Decided to give this trope another go in the queue by following this post.

Hurting Hero is defined as "a character who does good, heroic, selfless deeds is burdened with stress, hardship or tragedy, but perseveres anyway" (the last three words are only mentioned at the last part of the trope description). A wick check was conducted to gauge severity of overlapping with existing tropes. The following are the results:

• 42% wicks contain context that can be easily replaced with another existing trope (e.g., Trauma Conga Line, Being Good Sucks, etc.).
• 52% wicks contain insufficient context (ZCE, lacking context on whether character is heroic, elaboration needed for what "tragedy" or "hardship" the character goes through)
• 6% wicks are unclassified (found in indices or lists of tropes).

Suggestion: Disambig.

1. AllOfTheOtherReindeer.Anime And Manga: In Trigun, Vash the Stampede is universally hated/feared/hunted by everyone. The best he can hope for is being asked to leave a town and the worst is to watch as those trying to kill him destroy yet another town/city and kill innocents. To make matters worse, his heart of gold causes him extreme guilt over these incidents, yet he still is always there to save them. Being Good Sucks
2. Anime.Science Ninja Team Gatchaman - Hurting Hero: Ken lost his father when he was a little child. Later he finds out that his father is alive only to see how he was Killed Off for Real shortly after. At the ending of the series, Joe commits a Heroic Sacrifice to save them. At the next series his mentor and surrogate father gets killed. All of that trauma slowly wore his sanity off, and although at the beginning he was the prototypical The Hero and The Leader with Nerves of Steel, for the final series he had become so violent, uncontrollable and impulsive like The Lancer. Trauma Conga Line. Nothing about heroic behaviour.
3. ByronicHero.Live Action Films - Craig's Bond: a cold-blooded killer but has severe emotional issues, highly cynical, womanizing, a severe drinking problem, often broods over the morality of his job and still frets over losing loved ones. Chained potholes. The Hurting Hero pothole can be easily replaced by Heartbroken Badass or Cartwright Curse.
4. Characters.Bleach Ichigo Kurosaki - Hurting Hero: He blamed himself for his mother's death. He blames himself whenever he fails to completely save the day. He blames himself if his Inner Hollow takes control and causes him to do things that are against his beliefs — even if he's in the middle of battle. He'll take the weight of the world on to spare others' suffering if he has to, and he suffers as a result. Heroic Self-Deprecation
5. Characters.Child Of The Storm Harry Thorson - Hurting Hero: Gets put through the wringer frequently, suffers from Power Incontinence of varying kinds, gets physically and mentally tortured, and is terrified of losing control of the Phoenix within. Oh, and by Ghosts, he has a raging case of PTSD. This culminates in an explosion of bitter fury after he's dragged into the Triwizard Tournament. Trauma Conga Line
6. Characters.Deltora Quest Main Characters - Hurting Hero: In the second series, doing his best for the kingdom has earned him criticism, outright hatred, multiple assassination attempts, constant paranoia about losing the people's trust even when he knows he has good intentions, and guilt over hiding things from even Jasmine and Barda. Though most of those problems are solved by the third series, his Guilt Complex has settled in, and it nearly pushes him past the Despair Event Horizon in his Darkest Hour. Being Good Sucks
7. Characters.Kamen Rider Blade Protagonists - Hurting Hero: He blames himself for not being able to save his parents and is motivated to protect anyone he can. It's also hard for him to comprehend that someone actually actually cares about him too as evident by his confusion when meeting Kotaro and Shiori's concern about him. Heroic Self-Deprecation
