Adaptational Angst Upgrade

Jughead: Life with a Man's Best Friend to
Tragedy of a Man's Best Friend

Character: Hey there! I'm the lovable character from your favorite story!
Fan: Oh boy!
Character: Yup!
Fan: It'd be a shame if someone were to...write dark fanfiction about you.

— Thomas Sanders

Sometimes when Hollywood decides to do a movie adaptation they'll try to make a character more interesting by giving them some angst not present (or not discussed) in the book. Reasons vary: it makes the character easier to empathize with, it is an attempt to avert an Invincible Hero, it adds more conflict to the story, etc. Often used to add more Character Development.

It may be caused by historical Values Dissonance. Many of the examples below are adapted from older works, or even The Oldest Ones in the Book. In the past, The Hero of the Monomyth was expected to accept his destiny as a great hero and leader, but modern ideals would rather support the character of a Cincinnatus-style humble Everyman.

Adaptational Jerkass is one of the possible outcomes. Compare and contrast with True Art Is Angsty. Compare Adaptational Seriousness, where a character is a lot more serious and humorless in the adaptation than they were in the source, but not quite broody and melancholic (though the two can occasionally overlap). Usually contrasts with Adaptational Angst Downgrade and Adaptational Comic Relief and can overlap with Disabled in the Adaptation.

Subtrope of Rule of Drama.

Example subpages:

Other examples:

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Anime & Manga

In the Ace Attorney anime, similar to the live-action movie before it, the anime expands on how DL-6 ruined Yogi's life, though not to the same extent as the film.
Battle Athletes Victory: Because the story is longer in this series than in the original Battle Athletes OVA, Akari goes through more difficulties before reaching the top, and thus there are more moments were she drowns in self-doubt. The reveal of her father's identity at the end also gives her a new reason to angst.
The anime adaption of Devil Survivor 2 does this to the protagonist (here called Hibiki Kuze) removing much of his literal Bunny-Ears Lawyer attitude in the game and replacing it with this trope.
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) anime had this happen on a few occasions:
- Ed has a 10-Minute Retirement from being a State Alchemist after hearing about Nina's death and Tucker's execution which actually turned out to be a cover-up.
- There's also the scene from the manga and Brotherhood, when Al thinks that Ed may have fabricated his entire personality when binding his soul to the armor. Originally, it only takes Winry telling him that the question Ed was scared to ask was whether Al hated him to bring him to his senses (that and hitting him on the head with a wrench). In the first anime, he parts ways with Ed but realizes the truth when helping a pair of Ishvalan refugee brothers.
- In the first anime, Ed and Al both tend to angst about their struggles a lot more overall. Edward has PTSD symptoms he mostly lacks in the manga.
- Roy has significantly more guilt and trauma in the first anime than in the manga and Brotherhood, and it's portrayed much more explicitly. This could be partly due to him being the one who killed the Rockbells in this version, but he has PTSD flashbacks to other parts of his actions in Ishval throughout the series.
  - A good example is the event of Fullmetal vs Flame. In the manga chapter, Mustang blasts Edward with his flame alchemy without remorse. In the anime however, when he has Edward cornered, Roy finds himself unable to do so after having flashbacks to Ishval.
- There's also Rose, who was little more than an extra in the manga, who wound up raped, kidnapped, and traumatized to the point of becoming mute.
The Seventh Diary Holder(s) in Future Diary, Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami had this in the anime. Originally their backstory was that they were both orphans who fell in love with each other as teenagers, but the anime expanded on it by adding a subplot with Ai getting gangraped and Marco almost being Driven to Suicide over his failure to prevent it.
The .hack//Legend of the Twilight anime is a Darker and Edgier adaptation of the manga and changed pretty much the entire storyline to make everything become more dramatic. For example, in the manga, the twin protagonists Shugo and Rena are just a pair of siblings playing games together. In the anime, their parents are divorced, and they're playing The World because it's the only way they can meet each other. In the manga, the characters embark on a light-hearted journey to reunite a friendly, though mischievous, A.I. to her mother. The anime somehow involves a hostile A.I. that threatens to destroy The World, and several people fell into a coma along the way.
Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: Poor Meta Knight. He was one of many Star Warriors who fought in a war against Nightmare, and many of his friends and allies were killed.
The Kotoura-san anime does this by shifting the focus from Manabe to Haruka and adding in the very angsty Downer Beginning.
The Legend of Zelda (Akira Himekawa):
- The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (2001): Kafei is ashamed of his Forced Transformation into a child and does not want to see his fiancée Anju until he's freed from his curse. His game counterpart only cared about getting his handmade wedding gift to her on time.
- The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (2006): In the game, Melari jumps at the chance to help Link reforge the Picori Blade. Here, he abandoned his craft after his wife died and he needs more encouragement.
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016):
  - Link manages to acquire some PTSD and Survivors Guilt before the story even starts, on account of accidentally making his original hometown disappear.
  - Ilia's trauma from being her time in captivity is emphasized here, to the point of her having panic attacks.
The title character of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha in The Movie manga continuity. Fans gave this version of Nanoha. This is especially noticeable in the part after the movie's events where, in contrast to the anime where she's pleased with the outcome but somewhat worried about Fate, she believes in the movie manga that she failed to help anyone. At the beginning of their mock battle in the manga, Fate believes that since she caused Nanoha trouble, she doesn't deserve to be friends with her.
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir: The manga adaptation of the cartoon expands upon Adrien's loss of his mother. At the start of Chapter 4, Adrien wakes up from a dream about her and bursts into tears, being distracted by it for the rest of the day. This contrasts with the show, where Adrien's specific grief about Emilie is rarely touched upon.
Moriarty the Patriot: There is no indication in the original Sherlock Holmes stories that Professor Moriarty has These Hands Have Killed and Be All My Sins Remembered-style self-loathing, but Professor William James Moriarty is actively suicidal for a significant portion of the series as a Villain Protagonist.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: Kaji receives this in the form of a manga-original tragic backstory: after being orphaned during the Second Impact, he and a gang of fellow orphans would raid military bases for supplies. One night, he is caught and threatened by a soldier into selling out his comrades, which results in their deaths. His continuous Survivor Guilt spawned by these events has led him to believe that he doesn't deserve happiness and motivated him to contribute to the war against the Angels as a means of atonement.
In the manga adaptation of Puella Magi Madoka Magica, it's implied that Sayaka killed the two guys on the train. However this wasn't the case in the original anime.
Pokémon Adventures: Shauna in Pokémon X and Y is a Cheerful Child who's always smiling and happy. In the manga, she's very sarcastic and bitter, likely because in this canon she watched a dear friend fall into depression and was unable to do anything for him.
RWBY: Official Manga Anthology: In "Red Like Roses", Ruby is a lot more emotional than in the cartoon. After she berates Cardin for teasing Weiss about her scar, she starts tearing up. When she's visiting her mother's grave, she also starts sobbing (while in the show she's always kept herself together while visiting the gravestone).
In the original game Sands of Destruction, Morte was a gleeful Mad Bomber Genki Girl who was incredibly upbeat about the prospect of ending the world - in addition to solving the problem of Fantastic Racism, it would be just plain awesome to watch (never mind the fact that even she wouldn't survive). The Anime of the Game removed almost all of her excitability and replaced it with a grim determination, which, while perhaps more fitting with her goal, makes quite a jarring start to her character; it also added the death of her parents and younger brother as an explanation for her desire to see the world ended. The manga, which was released about a year later, attempts to blend the two, with Morte being gung-ho at the start of the story but revealed to be steadily sadder as it progresses, but changes the source of her angst: she's now The Planner, the incarnation of the celestial being responsible for deciding the parameters of the world each time it was reincarnated. Because she was mentally exhausted at the last incarnation, she wished for a world filled with talking animals but forgot to wish they would be friends with humanity, resulting in the deep-seated racism of the series. Yes, in the manga, Morte was the entire reason for the sorry state of the world. She was roughly aware of it when she was a child, claiming someone like herself wasn't supposed to be happy, but repressed it during her teen years, resulting in the bouncy character we met at the start; when she recovered all her memories, she was suitably shocked.
Trash Skill "Gacha", has the protagonist Crest meet his older brother Albert in [The Lower World] after being banished there, to near certain death, by their father, with the older brother looking to bring him back, at the request of the king, because a prophecy says Crest is needed to deal with a coming monster stampede and save the kingdom. Thing is, Crest's four older brother and father loved to torment him as "murderer who escaped justice" and "devil's child" because his mother died in childbirth, and Crest has good reason not to trust the guy, so the guy came with a "brilliant" plan, enslavement. How the novel and manga handle Crest's response differs. The novel has Crest ignore his trauma with Heroic Resolve, defeat his abusive older brother with ease, at which point Albert gets dragged off by monsters. In the manga, Crest's trauma isn't so easily dismissed. Despite being way, way stronger by this point, Crest is still horrified by what he went through and folds like a napkin. It takes his tamed monsters coming to his rescue and showing him that he can actually fight back before he decides to beat some sense into that bully, who still gets dragged off by monsters afterwards.
Trigun: In the original manga, after Vash is forced to kill Legato he immediately falls into a state of shock after being horrified at his actions, but he is able to get over this fairly quickly after remembering that he still needs to stop Knives, who is threatening everyone on the planet Gunsmoke. In the anime, Vash remains in this depressed state for over a month, even growing suicidal before Meryl and Milly are finally able to snap him back to normal. It's also notable that the anime actually did this scene first long before the manga one was published, but it is based on what the creator was planning to do for the manga.
Yu-Gi-Oh!: In the Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Yugi's grandpa wasn't really kidnapped by Pegasus; his soul was instead sealed inside a videotape, and Yugi could talk with him through a camcorder whenever he liked. This version makes it a straight case of Your Soul Is Mine!, and anime Yugi is appropriately angstier about the whole affair. Yugi's guilt and fear over almost killing Kaiba is also played up more, especially in the dub where it continues into his duel with Mai.

Audio Play

Trampy Movies: Given the freedom from strictly needing to keep to a child demographic (as was done, the series delves more into the characters' psychologies and usage of their The Isle of Sodor backstories to construct their current ages.
- With Thomas in the original stories, his desire to leave the yard was akin to a childish desire to see the world, and thus his Character Development revolved around him having to mature to earn it. While the latter is kept for Trampy Movies, the former is changed to Thomas being more stuck in a toxic, dead-end environment filled with thankless work, as the series maintains his TIOS background of him and Edward as being the first engines on the railway.
- James gets this as well, as many of the events in the series seem determined to beat him down; his crash in Runaway is caused by him fearing Thomas will replace him and bumping the trucks, and he even voices this out to the tank engine after he's saved (with it being noted that, with his crew having been bumped off in this version rather than just having wooden brake blocks, the accident could have been critical). Triumph showcases him being totally crushed after bumping the coaches so hard they needed bootlaces, and him joining Gordon's strike is more due to peer pressure... with the obvious consequences of that being seen on him.
- Percy's background is shown, and while he's The Pollyanna concerning his situation, it still bears mentioning that his owner dumped him at the workshops, and not even the foreman knows who his maker is. His titular movie expands on this; he wasn't even allowed to sleep in the sheds on his old railway, and had to sleep in the sidings, nor was he ever noticed in the workshops in the first place.

