History BreakTheCutie / VideoGames

* A variation of this in TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime involves breaking a large group of lovable characters called the Gorons. A peaceful, friendly group, they just want to live in peace and harvest their crops, but are content to welcome outsiders as well. However, when [[CompleteMonster Ganondorf]] shows up and demands they turn over their spiritual stone, they refuse to do it and he punished them by sealing off their primary food source. Later in the game, when Ganondorf takes over, he has several Gorons locked up in cages in the Fire Temple, and is going to feed them to a dragon as a warning to those who might oppose him. Once you get to the Fire Temple, you see the Gorons trembling in their cells, evidently terrified, begging for mercy, and not being given any. This is arguably the most likely candidate for MoralEventHorizon on Ganondorf's part in the entire game.

* A variation of this in TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime involves breaking a large group of lovable characters called the Gorons. A peaceful, friendly group, they just want to live in peace and harvest their crops, but are content to welcome outsiders as well. However, when [[CompleteMonster Ganondorf]] shows up and demands they turn over their spiritual stone, they refuse to. Later in the game, when Ganondorf takes over, he has several Gorons locked up in cages in the Fire Temple, and is going to feed them to a dragon as a warning to those who might oppose him. Once you get to the Fire Temple, you see the Gorons trembling in their cell, evidently terrified, begging for mercy, and not being given any. This is arguably the most likely candidate for MoralEventHorizon on Ganondorf's part in the entire game.

* Merrill in DragonAge2 has a lot of this in her backstory, and even more in-game, especially if you take the Rivalry path.

** An odd example is [[spoiler: Kaiden Alenko]], who'd been pre-broken for long time [[spoiler:, since brain camp, at a young age]], but had since recovered. That was before you met him-he came ''pre-mended''. It really weirded this troper out whenever he discussed his horrific past, and casually concluded each time with something like "But that's all in the past, Commander. I faced my demons a long time ago."

* Poor Guybrush Threepwood. He starts off as {{Adorkable}} and happy-go-lucky in ''TalesOfMonkeyIsland'', but then [[spoiler:he sees his wife Elaine seemingly willing to trust a human [=LeChuck=] over Guybrush's objections.]] As if that wasn't bad enough, [[spoiler:he ends up getting his hand cut off by Morgan [=LeFlay=], and then gets stabbed in the back (or at least in the chest) twice (or maybe three times if you count the Voodoo Lady), and suffers a HeroicBSOD when it looks like Elaine has done a complete FaceHeelTurn to leave him for [=LeChuck=]. It all ends with one [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown terribly brutal beatdown]] from [=LeChuck=] that leaves zombie Guybrush in such physical agony he can't even joke anymore. [[TheWoobie The poor dear]] really just needed a hug at the end.]]

* Poor Guybrush Threepwood. He starts off as {{Adorkable}} and happy-go-lucky in ''TalesOfMonkeyIsland'', but then [[spoiler:he sees his wife Elaine seemingly willing to trust a human [=LeChuck=] over Guybrush's objections.]] As if that wasn't bad enough, [[spoiler:he ends up getting his hand cut off by Morgan [=LeFlay=], and then gets stabbed in the back (or at least in the chest) twice (or maybe three times if you count the Voodoo Lady), and suffers a HeroicBSOD when it looks like Elaine has done a complete FaceHeelTurn to leave him for [=LeChuck=]. It all ends with one [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown terribly brutal beatdown]] from [=LeChuck=] that leaves zombie Guybrush in such physical agony he can't even joke anymore. [[TheWoobie The poor dear]] really just needed a hug at the end.

