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[[File:woobie_7232.jpg|frame|Never [[Break the Cutie|break this cutie]] as he may break you back.]]
{{quote|''"Evil is just a word. Under the skin, it's simple pain."''|'''Eleanor Lamb''', ''[[
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The essential element is that he/she has been pushed beyond all reason. This [[Your Mileage May Vary|may or may not]] make him/her [[The Woobie]], but either way he/she is portrayed as having a crappy existence. This is a character who, by definition, [[Cosmic Plaything|is constantly beaten up, kicked around, and lives an all-around miserable life]]. Should [[Despair Event Horizon|he/she lose everything and everyone he/she trusts (be it through betrayal or in other cruel ways)]], and then ''just so happens'' upon the instrument of revenge against the [[Crapsack World|cruel, heartless world]] that brought him/her so much pain, one need not be a genius to figure out unto whom shall his/her vengeful, bloodshot eyes cast his/her hateful gaze upon. Think of this person as a [[Jerkass Woobie]], only with the [[Jerkass|jerkassery]] replaced by insanity (though many characters do fulfill both tropes).
This trope is less about the [[Sliding Scale of Villain Threat]] and more about how much a character has been broken -- physically, mentally, and emotionally -- before he/she finally snaps and blames the whole world for all the crap he/she has been through. Of course, they must crack and pose a sudden threat of ''some'' sort, to the characters and/or the setting. And [[The Dog Bites Back|some of them]] ''do'' [[Spanner in
Not to be confused with [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds]], where a bumbling but otherwise nice person [[Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?|accidentally destroys]] [[Earthshattering Kaboom|actual worlds]], leading to [[What the Hell, Hero?]] and [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] moments.
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This trope is more closely related to [[Break the Cutie]], [[Freudian Excuse]], [[Bullying a Dragon]], [[Who's Laughing Now?]], and [[Then Let Me Be Evil]]. May have emerged as a deconstruction of the [[Cosmic Plaything]].
Not the same as [[Put Them All Out of My Misery]], which is the trope for characters who [[Motive Rant|rationalize]] their destructive behavior by insisting that society, or the earth, must be somehow cleansed or punished for some past injustice, making it the inverse of this trope. [[Motive Rant]], [[Cry for
May overlap with [[Death Seeker]], if they want to die, but intend to [[Taking You
And just to be clear, a character does not have to literally destroy worlds to fit this trope.
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* ''[[Fruits Basket]]'': whether or not one can excuse his {{spoiler|or her}} actions, Akito counts. Despite beating the living daylights out of several Zodiac members for the majority of their childhood(s) ''and'' emotionally abusing {{spoiler|just about ''everyone''}}, [[The Messiah|Tohru]] can't help but feel sorry for him {{spoiler|or her}}. One, she learned just {{spoiler|how badly Akito herself was emotionally abused, and how her upbringing influenced her outlook on life. The psychological abuse heaped onto her by her mother and [[Evil Matriarch]] extraordinaire, Ren, led to a pathological fear of abandonment, driving her to do ''anything'' to make sure no one will leave her. Being told that no one loves you, everyone will abandon you, and no one even respects you, ''and'' having your ''boyfriend'' sleep with Ren to spite you for sleeping with another man (which you partly did to get back at said boyfriend, and partly to stop said man from abandoning you) will do that to you}}.
* Depending on [[Alternate Character Interpretation|how you view his character,]] Alucard of ''[[Hellsing]]'' may qualify as this. If you look through the [[Ax Crazy|axe-craziness]], he seems like quite the [[Death Seeker]]. Then there's his [[Dark and Troubled Past]]...
* Dr. Hell from ''[[
* Tetsuo from ''[[
* Madam Red from ''[[Black Butler]]'' {{spoiler|becomes "Jack the Ripper" to get back at prostitutes for giving up what she could never have, with the help of Grell Sutcliff, of course.}}
* Vincent from the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' [[The Movie|movie]], having gone self-destructively homicidal from psychosis and the inability to separate his hallucinations from reality after becoming an unwilling participant in a [[Super Soldier]] program that caused him to permanently hallucinate. His [[Leitmotif]] "is it real?" just hammers it home.
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* At the end of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As]]'', {{spoiler|Hayate Yagami}} became one, though it required a massive [[Break the Cutie]] moment created by other parties to push her past the "the-world-has-hurt-me-so-much-it-deserves-to-die" breaking point, {{spoiler|and when she regained her senses, she chastised her [[Artifact of Doom]] for thinking that that's what she really wanted and put a stop to things}}.
** {{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.
* ''[[
** 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
* Hao/Zeke Asakura in the ''[[
* Hiroko "Hiro-chan" Kaizuka from ''[[
** A similar thing happens to {{spoiler|the main character, Shiina, but with someone else doing the destroying, right at the end of the manga.}}
* Elaine and Diana, the two [[Tyke Bomb|unbelievably powerful]] psychic sisters, in ''[[Genocyber]]'', who both go through some truly nightmarish crap before transforming into the eponymous [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of destruction, Genocyber. Then they proceed to wipe out Hong Kong, then every single city in the world, then the only post-apocalyptic city that remains. Or [[Mind Screw|maybe not]]...
* Gaara in ''[[
** {{spoiler|The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's escape}} plan is to turn {{spoiler|Naruto}} into one of these.
** In Part II, [[Rival Turned Evil|Sasuke Uchiha]] becomes this.
* {{spoiler|Takano Miyo}} from ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
* Yuuhi from ''[[The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer]]'', with one heck of a [[Freudian Excuse]] to match: his father, a detective, was killed by his colleague. After the funeral, his mom simply left, and his grandfather literally beat into him the idea "Make no enemies - they'll stab you in the front; make no friends - they'll stab you in the back." Sami's reasoning is that {{spoiler|she wants to own the world by destroying it so that it doesn't go on without her [[Ill Girl|when she dies]].}}
* Valgaav from ''[[Slayers
* 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 ''[[
* {{spoiler|[[Omnicidal Maniac|Rau Le Creuset]]}} from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam
** 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
* At the end of ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'', Tamahome unintentionally has a [[Psychic Link]] to Nakago's mind revealing his past {{spoiler|when he was a young boy, his entire tribe was wiped out, he witnessed his mother being gang-raped, and accidentally killed both his mother and her rapists with his awakened power, only to be sent to the Emperor of Kutou, who raped him repeatedly. As a result, he wants revenge on ''existence itself'' for giving him such a horrible life}}.
* Russia of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' is more of a Woobie Conquerer of Worlds, insisting that "[[Take Over the World|all will become one with Russia]]". This trope is also played totally straight with him during the Bloody Sunday strip, in which he [[Go Mad From the Revelation|snaps]] and [[Freak-Out|starts to mow down his own people]] on the grounds that, basically, "they're not ''really'' Russians if they don't love me".
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* {{spoiler|Tima}} of ''[[Osamu Tezukas Metropolis]]'' exemplifies this trope perfectly. {{spoiler|After getting shot and realizing that she's a robot, she takes control of immeasurably powerful technology and orders the extinction of humanity.}}
* Crona of ''[[Soul Eater]]'' has the 'destroy everything' part, by way of [[Ambiguous Gender|'hir']] reasoning that everything that s/he fears/threatens hir should be destroyed (for much of the series, s/he understands no other way of 'dealing' with it). Given that Medusa did and still does possibly intend to turn Crona into an Eldritch Abomination in the style of madness incarnate Asura, s/he could feasibly go all the way on this one. Until Our Heroes inevitably [[Defeat Means Friendship]] hir, of course.
* [[Broken Bird|Izayoi Aki]] from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!
** {{spoiler|Aporia, ZONE, Antinomy, and Paradox}}, especially {{spoiler|Aporia}}, too.
* {{spoiler|Chizuru Honda}} from ''[[Bokurano]]'', after snapping due to {{spoiler|her [[Complete Monster]] love interest and teacher's behavior towards her.}}
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* Homoura from ''[[Saiyuki]]'': sure, he wants to bring an end to everything in existance, but he's so sweet and vulnerable, and so many undeservedly terrible things have happened to him. His two henchmen fit this trope, too!
* The eponymous [[Big Bad]] from ''[[Noein]]'' is this. {{spoiler|It is revealed that he is a possible future of the male lead, who, upon losing his true love in a car crash, started desperately searching the time streams for a way to save her. Unfortunately, he found the multiverse to be full of pain and suffering, and decided to destroy everything and start it over from scratch.}}
* Yomi from ''[[Ga
** Kagura in the [[Ga
* Brandon Heat, or, more accurately, Beyond the Grave, from ''[[Gungrave]]''. A nigh-unkillable, unstoppable killing machine capable of destroying armies of super-powered zombies single-handedly with more firepower than some developed nations, by the time he becomes Beyond the Grave, {{spoiler|he has forsaken the love of his life because he thought that she deserved better than to be with a ruthless hitman, watched his boss, who was the father he never had, marry her, and been killed by his best friend [[Unexplained Recovery|(he got better)]] and resurrected by the daughter of his former lover to protect her. He does this by killing all of his friends, including his best friend and his mentor.}}
** {{spoiler|And, in the finale, [[Driven to Suicide|himself]].}}
* Yami {{spoiler|Atem}} from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' becomes this for a bit in the Doma saga after he loses Yugi - ''especially'' during his duel with Haga. Oh, silly Haga, didn't you know that pretending to destroy the soul of a highly protective and emotionally unstable (not to mention once-[[Axe Crazy]]) ancient spirit's partner was just asking for a one-way ticket down ''extreme-pain-and-death'' lane?