8. Characters.Mandy 2018 - Hurting Hero: Already implied to have a Dark and Troubled Past, the amount of physical and mental pain he endures in the space of just a few days would be enough to harrow a saint. Trauma Conga Line
9. Characters.MCU Thor Odinson - Hurting Hero: In Endgame, the trauma of irreversibly losing everyone dear to him and then finding that killing the man responsible solved nothing has turned him into a traumatized, broken wreck who self-medicates with gargantuan quantities of alcohol, junk food, and video games, rendering him a morbidly obese shut-in. The Thor that the team finds is a man who has quite clearly given up on life. Despair Event Horizon (the page already has an example of this, with nigh-identical context)
10. Characters.The Dragon Prince Callum: Callum deals with a lot of loss or potential loss of those he loves. He loses his birth father at a young age, his mother when he's five, and his stepfather at fourteen. There are also many occassions where he comes close to losing Ezran and Rayla. Trauma Conga Line
11. Characters.The Legend Of Korra Asami Sato: Asami spends the whole of Book 1 doing the right thing and fighting the good fight. As a result she ends up losing all ties to her life before. By the end she is clearly heart broken by it all, but is still admirably resolute in her choices. By Book 3 she's worked past it. However, Book 4 decides to kick a few more times before it's over in the woman she loves being AWOL for three years, reconciling with her father just before watching him die and nearly being completely broken at Korra's presumed death until she emerged from the new portal. Then she catches a break. Needs more context on "doing the right thing and fighting the good fight", but otherwise fits Trauma Conga Line.
12. Characters.The Owl House Luz Noceda - Hurting Hero: As of "Thanks to Them", Luz's experiences in the Boiling Isles have taken an incredible toll on her psyche. Whereas at the start of Season 1, Luz was a bright, excitable and joyful girl, she has now been reduced to a broken, listless and depressed shell of her former self, due in no small part to her extreme guilt and self-loathing over how she was tricked into helping Belos meet The Collector, and got the rest of the Hexsquad trapped in the Human Realm. The same episode also indicates that Luz's mental health has always been shaky, as a consequence of the death of her father and her constant ostracization by her fellow Humans. Trauma Conga Line (the page already has an example of this, with nigh-identical context)
13. Fanfic.Old Light Still Slants Through - Hurting Hero: Both Tsuna and Izuku have suffered years upon years of bullying, emotional, mental, and physical trauma that continues to plague them to this day. Trauma Conga Line
14. Film.Snow White And The Huntsman - Hurting Hero: The Huntsman, a war hero and a widower, turns to alcohol to ease his pain. Drowning My Sorrows. Being a war hero doesn't make the trope any different.
15. Film.What Price Honesty - Hurting Hero: Zhong Heng, the protagonist, whose attempts to expose the corrupt justice system had him framed for theft, locked in a prison cell with dozens of prisoners who hates him, get the stuffing beaten out of him, reduced to a semi-unconscious state (the reason he didn't die is because the Fifth Master specifically instructs him to be kept alive for more flogging), peed on, forced to swallow a cockroach, flogged for days, starved for days, being tricked into eating rice in a bowl containing a dead rat, and in his weakened state, locked in a Punishment Box with Sun Long, a bandit who craves to kill Zhong Heng slowly and painfully. Being Good Sucks
16. PuellaMagiMadokaMagica.Tropes G To M - Hurting Hero: Every Magical Girl inevitably becomes a Broken Bird due to the solitary and traumatic nature of Magical Girl life. Assuming the Magical Girl is a heroic character, the trope can be easily replaced by Being Good Sucks.
