Troubled Abuser: Difference between revisions

The ways of dealing with [[Abuse Tropes|an abusive situation]] in fiction vary, to say the least, depending on the author's opinions, the type of abuse portrayed, and even [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male|the genders of abuser and victim]]. Sometimes, it may be played for laughs, shown as not being a big deal, or portrayed as part of a loving relationship, despite the fact that the perpetrator's actions are clearly abusive, at least to the (aware) viewers. Other times, great care will be taken to detail the living hell the protagonist's life has been made by the [[Abusive Parent]], [[Sadist Teacher]], [[Domestic Abuser]], or [[The Bully]]. Their assailant might even be painted as a [[Complete Monster]].

But sometimes, you'll find out that the character who is notable for behaving abusively toward one or more others has a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] themselves. Maybe ''they'' were abused at one point in their life, or are presently in an abusive situation. Or else, instead of or in addition to having been the target of an abuser, they [[Harmful to Minors|saw something as a child they were not meant to see]], were [[The Bully|bullied]] and/or [[Rape as Backstory|raped]], [[Did Not Get the Girl]], have a [[Dead Little Sister]], or [[My God, What Have I Done?|did something that they'll never get past]] and may even [[The Atoner|be trying desperately to make up for]]. The [[Troubled Abuser]] is different from other abusers in that he or she has had (or currently has) a hard life themself in addition to making one of these for at least one other person. It may be a result of an [[Inferiority Superiority Complex]] or else a form of [[Being Tortured Makes You Evil]].

Compare this phenomenon to [[Kick the Dog]], except that the designated kicker was a Kicked Dog themself, making it Dog Kicks Littler Dog. If a writer ''really'' wants to play this up, he or she can have a whole ''chain'' of Dogs kicking down the line in this fashion. If a whole chain of these is used, you can reasonably expect it to be used for [[An Aesop]] about how abuse only begets abuse.

Compare the [[Troubled Sympathetic Bigot]], whose bigotry is seldom portrayed as sympathetic due to the ugly reputation bigotry has gained over the years, but is nevertheless a sympathetic person. The [[Troubled Abuser]], given that (s)he is, well, [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|troubled]], automatically gains some measure of [[Woobie]] status due to his or her status as troubled being out in the open, but unlike bigotry, abuse is less likely to be portrayed in an unsympathetic light. Sometimes, the [[Troubled Abuser]] may ''also'' be a [[Troubled Sympathetic Bigot]].

May overlap with [[Jerkass Woobie]] due to the common traits of having had a hard life and treating other people in a substandard way. After all, they of all people should know how bad being abused feels. However, abuse is sometimes portrayed in a positive light, so this is not always the case.

Comparable to, and sometimes overlapping with, [[Freudian Excuse]], in which a villain cites a childhood of poor quality as having a role in his or her evil deeds or is revealed to have had a bad childhood in order to gain [[Woobie]] status. However, unlike a villain with a [[Freudian Excuse]], the [[Troubled Abuser]] isn't just guilty of ''any'' morally questionable act, they are guilty of committing one or more of these acts against someone with whom they have or end up developing an interpersonal relationship. Additionally, the [[Troubled Abuser]] can be troubled in ways other than childhood experiences. Sometimes, the [[Troubled Abuser]] has a [[Freudian Excuse]], in which case these two tropes overlap, but [[Freudian Excuse]] and [[Troubled Abuser]] are not exactly the same thing. For example, a serial killer who targets random women he doesn't know and is later revealed [[Harmful to Minors|to have witnessed]] [[Domestic Abuser|his mother]] [[Domestic Abuse|attack his father with a knife on a regular basis]] would go under [[Freudian Excuse]], but would not be a [[Troubled Abuser]] because he is committing crimes, but not against people he has a relationship with, or even interacts with on a regular basis. [[Abusive Parents|A female character who is the single mother of a child that she verbally abuses on a regular basis]], [[Parental Neglect|if she even gives the kid any attention at all]], but is revealed to be doing so because the kid is a [[Child by Rape]] and reminds her of her rapist is a [[Troubled Abuser]] without a doubt, but wouldn't fit under [[Freudian Excuse]] because the hard part of her life, as far as we know, did not happen in her childhood.