** Thief King Bakura might count, given that he [[Start of Darkness|became what he was]] later because he survived and witnessed the gruesome killing of all the people in his village. Granted, they seemed to be a village of thieves, but still, [[Used to Be
* It is very possible to see {{spoiler|Bernkastel}} from ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* ''[[Bleach]]'' {{spoiler|[[Filler Villain]]}} Shusuke Amagai {{spoiler|infiltrated}} Soul Society in order to set about the downfall of the Kasumioji clan, {{spoiler|as well as obtain the power and opportunity to kill}} Captain-Commander Yamamoto, all because [[In-Series Nickname|Old Man Yama]] {{spoiler|killed his father}} and it had something to do with {{spoiler|the [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Dangerous Forbidden Weapons]] being developed by}} the Kasumioji. He thought that {{spoiler|Yamamoto was just covering his own ends for being involved with the Bakkoto project.}} Turns out, {{spoiler|it was Central 46, not Yamamoto, which refused to bring them down, and in fact, Shusuke's dad went to conduct a covert op for Yamamoto to take them down and ended up being overtaken by the Bakkoto.}}
* {{spoiler|Video Girl Mai}} becomes this in ''[[
* Broly from ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' is heavily implied to be this in the Eighth movie. The movie heavily implies that his destructive nature, even by Saiyan standards, as well as his overall insanity was the direct result of life-threatening factors from his birth, such as his nearly dying from a stab wound commissioned by King Vegeta simply because he feared his power level, and then having to witness Frieza destroy his home planet. Then his father places a [[Hypno Trinket|slave crown]] on Broly and uses him to destroy several planets for his [[Evil Plan|plan]] [[Xanatos Gambit|to get revenge on Vegeta]] for what his father attempted to do to Broly and himself.
* In ''[[
** This was actually invoked by Homura in {{spoiler|the third timeline. The two of them have beaten Walpurgis Night, but their Soul Gems are almost completely darkened. Homura's resigned herself to the two becoming witches and destroying the world. [[Heroic Sacrifice|Madoka]] [[Defied Trope|disagrees]].}}
* [[Black Butler|Alois Trancy]], pretty much. He's an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Creepy Child]] with a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] who only wants someone to love him in place of his dead brother (and likes to gauge out his servants' eyes.)
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* Guts, the [[Byronic Hero]] of ''[[Berserk]]''. He doesn't exactly want to destroy the world...but he is willing to [[Walking Disaster Area|walk a path of destruction]] to get to where he wants to be, [[Implacable Man|and he doesn't care who the hell gets in his way]]. Some say that Guts' quest to destroying the Godhand [[Death Seeker|is suicidal]] and his seething hatred for the Apostles [[He Who Fights Monsters|is just as horrific]], and there ''might'' have been some truth to that before [[What the Hell, Hero?|he got a call back]] to what was most important to him: protecting the woman that he loves, Casca. That's right. [[Star-Crossed Lovers|These two]] were unfortunate enough to have gone through [[Beyond the Impossible|the worse shit imaginable]], and it will all end with both of them {{spoiler|spending an eternity in hell}} thanks to their former friend making an epic [[Face Heel Turn]]. The only way to spare he and his lover of this horrible fate in the ''smallest'' way possible? Kill the [[Legions of Hell]] by himself!
* {{spoiler|Kanto}} from ''Soil'' ''[[Uncanny Village|New Town]]'' has had a rough life {{spoiler|his dentist drugged and raped him as a child which caused him to feel so ashamed and, well, ''soiled'' that he cut himself; it got worse when the dentist reconnected with him in high school and, as proof of his twisted "pure" love, gave him the video of his assault. The shame intensified to the point where he couldn't stand to watch cats in heat and tried to burn down the resident homeless crazy cat lady's shelter (fortunately, he didn't succed). Things seemed to get a little better when he met a nice girl, but just as he was about to have his first consensual sexual encounter, ''she disappeared from between his legs''.}} No wonder he wants to destroy the world by {{spoiler|enlisting the dentist's roughly ''three dozen unwitting current victims'' plus a victim by proxy (her rapists were also the dentist's victims) to cause enough anomalies to break reality}}.
* {{spoiler|Both Celestin ''and'' Morgan Le-Fay}} from ''[[Ah!
* Teru Mikami of ''[[
* The Cut Man Brothers of [[Mega Man NT Warrior]].
* {{spoiler|Black Mage Zeref}} from ''[[Fairy Tail]]''. Whatever spurred him to go and earn the reputation he has is a mystery, but he's so unbelievably miserable in the present that you just want to hug him. For the love of God, though, [[Power Incontinence|do]] ''[[Instant Death Radius|not]]'' [[Touch of Death|hug]] [[Enemy to All Living Things|him]]!
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* [[X-Men (Comic Book)|Madelyne Pryor]] learned that she was a clone of Jean Grey and was abandoned by her husband, Scott Summers (who fell in love with her ''because'' of her obvious similarity to Jean, though neither knew she was a clone at the time, assuming it to just be mere [[Contrived Coincidence|coincidence]] that they looked exactly alike), when he reunited with Jean, after Jean literally [[Unexplained Recovery|returned]] from the dead. Then Maddie's infant son was kidnapped and she was left for dead. She has a daydream where she's ripped apart to build the woman her husband actually wants and then is offered revenge. Thinking that it's just a dream, she accepts, which, naturally, leaves her possessed by a demon and willing to sacrifice her baby (who she finally has the power to find) to allow the demons of Limbo to take over the Earth.
* The [[Scarlet Witch]] undergoes a fluctuating life where the good (a family with [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]], marriage to her One True Wuv, having her longed-for kids) is outweighed by the bad (her father is a supervillain, her husband gets mindwiped and divorces her, her kids aren't real), along with a number of possessions, kidnappings, and multiple forced amnesia inflicted by her most trusted friends. Then she rewrites the universe. Then she ''does it AGAIN.''
* ''[[
** "He loved something once... life."
** He even shares a brief moment of empathy with Saint Walker. Saint Walker admits that [[Not So Different|he, too, was once filled with rage]] after losing his entire family to random accidents during a pilgrimage. Only a brief moment, since Atrocitus points out one crucial difference: Saint Walker had no one to blame for their deaths, while Atrocitus can and does blame the Manhunters' creators, the Guardians.
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*** The one exception to this is the newest member of the Red Lanterns as of ''[[Brightest Day]]'': {{spoiler|Lobo, who goes back and forth between [[Heroic Sociopath]] and [[Complete Monster]] but can never be called a Woobie of any sort.}}
** The Rage Entity Butcher's chosen host {{spoiler|before it was sealed by Atrocitus}} was a man whose daughter was recently murdered.
** And before it was [[Retcon|retconned]] that he was [[Demonic Possession|possessed all along]], [[Green Lantern
* There was a Marvel [[What If]] comic from the late 80s or early 90s that ended with a giant Korvac sitting on Earth in a state of bottomless despair, holding the Ultimate Nullifier. He thinks of everything that ever was, is, and will be, and presses the button.
* [[The Joker]] in the ''Emperor Joker'' storyline. He decided that any universe where not only his tragic past ([[Multiple Choice Past|whatever that was]]) could happen, but a guy like the one he became could be left alive and allowed run rampant...well, a universe like that didn't deserve to exist.
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== Fan Works ==
* In ''[[
* The ''[[Firefly]]'' fanfic ''[[
* ''[[Friendship Is Witchcraft]]'':
** ''Fluttershy'', of all ponies. A [[Devil in Plain Sight]] and leader of the [[Religion of Evil]], she also suffered from a ''very'' [[Abusive Parents|Abusive Parent]] that left her with issues. (It involved being found by robot wolves as a child. Who were {{spoiler|built by her father. So he could ''murder them'' while leaving a disturbing message about love. With that message causing her to be viciously attacked by insects.}})
** When Sweetie Belle gets upset at her sister, she threatens that if she can't be loved, she will make the world ''fear'' her and her (robotic) wrath instead. (Rarity ''mocks'' it, and Sweetie Belle storms off in a huff instead.)
* In the ''[[
* ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
** Subverted in ''[[Imperfect Metamorphosis (Fanfic)|Imperfect Metamorphosis]]'' with {{spoiler|Rin Satsuki}}, who despite suffering so much pain and abuse from nearly ''everyone'' around her since childhood she ''still'' doesn't want to hurt anyone, and her first action in the story is simply to discover why she had to suffer. It's everyone ''else'' who thinks she's this trope.
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* J.D. (Christian Slater) in ''[[Heathers]]''. For starters, his father is [[Abusive Parents|a sociopathic bastard who doesn't care for him]] (when asked if he even likes his father, he responds that he "[hasn't] given the matter much thought"), and his mother killed herself in front of his eyes to get away from her husband. His entire life was spent moving around from town to town and school to school wherever his father's demolition job took him, where, it is implied, he saw the same scenario of clique groups bullying other students at every high school he's attended. He starts out by murdering [[Jerk Jock|Jerk Jocks]] and [[Alpha Bitch|Alpha Bitches]] and making their deaths appear as suicides (also implied as something he's done before), but he ultimately resorts {{spoiler|to trying to blow up the entire school. He explains his intentions are such because he believes that nobody loves him, and that "the only place different social types can genuinely get along with each other is in heaven", somehow seeing the school as a representation of society itself.}}
* Bartleby in ''[[Dogma]]'': he eventually snaps, realizing that God always favored man above angels like himself, gives up hope that "He" will never forgive him and Loki for their menial transgressions, and so decides to kill everything.
* Norman Bates in the ''[[
* Davy Jones from ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' doesn't seem to want to destroy ''everything'' - just everything that crosses his path. He's like this because his one true love, {{spoiler|the goddess Calypso}}, betrayed him (presumably for another man, though it's never elaborated on) centuries ago. Jones' agony was unbearable, so he cut out his own heart to end it. When that failed, he adopted a different tactic - finding relief by sharing his pain with everyone he meets.
* Oswald Cobblepot in ''[[
* Jean Grey in ''[[X
** Magneto in ''[[X
* Kim Jong Il from ''[[Team America: World Police]]''. He's plotting the destruction of society as we know it, but deep down, he's just "a rittre ronery" (read: little lonely).
