27 Fictional Characters Who Suffered So Horribly, I'm Convinced The Writers Just Sat Around A Whiteboard Brainstorming Ways To Make Their Lives Worse

"She is one of the few characters in the whole franchise who never hurt anyone, and she had a fate even the worst characters wouldn't have deserved."

Are you ever watching a TV show and thinking to yourself, damn, this character really can't catch a break? Like, it's just one horrible thing after another, even after they've seemingly hit rock bottom, and you start to wonder if the writer just really hates this character?

Fox

Well, recently, Reddit user IllFaithlessness5500 asked, "What fictional character had the saddest, most miserable life?" and people had a ton of contenders for the award of Worst Life. Here are the characters they submitted!*

*Along with a few of my own.

1. Jesse from Breaking Bad

AMC

Suggested by u/HarryS1875

"Jesse suffered the most out of all the Breaking Bad characters. And what makes it worse is that deep down he was a good kid. A good kid who was misguided and took a wrong path in life."

—u/YoBeaverBoy

"That one is genuinely sad. I mean, when he teamed up with Walt, things kinda started getting better? As soon as he had money to comfortably live, he got his life together actually and became a good guy. But Walt kept f***ing it up for both.

Hell, towards the end he was even smart enough to want to quit with the money he had...he could've lived happily ever after. But nope, Walt f***s it up AGAIN because of his greed. I think I nearly cried watching El Camino, he was so damn desperate."

—u/GuyFromDeathValley

2. Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars

Lucasfilm

"I'd say Obi-Wan Kenobi. Lost Qui-Gon, Anakin, Satine, his friends in the Jedi Order, and his place in the galaxy. He had to live with the guilt of what happened to Anakin and all the consequences, and he wasn't free even after he died; he still had to keep helping Luke. Only years after his death did he find peace."

—u/Inquisitor1001

"[He] found out that his entire religion [and] everyone part of it fell apart and were slaughtered in a matter of hours, and still didn’t turn to the Dark Side."

—u/stealth57

3. And Anakin from Star Wars

Lucasfilm

"I'd argue Anakin had it worse [than Obi-Wan]. Grew up as a slave, rescued by Jedi who refused to help his mother. He returns years later to rescue her, only to find she's been abducted and tortured by the Tuscans. He arrives too late and she dies in his arms. He's forced to hide his marriage, refused the position of master despite being on the council, and despite raising a padawan to the point of Knighthood. He's groomed by Palpatine, one of the few people he considers a friend, only for him to use the death of his wife to turn him to the dark side. He's left horribly mutilated, put in a suit that hinders him and tortures him for the next 20 years. [He] finally gets revenge on Palpatine, which kills him."

—u/eighttesticles

4. Wanda from the MCU

Marvel

"Sad in the comics, even worse in the movies: parents killed, brother killed. Tries to be a hero but accidentally kills people which leads to the Civil War events. Falls in love with Vision but then she had to kill him, just to see him get resurrected and killed again, so it was even pointless that she killed him. Got a bit unstable after this and made a fake reality with a family life with Vision as her husband and kids only to lose him again and the kids and the happy life. Gets more unstable, starts killing people to get to her kids in another reality, finds them, realizes the kids already have a mother and don't accept her, and kills herself."

—u/-jmil-

5. The air conditioner in The Brave Little Toaster

Hyperion Pictures

Suggested by u/afos2291

The Air Conditioner may be mean, but it's only because he's had a terrible life. The other appliances mock him for his biggest insecurity, and he's neglected by the Master. On top of all that, he literally cannot move from the wall and is often forgotten. He gets so upset at this being pointed out that he basically kills himself...though he is repaired at the end. Still, the whole above scene is so disturbing that it once again had me asking, "How the hell is this a kid's film?"

6. Nell from The Haunting of Hill House

Warning This image is graphic Tap to reveal Click to reveal

Netflix

"Nell from Haunting of Hill House because she is spending ETERNITY falling, right there seeing her family, and they can’t see her. She is her own Bent-Neck Lady, and the reveal of that shattered my heart. She’s her own ghost, her own worst fear, and it’s forever. She had a traumatic childhood and lost her goddamn husband. The grief just doesn’t end for her. It’s a loop. Flanagan is good at making horror that is also very sad."

—u/Purple_Election_4657

7. Sirius Black from Harry Potter

Warner Bros.

"Grew up in an abusive household. Finally makes some friends, then had two of his closest friends taken away from him, while he gets framed for a terrorist attack. Gets locked up in some high-security prison with monsters sucking the life out of him.

