History Main / MaddenIntoMisanthropy

* ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'': John Rambo is practically the poster boy of this trope, In [[Film/FirstBlood the first film]] he is a cynical Vietnam Vet. By the [[Film/RamboIV fourth movie]] he has abandoned civilization and humanity almost entirely.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Anakin Skywalker has a little of this. His ego and arrogance lead him to believe he's being held back purposely by the Jedi, creating some resentment and giving him a more aggressive, angrier, and distant demeanor (for a Jedi). However, by the time he really starts getting into it, he turns to TheDarkSide thanks to the influence of Palpatine.

** All of Danny Wallace's books (including ''Yes Man'') have something of this, though you wouldn't call him "misanthropic".

* In ''Manga/DeadmanWonderland'', BitchInSheepsClothing Minatsuki became a [[TheSociopath sociopathic]] SerialKiller after her mother [[ParentalAbandonment left her to die during an earthquake]] when she was little.

* One of the central plot elements of the ''Videogame/ShadowHearts'' series is a TomeOfEldritchLore called the Émigré Manuscript -- a book that has all manner of dark spells but is coded to the point where the spells are the diversion and anyone smart and selfless enough to ignore the spells and look at the books, greater meaning recieves a revelation into the true nature of God's plan. Only three people in the entire series have achieved this level of clarity and all three have become complete Misanthropes, after realizing basically how little the universe cares about petty human nonsense, aside from the tome itself, all three have had really messed up lives that did not mix well with said revelation.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' DependingOnTheWriter, particularly in ''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns''.

* In ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'', Halara Nightmare is exactly this trope down to the last detail, formerly being a NiceGuy/Girl who trusted and believed in anyone, before betrayal from a FalseFriend resulted in family and home difficulties, encouraging them to take a life of {{Angst}} and [[HatesEveryoneEqually hatred]]. However, those tendencies from before show up occasionally throughout the story.

-->''"What! We must give up seeing our homeland, friends, and relatives ever again?"''
-->''"Yes, sir. But giving up that intolerable earthly yoke that some men call freedom is perhaps less painful than you think!"''

* The ManBehindTheMan of ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'' is [[spoiler: Nyrissa, aka the [[BitchInSheepsClothing helpful]] Guardian of the Forest you meet early into the adventure.]] However, they weren't always like that - it was only after [[spoiler: ''having her heart removed'' and banished from the First World until she completes her RedemptionQuest of toppling a ''thousand'' kingdoms in apology for [[DisproportionateRetribution the one she'd "stolen"]] that she became the way she is now]]. Prior to this, they fell very much under the ChaoticGood, AllLovingHero category, based on the flashbacks the player can witness.

* Franchise/{{Harry|Potter}} in ''FanFic/TheDarknessSeries''. Harry becomes disgusted by his school and his so-called "friends." Sure, they'll support him when he's playing hero or won them a house cup but when the chips are down they'll readily abandon him at the first sign of trouble.
* There's also the independent!Harry and/or "Harry is falsely sentenced to Azkaban" {{Fandom Specific Plot}}s which frequently involve Harry rejecting manipulative headmasters and his once friends for new friends (frequently [[OriginalCharacter OCs]], Slytherins, and/or Crossover characters), learns [[TheDarkArts awesome and questionable new skills]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking gets gothic clothing and tattoos]].

* ComicBook/{{Magneto}} had this happen to him ''twice:'' once when he was driven into his supervillainous status by his experiences in the Holocaust, the death of his daughter Anya, and the abandonment of his wife Magda, and a second time after [[ILetGwenStacyDie losing two of his students]] and being [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured almost to the breaking point]] by someone trying to steal his powers.

* Naofumi in ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'' starts off quite upbeat and positive. However, the horrendous treatment he suffers at the hands of Malty, the King, and his fellow heroes sours his outlook considerably.

Have you ever been '''''so''''' annoyed with life, you just want to forget about "civilized" culture and become ADarkerMe? Or [[BeneathTheMask a different you]]? [[{{Ubermensch}} The kind of person]] [[BeneathTheMask who couldn't care less about social conventions]] and went about exacting [[DisproportionateRetribution Disproportionate (but poetic) Retribution]]?

* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': Captain Nemo’s BackStory is not fully revealed in this novel, but he declares he has lost all his family because of TheEmpire, and definitely he shows {{Angst}} about it. [[HandshakeRefusal He never shakes hands with Professor Aronnax]], he [[LonersAreFreaks has severed all contact with the "civilized" world]] [[AboveGoodAndEvil and its morality]], and [[StartMyOwn creates his own society]] of people that also had been maddened into misanthropy that will become an NGOSuperpower. Oh, and he tries to become an {{Ubermensch}}. When Aronnax calls him out about the cruelty implied in never letting them leave the Nautilus, he answers:

Related to BeneathTheMask. WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds is usually less fun than this. For the exaggerated version, see MurderIntoMalevolence. Compare the MirrorMoralityMachine and PutThemAllOutOfMyMisery. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Has nothing to do with]] VideoGame/MaddenNFL. [[SeriousBusiness Well, at least not for most of us]]... See also DidYouThinkICantFeel

What comes next is usually [[BlitheSpirit pretty fun]]. The character in question will systematically [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruct]] the parts of modern living, culture, work, and their own life that they dislike, and rebuild these relationships from their end into something workable (again, for them). They will reject conventions like white lies, [[BrutalHonesty saying exactly what they feel and think]]. They will not dress to expectation, [[UnkemptBeauty going unkempt]], wearing only things that are comfortable, or switching to a highly unique personal style. If someone annoys them, they won't bother acknowledging their presence. If they try to pester the misanthrope, they won't hesitate to tell them exactly how much of a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] they are. If the misanthrope dislikes them enough or outright ''[[MisanthropeSupreme hates]]'' them, they will use threats or {{slapstick}}-level physical comedy to subdue or chase them off. They won't kill anyone, but likely because they now have such an efficient way of venting their anger, they either don't ''get'' that angry anymore or don't stay angry long enough to cause them stress.

What comes next is usually pretty fun. The character in question will systematically [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstruct]] the parts of modern living, culture, work, and their own life that they dislike, and rebuild these relationships from their end into something workable (again, for them). They will reject conventions like white lies, [[BrutalHonesty saying exactly what they feel and think]]. They will not dress to expectation, [[UnkemptBeauty going unkempt]], wearing only things that are comfortable, or switching to a highly unique personal style. If someone annoys them, they won't bother acknowledging their presence. If they try to pester the misanthrope, they won't hesitate to tell them exactly how much of a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] they are. If the misanthrope dislikes them enough or outright ''[[MisanthropeSupreme hates]]'' them, they will use threats or {{slapstick}}-level physical comedy to subdue or chase them off. They won't kill anyone, but likely because they now have such an efficient way of venting their anger, they either don't ''get'' that angry anymore or don't stay angry long enough to cause them stress.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Played with in the case of Trafalgar Law, a man nigh infamous for his cruelty, and who is still a rather laid-back person, if a bit cold. Though, as bad he is, he was even ''worse'' as a child -- [[spoiler:if it weren't for Corazon showing him compassion and love]], he would've been a ''lot'' more cynical after [[spoiler:the world abandoned his city to burn a fiery death after using its people to dig up the poisonous Amber Lead for profit]]. Instead, while he still has a remarkably jaded a view of the world, he hasn't lost his capacity for mercy and compassion, even if he doesn't show it all the time. That being said, he's still a pirate, and he is primarily concerned with himself, those allied with him, and his goals: [[spoiler:particularly, his goal of killing Doflamingo for Corazon's death]].

* This happened to Sensui in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. He acquired a copy of the Chapter Black, a video tape kept by the Celestial Bureacracy containing every single evil deed ever performed by humanity. On watching it, he became convinced humans had no justification to continue existing. His recruits were also forced to watch it. (What he didn't realize is that the Chapter Black has a counterpart, the Chapter ''White'', which records every ''good'' deed humanity has ever done. The two were never meant to be watched separately; Koenma even dismisses the Chapter Black as "a one-sided argument".)