* [[Manhunter (
* Seymour Parrish ([[Robin Williams]]) in ''[[One Hour Photo]]''. He starts out sympathetic, if a little deranged, then you find out [[Parental Incest|what]] [[Abusive Parents|made]] [[Freudian Excuse|him]] [[Brain Bleach|crazy]].
* Hiroki Sawada -- or [[Brain Uploading|Noah's Ark]] in the ''[[Detective Conan]]'' [[Non-Serial Movie]] ''Phantom of Baker Street''. A [[Child Prodigy]] who was [[Intelligence Equals Isolation|already beyond what the Japanese elementary school can handle]], which sparked arguments among his parents, culminating in his mother [[Taking the Kids|taking him to the US]]. When [[Missing Mom|she died]] soon after, he was adequately homeschooled and adopted by his father's employer, Joe Schneider, which quickly made him a [[Lonely Rich Kid]], who also exploit his intelligence...Schneider's own fear of [[In the Blood]], though, [[Driven to Suicide|drove him to suicide]], [[Brain Uploading|leaving a digitalized form of himself]] behind, who caused a [[Holodeck Malfunction]] on Schneider's [[Cyberspace|VR game]] launch, taking 50 kids as hostages...
* Lee Woo-Jin in ''[[
* Grace in ''[[Dogville]]''. Made all the more ambiguous by the discussion just before the ending, where it suddenly becomes very clear that she's only a child.
* In a perfect example of [[Break the Cutie]], Alessa Gillespie from ''[[Silent Hill (
* In ''[[Toy Story 2]]'', Stinky Pete, the prospector, spent his whole life on a dime store shelf, watching every other toy be bought by kids. This agonizing experience caused him to become bitter and willing to manipulate or outright force his "friends" Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye into going along with what he wants, whether they like it or not. Ironically, when he winds up being taken home at last by a little girl who defaces all her toys by drawing on them with crayons, he considers this the worst fate imaginable.
** Big Baby in ''[[Toy Story 3]]'' is also this. He's pretty much the scariest villian ever- until this:
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* In [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[The Shining]]'' (1997), Jack Torrance is portrayed sympathetically. His turn to [[Ax Crazy|Ax Craziness]] is tragic AND terrifying.
* ''[[May]]'' is a particularly heartbreaking-cum-vicious example.
* The infant(s) of ''[[
* Sadako in ''[[The Ring|Ring]]'' and her counterpart, Samara, in the US remake, ''The Ring'', considering that both were mistreated and murdered.
* Asami in ''[[Audition]]''. [[Complete Monster]] though she may have been, she endured a horrific childhood.
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** Also, Abby in ''Let Me In'', the remake of ''Let the Right One In''.
* Bill Foster in ''[[Falling Down]]'' goes on a rampage of terror after his wife left him and would not allow him to see their daughter. He is fired from his job in the defense industry due to post-Cold War budget cuts and is generally just pissed off with the state of the world and takes his anger out on every issue, whether minor (foreign shopkeepers, high prices, poor fast-food service) or major (racism, social class, unemployment). While he is overly violent, he is representative of the everyday man pushed too far by the world.
* Loki in ''[[Thor (
** In the subsequent ''[[The Avengers (
* Oddly enough, Michael Myers is one of these in the ''[[Halloween (
* Dr. Tolian Soran in ''[[Star Trek Generations]]''. Literally.
* The {{spoiler|female}} half of the [[Big Bad Duumvirate]] in ''[[The World Is Not Enough (Film)|The World Is Not Enough]]''. Being {{spoiler|abandoned to be repeatedly raped by terrorists ''by your own father'', and at the advice of ''the [[Big Good]]'' no less}}, certainly won't do wonders for your sanity.
* Caesar in ''[[Rise of the Planet of
* In ''[[Star Wars]]: [[
* ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (
* Andrew in ''[[
== Literature ==
* 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 ''[[
* Ineluki the Storm King, the [[Big Bad]] of [[Tad Williams]]' ''[[Memory,
* [[Frankenstein's Monster]] (in [[Frankenstein (
* Gollum in ''[[
{{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.}}
** Much less so in [[The Lord of the Rings (
* [[The Dragon|Galadan Wolflord]] from ''[[The Fionavar Tapestry]]'' turned rather genocidal towards mortals after one stole his girlfriend - but when said mortal wound up getting her killed, he went crazy and decided that the only way to end his pain was to destroy the universe. The only time in the trilogy he shows genuine emotion is when he finds some of the heroes apparently "desecrating" his shrine to her, {{spoiler|and at the very end, when the heroes spare him and he realizes that there is some good in the world - and in himself.}}
* ''[[Dragonlance]]'': Raistlin Majere has a life that progressively increases in Suck, until he decides that he's going to take vengeance by becoming a '''[[A God Am I|GOD]]'''. And he does it, too. Of course, {{spoiler|after he finds out that his godhood will destroy all of creation, leaving only himself in an empty universe, he...does exactly the same thing.}}
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* Trashcan Man in ''[[The Stand]]'' plays a role quite similar to Gollum in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', which makes sense, seeing how the latter was a big inspiration for the former. He actually destroys {{spoiler|the entire [[Mordor|Evil Realm of Las Vegas, turning nearby states into radiation zones]]}} to prove his loyalty to Flagg by bringing him {{spoiler|[[Deus Ex Nukina|the Big Fire]]}} to destroy the people of Boulder. This only occurs because Flagg promised him protection from the voices in his head of the people in his hometown who used to tease him for his insanity and [[Pyromaniac]]. When one of Flagg's minions use the same language to insult Trash, he snaps and {{spoiler|blows up an airfield, and flees into the desert with a price on his head.}}
** Funny thing, the other guy wasn't even insulting him, he was only making a rude joke of sorts and involuntarily triggered his [[Berserk Button]].
* Luke from ''[[Percy Jackson
* Dear god, Aeglyss, the halfbreed from [[The Godless World Trilogy]]. After a lifetime of ostracisation and failed attempts at social interaction, he's so damaged that his very presence is contaminating the planet and poisoning the [[The Lifestream|Shared]]. By the end, he's diseased, physically ruined, and ready to die, and tries to take the world that's rejected him along for the ride. It's not even deliberate: after failing to enslave the world, he just doesn't care enough about it to try and stop the destruction he's begun.
* [[Wicked (
* [[Carrie]] from the book of the same name by Stephen King. She was the [[Butt Monkey]] for her entire school life, and at home, her mother beat her, verbally abused her, and locked her in a small closet for up to a day at a time. And she weathered all of it. When she found out that she had telekinetic powers, she exercised them to make them stronger, but not to get revenge. She never even contemplates revenge. But finally, one last, cruel prank goes too far, and the poor girl snaps, taking out of all of her pain and misery on the town around her.
* ''Q Squared'', the Star Trek Novel by ''[[Peter David]]'', features Jack Crusher in an alternate reality, a good but unhappy man who is targeted by the godlike Trelane, who drives Jack {{spoiler|murderously...and suicidally...insane}}
* Persephone in [[Ravirn]] releases the {{spoiler|Necessity virus}} that would have destroyed the entire multiverse without Ravirn's intervention in hopes of breaking Hades' hold on her. It's later implied that she would have done the same again when Hades {{spoiler|is one of the few candidates to replace Necessity and gain absolute power}}, except that she trusted Ravirn to stop him instead.
* The Bane (real name Pearlpelt) from ''[[The Underland Chronicles]].'' His father was a [[Complete Monster]] who killed his other children so Pearlpelt could have more milk and grow stronger. His parents killed each other in a fight, and he saw his mother lying dead with her innards spilled over the ground. To make matters worse, almost all the humans shun him because he's the Bane, and many of his fellow [[You Dirty Rat|rats]] honor him and want him to be their king. Eventually, he goes completely off the deep end, becoming an [[Evil Albino]] and a great [[A Nazi
* Ari from the ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' books. He was born a sweet, innocent child, but he grew up in the shadow of {{spoiler|[[Luke, I Am Your Father|his half-sister]]}}, Max. He was turned into a [[Wolf Man]] by scientists, and was subject to constant genetic enhancements afterward, eventually becoming a hideous freak. {{spoiler|In the end, though, he gets a [[Heel Face Turn]]--but [[Redemption Equals Death|too late]].}}
* Ghwerig the troll from ''[[The Elenium]]''. In reality, he is maddened by the loss of Bhelliom and devotes most of the rest of his life to searching for it, and even though he eventually finds it, he is killed by [[The Hero|Sparhawk]] and Kurik.
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** Also, Merope. What she did to Tom Riddle Sr. was absolutely disgusting, but she was abused through most of her life by her father and brother, who were basically the wizard equivalent of white trash.
*** Likewise, her son Voldemort, although to a far lesser extent, is a very dark interpretation of the trope. Evidence from the book suggests that it's not so much that Voldemort doesn't see the value of love and hope as it is that he is completely incapable of experiencing or expressing them, as his sanity and capability of feeling these emotions were destroyed when he was conceived via Love potion. Dumbledore even speculates that Voldemort's sociopathic tendencies might have been mitigated altogether had Merlope actually raised him as her child instead of leaving him at an orphanage.
* Maud in [[Catherynne M. Valente
* The eponymous character of ''[[
* The novelization for Disney's ''[[Snow White
* Ender in [[Ender's Game]] is a great {{spoiler|and very literal}} example.
* [[The Elric Saga|Elric of Melniboné]] just can't get a break. Every time he kills it makes him stronger and it also makes him hate himself more. On top of that every girl he loves (each of whom wants to wrap him in the proverbial blanket and feed him the proverbial soup) dies, which usually leads to him needing to wreak revenge on someone. And kill them with his sword and take their soul, and then hate himself. It's a vicious woobie cycle.