Realized one of his close friends who 'died' betrayed and framed him, escapes to catch him, makes the news as the wild murderer who escaped, almost gets the kiss worse than death. Everyone fears him despite his innocence, [and he] has to live in hiding the moment he got free. Later on [he] gets killed by his cousin in a duel trying to save a bunch of kids.

All this within 36 years of his life, 12 of which were spent in prison, 12 of which was spent living with his abusive family, and then some time spent hiding in his family home he grew up in."

—u/PokemonLv10

8. Bonnie from The Vampire Diaries

The CW

First her Grams (largely her mother figure) dies, then her mom is turned into a vampire, then her father is killed in front of her while she can do nothing to stop it. Her first serious boyfriend cheats on her with a literal ghost and then dies — twice. She dies herself a bunch of different times (always to save her friends) and tries to keep her friends from finding out because it will make them sad. Then when she comes back to life, she has to feel intense dying pain from every single supernatural being that dies. She's trapped in a prison world for months with only one other person reliving the same day over and over, then she's left alone there with a sadist who hates her. After she escapes, her life becomes tied to her best friend's, so that she will not only never see her again but also has to live knowing that she's only alive because Elena isn't. Her new best friend — Damon — constantly abandons and betrays her, and then the love of her life is killed in front of her. She's such a thankless character who never complains, and is always getting everyone out of impossible situations. 

9. Johanna from The Hunger Games

Lionsgate

"When she was a kid she was forced into the Games and managed to win, only to then have Snow attempt to force her into prostitution which she refused. As 'punishment' for her refusal, Snow had her entire family murdered. Fast forward to the the main books and she is once again forced into the Games in Catching Fire after which she's imprisoned and tortured by the Capitol, resulting in a drug addiction and such severe PTSD that even just getting slightly wet causes severe panic attacks."

—u/Theher0not

10. John Locke from Lost

ABC

"[His life was so sad] to the point that I'm actually annoyed at Lindelof and Cuse for not giving him enough time in the finale to realize his importance in the story."

—u/The-Go-Kid

"The most miserable life of a character isn’t one who stayed at their lowest and never went above or below. It’s the one who went higher, had their hopes raised, only for it to be crushed to a lower depth. That happened to John Locke, especially that scene with his dad and the bunker."

—u/littleboxofchocolate

11. Ripley from the Alien series

20th Century Fox

"She was a space trucker who just wanted to go home to her daughter but those f***ing aliens just kept turning up to f*** with her life."

—u/insane__knight

"And then when she wakes up her daughter had died like 30 years ago. So sad. At least she has her cat though...well, she did before she killed herself."

—u/Unique-Steak8745

12. Doctor Who from Doctor Who

BBC

Suggested by u/Time-Variation6969

"Thousands of years without [a] home, always watching people realize happiness from the outside looking in. Knowing you were the only decent member of your kind left, with the only other being so unhinged that he keeps trying to create war on a vast scale. A lonely life."

—u/KaijuDownThere

13. Smeagol/Gollum from The Lord of the Rings

New Line Cinema

Suggested by u/GROTESQUE124U

"Gollum is way up there. Born the grandchild of a halfling matriarch, but murders his best friend for a meaningless trinket, then finds himself becoming ostracized and hated by his family for his rapidly degrading behavior. Turns into a cannibalistic maniac that can't stand sunlight or cooked food, relies solely on an inanimate object for company, develops a crippling addiction to the sense of power he gains from using said object, and eventually goes underground to sit in a dark wet cave, eat raw fish, and occasionally strangle orcs.

Then someone shows up and steals the only thing that gives him any feeling of comfort or meaning. He spends the next few decades in utter mental anguish before finally facing the upper world he hated and abandoned, but is captured and ruthlessly mentally tortured by the most powerful magical being still in Middle-earth. He then is forced to serve for the person carrying and using the one thing he wants more than anything else, and ultimately is doomed to sacrifice his own life for it, but not before failing to achieve the last chance of redemption offered to him after coming so close to succeeding."

—u/Evolving_Dore

14. Seymour from Futurama

Fox

Suggested by u/Loose_Corgi_5

Fry mistakenly believes Seymour had a long, fulfilling life after he was frozen, but then it's revealed that Seymour actually waited outside a pizza shop for Fry to come back for 12 years — growing older and sicker as he weathered horrible weather and neglect, until he eventually died. It's so ridiculously depressing that it feels cruel.