Comic Books

This is the main draw of the Absolute Universe, as it's a Dark World parallel to the DC Comics Prime Timeline where Darkseid ensured that evil prospers while the heroes are underdogs.
- Absolute Batman does this with the Penguin. How attractive Oswald is varies depending on the continuity, but whether he's depicted as ugly or handsome, he always stays that way from start to end. This version of Oswald, meanwhile, is burdened with the fact that while he starts the story as fairly attractive, he ends up becoming grotesquely ugly after suffering beating at the hands of Bane. The result is a version of Penguin who is much more angry about his situation than usual.
- Absolute Wonder Woman has a Downplayed case. Like her main universe self, this version of Diana is an All-Loving Heroine and Nice Girl. However, this Diana also lacked much human contact outside of her adoptive mother Circe for most of her life, and her status as the supposed last of the Amazons has left her with the knowledge that something is missing from her life. The result is that this Diana is a Perky Goth, unlike her mainline self.
- Absolute Superman:
  - In the main universe, Kal-El came to Earth as a baby and was raised by loving parents as Clark Kent, growing up with a happy childhood with friends and a quality education, all of this resulting in him being a Nice Guy and All-Loving Hero when he became Superman. In this universe, Kal-El spent most of his childhood growing up on Krypton as a member of the planet's oppressed Labor Caste, with him witnessing his home's destruction and the death of his people as it happened. Upon arriving on Earth, he spent a short period living with the Kents, but was eventually discovered by Lazarus Corp and forced to flee. The result of all this is that while this version of Superman is still undoubtedly a hero, he's far more broody and melancholic about it.
  - Jor-El, rather than being a celebrated member of Krypton's upper class like in the main universe, was condemned to Krypton's oppressed lower class due to his criticisms of the Science League's environmental recklessness. On top of this, his discovery of Krypton's imminent destruction is also played more dramatically, with him going from having his theories dismissed to being labeled a heretic and arrested for it.
  - Lara-El, like her husband, had a far tougher life than her mainline self, being condemned to Krypton's lower class after she criticized Krypton's government for refusing to fund space exploration programs.
- Absolute Flash:
  - In the main universe, Wally West started out as Kid Flash, the Kid Sidekick to his uncle-in-law Barry Allen who was mentored under him until Barry's death, leading Wally to take up the mantle of Flash in his place. In this universe, Wally is the first Flash, forcing him to learn how to use his powers and be a hero all on his own. This also extends to his personality, as whereas the main universe Wally, despite his rough childhood growing up under Abusive Parents, is an All-Loving Hero and Nice Guy, this universe's Wally's own rough childhood, having lost his mother at a young age and raised by a neglectful father whose job as a military general has resulted in them moving around a lot, has caused him to develop into a more stereotypical angsty teen.
  - Wally's Love Interest Linda Park ran away from her home as a teenager in this universe, while her mainline self is on good terms with her parents.
- Absolute Green Lantern does this with Tomar Re. Whereas mainline Re is a celebrated member of the Green Lantern Corps who had a fairly happy life with a family, this universe's Re is the Last of His Kind after his home planet of Xudar was destroyed, and now spends his time as a rogue of the Adepts of Oa who goes around slaughtering Blackstars in a revenge fueled rage.
- Absolute Green Arrow does this with Black Canary. In the main universe, Dinah Lance was inspired to become a superhero in order to follow in the footsteps of her mother (the original Black Canary), and otherwise lived a fairly normal life prior to that. In this universe, Dinah was forced to quit a promising career as a MMA fighter and take up a job as a bodyguard for rich people, most of whom she hates, so that she can pay her father's medical bills.
Afterlife with Archie: This series plays a lot of its tropes more seriously than the source material and thus there's a lot more angst, along with any obligatory trauma from being set in a Zombie Apocalypse. For example, Betty and Veronica aren't their normal Vitriolic Best Buds and instead have a rocky relationship.
Batman: The Imposter: Bruce Wayne gets hit by this hard, due to his somewhat different circumstances from most other interpretations. He has no close friends or support system, since Alfred quit when he was a child, and Gordon was fired from the GCPD for working with him. He was a highly disturbed child diagnosed with OCD and acute anxiety, who was prone to violent outbursts. As an adult, he remains an emotionally damaged individual, who falls in love with Blair Wong, but has no qualms about manipulating her to gather intel from the GCPD's investigation of Batman. His therapy sessions with Leslie do help him to an extent, but by the end he hasn't changed that much, and his circumstances as Batman have gotten even worse, since the authorities and the public still view him as a dangerous vigilante at best and a serial killer at worst.
Ben-Hur: Quintus Arrius' wife and son are stated to have died of a plague years prior, hence his loss of faith and seeing Judah as a surrogate son.
BoBoiBoy Movie 2 - Evolusi Kuasa: The comic adaptation portrays Hang Kasa as more emotional during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Retak'ka compared to the movie, where he simply states that he is no longer the friend he once knew. The same scene in the comic has him in tears over how much of a monster his former friend has become. To really hit the nail on the angst, Retak'ka silences Hang Kasa by stepping on him as opposed to smacking him with a giant hammer. Even his horse mourns for him.
The Boy Wonder: Damian Wayne was always a little haughty arrogant brat, but this series highlights his strong desire to earn his father's approval more than his original incarnation. The original Damian actually laughs in Batman's face when he tried to teach him about the sanctity of life, even those of criminals, and it takes him a while to eventually admit insecurity over whether Bruce even accepts him as his son. Here, Damian immediately realizes that he did something wrong after decapitating the thug, becoming sad and confused when Batman reacts with disappointment instead of pride or even anger, and the story explores how much the incident haunts him.
Cereal: The Monster Cereals were all a group of monsters who exist to sell cereal to children and aren't shown to hold anything resembling angst. In this series, they are a more traditional take of a Gothic Horror-style Monster Mash and are not so easy going.
- The Marquis de Cocoa is reluctantly trying to hold the facade of a normal human to his many friends and eventually sires his own wife (albeit with her permission) so help maintain the lie. While in the commercials his cowardice was Played for Laughs, here it's a character flaw he has to confront, having walled himself off in his castle to avoid the war Post wages and the consequences of his vampirism.
- Frute Brute possesses an insatiable Horror Hunger for fruit and has taken many lives before he was captured to be experimented on by General Mills and Cookie Wizard.
- Frankenberry was originally a Baron's son who was betrayed by his fist-mate and given up to the enemy where he was killed and reanimated as part of a vile experiment.
- Boo Berry is the ghost of Beau Berrie, brought back from death by the Leprechaun King's crown after his attempt to kill the man who betrayed his brother failed.
Fantastic Four: Life Story: Reed and Sue Richards's marriage in the main continuity has its ups and downs, but for the most part has stayed functional. In this version, Reed's paranoia about Galactus and increasing focus on work above all else leaves Sue bereft and hurt, and she leaves him for Namor (although she returns after seeing Namor's disregard for Franklin when Doom nearly triggers a nuclear war).
The Flash: Barry Allen was originally a humble do-gooder who was motivated to become a superhero mostly because he liked comics and had just gained superpowers, meaning superheroics was the next logical step (he was already a police forensic scientist, so he already had a sense of right-and-wrong and desire to help justice), later retcons when he was brought into the present era included giving him a new backstory of a murdered mother with his father being falsely accused and convicted of her murder. Notable is the fact that this was both unneeded (Barry, while a Nice Guy, wasn't exactly without his angst as it was, what with the death of his first love Iris, and killing his arch-enemy Professor Zoom, Iris' killer, in order to save his second love), and justified at the same time (the retcon was explained away as Zoom going back in time to mess with Barry's life, killing his mother to give him more misery). In The Flash #174, when Barry reveals his secret to Iris, and she in turn explains that he talks in his sleep, so she's known it since their wedding night, her attitude is somewhere between matter-of-fact and pleased to be getting one over on him. In The Life Story of the Flash by Mark Waid, being a Secret Secret-Keeper has been tearing her apart, and she screams it at him, then collapses in tears.
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy:
- Amy is bullied for being mixed-race (she's half-black here) instead of being poor. Amy also seems to know that if she stands up to her white bully, Amy will more than likely be accused as the aggressor because of her race.
- Beth's illness is also changed from scarlet fever (which while deadly during the Civil War, is now practically a non-existent threat) to leukemia, which while having a high survival rate, still has a large chance of being deadly.
Noob: Due to the more advanced timeline on the live-action and text versions of the story, it's a Foregone Conclusion that Arthéon will eventually reach a Rage Breaking Point. The comic version makes the stress under which Arthéon puts himself by being the Only Sane Man Reluctant Ruler of a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits more visible than the two other versions.
The Secret Garden on 81st Street: Mary initially tries to act as if it doesn't hurt her parents are dead since she barely spent time with them. She later shows her upset in front of Colin, saying that unlike his memories of his other father Masahiro, she has no memories of her parents when they were alive. Later a picture of her and Archie Mary finds mentions a mountain house, and Mary remembers her mother reading her a story, calling her smart, and saying she'll always be proud of her. Also (taking from the 1993 movie, Mary almost runs off after seeing Colin and Archie reunite, saying that now that each of them have their "real" family back they won't want her anymore and she'll be sent off to boarding school since she has no real family. Archie ensures her she'll always be part of the family and he'll never make her leave.
Static: Season One: Static, and most of the Bang Babies for that matter, suffered a lot more trauma during the Big Bang compared to their previous versions. Not only are the circumstances much more traumatic, being the result of police using experimental chemical weapons against innocent protesters instead of from a drug deal gone bad, but it's also directly stated many of those present outright died while the police responsible sat by and did nothing. It's also implied Virgil's awakening of his powers was a lot more painful in this version.
Superman: Red and Blue: The series' adaptation of World's Finest (1941) #192, in which Superman is captured by an Eastern-Europena dictator, implies that Superman was raped by the Villain of the Week and his mooks.
Ultimate Marvel:
- Ultimate X-Men (2001): Unlike the mainstream Wolverine whose memories of his Weapon X are hazy and fractured, this Wolverine has full knowledge of what was done to him and what he experienced when being used as a living weapon for Weapon X and remarks that is literally all he remembers from his past.
- Ultimate Fantastic Four
  - Both Mister Fantastic and Doctor Doom have abusive fathers, whereas their 616 counterparts had loving fathers, albeit Reed's dad got sucked into the future thanks to an experiment and Doom's parents died when he was a kid.
  - While the Thing of the classic Marvel Universe Fantastic Four infamously doesn't like being Blessed with Suck into having the appearance of an orange rock creature that he can't change out of, he didn't contemplate suicide like his Ultimate counterpart.
The Ultimates (2024):
- Doom, the Earth-6160 depiction of Reed Richards, is hit with a case of this. Due to the Maker interfering with events that normally would have led to him getting his powers, causing the deaths of the people who would have become Reed's family, and torturing Reed until he psychologically broke, this incarnation of the character is far more aloof, troubled, and disturbed compared to his usual portrayal.
- While other depictions of Captain America are Fish out of Temporal Water, those versions of Steve are usually able to acclimate to the present incredibly well, in part thanks to being satisfied with how prosperous the U.S. had become after WWII. Comparatively, Earth-6160's Steve is much less comfortable in the present due to the country being dissolved entirely and transformed into a dystopian hellhole.
- Whereas the Wasp of Earth-616 grew up with a loving and supportive father, this universe's Janet had a much less happy childhood as a result of her parents being far more cold and unsupportive.
Wonder Woman: Odyssey: The Amazons are left as remnants hiding as refugees from those who destroyed their Paradise Island and killed their queen and most of their people. Diana is in turn a more violent, but still opposed to killing, Wonder Woman in this series as she searches for what's left of her people and struggles to protect them.