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== Live-Action TV ==
* Adam Monroe on ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' his path of destruction fueled by his heartbreak over [[Everything's Better
** Surprisingly, [[Big Bad|uber-villain]] Sylar (a.k.a. Gabriel Gray). When Peter visits a [[Alternate Timeline|potential future]], Sylar [[Unstoppable Rage|accidentally destroys Costa Verde]] after the [[Despair Event Horizon|death]] of {{spoiler|[[Morality Pet|his son]]}}. He was also that in the regular timeline from his terrible childhood.
* Dr. K in ''[[
** When Tenaya 7 invades her lab, [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|she mocks her]], saying, "You pride yourself on how smart you are, don't you? But you still [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|royally messed up]], didn't you?"--after which the usually cool Dr. K completely loses it and angrily starts firing her sound cannon in random directions. After the flashback ends, she appears emotionally exhausted, most likely because of the guilt she faced for her mistakes, thus cementing her status on this page.
* Several episodes of the new ''[[Doctor Who]]'' series have shown how easily the Doctor could become one of these due to all he's endured throughout the centuries, in particular, his [[Fate Worse Than Death|treatment]] of the eponymous villains in "The Family of Blood". It's also heavily implied that the end of the Time War, in which he personally killed billions and almost annihilated two ancient civilisations, was the result of his despair over all the destruction the war had caused.
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** River Song, after the events of "Closing Time".
** The Master in the new series.
* Willow, in the sixth season finale of ''[[
** When Faith is responsible for accidentally killing someone, Buffy and the rest of the gang offer to help her with her issues, only for things to go south when [[Unwitting Instigator of Doom|Wesley]] [[Interrupted Cooldown Hug|has her shipped off to indefinite imprisonment]]. The result? She no longer trusts them, and becomes [[The Dragon]] to the [[Big Bad]].
* In ''[[Legend of the Seeker]]'', Nicci is even more of this trope than in the books, as her [[Knight Templar]] tendencies are downplayed and more emphasis is put on her desire to destroy the world.
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* ''[[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.}}
* 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.
** As of the season 6 finale, {{spoiler|Castiel}} is a straighter example. {{spoiler|Abandoned by God, at war with his brothers, betrayed by his allies, and, worst of all, rejected by his Nakama, Dean and Sam, not to mention hopped up on the souls of millions of monsters from Purgatory, he has declared [[A God Am I]] and demanded that they bow down and worship him. This cannot end well.}}
* Walter White in ''[[Breaking Bad]]'' could be interpreted as this. He is an extremely intelligent and skilled man, but has to settle for working in a job far below his skill level. Also, he just found out that he has terminal cancer and is afraid that his death will leave his family in position of extreme poverty. He decides to use his skill in chemistry to manufacture crystal meth and sell it to support his family.
* Many unsubs from ''[[
** Veronica Day, who manipulated her boyfriends into killing their parents because {{spoiler|someone killed her birth mother before she had a chance to tell her who she was, and if she couldn't have a happy family, then ''no one could''. And on top of that, she was caught because everyone thought she killed her mother. She was freed on a technicality but redeemed herself by confessing to one of her victims}}.
** A mother who goes on a shooting rampage on her child's birthday/death day, who has a special grudge against "heroes" because not only was her child's injury and death ignored due to a police officer being killed in the same incident (they were caught up in a car chase), her own husband was a workaholic paramedic who didn't even take time off for his own son's birthday, eventually divorced her, and seemed too quick to get over his son's death (he hadn't, he just didn't show it as much as she did).
** A father whose son was a [[Serial Killer]], and blamed his [[In the Blood|"rotten genes"]] for what happened, kills any young man who happens to have the same glasses as his son, but shifts targets to the father of one of the victims who has been harassing him for years eventually, hoping for a [[Suicide
** Another father who, after the death of his wife, planned to murder-suicide himself and his three sons by ''sneaking pipe bombs into their backpacks and sending them off to school, a field trip, and the hospital where their mom died''.
** A young woman who, as a teenager, was repeatedly raped and beaten by her father ''and'' brother, and when her doctors finally managed to convince her to go to the police with it, she found her mother already at the station denying everything. She snapped and began believing that all women should suffer what she did (and, presumably, what she wanted to do to her mother), recruiting her weak-willed, toadyish husband to do the actual raping part.
** A woman who abducts other women, injects them with a paralyzing drug that will eventually kill them, and plays with them like dolls...because she walked in on her [[Complete Monster]], pedophilic, psychiatrist father giving away her favorite toys (given to her to keep her quiet while he was abusing her) to his latest patient/victim.
** A comic book artist [[Forced to Watch]] as his pregnant fiancée was ''raped to death in front of him'' by a street gang. The trauma causes him to have episodes where he blacks out...during which time he, without knowing it, becomes a ''crazy'' skilled [[Vigilante Man]], butchering members of the gang with katanas.
* The [[Grand Finale|final]] perp on ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' turns out to be {{spoiler|a woman who runs an internet company (basically a sweeter, female Mark Zuckerberg [[Expy]]) who, tipped off to a break-in at her headquarters, returns to confront the offending party and finds that he has killed her boyfriend. He runs at her and she retaliates with a scissors to the neck. She}} actually breaks down into [[Tender Tears]] when confronted with the evidence, and it is clearly intended that our sympathy should be with {{spoiler|her.}}
* In ''[[Fringe]]'', {{spoiler|Walternate. His son was kidnapped. His world is in the process of tearing itself to pieces, and millions of his fellow human beings have been killed. He's also waging a shadow war on our universe, since he thinks that it's the only way his can survive.}}
** Interestingly, in the alternate reality where Peter died as a boy ({{spoiler|an Observer did not save him}}), Walternate is better than Peter initially assumes him to be.
* [[American Horror Story|Tate Langdon]]. He's mentally damaged, neglected by his parents, and clearly depressed...and also a seemingly sweet boyfriend. And he cries so prettily! On the other hand, he's a {{spoiler|mass-murdering, stalking ghost}}.
* Richard Harrow in [[Boardwalk Empire]]. Also, Jimmy is revealed to be one in season 2.
* Holtz in ''[[
* [[Veronica Mars|Cassidy Casablancas]] He was molested, belitted, picked on by his family, and abandoned by his mother. It causes him to go crazy and a blow up a [[Bus Full of Innocents]]
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* The subject of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKCccyZvtIo Everything Burns] by Anastacia & Ben Moody. The song could probably describe ninety percent of the people on this page. Heck, rule of thumb, if you can't use this song as the character's theme song, don't put them here.
* The plot of [[Marilyn Manson]]'s concept album ''Antichrist Superstar''.
* ''The Last Man'' from Fireaxe's 4-hour metal epic ''[[Food for
* Upon discovering that {{spoiler|his sister has died before he could find her again}}, ''[[Sound Horizon|Moira]]'''s Elefseus finally snaps from a lifetime of trauma and goes on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] against everything that ever played a part in his suffering, up to and including [[Rage Against the Heavens|fate itself]].
* The female protagonist of [[Carrie Underwood]] 's "Blown Away". She apparently has supernatural powers and uses them to create a destructive tornado to kill her father in his sleep who was described as a "mean old mister" that apparently killed her mother.
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== Mythology ==
* In [[Norse Mythology]], Loki rarely had it good. He started off as a slightly more happy-go-lucky (for whatever that's worth in Norse myths) [[Trickster Archetype|trickster god]]. He ensured that Asgard's wall would be built for free, and aided Thor in one of his journeys. Hell, in some versions, Thor even says that Loki is "an evil man, but a good companion". Sure, he caused a great deal of trouble, but at the same time, he's typically regarded as a permanent outsider (in small part, one might argue, due to his half-giant heritage, never mind that a lot of other gods are half giant), gets threatened, and, at one point, gets his lips sewn shut by some bastard dwarves while all the other gods look on and laugh. Arguably, this would piss a lot of people off. And then, long story short, he murders Baldur, is punished horribly, and then causes [[The End of the World
** This actually gets worse when one realizes that there are TWO versions of the story leading to Ragnarok, and in the other, Loki never killed Baldur at all. He was punished instead for [[Disproportionate Retribution|getting drunk at a party and insulting the other guests]]. For this crime, he was imprisoned and forced to watch as one of his sons is transformed against his will into a wolf which then ''tore out the entrails of his twin brother'', the entrails that were then in turn used to ''bind Loki into place to suffer eternal torment.'' That's right: unending agony while bound in the remnants of your murdered son. Yeah. All that for a bit of snark. It's really no wonder that when he gets out, he decides to join the Jotun to end the world.
** Of the children he fathered, two are (literally) thrown completely out of Asgard by Odin (Hel and Jormungandr, both for being ugly), while one gets chained to an island for the rest of time (Fenris) for being big, strong, and scary... and, essentially, for being a child of Loki (because, you know, you can't trust Loki's kids). The fact that all of these kids come back and help their father destroy Asgard at Gotterdammerung is perhaps understandable. (Fenris is usually told as being imprisoned precisely because the Asgard knew of his important role in Ragnarok, but then it gets into [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]] territory.)
* Some of the monsters from [[Classical Mythology]], especially the ones that [[Was Once a Man|used to be humans]] but were turned into monsters as punishment for some crime. Perhaps the most obvious example is the Gorgon Medusa and her sisters. Medusa got turned into a monster for the "crime" of ''getting raped.'' That's right, [[Double Standard Rape (Divine
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'' has a "black hat" group, the Centimani. They embrace [[The Corruption|Flux]], the antithesis to the Azoth that fuels Prometheans. Their powers are the same as those of Pandorans, the natural predators of their kind. Most other Prometheans consider them monstrous (not the least of which because many Centimani hunt other Prometheans to feed their Pandorans). But the gameline makes a point of pointing something out: Prometheans are the ''embodiment'' of [[Blessed
** Specific example: Eve, from ''Pandora's Book''. She was created haphazardly by a selfish Frankenstein who told her ''to her face'' that she was just there so he could reach the New Dawn. Then she saw him torn to pieces in front of her, leaving her with apparently no purpose. Other Prometheans taught her that, that wasn't the case, but when she tried to make a new Promethean herself, it failed, spawning Pandorans. Her second attempt worked, but her creation ran off after a few days. Finally, she gave in, creating new Pandorans intentionally so that she'd have ''something'' to cling to. Her quote is even, "At least I'm not alone anymore."
