Have you ever been so sad that you don’t want to get out of bed? That you can’t see why people are running and jumping in the park, while you’re under a tree crying? In the wake of the season finale of Mr. Robot, along with seeing the fate of America’s favorite misanthrope, this means we won’t see Elliot’s sullen face for at least another year. To help us cope with this tragic loss to our DVRs, here are four other sad characters who will never need to worry about getting braces, because their lives are nothing to smile about. Spoiler warning!
1. BoJack Horseman – BoJack Horseman
In the story of BoJack, depression isn’t something he’s inflicted with. It’s his family’s legacy. He was brought up with two completely narcissistic parents. They filled his childhood with emotional abuse and rampant alcoholism, two traditions that he has carried on throughout his adult life. Even though he has moved as far as he possibly could from them, he ended up somewhere equally empty and sad: Los Angeles. None of this information makes him any less forgivable or sympathetic, especially after the most recent season. It does however explain how so much sadness and pain can exist in one man, or better yet, in one horseman.
2. Arya Stark – Game of Thrones
Technically speaking, every character from Game of Thrones could make this list, but Arya’s luck is so bad that she deserves a little more attention. For all that Arya knows, her entire family is dead. She witnessed her father’s execution, and saw her brother’s head on a spike. Her mother is also dead and her home is burned to a crisp. Anyone who tries to get close to her suffers a similar fate. On top of all that, she’s now blind! Yet, through all of this, she still keeps going. After all that she’s been through and all that she has seen and done, she still has three people to kill. Perhaps the Hound was right; maybe hate is a good motivator.
3. Ice King – Adventure Time
After surviving a nuclear war and then becoming the King of the Ice Kingdom, you think Simon Petrikov would be the happiest person in the Land of Ooo. If you asked, he thinks so too. The reason he’s still alive is a dark double-edged sword. The magic crown that has kept him alive for years is also the source of his anger and insanity. The crown is the reason he’s protected the vampire Marceline for so long, and the same reason she was pushed away. The worst is that he doesn’t remember any of it. His only real companion is Gunter, a monosyllabic penguin. He’s not your average villain; his crippling loneliness and self loathing makes him a great introduction to depression for children. For adults though, he’s more complex, and little too real.
4. Daniel Holden – Rectify
Which sounds worse? Going to jail as teenager for allegedly raping and killing your girlfriend, and spending every day in isolation on death row waiting to die? Or being released and moving back to your hometown where everyone still thinks you did it? That’s where we meet our central character, Daniel Holden, in the first episode of Rectify. Imprisoned when he was 18, then released 19 years later due to DNA evidence, Daniel is coming into a whole new world. As he re-enters society, every moment and interaction is foreign and distressing. The entire town wants him dead, and the few family members who like him are still uneasy around him. Now, after being banished from the only home he knows, it’s no wonder why he rarely ever cracks a smile. Would you?
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