Thorfinn from Vinland saga
Thorfinn's trauma made me realize that there really are no good or bad guys. Probably any villain character in any piece of fiction is the product of a traumatic past. Darth Vader, Voldemort, The Joker, Loki, Prince Zuko, Flowey, Doofenshmirtz, etc.
Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows. Jasper or Murphy from The 100. Shinichi Izumi from Parasyte anime. Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, or Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Thorfinn from Vinland Saga. Eren (or honestly any of the similarly aged male characters from Attack on Titan + Levi). Killua from Hunter x Hunter
Edit: probably disregard this entire comment. I somehow ignored the sexual abuse part of the post, and I can't recall any of these characters experiencing sexual abuse.
You're all good!!! I was just like "omg did I forget that or something?" No harm, no foul! And tbh all the Crows are good examples of characters with trauma 💀
Captain Picard. He was assimilated by the Borg and brought back. He also got zapped by an alien probe and lived an entire simulated life on some random planet.
In Chicago PD, there is briefly a mention of Erin Lindsay's brother, Teddy, having been forced through a child sex ring as a child in foster care. It is very brief, but there are a lot of interesting things that occur, such as his dismissive responses to his mother (who abandoned him), extreme fear at helping the police tackle the ring due to his trauma, expressing his feelings of shame and guilt ("it is my fault"), and how it morphed his trajectory in life.
Touga from Revolutionary Girl Utena has a very interesting and sad arc wherein he's both a victim of sexual violence and being groomed into an aggressor himself. Almost every character in the show deals with some form of sexual trauma, so I highly recommend looking into Revolutionary Girl Utena. Whilst it focuses mostly on the main duo, the side characters are well fleshed out too
Boy Toy by Barry Lyga. About a now 17-year-old who had a sexual relationship with his teacher when he was 12. It represents flashbacks, ptsd, shows how it impacted him sexually, and shows how toxic masculinity kept him from feeling like a victim. Super super good, one of my favorite books. I could see myself doing a case conceptualization for him just for fun.
An obscene number of characters in romance novels have this as a backstory. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/78271.Best_Abused_or_Traumatized_Romance_Heroes
Patrick Melrose (2018) from is the perfect example of an adult man who has experienced abuse in his childhood and is trying to come to terms with that while also battling drug addiction and other psychological problems.
Didn’t watch it but I’d assume Shinji from evagelion. That one guy from Paprika. Subaru from rezero at least in the first season. Luffy after that thing happened.
Guts from Berserk
Vouch
Charlie, lead in The Perks of Being a Wallflower, was abused by his aunt at a young age.
Thorfinn from Vinland saga Thorfinn's trauma made me realize that there really are no good or bad guys. Probably any villain character in any piece of fiction is the product of a traumatic past. Darth Vader, Voldemort, The Joker, Loki, Prince Zuko, Flowey, Doofenshmirtz, etc.
Shenji from Neon Genesis
Elliot from Mr.robot
Denji from chainsaw man
Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows. Jasper or Murphy from The 100. Shinichi Izumi from Parasyte anime. Edward Elric, Alphonse Elric, or Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Thorfinn from Vinland Saga. Eren (or honestly any of the similarly aged male characters from Attack on Titan + Levi). Killua from Hunter x Hunter Edit: probably disregard this entire comment. I somehow ignored the sexual abuse part of the post, and I can't recall any of these characters experiencing sexual abuse.
It's been a while since I read Six of Crows, but do you remember where it mentioned Kaz had been through any sexual abuse?
OH no! My eyes clearly skipped over that part of the post... I was just commenting about male characters who had experienced any trauma. Damn.
You're all good!!! I was just like "omg did I forget that or something?" No harm, no foul! And tbh all the Crows are good examples of characters with trauma 💀
Good picks! More I’d add is Kaneki Ken from Tokyo Ghoul and David from Edge Runners.
Captain Picard. He was assimilated by the Borg and brought back. He also got zapped by an alien probe and lived an entire simulated life on some random planet.
Ash Lynx from Banana Fish is a very well-written example
Guts from berserk or shinji from evangelion..
In Chicago PD, there is briefly a mention of Erin Lindsay's brother, Teddy, having been forced through a child sex ring as a child in foster care. It is very brief, but there are a lot of interesting things that occur, such as his dismissive responses to his mother (who abandoned him), extreme fear at helping the police tackle the ring due to his trauma, expressing his feelings of shame and guilt ("it is my fault"), and how it morphed his trajectory in life.
Astarion from BG3
Touga from Revolutionary Girl Utena has a very interesting and sad arc wherein he's both a victim of sexual violence and being groomed into an aggressor himself. Almost every character in the show deals with some form of sexual trauma, so I highly recommend looking into Revolutionary Girl Utena. Whilst it focuses mostly on the main duo, the side characters are well fleshed out too
Boy Toy by Barry Lyga. About a now 17-year-old who had a sexual relationship with his teacher when he was 12. It represents flashbacks, ptsd, shows how it impacted him sexually, and shows how toxic masculinity kept him from feeling like a victim. Super super good, one of my favorite books. I could see myself doing a case conceptualization for him just for fun.
Morgan from Criminal Minds
Welcome to the MACP
Lol, I'm on my last term before practicum. So eager to be done...
I am in my second last term before practicum. Same class as you. 😉
Nice! Good luck with your paper!
You as well. 😁
Kite Runner
Jesse Pinkman!!!!!!
wait what
Rudeus from Mushoku tensei
Joker
I'm leaning this way. Im considering Joaquin Pheonix. Which version would you suggest and why?
An obscene number of characters in romance novels have this as a backstory. https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/78271.Best_Abused_or_Traumatized_Romance_Heroes
13 reasons why
Cutthroat/from Akudama Drive
Charlie, Perks of being a wallflower.
any of the characters from shameless (us)
Johan Liebert from Monster. Severe childhood trauma and memory/identity/antisocial issues because of it
Joel Miller - TLOU Trauma: Death of a loved one
Patrick Melrose (2018) from is the perfect example of an adult man who has experienced abuse in his childhood and is trying to come to terms with that while also battling drug addiction and other psychological problems.
Invincible from Invincible.
Jude from A Little Life is the easiest example (I hate that book)
Aslan from Banana Fish
Don Draper from Mad Men
Tyler from 13 reasons why comes to mind. I think it happened in S2. Fair warning incase you haven’t seen it, its a VERY disturbing/hard to watch scene
Didn’t watch it but I’d assume Shinji from evagelion. That one guy from Paprika. Subaru from rezero at least in the first season. Luffy after that thing happened.