Tragic Villain

Anime and Manga

Yu-Gi-Oh! has Pegasus, who was driven mad by the Millenium Eye, and his primary motivation for his subsequent villainy was theresurrection of his dead wife.

Pluto inAstro Boy.

Stella Louissier inGundam Seed Destiny, due to being a brainwashedSuper Soldier who was givenTraining from Hell since she was a young child and has a Control Word to keep her in line. The other members of Phantom Pain could also qualify, but Stella is the biggest example because of how childlike andbroken she is, and her love for Shinn Asuka.

She is anExpy of Four Murasame and Rosamia Badam inZeta Gundam, who also suffer the same horrible fate andsacrifice their lives for their only redemption. Louise Halevy inMobile Suit Gundam 00 is another example, only she got better in the end thank toSaji andSetsuna. However, Anew Returner is not as fortunate...
As you go down the line from theOne Year War, you'll find Zekes and Feddies both that get caught up in aCycle of Revenge as the previous wars left them scarred and without purpose but vengeance. The most recent example of this is Loni Garvey fromGundam Unicorn, the daughter of a former Zeon soldier who brought the remnants together, she lost her parents in a Feddie hunt for remnants and it has consumed her such that all she wants is vengeance for that.

Hokuto no Ken: Shin, originally Kenshirou's best friend, is tricked into becoming aBig Bad due to his weak heart byComplete Monster Jagi, who convinces him to kill Kenshirou to get his lover, Yuria, whom Shin has long had a great desire for. He tries to please Yuria with every luxury he gains with his bloody hands, but to no avail. When Yuria commits suicide- or at least, she seems dead - to prevent him from doing it any further, Shin is left heartbroken, and finally joins her in the afterworld after his defeat in the hands of his former friend, Kenshirou.

Souther also qualifies as a Tragic Villain - a particularly cruel, tyrannical type, making him look like aComplete Monster from the start. Overrun by the grief of killing his own beloved adoptive father and master, who instructed him to do it to complete his training, he goes insane and orders little children to build a pyramid for his master without mercy, until Kenshirou gives him a mercy kill, making him reveal his human side at his death.

InCode Geass, either Lelouch or Suzaku orboth could apply for this: They've both done morally dubious things in the hope for a better world, they've both demonstrated a great deal of regret and guilt over what they've done, and yet they both feel that they have no other choice but to continue down their current path.

Mao may count as well, since the reason why he's a villain stems from the Geass he received at the age ofsix. Unlike most examples, though, hedoesn't seem to be aware that he is evil.

Some of theUndead inShiki hate what they have become, but the pressure from other vampires combined with their uncontrollable bloodlust and desire to live mean that they can't stop themselves. The best example would beTohru.

The Akuma from "D.Gray-man" could count, especially the ones given backstories, likeMimi, Crea/Claire from the first few episodes, and the witch from the witch arc.

Gaara ofNaruto started out as aSerial Killer, butCharacter Development revealed that his psychosis was a direct result of the actions of his own father's attempts to either turn him into a living weapon or kill him. Insanity and Shukaku's whispers were his last refuge from the bleak emptiness of his childhood. Thanks to Naruto, though, he pulls aHeel Face Turn and gets his life back together, even becoming the beloved Fourth Kazekage as a result.

Also Sasuke is this due to hisbeloved brother brilliant planning that includeTeach Him Anger andThe Power of Hate viaMind Rape.

Rosine fromBerserk was an abused child who sacrificed her parents to the Godhand. There's alsoGriffith, who is aComplete Monster, but only became one after crossing theDespair Event Horizon. In fact, all of the demonic Apostles, the main villains of the series, were once humans who made aDeal with the Devil during a moment of ultimate despair.

The King of Night inKore wa Zombie Desu ka?. He grew to hate his immortality and just wanted to die.However, Yuu saw him as a friend still and didn't want to kill him, so the King went out and caused everything that happened to get Yuu to hate him and thus kill him.

Adolf Kaufman fromAdolf. He was forced to go to Adolf Hitler Schule and became a true Nazi who killed without compassion.He crossed theMoral Event Horizon several times, which made him lose his friends and family. He realized at the end of the war that what he did was useless, but it was really too late for him to have any chance of rehabilitation...

