4 Most Tragic Characters on Rick and Morty, Including One That Only Needed One Scene to Destroy Us

Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty has never shied away from mixing comedy with heartbreak. For every interdimensional gag, toilet humor, and sci-fi absurdity, there’s a gut-punch of emotion bubbling away beneath the surface. Across its seven seasons (with even more confirmed to be on the way), the show has created some of the most tragic figures in modern animation, whose stories remind us that even in a multiverse of infinite possibilities, pain and loss are inescapable.

Though every episode of Rick and Morty introduces countless new characters into the series, including variants of the two titular characters that get weirder and weirder, there’s almost always a twisted emotional throughline in everyone that gets revealed. From classic series characters to a surprising one-scene appearance, these are four of the most tragic characters in Rick and Morty.

4) Rick Sanchez

It’s hard to talk about tragedy in Rick and Morty without starting with Rick Sanchez. Though he is a somewhat divisive choice to add to this list, we can’t deny the tragedy of his backstory. Rick C-137 may be the smartest man in the universe, but his brilliance comes at the cost of deep isolation and trauma. Rick is a cynic, someone who knows the universe is chaotic and meaningless. But instead of accepting it peacefully, he drowns himself in alcohol, reckless science experiments, and fleeting distractions.

One of the most devastating explorations of Rick’s inner pain came in Season 4’s “The Old Man and the Seat,” where Rick builds an elaborate, private toilet in a distant dimension. What seems like a silly subplot, morphs into a meditation on loneliness. The episode reveals that Rick doesn’t really want privacy for personal boundaries’ sake, he actually doesn’t want to face the idea of getting anyone hurt. He keeps everyone at a distance because he has caused enough pain, and survived enough tragedy in his life. After all, the reason he is where he is is because his wife and child were murdered in front of him.

Rick’s tragedies are twofold: the ones he’s endured, and the ones he’s caused. His wife’s death, the fractured relationship with his daughter, and the endless cycle of Mortys he pulls into his orbit are scars he can never heal. But Rick is also his own worst enemy, pushing people away before they can abandon him. The smartest man in the universe is also one of the most broken.

3) Mr. Poopybutthole

Ooooh-weee! When Mr. Poopybutthole first appeared in “Total Rickall,” he was a meta gag. He was a seemingly long-time family friend the audience had never seen before. But the joke quickly took a dark turn when Beth shot him, mistaking him for an alien parasite. Unlike the zany illusions of the episode, Mr. Poopybutthole was real, and the wound left him hospitalized and reliant on physical therapy for months.

From there, his story only grew sadder. Mr. Poopybutthole stayed with the Smiths for a time but struggled with trauma and recovery. Later seasons revealed he built a family of his own, only for tragedy to strike again because of Rick’s Heist shenanigans. Thanks to Rick, Wayne Poopybutthole loses his job at the university, and spirals into a dark depression. By Season 6, his marriage had crumbled, his body was battered, and his optimism was gone. He even expressed bitterness at Beth for never fully apologizing for shooting him.

What makes Mr. Poopybutthole so tragic is that he started as a bright, cherry character that represented a more hopeful side of Rick’s friendship group. It is a classic cynical comedic trope to punish the characters that are most optimistic, but Mr. Poopybutthole never digs himself back out for long. His journey is filled with pain, disappointment, and survival. He’s proof that in Rick and Morty, no character is safe from the pull of tragedy.

2) Birdperson / Phoenixperson

Birdperson entered the show as Rick’s war buddy and fellow rebel against the Galactic Federation. Fans loved his monotone delivery, Spock-like observations and sage one-liners, but the character’s story becomes laced with heartbreak. His romance with Tammy ended in betrayal when she revealed herself to be an undercover Federation agent during their wedding and shot Birdperson in front of his friends.

While it seemed like the end, the Tammy resurrected him as Phoenixperson, a cybernetic weapon whose love for Tammy is manipulated into doing her ultimate bidding, i.e. killing Rick. What makes his story even more tragic is that Birdperson wasn’t killed by betrayal, he was robbed of his identity and turned into something his best friend had to fight.

Even after Rick managed to restore Birdperson’s mind, the scars remained. He discovers Tammy bore him a child, who is now in a galactic prison, and he has to now come to terms with love loss, betrayal, and connecting with Birddaughter. His story is one of identity stolen, love shattered, and friendship tested to its limits. Where some characters on Rick and Morty suffer in silence, Birdperson’s tragedy is written across every phase of his arc.

1) Fred Bunks

This may not be a name you recognize, and we get that, but sometimes, Rick and Morty doesn’t need seasons of build-up to wreck us. Enter Fred Bunks, featured in Season 7’s “That’s Amorte.” Fred was used by Rick to make a major point to the intergalactic corporations fighting over the most delicious spaghetti made from aliens who take their own lives.

Speaking with Variety about the episode, series co-creator Dan Harmon explained that part of what made “That’s Amorte” so powerful was its simplicity. Fred wasn’t a long-time character or a fan favorite. He was just a man caught up in something bigger and crueler than himself, and that made his fate hit harder.

Fred’s story was deliberately framed as tragic irony. He’s a character the audience never knew before the final act of “That’s Amorte,” yet his death was treated with weight and empathy. Rick and Morty often give us montages of life moments for the main characters, but bringing in a complete unknown and making us watch every moment of his life — from the highest highs to the lowest lows — makes him stick with us more than any other.

In one short arc, he became a symbol of how fragile life in the Rick and Morty universe can be. Unlike Rick, Birdperson, or Mr. Poopybutthole, Fred accepts the life he lived. He’s made peace with all he experienced, and doesn’t feel the need to fight or change.
Fred Bunks may have only had one appearance, his life wasn’t extraordinary, but his experiences are so relatable, and for that he leaves a scar that fans won’t soon forget.

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