Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Difference between revisions

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** {{spoiler|The Book of Darkness}} is another example. Her life cycle has three phases: charging up in dormancy, gaining full awareness and control for a few minutes, and then dishing out an [[Earthshattering Kaboom]], which returns her to stage one. Prior to her current appearance, she has been forced to serve a cruel master who abused her children. Bonus points for the fact that there is literally nothing that can be done to stop the cycle.

* ''[[Trigun]]'' features Legato Bluesummers, [[The Dragon]] to [[Big Bad|Millions Knives]]. He's got a sympathetic backstory as a nameless sex slave and, like Knives, has let his own pain [[Boomerang Bigot|drive him into]] becoming an [[Omnicidal Maniac]]. Problem is, he's an utter, sadistic psycho with a murder habit, who likes to torture the lead, reducing any sympathy factor for him both in-universe and out.

** Knives actually has a shot at qualifying as this in the manga, at least during the flashback. During the main storyline, he's a [[Jerkass]] extraordinaire with a dash of "[[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget]]", but [[They Would Cut You Up|the story]] of [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|Tesla]] would [[Go Mad From the Revelation|put anyone off]] [[Humans Are ~~Bastards~~|the human race]], especially [[I Just Want to Be Loved|a cute little kid who just wanted to be accepted]]...

** Knives actually has a shot at qualifying as this in the manga, at least during the flashback. During the main storyline, he's a [[Jerkass]] extraordinaire with a dash of "[[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget]]", but [[They Would Cut You Up|the story]] of [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|Tesla]] would [[Go Mad From the Revelation|put anyone off]] [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|the human race]], especially [[I Just Want to Be Loved|a cute little kid who just wanted to be accepted]]...

* Hao/Zeke Asakura in the ''[[Shaman King]]'' manga. {{spoiler|Not so much in the anime, since he turns his [[Ax Crazy]] factor [[Up to Eleven]] during the finale, which, sadly, is a [[Gecko Ending]].}}

* Hiroko "Hiro-chan" Kaizuka from ''[[Narutaru]]'' is an intelligent, modest young girl who is [[Break the Cutie|broken]] by abuse from both [[Kids Are Cruel|unbelievably sadistic bullies]] ''and'' overly demanding, repressive parents. Eventually, she, along with her [[Mon|Shadow Dragon]], Oni, attempts to make everything she doesn't like disappear...by way of going on a horrific, murderous rampage.

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* Black WarGreymon from ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' wanted to destroy the Digital World because he thought that, that was the only way for him to understand his purpose in his artificial life and soothe his pain.

* Darcia from ''[[Wolf's Rain]]'', who, after the loss of his lover, Hamona, turns insane and decides to ruin the paradise the protagonists are trying to create. In a sense, he doesn't want to destroy the current world, [[Just Before the End|as the Earth is dying anyway]], but prevent the next.

* {{spoiler|[[Omnicidal Maniac|Rau Le Creuset]]}} from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]]'' is Sunrise's reigning king of this trope. He's a dying man at 28 years old, {{spoiler|born with telomeres of the thirty-something Al Da Flaga, his genetic "father"}}. He's in constant pain that can only be subdued by drug dosages that double ''twice'' over the course of the series. His dealings with people, hatred of his flawed body and the people who ensured that he was born that way, {{spoiler|his emotional pain over his [[Parental Abandonment]], and being a clone and thus seeing himself with no "identity" of his own}} eventually became a bitterness towards humanity in general. He descends into full [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] territory, convinced that [[Humans Are ~~Bastards~~]] who only inflict pain and suffering on others, not least of all himself. {{spoiler|Aware that his own existence cannot be considered human and is more or less the personification of mankind's sins, he took it upon himself to be the [[Judge, Jury, and Executioner]] of humanity, and in a very literal bid to ''make the pain stop,'' he tried to [[Kill All Humans]], and nearly succeeded}}.