15. Pepper from American Horror Story

FX

"Being born with a serious disability is already hard, but her family couldn't deal with her support needs and sent her to an orphanage. After staying there for a few years, she was 'adopted' by a narcissist. Yes, Elsa took care of her and helped her develop her communication skills, but she used her to generate income. Being in a freakshow isn't much better than being institutionalised. Then she met a man she loved and had a few years of happiness, only for him to die at a young age due to his disability. Elsa then decided Pepper was too much to deal with and sent her to live with her sister who had made it clear she didn't have what it takes to support someone with microcephaly.

A few years later she became an aunt and was very invested in the baby's care — this ended when the baby was killed by his own father who proceeded to blame the murder on her. She died in an asylum. She is one of the few characters in the whole franchise who never hurt anyone, and she had a fate even the worst characters wouldn't have deserved."

—u/StuffEmersonSays

16. Viktor from The Umbrella Academy

Netflix

Viktor was raised to believe he wasn't special and was drugged his whole life to suppress his powers. He was constantly ignored by his siblings and then manipulated by the first person who ever showed any care towards him. He seemed doomed to end the world over and over again, and then when he found happiness with Sissy, he had to leave her behind. 

17. Peter Parker from the MCU (and also the Sony movies and the comics)

Sony Pictures Releasing/Marvel

Suggested by u/Daetok_Lochannis

"In every single universe in the Spider-verse, the Spider-people have to suffer significant losses so he/she/they can become 'Spider-Man/Girl/etc.' in the first place, and after that they have to keep losing loved ones. In every single universe."

—u/GermaX

18. Judy from Dead to Me

Netflix

This one makes me so sad. All Judy ever wanted was to love and be loved, and when she finally found that with Jen, she died. She always wanted to be a mother, and she had multiple miscarriages before then getting cancer (and then having to watch her best friend get pregnant). She lived with the guilt of killing Jen's husband and then her fiancé died and she had to help cover up his murder. She dealt with Jen's hatred and the knowledge that her pseudo-children (Jen's kids) would despise her if they ever knew the truth. 

19. James from James and the Giant Peach

Buena Vista Pictures Distribution / Guild Film Distribution

"James from James and the Giant Peach has a pretty miserable life until the end, if you think about it. His parents are eaten by a rhino, he's forced to live with his abusive aunts who force him to do nothing but chores, the one gift he's ever given is lost within a minute of receiving it, he has no friends and isn't allowed to go out and make any, then he gets wrapped into a wild adventure with giant bugs, nearly dies more than once...basically, he's Harry Potter but without magic."

—u/Extension-Magician44

20. Charlie Brown from the Charlie Brown cartoons

CBS

"One of the things that frustrates me about Charlie Brown is that he seems to be completely unlovable through no fault of his own. People just decide that they hate him, and even his friends are a**holes toward him for no particular reason. He's a good kid with a great attitude, he works hard at everything he does, he's agreeable, fun to be around, but the minute someone gets into his vicinity they hate him.

The only character to give him unconditional love is his dog, and that's because Charlie Brown rescued him from a puppy mill so Snoopy literally owes Charlie Brown his life.

Aside from that, the only time Charlie Brown's friends miss him is during a story arc where he has a prolonged hospital stay for an unknown ailment (some have theorized he had cancer because of some lead-up strips where he talks about undergoing tests, but this hasn't been proven). Everyone's lives are actively made worse for him not being around. Everyone gets sad, feels lonely, one character straight up prays that he doesn't die. When he comes out, everyone treats him like shit again, despite the fact that they all missed him."

—u/SimonCallahan

21. Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel

The WB

Angel's gotta be one of the most tragic characters of all time. Yes, he lived a life as a sadistic, evil vampire, but that wasn't really within his control. When he's cursed with a soul, he immediately stops killing and has to live with all of the memories of what he's done, including killing his own family. On top of that, he's literally cursed to lose his soul again if he ever experiences true happiness. He's murdered by his true love and forced to live in a hell dimension. He then finds a bit of happiness on his spin-off before his new best friend dies. He then has a son who is ripped from him by another best friend, and returns as a teenager who wants to kill him and literally sends him to the bottom of the ocean in a casket for months. Buffy, his one true love, dies, and his next true love becomes evil and also dies, and then Fred and Wesley die, too. Gunn is presumed to be dying in the finale (and the comics confirm he turns into a vampire), leaving Angel essentially entirely alone but for his nemesis Spike at the end of the series, literally fighting a hopeless battle in hell. He's given up his dreams of being human and has come to believe there is no redemption for him in life, and no way to actually ever accomplish any meaningful change in the world, and he has no hope of ever being with the resurrected Buffy, but he fights anyways. 

