History DarkAndTroubledPast / VideoGames

** Shadow the Hedgehog probably has the darkest past of all the Sonic characters. He was created as the UltimateLifeform in an attempt to cure a [[LittlestCancerPatient terminally ill twelve-year-old girl]], had his home ambushed and said ill child die in front of him from a gunshot wound, was thrown into stasis and had his memories [[LaserGuidedAmnesia tampered by his creator]] to turn him into [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a ruthless killing machine]]. And all it took to turn his character around was a RousingSpeech by a ''different'' twelve-year-old girl, a HeroicSacrifice which resulted in him ''getting amnesia'', spending [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes not one]], [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog not two]], but ''[[VideoGame/SonicBattle three]]'' games trying to remember things properly again, and [[ToServeMan the near planetary takeover of an alien race]] to snap him out of his amnesia for good and to put his past behind him. ''Yikes.''

* [=B.ARK=]: The Dark Tide (an invasion of fish) was hard on everyone, humans and mammals alike. And hidden memories prove just that.

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf''. If the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] didn't explain too much about her past. But in the [[AdaptationExpansion novel]]; as it expanses to be believed. [[spoiler: Marilyn was born to a farmer family in a rural village somewhere at Hebei, China, but unfortunately she was considered a "heihaizi" (aka bastard child) [[ParentalAbandonment conceived outside from the One-Child Policy]], until an Old Farmer adopts her for 100 yuan, and revealing his past history to her and teach her master arts of Piguaquan. She begins to help his farm work, in order to work out her body, and earns enough money to buy "iron sandbag," filled with iron grains and mung beans to train. Some years later, [[ParentalAbandonment Being left orphan after Old Farmer passes away]], she abandon her birth name and called herself "Marilyn Sue" to find jobs in the spring in Shanghai for her survival and likely to find a way to honor her adoptive grandfather's wish, she implies for [[StreetWalker Mizu]] [[HostessClub shōbai]] and it's very profitable. But one fateful night, she was accused for touching customer's money. She nearly killed the customer and the hostess. As she was running soaked and wet in the rain to alleyway, one of the members of Black Hand found and captured her, yet immediately welcomed by its leader, Yin Hu for her lethal tactics, and not out of sympathy for her.]]

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf''. If the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] didn't explain too much about her past. But in the [[AdaptationExpansion novel]]; as it expanses to be believed. [[spoiler: Marilyn was born to a farmer family in a rural village somewhere at Hebei, China, but unfortunately she was considered a "heihaizi" (aka bastard child) [[ParentalAbandonment conceived outside from the One-Child Policy]], until an Old Farmer adopts her for 100 yuan, and revealing his past history to her and teach her master arts of Piguaquan. She begins to help his farm work, in order to work out her body, and earns enough money to buy "iron sandbag," filled with iron grains and mung beans to train. Some years later, [[ParentalAbandonment Being left orphan after Old Farmer passes away]], she abandon her birth name and called herself "Marilyn Sue" to find jobs in the spring in Shanghai for her survival and likely to find a way to honor her adoptive grandfather's wish, she implies for [[StreetWalker Mizu]] [[HostessClub shōbai]] and it's very profitable. But one fateful night as her life was backfired as she was accused for touching customer's money, before it founds out, she nearly killed the customer and the hostess. As she was running soaked and wet in the rain to alleyway, one of the members of Black Hand found and captured her, yet immediately welcomed by its leader, Yin Hu for her lethal tactics, and not out of sympathy for her.]]

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', If the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] didn't explain too much about her past. But in the [[AdaptationExpansion novel]]; as it expanses to be believed, [[spoiler: Marilyn was born to a farmer family in a rural village somewhere at Hebei, China, but unfortunately she was considered a "heihaizi" (aka bastard child) [[ParentalAbandonment conceived outside from the One-Child Policy]], until an Old Farmer adopts her for 100 yuan, and revealing his past history to her and teach her master arts of Piguaquan. She begins to help his farm work, in order to work out her body, and earns enough money to buy "iron sandbag," filled with iron grains and mung beans to train. Some years later, [[ParentalAbandonment Being left orphan after Old Farmer passes away]], she abandon her birth name and called herself "Marilyn Sue" to find jobs in the spring in Shanghai for her survival and likely to find a way to honor her adoptive grandfather's wish, she implies for [[StreetWalker Mizu]] [[HostessClub shōbai]] and it's very profitable. But one fateful night as her life was backfired as she was accused for touching customer's money, before it founds out, she nearly killed the customer and the hostess. As she was running soaked and wet in the rain to alleyway, one of the members of Black Hand found and captured her, yet immediately welcomed by its leader, Yin Hu for her lethal tactics, and not out of sympathy for her.]]

