These characters had it rough! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for fictional characters from films that really did not deserve what they had to deal with, seriously.
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00:00I dreamed a dream in time gone by.
00:06Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for fictional characters from
00:10films that really did not deserve what they had to deal with.
00:14Seriously.
00:15Spoiler warning for massive fictional injustices.
00:26Number 10.
00:28Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
00:30If ever there was a character that became their own worst enemy, it's the Scarlet Witch.
00:41A Sokovian war orphan, along with her younger brother Pietro, Wanda volunteers to be experimented
00:46on by Hydra, which enhances her innate magical abilities.
00:49She finds love with the Vision, but when he dies, she creates a fantasy of their life
00:53together, trapping a whole town in the process.
01:06When she's forced to give up this illusion, Wanda still tries to find the children from
01:09her fantasy life in a parallel reality, and is willing to kill an innocent teenager for
01:13the power to travel throughout the multiverse.
01:16Eventually it all leads to her own demise, and no one mourns the wicked.
01:19Except us, of course.
01:21RIP Wanda.
01:23I opened the dark hold.
01:24I have to close it.
01:25No one will ever be tempted by the dark hold again.
01:34Number 9.
01:35Lee Chandler, Manchester by the Sea.
01:37At first, Lee Chandler seems like your typical bitter divorcee, who must care for his orphan
01:40nephew after his brother's death.
01:42Let's just leave it, okay?
01:43Just saying, I don't like him being in a freezer.
01:46Yeah, I don't like it either.
01:50But it isn't him, because he's gone.
01:52It's just his body.
01:53But behind Lee's despondency lurks a horrible secret.
01:56His three children were in a fire that occurred because he drunkenly neglected to put a screen
02:00in front of the fireplace.
02:01I'm about halfway there.
02:02I can't remember if I put a screen on the fireplace.
02:11I figure it's okay.
02:18Maddened by guilt, prevented from ending his own life, he now struggles with raising
02:22his nephew in the community where the darkest tragedy of his life took place.
02:26I can't let you freak out with the door closed.
02:28And if you're going to freak out every time that you see a frozen chicken, I think we
02:34should go to the hospital.
02:35I don't know anything about this.
02:36Haunted by his ghosts, Lee turns to drink and bar fights.
02:39Eventually, Lee arranges for a family friend to take Patrick in.
02:42One mistake can really change your life for the worst, a lesson Lee has learned and lives
02:46with constantly.
02:48Why can't you stay?
02:50Come on, Patty.
03:02I can't beat it.
03:04Number 8.
03:05Selma Jezkova
03:06Dancer in the dark, the immigrant life can be cruel and it is especially tragic for Selma
03:10Jezkova.
03:11It's not as bad as it sounds.
03:16It's a family thing.
03:19A Czech immigrant living in the U.S., Selma has a degenerative eye disease which is likely
03:23to also afflict her son, Gene.
03:26Selma is saving up money for an operation for Gene, only for her factory job to let
03:30her go and her landlord, Bill, to steal her savings.
03:32Oh, you can have it back.
03:37Bill?
03:38You can have it back in a month.
03:46But I can't do that, Bill.
03:49Confronting Bill about the theft, Selma accidentally shoots him, and Bill begs her to finish the
03:53job and kill him.
03:54Selma is arrested, accused of faking her eye injury, and sentenced to death.
03:58Selma's bleak life is punctured by musical sequences, showing her love of musicals.
04:03Dancing in the dark until the tune ends has never been so heartbreaking.
04:12Number 7.
04:14Sirius Black, Harry Potter Franchise
04:15Godfather to Harry Potter, Sirius Black was born into a wizard-supremacist family.
04:20Sirius rebels early and well by running away from home to live with his best friend, James
04:24Potter.
04:25But as young adults, the resistance against Voldemort ultimately leads to his best friend's
04:29death.
04:30The world isn't split into good people and death eaters.
04:33We've all got both light and dark inside us.
04:38What matters is the part we choose to act on.
04:44To make matters worse, another fellow friend betrays the Potters and frames Sirius for
04:49his own actions.
04:50Sirius!
04:51Sirius!
04:52What would you have done?
04:53What would you have done?
04:54I would have died!
04:55I would have died rather than betray my friends!
04:59Though Sirius manages to escape Azkaban and reconnect with Harry, he has to hide out in
05:03his abusive childhood home, which doesn't help his already delicate mental health.
05:07In the end, he's killed by his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, while trying to save Harry from
05:11Voldemort.
05:12Despite his brave, principled, and charismatic character, Sirius' life was seriously awful.
05:17When all this is over, we'll be a proper family.
05:23We'll see.
05:28Number 6.
05:29Anakin Skywalker, Star Wars Franchise
05:32Villains often have the most heart-wrenching backstories.
05:34Why'd she have to die?
05:40Why couldn't I save her?
05:42Before he was Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker was a slave-turned-Jedi master, conceived
05:46without a father and prophesied to bring balance to the Force, falling in love with and secretly
05:58marrying Padme Amidala.
06:00Anakin's fears for her life make him easily manipulatable by Palpatine.
