History Main / DarkAndTroubledPast

* Siegfried in RichardWagner's ''RingOfTheNibelung'': An orphan, with additional guilt-inducing bonus of knowing that his mother died giving birth to him, raised by Mime to be used to kill Fafner for his hoard and the ring. Although he doesn't know it yet, his parents Siegmund and Sieglind were siblings, and his scheming grandfather Wälse alias Wotan also wanted to use Siegfried as a pawn in a longterm project and Wotan's enemy Alberich also would like to get rid of him. Sieglind saw her mother killed and was kidnapped and forced into a loveless marriage, then had to witness her brother and lover killed (which was also due to Wotan's intervention). Small wonder that one of the leitmotifs is called the Wälsungen suffering motive (''Wälsungenleidmotiv'').

** Uryuu's mother died when he was eight years old, and he has a nasty estrangement from his father because, his grandfather once implied, he completely misunderstands his [[JerkassFacade father's heart]]. He witnessed his grandfather being killed by Hollows right in front of his eyes and blames the Shinigami who didn't arrive in time to save his grandfather's life. He later learns that Mayuri delayed the Shinigami from saving his grandfather because he wanted Souken to die so that he would have a Quincy soul to experiment on. When he shows Uryuu the Souken's post-experiment remains, he gets one-shotted by an icily infuriated Uryuu. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that his mother and Ichigo's mother were killed at the same time for the same reason, and that their killer had tried - but mysteriously failed - to kill Uryuu at that moment, too. Uryuu's been a target for Yhwach's mysterious end-game ever since.]]

* MichaelJordan had to watch his friend drown trying to save him when he was a teenager, and then had his father murdered later during his career.

* Being [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer ostracized or bullied]] by your [[KidsAreCruel class]][[TeensAreMonsters mates]] or others around you. Or having a FriendlessBackground.

* Elena Gilbert from TheVampireDiaries. To date, she has lost every single one of her parental figures: her adoptive parents (who happened to be her biological Uncle and Aunt) were killed in a car accident shortly before the series began, leaving Elena with an enormous sense of survivor's guilt, having been in that same accident. She didn't find out she was adopted until halfway through the first season, and discovered that the man she thought was her uncle was actually her father, and her mother was a woman named Isobel who had been (willingly) turned into a vampire. They both died, John in order to allow Elena to wake up human at the end of the second season, and Isobel burning herself to a crisp in front of Elena in the cemetery. Jenna, Elena's aunt who assumed custody of the Gilbert siblings (technically cousins) after the tragic pre-series accident, died shortly before John, also in front of Elena, during the ritual in which Klaus ripped out her heart. And then, throughout the third season, Alaric, who had basically acted as Jeremy and Elena's guardian after Jenna's death (who had, incidentally, been in love with Jenna), became increasingly mentally unstable due to all the times he had died and come back to life with the Gilbert Life Ring, eventually turned into a vampire by the season's big bad and completely possessed by the need to eradicate the entire vampire race. And then ''he'' died, leaving Elena with Jeremy as her last living relative. And then [[spoiler: ''he'' died, triggering a HeroicBSOD during which Elena switched off her humanity. When Jeremy [[BackFromTheDead came back]], it was at the cost of the life of one of her best friends, [[ResidentWitch Bonnie Bennett]]. (She [[DeathIsCheap got better too]], but only by becoming the Anchor to the Other Side, through which every supernatural being has to pass ([[DraggedOffToHell unless you're]] [[TheScrappy Katherine]], lmao) which causes her unspeakable pain every time. AND THEN SHE GOT POSSESSED BY HER EVIL DOPPELGANGER.]] This show never gives Elena a rest.

* An interesting variation with [[TheAtoner Eliot Spencer]] from {{Leverage}}: a lot of viewers assumed that his [[PapaWolf violent reaction to an]] [[FriendToAllChildren abusive father]] stemmed from a childhood history of abuse. WordOfGod denied this, and Season 4 strongly implied a [[DirtyBusiness much less sympathetic reason]] for it.

** [[spoiler: Dumbledore, who went through the following events in his lifetime: 1) his sister was rendered [[PowerIncontinence magically unstable]] due to being attacked by [[BullyingADragon three ]] {{Muggles}}, 2) [[ParentalAbandonment his father was sent to prison for attacking said Muggles,]] 3) his mother was accidentally killed by his unstable sister, 4) he then neglected said sister and spent all his time planning a takeover of the Muggle world [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans ‘for the greater good’]] with his [[HoYay crush Gellert Grindelwald,]] and 5) he might have accidentally killed his sister in a three-way duel with his brother and Gellert Grindelwald. ([[WordOfGod Rowling says]] [[TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest that what he did while infatuated with Grindelwald turned him asexual]]).]]

