History Main / StagesOfMonsterGrief

** This trope is also in effect for other top tier, highly experimental SOLDIER members, such as Angeal, Genesis and the unofficial member of the family, our man Cloud Strife (who wasn't officially a SOLDIER but had all the experimental modifications on the level of the "golden trio"). For Cloud, though, the progression through stages is made harder by the fact that Sephiroth deliberately deceives him on what his true nature is, claiming he never even was human to begin with.

[[folder:In character entry]]
HeyYou! Yeah, ''you,'' the one drinking the rats' blood. Don't act so surprised, you're not the only freak in this town, and lucky you, I'm in a sharing mood.

You're new to this whole "being a monster" thing, so I'll cut you a break. You're probably thinking this is all [[AllJustADream some horrible nightmare]], or you just have some [[LittlestCancerPatient exotic new disease]]... well, sorry to break it to you, but [[ViralTransformation you ain't human no more]] and the sooner you realize it the better off we'll all be.

After [[WhatHaveIBecome noticing the first signs]], most "people" [-(and I [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman use the term]] [[IWouldSayIfICouldSay loosely]])-] prefer to live in '''[[ZombieInfectee Denial]]''' and act like nothing's the matter for as long as they can... but sooner or later the HorrorHunger kicks in and they [[WarmBloodbagsAreEverywhere take a bite from whoever is nearest]]. [[GameFace Not]] a [[GlamourFailure pretty picture]]. Seriously, it's like waking up and seeing a TomatoInTheMirror.

If they aren't '''[[DrivenToSuicide Depressed]]''' enough to [[WeakenedByTheLight take a walk in the sun]] or hide in the woods, they'll get angry. And I mean ''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge really]]'' angry, [[IHateYouVampireDad cut out your sire's heart with a rusty wooden spoon]] and [[KillItWithFire burn his castle down]] angry. These '''[[VampireRefugee Defiant]]''' SOB's usually can't keep it in their pants, either; before long they'll [[HunterOfHisOwnKind start gunning for the rest of us]], as if dying once wasn't hard enough.

Me? I'm at what you'd call '''[[IAmWhatIAm Acceptance]]''' [-(and if you have a lick of sense, you will too)-]. You wake up one night, realize [[WhoWantsToLiveForever forever is a long time to mope]], and [[LivingForeverIsAwesome decide to make the most of it]]. Most of us are sane, and some even do a [[ReluctantMonster good impression]] of [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Mahatma-bloodsucking-Gandhi]]. That's [[FullyEmbracedFiend not to say we're all "nice"]] or [[VegetarianVampire never hurt anyone]], we just don't see the point in beating yourself [-[[ImAHumanitarian (or your food)]]-] up.

Speaking of which, try to avoid the loonies who [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope jumped]] at the chance to '''[[TranshumanTreachery Betray]]''' humanity. These types think being a monster is an excuse to act like one. [-(Well yeah, we ''are'' monsters, but there's no need to be a ''monster'' about it.)-] Thankfully, these idiots tend to burn out pretty fast, what with ignoring the {{Masquerade}} and acting all {{Horror}} movie monster. ... but those that don't? Yeah, watch out for those. I don't know why, but these bastards seem to actually [[TheDarkSide get stronger]] from all that [[KickTheDog puppy kicking]], though they usually [[EvilMakesYouMonstrous stop even looking remotely human]].

Anyway, nice talking to you kid. If you have any questions, need advice, or a shoulder to cry on... [[SinkOrSwimMentor find someone else!]]
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[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* ''Literature/EntirelyPresentingYou'': The story follows a teenage girl as she comes to grips with gaining powers of a 'vampire.'
[[/folder]]

* In ''Manga/{{Shiki}}'', every one of the stages can be observed in the various undead characters.

* ''FanFic/TheReturn'' has charted the protagonist's descent through all stages from denial (ended rather harshly with the creation of a new demonic daughter), defiance (allow her to denigrate and abuse her inadvertent transformers), acceptance with the creation of a whole brood of fellow demons and daughters), all the way through to the cusp of betrayal. Only the fact her new human "friends" are a bunch of [[NGOSuperPower above the law mercs]] who let her kill and feast on flesh with impunity is preventing that final step.

** Spike, meanwhile, is harder to tell since at least some of his madness after getting his soul was driven by the First Evil tormenting him. He seems to reach Acceptance at some point in late season 7 of ''Buffy'', much to Angel's chagrin as he saw this as Spike coping with the guilt ''too easily''. Also unlike Angel Spike does identify more with his human self, William, having kept many of William's traits even when soulless, and got his soul intentionally as opposed to Angel who was cursed.

* Michael goes through this in the ''Film/{{Underworld}}'' movies, completely disbelieving what he's seeing, forcing himself to eat normal food and then deciding ah screw it; living forever with Kate Beckinsale, it could be a lot worse.

* In the sapphic werewolf interactive novel ''{{VideoGame/Moonrise}}'', the player character can express all the stages of grief over their non-consenual transformation into a werewolf.

