History Main / SourOutsideSadInside

* ''ComicBook/Aquaman1991'' exemplified this for ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'', as after the death of his son and estrangement from Mera, he acted cold and angry on the outside but was plagued with sorrow and insecurity on the inside. Battling his EnemyWithout, Thanatos, helped him confront his inner demons head-on and admit to feeling sad.
* [[PhysicalGod Xadhoom]] from ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'': her role in the fall of her planet and her people (as well as the fact that she wasn't there during the event ) caused her to develop an insane amount of rage and guilt that she can only express by taking revenge on the aliens that attacked them. As such, she is very abrupt, callous, and rude toward practically everybody, only allowing herself '''very''' brief moments of friendship with Paperinik who, as herself admitted, is the only person she can count on in the whole universe.
* Ray of ''ComicBook/{{Plutona}}'' is an abrasive jerk to everyone he meets because his father is neglectful and abusive. He's given the opportunity to open up over the course of the story.
* It's strongly implied that part of the reason Kim Pine in ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' acts so cold (especially to the protagonist) is due to the lack of closure in their relationship when Scott moved away [[spoiler:and had their mutual friend tell Kim about it as opposed to Scott himself]]. When this topic finally gets brought to the surface, it's the only time in the entire series where Kim looks genuinely hurt.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Paula von Gunther seemed like a cruel and sadistic Nazi spy until Diana forced her to tell her story with the magic lasso, at which point Paula revealed that she hated the Nazis and was only working for them because they'd murdered her husband right in front of her for her refusal to work for them and then taken her daughter hostage. Her apparent sadism was a result of her feeling she had no other way to help her daughter but no hope of actually rescuing or seeing her little girl again, so she hardened her heart and felt furious with those who seemed to be living happy or meaningful lives.

* Miu Iruma from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' is, simply put, a hot mess. She is extremely abrasive and prickly, hurling insults at her classmates, getting angry at them for wasting her time, and generally being a nuisance, making her TheFriendNobodyLikes. Underneath all these are [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex a lot of insecurities]]. She did [[FriendlessBackground not have anyone she could call a friend]] before participating in the Killing Game, something she is embarrassed to admit, and [[IJustWantToBeLoved she tries very hard to get people to like her because of her beauty and genius]], but she falls apart very quickly whenever these attempts fail (which is more often than not). [[spoiler:She does not trust her classmates enough to work with them, and as the Killing Game progresses, she ends up attempting to kill Kokichi so that she can escape.]] Her Love Suite Event suggests that Miu has severe abandonment issues, making her loneliness worse; in the middle of an otherwise pleasant ChildhoodFriendRomance, Miu invokes a BabyTrap plan, believing it is the only sure way that her childhood friend would not abandon her. Lastly, taking her friendless background into consideration, she will [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe quickly fall in love with anyone who shows her even a small amount of affection]].

* Angel Dust from ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'' is an unabashed prostitute/porn star/gangster who does drugs and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking insults people]] on the regular. However, "Addict" reveals that most of it is to escape from the [[{{Understatement}} harsh]] realities inflicted upon him by [[BadBoss Valentino]].

* ''VisualNovel/BuriedStars'': Hyesung and Seil are two of the most cynical and abrasive members of the cast, to the extent that talking to them almost always lowers Do-yoon's SanityMeter. They both have their reasons, however.

* ''VisualNovel/MagicKyunRenaissance'' Teika is this because of the pressure his older brothers are putting on him to become Artista Prince. As a result, he bottles up his feelings and puts on a stern and cold demeanor towards others. Despite his denials, Aoi and Kohana both note that he is sad on the inside, the former through observation by virtue of being ChildhoodFriends with Teika, and the latter because she detected a sad feeling in his sparkles when he sings.

