having faith in those older than her. Also, she becomes worried about Grolla when she leaves upon her telling her to lower her guard when she demands answers from {{spoiler|Iris}}. The reason Grolla left was out of knowledge that if she lowered her weapon, she would breathe no more.

** Sakura, who is probably the most woobie of them all, is {{spoiler|separated from her family and adopted by a family of former Magi against her will, and is "trained" to become the successor by being sent into a room full of worms every night implant themselves inside her every night since she's ''five'' years old. Her adoptive brother, who's not quite right in the head himself, physically, mentally, and sexually abuses her every day.}} This all comes back to haunt the cast in the route she is Heroine in, Heaven's Feel. Lets just say that karma is a bitch...