* ''ComicBook/{{Wanted}}'' (both the film and comic) has Fox systematically madden and train Wesley into a badass who has zero regard for playing by the rules that made his pre-fraternity life miserable. Amazingly for a career killer, he handles the breakup with his girlfriend by casually breezing into and out of their apartment, much to her anger and confusion. The comic has Wesley brutally beaten weekly (only to later let him free to have a go at hurting his 'trainer'). The film adds a nice ShutUpHannibal confrontation with his former boss and a keyboard comeuppance to the friend who was cheating with his girlfriend.

* In ''Fanfic/ThoseWhoStandForNothingFallForAnything'' L already has this attitude from [[BreakTheCutie the things that have happened to him pre-story]] and Light is also {{s|anitySlippage}}lipping into this as his mask of perfection begins slipping. However, the people around him frequently make excuses for his behavior [[ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem because of who he is]] and try their best not to notice--such as when his wife excuses his foul moods as "headaches."

* ''Film/AmericanBeauty'': The whole point of this movie, too, ultimately played for tragedy. At least, the implication is that Lester's misanthropy leads him to a much greater understanding and acceptance of himself, up until [[spoiler:his homophobic, in-the-closet neighbor shoots him dead after [[MistakenForGay mistaking him for being gay]]]].

* ''Film/TheBraveOne'': At the very beginning of the film, Erica Bain spouses a great love for New York and the people in it on her radio show. By the end of the first act, what has happened to her ([[spoiler:thugs killing her husband, taking her dog, and beating her within an inch of her life]]) had driven her to spouse that she is ''terrified'' of the city, and what she does to the people who had done said wrong [[VigilanteMan is not pleasant at all]].

* ''Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi'': The result of the TraumaCongaLine that [[spoiler:the not-Avatar Yun]] is going through. [[spoiler:After learning that he's not the Avatar, something that has been his main defining identity for years, and being abandoned by his mentor/father-figure, Yun fought tooth and nail to get back from the Spirit World to the Human World. When a teahouse owner refused to let a parched Yun have some water to drink, Yun realized that all the people he had sworn to protect as the Avatar were not only UngratefulBastards, but were openly ''mocking'' him, Yun ends up becoming an angry, walking RoaringRampageOfRevenge to take out his hurt and pain on everyone that lied to him about being the Avatar -- which ends up meaning his violence is aimed at ''everyone''.]]

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George, unsatisfied with his lot, decides to take the opposite approach to everything he does, starting by asking a woman out by being honest and saying he's "unemployed and lives with his parents." Everything drastically improves for him from there: he ''gets'' the girl, moves out of his parents' apartment and gets a job with the Yankees!

* In ''VideoGame/{{Darkwood}}'', this is deconstructed with the Doctor, who undergoes this after getting fed up with the ungrateful Villagers of the Silent Forest he tried to help cure after being infected by a dangerous plague. This leads to him unleashing his rage upon the Protagonist when they first met and beating him senseless when he wouldn’t reveal the exit to escape the forest (or rather he couldn’t because [[BodyHorror he can’t talk in his current plague-infected state]]). But when he re-confronts the Doctor once more in the Old Woods and has him cornered, [[spoiler:he pleaded his case and revealed that all he [[DesperatePleaForHome desperately wanted was to go home]] — the same motive driving the Protagonist to escape the forest. As a result, the Protagonist’s first dialogue choice (which hints what his true feelings on the matter are) is to help the Doctor, despite everything he did to the Protagonist. This meant that had the Doctor been nicer and struck a deal with the Protagonist from the get-go that he would’ve likely agreed to help the Doctor; his {{Jerkass}} behavior only made the situation worse for him even if it made him feel better at first]].

* One of the central plot elements of the ''Videogame/ShadowHearts'' series is a TomeOfEldritchLore called the Émigré Manuscript -- a book that has all manner of dark spells but is coded to the point where the spells are the diversion and anyone smart and selfless enough to ignore the spells and look at the books, greater meaning recieves a revelation into the true nature of God's plan. Only three people in the entire series have achieved this level of clarity and all three have become complete Misanthropes, after realization basically how little the universe cares about petty human nonsense, aside from the tome itself, all three have had really messed up lives that did not mix well with said revelation.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TimeSquad'', Creator/EdgarAllanPoe is shown as a SickeninglySweet StepfordSmiler {{Manchild}} whose writings areall about {{Sugar Bowl}}s and other cute, fluffy things. However, at the end, the main characters openly criticize a pink cake he baked for them, which eventually drove him into becoming... Well, Edgar Allan Poe.