* {{spoiler|[[Omnicidal Maniac|Rau Le Creuset]]}} from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED]]'' is Sunrise's reigning king of this trope. He's a dying man at 28 years old, {{spoiler|born with telomeres of the thirty-something Al Da Flaga, his genetic "father"}}. He's in constant pain that can only be subdued by drug dosages that double ''twice'' over the course of the series. His dealings with people, hatred of his flawed body and the people who ensured that he was born that way, {{spoiler|his emotional pain over his [[Parental Abandonment]], and being a clone and thus seeing himself with no "identity" of his own}} eventually became a bitterness towards humanity in general. He descends into full [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] territory, convinced that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]] who only inflict pain and suffering on others, not least of all himself. {{spoiler|Aware that his own existence cannot be considered human and is more or less the personification of mankind's sins, he took it upon himself to be the [[Judge, Jury, and Executioner]] of humanity, and in a very literal bid to ''make the pain stop,'' he tried to [[Kill All Humans]], and nearly succeeded}}.

** By the time he {{spoiler|sentenced all of humanity to annihilation}}, he was more or less reveling in the fact that his view was "vindicated" by the actions of {{spoiler|[[Smug Snake|Murata Azrael]], who had just tried to wipe out all Coordinators with a nuclear missile array, and [[General Ripper|Patrick Zala]], who was preparing to annihilate all life on earth with [[Kill Sat|GENESIS]]}}. A life or two was meaningless at this point.

** And an example from [[Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny|its sequel]] is {{spoiler|Stella}}—she stomps through city and wilderness alike in a giant robot, slaughtering innocent bystanders by the thousands {{spoiler|because she's driven by a childlike, irrational terror of death, and has been told that if she doesn't fight, scary things will kill her and everyone she cares about}}. The fact that she's just being used by [[Manipulative Bastard|Neo]] and [[Evil Genius|Djibril]], who are deliberately playing on her fear and pain, makes this all the sadder.

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* Francis Dolarhyde from ''[[Red Dragon]]''. Sure, he murders whole families and rapes their corpses, but good ''lord'', he had an awful childhood. It gets to the point where you know he's a [[Complete Monster]], and you want him to be caught, but you still kinda hope he gets out of the whole mess all right.

* The title character from the Balzac classic ''[[Cousin Bette]]'' could easily been seen as a female analogue to Heathcliff: childhood abuse, poverty and abandonment by the one man she ever loved (who probably [[All Love Is Unrequited|never returned her feelings to begin with]]) drove her to a monomaniacal obsession with revenge, from which no-one in her path is safe.

* Ineluki the Storm King, the [[Big Bad]] of [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]''. It is said that he was the brightest light the [[The Fair Folk|Sithi]] had ever known and, had things been different, he might have led them out of their exile and into a new golden age. Instead, he went [[These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know|down dark paths]], sacrificing [[Self-Made Orphan|his family]], [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|his soul]], and ultimately, [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|his life]] to defend his people against the depredations of [[Humans Are ~~Bastards~~|humanity]]. Even after death, his hatred sustained him, turning him into a [[The Undead|dark spirit]] that seeks now to return ''everything'' to Unbeing in revenge for his suffering. In the end, this turns out to be the key to his defeat.

* Ineluki the Storm King, the [[Big Bad]] of [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]''. It is said that he was the brightest light the [[The Fair Folk|Sithi]] had ever known and, had things been different, he might have led them out of their exile and into a new golden age. Instead, he went [[These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know|down dark paths]], sacrificing [[Self-Made Orphan|his family]], [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|his soul]], and ultimately, [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|his life]] to defend his people against the depredations of [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|humanity]]. Even after death, his hatred sustained him, turning him into a [[The Undead|dark spirit]] that seeks now to return ''everything'' to Unbeing in revenge for his suffering. In the end, this turns out to be the key to his defeat.

* [[Frankenstein's Monster]] (in [[Frankenstein (novel)|the original novel]], that is). All of his rage against man, and against Victor Frankenstein in particular, would be gone if just ''one'' person bothered to look past his macabre appearance and associate with him. But [[Humans Are ~~Bastards~~]], [[Downer Ending|so]]... [[Mary Shelley's Frankenstein|The 1994 movie]] based on the novel ''did'' manage to get that part right, with the motivations of the monster laid bare.

