Sandbox / The Woobie Re Evaluation Page 18

• Many Digimon Tamers fanfics that focus on Rika and Renamon prior to the former's defrosting tend to depict the latter as this, usually with one or two Not So Stoic moments (like silently crying when no one's looking).
• My Little Castlevania gives us Aeon, a time traveler who seems emotionless at first until the other characters scrutinize his oddly dry behavior more closely.
• Faith and Xander are both shown to be one in The Zeppo In Mind after Xander takes up residence in Faith's head. Faith never brings up her terrible living conditions or lack of money and desperately wants help but can't bring herself to ask for it. She definitely refuses to mention how haunted she is by being forced to watch her Watcher (whom she saw as a mother) be tortured to death. Xander uses jokes to hide his various problems, such as claiming he's simply never full if someone asks why he eats so much to hide that he rarely gets to eat at home and often can't afford lunch at school. He's also never told anyone how scarred he is from having to stake Jesse. They only begin opening up because they can't hide their thoughts from each other. Notably, both are described as "desperately wishing someone would offer help, but too scared to ask".
• Tobirama in ''Kamikakushi. Being a albino in the Warring Clans Era gets you a lot a negative attention. Plus his eyes being sharingan red means most of his clan can't even make eye contact with him. Meaning he is relatively isolated from everyone.
• Star Trek (2009):
  • Both versions of Spock, in which they both bear witness to the destruction of their homeworld.
  • Meanwhile, in the sequel, Dr. Carol Marcus. She discovers that her father is at the head of a conspiracy to start a galactic scale war, is transporter-kidnapped by him so she can't stand in the way of his attempt to murder the entire crew of a Federation ship (which she is forced to watch helplessly from his side), has her leg broken by Khan, and then watches him brutally murder her father. She holds up remarkably well given what she goes through.
• Obi Wan Kenobi from Star Wars lost his master, his apprentice turned to the dark side, and he personally witnessed the systematic genocide of the Jedi order he dedicated his own life to. However, he still sees a new hope for the future.
• The Sound of Music: Captain Von Trapp.
• Aicha in Fighter. Despite everything, she tries to keep her traditional place in the family.
• Princess Leia Organa in Star Wars, who despite watching her home planet blown up in front of her very eyes, felt that there is no time for her own sorrows.
• Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Peter Guillam and Jim Prideaux may be the Stoic Woobie kings.
• K in the Men in Black films. It is directly addressed in the third movie but really it is present in the first two films.
• Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption may well be the poster boy for this trope.
• The Lord of the Rings:
  • Aragorn. Family? Dead. The culture of his birthright? Declining steeply. Hope of success? Virtually zero. Chances of marrying his true love? As low as previous, because his success would itself be bride-price. Complaints? None.
  • The hobbits are also written this way, always keeping a cheerful face for everyone despite the fact that they are all in way over their heads.
• X-Wing Series: Tycho Celchu. For all that's happened to him, he's incredibly stoic, reserved, and insanely patient.
  • Mammon Hoole becomes this in Galaxy of Fear after The Reveal in Army of Terror.
• Anne Elliot of Persuasion, commonly considered her best example, meaning Austen theoretically got better at writing this character over time.
• David, from Edmond Hamilton's "He That Hath Wings." Until the end, anyway. Ruth so wasn't worth it...
• Itkovian from The Malazan Book of the Fallen definitely qualifies as one.
• Roiben from Modern Faerie Tales, many many times over.
• A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • Davos Seaworth has lost 3 sons, been nearly burnt and drowned simultaneously, and then come within a hair's breadth of losing his head- all for Stannis's cause, and yet he isn't exactly vocal about his troubles.
    • Brienne qualifies as well.
• Bran in The Sevenwaters Trilogy
  • Also Faolan in The Bridei Chronicles. Juliet Marillier is a big fan of this trope—she has a number of other characters who could fit here as well.
• Elphaba in Wicked. Due to her skin's acidic reaction to water, she can't even allow herself to cry, because it would burn her.