Films — Animation

Advent Children: Cloud Strife, big time. It's very important to note FFVII writer Yoshinori Kitase writes Cloud very differently to how Tetsuya Nomura likes to portray him. Kitase made Cloud a very Rounded Character being a pretty chill dude only interested getting paid initially, wants to stop Sephiroth and puts up false bravado thanks to Fake Memories. Sure he goes through Heroic BSoD but all other times Cloud isn't that troubled, he cares for his friends thanking and apologizing for his mental breakdown. Cloud is also far more goofy in his original portrayal cross dressing, entering parades, and doing squats to counter motion sickness. Advent Children, however, throws said traits out the window in favor of making Cloud The Woobie guilt stricken over Aeirth's death and aloof to his True Companions to point where Vincent Valentine has to tell Cloud to buck up.
Beauty and the Beast (1991): In the fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is certainly not happy with being cursed, but still is stable enough to be kind and gentlemanly towards Beauty. In the Disney adaptation, being cursed has caused the Beast to fall into a spiral of self-loathing and depression and has all but given up on everything by the time Belle shows up (Word of God has said that if Belle hadn't come, the Beast would have lost his mind and turned into an animal entirely). Much emphasis is also put on his despair when Belle leaves for her father and he is mortally wounded by Gaston instead of his more quiet Death by Despair in the story.
BIONICLE: Vakama in the 2nd animated film is nearly perpetually angsty, emotional and self-loathing, though he has brief moments of confidence and courage, becoming a brave leader by the end. While he definitely had issues accepting his status as a leader in the books and comics, he was generally a capable hero with only occasional moments of uncertainty. The film focused more on his emotional side and his self-blame for the downfall of his predecessor, Lhikan, traits that barely factored into previous stories. After the film, the books and comics would start to play up his angst more too.
Dog Man (2025): In the books, Dog Man didn't dwell much on the life his two halves had before. This movie includes a brief scene where he walks through his old home, sadly remembering the good old days, and learning that Officer Knight's girlfriend left town after the operation.
Escaflowne: The Movie: This Darker and Edgier movie adaptation begins with Hitomi attempting suicide, and a huge part of her Character Development involves overcoming her depression. In The Vision of Escaflowne, she was fairly more balanced, with most of her issues stemming from her romantic conflicts and lack of confidence.
Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie: Adrien lost his mother when he was a child, whereas in the original cartoon, she's only been gone for a year. His father is a depressed wreck (and has been so for years), his only friend at school is Nino, and up until he receives the Miraculous of the Cat, he spends most of his free time alone and brooding. The film's version of Marinette is only slightly better off; while she hasn't been severely traumatized from years of bullying like her TV counterpart, she has no friends because of her extraordinarily bad luck, and consequently, has absolutely no self-confidence. The film also makes Hawk Moth far more of a Tragic Villain, as his abuse of his powers takes a clear toll on his health.
NIMONA (2023): A minor but significant one. Nimona in the comic was just generally wrathful towards the rest of the world for how it treated her, while Nimona in the movie has suicidal thoughts over how long she has been discriminated against, admitting to Ballister that a part of her just wants to get killed so she doesn't have to deal with being feared and hated anymore. Her rampage in the end tellingly is less her destroying things in a rage and more wandering through the streets confused and in emotional agony before she finally has enough and attempts to commit suicide by running herself through the heart with the outstretched sword of Gloreth's statue.
The Prince of Egypt: Compared to the original source, Moses is arguably even more angsty. Aside from not realizing he was adopted, this version also emphasizes the fact that he and Rameses were raised as brothers and friends, giving them a tragic Cain and Abel dynamic not present in the Bible or other versions. This version also shows how torn he feels about unleashing the plagues - while he realizes that Pharaoh and his priests must be brought low for refusing to free the Jews, he's also aware that many more innocent Egyptians will suffer for something over which they have no control.
The Princess and the Frog: In The Frog Prince, the female lead is a princess whose worst worries are getting her ball out of a pond and having to deal with her promise to a frog. In this retelling, Tiana is a workaholic bordering on a nervous collapse because she feels that if she doesn't achieve her dream of owning her own restaurant, she will let down her dead father (who shared the same dream and, in fact, inspired her). She also seems aware of what her friends, family, and the town in general think of her devotion to her dream and it gets to her.
The Secret of NIMH: Mrs. Brisby is shown as a much more timid character on her quest to save her son than in the book which focused more on the rats' escape from NIMH. The film places much more emphasis on the values of courage, which is justifiable since Mrs. Brisby is a mouse.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie:
- Lumalee in the games is shown to be just as cheerful as the other Lumas. In the movie, he's the main source of Black Comedy as he cheerfully accepts being one of Bowser's prisoners and sacrifices.
- Mario himself. In the games, he is a Fun Personified character and almost never gets truly sad or depressed unless it's a great tragedy, but in this movie, he is a No-Respect Guy who has to deal with a lot of insecurity regarding his own competence and earning the respect of his father, has some Height Angst issues, and even when he's happy, his happiness is a lot more toned down compared to the games and he's given more grounded emotions.
- To a lesser extent, Donkey Kong is also trying to earn his father's respect, and wants to prove he's not just a guy that smashes things and gets seriously angry when others around him accuse him of such which just shows that he has some very clear insecurities. Compare that to the games where he is more of an always confident, but very gullible gorilla who never lets anything truly get to him.
Tangled: In Rapunzel, while Rapunzel being kicked out of the tower isn't very pleasant, it still isn't emphasized as being the worst thing ever. Here, Rapunzel has to deal with discovering that her "mother" actually kidnapped her in infancy and intends to imprison her for as long as she lives. And when Rapunzel fights back, it ends with watching Mother Gothel die in front of her and Flynn nearly dying. She doesn't react nearly as much as expected but still has more trauma than in the fairy tale.
Through the Looking-Glass: The 1982 Soviet adaptation, though generally faithful to the original, adds more drama to the White Knight scene. The more comic moments (such as the Knight constantly telling Alice about his inventions) are toned down, and instead of reciting a poem about an absurd old man sitting on a wall, he sings a sad song about how there are many animals in his forest but he doesn't have a jolly elephant cub. The premise is only slightly less absurd than in the original, but it's the delivery that makes it absolutely heart-wrenching. Several birds that the Knight and Alice meet on their way are shown weeping.
Treasure Planet: In the original book, Treasure Island, Jim Hawkins is an innocent (albeit clever) young boy who sets off on an adventure to find treasure. This version ages up Jim and gives him single-parent and teen-rebel angst not present in the original book.
The Wild Robot (2024):
- Brightbill grew up fairly happy and well-adjusted in the book. Here, it's shown that he has to struggle with his status as a runt and being treated as an outcast.
- Fink doesn't have a friend on the entire island before Roz arrives, and thus is upset at the idea of her returning to the factory that built her. His book counterpart had no such issues.
Wonder Woman/Blood Lines: In Wonder Woman (1987), Vanessa idolized Wonder Woman and saw her as a pseudo older sister, only betraying her after being forced to undergo painful Body Horror and cybernetic enhancements that exaggerated any lingering feelings of insecurity. In this version, Vanessa despised Wonder Woman from the start for stealing her mother's attention and affection and chose to undergo her transformation into villainy out of willful resentment.

Literature

Ballad of the Sun and Moon is a retelling of Japanese Mythology and the "Just So" Story of and how the Sun and Moon became separated. Whereas the original myth has Amaterasu banish Tsukuyomi for his murder of Uke-Mochi with no mention of how Tsukuyomi felt about this separation, the poem has him go into self-exile out of guilt and shame after killing the Sky Fox. Despite this, he still yearns for the Sun, and his longing for their reunion is described as "silver gleams [falling] like tears".
Many Sherlock Holmes pastiches and adaptations do this. Some (e.g. The Seven-Per-Cent Solution) play up the drug addiction theme; others purport to explain Holmes' strange and solitary character by giving him a lost love or other tragic past.
The Bright Sword: One of the novel’s central ideas is just how traumatizing Arthurian legends would be for the people caught up in them.
- Dagonet, King Arthur's fool is was knighted mostly as a joke, is a deeply depressed and mentally ill clown.
- Palamedes feels like an outsider in the foreign Britain and is left convinced of his damnation after being baptized against his will.
- Galahad is a hollow shell in search of perfection, only to be rewarded with death.
- The Pendragon family as a whole is rife with issues, including incest, patricide, and multiple instances of rape.
A Tale of...: In the original film, Snow White's step-mother isn't given a backstory but it's assumed she's just evil, vain, and jealous. In Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen, she has a Freudian Excuse of having had an abusive father who blames her for his wife dying in childbirth. She's much more anxious and depressed than in the film, especially after the King dies in battle. The Queen is also shown hating her downward spiral. She ends up redeeming herself by letting herself be killed.
Tangled Up In You, adapted from Tangled, delves much deeper into the fallout of "Rapunzel"'s kidnapping by "Mother Gothel" and reunion with her biological family than the animated film does. Ren's clearly traumatized by the ordeal, not helped by the media circus and the death of her adoptive father. Multiple therapy sessions are mentioned and neither her nor Edward's futures are clear. However, the text makes sure to say they'll eventually find their way to a Happily Ever After ending like the original.

