Butt-Monkey

Good

A Butt-Monkey (aka "Megward the Wizard", a term coined by TheMysteriousMrEnter; "punching bag", "torture victim", "outcast", "The Chew Toy", "laughing stock", "bad luck", or "accident") is a character who is always the butt of a demeaning joke, goes through a "put them through hell" plotline, and/or the only character who endures all the slapstick pain & misery inflicted onto them, which is often played for comedy or for drama.

To put it shortly, they are scapegoats and are treated like the world's metaphorical punching bag, even if they do nothing inherently wrong.

Pretty much nothing ever goes right for this character, and if something bad happens, chances are it happening to them out of nowhere and it being out of their control, or somebody else (as a twist shock), to add another schlimazel/schlemiel/scapegoat to the mix.

For whatever reason, butt-monkeys seem to walk through life with a permanent "Kick Me" sign attached to themselves, invisible to them to notice but all too visible to the rest of the world to see and view them as a easy victim/target. They are the polar opposite of karma houdinis, sometimes getting bullied and abused by them can also lead to another trope besides this trope, like vengence, insanity, sadism, villainy, etc.

Furthermore, not all butt-monkeys are "unlucky" characters because they are frequently just accident-prone characters and get abused for no reason, their predicaments and vulnerabilities are always varied. Needless to say, it's usually unwarranted unless it's a jerk or a villain that gets what's coming to them.

To basically sum up this trope, it's a character who goes through hell. Physically, mentally, verbally, or all of the above.

Keep in mind that some of them became popular because of this (e.g. Butters from South Park). The nickname "Megward the Wizard" is named after three characters who fit this trope, Meg Griffin from Family Guy, Squidward Tentacles from SpongeBob SquarePants, and Kyle the Wizard from Fanboy & Chum Chum.

Why This Trope Is A Pain In The Butt

 * 1) This trope basically serves as tiresome character development.
 * 2) *Where characters you adore, admire, respect or root for to succeed in their endeavors, are always suffering through all kinds of pain, misery, and torture that they didn't deserve at all in the first place to make them have conflicts people can easily relate to, often in an overly mean-spirited manner to the point of going overkill. Meanwhile, these karma houdinis are always get away from whatever they do and actually deserve a sense of retribution for their actions, far more than what these scapegoats go through.
 * 3) Following from the first pointer, there are times when their misery can be incredibly forced if it gets too exaggerated, making it much harder to watch or enjoy sometimes.
 * 4) On top of that, their over-inflated mistreatment can go too far, it can also feel very out of place, questionable and unnatural, especially since it makes the viewer question what did these guys do wrong to recieve these horrible situations and mishaps, and why does the universe exclaim that they deserve it so much (the motives can be exceptional). Especially when the sadists and torturers, in a certain work, deserve these predicaments more than these guys who never deserved such horrible treatment, and it makes the viewer pity the characters a little too much.
 * 5) It's also just an excuse for a lame joke, the joke being "it's funny to see them suffer", which can be funny to a extent (if it's either warranted or done to make the character easy to root for), but it stops becoming humorous and entertaining when the character's suffering goes for too long, or if their misery becomes too predictable.
 * 6) *The definitive Butt-Monkey's suffering is often so bad, that it makes any viewer in the right mind, feel like having the urge (or more realistically, wanting) to start hugging them, covering them up with a blanket, giving them soup, and protecting them from anything bad from happening to the characters due to how sadistic and petty the mere joke of this trope (and the universe surrounding this trope) really is.
 * 7) This trope has also been used in lazy ways since it's just about the joke of a character being abused, and if the abuse inflicted on the character wasn't funny or fitting, it again, continues to make you feel extremely bad for them because they often suffer for no reason, or at least, for no apparent or established reason.
 * 8) *While some of the misery Megward the Wizards/Butt-Monkeys suffer can be seen as amusing and easy to sympathize with them, when that's not the case it just makes you want to hate this petty, terrible trope even more in a negative light.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) There are plenty of butt-monkeys that do deserve their misfortunes and are also karmic butt-monkeys for being unlikable, stupid, rude, annoying, selfish, jerkish, malicious, villainous, etc. Such to the point that it can range from being satisfying, funny, or even hilarious in some instances. (i.e Eric Cartman from South Park, Roy Rooster from Garfield & Friends, Deandra "Dee" Reynolds and Charlie Kelly from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, just to list a few.)
 * 2) *These are all examples of Butt-Monkeys, that deserve their misfortunes due to possessing unlikable (or evil) traits that makes you root for their predicaments to happen.
 * 3) *Brainy Smurf
 * 4) *Donald Duck (The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, seasons 1-5)
 * 5) *Gelatin (BFB 1-18)
 * 6) *Mr. Krabs (seasons 6-10)
 * 7) *Crusher (Blaze and the Monster Machines)
 * 8) *Eustace Bagge
 * 9) *CatDog (sometimes)
 * 10) *Peter Griffin (sometimes, seasons 8-present)
 * 11) *Ed, Edd n Eddy
 * 12) *Joey, Marky and Dee Dee (season 5, most of the time)
 * 13) *Stimpy (APC)
 * 14) *Caillou
 * 15) *Bubsy
 * 16) *Pop
 * 17) *James the Red Engine (Thomas & Friends)
 * 18) *Mokap
 * 19) *Dr. Robotnik
 * 20) *Gumball Watterson
 * 21) *Teen Titans (Teen Titans Go!)
 * 22) *Minoru Mineta
 * 23) *Bowser
 * 24) *Four (Battle for B. F. D. I. 1-29)
 * 25) There are many butt-monkey characters that are in fact, well-written. Much to the point of being rather likable, relatable, sympathetic, and easy to root for. (i.e Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the Cat, Mario and Chef Pee Pee from SuperMarioLogan, Roger Rabbit, Squidward Tentacles, Plankton, Fred and Scooter from SpongeBob Squarepants, Dr. Flug from Villainous, Butters from South Park, Abyo from Pucca, Coop Burtonburger from Kid vs. Kat, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog and Tom and Jerry from Tom and Jerry, and the list just goes on.)
 * 26) Even though the misfortune and mishaps are unwarranted and undeserved (and additionally, if the characters seem to have many "unlikable" traits or flaws as well), this trope does help make you empathize with their situations. Regardless if it was intentional or done unintentionally, the story they originate from allows you to see their perspective of life, their motives, their goals and to see where they're coming from. Sometimes to the point it can make some of the characters on this wiki (whether they're average or otherwise, obnoxious) have potential to be given the benefit of a doubt and see the good in these characters in some aspects. Depending on how they're written and presented with this trope being listed in one of their redeeming qualties. (ex. Bonkers from Bonkers, Crash from Crash and Bernstein, and Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes).

Videos
oALFRd7eB4Q