    1. Mami's Cool Big Sis persona is a mask to hide her pain. Beneath the Mask
    2. Sayaka attempts to be The Cape and eventually breaks down.
    3. Kyoko ceased being a hero at all (until Episode 9).
    4. Homura has watched her dearest friend die or witch out; in one timeline she had to Mercy Kill this friend.
17. RagtagBunchOfMisfits.Video Games - Special mention goes to the third game: The only people fighting to prevent the world's corruption and subsequent destruction are a sensitive preteenage shepherd boy who can't quite get over his troubled past, his loyal dog, a teen girl raised by freaky cross-dressing fairy things who has been locked away in a castle all her life, and a smelly, ridiculed thief in his 20s with a crippled leg. Yet somehow, we're not doomed. Pothole refers to a character with a Dark and Troubled Past.
18. RickAndMorty.Tropes E To L - Hurting Hero: If you consider Morty a hero, the entirety of the show should do the trick; from when he gets almost raped in "Meeseeks and Destroy", to living with the guilt of Rick accidentally turning all non-related humans into Cronenberg-esque creatures on his behalf in "Rick Potion #9". And that's just the first season. Trauma Conga Line
19. Series.Daredevil 2015 - Shell-Shocked Veteran: Defied. Frank Castle sneers at the idea of exploiting the over-used cliche for his own gain, and expresses the rather progressive view that it would be unfair to those who actually suffer from PTSD. Karen clearly admires him for this stance, and the viewers are supposed to as well. No one seems aware that PTSD can result from any sufficiently traumatic experience...like, say, seeing your own family die in front of you a hail of gunfire. And it's made even more clear in his own show that this is precisely what he suffers from: vivid recall of the trauma ("reliving" the moment), hypervigilance, fixation on the event, insomnia, a dramatic change in personality—all are symptoms of PTSD. Shell-Shocked Veteran. Sink Hole due to the pothole applying to non-heroes as well.
20. Supergirl.Tropes G To H - Hurting Hero:
    1. Being one of the most powerful beings in the planet will not protect you from emotional pain, heartache or will bring your loved ones back. Trauma Conga Line
    2. Pre-Crisis Supergirl's parents sent her to Earth because Argo City was dying. She lost her parents, her home and was dumped by her cousin into an orphanage that she hated. Her Supergirl duties interfered with her personal life to the point she couldn't keep a steady boyfriend and had to quit a job. Often she felt torn because she wanted to live like a normal woman but her vast powers entailed great responsibilities. At one point she met an Old Flame and realized what she still felt something for him two weeks before his demise. And then she fought a dimension-eating Eldritch Abomination to save her beloved cousin and the whole Multiverse, and got killed (although to be fair, her death has been undone). Being Good Sucks
    3. Post-Crisis Supergirl lived through Krypton's destruction. However she lost her home again when her parents sent her to Earth to save her life, before -apparently- dying. She met them again, but one of her enemies murdered them and blew up the world where the last Kryptonians settled in (hence, she has lost her parents twice and her home three times). Trauma Conga Line
    4. Post-Flashpoint Supergirl lost her planet and her parents and was stranded in a strange, alien world. She was persecuted by villains and fell for someone who turned out to be an evil, Manipulative Bastard who broke her heart. She lost her only friend, and joined a group of questionable anti-heroes only because she needed to belong with someone. After a while she got over her issues, but then her cousin -the only famly she had left- died. Trauma Conga Line
21. WebOriginal.Emotional Realm - Hurting Hero: Wild Edge's parents died because of his powers, and it's haunted him eversence. Orphan's Ordeal