06:17Turning to the Sith, Anakin massacres the Jedi Temple, strangles Padme in a fit of paranoia,
06:22and duels with his old mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi.
06:37Obi-Wan cuts off his limbs and leaves him for dead in the lava.
06:40Rescued by Palpatine, Anakin is fitted with armor for his mutilated body, thus becoming
06:44Darth Vader.
06:45Anakin's descent to the dark side is the result of his suffering.
06:53Number 5.
06:54Beatrix Kiddo, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2
06:58Here comes the bride.
06:59Quentin Tarantino's vengeful heroine definitely has suffered greatly at the hands of assassins
07:03led by Bill.
07:07Once a member of the deadly Viper Squad, Beatrix becomes the group's victim at her wedding
07:11rehearsal on El Paso.
07:12Pregnant with Bill's child, she manages to tell him so right before he shoots her in
07:16the temple.
07:24After falling into a coma, she awakens to kill her would-be assaulter and swear vengeance
07:28on her former colleagues.
07:30Beatrix dispatches them one by one until at last she confronts Bill, who was raising their
07:34daughter Bebe who had survived.
07:36At least Beatrix did indeed kill Bill, but at what cost?
07:48Number 4.
07:49Smeagol, The Lord of the Rings Franchise
07:52One of the most pitiful creatures in the Lord of the Rings universe, Gollum began as a hobbit
07:55named Smeagol who was corrupted by the One Ring of Power.
08:02His desire for the Ring leads him to kill his relative, Deagol, for it.
08:06Years later, when Bilbo Baggins acquires the Ring and gives it to Frodo, Gollum follows
08:10in hot pursuit.
08:11They stole it from us, my precious.
08:19The evil of the Ring leads to Gollum's body and face becoming unsightly and distorted.
08:24Gollum's Ring-lust serves as a parallel to Frodo's own temptation, leading both to the
08:28fires of Mount Doom.
08:29While Frodo conquers his temptation, Gollum is too far gone, a merciful end to a life
08:33full of torment.
08:46Number 3.
08:47Fantine, Les Miserables
08:48She dreamed the dream in times gone by.
08:55From Victor Hugo's tome, Fantine's life is just one among many miserable ones.
09:00After her lover abandons her and their love child, Fantine is forced to work at the factory,
09:04sending her wages to her daughter Cosette, raised by the corrupt Tenardiers.
09:07When her love child's existence is discovered, Fantine is fired and in desperation sells
09:12her hair, teeth, and then her body.
09:13Sickened and dying, she manages to tell Jean Valjean about Cosette, but she's never reunited
09:24with Cosette and dies without seeing her, or knowing that the Tenardiers have been conning
09:28her all along and keeping the money for themselves instead of Cosette.
09:31Life has definitely killed Fantine's dream.
09:45Number 2.
09:46Frankenstein's Monster
09:47Frankenstein.
09:48Who is the monster and who is the man?
09:49The tale of Frankenstein and his misunderstood monster has been adapted many times, but this
09:5330s film is by far the most iconic one.
10:02Unlike the novel, Frankenstein initially doesn't turn away from his monster, played by Boris
10:06Karloff, but when the monster is frightened by fire, Frankenstein mistakes his fright
10:10as an attack.
10:11He and his assistant chain it in the dungeon.
10:17The monster escapes and even befriends a little girl, but when he throws the girl into the
10:21lake, she drowns.
10:22The monster seeks out and tries to kill Frankenstein, only to be burned alive in the windmill by
10:26a mob.
10:27What a sad end to a sad life.
10:29Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mention.
10:32Ellen Ripley, Alien Franchise, because between the aliens and finding out her daughter's
10:36dead, it's trauma enough.
10:41John Wick, John Wick, because he just wanted to grieve his wife and they killed his dog.
10:46In that moment, I received some semblance of hope, an opportunity to grieve unalone.
10:57And your son took that from me.
11:01Laura Palmer, Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me, because Laura is a murder victim in her own
11:06story.
11:07Look, there's dirt way under this fingernail.
11:16Joanna Mason, The Hunger Games Franchise, because she refused forced labor and her whole
11:20family was murdered.
11:27Koba, The Planet of the Apes Reboot Series, because he was experimented on, abused by,
11:31and traumatized by humans.
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11:56Number one, Celie, The Color Purple.
11:58The lead of Alice Walker's novel-turned-film, Celie leads a life of poverty-related horrors
12:02and abuse.
12:15Taken advantage of by her own father, Celie gives birth to two children, whom her father
12:19quickly gives away.
12:20Celie's forced to marry Mister, a widower with a hard hand.
12:23She does find love in the form of Suge, Mister's longtime mistress, but Mister catches her
12:28and prevents her from running away to Memphis with Suge.
12:42After discovering her sister Nettie's letters, Celie finally stands up to Mister.
12:49At the end, she and her sister reunite.
12:52Celie's story is one of hardship, abuse, and betrayal, and it's all too real and undeserved.
12:56At least her musical counterpart gets some neat songs.
13:02Which other film characters made you suffer along with them?
13:04Let us know in the comments down below.
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