InSonic X, Dark Oak, also known asLuke/Lucas, counts as one, as his tragic past happened during a war that took place on his former home planet of Seedrius-Flora/Greengate. Refusing to leave with the other Seedrians and abandon his home planet after having fought so long, he began using its Planet Egg to make the male Seedrians' transformations last longer to Hertia/Earthia's shock and dismay, forcing the females to destroy the males and leave them behind. But a few males survived and they became the Metarex. The motivation of Dark Oak and the Metarex is to erase all life of flesh and blood from the entire galaxy so that plants can rule, and therefore bring their own peace and tranquility to the galaxy, and they require the Planet Eggs and the seven Chaos Emeralds to do so.In the end, Dark Oak finally realizes the errors of his ways when Sonic and co. defeat him with help from Cosmo'sHeroic Sacrifice - he realizes that Hertia/Earthia was right about his lust for power destroying his own people and him bringing nothing but pain and suffering to everyone. Hertia/Earthia appears before Dark Oak and gives him a second chance, and he happily reunites with her and they both depart for the afterlife.

Precia Testarossa inMagical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st combines this withFatal FlawandFond Memories That Could Have Been.As she falls to her death, Precia remembers that Alicia once wanted a little sister and realizes that she could've treated Fate as another daughter instead of a failed replacement for Alicia. Unfortunately, there is no longer enough time left to make amends or even apologize.

Accelerator fromA Certain Magical Index is this at the beginning and after hisHeel Face Turn. He is desperately trying to make up for his very heavy sins.

Gluttony fromFullmetal Alchemist. Despite embodying his Father's gluttony, Gluttony is a near invincible overweight manchild who would rather eat and spend time with Lust like a child with his mother than actively hurting anyone beyond eating them. No doubt tears were shed when he himself was eaten by Pride, calling out to Lust (who died earlier in the series) to help him.

Envy, one of the worst Homunculi, proves to be this at the end.His sadism towards humans is because he envies them, trying to act human but never being able to become one. When Edward pities him for this, he's so ashamed hecommits suicide.

Comic Books

Batman has Mr. Freeze, an archetypalAnti-Villain in many of his appearances. His main motivation is to find a way to save his dying wife, no matter what it may be. A major factor in his introductory appearance inBatman: The Animated Series is that aCorrupt Corporate Executive directly caused hisFreak Lab Accident that nearly killed both him and his wife.

Every Batman villain thatisn'tThe Joker has a tragic motivation.
The Joker has one too...probably.He just can't remember what it is. Or, possiblyhe just made it up to get his targets to lower their guard.
Depending on the Writer, fellow Batman foe Killer Croc can also be seen as one of these. Yes, he's a homicidal cannibal, but he is often portrayed as having little to no control over those urges. His increasingly bestial appearance and the gradual loss of his own humanity (again,Depending on the Writer) makes it impossible for him to have any sort of life other than that of a villain. In his appearance in theTitans series, he mentions that all he wants now is to be left alone.

Recently^[when?],Wonder Man, long-time Avenger, has been straying into this. After being revived, he's become increasingly disillusioned with the perpetual cycle of superhero-supervillain violence. After repeatedly asking the Avengers not to re-assemble, he puts together a team of similar malcontents (including a new Goliath, angry over his uncle's death duringCivil War) who attack Avengers Mansion and Stark Tower, demanding that the Avengers be disbanded.

InMinimonsters,bothHenrietta andMiss Hit qualify for this trope.Henrietta is aBroken Bird whoseevil split personality has gone out of control and is trying toreplace her. Miss Hit, for her part, tries to replace her becauseshe's tired of being looked down upon herIll Girl other self, and genuinely believes she's the "superior" personality due to herSuper Strength. Miss Hit's hopes are crushed once she looks at the truth mirror and sees her "weak" self (Henrietta) is the superior one, prompting her toshut down completely.

Film

Dr. Caine inHollow Man

Star Wars: Darth Vader. Sure, he's pretty evil (although not comparable toBig Bad Evil Guy Palpatine), but the prequel trilogy (Hatedom aside) made him go from justLuke's evil father to Luke'stragic, evil father.

Michael Corleone inThe Godfather Saga. He starts as an independent mindedWar Hero, but he is gradually dragged into mob life to protect his father and his family. He fought his perceived enemies with cold ruthlessness for years while he struggles to achieve legitimacy, and by the time he gets there, he admits that it's too late and that he is too tired and past redemption, andpasses the torch to a new Don.

Mr. Brooks is this trope to a T.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Davy Jones falls into this category, since it was his love for Calypso and her betrayal that caused him to do the things he did,including telling the pirates how to lock her in a human body.

Godzilla. The original 1954 filmGojira showed that he was as much a victim of the atomic bomb as everyone else.

