Who is the saddest animated character of all? There are plenty to select from. The full title of the list is The Animated Movie Sadness Index: A Brief History of Dead Parents, Sad Robots, and Devastated Animal Children. Grantland ranked movie characters on their sad lives and backstories, so looking through the list may cause a bit of melancholy, particularly if you have vivid memories of the films. Few would argue with the highest-ranked sad character, but many believe that The Iron Giant rated way more than 23% sad.
A truly tragic character. He’s a Russian warbot who crashes into small-town America. He doesn’t remember who he is or even what he is. He befriends a 9-year-old boy, but is eventually cast out by ignorant people. He’s attacked by the Army after he saves the lives of two children. He tries to fly away, but is shot down by a missile. After he crashes, he thinks his young friend is dead. He blames the Army, so he starts destroying them. The U.S. Navy fires a nuclear missile at the Iron Giant, which will kill everyone in the city if it hits him there.
I left off the last line of the quote, since it tells how the movie ends, so be aware that many of these synopses contain spoilers for mostly old movies. -via Metafilter
(Image composite by Bob Dominguez)