when all of a character's motivation revolves around a single goal and they fail. or they succeed but the results are actually so horrible that they regret everything they've done and blame themselves for the outcome. https://twitter.com/jespergayhey/status/1292713304146628609

characters who seem happy or put together, but because of trauma/ repression, are actually terrible at regulating their emotions, and they either don't realize it, or are in denial about it, as they slowly start falling apart due to worsening circumstances.

codependent characters who martyr and/or self-destruct together.

also, two characters who, because they've never had, or recently lost, all significant affirmative relationships, immediately become emotionally codependent. they either don't realize until it's too late, or can't stop despite knowing better.

this is an extension of the first, but i just really love characters who don't realize they've been set up to fail, especially if they're very good at what they do and prideful about it, *especially* if they built their identity around it

like... 'everything was screwed from the start, the game was rigged and there was no way to win' is another trope i love, whether it's applied to a character or a whole story.

ALSO, alternatively, when there's focus on a relatively small event in the past that completely changed everything, to evoke the feeling of 'if only we had done things differently, all of this could have been avoided, but now it's too late'