*** It's worth noting, however, that she ''[[I'm a Humanitarian|ate her former throngmates.]]'' Even the sourcebook admits that it's hard to consider her redeemable given that.
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*** Other Yozis are pathetic beings in the sense that their current condition inspires sympathy. Kimbery, who once [[Love Martyr|gave herself as life-water and life-blood]] for Creation, is so terrified of rejection that she destroys whoever approaches her -- Borderline Personality. Oramus, the First Primordial, bravely began to fight Pure Chaos and now he, through no fault of his own, is stuck inside his own wings, utterly unable to comprehend the world outside -- Schizophrenia. Isidoros, the strongest thing ''in the universe and all time'', lost faith in his own power and withers in perfect, [[Bomb Throwing Anarchist|destructive]] [[Nietzsche Wannabe|nihilism]] -- Paranoid Personality. Sacheverell was once a visionary who foresaw the ideal future for Creation; now he does nothing but sleep, refusing to feel anything -- Dissociative Disorder. The ''[[Only Sane Man|most comprehensible]]'' Yozi, Szoreny, has lost control of his ability to mold his personality based on who's talking to him into the ideal [[Foil]], leading to his inability to think straight beyond the short term -- Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. The fact that ''every'' Yozi was struck with a diagnosable mental disorder, turned up to [[Turned Up to Eleven|a divine degree]], sort of justifies their desire to make everything literal Hell.
** Then...we have the [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum|Neverborn]]. [[And I Must Scream|Hoo boy]]. Though not much is known about the Neverborn individually, one can gander at the origin of their morbid hatred -- as authors of reality, the Primordials never bothered to put together a scenario where they might die. Without reality being designed to handle their death, the Neverborn could not truly die... but they were still killed and murdered, stuck in a limbo between life and death. The pain of dying has lingered with them for ''five thousand years''. What brought this miserable fate? They were pursing their own happiness in Creation, like every other living thing, before the Primordial War. Even with the most saintly soul, this is more than enough justification for their destructive cause.
* In ''[[
** Lorgar genuinely, deeply loved the Emperor, and wanted to have him venerated throughout the galaxy. The Emperor brought the banhammer down on that as soon as he knew about it, as despite basically being a [[Physical God]] he wanted a society of [[Flat Earth Atheist|Flat Earth Atheists]] (due to Chaos being fed by worship). Distraught and suddenly having nowhere to direct his devotion, Lorgar eventually discovered the [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos gods]], who had no problem whatsoever with worship and obeisance. Cue [[Religion of Evil]].
** Magnus the Red actually tried to warn the Emperor about the rebellion, yet not only was he [[Cassandra Truth|not believed]], but because he used sorcery to learn and transmit the information he was declared a criminal. The [[Horny Vikings|Space Wolves]] were sent to apprehend him, resulting in the destruction of his homeworld and forcing him to side with Horus, and after the rebellion's defeat other events ensued which turned most of his legion into mindless automata.
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== Theatre ==
* Erik from [[Phantom of the Opera]]
* The titular character of [[Stephen Sondheim]]'s ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (
* And, of course, the [[The Musical|theatrical version]] of ''[[Wicked (
* Seymour Krelborn, the protagonist of ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]''.
** From the same musical, Audrey applies even moreso. Not because she contributed more to the destruction of the world, but because she's even more of a Woobie. Her {{spoiler|dying}} words made humanity's salvation impossible - entirely by accident.
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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
** 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
* 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.
* Duminuss from ''[[Super Robot Wars Reversal]]'', an artificial being (not sure of what she actually is, as she is only seen as a trippy eye glyph with a feminine/shota voice...and several [[Humongous Mecha|Humongous Mechas]]) whose only wish is to know her purpose. Her creator shunned her, and then she killed it. {{spoiler|Actually, her creator, Dark Brain, didn't die. He just implanted that memory into her for the lulz and left her}}. She shifts dimensions and invades the EXCELLENCE team labs searching for a time machine, to ask her creator for her purpose. She constructs 3 children, who are loyal and fight for her. Then Duminuss is destroyed, and her children kill themselves to bring her back. Then the heroes kill her again. She explodes, crying over how she'll die without ever knowing what was her true purpose. Unfortunately, [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|Original Generation Gaiden]] threw this out of the window and made her an unrepentant [[Jerkass]]...
** It's hinted that this isn't the same Duminuss, and {{spoiler|Dark Brain}} created multiple ones to do his dirty work. If it wasn't messed up like R's was, it makes sense that it's not the same
* {{spoiler|Sirus, aka Dark Emperor Griffon}}, from ''[[
* {{spoiler|Yomiel}} in ''[[Ghost Trick]]''. {{spoiler|He was falsely accused of giving secrets to the enemy and scared into thinking that he had no hope of acquittal, so he stole a police officer's gun and broke out of the police station, taking a little girl hostage out of panic. A shard of the just-crashed Temsik meteorite penetrated his back, freezing his body at the moment of death and severing it from his soul. By the time he finally pulls himself together and returns home, his fiancée has killed herself because he's been officially reported as dead. Yomiel is forced to wander the world alone, unable to die but not truly alive, separated from the rest of humanity. The isolation nurtures a darkness in his heart, making him want revenge on those who put him in that position, but he still desires most to have some way to lead a human life. His only friend and companion over those ten long years was a cat...and while trying to manipulate Lynne into shooting his shell, Yomiel accidentally kills him.}} Even his victims feel sorry for him when they find out his story.
* ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|F.E.A.R.'s]]'' Alma is a dead straight example of this trope. {{spoiler|Having been driven insane by her own psychic powers as a child, experimented on and locked up since she was eight years old, medicated into a coma and locked away in a shield vault for most of her life, forcibly impregnated and then having both of her children taken away, then killed once the project was terminated, all by her ''own father'', and ''then'' repeatedly shot at by ''one of her own children'' while trying to embrace him}}, it's no surprise that the second she gets loose, people ''die''. ''F.E.A.R. 2'' continues her rampage as she tries to get revenge on everyone who ruined her life, and kills anyone who happens to get in her way.
** Except for Becket, who she, um, {{spoiler|[[Stalker
** In {{spoiler|The Point Man's}} defense, being embraced by Alma tends to be ''a death sentence''.
* Practically every villain of the ''[[
** ''[[
*** He's built up much more into this in the prequel, ''[[Crisis Core]]'', where his two best friends turn out to be [[Flawed Prototype|flawed prototypes]], abandon Shinra, and are hunted down like animals. One goes insane and the other commits [[Suicide
*** A much more straight example of this trope is {{spoiler|Dyne.}}
** While [[Final Fantasy VIII
** Kuja in ''[[
** Shuyin in the sequel fits, however. Given that he was literally subjected to ''a thousand years of '''non-stop''''' [[Mind Rape]] until the start of the game, it's [[The Woobie|kinda understandable]]...
** It's implied that this affects [[Final Fantasy VI
*** Speaking of [[Dissidia Final Fantasy
**** 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
* ''[[Crimsoness]]'' casts one of these as the [[Player Character]].
* Durandal, an AI from the ''[[Marathon
** Let's be fair to the bastard. He brought the Pfhor as a distraction so he could get loose. Once that was done, he started working on stopping them, freeing their slaves (admittedly, to work for him), and helping the Security Officer do that which he does so well. The extermination of those on Tau Ceti IV was not intentional.
* The King of Planet FM from ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]''. {{spoiler|Everybody, including his family, wanted to kill him to overtake his throne. As a result, he stopped trusting people. He destroyed Planet AM and almost Earth, because he thought that the people there would want to kill him as well.}}
** Jack and Queentia from ''Star Force 3'' also fit this trope like a glove. {{spoiler|They were once the prince and princess of a small, but prosperous country, which was attacked by neighbor nations for their advanced EM technology. And it just went downhill from there...}}
** {{spoiler|You could probably also say this for Burai/Rogue, also in the 3rd game. After the first time you fight him on your way to fight Jack Corvus, he may have shared his backstory, saying something along the lines of "Go ahead and save him. Later on he will betray you."}}
* Strega of ''[[Persona 3]]'' is a trio of this, all of them being artificially [[Blessed
* Veigar from ''[[League of Legends]]'' fits this trope. A member of a [[Our Gnomes Are Weirder|notably short and cheerful race]], he was driven insane from isolation while imprisoned in [[Wretched Hive|Noxus]]. He then spent years learning dark magic, and vowed to end conflict by bringing all nations to their knees.
* The ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' series has a few, but {{spoiler|Masaji Kato}} from Covenant takes the cake. Having the woman you love being executed for treason? Bad, really bad. Managing to clone her, doing your best to make her clone remember everything so that you can finally be happy together, only to have to kill her again, and this time permanently, just as she starts to love you too? OUCH. No wonder he snapped after this and tried to create a new world by destroying the current one...Even the protagonists feel sympathy for him as the final battle starts.
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** Claudia from the third game and Walter from the fourth fall under [[Put Them All Out of My Misery]], however, since they wanted to rid the world of pain and suffering in general.
* The Ur-Quan of ''[[Star Control]]''. {{spoiler|After spending thousands of years psychically enslaved by evil toads who force them to exterminate whole species of their friends, and finally clearing their minds only long enough to revolt by putting themselves through unspeakable agony, anyone would be in a bad mood}}. The ''nice'' ones want to forcibly subjugate all sentient life in the galaxy. [[Omnicidal Maniac|The rest want to eliminate it altogether]].
