Hero's Secret Past

Something terrible happened to a character; some tragic event in their past that shaped a fundamental level of their personality. Long after the event is over, it still has a powerful influence in the character's life.

Sometimes, heroes or heroines had a sad or dark past which they don't talk about until a villain or they reveal their secret to their friends when It's the right or wrong moment.

Here's why they keep it a secret from their friends or family members:
 * Terrible childhood like get bullied by someone who's being mean on them, unwanted, unloved, betrayed by their loved one and saw their death of their parents or friends by villains, sickness or central death.


 * Afraid that their friends will hate them who they really are if they did tell them.


 * Afraid to lose the people they loved if they told them about their past and regret it later or soon.


 * Hoping they'll never know about their past until they're ready or they'll ask them why they're being so cold hearted and being mean to them even though they're being nice to them.


 * Hoping that the villains won't reveal their secret past until the betrayal.


 * Used to be loved by someone until one day, everything they care for are lost, nothing, not being loved, was treated badly with abuse or gone (lost family/friends, lost fame, saw the death of their family/friends, betrayed by their friends, had an ex-girlfriend/boyfriend who leave them with someone else, etc.) make them to hate everything, become cold hearted and being mean to others or don't trust everyone anymore until the main protagonist of the story (depends on the story) show them what they're missing in their life like love, family, working together and/or friendship.

Feature/Television Animation and Anime

 * Meg sold her soul to Hades to save her boyfriend's life, only to have said boyfriend dump her immediatley afterwards for another girl.
 * Queen Elsa nearly kills her sister Anna with her icy powers Elsa isolated herself for 18 years to prevent herself from doing it again.
 * Manny lost his first wife and son to hunters
 * Doc Hudson went out for season after suffering a horrific crash. When Doc eventually fully recovered and returned to racing, his sponsors fired him instead.
 * Barbara Gordon had Tim Drake kidnapped and mind-controlled by the Joker after torturing him for several weeks.
 * Nick Wilde wanted to join the scouts when he was young, but was cruelly rejected and had a muzzle put on him just because he was a fox and the only predator.
 * Red Action explains to Enid that she was once a member of a group of heroines from the future known as the Hue Troop.
 * Osmosis Jones induced Frank by vomiting from a oyster that had bacteria and made him barf at Mrs. Boyd.
 * After being abandoned by his parents as an infant, Maui was adopted by the gods, who gave him the enchanted fishhook. This led for him to give the humans whatever they desired but at the same time tried to cope with his trust issues.
 * Shadow the Hedgehog told Chris that he used to have a friend Maria who they promise to see the earth together, but Maria was dying after the tragic moment when the army was trying to arrest everybody on the ship.
 * Marlin in Finding Nemo: his wife Coral and all of his eggs, except for Nemo, were eaten by a barracuda, which is why he's so overprotective of him.
 * Spoofed in Wreck-It Ralph: Sergeant Calhoun "Was programmed with the most tragic back-story ever."
 * In Trolls, the reason why Branch lost his colors, refuses to sing, is a bit of a Grumpy Bear, and is massively (but rightfully) paranoid of the Bergens attacking is because when he was a kid, his singing attracted a Bergen, and Branch's grandmother got eaten when she tried to save him.
 * The Little Mermaid III: Ariel's Beginning reveals how King Triton's beloved wife Queen Athena was accidentally struck to her death by the ship's hull, which led to him banning music from Atlantica and the merpeople from going up to the surface in grief. After the incident, King Triton became a Grumpy Bear (until the end of the prequel) and displays his racism towards humans for his wife's death.
 * In Quest for Camelot, Garrett reveals to Kayley in the past, he accidentally blinded by one of the horses that he was rescuing from the stable fire. Thankfully, Sir Lionel still believed in him and taught him to adapt. Unfortunately, his situation worsened when he heard of Sir Lionel's death, prompting Garrett to go into self-exile into the Forbidden Forest.

Live-Action Film/Television

 * Rex (Babe): Tried to steer sheep in a violent thunderstorm but the sheep were too panicked to save theirselves and the hurricane killed them while Rex barely survived, only ending up losing half of his hearing ability.
 * The Grinch: He was being picked on since he was young and hated Christmas ever since when he ran away from Whoville and live at Mount Crumpet.

Literature

 * Skulduggery Pleasant: As result of Nefarian's evil action in butchered his family and also giving him the painful mortal death, Skulduggery, whom later revealed having potential for necromancer and the priest whom gave Nefarian power to killed him turned out has meddling with the said power so Skulduggery could rises as undead skeleton, Skulduggery turned to the dark side and for five years, became the evil Lord Vile whom fight alngside Nefarian and Baron Vengeous without either of them knew his identity. Once he had a chance to killed his best friend, he relents and chooses to redeem himself from his evil deeds, though since that day, he suffer multiple personality disorder where his past evil self became his alternate, twisted personality.

Video Games

 * Barret Wallace: When the Mako reactor in Corel is built, Barret tried to reason to Dyne his best friend that no one uses coals, but Dyne protests against it. However, one day his village was razed by Shinra troops due to the accident in the reactor blaming it on his people, resulting to lose his right hand along with Dyne's left hand when they are confronted by them led by Scarlet the head of Shinra's weapon and development just outside the reactor.