History Main / TragicHero

* Some of the victims in ''Series/ColdCase''.
** Officer Joe Washington from "The Runner" wanted to get his loved ones out of the ghetto but he is killed while trying to stop a rape. Without him, they languish in poverty for 20 years. His wife had a miscarriage. She also thought that he was cheating on her. His murderer is the one who got out of the ghetto.
** Greg Vizcaino from "Discretion" was an ADA who found out that the suspect he's prosecuting was innocent. He is killed after finding out that the investigating officer framed an innocent Latino kid because its easier than arresting the actual murderers who were rich and white.
** Zeke Williams from "Strange Fruit" saves a black maid from being raped by her white employer and for that he is lynched.
** Amy Lind from Start-Up" built a company around a medical search engine to help people. She is instead murdered by her own partner Scott and their company went bust soon after.
** Laura Mckinney from "True Calling" was an optimistic young teacher who took a job at an inner city high school. She was murdered by another teacher after she found out that he was using one of her students as a drug mule.
** Marlene Bradford from "A Dollar, A Dream" was a mother doing the best she can for her girls after they lose their home. She is killed by a crazy homeless man she tried to help.
** Mike Chulaski from "Cargo" was a longshoreman who tried to save girl from prostitution. He is killed by another prostitute who was desperate to get out of the life.
** Ally Thurston from "Wings" was a stewardess from the 1960s who got a pilot who was sexually harassing the stewardesses fired. She is killed by the man's lover.
** Vivian Lynn from "WASP" wanted to bring the man who got her friend killed to justice but she is killed by her own superior officer to protect the WASP program from getting shut down.
** Just like Mike, Jack Chao Lu from "Chinatown" tried to go up against the criminal element in his neighborhood. He was killed after he found out that his own brother Ling was helping a gang transport drugs.

* ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' is eaten up by guilt for not being able to save his parents (even though he was just a boy) and he resolves to make sure this never happens to anyone else again even if it takes the rest of his life. And in some adaptations, ''it does''.
* ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}. He's been through hell since day one, his greatest foes actively sabotaging every good thing that ever happens to him (or occasionally doing it to himself) and has been through so many [[TraumaCongaLine Trauma Conga Lines]] it's a wonder he can keep dancing them without ending it all, but he's ''still'' devoted to saving his city and [[RealMenLoveJesus believes that God will guide him to a better future.]] Matt Murdock is a {{Determinator}} to the end.
* ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk is a quintessential example. [[Characters/MarvelComicsBruceBanner Bruce Banner]] is forced to become the Hulk due to his extreme rage (and the trauma of his past) which drives him to [[PersonOfMassDestruction cause terrible destruction,]] but he's also a loyal friend and will ''always'' save the day when he's needed. Everyone who knows him knows he's NotEvilJustMisunderstood, but that won't stop people like [[{{Jerkass}} General Thunderbolt Ross]] from labelling him a monster and trying everything in their power to bring him down. It doesn't help that his threat level leaves [[TheDreaded everyone, even his allies wary of him]], which alienates him further. Most of the time, the Hulk simply wants to be left alone.

* Morpheus, or Dream of the Endless, from ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989''. His pride, his stubbornness and his fanatical devotions to his own duties as the aspect of Dream constantly conspire to make his life(?) an eternal mess. [[spoiler:In the end, he has to choose between changing or dying, and as it turns out, he is unable to change himself enough.]]

* [[Characters/WatchmenRorschach Rorschach]], from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' [[spoiler:dies trying to expose Ozymandias' mass murder plan to end the Cold War]] because he refused to compromise truth even in the face of total annihilation or seeing his own flawed nature.
* Almost half of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' have tragic backgrounds, such as [[Characters/MarvelComicsCyclops Cyclops]] who can't control his powers, his love life in shambles, and accidentally killed his mentor/father figure.
** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s life has been utter ''hell'' since a young age and he's been through so much horror he could make an anthology film about it (his time in Weapon X alone left him scarred for life). His JerkWithAHeartOfGold persona stems from the experiences of losing everyone he cares about and he dislikes forming attachments to others because it almost always ends in misery for him.
** His [[OppositeSexClone daughter]] ComicBook/{{X 23}} ([[Characters/MarvelComicsLauraKinney Laura Kinney]]) has had it ''even worse'' than her father. Yet astonishingly, she remains a dedicated hero.

* Frank Sobotka of ''Series/TheWire'' just wants to make sure the Baltimore stevedores are going to stay in business. Unfortunately this means keeping slightly unsavory company...

** Officer Joe Washington from "The Runner" just wanted to get his loved ones out of the ghetto but he is killed while trying to stop a rape. Without him, they languish in poverty for 20 years. His wife had a miscarriage. She also thought that he was cheating on her. His murderer is the one who got out of the ghetto.

** Mike Chulaski from "Cargo" was a longshoreman who tried to save girl, Lena, from prostitution. He is killed by another prostitute, Katya, who was desperate to get out of the life.