Live-Action TV

Alex Rider (2020): While the constant trauma of Alex's missions slowly creeps up on him eventually in the books, it is downplayed at best, whereas the series plays up the psychological consequences of being a borderline Child Soldier much harder. At the beginning of the second series, Alex has full-blown PTSD up to and including seeing Yassen Gregorovitch around every corner. This, unfortunately, doesn't help his case when Gregorovitch starts showing up for real and nobody believes him.
Altered Carbon: In the series, Takeshi Kovacs frequently asks Who Wants to Live Forever? and is shown to dislike sleeving into a new body. In the novels the series is based on, Takeshi is specially engineered to not have adverse reactions when sleeving, and has come to terms with being functionally immortal. Also, Book!Takeshi never angsted about taking the job that kicks off the series, but was willing to do whatever it took to get out of storage (essentially prison for digitally stored consciousnesses) and get a body again.
Arrowverse:
- Arrow:
  - The titular character, Oliver Queen, has a lot more grief in his life than his comics counterpart ever had. His ordeal on the island was much bleaker and more torturous. As a result, he is much more violent, aggressive, and serious.
  - Quentin Lance. His family problems are a lot bleaker. He had to go through one of his daughters dying twice, his wife leaving him, his job taking a hit due to working with the vigilante, and then his other daughter dying as well (permanently).
- The Flash (2014):
  - Eobard Thawne (Reverse-Flash). In the show, he's been Trapped in the Past for 15 years (originally being from an over a century in the future) and is desperate to get home, and his scheme to do so is the driving force behind Season 1. In the comics, he doesn't care about getting back to his time at all and is mostly just focused on screwing over the Flash in any way possible.
  - Barry Allen (The Flash) himself, revisiting his mother's death and history becoming even worse from whatever decision he makes from it, each season's Darkest Hour being darker than the last, many more people who are not able to be saved no matter what anyone does, his dad dying not long after being freed from his false conviction, going through his own Clear My Name arc that sees him in the same cell his dad once occupied, and with certain death in the Crisis hanging over his head for most of the series (with the timetable suddenly being pushed up as the title event looms.) Mind you, a lot of this came from, or has some counterpart in, the comics. However, it happens to Barry in very rapid succession in the show; the comics character has been around since The '50s with the events these were based on spread out over his history.
Ashes of Love:
- In the original novel Jin Mi and Xu Feng don't fall in love or communicate their feelings until the denouement of the story. In the series they come to an understanding during their trial together in the human world. This makes their confrontations during and after the wedding a lot more heart-wrenching.
- Run Yu's mother died long before the novel starts. Her on-screen death, the elaboration of her backstory, and their impact on Run Yu is one of the most emotional and pivotal plot points in the series.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) in general is a lot more willing to show how traumatizing and harmful living in a world that's been at war for 100 years can be for people than the source material was able to:
- While the death of her mother was a significant part of her character arc in the animated series, here it's made explicit that Katara has PTSD from witnessing her mother's murder (in the original, she only arrived after her mother was already dead and so never witnessed the act itself), up to and including trauma-induced flashbacks to the incident.
- In the original series, King Bumi was The Wonka and an Eccentric Mentor who only put Aang through his series of trials as a sly way of teaching him a lesson. In the live-action adaptation, he's still unquestionably a huge Cloud Cuckoolander but he's also a lot more cynical, jaded, and traumatised from a century of non-stop war with the Fire Nation, and has a lot of pent-up anger towards Aang for not being there to stop the war from happening, even after learning it wasn't his fault.
The Boys (2019):
- Billy Butcher and Frenchie. The former struggled with an abusive father and a younger brother who was Driven to Suicide over it^note in addition to finding out that his wife was still alive and left him because she was afraid before watching her die in front of him, while the latter is indirectly responsible for the death of Malory's grandchildren and has been beating himself up over it for years.
- Hughie in the comics had a stable family life, while his show counterpart's mother walked out on the family.
- In regards to his backstory. While Homelander was Raised in a Lab in both versions, the comic books play it for absurdity and don't touch on it much overall outside of flashbacks. The TV show thoroughly explores what effect this kind of backstory would have on someone. The Boys: Diabolical also shows that he once had a genuine desire to be a true hero when he was younger, but his first mission ended in disaster and Black Noir absolving him of culpability in it, which combined with Stillwell's manipulations caused him to give in to the worst side of himself.
- Zig-zagged with Starlight. Unlike the comics, Compound V is a very well-kept secret and no superheroes are born naturally, leading to conflict with Starlight and her Stage Mom who had her treated with it as an infant on top of everything else. However, unlike her comic counterpart who maintains that Evil Stole My Faith throughout the series, she does eventually regain her faith in God following her Trauma Conga Line.
- The Female/Kimiko definitely had an unhappy childhood in the comics as she spent most of her formative years as a lab rat, but her situation in the show was even worse as she and her brother were kidnapped by foreign terrorists and the trauma left her unable to speak entirely, before having to watch Stormfront murder her brother in front of her in the present day.
- A-Train in the comics was a static Fratbro with no remorse for his actions, while in the show he struggles with drug addiction and regrets some of the things Homelander made him do.
Brave New World: The book was basically the story of John struggling to find a place in New London but later eventually leading to self-exile and suicide, with his actions never causing any change. The series instead heads in the direction of his presence causing upheavals in society and citizens beginning to question the cost of the "utopia", along with a violent resistance/terrorist movement who rise up in the "Savage Lands".
Cluedo(Australia): Peacock is thrice widowed instead of twice like in some versions, Mustard has a daughter he's estranged from (one episode has her show up with a Jerkass fiancee who ends up the murder victim) and is quietly contemplative rather than boastful about recalling his wartime past (Vietnam, in this version), White has a daughter who died 15 years ago (due to being pregnant and abandoned, according to the pilot) and a sick husband she has to take care of, and Plum has a jealous Big Brother Bully, all bits of unhappy backstory not present in past versions.
Fate: The Winx Saga:
- In a flashback, Bloom accidentally starts a house fire after arguing with her parents, causing her tremendous guilt. She also feels guilty about hiding her powers from them. In the cartoon, Bloom discovered her powers while trying to protect Stella from an ogre, she never gets into a fight with her parents, and they are fully aware of her magic from the beginning.
- In contrast to the cartoon, Stella has a troubled relationship with her mother, feels great pressure to keep up appearances, and accidentally blinded her friend because she couldn't fully control her powers.
- In the series, Sky's father was a famous warrior who died when Sky was a baby or so everyone thinks, thus Sky grew up in his father's shadow. There's also no mention of his mother, since he was raised by Silva. In the cartoon, both of Sky's parents are alive and involved in his upbringing.
The Flash (1990): It is established in the pilot that Tina McGee is a widow, when her husband Jerry was still alive in the comics.
The Fugitive (2000): Gerard is now a widower with a strained second marriage and relationship with his daughter due to his focus on catching Kimble.
Game of Thrones:
- In the books, Tyrion is impressed that his niece Myrcella doesn't cry when she leaves for Dorne. In the show, she's bawling her eyes out.
- Sansa Stark. Not that she doesn't undergo Trauma Conga Line in the books, but her wedding night rape with Ramsay is entirely native and exclusive to the show as a result of her character's storyline becoming a composite with that of Jeyne Poole's in the book.
- Selyse is much more affected by the many stillbirths than her book counterpart. She also has had to endure the Siege of Storm's End while she wasn't there in the books. And then there's the sacrifice of Shireen...
Good Omens (2019):
- Aziraphale and Crowley's relationship has more conflict than in the original book. Both characters worry more about their bosses potentially finding out about their Forbidden Friendship and they have heated arguments about Crowley wanting holy water from Aziraphale that could kill him and Aziraphale denying that a demon like Crowley could be his friend that aren't present in the book.
- Crowley's reaction to finding Aziraphale's bookshop burning and thinking that Aziraphale perished in the fire. In the book, he's distressed about this but is able to pull himself together enough to continue trying to stop Armageddon on his own. In the show, he gets so upset that he flies into a screaming rage, gives up completely on his plans to escape or stop Armageddon, and tries to drown his sorrows at a bar.
- Newt Pulsifer gets this via Technology Marches On. The book was written in the 1990s, when it would be merely inconvenient for Newt to be unable to use computers; he joins the Witchfinder Army for a lark because he's bored at his old job. In 2019, Newt bricking every computer he comes near makes him borderline unemployable; he gets fired on his first day after shutting down the whole office, and only Sgt. Shadwell can take him in because he doesn't use computers.
Moist von Lipwig in the TV adaptation of Going Postal broods much more on his past crimes and their consequences than he does in the book. Also, Adora Belle Dearheart has lost more than just her brother.
The second Horatio Hornblower series was based on Lietuenant Hornblower, which involved paranoid Captain Sawyer losing his mind, mysteriously falling down the hold, and being replaced by his indecisive first lieutenant Buckland. In the book, Sawyer's paranoia and mental break were never explained, but the series makes him a Living Legend whose many bloody and traumatic memories finally catch up to him and make him unable to tell friend from foe. Buckland, meanwhile, is painfully aware how inadequate he is next to the clever and decisive young Hornblower and his envy drives him to both the Uriah Gambit and a public accusation of pushing Saywer (as opposed to a few testy remarks).
In the live action of The King's Avatar:
- Chen Guo starts having problems with her friend Tang Rou playing Glory every day, despite that being what she wanted originally, as she feels she is being ignored and left out. In the novel, she didn't find it an issue.
- She was also more upset than in the original novel about Ye Qiu's sudden retirement and spends a good chuck of an episode depressed about it before she bounces back. She hits her lowest point at the All-Stars Competition where a friend tells her to accept reality and that Ye Qiu would never return to Glory. Chen Guo's angst comes from the fact in the live action, she is a dedicated member of the Ye Qiu club and she got into Glory because her father was a fan of Ye Qiu as well.
- In flashbacks, Yu Wenzhou is seen struggling during the training camp and ranked the lowest amongst his classmates due to his slow hands and his classmates are seen frequently mocking him for it.
The original series of Kolchak: The Night Stalker had Kolchak investigating strange stories of the supernatural solely because he kept running into them on his beat. The short-lived remake The Night Stalker had it so that he was driven to investigate the strange after the mysterious death of his wife, for which he was still considered a suspect.
The original Little House on the Prairie books notably ran on Angst? What Angst? The seventies TV show, derived plenty of its drama from things that didn't remotely happen in the books/in Real Life. The 2005 miniseries stuck closer to the letter of events but sometimes added emotional overtones where none had been, including mining angst from the books' characteristically restrained hints at the "Well Done, Son" Guy element in Laura's relationship with her father.
In Lockwood & Co., Lucy Carlyle seems to have somewhat more angst in the television series than in the books. While in the books her mother is described as being somewhat remote, in the TV series she's depicted as downright awful, basically just using Lucy for her Talent to get money and not showing an ounce of love. Lucy also at one point nearly quits Lockwood & early on because of Lockwood's attitude.
Lost in Space (2018) changes the original by introducing drama and personal conflicts to the Robinson family. In particular, their father's absence on military duty has estranged him from the children and brought the parents to the brink of divorce.
The 2004 Marple adaptation of The Body in the Library makes the character of Mark Gaskell a lot more sympathetic by turning him into a former war hero suffering from shell-shock and Survivor Guilt after the deaths of his wife and his two best friends.
Once Upon a Time (2011) is made of this — people that were originally just motiveless fairy-tale villains mostly have incredibly angsty pasts that make them somewhat sympathetic, though of course Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse. Rumplestiltskin pretty much got the worst: neither parent wanted him, he was tormented by townsfolk for his cowardice, lost his first wife, crippled himself out of fear of losing his son, took up dark powers to prevent this, lost his son anyway, drove away a new love and thought she'd been killed...and that was all in the backstory, before the Queen cast the curse and sent everyone to the World Without Magic. The Queen herself is another example, as she was abused by her mother, whose plot to make her queen resulted in the murder of her first love.
One Piece (2023):
- When Usopp finds out Luffy knew his father, he has a displeased look on his face, showing he harbors some resentment towards his father who had abandoned him and his mother. And because the Usopp Pirates were adapted out of this adaptation, Usopp had to face Kuro and the emotional fallout of being the village outcast alone.
- In the manga/anime, Nami secretly told Nojiko about her plan to buy Coco Village back from Arlong who would then tell the rest of the villagers who pretended to hate Nami to not arouse Arlong's suspicions. In this series, Nami never told Nojiko the truth and Nami was genuinely ostracized by her sister and the villagers until they find out why Nami was working for Arlong.
- Prior to Zoro and Mihawk's fight, Nami was the one most vocal and panicky about Zoro recklessly endangering his life, not wanting him to see him hurt or killed due to his stubbornness of fulfilling his dream. When Zoro asks why she cares so much, Nami nearly yells in frustration because he is her friend. And when Zoro accepts his defeat, Nami grabs Usopp's hand as a means to brace herself for Mihawk to deliver the final blow.
- In the aftermath of Zoro's fight, Luffy suffers a crisis of confidence over his abilities as a captain as many characters, including Nami, calls Luffy out for not stopping Zoro when it was clear Zoro was in over his head for challenging Mihawk to a Duel to the Death. During the time Zoro was unconscious, it's clear that Luffy was truly afraid that Zoro would lose his life. He ultimately learns that a good captain must make the hard decision to step in and help when things are going awry regardless of the circumstances.
- The Straw Hats regarding Nami’s illness during Season 2. In the manga/anime while the boys like Vivi were obviously concerned about Nami’s health, they still found time to goof off, and were literally making snowmen while Nami was close to death in Drum Kingdom. In this series, it causes a lot more angst with Usopp snapping at Zoro in stress, while Luffy loses a lot of his usual cheerfulness. The biggest case however is Sanji, while he was upset about Nami’s health in the manga and anime as well, it was in a goofy and melodramatic manner. Here however it is too Close to Home for Sanji with his own mother dying of illness, and even admits so to Nami herself after she manages to get treatment in time. Hell, the only time we see Sanji smoke in the season is after Nami finally wakes up after being comatose for four days, signifying how stressed he was for his beloved navigator.
- Sanji falling for Baroque Works’ Honey Trap had no impact on the cook whatsoever in the manga and anime. Here however Sanji genuinely feels he let Luffy down, and is strongly motivated to make it up to his captain in Drum Kingdom, leading to their Combination Attack against Wapol.
In the original Party of Five, the titular kids just had to contend with child services coming for them when their parents died. In the reboot, their counterparts also have to worry about Immigration Control and Enforcement, which has already deported their parents and may come after the eldest brother, too.
Poirot:
- In the adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express, Hercule Poirot agonizes a lot more over whether to turn in the person or persons responsible for the murder than he does in the novel.
- The adaptation of Sad Cypress raises the stakes by having Elinor Carlisle be convicted of the murder and sentenced to hang, forcing Poirot to race against time to find the real murderer before the innocent girl gets executed for it.
Power Rangers: While often it's the inverse for most characters, a few examples have popped up throughout the franchise.
- Power Rangers Wild Force: Kakeru Shishi/GaoRed in Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger went through some trials and grief throughout the season but otherwise led a perfectly happy life, Cole on the other hand was orphaned as a toddler, had to leave the tribe that adopted him to achieve his destiny as the Red Ranger of the Wild Force and later on discovers the Awful Truth that his parents were murdered by their former colleague, Viktor Adler, who in a fit of jealously ate the Master Org's seeds to become more powerful and enact his petty vengeance. Adler almost breaks him with the revelations until Cole gains his valor back to defeat Adler.
- Power Rangers RPM: Virtually the entire human cast suffers this, in Engine Sentai Go-onger the Gaiark were the typical Sentai villains with offscreen worlds conquered and whose goal was to pollute Earth but never quite accomplished it; here all of humanity has been severely thinned thanks to Venjix's genocidal campaign and many of the Rangers lost their loved ones to the war against the Venjix Virus Network's forces. Particularly is the team's mentor, Doctor K., who was kidnapped as a young child and forced to create weapons against her will and in her attempts to escape created the very same virus that nearly wiped out humanity leaving her feeling very guilty about her role in humanity's extinction, her relative counterparts in Go-Onger, Jum-bowhale and BOMPER, don't have anything remotely close to her backstory in terms of angst.
Cassidy from Preacher hates being a vampire, calling it a terrible curse and hesitating to inflict it upon others. In the comics, Cassidy loves everything about being a vampire, he just doesn't know how to turn anyone else.
Riverdale seems made with the intention of deconstructing and darkening Archie Comics as much as possible. There is traditionally no angst in Archie whatsoever, and even the more dramatic Archie Comics (2015) isn't nearly as angsty:
- Archie is described as dealing with multiple issues and harboring a dark secret. He's also been Mistaken for Murderer.
- Betty is a Stepford Smiler with self-esteem issues who is tired of seeming "perfect".
- Summaries outright call Jughead emo. He is no longer friends with Archie due to an argument.
- Archie's father Fred is described as having skeletons in his closet.
Runaways (2017) makes a significant change to Nico's background, with the end result being that she's already a Stepford Snarker when the series begins. That change being giving her a Canon Foreigner older sister who died in mysterious circumstances.
The Shannara Chronicles: In the books, though Eretria had an indifferent father who used her to steal, the show made this even worse, with him letting his friends abuse her and it's implied she was raped (or nearly so) as well.
The Granada Sherlock Holmes series flip-flops on inverting this or playing it straight for different incidents, the decisions usually hinging on the absence of Watson's narration from the books. Holmes's cocaine addiction, at any rate, is given a good bit more active screentime.
The Untamed: The fall of Lotus Pier is made even more tragic by having Jiang Yanli be there to see her father one last time, and cry alongside Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng when they inform her of their parents' deaths.
The Walking Dead (2010) has a few examples, but none more than Rick Grimes. While the comic book version of Rick has his fair share of angst and problems, the ones in the show stick with Rick for entire seasons and have a much larger effect on him and his group.
- Rick takes Lori's death much harder in the show than in the comics, causing him to suffer a severe case of Sanity Slippage. He seems to recover by Season 4.
- A much bigger example was in Season 7. When Negan made his debut and murdered Glenn in the comics he shook Rick, but Rick only pretended to submit to protect his community and friends, all while making secret plans to take Negan down. There was no secret plan in the show because Rick was actually broken. He tried to convince his friends that this was the only way they could survive, by giving Negan what he wants. He regains the will to fight halfway through the season when he realizes that no matter how hard he tries, The Saviors will keep hurting his friends and Negan will still kill people.
The Wheel of Time (2021) gives Perrin a Canon Foreigner wife whom he kills by accident while fighting off Trollocs in the first episode.

