Category:Tragic

"Carrie had some sort of power, but she was just like me. Like any of you. She had hopes and she had fears, and we pushed her. And you can only push someone so far... before they break."

- Sue Snell giving a testimony of how Carrie White was bullied into madness. Villains who, although acting for primarily evil 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 characters are often suffering from  (PTSD), and can develop into delusional, insecure, or megalomaniacs villains because their experiences develop their beliefs into obsessions, twisting them to insanity.

There are three 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. This can happen if the villain loses loved ones, gets bullied/abused in childhood, being severely scarred, etc. Examples: Ainz Ooal Gown, Agent 47, Atrocitus, Count Bleck, Darth Vader, Davy Jones, Doomsday, Douglas Davenport, Eustace Bagge, Ganondorf, Harvey Dent/Two-Face of The Dark Knight, Indominus Rex, Jin Kazama, Black Butler's Joker, Kabuto Yakushi, Kraehe, Kratos from God of Wars, Loki Laufeyson, Mewtwo, Ray Thompson, Razer in Green Lantern: the Animated Series, Ruvik, Scar (Fullmetal Alchemist), Shadow the Hedgehog, the corrupt Superman of Injustice, Tai Lung and William Foster.
 * Protective villains who commit crimes 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 sometimes confronted by the heroes, or even the people they protect, making it even more difficult to save them. Examples: Alex Romero, Doctor Doom, Harley Quinn, Howard Stambler, Hro Talak, Jax Teller, Johnny Klebitz, Mana Takamiya, Mr. Freeze in his various incarnations, Lu Bu, Valentine Morgenstern, Walter White, Waylon Smithers, and Yuno Gasai.
 * Possessed or brainwashed characters who are either 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: Cujo, Cynder, Daniel Lamb, Euphemia li Britannia, Gollum, Ice King, Jack Torrance, Lord Garmadon, Majin Vegeta, Mecha Sally, the Other Father of Coraline, Sasuke Uchiha, Savage Opress, Heidi Turner, and the Skeleton King.

''' /!\ However, Pure Evil villains CANNOT fall under Tragic. '''

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 Adam Taurus, Aerys II Targaryen, Ardyn Izunia, Bernkastel, Black Doom, Carnage, Champ (Akame Ga Kill!), Dandy Mott, Darth Bane, Darth Krayt, Dio Brando, Donquixote Doflamingo, Drago Bludvist, Dr. Weil, Emperor Ganishka, Freddy Krueger, General Modula, Hidan, Howard Payne, Isaac Ray Peram Westcott, John Doe, Kilgrave, Koba, Lord Cutler Beckett, Lord Voldemort, Lots-O' Huggin' Bear, Luca Blight, Maestro, Makuta Teridax, Mick Taylor, Red Skull, Reed Richards, Scarecrow, SCP-106, The Collector, The Governor, The Reaper, Utrom Shredder, William Afton and so on.

'Either their "tragedy" would be extremely pity to be realistic (e.g. Ahmanet, AM, Archibald Snatcher, Baron Kelvin, Corrine Dollanganger, Dahlia Hawthorne, Dr. Charles Decker, Dr. Doom from the 2005 movie version of Fantastic Four, Kefka Palazzo, Lionel Starkweather, Michael Myers, Patrick Bateman, Piper Shaw, Roman Bridger, Rize Kamishiro, Scar of the Lion King'', Shinnok, Sora Takigawa, Superboy-Prime, Ultraman Belial and Yuuki Terumi), or they'd simply use it as an excuse to justify themselves and nothing more. Through their evil acts and by having no empathy, the Pure Evil villain manages to destroy their own innocence and as a result, the villain is no longer sympathetic. Those villains fall under Vengeful categories instead.'''

Some of their excuses are just what they deserved (e.g. Demigra, Mary Shaw, Mason Verger, Max Cady and Randall Flagg); some even fake at least one tragedy occured on them (e.g. Caesar Clown, Chairman Drek and Infinite).

Also, DO NOT add certain characters like these, even if they are not Pure Evil:
 * Villains who committed unforgivable crimes and have crossed the Moral Event Horizon - sometimes more than once - only due to a MERE EXCUSE which is FAR TOO PETTY to be counted as tragedy, and their crimes were too horrible that even their excuse or traumatic experience doesn't justify their actions, no matter how "sad" their experience seems (e.g. Armando Salazar, Broly, Calypso of Twisted Metal, Derek Clifford Simmons, Dimitri Rascalov, Douche, Dr. Arthur Arden, Dr. Eggman from the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics, Eric Cartman, Jack the Ripper of Assassin's Creed, Gary Smith, Ivy Mayfair-Richards, Li'l Gideon, Madara Uchiha, Nigel of Rio, The Shredder from the 2012 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, Syndrome, Tighten, Venom from Spider-Man 3, and Vicky from The Fairly Oddparents).
 * Villains who faked a tragedy, or brought the so-called "tragedy" (no matter how sad it seemed) on themselves but blamed or framed others for it (e.g. Cersei Lannister, Hyness, Light Yagami, Jervis Tetch from Gotham, and King Stefan).

This category is for characters whose tragedy is not only TRUE and LEGITIMATE, but STILL holds up even after they've crossed the Moral Event Horizon.

Most of these characters are Fallen Heroes.