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* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' has a number of examples. Pretty much all of the Oniwabanshuu are this, shunned by society but taken in by Aoshi and therefore totally loyal to him. Hannya is a particularly good example, since he was partly modeled on Joseph Merrick, the "Elephant Man". There's also Fuji, one of Shishio's minions, who is about twenty-feet tall and has been treated his entire life like a monster or a living weapon. Yatsume, who works for Enishi also likely qualifies since for poorly justified reasons, his family [[Captain Ersatz|turned him into]] [[Spider-Man|Venom]], which entailed stretching his limbs so they were freakishly long and doing something that gave him fangs and a long, lolling tongue.
* Two cases pop up in ''[[Berserk]]''. First, there is the Child of Guts and Casca, who was conceived as a normal baby when {{spoiler|the two made love}}, but then everything took a tragic turn for the worse when {{spoiler|his mother was viciously raped by Griffith when he turned into Femto, thus tainting her womb with his demonic essence and turning the developing child into misshapen and deformed fetus, [[Fetus Terrible|compelling him to take up a nature of evil]] [[Touched by Vorlons|and giving him supernatural powers at the same time]].}} However, while instinctively "evil", the [[Love Redeems|Child loves his parents to much to actually be evil]]. Sadly, his father does not feel much sympathy for what happened to him, [[That Thing Is Not My Child|seeing him as nothing more than a byproduct of a horrible event]] [[My Greatest Failure|that he failed to prevent]], and Guts would have even [[Offing the Offspring|killed him]] had [[Mama Bear|Casca]] not interfered. Nevertheless, the Child strives to [[Parents in Distress|help his parents]] whenever possible, up until the point of the mock Eclipse {{spoiler|where the Child expends the last of his energy and powers to save his mother}}...
** ... Where we enter the second example: The Egg of the Perfect World (or the Behelit Apostle). During his life as a human, he was a nameless [[Loners Are Freaks|outcast of society]] who [[The Collector of the Strange|collected dead bodies]] at the base of the Tower of Conviction. When he came across a [[Egg MacGuffin|Behelit]] and sacrificed the world so that it may become perfected, he became the Behelit-shaped apostle that was in the present, though no one knew of his existence. The Egg of the Perfect World, though an Apostle, is one of the first to be introduced that wasn't a [[Complete Monster]] or just batshit crazy. In the final events at the Tower of Conviction, {{spoiler|he comes across the weakened Child, whom he saw as kindred for being deformed, forgotten, and unloved. As an act of pity, he consumes the Child so that he could have one moment of tenderness in his life before he and the Egg of the Perfect World were killed during the mock eclipse, when Griffith reincarnates himself into the human world.}}
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* The title character in ''[[Edward Scissorhands]]''. A bit of a twist, though, in that - being played by [[Johnny Depp]] - he's quite handsome. He simply has [[No Social Skills]], and has the unfortunate tendency to cut things up by accident.
* Subverted in ''[[Batman Returns]]'' with The Penguin, who wants revenge on Gotham City for his parents abandoning him at birth due to his deformity. He blackmails [[Shout-Out|Max]] [[Nosferatu|Shreck]], a [[Villain with Good Publicity]], into making him appear to be kind and gentle so the citizens will elect him Mayor. When Batman reveals that the Penguin holds them in contempt, they immediately turn upon him, so he decides to forgo any pretense of humanity ("I am not a human being! I am an animal! Cold-blooded!", a sort of dark spoof of the above ''Elephant Man'') as he proceeds with his master plan to kill all of the first-born sons in the city - a plan he had used the city's sympathy to further without their knowing it ("researching" his parents' identities, he picked up the information about all the other parents who had sons from birth records). When Batman foils this plan, Penguin goes over the edge, instructing his penguins to kill everyone in the city, which Batman foils with the same electronic technique that he used to reveal the Penguin's villainy to the public.
* Jaws, from the ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] movies'', becomes this after his [[Heel Face Turn]] in ''[[Moonraker]]''. The actor who played him, Richard Kiel, has acromegaly like Rondo Hatton, below. In a twist, not only does Redemption NOT Equal Death, but he manages to get himself a girlfriend out of the deal (and a [[Meganekko]] who's [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse|almost as strong as he is]], to boot. Lucky bastard.).