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', If the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] didn't explain too much about her past. But as the [[AdaptationExpansion novel]]; as it expanses to be believed, [[spoiler: Marilyn was born to a farmer family in a rural village somewhere at Hebei, China, but unfortunately she was considered a "heihaizi" (aka bastard child) [[ParentalAbandonment conceived outside from the One-Child Policy]], until an Old Farmer adopts her for 100 yuan, and revealing his past history to her and teach her master arts of Piguaquan. She begins to help his farm work, in order to work out her body, and earns enough money to buy "iron sandbag," filled with iron grains and mung beans to train. Some years later, [[ParentalAbandonment Being left orphan after Old Farmer passes away]], she abandon her birth name and called herself "Marilyn Sue" to find jobs in the spring in Shanghai for her survival and likely to find a way to honor her adoptive grandfather's wish, she implies for [[StreetWalker Mizu]] [[HostessClub shōbai]] and it's very profitable. But one fateful night as her life was backfired as she was accused for touching customer's money, before it founds out, she nearly killed the customer and the hostess. As she was running soaked and wet in the rain to alleyway, one of the members of Black Hand found and captured her, yet immediately welcomed by its leader, Yin Hu for her lethal tactics, and not out of sympathy for her.]]

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', If the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] didn't explain too much about her past. But as the [[AdaptationExpansion novel]]; as it expanses to be believed, [[spoiler: Marilyn was born to a farmer family in a rural village somewhere at Hebei, China, but unfortunately she was considered a "heihaizi" (aka bastard child) [[ParentalAbandonment conceived outside from the One-Child Policy]], until an Old Farmer adopts her for 100 yuan, and revealing his past history to her and teach her master arts of Piguaquan. She begins to help his farm work, in order to work out her body, and earns enough money to buy "iron sandbag," filled with iron grains and mung beans to train. Some years later, [[ParentalAbandonment Being left orphan after Old Farmer passes away]], she abandon her birth name and called herself "Marilyn Sue" to find jobs in the spring in [[Shanghai]] for her survival and likely to find a way to honor her adoptive grandfather's wish, she implies for [[StreetWalker Mizu]] [[HostessClub shōbai]] and it's very profitable. But one fateful night as her life was backfired as she was accused for touching customer's money, before it founds out, she nearly killed the customer and the hostess. As she was running soaked and wet in the rain to alleyway, one of the members of Black Hand found and captured her, yet immediately welcomed by its leader, Yin Hu for her lethal tactics, and not out of sympathy for her.]]

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', while not too much about her past. [[AllThereInTheManual But according to the manual]]; as some notes to be believed, she is [[spoiler: a "heihaizi" aka bastard child [[ParentalAbandonment that she was raised in an abusive family, conceived outside from the One-Child Policy]] and before being a triad assassin, she was likely appear as a [[StreetWalker prostitute]].]]

