# Television characters who've endured the most tragedies. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225 "2011-05-09T02:05:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/21 "2011-05-09T06:00:58Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Definitely. > > 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. Came to say this. I eventually came to regard him as the angel of death. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/22 "2011-05-09T06:10:06Z")
Spencer Reid of _Criminal Minds_ has gone through alot. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/23 "2011-05-09T15:52:07Z")
Lucius Vorenus in _Rome_ went through quite a bit, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/24 "2011-05-09T18:05:01Z")
Sam and Dean Winchester from Supernatural. The entire series is basically a massive excuse to watch gorgeous men suffer and cry. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/25 "2011-05-09T18:11:49Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > 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. > > -Joe Eh? He survived both? Did they show that happening to him? I need details! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/26 "2011-05-09T18:24:15Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > In second place behind Kenny might be Hans Moleman on _The Simpsons_. He dies in many of his appearances on the show. My first thought for the most hard-luck character on the Simpsons is Gil Gunderson who I’m pretty sure is based on Jack Lemmon’s _Glengarry Glen Ross_ character. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/27 "2011-05-09T19:10:40Z")
I would nominate: - Jack Bauer - Every character who ever met Jack Bauer ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/28 "2011-05-09T19:34:01Z")
Odds of getting murdered in real life: considerably less than if you’re friends with Jessica Fletcher of **Murder She Wrote**. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/29 "2011-05-09T19:35:53Z")
On _ **St. Elsewhere** _, they seemed to love tormenting Jack (David Morse) Morrison. First they killed his wife. Later, his girlfriend aborted his baby. Later still, he was raped by a convict at a prison infirmary where he was volunteering. I very rarely watched Fred Dryer’s show _ **Hunter,** _ but it seemed as if his partner Dee Dee existed solely to be gang raped during sweeps week. ---
**Author:** ![President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/President_Johnny_Gentle)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/30 "2011-05-09T19:40:13Z")
If dying repeatedly counts as tragedy, then Chris Peterson from [Get a Life](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_a_Life_%28TV_series%29) qualifies. Despite being the protagonist, he manages to die in a full third of the episodes. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/31 "2011-05-09T19:42:23Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > On _ **St. Elsewhere** _, they seemed to love tormenting Jack (David Morse) Morrison. First they killed his wife. Later, his girlfriend aborted his baby. Later still, he was raped by a convict at a prison infirmary where he was volunteering. And then you find out that, even within the context of the show, he didn’t exist. That must REALLY suck. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/32 "2011-05-09T19:44:30Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Eh? He survived both? Did they show that happening to him? I need details! Survived loss of an arm, but not Helicopter Attack II (“This time, it’s personal.”). ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/33 "2011-05-09T19:56:00Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Survived loss of an arm, but not Helicopter Attack II (“This time, it’s personal.”). And nobody noticed for a long time, and when they finally did notice I’m pretty sure the only person who was upset about it was the guy who had to mop up the blood. How about Captain Jark Harkness? Apart from the typical (living millions of years, losing lots of friends in that time, being responsible for helping feed innocent children to evil aliens) his own brother takes him and buries him for two thousand years? Being unable to actually stay dead, that means that Jack died, revived, and died a good 1,048,320,000 times. Anyone in this thread been buried alive to death (you know what I mean) a BILLION times? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/34 "2011-05-09T22:10:17Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > > [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > > > Survived loss of an arm, but not Helicopter Attack II (“This time, it’s personal.”). > > And nobody noticed for a long time, and when they finally did notice I’m pretty sure the only person who was upset about it was the guy who had to mop up the blood. There was another one on ER that I liked. One of the interns committed suicide by jumping in front of a commuter train but no one in the ER knew this. As everyone is working on this unknown trauma victim, someone complains that he’s missing (I think the character was played by Omar Epps). So they page him, at which point the beeper in the pocket of the trauma victim starts to beep. That’s when they realized it was him. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/35 "2011-05-09T22:25:55Z")
My first thought was Sipowicz. The Torchwood writers loved torturing Captain Jack, so I think he wins the supernatural division of this contest. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/36 "2011-05-09T22:38:29Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > And nobody noticed for a long time, and when they finally did notice I’m pretty sure the only person who was upset about it was the guy who had to mop up the blood. Not entirely true. Elizabeth (Mark Greene’s widow) mourned him, if only from pity. And she was upset that no one could be arsed to join her at his memorial service. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/37 "2011-05-09T22:59:35Z")
Dawn from “Buffy” had a rough time for a kid anyway: Some highlights include 1. A father who virtually never sees her again after the divorce 2. Moving to a new town because her sister burns down a school 3. Her sister carries weapons everywhere and has been committed to a mental hospital, but Dawn’s room is right next door to Buffy’s 4. She finds out that she’s not real, which has to be worse than finding out you’re adopted 5. Her mom dies 6. She’s kidnapped by a psychopath, and tortured - only to witness her sister give her life to save her 7. Willow and Tara take on a parental role for Dawn - one of them becomes abusive, risking Dawn’s life, and the other one moves out, and rarely sees Dawn again, until Dawn gets the chance to sit with Tara’s body for hours to before someone thinks of her. This is neglecting any number of incidents of being threatened by demons and vampires that Dawn must have memories of. No wonder she whines a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/38 "2011-05-09T23:06:29Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Not entirely true. Elizabeth (Mark Greene’s widow) mourned him, if only from pity. And she was upset that no one could be arsed to join her at his memorial service. Well, it was kind of an exaggeration, and like I said, I wasn’t a regular viewer of the show. But if only one person bothers to show up at a memorial I think that could kind of be considered “nobody”. -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/39 "2011-05-09T23:15:14Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Well, it was kind of an exaggeration, and like I said, I wasn’t a regular viewer of the show. But if only one person bothers to show up at a memorial I think that could kind of be considered “nobody”. > > -Joe Yours was only a slight exaggeration. It was clear that _only_ Elizabeth gave a fig about him. And part of the reason she cared as much as she did, I thought, was that she thought it unseemly for no one at all to care. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225/40 "2011-05-09T23:18:05Z")
David Bruce Banner always endured an extreme hardship at :20 and :50 minutes past the hour every week. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/television-characters-whove-endured-the-most-tragedies/581225.md?page=3)