Which fictional character has the shittiest life?

[MardyBra]

Caught a bit of Les Mis on telly last night. Fantine has it pretty bad but she does get to do a stint as an angel.

Therese Raquin for me. Claustrophobic, gloomy life with a glimmer of hope for escape that is then snatched away.

Gollum. Gollum has a proper shitty time of it.

Justine, by the Marquis de Sade. Humiliation and torture for 300 pages - even the intro tells you the book is incredibly tedious!

Winston Smith

Nancy in Oliver.

Well, if we're going for recent but not as high-brow... Brianna in the Outlander series gets my vote, as does the little boy in Goodnight, Mister Tom... (not that I don't agree with all the Hardy votes, he specialised in misery-lit long before it was a "thing"!)

Poor Ginger in Black Beauty.

Fanny Robin in Far From The Madding Crowd. So close to getting married whilst up-duffed to her sweetheart, gets the wrong church and then sees him months later newly married to a wealthy woman. Then she dies in childbirth. Well shitty.

Link from Stone Cold.

Kullervo's life sucked pretty bad, too.

Ian Beale! I don't watch Eastenders but whenever I see it he is always crying.

From a book I'd say Nancy from Oliver Twist.

The boy in the bunker diary who is left at the end.

Scarlett O’Hara - from 16 years old. 2 dead husbands, one dead child and seeing death of that child, one horrible miscarriage, demented father (and responsible for him), losing mother, escaping from a burning city, poverty, hunger, responsibility for whole family at about 19, being led on and manipulated by a man for her whole adult life...losing husband whom she really loved...life of misery really

Brianna in the Outlander series gets my vote

I actually think Roger Mac get more of a rough ride! Jamie’s hundreds of lashes, charge with murder, hours of ‘fun’ with BJR, followed by all of his friends dying at Culloden, separation from Claire, 7 years living in a cave, years in prison and then more years living as a servant wasn’t too much fun either.

Agree about Nancy too.

Mag witch from Great Expectations.

Billy Elliott, before he makes it as a dancer.

Harry Potter.
Pretty much everybody in Game of Thrones, in fact if anyone does appear to be getting a bit too happy/powerful you can guarantee something totally fucked up is waiting for them over the page.

Deirdre Barlow.

Beth March

Colin Craven (secret garden)

Andy Dufresne (shawshank redemption)

Okay, Holidayshopping, I must admit I did have a bit of a debate with myself over which of those three Outlander characters in particular gets the worst deal... and I agree with lots of the other suggestions people have put in as well. I might have to go and find the holiday hankies at this rate!

Ivan Denisovich

Watching House of Cards. Wouldn't want to be Doug Stamper. Not a lot of upside to his life.