1. Animorphs.Tropes A To H - Hurting Hero: All of them. ZCE
2. Anime.Tekkaman Blade - Hurting Hero: Blade, natch. Commented out ZCE.
3. Characters.Alias - Sydney Bristow - Hurting Hero: A frequent state of being, for various reasons—the discovery of her parents' secrets; the return of her mother, her Laser-Guided Amnesia... What actually happened? How does she feel about the experience?
4. Characters.Fire Emblem Fates Corrin - Hurting Hero: During Conquest, Corrin's supports with Azura reveal them to be this. To elaborate, they have recurring nightmares over the Hoshidans that have died as a result of their choice, and is having a crisis of morality over just how far the ends justify the means, even believing that they're going to Hell for what they've done. This doesn't stop them from pressing on, however. Other than the first half (which falls under Past Experience Nightmare), the example mentions Moral Dilemma but lacks sufficient context (e.g., Are they good and heroic? What did they do? Press on to do what?). Hence, this wick is placed in folder II.
5. Characters.Genshin Impact Zhongli - Hurting Hero: As great an Archon as he's been, Zhongli has known a lot of people whose fates he deeply regrets, and among them are people he's failed personally in spite of his great power, such as Guizhong, the Yakshas, and Azhdaha. He bears the pain well, but given his solemn reminiscence about having to continue marring Azhdaha's legacy, the scars run quite deep. How did he "fail" those people? What kind of pain / scars? Is Zhongli heroic? The example lacks context.
6. Characters.Hegemony - Hurting Hero: Between being unsure of herself, a horrible past, blaming herself for certain events, and struggling to find her place in life between the Horde and her own needs, Catra faces a lot of trauma and loneliness throughout the story. Fits Trauma Conga Line, but needs more context on "horrible past", "certain events", etc. Hence, the wick will be placed in folder II.
7. Characters.Magic The Gathering Planeswalkers Post Mending AM - Elspeth Tirel - Hurting Hero: She has a long, long history of tragedy in her path, but keeps on trying to do good things. Needs more elaboration on "tragedy" and "good things".
8. Characters.Roswell - Hurting Hero: After Liz breaks up with him in season two. What's the significance of the breakup?
9. Characters.Static Shock - Hurting Hero: He gets hit with this from time to time. Particularly when an episode puts some focus on his mother. What does "this" mean? What is the significance of the death of this character's mother?
10. Characters.Survivor Heroes Vs Healers Vs Hustlers - Hurting Hero: He's haunted by his experiences from his time in the Marines. ZCE
11. Characters.The Astounding Wolf Man - Hurting Hero: He's a hero, but his past consistently comes back to bite him. Falls under Dark and Troubled Past, but this wick is placed in folder II due to being a ZCE.
12. Characters.Vinesauce - Hurting Hero: He goes on adventures of his own in Super Sponge Bros., Super Mario Galaxy Repainted, and Vinny's "Memories of Sponge" level in Super Mario Maker despite his strong emotional problems. What emotional problems? Nothing heroic about "going on adventures".
13. ComicBook.Crime Syndicate 2021 - Hurting Hero: The Legion of Justice is a whole team of these. ZCE
14. DarthWiki.Quadrant Nine: Commented out blank example
15. DarthWiki.Uncharted Worlds - Hurting Hero: The other entries on this page show why. ZCE. This sentence alone shows that Hurting Hero is a duplicate trope.
16. Fanfic.Because Im Not Popular Ill Try To Go Out With A Hero - Hurting Hero: Not Spider-Man without it. ZCE
17. Fanfic.Parallel Legends - Hurting Hero: Link doesn't have it too bad in Symphony or Hearts, but dear gods, in Parallel Destiny, well...sometimes It Sucks to Be the Chosen One. Falls under It Sucks to Be the Chosen One, but this wick is placed in folder II due to being a ZCE.
18. Film.A Fistful Of Dollars - Hurting Hero: Joe is brutally beaten by the Rojos. PCE about "a character gets beat up".
19. Literature.Five Nights At Freddys The Twisted Ones - Hurting Hero:
    1. Charlie, with the revelation of her long-since departed twin Sammy, throughout the novel has felt empty without him, describing it as feeling like a part of her is missing. PCE about "a character angsts about a loved one's departure".
    2. John becomes this as well on account of Charlie's death. ZCE
20. Literature.Hostile Takeover Swann - Hurting Hero / Start of Darkness: Neither Jonah nor Klaus can escape their past, but one tries to set it aside, or even atone, while the other clings to duty and vengeance. Trope-slashing. What "past"? How did the character "set it aside" and atone? Needs context.
21. Literature.Winnetou: Winnetou after losing his family. Charlie after losing Winnetou. ZCE
22. Manga.Plunderer - Hurting Hero: The poor Rihito suffers like no one in this manga. ZCE
23. Manga.Seraph Of The End - Hurting Hero: Virtually all of them. ZCE
24. Recap.Doctor Who S 32 E 1 The Impossible Astronaut - Hurting Hero: The Doctor cannot convince himself that he is the "King of OK". What does that mean?
25. Recap.Inspector Lynley S 04 E 04 Word Of God - Hurting Hero: Lynley's life basically goes to complete shit in this episode. Poor man. How?
26. Series.Power Rangers Dino Thunder - Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: In Abaranger, Stegoslidon (The Stegozord's Super Sentai counterpart) willing defected to AbareKiller (The White Ranger's counterpart) under the prospect of becoming more powerful through combining with AbareKiller's partner, TopGaler while actually doing so to keep an eye out on Mikoto to prevent him from getting himself killed in his games. However, in Dino Thunder, no such explanation exists as to why the evil White Ranger suddenly gains control of the Stegozord following his fight with Conner, especially as the explicit sapience of the Zords is all but outright removed. Sink Hole

