Tragic Villains

Villains who, although acting for primarily evil or selfish goals, have understandable reasons for their motives due to suffering; hence, the reader/viewer can sympathize with them. Most of these villains are not in full control of their actions/emotions due to them not being evil by choice, but rather by them being (for the most part) a victim of circumstance.

These villains are often suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and can develop into Delusional villains or Megalomaniacs because their experiences develop their beliefs into obsessions, twisting them to insanity.

There are several ways to declare a Tragic Villain:

• A villain with a backstory that has caused them anger and depression, shaping them into destructive and hateful beings. However, the broken heart is what is causing their evil actions. Rather, they're forced upon a path of darkness, and their past has caused them to become distrustful and misled. (Examples: Shadow the Hedgehog, Darth Vader in Star Wars, Davy Jones in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Loki Laufeyson, Mewtwo, Indominus rex in Jurassic World, Kabuto Yakushi, Tai Lung, Douglas Davenport, Godzilla, Razer in Green Lantern: The Animated Series, Jin Kazama, Frank Miller's Batman, Yokai, Atrocitus, Kratos in the God of War video games, and the corrupt Superman of the alternate universe in Injustice).
• Anti-Villains and/or Protective Villains who commit crime, even murder, to protect the ones they care about. They are only looking out for whoever they love or care for, but use extreme measures to do so; due to this, they are stopped by the heroes, making it even more difficult to save them. (Examples: Mr. Freeze in Batman: The Animated Series, Hro Talak in Justice League, Johnny Klebitz, Doctor Doom, Walter White in Breaking Bad, Count Dooku,and Jax Teller)
• Brainwashed/Possessed characters who are ether controlled or corrupted by some kind of evil presence. Therefore, they are not willingly evil, but are manipulated by the power that is controlling them. (Examples: Sasuke Uchiha, Lord Garmadon, Green Goblin in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies, Skeleton King, Jack-Aku, Majin Vegeta, William Afton,and Batman Who Laughs).

NOTE:

Do NOT add villains that fall under Complete Monsters.

• Even if they are given a reason for doing what they are doing that involves a traumatic experience in their lives, they are far past tragedy due to their horrendous actions, as seeing in the case of Lord Voldemort, Koba, Lotso, Freddy Krueger, Michael Langdon in LOTM: Witnesses of Sleepy Hollow, many versions of the Joker, many version of Carnage, Eckidina KnightWalker, Lady Van Tassel, the Morrigan, Phyllis Peach, Vira, Black Doom, The Governor, Ike Ray Peram Westcott, Kefka Palazzo, Ultraman Belial, Aki Honda, Jafar in Once Upon A Time, the Manga Version of Light Yagami, Peter Pan, Hades Izanami, Drago Bludvist, Luca Blight, Superboy-Prime, Diana Walter, Malcolm Dreyfuss, Pedro Pineapple, Dio, Kureto Hīragi, Broly, the novel version of Masato Kusaka, Ganondorf, and The Collector.

Either their "tragedy" would be extremely pity to be realistic, or they'd simply use it as an excuse to justify themselves and nothing more. Some of their excuses are just what they deserved (e.g. Mason Verger) and some even fake at least one "tragedy" occurred on them (e.g. Emperor Palpatine). This category is for villains whose tragedy is not only legitimate, but still holds up even after they've crossed the Moral Event Horizon.

Also, do NOT add certain characters like these, even if they are not Complete Monsters:

• Villains who committed great-scale crimes only due to a MERE EXCUSE which is FAR TOO PETTY to be counted as tragedy, and/or their crime(s) was/were too horrible that even their excuse or traumatic experience doesn't justify their actions, no matter how "sad" their experience seems (e.g. Zalgo, Eric Cartman, Syndrome, Derek Clifford Simmons, the TV Show version of Masato Kusaka and the Anime Version of Light Yagami).
• Villains who brought the so-called "tragedy" (no matter how sad it seemed) on themselves but blamed others for it (e.g. King Stefan)