• Harry Potter: Luna Lovegood, who always manages to stay cheerful and happy in spite of being the main target of bullying along with Neville.
• Wings of Fire: Winter could also be this, or a Jerk Ass Woobie.
• Nathan in Misfits.
• Aeryn Sun in Farscape.
  • "I stand corrected."
• Olivia Dunham in Fringe. She's a tough FBI agent; she's not allowed to cry. That, and she cares about other people's feelings too much to dump her own on them.
• Criminal Minds:
  • After season five and the Reaper arc? Half the fanbase and nearly all the main characters want to tuck Aaron Hotchner (and his son) up in blankets somewhere and shoot anyone who tries to drag them back out. Despite having been abused as a child, almost blown up (suffering hearing damage as well as having to treat a friend as she lay dying in the immediate aftermath), being psychologically tortured and later stabbed nine times by the Reaper, he rarely ever does more than wince and/or collapse, and almost never raises his voice. The only time he ever loses it is when the Reaper kidnaps his ex-wife and forces him to listen to her murder, before threatening to kill his son.
  • Reid, anyone? Crazy mom, disappeared dad, shot, blown up, captured, tortured, bullied, and addicted to dilaudid. NEVER COMPLAINS.
• Doctor Cox from Scrubs.
• Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl.
• To Boldly Flee:
  • Jerkass Woobie: Despite his clear evil, later parts made audiences feel a surprising amount of sympathy for Zod. The lyrics of "Distraction" contributed a lot.
  • The Woobie:
    • The Critic's having a hard time of it; missing Ma-Ti badly, having creepy dreams, feeling like everything he does has a negative impact on someone and desperately wanting to make things right, Turrell's insults reminding him of his mother, getting freaked out by Spoony being too close and confiding in the Chick that he thinks he doesn't belong and can never make a difference. It's very telling that the only times he ever looks happy in the movie are when he has a chance to leave his universe and become just another random person in reality, and when he's a dead spirit.
    • Spoony has been possessed by Ma-Ti, dragged himself from Arizona to the Critic's house in a daze, strapped to a brain scanner and suffered a seizure- all in Part 1. Plus the Harsher in Hindsight lines about his sanity and the bad guys wanting him to turn to the dark side. In Part 2, he's kidnapped and sealed in a box.
• (* In Part 3, Todd's previously Played for Laughs-obsession with Lupa is now played straight, with him nervously asking her out, getting a (genuinely apologetic) rejection and sounding like he's about to cry when he tells her goodnight. He also gets bonus points for only getting assimilated because she asked for his help and not holding her to the one "cheers for saving my life" date she promised him.

  • The Nostalgia Chick has been assimilated by Mechakara. With a fucking ''drill''.
  • Luke is heartbroken when Snob is beamed onto the enemy ship. Even more so when she learns Snob has gone over to the Dark Side.
  • Film Brain loses his only two friends among the crew in Part 7: Critic, who leaves in the car-fighter on a one way trip into the Plot Hole and Luke, who undertakes a suicide mission (to kill the Executor and Darth Snob) which she makes even more dangerous by wanting to redeem Snob rather than simply kill him. Small wonder Luke found him crying in the Engine Room.

• Manga/Diabolo}}:
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: All six of the Great Spirits.
• Diabolo: A number of the cast to varying to degrees, but Tsukiko especially. Her father succeeded in a family suicide which left her as the only survivor and she was sent to her uncle's house, where she is raped repeatedly. Eventually she leaves him and finds another place to live, but the situation isn't much better. It is heavily implied she is raped regularly by random strangers and accepts all this abuse as penance for her father's sins.
• Alvin and the Chipmunks:
  • Theodore qualifies a lot.
  • On The Chipette spectrum, sometimes Jeanette.
• Coronation Street:
• Stoic Woobie: Eileen Grimshaw refused to cry in public even at her father's funeral. Occasionally slides into Jerkass when she expresses affection through yelling.