Multiple Media

The MonsterVerse version of King Kong doesn't get shot down in New York, but he does get to witness and live through the destruction of his island home by Perpetual Storm, claiming the lives of all but a few of the natives and creatures that he spent his entire life bleeding in defence of. Skull Island (2023) also reveals that he made friends with a native girl sometime between 1973 and the mid-1990s, only for her to die in his hand after he was too late to save her and her village from a monster that fatally injured her; essentially, for this Kong, it was his Beauty instead of him, the Beast, who died.

Theater

Gatsby:
- Nick is more outwardly traumatized by the Great War in this version. Multiple lines allude to depression, and he also has to take a breather after fireworks go off at Gatsby's party.
- The Wilsons' marriage is unhappy in the book as well, but the musical adds that they had a child who died during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Myrtle hates how they were too poor to afford a doctor and how George has apparently moved on, and thus wants for finer things.
In mythology Hades and Persephone had one of the happiest, healthiest relationships in the entire pantheon, while in Hadestown their marriage is on the rocks and has been for some time. By the end, they're both working on trying again.
One could argue that this trope was the basis for the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. In fact, it was precisely this reason that many people initially protested the film — because the all-powerful Christ isn't supposed to show feelings like the rest of the mortals, dammit (never mind that the Bible does have several entries in which he does just that).
Ladies in Black gives the elderly spinster Miss Jacobs a new backstory involving a fiancé who never came back from the War, spends more time on Fay worrying that her relationship history will spoil her new romance, and sets up Lisa's Fantasy-Forbidding Father as an antagonist who actively opposes her academic ambitions, where in the novel her father was away at work and the racetrack so much he was barely aware of her intentions until it was basically too late to do anything to stop her.
Little Shop of Horrors does this to everyone from the 1960 movie that was its basis, particularly Seymour (who goes from a poor schlep living with his nagging mother to a poor schlep taken from a boy's home to work at Mushnik's flower shop and never formally adopted) and Audrey (who has now been abandoned by her father and is in an abusive relationship).
In Orfeo ed Euridice, the conditions for leading Eurydice out are even worse than the norm, as not only can Orpheus not turn to look at Eurydice, he can't speak to her to tell her why. Eurydice thinks he no longer loves her and begs him to look at her, and he ultimately gives in.
Early theatrical adaptations of Sweeney Todd did this, converting the story's Big Bad into a Villain Protagonist and radically changing his motives. In the original penny dreadful "The String of Pearls", he's simply a straight-up sociopath who kills his barbershop patrons out of pure greed for their valuables, whereas later plays and films depict his Serial Killer career as him taking revenge on the judge who destroyed his life and the society that did nothing to prevent it. Hence, although still evil in the extreme, he's at least marginally sympathetic for all that.