1. AlliterativeName.Tropes F To L - Hurting Hero Within an index.
2. Main.Sadness Tropes - Hurting Hero: The Hero carries emotional baggage. Within an index.
3. SquarePegRoundTrope.E To K: A Hurting Hero is a troubled protagonist, and not necessarily one who is in constant physical pain. Within a list of tropes. Defined as "troubled protagonist", not "troubled heroic character".

Issue: Duplicate Trope

Decided to give this trope another go in the queue by following this post.

Hurting Hero is defined as "a character who does good, heroic, selfless deeds is burdened with stress, hardship or tragedy, but perseveres anyway" (the last three words are only mentioned at the last part of the trope description). A wick check is conducted to gauge severity of overlapping with existing tropes. The following are the results:

• 42% wicks contain context that can be easily replaced with another existing trope (e.g., Trauma Conga Line, Being Good Sucks, etc.).
• 52% wicks contain insufficient context (ZCE, lacking context on whether character is heroic, elaboration needed for what "tragedy" or "hardship" the character goes through)
• 6% wicks are unclassified (found in indices or lists of tropes).

Suggestion: Disambig.

1. Heartwarming.ER: The ending of "The Domino Heart" sees Lucy outside alone in the winter cold pondering sad thoughts after failing to save her heart recipient patient, despite all her best efforts. Luka arrives and finds her outside after his shift is over and drapes her in his coat to keep her warm, offers to take her to the circus he has tickets for and expresses his concern for her, listening to her finally open up about herself and her wants and fears. In the end he manages to cheer Lucy up again, complete with some Held Gaze between them, before deciding to stay at the hospital with her instead of going to the circus, and teaching her how to perform a medical procedure on a newly arrived patient. Crosses over with Tear Jerker, as Lucy only lives for another couple episodes, thus nothing comes of the seeming Ship Tease. Pothole and following entry actually imply the character perseveres, at least until her death.
2. Characters.Codex Equus Blue Suede Heartstrings Tropes F To I: Double-subverted. While he has endured many tragedies over the Ages, including the deaths of his parents and being exploited by an abusive and controlling record manager, Blue is more or less able to power through them because he has so many friends and loved ones who are willing to support him. However, it is implied that despite this, some trauma still lingers, especially in regards to his manager, "Colonel" Hollow Note, and his reluctance to forgive him caused Blue to see himself as a Hypocrite for not following the "King in Heaven"'s example in forgiveness. When he finally confesses this to his various friends and loved ones, everyone becomes extremely willing to help him recover from it out of gratitude for helping them, causing Blue to break down crying. Hero perseveres despite trauma. Correct.
3. Characters.Mega Man XX: It's kind of his shtick. "How long must this war go on?" is a constant question he asks throughout the series. Him taking a break in X7 only makes sense, considering the fact that he'd just lost (X5) and gotten back (X6) his best friend for the second time over the course of the last two games and seen nothing change for the better in comparison to the start of the series. However, that aside, he does continue to fight even after being disembodied in the Zero series, and Inafune's original plan for that was X hitting the Despair Event Horizon and reacting not by quitting on the fight altogether, but via Face–Heel Turn. Perseverance mentioned. Correct.
4. Film.Black Widow 2021: Double-Meaning Title: The film is indeed, centrally, about the Black Widow we have been following in the MCU the entire time, Natasha. At the same time, much like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier deconstructing and reconstructing what the role of "Captain America" means, the film takes stock what the institution of the Black Widow means within the MCU: a misguided system that exploits women for the benefit of masculine institutions (be it the Soviet state or Dreykov's agenda), but nonetheless produced people who can be heroes despite their trauma. Equal screentime is given to other fellow Black Widows who played a major part in her life, Yelena and Melina. Furthermore, the main conflict of the film is liberating the other brainwashed female agents (the other Red Room Black Widows and Taskmaster). Pothole correctly refers to trauma not overcoming the ability of the heroes to be heroic. Correct.
5. Characters.Magic The Gathering Planeswalkers Post Mending AM: She has a long, long history of tragedy in her path, but keeps on trying to do good things. Mentions perseverance. Correct.
6. Fanfic.Black Wings Black Sails: Temeraire is deeply unhappy without Laurence, dreaming most nights about flying with and generally being with him. He gains a stronger friendship with Levitas, united in their beloved captains having abandoned them, and is so enraged at Rankin upon Levitas's death that he very nearly kills the man outright. Dayes proves to be a paltry substitute for Laurence, as he doesn't read to Temeraire or spend much time with him- despite the man's initial pride at Temeraire's talents -and is generally sullen. Despite this neglect, Temeraire is intensely protective of Dayes, as he is his captain, and he can't bear to lose another one after losing Laurence. Eh, close enough. I'd say this counts as perseverance.
7. Characters.The Legend Of Korra Asami Sato: Asami spends the whole of Book 1 doing the right thing and fighting the good fight. As a result she ends up losing all ties to her life before. By the end she is clearly heart broken by it all, but is still admirably resolute in her choices. By Book 3 she's worked past it. However, Book 4 decides to kick a few more times before it's over in the woman she loves being AWOL for three years, reconciling with her father just before watching him die and nearly being completely broken at Korra's presumed death until she emerged from the new portal. Then she catches a break. Seems to be correct, as a zig-zagged example.
8. Fanfic.Once More With Feeling Crazy 88:
   • After his mother's passing and his father abandoning him, Shinji was raised by people did not care about him for ten years. Then he fought a War against giant space aliens where he and everyone he cared about were hurt, abused and manipulated until he was broken enough to wish for the end of mankind. And now he has to go through it again, burdened with the weight of his massive guit as he tries to not let anyone down this time.
   • During an argument with Asuka related to a school trip, Misato ponders how badly Asuka was betrayed and hurt in the past by everyone and even so she still fights giant aliens that threaten mankind. While the first bullet point doesn't mention perseverance, the second one does, so I'll count the entries together as one.

