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. It can also mean that the villain was a happy and normal person before.

These villains are often suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (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. Examples: Agent 47, Atrocitus, Bass.EXE, Cable Guy, Count Bleck, Darth Vader, Davy Jones, Doomsday, Douglas Davenport, Eustace Bagge, Fabrication Machine, Ganondorf, Harvey Dent/Two-Face of The Dark Knight, Indominus Rex, Jin Kazama, Black Butler's Joker, Kabuto Yakushi, Kratos from God of Wars, Loki Laufeyson, Mewtwo, Nazaré Tedesco, Ray Thompson, Razer in Green Lantern: the Animated Series, Ruvik, 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, 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, Daniel Lamb, Euphemia li Britannia, Gollum, Ice King, Jack Torrance, Lord Garmadon, Majin Vegeta, the Other Father of Coraline, Sasuke Uchiha, Savage Opress, and the Skeleton King.

''' /!\ However, Pure Evil characters 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, Ahmanet, AM, Archibald Snatcher, Ardyn Izunia, Baron Kelvin, Bernkastel, Black Doom, Carnage, Corrine Dollanganger, General Modula, Dandy Mott, Darth Bane, Darth Krayt, Dio Brando, Donquixote Doflamingo, Dr. Charles Decker, Freddy Krueger, Griffith, Hidan, Isaac Ray Peram Westcott, Kefka Palazzo, Koba, Lionel Starkweather, Lord Cutler Beckett, Lord Voldemort, Lots-O' Huggin' Bear, Luca Blight, Maestro, Makuta Teridax, Merlot, Michael Myers, Mick Taylor, Piper Shaw, SCP-106, Superboy-Prime, Takeo Saeki, The Collector, The Governor, Ultraman Belial, William Afton, Yuuki Terumi, and so on.

'''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. 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.'''

Furthermore, some of their excuses are just what they deserved (e.g. Mason Verger, Max Cady and Randall Flagg); some even fake at least one tragedy occured on them (e.g. 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, Ellen Mira Mathers, Eric Cartman, Gary Smith, Ivy Mayfair-Richards, Li'l Gideon, Madara Uchiha, Nigel of Rio, Syndrome, Tighten, Venom from Spider-Man 3, and Vicky).
 * 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, Light Yagami, Jervis Tetch, 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.