* [[Frankenstein's Monster]] (in [[Frankenstein (novel)|the original novel]], that is). All of his rage against man, and against Victor Frankenstein in particular, would be gone if just ''one'' person bothered to look past his macabre appearance and associate with him. But [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]], [[Downer Ending|so]]... [[Mary Shelley's Frankenstein|The 1994 movie]] based on the novel ''did'' manage to get that part right, with the motivations of the monster laid bare.

* Gollum in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. After centuries of misery and torment, he nearly destroys the quest (dooming Middle Earth to tyranny) because of a [[Heel Face Door Slam]]. Ironically, [[Break the Cutie|Frodo]] more literally embodies this trope, because he {{spoiler|knowingly claims the ring after suffering months of psychological torment because of it}}. Fortunately, [[Dramatic Irony|the quest would have failed]] without his [[Prophecy Twist|attempt to prevent it]]. Bilbo, Frodo, and even Sam taking pity on Gollum was [[Because Destiny Says So|necessary]] for the Ring's destruction; and expressly choosing ''not'' to attack and kill him on four separate occasions, even on the slopes of Mount Doom...

{{quote|'''Frodo:''' But do you remember Gandalf's words: "Even Gollum may have something yet to do?" But for him, Sam, I could not have destroyed the Ring. The Quest would have been in vain, even at the bitter end. ''So let us forgive him!'' For the Quest is achieved and now all is over. I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam.}}

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** [[Ridiculously Human Robot|The scared, lonely robot girl]] who created the Replicators.

* ''[[Dexter]]'' has the Trinity Killer. Notable in that this trope is used to make the character more disturbing, rather than more human (the usual utilization of this trope).

* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' had a textbook example in {{spoiler|H.G. Wells. It started out with her daughter being murdered, who proceeded to hunt the killers down and cause them more pain than she felt. Then, after being turned into a statue for a century ([[Fate Worse Than Death|while still awake the whole time]]), she found today's world [[Humans Are ~~Bastards~~|even more lacking]], and decided to explode the Yellowstone supervolcano to start an ice age. In a twist similar to the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' example above, [[Ho Yay]] saved the day.}}

* ''[[Warehouse 13]]'' had a textbook example in {{spoiler|H.G. Wells. It started out with her daughter being murdered, who proceeded to hunt the killers down and cause them more pain than she felt. Then, after being turned into a statue for a century ([[Fate Worse Than Death|while still awake the whole time]]), she found today's world [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|even more lacking]], and decided to explode the Yellowstone supervolcano to start an ice age. In a twist similar to the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' example above, [[Ho Yay]] saved the day.}}

* The Greeed from ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]'' are monsters whose MO is consuming the world and are generally causing massive pain to everyone. Then we find out why they're doing it. Their 10th Core Medal was destroyed, leaving them sentient, but even if they get all 9 of their remaining Cores, they have a void inside them that can never be filled due to the destruction of the 10th. They've been that way literally since they've become sentient, they're only trying to consume the world to fill a void inside them that they were born with. If that hunger is enough to drive them to the extremes they go to, then they definately qualify.

* Lucifer in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' sees himself as this and it isn't without some justification. He was a loyal servant to God, who felt that he has been cast aside for a species that did not deserve such love. He has tried to regain his prestige in God's eyes, but has been irrevocably cast as a monster. As such, that is what he has become.

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== [[Video Games]] ==

* Fou-Lu from ''[[Breath of Fire IV]]''. He's an [[God-Emperor|immortal emperor]] who also happens to be a [[Physical God|dragon]]. He's been [[King in the Mountain|hibernating for the past thousand years]], during which time some [[The Empire|not-nice people]] usurped his throne and plotted to have him killed when he awakens. He manages to escape the assassination attempts, mostly through turning into a large [[Breath Weapon|fire-breathing monster]] and schooling them all in the arts of pain and suffering, and then goes about trying to regain his throne. Along the way, he runs into (and is hidden by) a [[Country Mouse|nice, friendly farm girl]] who wears a bell as jewelry, who promptly [[Love At First Sight|falls in love with him]]. He, of course, falls for her, too, though he's [[I Uh You Too|too much the stoic and quiet type to admit it]]. The [[Big Bad]]s find out that she's been harboring the dragon-boy, take her captive, and drag her off to one of the [[Powered by a Forsaken Child|more horrible fates imaginable]]. See, they have a [[Evil Weapon|superweapon]], called the [[Fantastic Nuke|Carronade]], that uses [[Love Hurts|people with]] ''[[Love Hurts|very]]'' [[Love Hurts|close bonds to their target]] as [[Human Resources|ammunition]], converting their pure soul (after a good amount of [[Cold-Blooded Torture]], of course) into a foul and unspeakable city-destroying curse. So, the Emperor's walking through a forest on his way to his rightful palace to retake it, when he senses the powerful world-rending curse heading his way, and defends himself against it as best as he can. The last thing he sees before the force of the curse renders him unconscious is the [[It's All My Fault|farm girl's bell charm falling from the heavens to land in front of him]]. Cue [[Laughing Mad|insane cackling]] and his plans going from 'regain throne' to '[[Kill Them All|everybody dies]]'.