* A lot of great musicians have had dark and troubled pasts. John Lennon had serious issues with the way his mother (and father) treated him, which he only started dealing with after he met Yoko Ono. Neil Young similarly had a chip on his shoulder about his parents breaking up (leading him to support Ronald Reagan under the guise of his 'strengthening the family' rhetoric, although he soon became disillusioned). John Cale, due to his grandmother not allowing any language but Welsh to be spoken in her house, never had a conversation with his Anglophonic father before he learnt English when he was nine, and he was molested by at least two older men in his youth, giving him issues that fed into his later substance abuse.

--> -- '''The {{Narrator}}''', ''Film/{{Magnolia}}''

* ''Film/XMen'':
** Magneto. "Holocaust survivor" is about as dark and troubled as it gets. He eventually settles down with a wife and daughter, only for ''them'' to die as well. It's no surprise Erik isn't exactly a ray of sunshine these days.

** Then there's the protagonist of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4''. He has to deal with a brother who constantly antagonizes and bullies him, parents that at best fall under the ParentalNeglect trope, and he's constantly dragged to a place full of animatronics that terrify him. Then the nightmares about said animatronics begin. [[spoiler: To cap it all off, he's the Bite of '87 victim.]]
** ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' has Eggs Benedict. It turns out he's actually [[spoiler:Michael Afton, the son of William Afton (the actual murderer)]]. Likewise, his sister [[spoiler:was killed by Baby]], and it's heavily implied that he's either [[spoiler:The Child from FNAF 4 (who somehow survived) or The Brother]].
*** The "Golden Freddy" cutscene takes this even further. Not only did [[spoiler:Michael]] have to deal with his father, murderous Animatronics, and [[spoiler:being cursed with immortality after barfing out Ennard]], but he also ends up [[spoiler:becoming Springtrap]]. To say he's been through a lot would be a huge understatement.

* ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'': While all three main characters have some degree of this going on, Nico takes the cake. As a young child, she was kidnapped by slavers and sold to the Dead Mountain cult, where she grew to be Master's worshipper by the way of Stockholm Syndrome. She was eventually implanted with a demonseed and sent out to murder everything - until the League of Storms beat her within an inch of her life and the Master abandoned her, took his powers away and told her she's a failure and should die. If it wasn't for Josef appearing at a fortunate moment, she absolutely would.

* Guts's childhood from ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' is singularly horrific. His mother was hanged from a tree outside a town while she was pregnant with him, causing him to be born prematurely and likely only surviving due to the soft mud from the rain. He was found by Gambino's wife Sys when his mercenary company was passing by the town and she took him in only to die of plague a year or two afterward. Gambino continued to keep him around but brutally trained him as a [[ChildSoldiers child soldier]] to earn his keep. Gambino's believed that Guts was a bad omen due to the way he was born and that he was the reason Sys died, which led to young Guts being raped when Gambino sold him for a night to a pederast soldier in his band (whom Guts later killed in the chaos of a battlefield at age 9) in addition to the horrific violence of war and constant risks to his life. It all came to a head when Gambino, his leg having been blown off by a cannonball and thus making him unfit for combat, got drunk one night and tried to kill Guts despite Guts trying his best to use his mercenary earnings to take care of Gambino. Guts was forced to kill his adoptive father in confused self-defense, but only after Gambino told him how he sold Guts to the soldier that raped him and had always resented him. Guts was almost immediately spotted by the rest of the company who proceeded to attack Guts and he only barely escaped alive. And that's just peaches compared to the stuff that comes afterwards.

* ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' is full of characters with this trope, though it's not very obvious at first. Gilbert, Vincent, Alice, Leo, Echo, and Break are probably the best examples.

* YMMV, but Mr. Rochester of ''Literature/JaneEyre'' was betrayed by his greedy father and brother to marry a woman they knew was insane just to get her money, and all the man ever wanted was to find someone to love.

* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' Tobias. His natural father had to leave, and he was given a fake father, who then left himself. His mother was in an accident and didn't even remember him, besides being blind. He was bounced among aunts and uncles who didn't really care about him and became a bully magnet.

** Starfire doesn't have the RapeAsBackstory of her comic counterpart, but she was still betrayed by her siste and sold into slavery.

