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it is my personal opinion that the most tragic character in all of fiction is Shadow the Hedgehog
my man was created by a soon to be mad scientist from the blood of space satan to cure what would soon become his best friends disease. the government would then raid the space station he had lived on his entire life and kill the one person who meant anything to him, then he would live in statis for 50 years, where he would have his memories altered by his creator (the grandfather of his friend) to change her dying wish from her wanting him to help humanity, to wanting him to destroy the planet, then being released by the scientists other grandchild, collecting the Chaos Emeralds to power the super weapon to destroy Earth. then after the planet was just about to be destroyed he regains his true memories, helps stop it, then fucking dies... except no he's not dead, he was saved by the evil scientist who freed him, but he has amnesia, forgetting all the pain and suffering he went through... until his blood donor, Space Satan invades the planet and tried to get him to do his bidding, which he does up until the end where he stops him. then he joins the government department that killed his friend and fights his literal shadow, before fighting against a time god with two other hedgehogs, then that got retconned. then years later, a time warping entity sucks him up into a white void where he has to relive his past experiences, fight Space Satan again, then watch as his creator and friend (who had been sucked into the white void from the past) return to their time, doomed to their fate, unable to do anything
yeah, there ain't nothing sadder than this