* 'Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi'': The result of the TraumaCongaLine that [[spoiler:the not-Avatar Yun]] is going through. [[spoiler:After learning that he's not the Avatar, something that has been his main defining identity for years, and being abandoned by his mentor/father-figure, Yun fought tooth and nail to get back from the Spirit World to the Human World. When a teahouse owner refused to let a parched Yun have some water to drink, Yun realized that all the people he had sworn to protect as the Avatar were not only UngratefulBastards, but were openly ''mocking'' him, Yun ends up becoming an angry, walking RoaringRampageOfRevenge to take out his hurt and pain on everyone that lied to him about being the Avatar -- which ends up meaning his violence is aimed at ''everyone''.]]

* ''[[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Timon of Athens]]''. He likes people and people like him, and he gives people money and lavish gifts; then he gets in some financial trouble and his friends won't help him, so he becomes a misanthrope and lives in a cave. His one true friend, an actual misanthrope, berates him for being a copycat.

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* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' DependingOnTheWriter, particularly in ''Comicbook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns''.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Inverted in ''Webcomic/LsEmpire'', where constantly exposure to small creatures caused [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Phala]] to ''regain'' her sanity.

* BigBad [[spoiler: Adachi]] in ''VideoGame/Persona4''. As a result of his FriendlessBackground and being reassigned FromNewYorkToNowhere, he spent all his free time drinking and watching TV in his apartment out of SmallTownBoredom. The [[GoMadFromTheIsolation lack of positive outlets in his life]] alongside his sociopathic tendencies and superiority complex [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkcmxrkHXD0 were the perfect ingredients to turn him into one of the more realistic depictions of a]] SerialKiller and a MisanthropeSupreme.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Played with. Trafalgar Law, a man nigh infamous for his cruelty, is still a rather laid-back person, if a bit cold. Though, as bad he is, he was even ''worse'' as a child -- [[spoiler:if it weren't for Corazon showing him compassion and love]], he would've been a ''lot'' more cynical after [[spoiler:the world abandoned his city to burn a fiery death after using its people to dig up the poisonous Amber Lead for profit]]. Instead, while he still has a remarkably jaded a view of the world, he hasn't lost his capacity for mercy and compassion, even if he doesn't show it all the time. That being said, he's still a pirate, and he is primarily concerned with himself, those allied with him, and his goals: [[spoiler:particularly, his goal of killing Doflamingo for Corazon's death]].
* Naofumi in ''LightNovel/TheRisingOfTheShieldHero'', starts off quite upbeat and positive. However, the horrendous treatment he suffers at the hands of Malty, the King, and his fellow heroes sours his outlook considerably.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'': ''[[VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain Blood Omen]]'' is about [[VillainProtagonist Kain's]] descent from a haughty nobleman to the last of the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]] in Nosgoth. While born a human, he gets turned into a vampire after being killed by a group of bandits, and throughout the game, he bears witness to [[SanitySlippage sorcerers driven to insanity]], [[RapePillageAndBurn devastation]] caused by TheEmpire, a [[{{Ephebophile}} pedophilic doll-maker]], and [[KnightTemplar heretical vampire crusades]]. By the end of the game, Kain has become so thoroughly disgusted by humanity that he chooses to let Nosgoth fall in decay and ruin, and establish a vampiric empire to rule and subjugate humans with. By the time of ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKainSoulReaver Soul Reaver]], Kain's mortal origins have been all but forgotten.

* This happened to Sensui in ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. He acquired a copy of the Chapter Black, a video tape kept by the CelestialBureacracy containing every single evil deed ever performed by humanity. On watching it, he became convinced humans had no justification to continue existing. His recruits were also forced to watch it. (What he didn't realize is that the Chapter Black has a counterpart, the Chapter ''White'', which records every ''good'' deed humanity has ever done. The two were never meant to be watched separately; Koenma even dismisses the Chapter Black as "a one-sided argument".)