* Playing a Creator/BioWare (or Obsidian) game? Yeah. This trope will apply to your party.
** Every recruitable NPC in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. In the order you usually meet them, they are: a royal bastard left at the local church to become a mage-hunting KnightTemplar; mother is a legendary witch that intends to [[GrandTheftMe steal her body some time in the future]]; used to be [[ProfessionalKiller an assassin-bard]] whose favoured method was the HoneyTrap; killed all the inhabitants of a farmhouse [[ValuesDissonance after experiencing]] [[YouCantGoHomeAgain a big cultural no-no]]; turned into a golem some time ago and lost memories due to a very extensive AndIMustScream experience; an old lady who's really dead but kept alive by an inhabiting spirit; another assassin whose past may suck just as bad, if not worse, than the first one's; drunk whose wife left him to become a monster. Even the ''dog'' has a troubled past; the dog's original master ended up dying, and it reached you only by managing to escape the mass slaughter at Ostagar. Sometimes, you think your party should form a Country & Western band.
*** Dog's troubled past is averted if you play as the Human Noble, as s/he is Dog's original owner and survived. The Human Noble is also one of the only two possible player characters without a significantly dark and troubled past as well. The events of their origin story are horrible, to be sure (their family is betrayed and massacred by their closest friend), but it's indicated that the character's life up until that point has been largely peaceful and content.
** Considering the entire story takes place in the past, let's add ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' companions to the list: a healer who's possessed by a demon due to his own anger; an ex-slave who's hunted by his previous master; an Elven mage whose own clan views her as a walking liability; a prince whose family was murdered; and the storyteller who witnesses it all. All of this is not including main character Hawke, who [[spoiler: witnesses their siblings and mother die and is forced into war.]] The only one without a troubled past is Isabela, who seems to make light of even the worst situations.
*** Actually, Isabela was sold into marriage at an implied young age by her mother for a few silvers and a goat. Then Zevran was hired to kill him, and she inherited his ship and decided to become a pirate. Her stories about her past are the most fragmented of the party and generally consist of {{noodle incident}}s. Also, that relic she's looking for? [[spoiler:She stole it from the ''Qunari''.]] This actually [[NiceJobBreakingItHero comes back to bite the party]] in a serious way in Act 2.
** Varric, the aforementioned storyteller and resident MetaGuy, lampshades this in a conversation with Blackwall in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', actually namechecking this trope: "Let's talk about your dark and troubled past." He guesses "someone dear" to Blackwall, someone he couldn't save, "a grave error in judgment, causing too many deaths -- I've known a couple of people like that", or betrayal. Blackwall denies all of these [[spoiler:but it's later revealed that the third part is true]].
** ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic.'' Carth Onasi? NiceGuy, but has a truckload of paranoia issues. Not surprising when you find out that his EvilMentor decided to defect to the Sith, and laid waste to Carth's homeworld. Carth was widowed in the attack, and he finds out later that while his son survived, the Sith are training him in the ways of the Force. Bastila? Well, it's a mild case, but the Jedi policy of child conscription and forcing them to cut all ties with their family and loved ones isn't pleasant. Mission may not [[SatisfiedStreetRat consider her past all that troubled]], but she is a teenager pretty much living on the streets of a WretchedHive. Zaalbar? Exiled from his homeworld for flying into a rage and attacking his brother. Said brother was colluding with slavers to sell his fellow Wookiees into slavery. In his anger, Zaalbar broke the taboo about not using claws in a fight, which makes you less than an animal in Wookiee society. Juhani? [[BrokenBird Oh, where to begin?]] Her people were subject to genocide by the Mandalorians. Her parents fled but ended up on a WretchedHive that hated "aliens" and openly discriminated against them. Her father became a drug addict and died in a BarBrawl. Her mother starved to death because she was trying to feed her cub at the expense of herself, but was in debt to a loan shark, meaning Juhani was MadeASlave to pay it off. The Jedi freed her from slavery, and Juhani latched onto their Code and ideals hard. She dedicated herself to training and the Jedi way...until her master decides a good idea of a final test is to goad her into rage and trick the poor girl into thinking she killed her own master! Canderous and HK-47 certainly have dark and troubled pasts, but they're actually proud of the carnage trail they've left. And then, there's what TheReveal has to say about your PlayerCharacter.
** The second game gets an even nastier bunch of people. Kreia? Well, she's been a Jedi Master and a Sith Lord. She was probably TheManBehindTheMan for Revan. As much as she protests that she's neutral, it's obvious she hasn't given up the "Sith" part, aside from trying to setter it more towards ManipulativeBastard than StupidEvil. You don't get much more dark and troubled than [[TheAtoner Atton Rand]], either. Former Republic deserter, Jedi hunter, Sith torturer, Sith deserter, turned to smuggling, and was likely the guy trying to sell your PlayerCharacter to the Exchange. Visas is of a rare species who can see through the Force, and Darth Nihilus ''ate'' her homeworld and all life on it, sparing only her. She became his "apprentice," but in practice is more his slave and punching bag. Handmaiden is the shunned, HeroicBastard daughter of an Echani general and a Jedi. Because her daddy cheated on his wife to produce her, her sisters treat her with contempt at best. Disciple? Well, under that naive persona, he's actually a spy for the Republic, enlisting in the Republic Navy because the Jedi shrugged and threw him away after the Mandalorian Wars didn't leave enough Jedi to train apprentices. Bao-Dur? Whew. [[ShellShockedVeteran Massive]] PTSD issues from [[ShootTheDog creating and using the Mass Shadow Generator]] at Malachor. He literally threw a switch and killed thousands of allies and enemies alike. Hanharr? Well, we're dealing with Wookiees and slavery, but Hanharr was insane to begin with and slaughtered his whole village to keep them out of slaver hands. Mira? Well, her family was killed by Mandalorians, and the Mandos took her as a slave. She doesn't speak of her captors with too much rancor as they taught her how to fight and handle explosives (in ExpandedUniverse material, it explains that Mandalorians tend to "adopt" children of fallen foes that have potential to join their ranks). And your PlayerCharacter? Well, s/he left the Order to fight the Mandalorians, was the teacher that abandoned Disciple, fought in two of the nastiest battles in the War, ordered the use of the Mass Shadow Generator that made Bao-Dur's issues, was the only one of Revan's followers to walk away and try to go back to the Order, only to get slapped in the face and a sentence of Exile, left with absolutely nothing to show for all the sacrifice.
** Just about every single major character in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has some sort of tragic backstory. Even [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard]] can be customized to have one -- the Colonist background involves everyone in Shepard's [[DoomedHometown home colony]] being massacred or taken by slavers, while the Earthborn background gives him or her a criminal history, and the Sole Survivor psychological profile involves Shepard losing everyone in his or her unit to a thresher maw attack.
** By ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', the only characters who ''don't'' have such a background are Ashley and (maybe) Jacob.
** VideoGame/NeverwinterNights: By the time you meet Aribeth in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights Hordes of the Underdark'', she has a very troubled past (including being executed for something that wasn't technically her fault). The character you play in that one technically doesn't know about it, even though ''you'' almost certainly played the first campaign beforehand. Casavir in the sequel has a stormy history with Neverwinter.
** The module creating community has brought up several examples as well. Anera in the ''Shadowlords'' arc took a lot of crap from her family (the celestial side) for being too mortal and eventually entered into a relationship with a necromancer. It did not end well. Alex in ''VideoGame/TheBastardOfKosigan'' series has a very troubled one, dealing with the complications involved with being in love with the severely disfavored bastard, and her [[spoiler: abortive relationship with Vlad]]. Pia in ''VideoGame/ADanceWithRogues'' has many regrets about her time as one of Vico's playthings.