* {{Lux Pain}} has, well, just about everyone in the main cast. [[TheHero Atsuki]], [[CheerfulChild Natsuki]] and [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Hibiki]] were broken in their backstories. During the game, this happens to two of the female leads: [[GenkiGirl Mika]], who was [[spoiler: targeted by a serial killer (twice) causing Officer Mako Ando to be fatally wounded, and her best friend sent to the hospital]], [[TheChick Yayoi]] who [[spoiler: is driven mad by a mind parasite causing her to be jealous of her sister. She also tried to consult with a bunch of people she met online who were suicidal, but they ended up killing themselves.]] A few other Cuties, both male and female, end up snapping, like [[TheBigGuy Akira]], [[{{Meganekko}} Sayuri]], [[DefectiveDetective Yui]], [[HospitalHottie Honoka]], and the list goes on. Forget curing Silent, that entire town needs one big hug.

* How as no one mentioned Cloud? The [[FinalFantasyVII Final Fantasy VII Compilation]] seems to be one long telling of how they broke him, glued him back wrong, broke him again, then fixed him for real. [[TheWoobie Sort of]]. If we want to get specific, this included being blamed for an accident that injured his childhood crush Tifa, which results in him being forbidden from seeing her, failing at the only dream he ever had (joining SOLDIER), watching his mother die (oh, and knowing she was killed by his idol, aka Sephiroth), watching his other idol - Zack - get shanked by Seph, getting shanked himself, being experimented on for four years straight, and all of this culminates with watching his beloved Zack get gunned down after being dragged across the country by him for a year because the experimentation had left him nearly comatose. [[ItGotWorse Then it gets worse]]. Unable to cope with all that has happened in the past years, he recreates his memories so Zack never existed (well, he thinks he's Zack, but same thing). And then FinalFantasyVII happens (in which we see him actually break and go comatose again). After the game Cloud settles down with Tifa, only to contract the uncurable disease GeoStigma, which leads you down a slow and painful death. towards the end of AdventChildren his troubles are finally solved however.

** Zidane, too, surprisingly. His androgynous looks aside, he's TheCutie because he is relentlessly cheerful and upbeat throughout the entire game. The few times that his optimistic demeanor vanishes are usually when it's replaced with righteous anger, like upon seeing enemies slaughtering helpless civilians. [[spoiler:Just like Vivi, though, he learns that he's actually nothing more than a weapon. A highly complex and specialized weapon, but ultimately meant to bring war and destruction to the planet that is his home. This causes his to completely lose hope and march slowly towards his death during the famous YouAreNotAlone scene.]]

* [[spoiler: Schala]] from ''ChronoTrigger'' fits a sufficient portion of this bill, what with [[spoiler: [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt her entire world being destroyed]] by the insane ambitions of her mother and [[DeusExitMachina Chrono getting vaporized right in front of her by Lavos]], knowing full well that none of it would have happened had she simply refused to power up the Mammon Machine. The despair this sent her into lead her to [[FusionDance become one with Lavos]] and give rise to [[EldritchAbomination the Time Devourer]], effectively making her [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds Woobie, Destroyer of ALL EXISTENCE]].]]

* This may sound like a rather odd example, given his role and the system, but [[spoiler: Saro]] of DragonWarrior IV surely qualifies, right? He's a humanoid demon with a lovely elf girlfriend named Rosa, and generally a FriendToAllLivingThings, despite his heritage. Well, one day some enterprising merchants got ahold of Rosa, based on rumors that her tears formed into valuable rubies, and being the profit-seeking humans they were, they took her into the middle of a field and brutally beat her. Needless to say, [[spoiler:Saro]] isn't very happy about this, finding himself so overcome with grief that he kills the merchants. He responds by founding Rosehill, which is basically a tiny settlement around a huge tower he builds to keep Rosa safe. It's at this point that [[spoiler: Saro]] begins considering killing off all of humankind, but Rosa begs him to give humanity a change to peacefully coexist, so he resists the urge. A fellow demon, Radimvice, has Rosa killed to further his own fiendish plots, namely taking control of all monsters. Radimvice is able to prey on [[spoiler: Saro]]'s trust of all monsters and claim that it was the humans that killed Rosa. This manipulation ends up sending [[spoiler: Saro]] so deep into despair that [[spoiler: he usurps Estark's position as King of the Underworld, becomes the BigBad of the game, and ultimately harnesses the very power of evolution to become a huge green version of Estark that provides the UrExample of the SequentialBoss]], all to take revenge against the humans that had wronged him so. Even with all this, he's not quite an OmnicidalManiac, since he still values the lives of just about everything else...you know, just not humans.