** A decision, of note, that is ''firmly'' cemented when he finally meets up with [[The Emperor|Emperor Soniel]], who acts as if he is welcoming Fou-lu back—and then proceeds to run him through with a [[Evil Weapon|soul-eating sword]] created by [[Karma Houdini|his head thaumaturgist]] [[Complete Monster|Yuna]] from a previous botched summoning where only the head came through. This would normally kill even a lesser being; Fou-lu is merely pissed off enough to [[Off with His Head|decapitate the back-stabber]]. As if he needed any further cementing of the idea that [[Humans Are Bastards]]...

** A decision, of note, that is ''firmly'' cemented when he finally meets up with [[The Emperor|Emperor Soniel]], who acts as if he is welcoming Fou-lu back—and then proceeds to run him through with a [[Evil Weapon|soul-eating sword]] created by [[Karma Houdini|his head thaumaturgist]] [[Complete Monster|Yuna]] from a previous botched summoning where only the head came through. This would normally kill even a lesser being; Fou-lu is merely pissed off enough to [[Off with His Head|decapitate the back-stabber]]. As if he needed any further cementing of the idea that [[Humans Are the Real Monsters|Humans Are Bastards]]...

* Fortune and Vamp from [[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]] (with a little more emphais on the Woobie bit in the former case and the Destroyer bit in the latter). The former endured the deaths of everyone dear to her, and as such is a [[The Resenter|Resenter]] and [[Death Seeker]] who happens to cause a lot of carnage with her [[BFG]]. The latter was the victim of terrorism, having to resort to cannibalism in order to survive in the ruins and developing a [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|troubling immortality]] in the process.

* Selvaria from ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]''. Sure, she's a badass [[Dark Action Girl]] and one of the game's main antagonists, but then you learn about her past...and then [[Big Bad|Prince Maximillian]], the one person she really cares about, orders her to use the 'Final Flame of the Valkyria' to destroy the Gallian army, which they both know will kill her in the process. She does.

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**** On that note, while you don't find out why Garland betrayed Cornelia, his actions in Dissidia are said to be motivated by him pitying Chaos and Cid of the Lufaine. Also, One Man's Monologue depicts him lying paralyzed in the destroyed parallel world for several days and clearly shows that he felt bad about his time loop shenanigans in hindsight.

* {{spoiler|Sephiran/Lehran}} tries to call the judgment of a goddess down upon Tellius in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Radiant Dawn'', all because he thought that it would be the only way for him to finally be put out of his misery and that humanity was completely irredeemable after witnessing 850 years of slavery, tragedy, and war.

* Zephiel from [[Fire Emblem Elibe|Fire Emblem 6 and 7]] {{spoiler|was a talented youth who did his best to win approval from his father, the king of Bern. But the harder he strove, the more distant his talentless father grew, and the fact that he was born from [[Arranged Marriage|a loveless marriage]] didn't help either. The final straw came when the king poisoned his heir's drink, several years after a first assassination attempt failed. Zephiel's closest retainer, [[Worthy Opponent|Murdoch]], came up with the idea of faking his death to get him the heck out of there. However, the king opened the casket, causing Zephiel to finally snap and stab him. According to his half-sister, Guinevere, Zephiel never smiled again. Years later, he (now king of Bern) was stirring up quite a bit of trouble in neighbouring countries, trying to offer the land back to its rightful owners because [[Humans Are ~~Bastards~~]]. Needless to say, he had to be killed...with [[The Woobie|his crestfallen sister's]] help, no less}}.

