Misery

Misery
Species:	Banshee
Occupation:	Singer, filmmaker, dancer
Gender:	Female
Hair:	Black
Eyes:	Black and white
Likes:	Tea, dolls, puppets, family heirlooms, sweets, dust bunnies, ice cream, history of disasters, her bed of nails
Voiced by:	Emily Hampshire (speaking) Jeen O'Brien (singing)

"I like to think of everyday as the third day of the rest of my life. I always like to leave the first and second open for damage and repair."

— Misery

Misery is a young banshee girl appearing in the Ruby Gloom franchise. She serves as the franchise's comic relief.

From constantly being struck by lightning to catching various diseases to being chased by tornadoes, Misery is a walking disaster, owing to clumsiness and a curse of bad luck that runs in her family. At least she is skilled in being prepared for disasters and misfortunes. However, Friday the 13th inverts Misery's family's curse. Misery is also knowledgeable about great disasters and misfortunes in history.

Despite her bad luck, Misery has actually been revealed to be an incredibly gifted singer. However, this talent only shines through whenever she's asleep. Otherwise, her singing just comes out as banshee-like shrieks. This made Frank and Len recruit her as lead singer for their rock band, R.I.P., during a major concert event. Their performance was a huge success. The music video for Misery's lullaby, "Train Wreck", was heard again in the opening sketch of the episode, "Skull in the Family".

Misery's family is surprisingly large, considering how often they find themselves in or responsible for disasters, and when the entire family meets, the destruction can be impressive. Also, in the episode "I'll Be Home For Misery", when Misery's family comes to call, only her female relatives come (with the exception of "Cousin Murky", Skull Boy's persona during the episode). This is because all of her male relatives died in quicksand. Family appears to be important to Misery, as she often talks about her relatives and ancestors.

Physical appearance

Misery has big, sad, dark eyes with a constant flow of tears, and very long black hair with a blue veil that she drags around the ground. Her veil is held in place by two sunflower clips. She wears a long purple dress with long fringed sleeves, and a green brooch with a spider on it pinned to the frilly neck. She also wears a pair of black fingerless gloves.

Personality

Misery is clumsy, naive, loyal, and gloomy, though she sometimes has moments of pure happiness. She is usually melancholy, but the bad things that happen to her don't make her bitter, or even truly depressed. Every time misfortune strikes, she brushes it off and goes on with her day. She is actually sometimes shown to look on the bright side like Ruby, though Misery is obviously an off-beat optimist.

Quotes

• "Ow."
• "Oops."
• "Call a doctor!"
• "It's genetic. The electrical current is drawn toward the high lead content in our blood, and then BOOM! People use you to charge their batteries."
• "Don't worry, ceilings always cause problems for me, too. That and walls."
• "At least it's not acid rain."
• "ONE! I can't sleep for fear that more sheep will be harmed!"
• "I was trying to do an updo, and it up...and went. Ugh, my hair should be declared a no-fly zone." [Flies zip into her hair] "Too late."
• "I'd like to thank my agent, my manager, and the high lead count in my blood."
• "I hate surprises. The last time I was surprised, that pack of wolves was ruthless."
• "Hey, look, at me! I'm a bridge to nowhere!"
• "It wasn't my fault; I thought it was a marshmallow!"
• "This is more fun than the day I almost lost four toes in the Gloomsville ice storm! Everything worked out that day. 10 toes at last count!"
• "Hello, 911? Did you get my message?"
• "I'm also the Queen of Disasters, by the way. And the Princess. And the Baroness! AND THE COUNTESS! AND THE VISCOUNTESS! THE EMPRESS!

Episode appearances

Misery appears in every episode of the show except for "Seeing Eye to Eyes". Not counting Ruby, Misery appears in the most episodes out of all of the main characters. This is probably because of her status as a fan favorite.

Gallery

Main article: Misery/Gallery

Trivia

• She is allergic to her own dust bunnies in "Pet Poepulation". In "Iris Springs Eternal", however, she doesn't show any sign of allergies.
• Misery's singing voice was provided by Jeen O'Brien, who also wrote and performed the show's theme song.
• Misery sometimes carries a grave lamp-lighting staff.
• Misery's signature dance is jumping from side to side (to avoid being struck by lightning).
• Misery is shown to like rain, despite claiming to hate it in "Gloomer Rumor", since she feared lightning would strike her. This may be an example of the trope "early-installment weirdness", or it could be explained that Misery likes rain but not lightning storms.
• Misery's signature laugh is a soft giggle.
• Misery’s body is magnetic, as revealed in “Out of This World”: “My body is rich in iron. Not so much in riboflavin. It’s a family thing.”
• Misery’s hairbrush is spider-patterned, like her broach (seen in “Quadrogloomia”).