• The Woobie:
  • After their mother died in 2013, Asha and Aadi Alahan.
  • David Platt. It was hard not to be feel sorry for him when he was kicked out of his own house, denied access to his kids and treated like a monster in late 2013. All for 'trying to kill' his brother Nick (which was a genuine accident). It only gets worse after Kylie is killed and he's raped by a so-called friend of his.
  • Obviously, Max and Lily also when they lose their mum. Harry McDermott's acting doesn't hurt either.
  • Todd Grimshaw in 2004. He was not allowed to see his premature baby son Billy when he was alive (as Sarah and Gail wouldn't let him). He only got to speak to him at the baby's funeral.
  • Carla Connor in her final year on the show.
  • Craig Tinker. He tried so hard to help Bethany (and Faye), but it took a long time to sort out.
  • Sarah, especially during Bethany's storyline, as she's rejected by her daughter for a while.
  • Mary, who knows that people on the Street view her as a joke and for her lonely love life. It only gets worse when we hear how her son was born.
  • Kevin, with the above storyline. Although he can be a prat at times, seeing the poor man watch what his son's going through is heart-breaking.
  • Surprisingly, Sinead is now going that way too, with her cancer storyline.
  • Brian, due to suffering from workplace bullying at the hands of his Jerkass boss.
• Emma, with her heartbreak at the inevitable break-up of her and Chesney. What, in some ways, makes matters worse is her attempts to be upbeat about it, describing Ches and Gemma as a "fairytale". Also, the fact that Ches is genuinely sorry for her.
  • Sophie with that storyline too. As she was looking after Jack when he had his fall, one can only imagine how guilty she must feel. And then she hears Kevin tell Gina he wishes he, not her, had been with him when it happened, because she wouldn't have a clue with kids.
  • Tyrone Dobbs, who has a past and present involving Parental Neglect, adultery and betrayal of his first wife and his best friend, losing two people that loved him like a son, being the victim of domestic violence and coping with his stepdaughter being diagnosed with cancer.
• Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online:
  • Karen in real life. She grew up being bullied and ostracized because of her height, leading her to be very insecure and had very few friends.
  • M. It's very easy to feel sorry for him after seeing all the abuse he has received from Pitohui in real life. spoiler:Averted when it's revealed he gets off on it.
  • Pitohui herself. She is revealed to be a Death Seeker who was unable to log into Sword Art Online, depriving her of the once in a lifetime opportunity she dreamed of and sent her into a Despair Event Horizon.
• Sword Art Online The Movie: Ordinal Scale:
  • Jerkass Woobie: Tetsuhiro Shigemura, the first sympathetic antagonist of Sword Art Online, who's entire Evil Plan was motivated out of a desire to bring back his deceased daughter, Yuuna, after she had died during the original SAO.
  • The Woobie:
    • Asuna ends up losing all her memories of her time in SAO, which thoroughly distraught her. She does get them back by the end.
    • Yuna or rather the original Yuuna who died in SAO. She would sing to players to motivate them and ended up dying through a Heroic Sacrifice by luring monsters away from her teammates using her singing.
• Sword Art Online
  • Asuna is revealed to be one, having no-one else but Kirito in her life. And beyond that, was one of three hundred unfortunate players who never woke up after the SAO ordeal, being forced to be with Sugou, then proceeds to be nearly raped by him. Someone help this poor girl out!
    • Her backstory is expanded in later novels and the manga, which reveal that the reason why she's alone in the world before knowing Kirito is because of her high class family. To be precise, her mother, who originally came from a lower class family and was extremely strict, putting unrealistic expectations on her future. On top of that, she expected her to marry a wealthy man, but not to become a housewife, but to have financial stability so she could develop a successful career (thus having the worst aspects of BOTH sides of the Career Versus Man dilema). She's also caught in a rivalry between certain parts of the extended Yuuki family, and realizes that while her cousins feel bad for her, they also no longer see her as a rival. It is heavily implied that the reason she started to play VRMMO games was in part to escape from all that pressure.