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', while not too much about her past. [[AllThereInTheManual But according to the manual]]; as some notes to be believed, as she is [[spoiler: a "heihaizi" aka bastard child [[ParentalAbandonment that she was raised in an abusive family, conceived outside from the One-Child Policy]] and before being a triad assassin, she was likely appear as a [[StreetWalker prostitute]].]]

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', while not too much about her past. [[AllThereInTheManual But according to the manual]]; as some notes to be believed, as she is [[spoiler: a "heihaizi" aka bastard child [[ParentalAbandonment that she raised as an abusive family, conceived outside from the One Child Policy]] and before being a triad assassin, she was likely appear as a [[StreetWalker prostitute]].]]

** Akechi was a bastard child [[DrivenToSuicide whose her mother was committed suicide]] out of guilt [[ParentalAbandonment to be outside One-Child Institution]]. [[spoiler:Even worse that he was being used by [[BigBad Shi]][[ManipulativeBastard do]] into killing his own allies and enemies into his dirty work.]]

** Akechi was a bastard child [[DrivenToSuicide whose her mother was committed suicide]] out of guilt to be outside One-Child Institution. [[spoiler:Even worse that was being used by [[BigBad Shido]] into killing his own allies and enemies into his dirty work]].

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of ''VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf'', while not too much about her past. [[AllThereInTheManual But according to the manual]]; as some notes to be believed, as she is [[spoiler: a "heihaizi" aka bastard child [[ParentalAbandonment that she raised as an abusive family, conceived outside from the One Child Policy]] and before being a triad assassin, she was likely a [[StreetWalker prostitute]].]]

