Over the course of time, we get to know a lot of characters and a lot of background details on them. Some background stories aren't all nice and happy. Some are just really sad or tragic and that's what we'll be dealing with today. Here are our Top 5 most tragic background stories of both, SoT and GoH.

Let's start with SoT, have fun.

#5 Kahua Akiona

Kahua had his home in a village on the northern side of Citadark Isle off the shore from the Orre Region. There used to be a laboratory on the volcano from which the isle was made. It was said the people from the lab worked on medicals for Pokémon, but nobody knew for certain. One day then, his village was attacked by a Cipher Pokémon which could only be defeated with a lot of effort. Kahua's parents made up their minds after that incident, investigating on the true actions the lab's researchers kept hidden from public. This however led to their doom as they were assaulted in their house and killed with knives. Kahua was the only one who survived the attack. He managed to escape the house and one of the other villagers took him onto a boat to take him to a hospital in Gateon Port. However, the lab's people figured out Kahua was still alive and sent out their Cipher Pokémon to kill him. The boat got hit by Pokémon attacks shortly before it reached Gateon Port and sank. Kahua washed ashore in the harbor where he was found by passers-by who took him to the hospital. He got treated there after having been sent into an artificial coma. And as if that isn't already enough, that wasn't yet the end of his misery. He was sent to Alola to live with a woman who couldn't get any children herself, that's why she was deserted by her husband. Later on, she was diagnosed with anaemia but didn't have enough money to affort treatment because she spent it all on Kahua's well-being. Kahua then decided trying to collect money by helping elderly people or assist in a supermarket until he came in contact with drug dealers. He made a deal with them to help them sell their stuff so he could keep the money, but he was uncovered by the police and had to flee. That's how he ended up in Team Skull. I really have to say he had a lot of bad luck in his life and I respect him for not ending up traumatized by all of that. I mean, he is merely 15 as we get to know him in the series, so he could never have been older than eight when all this crap happened to him. That's really young. And he turned out to be a strong character, as well. It's admirable what he has endured in his life already, that's why his rank 5 is well-earned and not to be diminished.

#4 Dino Adachi

Regardless of how much we freaking HATED Dino from the start, his background story really makes you empathize with him. As a Faller, Dino has emotional issues which explain his tactless, rough and oftentimes mean behavior. But knowing what happened to him in past days really gets you. No matter how you put it, Dino was an exceptional Faller and so of great interest for those involved in the experiments on Fallers. Dino was a 'special object' Kalani had major interest in and he had to go through gruesome tests over and over again that might even have simply killed him. He suffered a whole lot. Shin however grew attached to Dino which led him to help the Faller escape. From that point on, Dino had desperately tried to undo his existence as a Faller, which explains his sometimes heartless actions even towards his Pokémon. You can't really be mad at him anymore after all of that, can you? And to be seriously honest, Dino changed a lot, especially in GoH.

#3 Kaoru Mikami

Yeah, who didn't get the chills when Kaoru told Mari and Jacky his story... I myself was deeply touched. A boy and his sister, losing their parents to sickness, becoming orphans with nobody willed to aid... Only one woman showed the kindness to take them in, but she died during the blizzard. Kaoru and Melody were left alone once more, suffering from hunger. As they dared to go into the storm in order to find something eatable, they got lost within the storm. They almost died there, but were saved by Sableye and Banette who made them immortals. Soleil, who was made immortal as well, led them out of the storm again. Later on, they ended up captured by King Ryoto and locked away in the dark dungeons, suffering and crying, ruled by fear- facing the thought of getting executed every day. Their begging and whimpering had been ignored. As they later on were allowed to leave Johto, Kaoru suffered from the inmortality has he had to watch his friends die from age. He couldn't live freely and walked his way with constant fear of how people would react if they found out about his unnormal circumstances. Dying from the pain, he tried to alleviate it by cutting and scratching, but it never faded. Poor guy has suffered so much, that's incredible. I am happy for him his immortality could be lifted, at last. His story really got me. And if people ask me why the hell I didn't include Soleil's story here: Soleil's story wasn't nearly as tragic as Kaoru and Melody's. Kaoru went through way more since he was an ORPHAN, not the child of a royal family. His life had never been easy to begin with. And his way of dealing with the immortality was a different one, too. His entire perception and trail of thought was different, that's why Kaoru's story is way worse and not to be seen even to Soleil's.

#2 Jayden Yagami

Jayden's story has the most impact on the whole content of SoT. He was kidnapped by Nate and his death was faked so his parents wouldn't look for him. Then he was taken into the monastery and raised there isolated from the outside world just to later on find out all if his life had been a lie. Never saw so much drama then in this story. Jayden was nerve-wrecked a lot and you can only empathize with this poor boy because his life has never been easy. I mean... why would someone do such a thing?

