There are some TV characters who have gone through hell and back. Some of those have literally. (Sara Lance, anyone?)
Even after so much development has been done and the characters grow so much, unknown forces prevent those characters from ever achieving the results they could.
Some achieve their greatness, but don't live the life they deserve after. They lost so much in the battle.
These characters spend so much time working through a problem, or tragedy, only to be pushed to the sideline, or the character lived such a terrible life that they were never able to recover and live a happier life.
We've compiled a gallery of badass TV ladies that deserved better lives than they were granted.
1. Laurel Lance - Arrow
Laurel Lance (Katie Cassidy) has led a troubled life, also. When her sister "died" while cheating with her boyfriend, her family fell apart as her father fell into alcoholism and her mother divorced him. Then, Oliver returned, without her sister.
The anger she wasn't allowed to feel over the grief of losing them prevailed, especially when Sara returned home. Her sister had been alive and she was the reason their family had fallen apart. If they had known, things could have been different.
As soon as Sara was alive, she was dead again. Murdered. Laurel had an anger inside of her only managed by becoming the Black Canary.
Her journey was rough. Oliver gave her no support. Instead, he told her to stop and refused to train her to join him in the field.
With rumors of her death circulating after speculation online, it would be a shame to see so much character growth even more underutilized than it is now.
2. Sara Lance - DC's Legends of Tomorrow
Sara Lance (Caity Lotz) had a miserable time on Arrow. After being stranded on Lian Yu with Oliver Queen, Sara was forced to join the League of Assassins to survive.
5 years later and her return to Starling City is hardly welcomed by her older sister, Laurel, Oliver's girlfriend that Sara was sleeping with when the Queen's Gambit went down. Before they can completely reconnect, Sara goes back to the League after they helped stop Slade from destroying the city, and in a moment, she was dead.
Malcolm Merlyn brainwashed his daughter to murder Sara to set Oliver down a path with the League. She was murdered as nothing but a plot device for both Oliver and Laurel, as she started her journey as the Black Canary.
Once resurrected, Sara lost her soul, her body a feral creature. Now, soul returned, on DC's Legends of Tomorrow, she is searching for a purpose and redemption, still dealing with the aftermath of her death.
3. Spencer Hastings - Pretty Little Liars
Spencer Hastings (Troian Bellisario) has always endured the hardest torment from the liars' infamous stalkers. She's been framed and accused of murder, multiple times, drove crazy and locked away in an institution and her life has been hectic, regardless.
Her family has always treated her as the pariah: never approving of her choices, not approving of her first best friend, Alison, and comparing all of her achievements to her sister's. Five years later and Spencer still gets the short end of the stick.
Her current boyfriend, Caleb, cheated on her with his ex, and her best friend, Hanna.
While this -A has left her alone, Mona and Charlotte attacked her with everything they had, seeing her as the only real competition of the four liars.
4. Amanda Clarke/Emily Thorne - Revenge
Amanda Clarke (Emily VanCamp), also known as Emily Thorne, had her childhood ruined by the Graysons. Her father framed for terrorism and she was left to rot in the foster care system.
Years later, she did what she had to do: she plotted and enacted her revenge against the people who framed her father. She lost many people during the years: Fauxmanda, the person whom she called her sister, Daniel Grayson, the man she used as part of her plan but developed real feelings for, and Aiden Mathis, the only person who understood her revenge.
In a strange plot twist, her father returned, alive and free, but his return was shadowed by Aiden's death. After Amanda partially got her revenge, Victoria fought back, leading to an epic showdown, where Victoria was killed. Soon after, her father died of cancer. She lost so many people, as did the people she loved and trusted, but her father's death was cruel.
She was without him her whole life and hardly a year after he returned, he was dead, again.
5. Emma Becker - The Lying Game
Emma Becker (Alexandra Chando) fought so hard to have a family. After growing up in foster care, she was reunited with her twin sister, Sutton (Chando), who was adopted by a wealthy family.
After Sutton convinces her to pretend to be her for a few days, Emma is sucked into a life of lies. Through that she grows close to Sutton's boyfriend, Ethan, who becomes her boyfriend, but still has feelings for Sutton.
The Lying Game was cancelled too soon after too much murder before we saw Emma get the family she deserved: the family she always craved.
6. Nikita Mears - Nikita
Another show cancelled too soon, Nikita Mears (Maggie Q) was perhaps the worst off of all characters. Recruited by a secret government agency and forced to kill, Nikita escaped and vowed to take down Division.
She fought with Alex, who later turned on her for a short time, and took down Percy, the man who ran Division. Forced by the government again to take over Division, they began to hunt agents who did not come in after an order by the President.
But Amanda, another head of Division, and her grudge against Nikita remained, leading to the President being assassinated and Nikita being framed. The show had to wrap up its mission in six episodes, where Nikita took to drastic measures to clear her name, only to lose more and more loved ones along the way.
In the end, her and Michael, her boyfriend, were able to settle down, but they couldn't. Who could sit on a beach, anyways?