As tempting as it is to add '''large-scale criminals''', such as practitioners of genocide, serial killers, etc. who happen to count as '''Troubled''' by virtue of having a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] or [[Freudian Excuse]] just because you think they are monstrous for their deeds, exercise great caution before you do. Simply doing evil deeds on a large scale '''does not''' make one an '''Abuser''', which is the other part of the requirement to be listed here. However, that does not mean that large-scale criminals ''can't'' be abusers. Before listing any large-scale criminal, consult our handy [[Abuse|Useful Notes page on the topic of abuse]], read it thoroughly, and think carefully about whether or not ''any'' of the character or person's actions count as abuse. If they don't, then don't add them. If you've done your thinking and one or more of said criminal's actions seem to count as abusive to you, go ahead and add them, but give details on ''what they do'' that is abusive in the description.

** As for Kinzo. He was manipulated as the heir to the Ushiromiya family, sent off to [[World War Two]], wishes to take his own life {{spoiler|meets his love, Beatrice Castiglioni, only to have her and later her daughter both die}}. He winds up half-insane, is abusive to most of his children (specially to Eva, by denying her the right to be the heir [[Heir Club for Men|purely for her gender]] despite being more talented in business than her eldest brother Krauss) {{spoiler|and has a child with his illegitimate daughter, Beatrice Ushiromiya. through implied rape}}.

* If there's a Conflicted type of [[Bastard Boyfriend]] in any [[Shoujo]] or [[Josei]] manga, they'll almost surely be this: terribly abusive to their girlfriends/[[Yaoi Guys|boyfriends]] and with either a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] (with either [[Abusive Parents]], heavy [[Parental Neglect|parental neglection]], etc) or an extremely dark and trouble present. It certainly explains why they're like that, but it doesn '''NOT''' justify the shit they pull on their "other halves". Some examples are:

* One of the ''[[Saw]]'' film series's serial killers, {{spoiler|Hoffman}}, became one of Jigsaw's apprentices by way of Jigsaw catching him killing his [[Dead Little Sister]]'s [[Domestic Abuser|murderous boyfriend]] and trying to make it look like another Jigsaw killing. He becomes a rival to {{spoiler|Amanda}}, another apprentice of Jigsaw's, to the point where he threatens to tell Jigsaw of {{spoiler|her role in Cecil's robbery of Jill's drug rehab clinic, in which he accidentally caused her to miscarry Jigsaw's unborn son}} if she doesn't commit the murder that he tells her to, which is seriously [[Magnificent Bastard|magnificent bastardy]], given what Jigsaw did to Cecil.

* The Wachowskis' film version of ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' has V put Evey through an ordeal much like the one he suffered in a concentration camp, just as in the original comics. However, the Wachowskis gave V a more sympathetic portrayal than Alan Moore did and had Evey fall in love with V even after all that he put her through. Even though what she went through is meant to be horrifying to the audience as well as her, her falling in love with V still seems uncomfortably like [[Stockholm Syndrome]].

* [[Wicked Stepmother|The Queen]] from ''[[Snow White (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]'' forces Snow White to work and dress as a servant in her own residence and even tries to have her murdered. A prequel novel called "Fairest Of All" was published, in which the Queen, named Grimhilde, is revealed to have been made insecure about her appearance by her emotionally abusive father, who her sisters turned into her magic mirror.

* [[J. K. Rowling]] seems to be a big fan of this trope, given how many characters in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series are these.

