Out of the ones I have listed? 14-ish

There’s a lot of negativity in my characters’ backstories; especially in regard to family life due to the situations I dealt with personally growing up. Many of my characters have lost one or more parents and a few that have not do not have positive relationships with one or more of them.
The lack of parents can be traced to the fact that my father died when I was little. The poor relationships comes about mostly from the negative feelings I have towards members of my extended family, who, while they love me, are not always the kindest and most understanding of people.

Some characters hold much of my resentment towards my father for feeling like he had abandoned me and mom. Some hold the false guilt that I (still) do (what child doesn’t blame themself?). Others are simply haunted by their losses and feel broken.

Some characters were hard to quantify by your standard, because while many characters have backstories that might be depressing, there’s a chance they may no longer suffer the memory. Crash and Tabor who were both kidnapped and suffered some pretty awful lives, I did not count, because they don’t react to their lives in the same extreme. Tabor has a lot of regret and avoids others, but he sees no point in crying over it. Crash….they are very angry and have certainly changed, but they do not dwell on their past.

Alphabetically:

Amber (cityverse) – Amber suffers from nightmares sparingly before her accident regarding the loss of Sarah and the blame she carries for that loss. She also doesn’t like discussing the death of her parents (and subsequent jealousy of normal nuclear families). The Captain is one of very few who has seen her break down and cry over her past; but most of the time she keeps on a brave face.

Aquamarine (???) – Aqua lost her whole civilization, barely managed her own escape, and spent years searching for a way to reunite the few of her people remaining. Again, a lot of guilt here. She has nightmares about some of the battles.

Clyde (???) – Clyde’s being held as ‘criminally insane’ after being arrested on serious criminal charges that likely involved the deaths of more than one individual. He has suffered a lot after the loss of his girlfriend. ((His story might be a huge “woman in the refrigerator” trope and I’m sorry for that))

Esial (DnD) – Demon or no demon, Es’ history is filled with emotional abuse from his home plane. He would never admit it, but it hurt him. It hurt him so much that he did whatever it took to lie his way to the material plane to get away. He did whatever he could to stay there with the few ‘people’ who didn’t treat him like garbage. One of them was killed. He struggled to keep away from ‘home’. In the end, when he knew his ‘mother’ was on her way to take his one sanctuary away from him, he risked dying because that felt like a better option.

Flannery (cityverse) – Flannery is another case of someone leaving an abusive household only she runs away as a teenager and immediately tries to raise a child (that isn’t hers, it’s happenstance). She’s really bitter about her past and it never really got easier and it’s something her sister really thinks she needs to go to therapy for.

Gwyn (original) – Gwyn’s whole backstory was designed to be tragic. Her mother was abusive, she was bullied, her father (her only saving grace) was murdered, she was banished to a far away land, and finally left for dead in the woods by her step mother. Thankfully, her story turns around at this point and she’s adopted into a loving and caring community and is able to work through her problems. She still really suffers from her father’s murder.

Kiki (….) – Mary-sues always have tragic backstories. Last living member of her village, watched her mom die, haunted by distant howls and the smell of fire, and left to fend for herself in the woods for years.

Lenore (cityverse) – Lenore is living her tragic backstory trapped in the incredibly broken foster system.

Marley (original) – Marley’s half counts. Her childhood was (once more) filled with abuse which was followed by the outright slaughter of her parents and neighborhood. The saving grace was that she was saved by the vampires who did the deed. They took pity on her for her life and turned her. They then proceeded to take her home to their coven and raise her as their own child. Her life improved immensely.

Sarosh (???) – His backstory was so tragic he blocked out his memories entirely and accidentally shut off his ability to have emotion in the process. It weighs on him and because of this, even as an angel he cannot fly. I do not envy anyone who manages to unearth those memories.

That’s not even 14 that’s 10. I cut out a few because I didn’t think they were that bad. IDK