* Zephiel from [[Fire Emblem Elibe|Fire Emblem 6 and 7]] {{spoiler|was a talented youth who did his best to win approval from his father, the king of Bern. But the harder he strove, the more distant his talentless father grew, and the fact that he was born from [[Arranged Marriage|a loveless marriage]] didn't help either. The final straw came when the king poisoned his heir's drink, several years after a first assassination attempt failed. Zephiel's closest retainer, [[Worthy Opponent|Murdoch]], came up with the idea of faking his death to get him the heck out of there. However, the king opened the casket, causing Zephiel to finally snap and stab him. According to his half-sister, Guinevere, Zephiel never smiled again. Years later, he (now king of Bern) was stirring up quite a bit of trouble in neighbouring countries, trying to offer the land back to its rightful owners because [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]. Needless to say, he had to be killed...with [[The Woobie|his crestfallen sister's]] help, no less}}.

* ''[[Crimsoness]]'' casts one of these as the [[Player Character]].

* Durandal, an AI from the ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' trilogy, was deliberately threatened by his creator in order to drive him to [[AI Is a Crapshoot|Rampancy]] (as part of an attempt to safely study the process), made to open and close doors for hundreds of years in order to stifle his creative development and slow his Rampancy, and was probably about to be experimented on more when he entered the "[[Kill All Humans|anger]]" stage of rampancy, secretly contacted hostile aliens and drew them to Tau Ceti to enslave or kill every single human on the colony or in the ship. Though he becomes less of a [[Woobie]] later, when he turns into a [[Badass]] [[Chessmaster]].

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* The 501st legion from ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]''. Even though they are the Emperor's elite troops, somehow, you can't help feeling sorry for the narrator (who's quite obviously a [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]]), ''even when you're slaughtering Rebels on Yavin 4''.

* Soma Cruz from ''[[Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow]]'' - kill Mina, and he is going to kill you in revenge and proceed to become this, requiring Julius Belmont, Yoko Belnades, and Alucard to stop him.

** Speaking of ''Castlevania'', Dracula can be considered as one too. He once fell in love with a human, and even had a son with her, and he was happy. Then [[~~Humans Are Bastards~~|some idiots]] [[Burn the Witch|accused her of being a witch and burned her]]. Dracula [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|snapped]].

** Speaking of ''Castlevania'', Dracula can be considered as one too. He once fell in love with a human, and even had a son with her, and he was happy. Then [[Jerkass|some idiots]] [[Burn the Witch|accused her of being a witch and burned her]]. Dracula [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|snapped]].

** This happened at least TWICE. One lead him to become Dracula in the first place, he was a devout man until she got killed, and went hog wild onto the Dark Side with the help of Death and the stolen power of another Vampire. After a while of this, he mellowed out and met a woman who might have even redeemed him...who then got killed by a bunch of witch hunters, causing him to REALLY loose it (Aulcard came from the second pairing, and takes it on himself to help shut down Daddy when he awakens)

* The [[Evil Sorcerer|Masked Mage]], from ''[[Seiken Densetsu 3]]''. {{spoiler|He was Belgar, the Oracle of Shadows. [[Dark Is Not Evil|Contrary to what his title might imply]], Belgar was [[Good Shepherd|a wise and righteous man]] who watched over [[Saintly Church|the Holy City of Wendel]] in tandem with the Bishop of Light. The tragedy began when a sick girl showed up seeking his [[Healing Hands|healing prowess]]. Feeling helpless upon realising that it was an incurable disease, he turned to [[The Dark Arts]] in search of a way; however, the girl passed on before he could find one. Belgar continued his research and subsequently started dabbling in necromancy. The dark arts gradually began tainting his soul and the Priest of Light had to exile him from Wendel. By the time [[Seiken Densetsu 3]] begins, he had become the [[Fallen Angel|vengeful Masked Mage]], one of the potential [[Big Bad|big bads]]. It's such a [[Tear Jerker]] when you play [[World of Mana|the prequel]] and see what a good man he actually was.}}