#1 Taji Nakamura

That's not at all surprising, right? Taji was made a Faller at... nobody even knows how old he was. He was torn around between the worlds more than 10 times, so the assumed number, before he finally landed in US-W001, "the first world" at the age of nine. There, he was picked up by a member of the Æther Foundation and used as a test subject for their experiments on Fallers. Nobidy exactly knows what exactly they've done to him there, but these tests where made regardless of the subject's state, whether they were sick, weak or tired. He then somehow managed to escape and was taken in by a policeman before having been transferred to Johto into a new family. There however, he was mistreated by his father because he wasn't capable of speaking properly (which is a common issue Fallers have). Later then, Taji was beaten up by his "father" so hard that his mother stepped in trying to shield him, which his father only took advantage of by accusing Taji of severe bodily harm. Taji attempted to kill himself jumping off third floor of Sprout Tower, but he survived. Ultimately, he was sent to Alola for trial. I mean... how cruel is that?! Poor thing...

Alright, so that's the top 5 saddest background stories of SoT. Now, let us move on to GoH!

#5 Akira Heavens

Not that Akira is a tragic character... but he's someone with a background that is really tragic. He was rejected by his real father and threatened to be killed or dumbed somewhere, so his mother had to give him away to Taji and Laslow (who looked similar to Akira's actual father because both had the Saito blood in their veins). But because of Laslow's reputation as a hero and a savior of tomorrow, Akira was merely reduced to be "Laslow's son" and never seen as something else. That made him embittered- coming together with the fact that both were out working a lot, leaving him by himself. Which isn't of course Laslow's fault but we know Akira and his somehow twisted worldview. Good he had caring parents tho. After he got to know the truth, he understood that too.

#4 Lane Blackwood

Now, this one is less tragic than more sad, actually. Lane's father was succumbing to cancer when Lane visited him in hospital. Lyon told him he'd lose the fight and die eventually. The saddest part of this is the final conversation they had before his father passed away right in front of his son's eyes. Being present when your parent dies... that's actually one of the most sad things, especially for an eight-year-old child like Lane was at that time. He talked to his father, but got no further response. That's heartbreaking.

#3 Jairo Fernandes

What could be even worse for a child, you may ask yourself now? Definitely being abandoned. Jairo grew up in Black City before the company his father worked in went down. They were left no other choice than to sell all their property to survive, even their own house. Afterwards, they joined Ugoya, with Jairo literally getting dragged in against his will. He was forced to leave his home and friends behind and was caged within the Ugoya HQ because his mother never let him leave the building. Feeling imprisoned, Jairo started rebelling and trying to escape until he managed to get outside, where he met Lucian. Seeing his chance in leaving Ugoya, which was his first and only wish, he started spying for Lucian until he got exposed and had to flee. In one specific scene, Mira Fernandes utters that Jairo wasn't her son anymore, but living disobedient trash. In the final battle against the cult, Jairo's mother officially abandoned Jairo, excommunicating him from the family at last. Truly nice, isn't it? Seems as if she never really loved him at all if she would do that.

#2 Ren Arima

Ren's story could actually be regarded as a crossover between Taji and Kaoru's background stories. Ren, as a Faller, was almost as interesting as Dino at his time in the Æther labs, just in a different manner. The radiation of the Ultraspace damaged Ren's body so much it stopped physically aging. Being permanently penetrated with experiments, Ren couldn't stand it any longer so he lost control, summoning an Ultra Beast and demolishing the labs so the projects were stopped. Ren fled to Unova where he, similar to Kaoru, started hiding himself to keep it a secret how unnormal he was. He hid away in the Castelia City Underground, spending his life there without meaning. However, he is by no means immortal. He can't die of age, just like true immortals can't, but he can die of cold or heat, of sickness or severe injuries, which immortals cannot. Which means, in the underground, he could've met his end under the conditions there. It might be considered passive suicide? As a consequence of those experiments, Ren is constantly plagued by weakness attacks.

#1 Taen Kataoka

Taen's story is as sad as it is shocking. Based on old Johtoan superstition, his father regarded him as a bringer of misfortune to the family by just having black hair. His mother died at his birth, which kind of pulled the trigger. Taen was humiliated and abused all his life, and after the death of his older sister, even tortured. His father one day cut words into his skin using a knife, leaving him in pain and bleeding. The violence followed him almost every day, causing Taen to suppress his emotions and eventually forgetting them completely. Eighteen years long, he endured that before he ran away from home. That bastard of a father had a really poor reason to treat him like that, to be seriously honest.

Alright, that was it for this list! What's your opinion about this? Write it down in the comments!