* Marilyn Sue Dajie of "VideoGame/AkatsukiBlitzkampf", while not too much about her past. [[AllThereInTheManual But according to the manual]]; as some notes to be believed, as she is [[spoiler: a "heihaizi" aka bastard child [[ParentalAbandonment that she raised as an abusive family, conceived outside from the One Child Policy]] and before being a triad assassin, she was likely a [[StreetWalker prostitute]].]]

** Prior meeting Sonic, Miles "Tails" Prowers apparently used to be bullied and shunned by his home island's inhabitants because of his two tails.

* Shadow the Hedgehog probably has the darkest past of all the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' characters. He was created as the UltimateLifeform in an attempt to cure a [[LittlestCancerPatient terminally ill twelve-year-old girl]], had his home ambushed and said ill child die in front of him from a gunshot wound, was thrown into stasis and had his memories [[LaserGuidedAmnesia tampered by his creator]] to turn him into [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a ruthless killing machine]]. And all it took to turn his character around was a RousingSpeech by a ''different'' twelve-year-old girl, a HeroicSacrifice which resulted in him ''getting amnesia'', spending [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes not one]], [[VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog not two]], but ''[[VideoGame/SonicBattle three]]'' games trying to remember things properly again, and [[ToServeMan the near planetary takeover of an alien race]] to snap him out of his amnesia for good and to put his past behind him. ''Yikes.''

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':
** The green [[{{Animorphism}} tiger laguz]] [[TheQuietOne Muarim]] of the ''Videogame/FireEmblemTellius'' subseries was a slave in the [[HumansByAnyOtherName beorc (human)]] nation of Begnion for some time, and had an apparently cruel master. In his supports with fellow laguz Lethe, Muarim recounts that his master would beat him if he did not have the materials with which to clean his master's weapons. It seems to have affected him psychologically, as he tells Lethe that he still has trouble thinking of himself as an equal to beorc, and feels anxious whenever he does not have the materials his master once demanded of him close at hand. He tells Lethe that he cannot imagine what it is like to live with the pride that she feels as a laguz from the race's native Gallia.
** The swordsman Lon'qu of ''Videogame/FireEmblemAwakening'' grew up in the slums of the Chon'sin, and at one point when Lon'qu was young, his good friend, the little girl Ke'ri, was killed by bandits, with Lon'qu only able to watch helplessly. He developed gynophobia as a result of the incident, believing that any woman close to him would meet the same fate.

** [[TheTease Niles]] the archer of ''Videogame/FireEmblemFates'' was [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned by both of his parents at a very young age]], and grew up on the harsh and unforgiving streets of Nohr, falling in with a gang of thieves and other seedy types just to stay alive. At one point in his childhood, he had one of his ''eyes'' gouged out by another orphan, and when his gang of thieves threw him under the bus to escape when one of their heists went bad, he was close enough to the DespairEventHorizon that he begged his captor Prince Leo of Nohr to kill him and get it over with. He ended up becoming one of Leo's [[UndyingLoyalty loyal retainers]] instead. In the present, Niles' [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] and cruel tendencies are explained by him as a result of jealousy; when he sees someone who "doesn't know what suffering is," he feels the need to mess with them.

* Many of the characters in the ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series have them. [[AudienceSurrogate Raiden]], [[TheParagon The Boss]] (kind of), [[AxCrazy Psycho]] [[TragicVillain Mantis]], and [[HeartbrokenBadass Fortune]] (spoofed by Webcomic/{{Hiimdaisy}} above), to name a few. In fact, it's easier to mention the ones who didn't have it: [[MissionControl Mei]] [[TheCavalry Ling]], and.... Okay, maybe just Mei Ling.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact:

* ''VideoGame/ReKuroi'': The Anti-Wizard Coalition is made up of people who suffered from the war between the Magic School and the Western Kingdom, leading to their village being overrun by monsters. Remy is able to negotiate with them by promising to fight the monsters that are infesting their lands.

** Yusuke was orphaned and abused by his adoptive parent. [[spoiler:Worse, his adoptive parent is the reason his mother died.]]

** Asuka, who's the most at ease with the life of a Shinobi, but has never known a normal life and has an optimistic streak her foes ruthlessly exploit.

** Ikaruga, who was adopted from an impoverished family into a noble house. There's no love in this arrangement, purely the family wanting a worthy heir to inherit the family sword and name, and her adoptive older brother has ''not'' [[AxCrazy taken this turn of events well]].