* Jessie turns out to be this in ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory2''. Due to her past experience of losing her original owner Emily, she initially felt depressed in her first appearance, despite [[StepfordSmiler her displayed excitement]] from going to Japan (alongside Woody, Bullseye and Stinky Pete).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Wish|2023}}'': King Magnifico is a powerful king who once genuinely wanted to keep people safe and happy from the cruel reality and is beloved by all his subjects. But his narcissism and paranoia consume him to the point he's willing to do anything to remain in control over his kingdom [[spoiler:including alienating his beloved wife and dabbling into forbidden magic]]. His flaws eventually turn him into a megalomaniacal tyrant and a classic Disney villain HatedByAll.

** The [[WellIntentionedExtremist noble yet vicious]] Lelouch and the [[KnightTemplar heroic but ruthless]] Suzaku save the world only by turning against their own principles.

* In Creator/DavidMamet's play ''Oleanna'', a university lecturer about to get his tenure, with a loving wife and a payment on a house going through, decides to help a female student falling behind in his class. He makes a few off-the-cuff, inappropriate comments to the female student (he says "I'm not your father" in response to her wanting to be told want to do, he relates an anecdote about the rich copulating with less clothes on to the student), only to be told by the student in the next act that she's having him done for sexual harassment because of his comments.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[spoiler: [[Characters/AmphibiaMarcyWu Marcy Wu]]]] is revealed to be a nerdy NiceGirl [[spoiler:who HatesBeingAlone, and tricked her best friends to steal an ArtifactOfDoom, hoping that it would send them into another world, so she wouldn’t get separated from them, after receiving the news of moving out of state, due to her father’s new job. Not only it fails spectacularly twice, but her actions unintentionally put the entire multiverse in danger and nearly killed her because of it. It gets worse as the BigBad [[GrandTheftMe manages to take over her body, turning her into Darcy]]]].

* ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk is a quintessential example. Bruce Banner is forced to become the Hulk due to his extreme rage (and the trauma of his past) which drives him to [[PersonOfMassDestruction cause terrible destruction,]] but he's also a loyal friend and will ''always'' save the day when he's needed. Everyone who knows him knows he's NotEvilJustMisunderstood, but that won't stop people like [[{{Jerkass}} General Thunderbolt Ross]] from labelling him a monster and trying everything in their power to bring him down. It doesn't help that his threat level leaves [[TheDreaded everyone, even his allies wary of him]], which alienates him further. Most of the time, the Hulk simply wants to be left alone.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Peter Parker was a resentful young man who was given extraordinary powers on accident. He turned to normal human desires to exploit it for fame, but this caused a great tragedy when his prideful inaction lead to [[DeathByOriginStory the death of his father figure Uncle Ben]]. As a result, while Peter will still try to improve himself, he's also struggling to live up to what he perceives as [[ComesGreatResponsibility his everlasting responsibility]] [[WithGreatPower given to him by his spider powers]]. But because of his anxiety, temper, problematic time management and fear, he will inevitably lose just as much as he gains on a year to year basis.
* Rorschach, from ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' [[spoiler:dies trying to expose Ozymandias' mass murder plan to end the Cold War]] because he refused to compromise truth even in the face of total annihilation or seeing his own flawed nature.
* Almost half of the ''ComicBook/XMen'' have tragic backgrounds, such as Cyclops who can't control his powers, his love life in shambles, and accidentally killed his mentor/father figure.

** His [[OppositeSexClone daughter]] ComicBook/{{X 23}} has had it ''even worse'' than her father. Yet astonishingly, she remains a dedicated hero.
** Rogue is unable to touch anyone she loves or else their life energy will be completely drained, leaving her unable to truly be with anyone she cares for.

* ''VideoGame/LittleGoodyTwoShoes'': Elise Liedl is this in most routes, including the one canon to ''VideoGame/PocketMirror''. She starts out as a poor village girl living in a village she hates because of what she sees as a populace of dumb hicks, and dreams of living in a fancy castle with maids. She gets the opportunity when she learns of a wish-granter who lives in the local woodlands, as long as she passes various trials. In the process, she falls in love with one of three girls at her village. But the deal is quickly revealed to be [[DealWithTheDevil dangerous and untrustworthy]], with multiple characters, including the minions of the wish granter, openly telling her the deal will screw her over. Yet her greed [[GreedMakesYouDumb obscures these blatantly obvious red flags]], and if she chooses not to back out at the last second, she [[spoiler:loses her love interest as payment for the wish and winds up miserable in her new wealthy life, eventually turning [[MyBelovedSmother overprotective]] in her desire to protect her children, the one joy in her life, only for it to severely backfire; ultimately, she dies with nothing but regrets]].

* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Mari Nagare is a woman who was destroyed by a tragedy that happened to her family and could've been a great and happy nurse.