* Franchise/{{Pokemon}}:
*** Blue (Green in the English version) and Silver from ''Manga/PokemonAdventures''. [[spoiler:Although the Mask of Ice DID kidnap them in order to use them for his plans, you see that he's got a heart for the kids]]. This is seen in the FRLG chapter, in the flashback of [[spoiler: Silver and Blue/Green escaping Mask of Ice. Before, you see a large ice statue of all the kidnapped children and Mask of Ice, all wearing their masks and everything. After the kids run away, you see Pryce change the sculpture into one of all the kids standing around Pryce, who is in a wheelchair, all of them smiling.]] So you gotta assume that [[spoiler: Pryce loved the kids like they were his own, even if he did kidnap them.]] Then again, [[spoiler:whether or not he loved the kids, there is no doubt that Pryce had absolutely no clue how to raise them. One panel actually hints that he physically hit Blue just because she wanted to nickname her Jigglypuff. Judging by that panel, it's pretty obvious that Blue and Silver had an awful childhood]].
** Played straight with Mitsumi in ''Manga/PokemonDiamondAndPearlAdventure''. She was raised by Cyrus to be devoid of all feelings toward Pokemon and human, her only purpose to defeat her opponents. Rowan eventually softened her up though, and made her realize that there's more to Pokemon than fighting.
* Ciel from ''Manga/BlackButler'' was a happy, loving, carefree child before his tenth birthday. Then, his parents were murdered, the mansion set on fire, and he's kidnapped. He's locked in a cage with other children his age and eventually made a child sacrifice until he accidentally called upon a demon in his desperation to live. His past is still being pieced together so more details will probably surface. No wonder he's a bitter, driven [[TroubledButCute 13-year-old.]]

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': [[DysfunctionJunction Practically everybody]]. Ed and Al lost their mother when they were young, tried to resurrect her, and failed; and, as a result, [[FirstEpisodeSpoiler Ed lost two of his limbs and Al his entire body]]. Roy and Hawkeye, among others, participated in the Ishvalan genocide and feel extremely guilty about it. Scar lost his brother in said genocide, Winry's parents were killed on the battlefield, Hohenheim [[spoiler:unknowingly helped kill off the population of an entire country]], and Bradley [[spoiler:grew up as a test subject, was injected with the Philosopher's Stone, and does not know whether his present personality is the one he had prior to the injection]].

* If anyone in ''Anime/{{Monster}}'' appears ''not'' to have a Dark and Troubled Past, just keep reading/watching and one will be revealed.
** Ironically, the king of this trope in the series is none other than that irredeemable Johan Liebert. Or is he? The debate goes on and on...

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': Shinobi in general have blood on their hands before they reach chunin rank. Also, considering they are essentially soldiers, whose relatives and friends are also soldiers, living in a warzone, nearly every character has lost someone important to them at some point.

* The majority of the cast in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', due to the nature of the series.

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series, there are several.

* Almost the entire cast of the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Music/Mothy?from=Main.Mothy Evillous Chronicles]]. Venomania was [[spoiler: locked in a basement]] and horribly bullied because of a small deformity, and then the only person who accepted him turned on him; Conchita's mother [[AbusiveParents was abusive]]; Riliane's parents died and she was forced to ascend the throne while still a little kid; Margarita's true love completely ignored her, which sent her over the DespairEventHorizon; Lukana's family died in a fire; and Gallerian's family was killed by a Giant Octopus[[spoiler: possibly by MA or Nemesis]] while Nemesis never knew her father, [[spoiler: Gallerian]], was abandoned for sometime by her mother, and later was forced to kill the man she loved by her boss. No wonder they're all so [[AxCrazy fucked]] [[MoralityKitchenSink up]]. And that's only [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a few of them]].

* In ''Theatre/PokemonLive'', Delia Ketchum used to go out with Giovanni.

* [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog 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.''

* ''Videogame/FireEmblem'':

* Every character in ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'' starts out seeming normal, but ends up having one of these - even Keiichi.
** And in "Bad Boy's Love", the ''Higurashi'' pastiche plotline in ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'', the exact same thing happens in reference to this. The cast of mostly normal OtomeGame archetypes (with one [[ObviouslyEvil cartoon villain]]) ''all'' turn out to have dark and troubled pasts, with at least one seemingly nice character [[{{Yandere}} actually being outright psychotic]].

** Ozpin admits to Ruby that he's made more mistakes than anybody in Remnant, though it isn't specified what he;'d actually done.

* The SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has given two of its main characters a Dark and Troubled Past: Mako and Bolin were street kids growing up, and Mako had to take care of his little brother.