* Miu Iruma from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' is, simply put, a hot mess. She is extremely abrasive and prickly, hurling insults at her classmates, getting angry at them for wasting her time, and generally being a nuisance, making her TheFriendNobodyLikes. Underneath all these are [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex a lot of insecurities]]. She did [[FriendlessBackground not have anyone she could call a friend]] before participating in the Killing Game, something she is embarrassed to admit, and [[IJustWantToBeLoved she tries very hard to get people to like her because of her beauty and genius]], but she falls apart very quickly whenever these attempts fail (which is more often than not). [[spoiler:She does not trust her classmates enough to work with them, and as the Killing Game progresses, she ends up attempting to kill Kokichi so that she can escape.]] Her Love Suite Event suggests that Miu has severe abandonment issues, making her loneliness worse; in the middle of an otherwise pleasant ChildhoodFriendRomance, Miu invokes a BabyTrap plan, believing it is the only sure way that her childhood friend would not abandon her. Lastly, taking her friendless background into consideration, she will [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe quickly fall in love with anyone who shows her even a small amount of affection]].

This is a common method of creating a JerkassWoobie. By being introduced as a jerk that the audience hates, only for character development to reveal that in reality, they're just [[SafetyInIndifference scared of getting close]] to anyone.

* [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Hiyokio Saionji]] from ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair''. It's clear behind her sunny yet extremely sour personality that Hiyoko is a deeply sad girl who just wants a friend but can't make any because of her trust issues and tendency to push others away because of her past of being abused and neglected by pretty much everyone, she finally does make a friend in [[NiceGirl Mahiru Koizumi]] [[spoiler: only for Mahiru to end up dead days later which only adds to Hiyoko's deeply routed sadness and self-hatred. While it doesn't excuse her behavior, it's utterly depressing that Hiyoko never really had a chance to show others that she had a good heart deep down because of how often others hurt her and that her one chance of happiness was cruelly taken away from her.]]

* [[TheBully Hiyoko]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Saionji]] from ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair''. It's clear behind her sunny yet extremely sour personality that Hiyoko is a deeply sad girl who just wants a friend but can't make any because of her trust issues and tendency to push others away because of her past of being abused and neglected by pretty much everyone, she finally does make a friend in [[NiceGirl Mahiru Koizumi]] [[spoiler: only for Mahiru to end up dead days later which only adds to Hiyoko's deeply routed sadness and self-hatred. While it doesn't excuse her behavior, it's utterly depressing that Hiyoko never really had a chance to show others that she had a good heart deep down because of how often others hurt her and that her one chance of happiness was cruelly taken away from her.]]

* Miu Iruma from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' is, simply put, a hot mess. She is extremely abrasive and prickly, hurling insults at her classmates, getting angry at them for wasting her time, and generally being a nuisance, making her TheFriendNobodyLikes. Underneath all these are [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex a lot of insecurities]]. She did [[FriendlessBackground not have anyone she could call a friend]] before participating in the Killing Game, something she is embarrassed to admit, and [[IJustWantToBeLoved she tries very hard to get people to like her because of her beauty and genius]], but she falls apart very quickly whenever these attempts fail (which is more often than not). [[spoiler:She does not trust her classmates enough to work with them, and as the Killing Game progresses, she ends up attempting to kill Kokichi so that she can escape.]] Her Love Suite Event suggests that Miu has severe abandonment issues, making her loneliness worse; in the middle of an otherwise pleasant ChildhoodFriendRomance, Miu invokes a BabyTrap plan, believing it is the only sure way that her childhood friend would not abandon her. Lastly, taking her friendless background into consideration, she will [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe quickly fall in love with anyone who shows her even a small amount of affection]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Sakana}}'':
** Yuudai is an angry, loud-mouth jerk who claims to "hate everybody"...except he actually doesn't. WordOfGod confirms that Yuudai suffered some pretty hardcore abuse not too long ago and, in reality, is so afraid of being hurt again that he pushes everyone away. Due to this, he is very sad and lonely but maintains a sour exterior to hide his feelings-- which works remarkably.

* It's strongly implied that part of the reason Kim Pin in ''ComicBook/ScottPilgrim'' acts so cold (especially to the protagonist) is due to the lack of closure in their relationship when Scott moved away [[spoiler:and had their mutual friend tell Kim about it as opposed to Scott himself]]. When this topic finally gets brought to the surface, it's the only time in the entire series where Kim looks genuinely hurt.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/GoddessOfVictoryNikke'': Eunhwa's [[spoiler:near constant put downs and harsh {{Jerkass}} attitude towards Team Counters are revealed to be her essentially lashing out at Rapi, still hurt and upset at the fact that her ex-teammate simply resigned without word or warning one day.]]
[[/folder]]