* ''Manga/MariaNoDanzai'': Mari Nagare is a woman who was destroyed by a tragedy that happened to her family and could've been a great and happy nurse. Mari was once a happily married housewife and mother. She had a great relationship with her husband and a loving relationship with her son. Mari had a tragic past where; she grew up an orphan and was bullied in school, but the kindness of a nurse at her school allowed her to overcome her past. Mari dreamed of being a nurse to follow in the footsteps of the nurse who helped her, but she put those dreams on hold with no regrets to be a mother to her son, whom she loved greatly. Unknown to her and her husband, her son was bullied terribly by satanic thugs, and eventually, he was killed in a prank gone wrong with her witnessing her son's death. A police investigation revealed to Mari and her husband that her son committed suicide because of abusive parents, leaving her devastated and blaming herself for her son's death. Then Mari learned the truth that her son was tortured and killed by monstrous bullies whom her son referred to as demons, and the reason he kept quiet about it was that he did not want to worry her while he was gathering evidence to turn them in. Mari snapped and swore revenge on her son's demons that took them away from her; she swore that she would not just get revenge on them because that would be too easy for those demons, she plans to give them judgment and ultimately destroy their lives related to their sins before killing them. Mari threw away her life, divorced her husband, changed her name to Maria Akeboshi, had plastic surgery, and two years later became the nurse at the bullies' school to exact revenge. It is shown that Mari has been completely destroyed by her son's death and takes no joy and taking revenge on the bullies even though they showed themselves to be 100% completely scumbags that deserve their lives to be destroyed and deserve to be killed. It also shows that Mari became the exact kind of nurse she always wanted to be: the students widely regard Maria to be a saintly woman to whom they can always go when they're in trouble, whether they are physically ill, need sex advice, or simply need a space safe from bullies. And while Mari has a genuine joy in helping students, she knows that it will not last. Had the tragedy not happened, Mari could've been a genuinely good nurse who would've been joyfully helping students and being a good mother. Instead, because of monsters that took her son away, Mari has been reduced to a broken, empty serial killer who, while wants to help the students in her care and is killing monsters, has no delusions that she is a good person nor does she take any joy in her vengeance, with it implied that her vengeance will cost her her sanity and life.

* ''VideoGame/LittleGoodyTwoShoes'': Elise Liedl is this in most routes, including the one canon to ''VideoGame/PocketMirror''. She starts out as a poor village girl living in a village she hates because of what she sees as a populace of dumb hicks, and dreams of living in a fancy castle with maids. She gets the opportunity when she learns of a wish-granter who lives in the local woodlands, as long as she passes various trials. In the process, she falls in love with one of three girls at her village. But the deal is quickly revealed to be [[DealWithTheDevil dangerous and untrustworthy]], with multiple characters, including the minions of the wish granter, openly telling her the deal will screw her over. Yet her greed [[GreedMakesYouDumb obscures these blatantly obvious red flags]], and if she chooses not to back out at the last second, she [[spoiler:loses her love interest as payment for the wish and winds up miserable in her new wealthy life, eventually turning overprotective in her desire to protect her children, the one joy in her life, only for it to severely backfire; ultimately, she dies with nothing but regrets]].

** Prince Doran Martell is an ActualPacifist striving to keep Dorne out of war [[spoiler:He and his son falls victim to a coup by his brother Oberyn's paramour and his daughters. They plunge Dorne into war but lose their lives anyway]].

** Prince Doran Martell is an ActualPacifist striving to keep Dorne out of war [[spoiler:and falls victim to a coup]].

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': Captain Benteen in the episode "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS4E118OnThursdayWeLeaveForHome On Thursday We Leave for Home]]". For years, he leads a colony of people stranded on a hot, desolate planet. He helps them survive, holds them together and gives them hope for a rescue. When a spaceship finally arrives to take them home to Earth everyone is overjoyed including him. However, [[spoiler:Benteen feels the power he once had slipping away. When he learns that many of the colonist don't want to stay together when they return to Earth he becomes angry. He tells them that Earth is a horrible place and tries to destroy the ship. He refuses to go on the spaceship which will not return and chooses to stay. Only when he sees the ship leave does he realize he wants to go back home to Earth.]]

* Jon Snow, the HeroicBastard, [[spoiler:kills Daenerys the woman he loved to save a realm which hates people like him. His idealism is seen as unsuitable for the morally bankrupt world of Westeros and he is sent into exile. He is condemned as a villain despite doing the right thing because of Westeros' prejudice against illegitimates like himself]].

* Rusty Venture from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers''. In a show that the creators have described as being about failure, Rusty may be a sometimes-brilliant scientist, but his flaws -- the biggest of which is his inferiority complex regarding his father -- often hold him back while his brother manages to attain great successes.

* Don Diego De La Vega, the original Zorro in ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro''. On the last day of Spanish colonization in Mexico, his identity is exposed, his wife Esperanza is killed, his home burns down, his daughter Elena is taken to be raised by his mortal enemy Don Rafael and he is sent to prison. He escapes, trains a new Zorro and kills Rafael but died in the process.

** Laura Mckinney from "True Calling" was an optimistic young teacher who took a job at an inner city high school. She was determined to make a difference in the of her students. She was murdered by another teacher after she found out that he was using one of her students as a drug mule.

* ''Series/TheBlacklist'' season 5 had Tobias Reuther who was the head of an anti-terrorism squad. The Task Force helps him but they find out that the terrorist he's been searching for has been dead for a while. The terror attacks blamed on the terrorist was orchestrated by the CIA for various national security reasons. Tobias tries to stop another attack at an army base but the Task Force was forced into stopping him.