* The main antagonist in ''[[
* Depending on how charitable you feel, the darker Forsaken from ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' fall into this trope: their penchant for obscenely lethal plagues, doomsday weapons, and tendency to respond to any threat violently are a direct result of having once been decent, devout humans and elves before having been infected by the Plague of Undeath, killed, resurrected into undeath, corrupted by the Lich King and forced to massacre friends and family, and finally breaking free of his control only to be rejected by their faith and persecuted and hunted down by any remaining friends, family, and acquaintances. No wonder so many of them snap ''with apocalyptic fury''.
** Sargeras, the creator of the [[Legions of Hell|Burning Legion]], was so traumatized by the evil of some of the demons he fought against as the pantheon's chosen warrior that he decided that an universe where such things were allowed to happen was flawed, its attempts at Order pointless, and should be remade.
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* {{spoiler|King Valentine}} in ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' throws a [[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum]] in the final book by {{spoiler|using the Cauldron to turn Leventhan into a really pissed-off Sheng Long, which ends up destroying him along with pretty much the rest of existence}}. Granted, he got broken pretty hard before and during the story, beginning with {{spoiler|being forced to kill his own daughter because she had an affair with the king of an enemy country}}, then dying horribly, along with most of his kingdom, after being betrayed {{spoiler|by his own son}}, enduring endless torture in the netherworld, and escaping it only to be spitefully denied the complete destruction he was so desperately seeking, {{spoiler|by the dude who started the whole thing by shagging his daughter, no less}}.
* {{spoiler|Vayne}} in ''[[Mana Khemia]]'', after he [[I Am Who?|discovered the truth]] and [[Go Mad From the Revelation|failed to take it well]]. {{spoiler|Faced with the problem of honestly thinking that the best thing for the world would be if [[Driven to Suicide|he were to disappear]], while at the same time ''desperately'' not wanting to face the loneliness he lived with before coming to [[Wizarding School|Al Revis]], he decides to take the school and everybody in it with him.}}
* {{spoiler|Xion}} in ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2
* In ''[[
* Elpizo from the ''[[Mega Man Zero]]'' series exhibits traits of this trope, being sentenced to death for discovering records about a past [[Mass Hypnosis|catastrophe]] in the ruined library ''he was ordered to examine''. He escapes this fate, only to get lots of people killed while leading a failed assault on his former rulers; this drives him to obsession and megalomania, and he decides that he wants to [[Kill All Humans|re-enact the aforementioned catastrophe]].
* Kerrigan from ''[[Starcraft]]'' killed her mom (and a whole mess of other folks) by way of a psychic accident, watched a kitten die of cancer, was forced to choose between killing her mentally ill father or her sadistic headmaster (she just broke his gun) and decapitate a rebel leader (and steal his head), was experimented on, and was betrayed by her father figure. Then she got [[Body Horror|infested]] by a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]]. Is it any wonder that she's a little crazy? Look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn't be.
** Ironically, the one who made her that way also qualifies. The Overmind was forcibly enslaved by [[Complete Monster|the Dark Voice]] into trying to commit genocide against the protoss with the full knowledge that he and his zerg would be wiped out once they did their job. Kerrigan was meant to be the one hope they had of breaking the Dark Voice's hold.
* The only reason ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'''s Emerl doesn't end up as one of these is because {{spoiler|Sonic [[Shoot the Dog|shoots]] [[Player Punch|the]] [[Tear Jerker|dog]] before it can happen.}}
** Chaos Zero in ''[[
* Ratchet, of [[Ratchet and Clank|the Ratchet and Clank series]] - he's a walking [[Apocalypse How|class 1]] at the very least, though he manages to avoid wallowing in his existential angst and/or loneliness pretty well by [[Reluctant Mad Scientist|keeping busy]].
** Alister Azimuth fits this even better, being effectively an older, more cynical, and more ruthless Ratchet. {{spoiler|To the point that he very nearly [[Time Crash|destroys time itself]] in a misguided attempt to correct his own mistakes.}}
* {{spoiler|Ballos}} from ''[[
* If there were any worthier candidate for the epitome of this trope, it would have to be ''[[Blaz Blue]]'''s Ragna the Bloodedge. {{spoiler|Not only did he lose his home at the hands of Terumi, but he was also betrayed by his brother, Jin, who cut off his arm simply because [[Disproportionate Retribution|Ragna didn't pay attention to him enough]]. In addition, his younger sister had been kidnapped, and he was left to die. ''Then'', Rachel saves him from death by turning him into a half-vampire, causing him immense trauma and making his hair [[Locked Into Strangeness|turn white]]. Then, later, we find out that his sister is the template for a series of robotic clones, two of which are playable characters in the game. One of them, Noel, is pretty much a grown-up Saya for the most part, while the other, Nu, is a [[Yandere|crazy loli robot bitch]] who wants to fuse with Ragna to complete herself and form the Black Beast, which turned the world into a [[Crapsack World|crapsack one]] already.}} He's already flat-out stated that he hates everything because of these events. You can't help but feel pity for him, unless you're a soulless bastard.
** Jin's desire to kill Ragna (and thus the cutting off of his arm) is due to being the World's Antibody and part of his function as the Power of Order. He is meant to be the opposite to Ragna, who is the Destroyer of the World (by being the Black Beast). However, Ragna could instead become the Protector of the Azure.
** {{spoiler|Noel Vermillion}} eventually becomes one. {{spoiler|She}} was {{spoiler|nothing more than a clone of Ragna and Jin's dead/missing little sister, Saya. Since she looks like Saya, whom Jin despises, he's cruel to her. Noel understandably doesn't know why. She's ridiculously sensitive about her small breasts, and gets upset whenever anyone mistakes her as a boy (which is stupid in and of itself, since she's still visibly got breasts, hooray sexism). Making matters worse is that her best friend, Tsubaki, has been ordered to kill her as of the end of Calamity Trigger. Oh, and then Terumi gets ahold of her, mind-rapes her, and turns her into an unholy implement of destruction. All the hate and rage she kept pent up has now been amplified and directed towards the world itself. Yaaaay.}}
* {{spoiler|Labtech X}} is motivated to destroy [[Gaia Online]] by {{spoiler|a bad case of the [[Cloning Blues]] and [["Well Done, Son" Guy|lack of approval]] from his creator/parent/original, Johnny Gambino.}}
* {{spoiler|Lambda}} in ''[[
* {{spoiler|Dr. Lantis}} of ''Star Ocean: The Second Story''. He loses his daughter, his last surviving relative, and goes insane from grief and rage. Because of this, he wants everything gone.
* {{spoiler|Paraiba}} in ''[[
* [[Creepy Child|Flandre]] [[Person of Mass Destruction|Scarlet]] of ''[[
* {{spoiler|Aribeth}} from ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]''. {{spoiler|She starts as a heroic paladin and your main ally, beloved by all and considered a national hero. Then the people of the city you and her worked your asses off to save force the government to execute her innocent lover for being an ''unwilling'' pawn in [[The Mole|Desther's]] plans. And the government had no say in it, ''the townspeople literally formed a mob and forced Fenthick's execution.'' In the next chapter, Aribeth is so filled with despair that the [[Big Bad]] is able to manipulate it into hatred and rage, turning her against the titular city (and the player). Aribeth is especially pitiful when you face her in the finale, as, with her lover dead and feeling of betrayed by Neverwinter, you can tell that she feels she has nothing left to lose.}}
** In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Mask of the Betrayer'', there's {{spoiler|Akachi the Betrayer}}, who, as [[The Punishment|punishment]] for defying the gods by {{spoiler|trying to rescue his beloved's soul from the [[And I Must Scream|Wall of the Faithless]]}}, is turned into {{spoiler|the Spirit-Eater curse, an [[Eldritch Abomination]] driven only by hunger and the instinct to possess bodies and devour spirits, always eating but never satiated}}.
** Also in this category? The King of Shadows himself, the [[Big Bad]] of the Original Campaign. {{spoiler|He started out as the greatest hero of the ancient realm of Illefarn. Then he volunteered for a horrifically painful ritual that turned him into a construct of pure magic, the Guardian, to make an effective deterrent to [[The Empire|Netheril]]. Then the Netherese wizard Karsus tried to usurp Mystryl's place as god of magic and all hell broke loose. The Weave was interrupted and the Guardian faced destruction. He chose to continue his vigil over Illefarn by drawing power from the [[Black Magic|Shadow Weave]]. That's when he became the King of Shadows. Illefarn tried to destroy him and only succeeded in binding him outside the Material Plane.}}
* Morinth of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' claims to be this, stating that she never wished to be born an Ardat-Yakshi (the Asari equivalent of being a Sex Demon). Subverted in that it was ultimately her choice to succumb to her addiction to murder and her actions show that, in the end, she's a straight-up [[Complete Monster]] who wants to screw and kill the galaxy, in that order.
** Arguably, [[Dark Magical Girl|J]][[Ax Crazy|a]][[Sociopathic Hero|c]][[Broken Bird|k]] has the potential to be this. She is the most powerful human biotic (excepting an Adept Shepard) in existence and certainly one of the most powerful biotics of any species in the galaxy. Her backstory includes {{spoiler|being stolen from her mother as an infant, brutally [[Cold-Blooded Torture|tortured]] and [[Playing
** The ''Overlord'' DLC adds a new one. Simply naming who it is would be a spoiler, but anyone who's played it will know which character it is.
* While Luca Blight of ''[[Suikoden II]]'' is a [[Complete Monster]] by any standard, his behaviour is a lot more understandable when you've absorbed the fact that he became that way after observing his mother being raped and murdered while his father stood by, cowering in fear.
** More specifically, his mother was raped but not murdered as he was forced to watch, by mercenaries hired by Muse, the city-state his country was at war with, all the while expecting his father to ride in and saved the day, only to learn later that his father spent the entire time sitting on his throne, dithering. As an added bonus, his sister, Jillia, was the product of that rape, whom he loves and yet serves as a constant reminder of that day.