** Speaking of ''[=MGS4=]'', this is revealed to be in the backstories of all the Beauty and the Beast unit girls after they are defeated. [[spoiler:One girl was forced to kill off her people [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel while laughing]]. One accidentally smothered her own brother to keep him from crying after escaping a raid and then killed an entire refugee camp's worth of kids [[MindScrew while hallucinating that a wolf did it]]. One found herself among kids that were kidnapped, abused, then abandoned to be eaten by ravens, [[BecauseDestinySaysSo somehow]] ended up being cut free instead of raven food, and [[UnstoppableRage hunted down the soldiers responsible, innocents be damned]]. And the leader was the only one who didn't kill anybody before being turned into her B&B self, but it's not like she got off any better. She was forced to run for her life after her village got burned to the ground, eventually got herself locked in a torture chamber, and only survived through the horrible conditions and the screams of villagers by drinking dirty water and hallucinating about a mantis teaching her to block out sound and feed like it. Combine all that with their [[MsFanservice gratuitous good looks]], it's enough to make someone wish the ''Metal Gear''-verse were [[ApocalypseHow destroyed]].

** Oh, Otacon. Otacon, Otacon, Otacon. He's an {{Adorkable}} nerd-boy who loves all things nerdy and Japanese, is enthusiastic about his work, and genuinely believes in people. [[spoiler: Also, he's a statutory rape victim, his father committed suicide, he's inadvertently responsible for the creation of one of the deadliest weapons mankind has ever known, his crush was shot, his long-lost sister was killed, his ''other'' crush was killed, and his HeterosexualLifePartner/[[HoYay possible lover]], the ''only person who's ever stuck by him,'' is doomed to die of old age at forty-five.]] This series might as well be called ''Metal Gear Horrible Things Happen to Hal Emmerich.'' It's to the point where the ten years of happiness he gets [[spoiler: with Snake]] between ''MetalGearSolid2'' and ''MetalGearSolid 4'' feels almost like a slap in the face--"We're giving you a break from your horrible life. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it's not going to last long!"

** Oh, Otacon. Otacon, Otacon, Otacon. He's an {{Adorkable}} nerd-boy who loves all things nerdy and Japanese, is enthusiastic about his work, and genuinely believes in people. [[spoiler: Also, he's a statutory rape victim, his father committed suicide, he's inadvertently responsible for the creation of one of the deadliest weapons mankind has ever known, his crush was shot, his long-lost sister was killed, his ''other'' crush was killed, and his HeterosexualLifePartner/[[HoYay possible lover]], the ''only person who's ever stuck by him,'' is doomed to die of old age at forty-five.]] This series might as well be called ''Metal Gear Solid: Horrible Things Happen to Hal Emmerich.'' It's to the point where the ten years of happiness he gets [[spoiler: with Snake]] between ''MetalGearSolid2'' and ''MetalGearSolid 4'' feels almost like a slap in the face--"We're giving you a break from your horrible life. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it's not going to last long!"

** Oh, Otacon. Otacon, Otacon, Otacon. He's an {{Adorkable}} nerd-boy who loves all things nerdy and Japanese, is enthusiastic about his work, and genuinely believes in people. [[spoiler: Also, he's a statutory rape victim, his father committed suicide, he's inadvertently responsible for the creation of one of the deadliest weapons mankind has ever known, his crush was shot, his long-lost sister was killed, his ''other'' crush was killed, and his HeterosexualLifePartner/[[HoYay possible lover]], the ''only person who's ever stuck by him,'' is doomed to die of old age at forty-five.]] This series might as well be called Metal Gear Solid: Horrible Things Happen to Hal Emmerich. It's to the point where the ten years of happiness he gets [[spoiler: with Snake]] between ''MetalGearSolid2'' and ''MetalGearSolid 4'' feels almost like a slap in the face--"We're giving you a break from your horrible life. Enjoy it while it lasts, 'cause it's not going to last long!"