1. Characters.Static Shock: He gets hit with this from time to time. Particularly when an episode puts some focus on his mother. No perseverance mentioned.
2. WebOriginal.Emotional Realm: Wild Edge's parents died because of his powers, and it's haunted him eversence. No mention of perseverance.
3. TearJerker.Adventure Time: Finn's song "All Gummed Up Inside" is just heartbreaking. It's about how he's lost all his motivation to do anything because Princess Bubblegum won't return his affection. Later in the episode, he won't even get up when the house is on fire because he's too busy wallowing in his pain (until the fire burns up his portraits of Bubblegum).

   I can't keep pushing this down any deeper
   Why do I keep trying if I can't keep her?
   Every move I make
   Is just another mistake
   I wonder what it would take
   Because it feels like there's a
   Hole inside my body. Like there a hole inside my heart
   It's like this feeling is gonna consume me
   If I keep waiting for this thing to start. Pothole mentions no perseverance.

4. NotGoodWithRejection.Anime And Manga: A heartbreaking example can be found in Guts. Being raped made Casca insane and unable to give consent, so whenever Guts wants to continue their sexual relationship she gets scared and rebuffs him. Sometimes it was because he nearly lost control of himself and tried to rape her. This all adds to his heartbreak, especially considering they used to be so close before everything went to hell and he Desperately Craves Affection from her. Pothole doesn't mention perseverance.
5. YMMV.Twenty Four: Tony in season 7. It's clear he was supposed to be viewed in some sort of Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds light by the end, but the fact that the revelation regarding it is almost thrown in at the last second hasn't sit well with some people as well as his willingness to kill innocent people despite claims that they were never actually in danger, especially when compared to Jack's turn in season 8 where he still had some principles and was cleary suffering even as his actions became darker through the final third of it. No perseverance mentioned in pothole.'
6. ExtremeDoormat.Anime And Manga: Kotoura-sans titular heroine. Haruka doesn't speak up because she would likely and unintentionally reveal people's inner selves which often infuriates them even more and validates their Abomination Accusation Attack hence why she's the perfect victim from their perspective. Because of this, she doesn't even bother trying to be social which is affecting her mental health despite how much her she denies it. Much of the show is devoted to having her growing away from this. No perseverance mentioned in pothole.'
7. Characters.The Dragon Prince Callum: Callum deals with a lot of loss or potential loss of those he loves. He loses his birth father at a young age, his mother when he's five, and his stepfather at fourteen. There are also many occassions where he comes close to losing Ezran and Rayla. No mention of perseverance in entry.
8. Characters.Masks Of Aygrima: Many things go wrong for her and she's going through heavy Sanity Slippage throughout the books. No mention of perseverance.
9. Characters.Mandy 2018: Already implied to have a Dark and Troubled Past, the amount of physical and mental pain he endures in the space of just a few days would be enough to harrow a saint. Perseverance not mentioned.
10. Characters.Survivor Heroes Vs Healers Vs Hustlers: He's haunted by his experiences from his time in the Marines. Perseverance not mentioned.
11. ComicBook.Supergirl 1972: Linda is one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy, but she is tricked, manipulated and hurt constantly. And she can't keep a steady boyfriend because her Supergirl duties interfere with her private life. Perseverance not mentioned.
12. Characters.Daredevil Matt Murdock: Matt is only second to Iron Man on this. If something good happens, you can bet it won't last and will be swiftly followed by an unexpected punch to the gut, spiritually speaking. "Born Again" is the most famous example, but there are many, many others. Many issues have shown him as being so emotionally damaged that he is almost incapable of feeling happiness and he feels like he can do little more than brace himself for the next trauma or humiliation. The last couple of writers on Daredevil (Bendis and Brubaker) have seemingly competed to see just how much pain they can put Matt Murdock through. Just in the last two runs, he's gone though a mental breakdown over the death of his longtime girlfriend Karen Page, his secret identity was blown and he was sent to a high security prison (filled mostly with criminals he'd put away) for obstruction of justice, his wife was driven insane by a supervillain and committed to a mental hospital and his best friend was stabbed and assumed to be killed. Perseverance not mentioned.
13. Characters.Survivor Heroes Vs Healers Vs Hustlers: He's haunted by his experiences from his time in the Marines. Perseverance not mentioned.
14. TheChainsOfCommanding.Video Games This is arguably the driving theme of Mass Effect 3, along with the theme of sacrifice. Garrus and Shepard have a conversation at one point talking about the "ruthless calculus" of deciding who lives and who dies, and party members will express concern about Shepard throughout the course of the game as the weight of the decisions s/he has to make in the war against the Reapers take their emotional toll. Shepard frequently has bad dreams where the ghosts of the dead and echoes of Squad Mates who didn't make it are prevalent, and the stress of everyone on Earth dying, as well as having to make an alliance between races who hate each other around the gamble of the Crucible weapon, is also very evident. Towards the end of the game, when Shepard fails to get the Catalyst on Thessia and the Asari homeworld is completely lost, s/he very visibly cracks under the strain, and it just gets worse from there. Pothole doesn't mention perseverance.
15. Characters.Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: He loses just about everything over the course of the series. Perseverance not mentioned.
