Random TV Characters With Shockingly Depressing Backstories (17 items)

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  (#2) Dr Lance Sweets

  • bones

  TV Show: Bones 

  Both Seeley Booth and Temperance "Bones" Brennan suffer from difficult childhoods on the show, but psychologist Lance Sweets has the physical scars to prove it. Before being adopted by a loving couple when he was six, Lance suffered despicable abuse. In a Season 4 episode, the whip scars on his back are shown. Probably one of the reasons he could empathize so well with Booth, who had an abusive, alcoholic father and with Brennan, who was abandoned by her parents when she was a teenager. 
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  (#4) Tiffany 'Pennsatucky' Doggett

  • Orange Is the New Black

  TV Show: Orange is the New Black

  A lot of Litchfield Penitentiary's inmates have tragic backgrounds, but Pennsatucky’s is probably the saddest portrayed on the series. From a young age, she wasn't taught that that sex was pleasurable for both men and woman, and she frequently sold her body for things like a six-pack of Mountain Dew. Her mother was not the best, basically using Pennsatucky to get more money from the government. She eventually became a meth addict who shot a nurse because she made a snide comment about Pennsatucky getting her fifth abortion. Which ultimately landed her in prison.

  Honestly, going to Litchfield probably wasn’t the worst thing that could happen for a character with such a sordid past. Even with all that abuse from prison guards.
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  (#17) Jared Dunn

  • Silicon Valley

  TV Show: Silicon Valley

  Jared is probably the sweetest of the Silicon Valley group, but he’s also the one with the darkest past. While any mention of his twisted background is usually via offhanded remarks, they’re typically passed over by the guys as awkward jokes. Although Jared never really opens up about his dark years in any sort of expository way, the little we know about him would make anyone want to give him a warm and cuddly embrace.

  According to information from the show, and from Zach Woods’s interviews, Jared’s childhood involved a lot of dealing with Child Protective Services. His dad abandoned him and his family for a militia in the Ozarks, and his relationship with his relatives and foster guardians was marked with abuse and neglect. Moreover, Jared was bullied all throughout his school years. At one point, he admits that his best friend growing up was a stuffed animal made out of a Ziploc bag, old newspaper, and a marker.

  And yet, while it’s clear that his early years were in no way ideal, Jared managed to build a career that would make any millennial proud. He seems to have conquered his demons, to the point where he's even able to mention his past abuse to his co-workers, albeit in haunted tones. Good for him. 
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  (#13) Logan Echolls

  • Veronica Mars

  TV Show: Veronica Mars

  If asked to name the most loathsome character in Veronica Mars, it's difficult to choose between Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas and Aaron Echolls? It may just be a tie. One was Logan Echolls's father, the other his friend.

  Logan, despite growing up in luxury as a privileged 09er, had a horrible home life. His father used to whip him with a belt while his mother took too many pills, probably to cope with having children she never wanted. Aaron also used to burn Logan with his cigarettes and broke his nose at one point.  Later, Aaron sleeps with Lilly, Logan’s girlfriend, and then kills her and covers it up. No wonder Logan grew up to be the most morally confusing anti-hero of the show.
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  (#10) Lord Varys

  • Game of Thrones

  TV Show: Game of Thrones

  OK, so absolutely no one in the Game of Thrones universe has it easy. Tyrion’s childhood was garbage. Daenerys grew up in the shadow of her douche of a brother. Arya and Sansa saw Ilyn Payne execute their father. And Hodor… well, the pain is still too fresh to discuss his life and childhood and where they landed him.

  And yet, of all the characters, Varys seems to have suffered the most in his troubled past. First off, he was born a slave, which is bad enough. But then he was sold to a sorcerer who drugged and emasculated him only to use his sexual organs in a magic ritual. The sorcerer then threw Varys in the streets to die.

  But The Spider wasn’t going to give up so easily. He decided to do anything to survive, so he started begging and, later, pick-pocketing. He became a master spy and worked his way up in the world. Despite Melisandre's warning that he would die in Westeros, we hope Varys sticks it out until the bitter end of the show.
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  (#3) Dean Winchester

  • Supernatural, Supernatural The Animation

  TV Show: Supernatural

  The Winchester brothers had probably one of the toughest childhoods in the history of television. After their mom dies in a fire caused by the yellow-eyed demon, their dad takes up demon-hunting and basically gives up on any effort to live a normal, monster-free life due his obsession with avenging her death.

  As a result, the brothers were always on the road, worrying about when their father would come home and having to mature quickly. While other kids were learning about life, love and whatever, they were learning about demons, werewolves, and ghosts.

  And, of course, the brothers are still going through tough times. Thank Chuck they have each other, otherwise they would probably have gone nuts a long time ago.

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