** Oh, Otacon. Otacon, Otacon, Otacon. [[spoiler: He's a statutory rape victim, his father committed suicide, he's inadvertently responsible for the creation of one of the deadliest weapons mankind has ever known, his crush was shot, his long-lost sister was killed, his ''other'' crush was killed, and his HeterosexualLifePartner/[[HoYay possible lover]], the ''only person who's ever stuck by him,'' is doomed to die of old age at forty-five.]] This series might as well be called Metal Gear Solid: Break The Adorable Otaku.

* [[TheWoobie Poor Lucas]] from ''{{Mother 3}}''. [[spoiler: His mother dies, his twin brother Claus disappears and believed to be dead, his father suffers from DeusAngstMachina going off everyday to look for his missing son ignoring the one he has left in the process. All of this within a few days game time.]]
** [[spoiler: After the a three year time skip things don't improve for the poor kid if anything [[ItGotWorse it gets worse.]] His father still goes out searching, the beloved [[DoomedHometown village]] slowly changes from a into a more modern town before being abandoned completely, it is revealed that everything he knows has been a elaborate lie to prevent another armageddon, and that games final [[BigBad big bad?]] His missing twin brother now a BrainwashedAndCrazy cyborg.]]

* ''KingdomHearts'' does this to several characters, most notable Roxas and Xion.

* {{Lux-Pain}} has, well, just about everyone in the main cast. [[TheHero Atsuki]], [[CheerfulChild Natsuki]] and [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Hibiki]] were broken in their backstories. During the game, this happens to two of the female leads: [[GenkiGirl Mika]], who was [[spoiler: targeted by a serial killer (twice) causing Officer Mako Ando to be fatally wounded, and her best friend sent to the hospital]], [[TheChick Yayoi]] who [[spoiler: is driven mad by a mind parasite causing her to be jealous of her sister. She also tried to consult with a bunch of people she met online who were suicidal, but they ended up killing themselves.]] A few other Cuties, both male and female, end up snapping, like [[TheBigGuy Akira]], [[{{Meganekko}} Sayuri]], [[DefectiveDetective Yui]], [[HospitalHottie Honoka]], and the list goes on. Forget curing Silent, that entire town needs one big hug.

* [[Lux-Pain]] has, well, just about everyone in the main cast. [[TheHero Atsuki]] and [[CheerfulChild Natsuki]] were broken in their backstories. During the game, this happens to two of the female leads: [[GenkiGirl Mika]], who was [[spoiler: targeted by a serial killer (twice) causing Officer Mako Ando to be fatally wounded, and her best friend sent to the hospital]], [[TheChick Yayoi]] who [[spoiler: is driven mad by a mind parasite causing her to be jealous of her sister. She also tried to consult with a bunch of people she met online who were suicidal, but they ended up killing themselves.]] A few other Cuties, both male and female, end up snapping, like [[TheBigGuy Akira]], [[Meganekko Sayuri]], [[DefectiveDetective Yui]], [[HospitalHottie Honoka]], and the list goes on. Forget curing Silent, that entire town needs one big hug.

* Rose. Poor, poor, Rose. She gets to meet her [[AlanWake hero]], and then she gets [[MindRape mind raped]] by the BigBad.

* [[TheWoobie Lucas]] from ''{{Mother 3}}''. [[spoiler: His mother dies, his brother was proclaimed dead but actually becomes a BrainwashedAndCrazy cyborg, and his father suffers from DeusAngstMachina. All of this within the space of the first few Chapters... which take place over a few days]].

** On the male end of the spectrum, there is Carl Clover, a CuteShotaroBoy who witnessed his sister being turned into a machine by his father, and was scarred for life.