10 Video Game Protagonists Who Were Doomed From The Start

10. Hawke - Dragon Age II

No one knew what to make of Dragon Age 2 when it first came out - besides its more primitive game design compared to Origins, its story left a lot of folks unsatisfied. And unfortunately, many failed to make the necessary critical leaps to figure out why that was: that Dragon Age 2 is a classical tragedy.

All Hawke wanted when they came to their family's home of Kirkwall was to make a name for themselves and regain the family fortune. And at the end of Act 1, they get both of those things. But if you're familiar with the trajectory of tragic narratives, then this was the first of many red flags that things were not going to end well for Hawke.

See, this title and stature just end up making more trouble for them, as the city's problems swiftly become their problems. City officials rope them into the increasingly volatile politics of the region, and the hotbed that is Mage/Templar relations drives bigger and bigger wedges between them and their found family of weirdos. 

By the end, it's their friend Anders that blows their entire life to hell by triggering the Mage/Templar war via the destruction of the city's Chantry, leaving Hawke with nothing as they have to flee the city.