** Severus Snape is notable for his being a [[Sadist Teacher]] who favors Slytherins over those from other Houses and dishing out cruelty, insults, and strictness to the latter. However, starting from Prisoner of Azkaban, the reader discovers that he is one of these. He was bullied throughout his school years by the Marauders, hinted to have had an abusive father and neglectful mother, and {{spoiler|lost any chance of being with his one true love, Lily Evans, when he called her a [[Fantastic Slur]]. Then he had to watch her date and marry one of his bullies (who, unlike Snape, has learned his lessons and ''stopped'' being a [[Jerkass]]) and have a child with him. Finally, she ended up dying for that child, despite his attempts to make a deal with Voldemort to save her life.}} He then spends the next sixteen years trying to make up for what he's done {{spoiler|and playing a vital role as Dumbledore's double agent}}... while paralelly bullying Neville to the point of traumatising him, psychologically abusing Harry due to his heritage, verbally abusing Hermione when she's crying over having been humiliated by Draco, etc.

** Sirius subjects his house-elf, Kreacher, to a barrage of verbal and physical abuse because he is a reminder of his rotten childhood caused by his status as [[The Unfavorite]] [[Parental Favoritism|in the eyes of his parents, who unsubtly liked his brother Regulus better than him]]. Even after he left his [[Abusive Parents]], he couldn't catch a break. His best friends have been betrayed by someone they thought was their friend, resulting in their death and orphaning their son and Sirius's godson. To top it all off, ''he'' was blamed for every crime that said false friend committed and sent to [[Fate Worse Than Death|Azkaban]], where he was subjected to enough [[Mind Rape]] to make him [[Younger Than They Look]].

** Merope, Voldemort's mother, was subjected to a barrage of verbal and physical abuse by both her brother and her father, some of it for the reason that she was a [[Stalker with a Crush]] on Tom Riddle Sr., a Muggle. Then when both of them were locked away in Azkaban, she slipped Tom Riddle, Sr. a [[Love Potion]], using the induced infatuation to get him to marry her and do the nasty with her enough times to conceive Tom Riddle, Jr., who later comes to be known as Voldemort.

** Voldemort himself also counts. As well as being a mass murderer and torturer, he has a charisma that attracts him multiple followers. Despite the devotion that his followers have for him, he doesn't return it at all. He uses this devotion, along with insults, [[Agony Beam|the Cruciatus Curse]], threats to harm their family members, and blackmail to get them to do what he wants. [[Parental Abandonment|He was abandoned by his father before he was born]] and [[Death by Childbirth|had his mother die on him just after he was born]], leaving him to be raised in an orphanage and unloved. J. K. Rowling says herself that he would have turned out much differently if he had been raised by at least one of his parents.

* So many works by [[Stephen King]] feature at least one of these

** In ''[[IT]]'', Beverly's [[Domestic Abuser|abusive husband]] is revealed in the narration to have had a physically abusive father.

** The novel ''Rage'' focuses on a school shooting in which Charlie Decker, the [[Villain Protagonist]], kills multiple people and holds several students hostage. The narration reveals that Charlie Decker [[Abusive Parents|has suffered multiple incidents of physical abuse at the hands of his father]], including one where Charlie Decker was hit so hard with a belt that it required a trip to the emergency room, where Charlie gave a [[Cut Himself Shaving]] excuse to explain his injuries.

** In another [[Stephen King]] novel, ''[[Carrie]]'', the eponymous character is regularly subjected to loads of abuse by her widowed Christian fundamentalist mother, Margaret White. We later find out that Carrie is a [[Child by Rape]]. At one point, Carrie's parents were so hard-line fundamentalist that they were remaining celibate and then Mr. White changed his mind and forced himself on Margaret in a combination of [["It's Not Rape If You Enjoyed It"]] and [[Marital Rape License]]. [[Defiled Forever|She is so ashamed of having "sinned"]] and so unwilling to think of her experience as rape that she refuses to believe that she's pregnant when she is, calling it "a cancer of the womanly parts."

*** Chris Hargensen also counts, being one of Carrie's ''many'' bullies, one of the key players in {{spoiler|the infamous "pig's blood" prank that ends up being Carrie's [[Despair Event Horizon]]}}, and a victim of [[Domestic Abuse]] by her boyfriend, Billy.

* In the novel ''[[Rifters Trilogy|Starfish]]'', one of the characters is a pedophile named Gerry. At some points the narration follows his [[Switching POV|point-of-view]], and it's revealed that he himself was molested as a child.