Video Games

Rakenzarn Frontier Story
- Makoto Naegi in his home game takes his averageness in stride and manages to overcome the Killing Game's horrors to become the Ultimate Hope. This Makoto, despite living in a world when The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History never happened, has horrible luck, gets teased a lot and is so depressed by his average nature that he once nearly committed suicide.
- Yuuko Asou had her bestie die in front of her home game and learned she was separated from his birth parents as a baby. The Yuuko in this game will have a worse backstory than that.
Final Fantasy VII Remake:
- Remake have Tifa plays up her insecurities and Reluctant Warrior traits a number of times.
  - Tifa in the original game was largely dedicated to the cause of Avalanche with little issue on her side about being involved, though the lifestream event says she didn't want to be known as a violent person. In Remake, she's unsure of herself and often wonders if the group's actions are justifiable.
  - In the original game, Barret and the others had no reason to question Tifa's resolve, but her reluctance to hurt innocents with Avalanche's bombing plan in the Remake causes Jessie to wonder whether Tifa is truly committed to their cause. During the trip to Mako Reactor 5, she also admits to being nervous, something she never truly expressed in the original game.
- Jessie in Remake admits she's appalled that the bombs she created for Avalanche have killed so many people, and when accidentally mortally wounded by her own grenade (due to the interference from the Whispers of Fate) she even claims she had it coming. In the original it was never indicated that Jessie felt this way about her work.
- Played With concerning Cloud himself. Compared to the original, he has a much more troubled and somber attitude as well as less enthusiasm when it comes to his allies and love interests. This is due to an added subplot that reveals his magical treatments that gave Cloud his strength have drastically shortened his lifespan, which isn't indicated in the original and explains his angst as well as his stronger reticence to get involved with people. On the other hand, Cloud's behavior overall is downplayed in Remake compared to most depictions of him, with his dorkier and lighthearted traits from the original emerging as the game goes on.
- The Turks namely Reno and Rude, in the original had no real qualms about the fact they were ordered to killed thousands of people when dropping the plate on Sector 7. In Remake, both Reno and Rude display great reluctance and conflict over what they have to do and Reno despite his brash nature, ultimately can't go through with it, forcing Rude to do the deed. Later they both express their guilt and horror over Sector 7 to Tseng their boss.
Keith Courage in Alpha Zones: Downplayed, considering that it's still mostly played for camp, but Keith Courage has a more grim backstory and Call to Adventure than Wataru Ikusabe, as the game serves as a Divorced Installment of Mashin Hero Wataru. Wataru merely gets summoned to Soukaizan after putting some magical gemstones on his clay robot sculpture, without any harm to his loved ones, and takes his new duty as a Kid Hero mostly in stride. Keith, on the other hand, witnesses a destructive meteor impact that quickly reveals itself to be an Alien Invasion while he's around the same age, spends the next years of his life involved in a war, and then witnesses his father die right in front of him, being noticeably distressed by both the initial invasion and his father's death.
In Puyo Puyo, Amitie is usually depicted as the happy-go-lucky Kindhearted Simpleton who, despite her times of self-doubt, always sees things through to the end with the help of her friends. The spin-off Light Novels and Audio Dramas, however, tend to take her Heroic Self-Deprecation and have it become a catalyst behind some dramatic moments or storylines. She beats herself up when she thinks bringing up Sig's demonic arm was the reason why he left Primp Town suddenly, nearly abandoned her "Great Magician" dream when she was unable to explain what that entailed to Arle and Ringo, acted unusually reckless and aggressive when hunting down the mystical White Wishing Puyo (and only calmed down from it after Raffina gave her a much needed calling out), and lets Raffina and Klug's scathing comments against her get to her much more easily, to the point where she allowed herself to be Brainwashed and Crazy by a demonic doll if it means getting the power to put them in their place.
In the Resident Evil series, the remakes generally have their characters react with more realistic horror and trauma to the terrifying events of their stories:
- Resident Evil 2 (Remake):
  - The main heroes zigzag this, though rather effectively. While the original portrayed them as typically stoic 90s heroes, the remake portrays the entire cast as far more emotional and struggling to come to terms with the horrors they experience. Leon, Claire and Sherry give themselves pep talks to get through frightening experiences, curse and plead with the monsters attacking them and show their relative inexperience as a bunch of 20-somethings and a preteen trying to survive. On the other hand, Leon's reason for arriving in Raccoon City Late to the Tragedy is changed from Drowning His Sorrows after an ugly breakup to being warned to stay away because of the developing crisis.
  - Minor character Robert Kendo in the original game was a goofy, yet somewhat helpful shopkeeper who is eaten by zombies after a few lines of dialogue. In the remake, he lashes out angrily at Leon and Ada. This is because the remake adds a wife and daughter to his backstory; the wife having been infected and been killed, while his daughter is slowly succumbing to the T-Virus. He takes the daughter away, and a gunshot is heard. A bonus mode implies this experience drove him to suicide. The much more serious take on Kendo elevated him to a more memorable part of the game.
- Resident Evil 3 (Remake): Jill and Carlos get this to quite the extent, especially Jill. In the original while she was sad at the situation she and her town had found themselves in and angry at Umbrella for causing it, Jill was still confident and undaunted, not mention to sassy when U.B.C.S. (namely Nikolai) doubted her abilities. In RE3make however Jill is much more messed up with PTSD over her experiences at the Spencer Mansion, apparently spending her nights racked with nightmares and throughout the game has lucid nightmare sequences about being forced to kill herself or Carlos as they turn into zombies. Carlos for his part never questioned his job working for Umbrella in the original, shrugging off Jill's acusations by saying he's "just a mercenary". Here, Carlos soon learns exactly how evil Umbrella is, becoming wracked with guilt over the fact Jill found it in her heart to trust him anyway.
- Resident Evil 4 (Remake) has Leon acting a lot more melancholy and distant compared how he was in the original game. The remake has Leon still dealing with the trauma caused by his nightmare of trying to stay alive during the Raccoon City Incident in the Resident Evil 2 remake and his failure of protecting Marvin and Ada. Leon's initiation in the government is also played much more darkly; while Leon is forced to join because he witnessed things he wasn't meant to see in Raccoon City, the original has him more or less joining without a hitch. The remake shows Leon's daily training nearly has him nearly killed every time and despite that fact, he prefers to put up with it since it lets him be distracted from remembering what he went through in Raccoon City.
The Game Mod Resident Evil: During the Storm begins with Kevin killing a man during a police standoff and sinking into depression until the Zombie Apocalypse forces him to put it aside. This is in sharp contrast to the more cool-headed and affable Kevin from Outbreak.
In Halo 2, in the original, when Arbiter responds to Rtas stating he doesn't care if the former lives or dies with "That make two of us", he is staring Rtas down, emphasizing his defiance. In the anniversary version, he instead drops his eyes while delivering his line, emphasizing his Death Seeker mindset and his sense of shame over his failure.

Visual Novels

The Coffin of Andrew and Renee:
- Renee, unlike her canon counterpart Ashley, lost Douglas (whom canonically was the only person she seemed to truly love unconditionally) when he left her for her childhood peer, and her community turned against her (note that Renee's canon self was a narcissist who pathologically prized being perceived well by them). Renee in this AU also takes the canon Ashley's place of being trapped by ToxiSoda in quarantine with Andrew and starving for months. The mod also all but confirms the canon game's more ambiguous hints that Renee was forced to sell her body to men when she was younger.
- Andrew zig-zags this with Adaptational Angst Downgrade. In the long term, he didn't have to deal with the Ashley-related baggage and sabotaged grades that his canon self did in teenhood, and he formed a closer (if little to no less unhealthy) relationship with his mother, but Episode 2 shows how the loss of Ashley was still very painful for him in the short term.
The Coffin of Andy and July: Things aren't better for Julia here when compared to canon. She's trapped in her boyfriend's apartment and is forced to do some immoral things to survive and it bothers her more than it did for the Grave siblings.

Web Animation

Everen's animatic adaptation of the Limited Life SMP, "Battle Cry", shows Grian and Joel being devastated by Jimmy's final death, whereas their first reactions in canon were practically cackling at how Jimmy was somehow first to be Killed Off for Real again (though both are seen grieving in their own ways later on). Jimmy the content creator's live reaction to the animatic adds commentary lampshading the dissonance.
Jimmy the content creator: (reacting to the animatic) Bro, let me– let me tell you just right here, they were not shocked; they were laughing. Just to let you know, don't get it– ay, don't get it twisted: they were not shocked, they were laughing. Do not get twisted by this photo: they were not emotional, they were wetting themselves, thank you very much.
Day of the Diesels Rewrite: Norman has had it very tough. While he never had any angst in canon, here it is shown that he was treated badly by the other engines because of his odd shape and the fact that he's a diesel engine.
Kirby Guardian: Nearly every main character from the Kirby series receives an additional dose of angst in their pasts compared to the lighthearted main series in this Alternate Universe, in particular those from Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, due to the main Kirby having not originally existed to help his friends and Planet Popstar.
- King Dedede originally attempted to become a hero and entertainer for Dreamland, but he lost the public's goodwill after he accidentally injured a child in frustration after losing a battle with Storo. With the people of Dreamland against him, he became an ill-tempered alcoholic, and with no rivals to keep him sharp, he had no drive to improve himself or fix his public image, leading to disaster when his disregard for the public good catches back up with him.
- Adeleine becomes grumpy herself over the years due to her being raised by Dedede in spite of the latter's efforts for her not to follow his steps, eventually leading her to have a drinking problem as well. Her differences from the other residents of Dreamland and association with Dedede also become a source of friction that take time to overcome, a far cry from the friendly young painter from the games.
- In The Crystal Shards, Ribbon has problems enough with her planet being overrun with monsters and her queen getting possessed, but Kirby Guardian's incarnation of the character is a Broken Bird—her mother dies protecting her from a Disprite attack that affects her before she is even born and is ostracized by her fellow fairies to the point of trying to clip her wings.
- At worst, the games' Meta Knight has lingering bad blood with those who have bested him in the past, but always relishes a challenge and has friends to fall back on. However, a life of having to fight constant battles to defend the planet from outside threats with almost no other help takes a toll on this Meta Knight, to the point that he's lost an arm and implicitly his wings and an eye, too. His resentment at Dedede's apathy towards defending Popstar boils over into an enraged attempt on Dedede's life in front of young Adeleine—and that doesn't get into the much clearer and brutal damage Meta Knight visibly wrought upon Dreamland that time.
- Even the Company of Kirbies get this, as while the games' Kirby is a source of positivity and friendliness even through the most difficult journeys, the Company is born in a harsh, desolate swamp with a life of being hunted by larger animals ahead of them had Adeleine not taken them to her home.
Peach Creek: All of the characters receive this in one way or another, given the more mature tone. Using just the Eds as an example:
- Double D seems to have developed depression from his parents never being around.
- Eddy is now a smoker, cusses more, and has fallen back on old attitude habits since Big Picture Show.
- Ed has grown tired of his parents' blatant favoritism, to the point of running away.