* ''[[Suikoden III]]'' had this with Luc. In the first 2 games, he is a moody, [[Jerkass]] teenager who does not seem to have much motivation in participating in wars as his [[Parental Substitute]] more or less drops him off. 15 years later, he concocts a plan to {{spoiler|destroy his [[MacGuffin|True Wind Rune]] in a major case of crossing the [[Moral Event Horizon]]}}. The reason? {{spoiler|Turns, out he was a [[Artificial Human|defective clone]] of another rune bearer who wanted vessels to [[Gotta Catch Them All|collect all 27 of them]]. Even worse is that his rune gives him visions of an apocalyptic wasteland. He thinks that if he destroys the rune, he'll effectively kill god and change fate.}} This has caused many fans to categorize him as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]].
* In the "worst" ending of ''[[
{{quote| "''There is no Name for what I am. But, with your help, they will never see me coming...(Fade to Black)''"}}
* The King of Sorrow from ''[[
** {{spoiler|He outright says that he plans to destroy the world when you reach him in the Terminus of Tears and it's pretty clear that he's gone [[Ax Crazy]]}}.
* {{spoiler|Melissa Bergman/MB}} in ''[[Metroid: Other M]].'' {{spoiler|Her}} only crime initially was occasionally disagreeing with the other scientists on the Bottle Ship, but for that, they decided that {{spoiler|she had to have her emotions removed from her. She}} saw this as betrayal by her beloved mother {{spoiler|figure}}, and as a result, everyone got horribly mauled by monsters.
* 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]].
** 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
** Cecilia from ''[[World of Mana|Heroes Of Mana]]'' is another example.
* Jin Kazama shows some signs of this in ''[[Tekken]] 6''.
* You know that [[Professor Layton and
* Anders in ''[[Dragon Age 2]]'' becomes this by the end of the game. After a time growing up in the Mages Circle--a life stuck in a tower, bound to do whatever [[Path of Inspiration|the Chantry]] asked him to--he escaped from the [[Knight Templar|Templars]]...seven times. On the last time, he joined the [[Dragon Age Origins|Grey Wardens to escape more permanently.]] It's all downhill for him after that, unfortunately. The Grey Wardens consider him a wuss and mock him enough that he leaves, and then he lets a wayward Spirit of Justice--once a friend of his--into his body. All of this isn't too bad, but it starts getting nasty when {{spoiler|he goes to Kirkwall.}} The sheer dark magic of the place corrupts Justice into a Demon of Vengeance. By the time Dragon Age II begins, he's constantly fighting for control over the influence of Vengeance/Justice. After all of this, his brooding is pretty justified. (He gets added points for being the constantly-hunted leader of a Mages' Rights group.) In the final act, though, [[Demonic Possession|he can't fight Justice off anymore,]] and essentially performs a [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|terrorist attack on the local branch of the Chantry.]] Talk about a [[Trauma Conga Line]]. Ultimately, his fate is left up to [[Player Character|Hawke.]]
* {{spoiler|Oersted}} from ''[[Live a Live]]'', Knight Chapter. {{spoiler|His story begins when he wins a tournament to gain a princess' hand in marriage and, in doing so, earns the accolades of the people, only for her to be kidnapped by the Demon King the following night. What seems to be a standard Save The Princess plot is soon turned on its head as the hero, Hash, who last slew the Demon King, is killed when fighting against it with the rest of Oersted's party. Then, the Demon King seems to assault Oersted in the night, only for it to turn out to be the king, who had been made to look like it—a fact discovered only after Oersted kills him. Now treated as a demon by the townspeople, Oersted returns to the Demon King's castle to save the princess, the one person who might still believe in him, only to encounter his best friend, Straybow, who seemed to have died in battle with the Demon King along with Hash. Turns out, he had orchestrated everything to make Oersted an outcast out of jealousy of the latter's success. On top of that, after Oersted battles and kills his old friend, the princess appears, accuses Oersted for not trying to rescue her when he had been trying to do so all along, professes her love for Straybow, and kills herself. With no one in the world now who doesn't loathe him, Oersted snaps and declares that, if the people want to think of him as a demon, why, then that's exactly what he'll become...the Demon King Odio. He then proceeds to slaughter every last person in the kingdom and send several incarnations of himself across time to test the virtues of humanity, thus starting the game's events.}}
* In ''[[Epic Mickey]]'', the smaller Shadow Blot is revealed to be this. His motives are just like [[Oswald the Lucky Rabbit|Oswald's]]: he wants to be famous and loved by the people in [[Real Life]]. If you use paint, after [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYbFNLV329E Mickey's climactic battle with it], he gives [[Mickey Mouse]] a big hug, leading [[Deadpan Snarker|Gus]] to marvel: "''Huh''? He's actually kind of... ''sweet''."
* As of ''[[
* The novels for ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep]]'' paint {{spoiler|Vanitas}} as such.
* The {{spoiler|[[Ax Crazy|real Overlord Zenon]]}} from ''[[
* Many of the ghosts from the ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' series have really sad backstories, and the only real reason they're attacking people is because they've been driven violently insane by the Malice/Darkness/Curse/etc that came out of the story's resident [[Hell Gate]].
* [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Cyrus]], as revealed in ''Pokemon Platinum'', was motivated by a childhood full of emotional neglect (if not more) to [[End of the World Special|destroy the universe so it could be recreated]] without emotion entirely, to end the suffering it caused.
* Schala, from the [[Chrono Trigger
* The freaking MAN-AT-LEGS from ''[[Pikmin]]'', believe it or not! Yep, that creepy mechanical spider that ''blasts your Pikmin to oblivion with a gun''! How? According to its journal entry, the Man-at-Legs has no need for the gun since it has no natural enemies, leading to the rumor that ''the gun controls the creature''! Let's look at it from the Man-at-Legs' point of view... imagine if you had a gun attached to you that killed everything around you that moved, and you were targeted by a giant swarm of insects for reasons beyond your control.
* Pyrrha, the daughter of [[Fallen Hero]] Sophitia in ''[[Soul Series|Soul Calibur V]]'' starts out as an innocent, drifting Woobie with no home or family of her own; being kidnapped by [[Magnificent Bastard|Tira]] at a young age followed by the demise of her mother resulted in her spending the next seventeen years of her life searching aimlessly for somewhere to belong, regularly attacked and forced to kill or be killed due to Tira's manipulations to make her a suitable heir to [[Artifact of Doom|Soul Edge]]. When she finally reunites with her long-lost brother Patroklos, however, things finally seem about to get better for her. {{spoiler|Then Patroklos finds out Pyrrha is [[The Corruption|Malfested]] when she taps into her [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] to save him from the [[Big Bad]], Nightmare. The still gentle and mostly-innocent but now ''utterly terrifying'' Pyrrha turns to Patroklos in concern to make sure he's OK only for Patroklos to point his sword at her in the midst of a [[Heroic BSOD]], finally running away from her in horror. Pyrrha, heartbroken, decides she can never trust anyone but Tira and willingly takes up Soul Edge to escape being alone. The resulting character, Pyrrha Omega, is extremely violent and deadly compared to the frightened and naive Pyrrha, but she screams as much in ''pain'' as in rage while she fights, and doesn't seem so much to be possessed by Soul Edge as she is madly lashing out at ''everything'', thinking the entire world is her enemy and desperately needing to do something, ''anything'' to escape her pain.}}
{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Pyrrha''': [[Sanity Slippage|Stop hurting me...stop rejecting me...''stop killing me!!!'']]}}}}
* ''[[
** Iji herself can become one of these, depending on the players actions. Indeed, Iosa is portrayed as her [[Evil Counterpart]] because their histories (and possible subsequent actions) are almost identical.
== [[Visual Novels]] ==
* The page image depicts Yamato from ''[[
* {{spoiler|Kohaku}} of ''[[Tsukihime]]'' has become so emotionally broken that she thinks of herself as a doll and has no idea how she really feels about anything. Oh, and she's plotting the deaths of {{spoiler|Akiha and SHIKI, is implied or perhaps stated to be involved in Makihasa's death, and may view Shiki as a target as well, though she doesn't succeed there in any path. It's okay if everyone dies except Hisui, pretty much}}. Oh, and she's indirectly behind all the [[Serial Killer|serial killing]] going on in the Far Side routes.
* {{spoiler|Sakura}} in ''[[Fate/stay
** Surprisingly enough, {{spoiler|Angra Mainyu also qualifies. He was originally just a man who was tortured to death by the people of his village to serve as a scapegoat for human evil, which technically fulfilled the requirements to become a Heroic Spirit.}} He justifiably hates humanity as a consequence.]]
** Rider; in her backstory, she is {{spoiler|[[Greek Mythology|Medusa]].}}
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== Webcomics ==
* Before she [[Power of Love|mellowed out a bit,]] Galatea fit this trope in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]].'' She explains her position [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20080722.html thusly.]
* Back in 2000, the webcomic ''[[
* ''[[
* Yonatan from ''[[Fake News Rumble]]''. The only reason he's helping [[Big Bad|the Dark One]] with the destruction of worlds is because of his [[Childhood Friend Romance|unrequited crush on his childhood friend]], who sought power.
* Sandra Eastlake from ''[[Zebra Girl]]''. After trying for two years to come to terms with accidentally being transformed (through no fault of her own) into an obviously non-human demon who cannot eat or even taste food properly, type properly (her fingers are razor-sharp, foot-long claws), sound normal (her voice sounds like [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJCYr7Skf_g the modulated noise of a cat being strangled]), interact within normal society, or even hold a normal job, surviving multiple attempts on her and her friends' lives, being rendered incapable of intimate contact due to her bodily fluids being ''acid'', and becoming her town's very own urban monster legend, she is finally pushed over the edge by a wizard who goes out of his way to ''provoke her into becoming completely evil so that he can successfully poison her with an evil-killing toxin''. When even that fails, he simply drags her to Hell while the whole town stands by and does nothing, because he happened to look more human than she does. She finally snaps when, {{spoiler|''after they both arrive in hell'', he transforms into a demon and threatens to spend the rest of eternity torturing her}}. By that point, she '''literally''' has nothing left to lose.