* Edward Cullen in ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' was orphaned by the Spanish flu as a teenager and [[The Atoner|is trying to make up for]] [[My God, What Have I Done?|a period of time in which he killed humans and drank their blood]]. Also, from how his family describes his behavior just before he met Bella, he seems to have met the criteria for clinical depression. Despite being Bella's love interest, that hasn't stopped the multitude of pieces published on the Internet [http://pamgutz.livejournal.com/6499.html on] [http://outoftheashes.xanga.com/719688148/domestic-abuse-in-twilight/ why] [http://vampirely.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/extra-credit-the-twilight-saga-and-domestic-abuse/ he] [http://impishidea.com/criticism/538/twilight-abridged-and-annotated-chapter-10 is] [http://twimedia.blogspot.com/2010/04/watching-you-sleep-control-and-abuse-in.html a] [http://www.squidoo.com/cullenabuse domestic abuser]. For one thing, he sabotaged Bella's truck when she was about to go out to see her friend Jacob. Controlling where a partner can or can't go or who they can or can't have contact with, as well as damaging their personal property, is abusive behavior and is noted as such in resources on dealing with abuse.

* Erik, the eponymous phantom of ''[[Phantom of the Opera]]'', kidnaps Christine and [[Scarpia Ultimatum|threatens to blow up the operahouse, where the man she loves is, if she doesn't agree to marry him]]. He is revealed to have been reviled for his deformity even when he was a child to the point where his mother neither kissed him or permitted him to ''give'' her any.

* In ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', Warren, one of the [[Scary Black Man]] attendants who are downright abusive toward the patients of the mental hospital they work in, is said to have [[Harmful to Minors|seen his mother being raped by a white man as a child]].

* [[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream|AM's]] sole female victim, Ellen, is subjected to abuse by the four men who AM has also been torturing nonstop for 109 years.

* ''[[The Silence of the Lambs]]'' by Thomas Harris provides us with Jame Gumb, who was [[Parental Abandonment|abandoned by]] [[Alcoholic Parent|his alcoholic mother]] and then lived with multiple sets of abusive foster parents. He then grew up to become a serial killer who would kidnap overweight women and starve them for a week, during which he'd torture and taunt them, before killing and skinning them.

* ''The End of Alice'' by A.M. Homes features a pedophile who was sexually abused by his mother as a child. Both the sexual abuse he inflicted on a young girl {{spoiler|before killing her}} as well as that he received are described in graphic detail that certainly qualifies as High Octane Nightmare Fuel.

* In [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''When the Bough Breaks'', the rich and successful father horrifically sexually abuses his preteen daughter. When he's brought to the elven version of justice, it's shown that his father physically and psychologically abused him as a child.

* From ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' we have {{spoiler|Aaron Echolls}}, who abuses his son. We learn later that his father was also an abusive alcoholic.

** The abused child in question, {{spoiler|Logan Echolls}} torments Veronica, provides the drugs that are used in her rape, and arranges such deranged activities as "bum fights." Despite being one of her biggest tormenters, he eventually became Veronica's boyfriend. He became woobified, as large portions of the audience chose to excuse his actions on the basis of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.

* Lionel Luthor on ''[[Smallville]]'' is an [[Archnemesis Dad]] who abuses his son Lex financially and emotionally in an attempt at [[Social Darwinist|making him stronger]]. He is absolutly ruthless in his desire to make [[Bastard Understudy|Lex]] into a [[Heir Club for Men|worthy heir]] for his [[Mega Corp|corporate empire]], and easily deserves the title of "Worst Father Ever." In Season 3, however, we learn that Lionel's own parents were a pair of [[The Alcoholic|alcoholic]] [[Jaded Washout|washouts]] who beat him regularly and went out of their way to sabotage his success; if Lionel can be trusted, they actually wanted him to end up just like them. He eventually [[Self-Made Orphan|killed them]], then fabricated a new past for the family, claiming descent from Scottish nobility. Not only does this explain Lionel's drive for success, it also helps to demonstrate why he seems to be unaware that he is abusing Lex: in Lionel's mind, abuse is physical; he sees himself as an involved parent and nothing worse.