22. And Dawn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

UPN

"1. Basically a living magic spell.

2. Memories of a biological paternal abandoning the family when she was a little kid.

3. Mother dies when she's a young woman; arguably the most important time for a young woman to have her mother around.

4. Loses her sister and only real family only a few months later after being hunted by a hell goddess, her minions, and some ass-backwards Christian crusade sh**.

5. Her only real friends are a robot that looks like her sister and a vampire that is one piece of plastic and silicon away from murdering her and her remaining family.

6. Her sister's friends turn away because they have their own trauma and lives to contend with.

7. She's failing at school.

8. Shown in The Body that (at least) one of her classmates is bullying her.

9. Her only 'father figure' abandons her and moves halfway across the world.

So yeah.... Dawn gets way too much sh** from people."

—u/Aezetyr

23. Christina from Ugly Betty

Eric Liebowitz/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

"Her character went through so much, starting from running away and hiding from her abusive and drug-addicted ex, then being used for information on her bosses to get ahead as a fashion designer, having her ex find her and come to NY being a changed man yet having cancer now, him getting back into drugs briefly once treatment was verified to not be working at the time on him, then being blackmailed by Wilhelmina into being her surrogate for the price of her husband's treatment. FINALLY, she ends up getting word that the child she ‘surrogated’ might be hers and her husband's, so Wilhelmina fakes DNA tests to ensure her future shareholding of Meade. And last but not least she kidnaps her own baby to get him tested, fails, then once everything is brought to light Wilhelmina gets to play it off as an accident, and she moves back to Scotland to be with their family so they can get to know William? The last part I get, but her short life in the show was totally not what she deserved. She became so lovable with her wit and resilience but was used as a character specifically to give problems to for dramatic effect at best."

—u/yannabear01

24. Fantine in Les Misérables

Universal Pictures

Suggested by u/archiewaldron

"Selling even her teeth to provide enough money for her daughter... Meanwhile [the] folks she's left her with abuse her and take all the money."

—u/AcrobaticKing7687

"Fantine was forced into prostitution, had her teeth pulled out without novocaine, and never got to know her daughter."

—u/_eviehalboro

25. O’Brien from DS9

WGN

Suggested by u/Shas_Erra

"There must have been a whiteboard in the DS9 writers room with 'O'BRIEN MUST SUFFER' written on it with permanent marker."

—u/D-Angle

"Let's see. He's got PTSD from the Cardassian/Federation War. Once served a simulated 20-year prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit. Lost multiple crewmates. Tortured by several governments and beaten up every other week. Left his job in the high-tech Enterprise for the ramshackle DS9, just so he could raise a family someplace quiet and safe...only for it to end up being one of the most active and dangerous postings in Federation space. Threatened with the death sentence, once again for a crime he didn't commit, this time by the Cardassians. Did I miss anything?"

—u/Onearmdude

"You forgot the parts where he was cloned, ripped back and forth in time, lost his young daughter to a temporal vortex, almost got eaten by a bio weapon, tried to kill himself and made friends with a mobster, only [for the mobster to] set him up and adopt his cat."

—u/Shas_Erra

26. Theon from Game of Thrones

HBO

"Theon Greyjoy had a pretty tough go of it."

—u/Kjartanthecruel

"I don't think a fictional character has ever had their own regrets and failures thrown back into their face with such cruelty. One of the things which makes the 'favorite toy' scene so gut-wrenching is how little effort Ramsay put into selling that particular ruse. It's essentially a reenactment of the first 'game' Ramsay played with him — mysterious strangers free him from his restraints and lavish him with undeserved praise, except this time Theon doesn't buy it at all. It's a cruel reminder of how easily he fell for the first trick."

—u/lookyloolookingatyou

27. And finally...The Little Matchstick Girl from the Hans Christian Anderson story/the animated shorts

Columbia Cartoons

"She is cold, hungry and alone trying to sell matches no one wants to buy. She lights the only remaining ones she has left to keep warm and dreams of being in a warm room with a family eating a delicious meal but then the match goes out and she wakes up to the reality that she’s alone on the cold streets. She dies of the cold all alone."

—u/MichaelSSolis

What other characters had such a sad life, you feel like the writers had it out for them? Let us know in the comments!

Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.