So I’m re-watching The X-Files with my little brother. I don’t know how apparent this was watching the first run episodes, spread out over weeks and years, but we’re noticing how awful Scully has had it. We’re just through the start of Season 5 (i.e., we still have 3+ seasons and two movie to get through), but already she’s…
[spoiler]… been abducted and held captive by a serial killer.
… had her sister murdered because of her own work on the X-Files.
… been abducted by either aliens or a human shadow organization.
… contracted terminal cancer as a result of the above (she got better).
… become barren, also as a result of the above.
… met and formed a deep emotional bond with a biological daughter she never knew she had, only to watch said daughter die within a couple of weeks.
… had her dog eaten by a monster. (Seriously, this qualifies as a light-hearted moment for Scully, and is played for laughs.)
… [other terrible thing that I’m forgetting.][/spoiler]
What other characters have had such a cavalcade of horrors visited upon them?
Maybe not the most tragic, but Galen Tyrol from BSG seemed to just have a constant rain of crap on him.
Off the top of my head:
-His girlfriend is a Cylon sleeper agent.
-His best friend shoots and “kills” his girlfriend.
-A Cylon that looks and act just like his old girlfriend comes back, except she’s in love with someone else.
Fast forward a few years:
-He discovers he too is Cylon and his homeworld was destroyed 2000 years ago.
-His first love from when he was back at the Cylon world kills his wife.
-He finds out his wife cheated on him and his son is not biologically his.
-His Cylon girlfriend comes back ,shows him an amazing vision of how she wanted to live together, but it’s all a ploy to betray him.
-He kills his first love.
-He ends up going off to live by himself in prehistoric Scotland
He was shot in the first episode.
His son was murdered.
His partner and friend dies of a heart condition
His wife is murdered.
His wife’s sister is murdered.NYPD Blue’s writers would always kill a character whenever they got stuck for an idea.
Didn’t he also have like four other partners also have really bad things happen to them?
Anyway, what about the dickhead redhead guy with a beard on ER? I saw like three episodes of that show, and in one he had his arm chopped off by a helicopter and in another he had a helicopter crash on top of him.
I think you’re confusing two characters from ER. Archie Morris was the redhead bearded guy, while Robert Romano was the (bald) guy who suffered an amputation-by-helicopter and then had a helicopter fall off the building onto him (perhaps the same helicopter?).
Ben Cartwright on Bonanza. Widowed three times (each of his three sons was by a different wife), and he lost one of his sons (Hoss, who was killed off when actor Dan Blocker died suddenly). I also believe (though I can’t find references ATM) that he had one or more daughters-in-law who died suddenly.
There were characters on Oz that would trade places with some of those already listed.
By the midpoint of that show, it pretty well abandoned all pretense of realism and bore as much similarity to the penal system as Ally McBeal did to the legal system.
Died during attempt to save the world (but it was all part of the plan!)
Boyfriend turned into evil asshole right after he takes her virginity
Has to kill said boyfriend (in the middle of his attempt to destroy the world) even while realizing he is no longer evil
Local politician turns evil, tries to destroy world
College professor turns evil, creates being who wants to destroy world
Fake sister is implanted in her life
Dates Riley, sleeps with him
Mom died
Dies again, to (a) save fake sister and (b) prevent evil Hellgod from destroying world
Asshole friend removes her from heaven, refuses to sing in her musical
Her mentor leaves her in an effort to make her “grow up”
Bangs Spike, who then tries to rape her
Goes broke, while rich Englishmen (supposedly in charge of her activities) allow her to go broke
Asshole friend turns evil, tries to destroy world
First Evil tries to kill her, and, yes, you guessed it: also wants to destroy the world
