"The basis of this trope is the tendency of many Darker and Edgier writers to create a bitter, ill-spirited, confrontational, or downright mean character and still play them up as an ideal person, or just get away with being a bullying Jerkass. The other characters tolerate the antics (which can range from petty to sociopathic), allowing him/her to walk all over them and talking them up in their conversations with each other. Common synonyms include "strong", "tough", and "rugged" while common topics include how much better they've made their lives through their "tough love" or whatever Freudian Excuse supposedly justifies their behavior. It's often an unsuccessful or inept attempt to play on Jerkass Dissonance.

Either way, they're both royal pains in the neck and annoying both to be around and read about. The male version tends to be less common nowadays, (or at least called out more often) as with Marty Stu he's falling victim to men wanting more realistic protagonists."

The Straw Nihilist is an extreme version of The Pessimist and a specific type of The Philosopher who delivers Despair Speeches and Breaking Lectures about Life, The Universe, and Everything (or at least how meaningless it is to fight for any of them), often Chewing the Scenery about how the hero/audience lives on an Insignificant Little Blue Planet and morality never existed in the first place. Often Above Good and Evil, due to the Straw Nihilist's Armor Piercing Questions about "What Is Evil?"

hi mircea.