  • Kirito isn't much better. Although he woke up, he discovers that his love never woke up, still comatose, only to find out that it had been planned. And before that, the emotional pain he went through after Sachi, his previous love before Asuna, dies.
  • In Alicization, Elevating Operator Girl, who was made into a literal tool to operate the elevating platform, but having all traces of her past life erased so she is left a blank slate to carry out her instructions.
• U.S. Acres:
  • It's hard not to feel sorry for Wade. It's like the universe is out to get him. In one strip, he is overjoyed when Bo offers to be his friend without the pranks, considering all the times he's been picked on. The pranks aren't so bad in the cartoon version. At least Roy doesn't usually physically hurt Wade in the cartoon version. Lots of stuff in the comic book version are always out to hurt poor Wade! Roy's pranks at least in the cartoon version are nothing.
  • Wade Duck from U.S. Acres. He's just a senseless Chew Toy who always gets hurt "for the lulz". And later in the strips it feels as though the writers didn't even know what in the world to with the character other then to have him get hurt for no reason. And as Mr.Enter said, it's an admission of laziness creating such a shallow character. Charlie Brown and Linus would feel sorry for this Duck. Thankfully, it was toned down in the cartoon version and they even gave Wade more character.
• Pig from Pearls Before Swine.
• Pearls Before Swine:
  • The Woobie:
    • Pig. So much. I mean, literally
    • Ellie the Elephant (one of the Rat's characters) who really, really wants a grand romance with her apathetic boyfriend and goes overboard trying to impress him or to make a lasting impact on the world, but ultimately resigns herself to romance novels.
    • Andy, a dog who's left outside on a chain day and night and never gives up hope of seeing the world.
    • Jerkass Woobie: Rat, who's sometimes even proud to be a jerk, has had his heart broken by his love, Farina, and fails at doing anything that would benefit others. There are even times that he worries that he is a worse person than he thinks. Every once in a while, the strip makes it clear that Rat just plain hates life, even when he's not acting out of malice. One strip hints that he's tormented by regrets and endlessly paranoid— so Goat can make him feel better then clock him in the head.
• MouseHunt(Movie): The (Smuntz) Brothers, considering everything the mouse puts them through.
• Mickey Mouse (2013):
  • Jerkass Woobie: In "Duck the Halls", it's impossible not to feel bad for Donald because he's never gotten to celebrate Christmas due to having to head south every year.
• The Garbage Pail Kids Movie:
  • Jerkass Woobie: Tangerine strings Dodger and the GPK to make herself look good as a fashion designer, and even ends up betraying them. At the same time though, one could feel sorry for her — it's implied that Juice is abusive; he does rough her up at times.
• Saint Seiya Omega: As per tradition of the series, it has a lot.
• Saint Seiya: Next Dimension:
  • Jerkass Woobie: Tenma and Suikyo. The former in the flashbacks where he steals Alone and the latter when he betrays Athena.
• Saint Seiya:
• The Woobie: June, Seika, Esmeralda and Eurydice.
  • Iron Woobie: The five Saints (specially, Shiryu and Shun), Saori, Aioria and Bud
  • Jerk Ass Woobie: More than one of the rivals, magnified if they're given good death scenes.
  • Stoic Woobie: Pandora and Camus.
• Dusk Maiden of Amnesia: Yuuko
• Misfile: Rumisiel and Ash take turns. Emily, when she's fighting with her mother. Aiden to some. And Missi has recently had even the haters wanting a plushie to hug and comfort.
• Bakemonogatari: Once you get past the weird humor and puns, you realize the lives of the girls in this series SUCK.^note Then there's Koyomi, who's been dismembered, disemboweled, bisected, eviscerated, and MORE all because he wants to help them
• Black Clover:
  • Jerkass Woobie: The elves. Their backstory is very tragic, and it's not hard to see where their blind hatred of Clover comes from.