* Artemis from WesternAnimation/YoungJustice, though it took a long time to figure out the nature of it. Turns out [[spoiler: she was raised by criminals, who trained Arty and her sister to be expert assassins. Then her mom broke her spine and was sent to jail. Her sister, not wanting to be left with their abusive father, ran-away, leaving Artemis alone for ''years'', until her now reformed mom came back, kicked her father out, and Artemis decided to become a hero.]]

* Used for comedic effect with Dr. Heinz Doofenschmirtz in WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb. In just about any plan he concocts, there is some backstory he explains to Agent P - most of his history is cringingly dark and troubled: His parents didn't even show up for his birth, he had to stand in for the broken garden gnome, got disowned by his parents, grew up with ocelots... In addition his brother, who is mayor of the Trio-Starte Area right now, always was preferred by his mother - to [[UpToEleven ridiculous extents]].

* [[KidHero Lloyd]]'s childhood stands out as being the worst of the ninjas in WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}. Abandoned by his parents ([[DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou not that they had any other choice in the matter]]) and thrown into a boarding school for kid villains, [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer heavily bullied at said boarding school]] for [[EvilIsPetty not having the drive to commit actual evil]], and trying to prove his worth as an evil mastermind despite his naivety and young age only to fall into HumiliationConga over and over again. Luckily he met his uncle and the ninjas and he got better, but as shown after [[GrowingUpSucks he is forced to grow up]], he [[StepfordSmiler still has some issues...]]

** [[BadAssGrandpa Iroh]]: was once a very powerful warrior and general in the Fire Nation army, leading a siege on Ba Sing Se. Then his son died, he went into a HeroicBSOD, and 'betrayed his nation'.

** Ymir and her vague comments about having been hated, tormented, and expected to "die for the happiness of others". [[spoiler:She was an orphan with no name who was taken in by a strange man who made her take on the name Ymir and pretend to be a reincarnation of Ymir Fritz, the creator/founder of the Titans ([[UnreliableNarrator maybe]])]]. She gained a massive following, but when the cult was found out by officials, they betrayed her. She ended up being sent to Paradis Island and spent 60 years as a mindless Titan before unknowingly stealing the Jaw Titan's powers from Reiner, Bertolt and Annie's friend Marcel (which becomes Reiner's [[MyGreatestFailure greatest failure]], as he feels responsible for not protecting Marcel).]]

** Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Reiner, and Bertolt are all refugees from Wall Maria, having lost everything when Titans destroyed their villages.
** Annie was raised as a TykeBomb by her father, put through TrainingFromHell and taught early on that HumansAreBastards.

** [[spoiler:Reiner, Bertolt, and Annie are TykeBomb [[TheMole spies]] sent to carry out genocide against mankind, and committed an act of mass murder at the age of 12 and 11 respectively on the orders of their superiors. All three are deeply traumatized as a result of their actions]].
** Ymir and her vague comments about having been hated, tormented, and expected to "die for the happiness of others". [[spoiler: She [[RobbingTheMobBank stole]] the Titan's Power from a mysterious group, and spent 60 years trapped as a mindless Titan in what she described as an endless nightmare]].

*** The Donquisote’s backstory was very dark and tragic but with an unique twist. [[spoiler: Doflamingo and his brother Rocinante both experience the same tragic past but only one turn into a monster.]] Perhaps the only time in the series that Oda took Nature side in the NatureVsNurture debate. [[note]]This is before Doflamingo met Trebol, Pica and Vergo who would then nurture his evil side even more.[[/note]]

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': To say the Author Creator/EiichiroOda is “fond of” tragic backstory and “quite good” at writing them would be an understatement. The man is an absolute master, every canonical story arcs has several DarkAndTroubledPast to tell. Not only are they informative and emotional but also filled to the brim with ChekovsGun. He also has a knack for taking otherwise “mundane” backstory mold and drawing them into originality.

*** The Donquisote’s backstory was very dark and tragic but with an unique twist. [[spoiler: Doflamingo and his brother Rocinante both experience the same tragic past but only one turn into a monster.]] Perhaps the only time in the series that Oda took Nature side in the NatureVsNurture debate. [[Note: This is before Doflamingo met Trebol, Pica and Vergo who would then nurture his evil side even more.]]

* Franchise/TheIncredibleHulk: Bruce Banner and his mother were regularly abused by his father, Brian. Brian eventually killed his wife, in front of Bruce.

** And the less said about what [[CreepyTwins Hansel and Gretel]] went through to become the completely fucked-up kids they are, the better.