Webcomics

Better Days: In Badly Drawn Kitties, Lucy and Fisk's Sibling Incest is played as comedy, and considered something the other protagonists are rather used to from them. Here, since Lucy and Fisk are in an alternate universe where they grow from kids to adults, their incestuous feelings are played entirely for drama, which the two of them angst quite a bit over and ultimately grow out of.
Dad Villain AU:
- Thanks to Hawkmoth winning and rewriting reality with his Wish, Marinette isn't Ladybug anymore and has no memories of the original reality. Yet Gabriel opted to spitefully punish the heroine for having ever existed in the first place, Wishing that the magical backlash effect from Emelie using the broken Peacock Pin would be redirected towards the former Ladybug and her loved ones, specifically aiming for the latter first so she'd be Forced to Watch everyone she cared about sicken and succumb to a mysterious illness. Marinette has already lost her mother to this, and her paternal grandfather Rolland tried to exploit that tragedy by attempting a hostile takeover of the Dupain-Cheng bakery. By the time the comic starts, she's barely attending school anymore, having decided to focus on helping her father manage the bakery... leaving her estranged from most of her classmates.
- Tom Dupain-Cheng loses his beloved wife Sabine to a disease no doctors can comprehend, wiping out most of their family's savings in a futile attempt to save her. His grandfather tries to take advantage of her illness to force their bakery to use HIS recipes, sundering their already strained relationship beyond repair. Then he learns Sabine's illness was magical in nature, the result of a supervillain's spiteful, reality-warping Wish, causing him to descend deeper into drowning his sorrows before realizing that Marinette is running herself ragged trying to keep their business afloat. All of this fuels his decision to become Viceroy, using the Butterfly Brooch for some Pragmatic Villainy while searching for Hawkmoth to get his revenge.
- Adrien has Wistful Amnesia about the original timeline, and has to deal with the slow, creeping realization that his mother Emilie is a self-absorbed Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who only cares about him as a way of boosting her own ego. Then he learns that he's an Artificial Human created by the Peacock Pin. Then comes the Charity Ball Arc with all its Internal Reveals, including how his father BRAGS about his successes as Hawkmoth and the realization that Marinette was Ladybug, making him feel indirectly responsible for her mother's death since Emelie repeatedly used the Peacock Pin on him.
Fate/Gamers Only: Compared to Gudako, Rikku has many more self-esteem issues resulting from her darker personality traits, such as wondering if killing people to save others is really the right thing or not or taking issue with not being able to fight on the front lines like her Servants.
Feralnette AU:
- As bad as Marinette has it in canon, she always manages to bounce back with her support network. Here, the crippling pressure of it all wears her down and makes her even more cynical, exhausted, and isolated. Even when her friends and family take notice, by this point she feels like she can't rely on any of them.
- While Chloé's canon-counterpart was famous for unlearning whatever Character Development she might get due to her pathological selfishness, this Chloé is self-aware enough to recognize Hawk Moth for the toxic influence that he is, hiring Marinette and Felix to uncover Hawk Moth's identity just to make it all stop. She even stops going to school, wearing jewelry and accessories, and shuts herself away to minimize the chances of her getting akumatized, realizing the sheer number of akumatized villains she either creates or becomes.
The Heart Of A Monster: Unlike in Sonic Unleashed, Sonic is much more traumatized by his werehog form than in the original game. Being a werehog just feels wrong to him.
Letters to an Absent Father: In the anime, neither Ash or his mother Delia seem concerned with where his father is. Letters To An Absent Father is themed around Ash's mixed feelings towards his dad. He loves and thinks highly of his dad, but misses him and has lost some respect for him by the end of the comics. Delia is also affected by Ash's father's absence to the point of considering dating, which Ash takes rather poorly and yells at her in front of his friends.
My Hero Academia: 10-B: In canon, Izuku Midoriya had problems due to him being born Quirkless, but at least he still has his mother Inko. Here, Izuku is homeless, implied to be because his first Omnitrix transformation burned down his house and most likely killed Inko. Not only that, Pro Heroes had attacked him due to his transformation being too monstrous, making them think he was a villain.
Reunion Falls: Since Mabel suffered from Bill's possession instead of Dipper, it left some underlying trauma for her.
Scarlet Lady:
- Being Scarlet Lady leads to Chloé treating Sabrina even worse than she did in canon. Additionally, Sabrina didn't seem bothered by her father's firing in "Rogercop" in the show, even though her "best friend" Chloé caused it for entirely petty reasons. In contrast, the webcomic depicts her spiralling into a Heroic BSoD over the betrayal, and it's clear at the end of the episode that she won't be getting over it any time soon.
- In canon "Captain Hardrock," all the people who are chained together for "mutiny" just roll into the hold like logs. Here, we see reactions of embarrassment and concern since each pair is at least a potential love interest. The author notes: "The Ship is a shipper."
Scoob and Shag: In addition to being a lot smarter than in the cartoon, Dee-Dee is much more aware of her lack of useful skills, and a flashback shows her crying as other people, including Dexter, point this out at various turns. The events of Part 1 also leave her with PTSD after she nearly dies and loses her right eye, which leaves her frozen in fear the first time she enters combat again.
Suikakasen: Compared to canon, Kasen is put through a lot more misery to the point where she could be considered a Broken Bird. She was abandoned by her mother as a child when official materials make no mention of her parents, she suffers from Loss of Identity resulting from the extra backstory given to her, and she is put through so much emotional pain over the course of the story that she cries onscreen, something she has yet to do in canon.
Total Trauma: Many of the unsettling moments that were brushed aside in canon are expanded upon here, such as Duncan's arrest, Alejandro's mutilation, Mike's disorder, and the general idea that millions of people are watching teenagers undergo traumatic experiences before their sense of self has developed.

Web Videos

The Bat (Siltrics):
- In addition to losing his parents, Batman also lost Alfred as a kid weeks later, likely explaining the Adaptational Villainy Bruce underwent in the series.
- Related to the aforementioned Adaptational Villainy Batman underwent, the Batfamily are the victims of kidnapping and brainwashing by Batman, not people who willingly joined Batman in his crusade.
Can One Change Fix All of RWBY?:
- Team RWBY endures considerably more pain and justified angst than their canon selves do from the Fall of Beacon onwards. Instead of briefly becoming fugitives in the Kingdom of Atlas due to Ironwood's sanity slippage, they're branded as wanted fugitives across the entirety of Remnant just after the Fall of Beacon, and they look set to remain so for a much longer length of time. They're also forced to work with very morally-dubious people and take very morally-dubious actions themselves which "fuck people over" in order to save the world, causing them a lot of discomfort and guilt.
  - Ruby Rose-specific extra angst that she didn't go through in canon includes: her accidentally killing Pyrrha herself, finding out that someone she greatly looked up to is actually a monster who killed her mother and who was trying to engineer Ruby's death every step of the way, being hunted and attacked by people she considers her friends due to the villains' machinations painting her as a treasonous murderer and fugitive, and being under the pressure of knowing that the fate of the world hinges on her due to her Silver Eyes' necessity to retrieving the Relics. Unlike her canon self, Ruby is stated to be horrified by watching everyone both hero and villain rob Penny of her autonomy and free will when she's infected by Watts' virus.
  - Yang Xiao-Long, on top of losing her arm, in this iteration ends up being forced to work with people who are indirectly accountable for her trauma, to her discomfort.
- Team JNR go through the loss of one of their own, Pyrrha Nikos, like in canon, but in this iteration, they're led to believe that their friend on their sister team, Ruby, murdered her and betrayed the kingdoms alongside the rest of Team RWBY.
Dhar Mann: "BULLIED TEEN Turns PUPPETS Into MILLIONS" dramatizes the first 15 to 16 years of Logan Thirtyacre's life. Most notably, teenage Logan is portrayed to be suicidal over using a feeding tube due to his SMAS. Lance's reaction to the dramatization of his brother's life says otherwise, among other details.
Fixing RWBY:
- In Volume 1, Team RWBY has a much harder time getting along, with Weiss's hostility towards Ruby as a leader being far more pronounced compared to canon. It isn't until the season finale that they can resolve their issues and finally become a cohesive team. Also in Volume 6, the team have a lot more trouble picking up from where they left off, not helped by Blake's guilt at running away being even more pronounced and disruptive than in canon, and seeing Ruby work better as Team RNJR then with RWBY causes a falling out between them.
- Nora, while still maintaining her bubbly and happy-go-lucky personality, harbors major self-worth issues that manifest into jealous anger towards Pyrrha for always stealing the spotlight from the team's accomplishments. This results in her grief over Pyrrha's death being more apparent than in canon, due to never getting to fully apologize for the horrible things she said to her. These issues also boil over into Fixing Volume 6, when they meet Pyrrha's parents in Argus.
- Arslan also gains some self-worth issues due to constantly trying to prove her worth against Pyrrha to show that her status is the result of hard work rather than nepotism, as Fixing makes her the niece of Lionheart. Cinder plays on these emotions, stroking Aslan's anger so that when she loses to Team JNPR, Arslan snaps and goes through a full-on emotional breakdown.
- The Fall of Beacon in particular is a lot more heartwrenching and tragic in a few ways:
  - Penny is infected with a virus that allows Cinder to control her like a puppet. Not only is it made clear that Penny is fully aware that she is being forced to attack Pyrrha but can do nothing about it, but that it is unlikely she can be fully rebuilt due to the chip that contains her memories and personality were heavily damaged in the battle.
  - Ciel is present when Penny dies and, due to them explicitly having a more established bond in Fixing, is shown mourning over her broken body.
  - Several characters are left disfigured, paralyzed, or even dead in the aftermath of the Fall: Fox is gravely injured by Adam, Cardin is blinded in his left eye, Velvet's left ear is cut off, and Neptune is bound to a wheelchair from being impaled in the spinal cord by a rogue Paladin mech.
- Roman Torchwick gets one by way of their backstory is that he is the Sole Survivor of the Apathy's attack on Brunswick Farms.
- Vernal's death, thanks to her greater connection to the cast, affects several characters a lot more than it does in canon. Namely, Yang is hurt that she never got to know her other half-sister; Weiss is even more saddened upon realizing that Vernal earnestly viewed her as a friend; and Raven's grief and attempts to obscure Vernal's death end up alienating her from her tribe.
- As revealed by Maria in Fixing Volume 6, The Silver Eyes induce Laser-Guided Amnesia in the user when used too much, a dark revelation in its own right that causes the teamwork issues above to hit a tipping point.
Friendship is Witchcraft: Pinkie's parents are dead and she has deep issues due to growing up in an orphanage where she was looked down upon for her ethnicity and Earth pony background, Applejack and Rarity are Shell Shocked Veterans, Fluttershy had a Hilariously Abusive Childhood, Spike is all-around hated by everypony, etc. They don't tend to actively angst too much due to the comedic nature of the series.
The Hero of Time, Talon is a lot more serious about things than his carefree self and Malon is considerably more shy and nervous when she first meets Link, although both are explained as a result of them recently moving to Hyrule Castle Town and being unused to living in a populated area (which obviously never happened in the game). Five years in the future, Talon has become even more depressed and bitter, due to the fact that Malon died.
I Rewrote RWBY Volume 8:
- Because Jacques ends up being a lot more heroic than his canon counterpart in this version on account of his fall from power and the apocalyptic situation in Atlas, his entire family, even Winter, are a lot more troubled by his death when he dies heroically buying them time to overcome the Hound.
- Unlike his canon counterpart, this version of Hazel is a lot more troubled by the atrocities he and his colleagues are commiting against Atlas. It's clear that while he personally committed international terrorism and murders in the dozens on Salem's orders before, it isn't until he witnesses the full-scale assault on Atlas and is ordered to personally unleash a literal flood of Grimm on Mantle that Hazel truly starts to grasp the full and genocidal scope of Salem's evil. And then there's also the matter of when he finds out about the Hound's relation to his sister in this version...
- In this version, Emerald's wake-up call as to how little Cinder cares about her is far more explicit, direct and brutal. She confesses while she's hanging on for dear life that she's in love with Cinder, expecting the latter to save her... and Cinder only laughs in her face before leaving her for dead.
- Gretchen Rainart has it much worse here than in canon. Instead of dying in a Grimm attack on a training mission as was believed, it's revealed that Salem actually kept her alive and turned her into the Hound without Hazel's knowledge.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, the modern vlog version of Pride and Prejudice, has a few examples:
- While Lydia Bennet initially comes across as just as shallow, irresponsible, and self-absorbed as her literary counterpart, her own spin-off vlog and later videos show her Hidden Depths - because Kitty Bennet is a cat and not her sister and her mother doesn't spoil her the way she does in the novel, Lydia is a lot more lonely in this version. She feels more overlooked compared to her accomplished older sisters, who are closer to each other than to her, and her Attention Whore tendencies are her misguided way of being with them. She is also implied to struggle with getting slut-shamed and bullied at school. On top of that, her relationship with George Wickham leaves her in a worse position than in the book, since instead of eloping, she is essentially emotionally abused by him before horrifically finding out George secretly taped them having sex, planning to sell the tape online without her consent. Lydia does not take it well.
- Lizzie herself has a few moments of this, as she struggles to deal with all the changes around her and the prospect of being abandoned by her loved ones, which she does not struggle with in the novel.
- The companion book reveals that Jane had a pregnancy scare after staying over at the Lee's.
- Bing Lee (the adapted version of Charles Bingley) is revealed late in the series to be more than just a rich bachelor studying to be a doctor. It turns out he was pressured into going to medical school, and part of the reason he was in Netherfield in the first place was because he dropped out to find his purpose in life, to his family's and Darcy's frustration. Then Caroline and Darcy pressured him to go back, abandoning Jane, until he dropped out again near the end of the series.
Lovely Little Losers: The Vlog Series, which loosely based on Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost, has a significant amount of the plot that hinges on an unhappy backstory that is entirely absent from the original play.
Mystery Incorporated (2022): Nearly the whole gang. Fred's parents are killed during the opening narration. Velma's father was killed prior to the events of the show and her mother became an alcoholic as a result. Shaggy has a strained relationship with his cop father and is being blackmailed into remaining a drug dealer. Daphne meanwhile is a Stepford Smiler who is being pressured into an Alpha Bitch role not only by her friends, but by her own mother.
Spider-Man: Lotus: The Fan Film was created as an adaptation of The Night Gwen Stacy Died & Spider-Man: Blue, but makes Peter into a Jerkass Woobie who lashes out at everyone close to him and has him trauma-dumping to the dying child from The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man. In the original comic, Peter remained well-composed and affable despite the weight of the situation, and only briefly shows open signs of self-doubt when the kid specifically asks him about why he fights crime.
Sword Art Online Abridged: The series gets into this despite being primarily comedic:
- The fate of Sachi and her guild did serve as a Downer Ending for one episode of Sword Art Online, but as it was originally a side-story in the Light Novel it didn't have a lot of effect on the rest of the storyline. In the abridged series, it serves as My Greatest Failure for Kirito, gives him a case of PTSD that takes him many episodes to bring under some semblance of control, and is central to his Character Development from Heroic Comedic Sociopath to The Snark Knight.
- Unlike in canon, Kirito and Silica aren't able to revive her pet Pina in time, driving her to a screaming rampage.
- The blacksmith Lisbeth is given a tragic past in which her eagerness to get some rare materials led to the death of her guild, causing her to become a socially-awkward reclusive.
- In canon, the Kirigaya siblings drifted apart somewhat after Kazuto dropped out of kendo, and then discovered that he was actually adopted by his aunt after his birth parents died, but he and Suguha still cared about each other. In the Abridged Series, the "Not Blood Siblings" angle is Adapted Out while the rest is emphasized for drama: Kazuto dropping out of kendo (for what is implied to be health reasons) to study computers destroyed his close relationship with Suguha, who suffered through their sexist grandfather's Training from Hell in a vain effort to entice her brother back into the sport. This turned Suguha into a Little Sister Bully who constantly belittles his failings and interest in "stupid nerd shit," while Kazuto despises her as a Jerk Jock who seemingly exists solely to make him miserable.