** Especially when said girl saves Jaws while he was pinned by debris {{spoiler|after chasing Bond in a car that went over a cliff}}!
* Sloth in ''[[The Goonies]]'' is deformed, dimwitted, very strong, and kept as a [[Bertha in The Attic]] by his family. Once he makes friends with Chunk, however, it's clear he's a good guy.
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* Gwynplaine, of ''[[The Man Who Laughs]]'', was, due to a bizarre torture inflicted upon him, not so much ugly as [[Slasher Smile|unbelievably disturbing-looking.]] This being another Victor Hugo novel, he didn't end too well.
* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]''; while he's supposed to be the villain, the book humanizes him after his act of mercy; the [[Draco in Leather Pants|increasingly sympathetic view]] of the motives behind his actions in later film adaptations has largely overridden his villainous role. It doesn't help that the transfer from book to play and movie has the level of his deformity lowered from "Skeletor" to [[Hollywood Homely|"Gerry Butler fell asleep while sunbathing, so his face is a little red"]].
** In the original book by Gaston Leroux, Erik (the titular phantom) subverts this trope in two ways: First: He is not a [[Gentle Giant]], but a as [[Psychopathic Manchild]] [[Bastard Boyfriend]]. Second: Ironically, his [[Beyond Good & Evil (video game)|Beyond Good and Evil]] attitude lets him fit into society very well, as a [[Torture Technician]], [[Carrer Killer]] and succesful [[Blackmail|BlackMailer]], because [[Humans Are Bastards]]. The [[Narrator]] lampshades in the Epilogue that Erik, with an ordinary face, ''would have been one of the most distinguished of mankind''. However, even after his [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good|act of mercy]] he doesn’t value human life, and talks casually about Count Phillipe’s murder.
** [[Discworld]]'s version of the Phantom, namely {{spoiler|Walter Plinge}} is deformed mentally, but he ends happily.
* Gollum from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', although differing in being a morally flawed character, has the pity-inducing aspect and is presented with the potential to better himself. In the end, the good in him doesn't triumph, making him a [[Tragic Hero]] of sorts.
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** Later, [[It Got Worse|it gets worse]]; he takes a sword slash across his face in the battle of King's Landing, losing a large chunk of his nose, twisting his lips, and very nearly costing him an eye. The combination of the trauma of his further disfiguration and the fact that he can't take anything to help with the pain because Cersei's trying to keep him out of commission leaves him severely depressed, to the point where {{spoiler|he barely even tries to defend himself when charged with Joffrey's murder.}}
** The Hound suffers a milder version of this trope due to his horribly scarred face; he's certainly not ''gentle'', but he's increasingly been shown to be a better person than most suppose, and he's certainly pitiable (I defy your heart not to twinge any time he cries). It's implied, however, that one of the reasons he's grown up so hard (his [[Complete Monster|brother's]] horrible presence aside) is that people would immediately be repulsed due to his burns, assuming that [[Beauty Equals Goodness|such a frightening appearance must be indicative of a bad person]]. He once remarks, "Why believe them and not me? Couldn't be my face, could it?"
** Brienne of Tarth is a female example. You won't read a chapter she's featured in without someone mentioning what an ugly freak she is. They mockingly call her [[Ironic Nickname|Brienne the Beauty]].
* Precious in the novel ''Push'' (and [[The Movie]], which was titled ''Precious'') could be said to be this, although she is the main character. Precious is an overweight girl who was sexually abused by her father and had two kids by him. Her mother also physically abused her. She also is functionally illiterate, and is still in the 8th grade at the age of 16. But, she does show empathy for others and has a knack for poetry. Unfortunately, she also has the sad ending part. Near the end of the book, {{spoiler|Precious' father dies and she finds out that he had HIV and passed it on to her.}}
* Beldin from the ''[[Belgariad]]'' is a self-aware form of this. He's a hideously ugly hunchback, but he's also one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world. Nobody outside of his allies and enemies knows what he's capable of, though, because as he puts it, "They can't see past the hump on my back." He isn't ''nice'' by any means, being a horrifically crude and tactless jerk, but a certain percentage of that is a front, as he's firmly on the side of the heroes.
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== Webcomics ==
* ''[[8-Bit Theater
== Web Original ==
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