* Because Seth Brundle's painful and humiliating metamorphosis into the titular creature of ''Film/TheFly1986'' is a ''slow'' one, he cycles through denial, horror, fascination with his newfound abilities, and finally acceptance in its one month+ period. He ''still'' wants to be human again even as his mind becomes more instinctual and survival-driven, however, and the ultimate result is he hits the defiance and then betrayal stages, [[spoiler: trying to forcibly merge himself with his human lover and their unborn child to create one entity, along the way maiming the man who was the Unwitting Instigator of Doom for his Tragic Accident. The spectacular failure of this plan leaves him even worse off and suicidal, but he has to convince his lover to end his misery]].

* One now deleted crossover of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' and ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' featured Naruto, after death, being transformed into a Hollow. At first he attempted to communicate with other Hollows as though they were rational humans and learn what had happened to him and how to undo it(Denial). When it became clear a fellow Hollow planned to eat a human, he lashed out and killed the offending party before fleeing back to Hueco Mundo(Defiance). Faced with the reality of his situation, Naruto descended into a typical Hollow mindset within that world, killing other Hollows in a mindless rage(borderline-Betrayal). Finally, he regained his senses and chose to deny his base urges and seek companionship among shinigami (Acceptance).

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

You're new to this whole "being a monster" thing, so I'll cut you a break. You're probably thinking this is all [[AllJustADream some horrible nightmare]], or you just [[IllGirl have some]] [[LittlestCancerPatient exotic new disease]]... well, sorry to break it to you, but [[ViralTransformation you ain't human no more]] and the sooner you realize it the better off we'll all be.

** Sylvannas' entire characterization is the stages: she starts out in Denial, attempting to ignore her undeath so she can re-integrate with elven society, but when they (including her sisters) excommunicate her, she moves on to the third phase and spends every waking moment in sheer Defiance of Arthas for denying her a just death. After Arthas is finally defeated, she decides she has no purpose and decides to roll back to phase two, committing SuicideByCop... at which point the sheer ''horror'' of [[AndIMustScream The Maw]] breaks her, and when she is resurrected she has fully Accepted her undeath, psychopathy included, as preferential to her soul being slowly eaten in a sensory-deprivation chamber. She spends the next five expansions developing a severe loathing of the living, which finally erupts when her sisters reject her a second time, causing her to embrace Betrayal, where she fully commits to the previously-nebulous deal she made with The Maw's ruler to enslave Azeroth and devour its souls in exchange for her position as queen of the world.
* Sephiroth in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' goes through something like this after finding out he's not exactly human, though no physical change is involved (at first). First, he flips out at the possibility that he's something like the mako-mutated monsters in the Nibelheim reactor, and then rages in Defiance against Shinra who made him that way. Then he comes to believe he's an Ancient and lashes out against humans. Finally he finds out his true nature and Acceptance is accompanied by Betrayal when he prepares to destroy the world to his own ends because he no longer cares about anyone on it.

* Because Seth Brundle's painful and humiliating metamorphosis into the titular creature of ''Film/TheFly1986'' is a ''slow'' one, he cycles through denial, horror, fascination with his newfound abilities, and finally acceptance in its one month+ period. He ''still'' wants to be human again even as his mind becomes more instinctual and survival-driven, however, and the ultimate result is he hits the defiance ''and'' betrayal stages by [[spoiler: trying to forcibly merge himself with his human lover and their unborn child to create one entity, along the way maiming the man who was the Unwitting Instigator of Doom for his Tragic Accident. The spectacular failure of this plan leaves him even worse off and suicidal, but he has to convince his lover to end his misery]].

* Because Seth Brundle's painful and humiliating metamorphosis into the titular creature of ''Film/TheFly1986'' was a ''slow'' one, he transists from horror, denial, fascination with his newfound abilities and finally acceptance in its one month period. Somewhat subverted, however, in that he ''still'' wants to be human again.

* In ''[[FanFic/{{TheNotSoShortSecondLifeOfBreeTanner}} The (Not So) Short Second Life of Bree Tanner]]'' by Oy! Angelina, Bree struggles to adopt the Cullens' human-friendly diet and explores the emotional repercussions of living up to that decision, the temptation to abandon it and [[spoiler:some really compelling arguments by Alec on why the Cullens aren't role-models]].
* Many ''Franchise/JakAndDaxter'' fanfics tend to focus on this, due to Jak's SuperPoweredEvilSide.

The usual first stage is '''[[ZombieInfectee Denial]]''', the character pretends nothing is different, often harming themselves and/or others when their HorrorHunger goes uncontrolled, they ignore their new WeaksauceWeakness, or their human mask slips. If they aren't '''DrivenToSuicide''' by taking a [[SuicideBySunlight sunlit stroll]], they reach '''[[VampireRefugee Defiance]]''', where they take out their anger at no longer being human out on the "[[HunterOfHisOwnKind things that made me this way!]]" This can get ethically messy if [[DarkIsNotEvil not all non-humans are evil]], leading to VanHelsingHateCrimes.

* Subverted on ''Series/TrueBlood'': Jessica's immediate reaction to finding out that she's a vampire is a little happy dance and a shout of joy. She doesn't start to think that she's a freak of nature until later.

* ''WorldOfWarcraft''

* Stage One perfectly played on ''TheVampireDiaries'' by [[spoiler: Caroline Forbes]] in Season two, episode two, "Brave New World."