Western Animation

Arcane:
- Vi's story changes from saving some miners after the gang she worked with got a little rough now involves several of her family members dying, and then being locked in a supermax prison for several years.
- The show portrays Jinx as a far more tragic a figure. In the game, Jinx is almost always seen smiling and giggling, and has an almost child-like cheerfulness which contrasts with the destruction she causes. Here, her mood is much more somber and she's haunted by hallucinations of people she's lost. Justified however, as her emotional wounds are still relatively fresh with lingering doubts on who she actually wants to be as a constant source of drama between either being Powder or Jinx... at first anyway.
DuckTales (2017):
- In the Disney Ducks Comic Universe story "80 Years"/"Family Ties", when the triplets learn what happened to Della Duck, they're sad for a panel, then get distracted. Once Gyro contacts her and they learn she's fine, they actually lie to her out of fear that if she knew relativity meant she'd been away for years, she might give up, and they like living with Uncle Donald. Here, the triplets' feelings about their Missing Mom is one of the driving forces of the first season, they do not handle learning the truth well, and both their issues over this, and Della's own trauma from knowing she's missed them growing up, continue to inform a lot of the plot thereafter.
- Zigzagged with Webby Vanderquack. In the original series, she didn't have an unhappy life, but she was treated poorly by the triplets simply because she was a girl and had feminine interests. In this adaptation, the triplets (who are nicer in this reboot) welcome her quickly as a friend, showing zero problems with either her gender or interests; however, she has also been living in McDuck Manor for most, if not all of her life, which has greatly affected her social life and skills, contributing to her desire for friends.
Fantômette (2000): Zig-zagged. In this version, Franny lost her parents under mysterious circumstances, which is implied to be the driving force behind her becoming a superhero, but on the other hand, she is Happily Adopted and lives with best friends Fichelle and Boulette.
Green Eggs and Ham:
- The fox from the book is given both a name (Michael) and a potent cocktail of neuroses as he attempts to woo an aloof hen at the farm he works at who looks down on him for eating eggs. His efforts to deprive himself of his favorite food have caused him to become unstable and violent. Mentioning eggs or even the name of his would-be girlfriend is enough to cause him to go on a rampage.
- Sam as well. It turns out that he's a Sad Clown underneath his beaming smile and his love of Green Eggs and Ham is the one thing that connects him to his long-lost mother.
- Even the mouse is also given an angsty backstory, where he was jailed for stealing cheese to feed his family.
Harley Quinn (2019):
- This version of Harley Quinn follows her partnership with Poison Ivy, as Harley wants to overshadow the Joker for once while still coming to terms with the abusive reality of their relationship. In season 2, Harley has to learn to trust men and understand what a healthy relationship looks like. She does this because the Joker's abuse tainted her view of relationships and left her with doubts about what an ideal relationship is.
- Happens to Batman as well, as season 3 sees him become deeply unstable from the trauma of his parents' deaths.
Invincible (2021):
- The show adds a completely new side to Conquest's character; in the comics, he was an unapologetic sadist without any room for introspecting about his own life — him being reviled by his people was implied through dialogue, but there was no indication that it affected him emotionally on any level. In the show, Conquest admits during a sudden Motive Rant that being feared and labeled as a monster even by his fellow Viltrumites leaves him feeling alone and alienated, and resents his "name" for reducing him to a Living Weapon rather than a person, reinvisioning his card-carrying bloodthirstiness as a warped coping mechanism.
- Argall's death already affected him in the comics, even as he was overcome by his obsession with power, but the show makes it hit harder by having Thragg feel personally responsible due to not killing Thaedus, the man who would go on to kill Argall, when told by Argall that he was free to kill him if he saw it fit.
The Mighty Nein:
- In the original, Nott's alcoholism was occasionally used as a gag, but even when discussed seriously it was never debilitating for her. In the animated adaptation, Nott is an Addled Addict who needs alcohol to function, is willing to go so far as to drink from a puddle of booze on the floor left by a broken bottle, and who starts developing very realistic withdrawal symptoms (tremors, increased anxiety and irritability, violent outbursts) when she doesn't drink.
- The massacre at the circus is far more lethal — while in the original only a few audience members died, Toya was rescued, and the circus disbanded on good terms, the adaptation sees the rampaging Devil Toad rack up dozens more victims, including most of the circus troupe. Molly loses everyone he's ever cared about and is personally forced to put down his zombiefied mentor Gustav, and while the Mighty Nein succeed in killing the Devil Toad, Toya dies despite their best efforts.
- Jester is far more affected by the Traveler's abandonment here than in the original. While she could take a few jokes at her expense in the Actual Play, the animated show portrays her slowly starting to believe that she's insane, culminating in an outburst where she destroys her room in a rage, then goes out into town to vandalize a holy temple in an attempt to get the Traveler's attention.
My Adventures with Superman: Superman himself gets hit with a case of this. In the comics, Clark learns of his origins as the Sole Survivor of an alien race fairly early in life, something that he usually initially reacts to with shock, but comes to accept fairly quickly. In this series, due to an Adaptational Timespan Change in regards to Clark learning of his origins, Krypton and its nature are a big mystery that results in Clark having a greater amount of insecurity and self-doubt compared to how he's usually portrayed. Eventually, he outright rejects his Kryptonian heritage when he comes to believe that he's a Living Weapon sent to Earth to help Krypton in an invasion, something that the Language Barrier between him and his father's Virtual Ghost doesn't help. That said, over the course of season 2, Clark begins to find himself able to connect with his heritage, first through finally being able to properly converse with his father, then later through meeting his cousin Kara, and while this leads to him being kidnapped by Kara and forced to face off against her "father" Brainiac, upon returning to Earth, he's shown to have gained a newfound sense of confidence in his alien heritage that he's traditionally portrayed as having from the start.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: In the original series, Adora didn't have to deal with the realization that the organization she's been fighting for were the villains, an abusive mother figure, and fighting her childhood best friend and romantic interest.
Skylanders Academy: Jet-Vac's backstory in the video game series the show is based on is that he sacrificed of his wings to people who needed help, which earned him a place among the Skylanders. In the show, while it is implied that he did something similar, most of his past is taken up of having been raised by a strict father who turned him into something who is ashamed of himself whenever he doesn't live up to his own high expectations.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003): Casey Jones In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Mirage) was originally created as a parody of all vigilante characters with tragic backstories that were in comics, with Casey just being a character who was inspired to be a vigilante, but just from watching too much bad TV shows like T.J. Hooker and The A-Team. Here, he is given a legitimately tragic backstory: When he was a child, his father's shop was burned down by Hun and the Purple Dragons for being denied protection money. Despite being threatened not to, his father (Arnold Casey Jones Sr.) later went to the police over it. It is implied that he was killed for doing so. This gave Casey his hatred for crime and an essential lifelong vendetta against the Purple Dragons. This backstory, however, was eventually adapted into the original Mirage comics.^note
A Tale Dark & Grimm: The first episode kicks off the plot with Hansel and Gretel's parents decapitating and then resurrecting them, which freaks them out so much that they run away from home. Even when they find out the reason, they take several episodes to forgive their parents for doing it. This plot point comes from the fairy tale "Faithful Johannes"^note, where the kids are cheerfully indifferent to this happening to them.
Transformers: Animated: Waspinator's odd speech and Butt-Monkey mannerisms made him the comic relief in Beast Wars. Here his mannerisms are a result of being locked in a penitentiary for a long time which gradually eroded his sanity to make him into a gibbering mess, and when bad things happen to him, they also get played for drama as well as laughs. His lamentations at his lot in life are no longer odd fourth wall-breaking moments, but the insane depressed ramblings of a broken bot.
Ultimate Spider-Man (2012): the Rhino here has much more angst issues about being mutated and bullied into becoming a criminal than his mainstream counterpart.
Voltron: Legendary Defender: Since the show is a Continuity Reboot of Voltron, a lot of characters get hit with this compared to their counterparts from the original show. Pretty much everyone has some unresolved angst of some kind for one reason or another.

Adaptational Angst Upgrade
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