16. Characters.The Way RPG Maker: Rhue is always this, but it really gets bad after the end of Episode 4 and Lexus's death. Perseverance not mentioned.
17. Characters.DCEU Batman: He's in mourning for his deceased sidekick Robin, who was killed by the Joker. Perseverance not mentioned.
18. Characters.Batman Arkham Series Batman:
    • He shows signs of this a third of the way into Arkham City and he gets even worse in Harley Quinn's Revenge.
    • Gets hit with this big-time in Arkham Knight with Barbara's (apparent) suicide and the reveal that Jason Todd is the titular Arkham Knight. Perseverance not mentioned.
19. Characters.Friday Night Funkin Marios Madness: Nothing says "emotional baggage for a Digital Abomination siding with humanity" quite like accidentally killing a submind that had the mind of an innocent person and then having to "bury" them, or knowing that you've scarred plenty of actual humans from circumstances outside your control. Perseverance not mentioned.
20. Characters.The Amazing Spider Man Series Spider Man: When he can't save someone, it really gets to him. Perseverance not mentioned.
21. Film.A Fistful Of Dollars: Joe is brutally beaten by the Rojos. No mention of perseverance.
22. Film.Zack Snyders Justice League: The League itself serves as something of a "found family" for each member. Everyone is hurt, broken, or otherwise feel lost in the world, either because their powers make them feel like outcasts among the rest of humanity or simply going through innumerable tragedies and hardships that left them feeling like they had to close themselves off from others to not get hurt again. By forming the Justice League and overcoming struggles together, everyone finds a kindred spirit in one another and they know now that they're not alone. Pothole doesn't mention perseverance.
23. Film.Shredder Orpheus: In the second half of the movie, Orpheus enters a depression after losing Eurydice, admitting to Linus that everything feels fake, he doesn't know who he is, and he doesn't have a life without Eurydice. Perseverance not mentioned.
24. Characters.Slugterra: Sometimes, being a hero hurts. Especially making decisions like having to stop himself from helping his father for the fate of the cavern. No mention of perseverance.
25. Characters.The Silver Eye: He's the banished king of a conquered country - there's bound to be some sort of emotional baggage after that. More specifically: after his father's murder, he was crowned king at the age of 9, then sentenced to execution via Deadlands not long after. Even after he made it to the other side alive, he was overwhelmed by the prospect of starting over, and made multiple attempts on his life. Just when he felt okay about his life, Enel showed up and ruined everything. Doesn't mention perseverance—seems to even mention the opposite, but I put it in this category because it doesn't explicitly say that.
26. Series.Homicide Hunter: Kenda is very open about his feelings when cases really bother him, and the fact that he has PTSD. In many episodes you can tell some of the cases still really bother him and a few times he nearly breaks down on camera and has to take a moment to compose himself. He also admits that he doesn't sleep well because of what he does and that he decided to retire because he couldn't take the pressure of the job anymore. On Chris Hardwick's podcast, he tells a story of how he went to a therapist to help with his PTSD. By the time the session was over, the therapist was in tears and Kenda had to comfort him. No explicit mention of perseverance.
27. Series.Strike Back: All three of the leads. Porter's issues are set up from the start, while the reasons why Scott is brooding are revealed over his first two seasons. Stonebridge just gets more angst as the series goes on. No mention of perseverance.
28. Recap.The Big Bang Theory S 4 E 11 The Justice League Recombination: Both Leonard and Penny are this.
    • Leonard after seeing Penny kiss Zack.
    • Penny herself is clearly regretting her breakup with Leonard and stares at him guiltily and sad while kissing Zack. No mention of perseverance, borderline ZCE.
29. Recap.Batman Beyond S 1 E 1 E 2 Rebirth: Terry realizes this about Bruce after he refuses to do anything about Powers' nerve gas project.
    Terry: Something happened to you, didn't it? And it wasn't just that you got old. No mention of perseverance.
30. Fanfic.Entropy: The fics detail Sonic spiraling downwards in terms of both his sanity and his true feelings.
    • Chaoskampf explores a small amount of acceptance of what he sees and realizes the differences of what is real and what isn't. Doesn't mean he's happy to cop it all, however. No mention of perseverance.
31. ComicBook.Dark Nights Death Metal: Captain Carrot is the only surviving member of the Zoo Crew, and while he keeps a stiff upper lip as long as he can, he finds himself breaking down in tears and wishing he could have done more to save his friends and his universe. Pothole doesn't mention perseverance.
32. Characters.Shitsurakuen: All her inicial jerkassy is because, before Sora arrived at school, she was the only one brave enough to wanting to fight the system but have to do it all alone and she considered that Sora will ruin all the progress she have done so far, but deep down she wishes to have an ally. Perseverance not mentioned.
33. Film.What Price Honesty: Zhong Heng, the protagonist, whose attempts to expose the corrupt justice system had him framed for theft, locked in a prison cell with dozens of prisoners who hates him, get the stuffing beaten out of him, reduced to a semi-unconscious state (the reason he didn't die is because the Fifth Master specifically instructs him to be kept alive for more flogging), peed on, forced to swallow a cockroach, flogged for days, starved for days, being tricked into eating rice in a bowl containing a dead rat, and in his weakened state, locked in a Punishment Box with Sun Long, a bandit who craves to kill Zhong Heng slowly and painfully. Perseverance not mentioned.