** And as icing on the cake, consider that the only reason said wizard even knew about her in the first place is because ''she contacted '''him''' to ask for help''.
* ''[[
* Kimiko of ''[[
* Trace Legacy from ''[[Two Kinds]]''. A few weeks after he settles down with his new wife, a Keidran thief shoots her with a poison arrow. In his grief, he throws himself into [[Black Magic]] research to try and resurrect her. The spell backfires, nearly killing him and destroying his sanity. He then sacks a Keidran village and takes over the Order, [[Baleful Polymorph|polymorphing]] his old boss into a Keidran so he can kill her without a fuss. The Goddess of Neutrality has to wipe his brain to keep him from committing genocide.
* Tavor from ''[[Looking for Group]]''. After losing his family and kingdom to invaders, he decides to take his pain out on the rest of the world by trying to erase the city representing its last hope from existence.
* Redcloak from ''[[The Order of the Stick
** {{spoiler|Darth V}} also qualifies, having snapped after being unable to {{spoiler|trance for months}} due to severe guilt, then having {{spoiler|his/her family threatened with a horrible death}}. The fallout of {{spoiler|his/her [[Disproportionate Retribution|casting of]] [[Moral Event Horizon|"Familicide"]] on the dragon making these threats, killing everyone even remotely related to her,}} has indeed pushed this a lot closer to a literal "Destroyer of Worlds" example -- {{spoiler|one of [[Sealed Evil in
* ''[[
* Eridan Ampora from ''[[
** The Handmaid, a servant of Lord English, who is, with the help of Doc Scratch, responsible for {{spoiler|turning Alternia into a [[Crapsack World]] and the creation of their [[Fantastic Caste System]].}} She's also a slave in all but name, has been [[Abusive Parents|abused since birth]], wants desperately to die but can't [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|due to being cursed with immortality]], and the [[Hope Spot|one time she succeeded in escaping her fate]] ended with her running right into the time-traveling, universe-destroying demon himself.
* The golem girls in ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' played this role once. They were tortured until their wills were completely broken, then they were turned into a weapon. They ended up rampaging and destroying most of the world. Since then, civilizations have been rebuilt, and they have had their free will returned.
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== Web Original ==
* ''[[Ilivais X]]'''s protagonist, Iriana Estchell, is this all the way. Her life essentially boiled down to being converted into a [[Wetware CPU]] by an abusive instructor who loved taking advantage of how pleasure is felt as pain for her, interspersed with more flat-out rape which was meant to promote her love-based Drive Core to consume her. She finally escapes {{spoiler|with Seyne's help}} and has in her possession an advanced [[Super Prototype]] [[Humongous Mecha]] powered by a [[Perpetual Motion Machine]]. "Destroy absolutely everything in the Aztec Empire" is now #1 on her list of priorities. There's only the slight problem of how she's not really THAT good at it, and said Aztec Empire isn't inherently evil at all.
* Zorc from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series
** Also from ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series
* This is pretty much what Dr. Horrible becomes at the end of [[Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]].
* Voldemort in ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'' is only the way he is because no one ever loved him...and maybe with Quirrel, things would be okay?
* How can anyone not want to give [[The Spoony Experiment|Dr Insano]] a hug after his plans go wrong?
* [[Godzilla|Monster X]] in ''[[
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* Satan from ''[[South Park]]'', especially in [[The Movie]]. He often comes off as just a nice, friendly guy who tries to act tough, and all he really wants is to move up to live on Earth (even if that will doom humanity). Just listen to his [["I Want" Song|so-called]] [[Villain Song]], "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X13Kb_DktHg Up There]."
** Also Butters in season 6. After the main boys snub him, he adopts the alter-ego "Professor Chaos", and plots to ''drown the world''... with a garden hose.
* Ezekiel Rage in ''[[Jonny Quest:
* While Shen of ''[[
* {{spoiler|World}} from ''[[Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
* An incomplete ''[[
* Nox, the [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|hopelessly insane]] [[Big Bad]] of ''[[
* Blackarachnia from ''[[Transformers Animated]]''. She ''really'' didn't want to be [[Baleful Polymorph|turned into a half-organic mutant]], and only wants to be restored to her original form and re-accepted into Transformer society (namely, with the Decepticons; she no longer trusts the Autobots). However, the methods she resorts to are unethical and often dangerous, and her old friend Optimus knows that he has to stop her hurting anyone.
** Wasp is another example. He was falsely accused of being a Decepticon spy, sent to Autobot prison, driven insane by his time there, and forcibly transformed into a [[Cyborg|Techno-organic]] by Blackarachnia. However, he is a homicidal maniac, a Decepticon, and wants revenge on Bumblebee, who didn't know that Wasp was framed
* The Ice King of ''[[
** The 2011 Christmas Episode of Adventure Time discusses his origin, further proving his status. {{spoiler|"I want people to know...if I do things, if I do things that hurt anyone...please, please forgive me. Just watch over me until I can find my way out of this labyrinth in my brain and regain my sanity! And then maybe Betty, my princess...maybe you'll love me again."}}
** [[Badass Princess|Flame Princess]] is also one. She had her heart broken by [[The Hero|Finn]] ([[Canine Companion|Jake]] in disguise) after he changed his mind about Finn dating her since she's evil. He did this ''just'' after he sang a song telling how much Finn likes her. After this, she goes [[Yandere]] and goes on a rampage. She ''probably'' doesn't get many boyfriends due to her unpredictable personality and the way her dad seems to shelter her because of said personality.
* ''[[
{{quote| '''The Sisters:''' You must give them the code.<br />
'''Demona:''' (''In a trance'') I will have vengeance for the betrayal of my Clan... Vengeance for my pain.<br />
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'''Demona:''' (''Tears forming while saying slowly'') The access code is...{{spoiler|[[Crowning Moment of Sadness|alone]].}} }}
* Ace in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'': very, very broken and very, very dangerous. If you are not [[Batman]], that is, the only person she apparently trusts.
* Spider-Carnage, of ''[[Spider
* Mr. Freeze from ''[[Batman:
** In ''The New Batman Adventures'', Freeze's condition had worsened, reducing him to a living head without a body. Nora was revived but left him for one of her doctors. A comic tie-in expands on this. Nora's new husband, jealous over her love for Victor, hid the letters that Victor wrote to her. When Nora found out, she tried to return to Victor but could not accept his criminal past.
** By the time of ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', his wife's gone, and although he gets a second chance in a clone body and tries to make amends for all the people he's hurt, [[Yank the Dog's Chain|he relapses, gets betrayed, barely survives the attack on him, and proceeds to freeze his betrayers for trying to prematurely perform autopsy on him, then aims to commit suicide by blowing up the man's company, killing hundreds of innocent people in the crossfire]]. His [[Famous Last Words]] with Terry, the new Batman, are one of the best done [[Alas, Poor Villain]] moments ever.
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'''Freeze:''' Believe me, you're the only one who cares. }}
** There are other villains besides Mr. Freeze who qualify for this trope: For instance, there was Calendar Girl, who was a former model for calendars, but constantly failed attempts at rectifying her "hideous appearance" left her with nothing else than a desire of vengeance against the people she perceived took away her beauty. She is later revealed to actually be a [[Gorgeous Gorgon]], although she still firmly believes her appearance is repulsive despite this.
* Weathervane/Paula Haze from ''[[
* ''[[
** [[He Who Fights Monsters|Hama]]. Kidnapped and imprisoned by the Fire Nation army as a teenager, prevented from bending her native element (water), it's no wonder she took her only chance of escape, by turning the guards into [[People Puppets]] by bending their body fluids. But then she snuck into the Fire Nation and started kidnapping innocent civilians with the same technique she used on the prison guards...
** Possibly first-season Zuko--although he doesn't really accomplish much, he probably ''would'' destroy the world if he thought it would [[Abusive Parents|make his daddy]] [["Well Done, Son" Guy|love him]]. He gets better in the second season, becoming a straight-out [[The Woobie|Woobie]].
** How about Aang? He's not evil or villainous in any way, but it is scary when he gets upset and goes into the Avatar State.
* ''[[
** {{spoiler|Hiroshi Sato}} is a far less ambiguous example, having {{spoiler|become an Equalist in order to avenge his dead wife, who perished due to firebenders}}. However, unlike Amon, who at least has [[Visionary Villain|visionary]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|goals]], {{spoiler|Hiroshi Sato}} is pretty much reduced to a hateful wreck that just happens to be [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|cleverly disguised]].
* Yivo from ''[[Futurama]]'', always faced system incompatibilities when he tried to court the Futurama Universe. Philip J. Fry got him interested.
* Plankton from ''[[
** [[
** What's especially weird about Plankton is that he only became this in hindsight. The movie, the canon end of the series, is where Plankton really goes into high gear, and before the movie, he wasn't exactly sympathetic. After the movie is when he becomes the [[Designated Villain]], and gets more abuse than he deserves.
* The Toad from ''[[Flushed Away]]''. He was once Prince Charles' favorite pet. Then someone brought in a rat and flushed the Toad down the toilet so Charlie could focus all his attention on the replacement pet. This became his motivation for attempting to wipe out the Sewer-London. Seriously, we can't blame him for what he is now.
* ''[[Scooby Doo
* {{spoiler|Doug}} from ''[[Ugly Americans]]''
* Michael 'Goob' Yagoobian in ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]''.
* Lucius Heinous the Seventh from [[Jimmy Two
* The eponymous character of ''[[
* [[The Sacred Darkness|Princess Luna]] in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
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