* In most incarnations of ''[[Blackadder]]'', the title character heavily abuses Baldrick, often in frustration at his mistreatment at the hands of his own higher power (often a monarch). His lampshading of this "Dog Kicks Littler Dog" scenario in the third installment is the page quote.

* Discussed in the [[Eric Bogle]] song "Daniel Smiling".

* ''[[Mystery Case Files]]: Escape From Ravenhearst'' -- Charles Dalimar claims to be this. (Well, technically, he never admits to the "Abuser" part, just the "Troubled".)

* If you consider the relationship tree of the ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series, about half of them are abusive connections. Forgive the liberalness with which relationships are interpreted. [[Troubled Abuser]] always listed first. It helps that ''everyone'' has a [[Dark and Troubled Past]].

** Liquid Snake to Solid Snake: Abusive brother to brother.

** Solid Snake to Liquid Snake: It may be entirely necessary, but it's still an abusive relationship.

** Sniper Wolf to Otacon: Emotional abuse. Uses his affections to try and manipulate Snake, to a small degree.

** The Colonel and Naomi Hunter to Solid Snake: Hard to interpret the relationship into friend or familial terms, but they're both using Snake for variously selfish ends.

* In ''[[Drowtales]]'', [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=112 Kel'noz suggests that this is the case] for [[Babysitter From Hell]] [http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=67 Syphile].

* Light example, [[The Simpsons|Homer Simpson]] frequently physically abuses Bart, it is often revealed in flashbacks that his own father Abe was rather aloof and emotionally abusive to him as well. Abe was in some cases even seen strangling Homer in the same manner the latter does to Bart today.

* Dr Robotnik of ''[[Sonic Sat AM]]'' who is incredibly abusive to his nephew Snively, was revealed in "The Void" to have initially been a surbordinate to wizard Naugus, who used his magic to torture and intimidate Robotnik. The fact Snively thought his treatment was [[Actually Pretty Funny]] probably only furthered Robotnik's spite towards him however. In the planned third season Naugus would have returned, actually reducing Robotnik to a cowering toady similar to Snively.

* On ''[[Moral Orel]]'', Clay Puppington abuses his son (both physically and psychologically) and was all but ignored by his father after inadvertently causing his mother's death.

* In ''[[The Dreamstone]]'', [[Elite Mook|Elite Mooks]] Urpgor and Sgt Blob are often shown ordering about and abusing lower Urpneys, something that makes some sense given they are most often at the brunt of [[Big Bad|Zordrak's]] horrible temper.

* The ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Cartman Sucks" has a subplot where Butters gets sent to a [[Cure Your Gays|"straight camp"]] that very [[Anvilicious|Anviliciously]] shows how ineffective, pointless, and [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|wrong]] it is to attempt to [[Cure Your Gays]]. One example is one of the staff members, who cheerfully tells the campers that being gay and bisexual is abnormal and encourages them to "pray the gay away" from the inside of a [[Transparent Closet]]. To inspire them, he tells about how he was ''once'' gay, but not no longer because he [[Blatant Lies|turned straight]] by way of praying to God to make him straight, which he was obviously encouraged to do when he was younger by one or more homophobic authority figures.

* If statistics are right, 30% of all [[Abusive Parents]] were mistreated by theirs.

* Joseph Frizl described his relationship with his mother as physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive. As an adult, he kept his mother imprisoned in the attic for 20 years before her death and infamously took his 18 year old daughter Elisabeth and imprisoned her in the cellar, meanwhile raping her enough times that she gave birth to seven children, three of whom never saw the light of day until one of them had a seizure requiring medical attention, enabling their release, at which time Elisabeth was 42 years old.

* Chris Brown, who infamously [[Domestic Abuse|physically abused his girlfriend Rhianna]], spoke about [[Harmful to Minors|having watched]] [[Domestic Abuse|his mother being beaten by]] [[Domestic Abuser|his stepfather]] [[Freudian Excuse|from the ages of 7 to 13]].