1. Recap.SM G4s Mario Bloopers Goodbye SMG 4: Gone Horribly Right: Lawyer Kong successfully gets rid of the OCs, and brings Mario back to Nintendo. Unfortunately, the whole debacle has left Mario too depressed to care about his new games, so he keeps botching his scenes, preventing Miyamoto from getting any more work done. So things still aren't back to "normal" for the company. Pothole mentions that a character isn't persevering at all.
2. Literature.Division By Zero: Kohana is so ransacked with guilt after Jinnouchi’s death and the slaughter of her classmates that she takes it upon herself to spend every waking moment of her life hunting down Shadows which takes a deep, psychological toll on her. She dedicates the rest of her life to finding the umbrakinetic but there’s just one problem: while she wanted to be a hero hellbent on revenge ridding the Earth of every last Shadow, she quickly finds that she is ill-equipped to do so due to the depression she falls into. Kohana develops Samaritan Syndrome where she feels immense guilt at doing anything that doesn’t consist of saving people. She tells herself she can’t eat when people need her, and forgoes sleep because she is frightened of people dying while she’s dreaming. She no longer sees saving the majority as a triumph; if she lets even one person die, she considers that day a total failure and beats herself up. Hero seems to have trouble persevering—thus I count it under here.

1. Literature.The Chronicles Of Tevenar: Elkan, oh so much. See below. "See below" ZCE.
2. Fanfic.Simulacrum: Souji. ZCE.
3. Characters.Redwall Marlfox: With his father's constant disapproval hanging over him, and the subconscious belief that he'll never be a proper warrior, Dannflor has a lot of emotional baggage. Song helps him get over it, though. Unclear if "getting over" necessarily implies perseverance, per se, in this case.
4. Fanfi.The Prince Of Death: Light, not that he'll show it. ZCE.
5. Literature.Winnetou: Winnetou after losing his family. Charlie after losing Winnetou. ZCE.
6. Manga.Seraph Of The End: Virtually all of them. ZCE.
7. Characters.Shrek Main Characters: Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Fiona fell in love with Shrek after she overhears his Hurting Hero speech and realizes that he's actually a kindly guy. Pothole doesn't seem to imply anything, so I'm classifying it as a ZCE.