Loki fromThor. He was motivated bya combination of sibling rivalry with Thor, the desire to impress his father, personal ambition, and a messed up sense of duty towards Asgard. There is also probably a fair dose of self-loathing,seeing as he found out that he was a Frost Giant and not an Asgardian.

Hans Beckert ofM doesn't want to murder children, but just feels compelled to do so. Hisspeech at the end (wherein he calls out the Mob hunting him down on their ruthlessness) reveals just how tortured and fucked up he really feels.

Tony Montana fromScarface.

Toy Story has a few:

Toy Story 2 hasStinky Pete. His antagonistic actions are fueled by grief over not being sold and watching other toys be bought instead of him. He does seem to genuinely believe he's saving Woody, Jessie and Bullseye from being destroyed and ignored and, as seen inToy Story 3,these are not unwarranted concerns.
Toy Story 3 hasLotso as acompletely unsympathetic example, as while he did suffer from being unintentionally replaced by his former owner, his atrocious and often disproportionate actions prevent him from having any kind of sympathy from the characters and the viewers. A much better Tragic Villain is his henchman, Big Baby, who is nothing more than a childwho has been duped and abused by Lotso to do his dirty work. Tellingly, he pulls an immediateHeel Face Turn after having enough of Lotso's bullshit.

Literature

Dune: Dr. Yueh. He effectively killed the Atreides, for his Wanna.

Moby Dick: Captain Ahab. While the whale can be seen as the villain, Ahabcould be seen as the Tragic Villain: consumed by his own insanity, forced to chase the beast.

Cujo isn't really a villain in the popular sense of the word, but he's just as much a victim as anyone else is, and if the Cambers had taken the possibility of their dog catching rabies seriously, the disaster could have been avoided.

The Phantom of the Opera, otherwise known as Erik.

Macbeth, if one interprets the play in one particular perspective. He likely became an unwilling tyrant due to the twisted fate the befell him.

Barty Crouch Jr. inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.Due to his"Well Done, Son" Guy situation with his real father, Crouch Jr. came to see Voldemort as aParental Substitute.

BothRhulad Sengar andhis boss, the Crippled God, from theMalazan Book of the Fallen commit or orchestrate acts that cement them as villains, but both are also portrayed as deeply tormented victims of circumstance (aJerkass Woobie and aWoobie, Destroyer of Worlds, respectively) and you really can't help but feel sorry for them.

Claude Frollo inVictor Hugo'sThe Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Mordred in someKing Arthur interpretations.

This is whatMurtagh from theInheritance Cycle is supposed to be. DuringEldest, he is enslaved by theBig Bad and forced to fight on his side.Brisingr at first makes it appear that he's gone completely evil, but Eragon speculates that he's getting back at the world for giving him a shitty life. Near the end of the book,he's fighting the Dragon Rider Oromis and he desperately screams at him, "YOU COULD HAVE HELPED US!".

His Dragon Thorn is as well, as he wonders why he was brought into the world only to be tortured and destroy things.
TheBig Bad Galbatorix's dragon, Shruikan, is arguably one of these as well. While Galbatorix remains the villain, several characters point out that Shruikan never chose to serve him; hisreal rider was killed when he was a hatchling and he was forced to bond with Galbatorix, driving him insane. When he finally appears inInheritance, he is a nightmarishly huge and powerful dragon that appears to be anOmnicidal Maniac; Elva tells Eragon that nothing is left of him but pain and hate, and the best they can do is end his suffering.

Live Action Television

Londo Mollari ofBabylon 5 is a perfect example. He oftenexpresses regret for his ultimately genocidal actions, but continues to dig himself in ever deeper until midway through season four. He ends updoing some medium-evil things but also suffering greatly and ultimatelysacrificing himself for his country.

Michael Dawson fromLost, whomurdered Ana Lucia and Libby and delivered Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley into the hands of the Others because it was the only way to free his 10-year-old son and get him off the Island.

FBI Agent Alexander Mahone, the main villain in the second season ofPrison Break, is only trying to murder the protagonists because theNebulous Evil Organisation is blackmailing him (they know he murdered aSerial Killer), on top of threatening to kill his wife and child. It'd be really tragic if he wasn't so ridiculously good at the "murdering the protagonists" bit.

Gamel, one of theGreeed inKamen Rider OOO, is by far the most sympathetic of the Greeed, being a childish simpleton who doesn't care about doing evil things, and only wants to makeTeam Mom Mezool happy. He's stillThe Brute, and has absolutely zero regard for anyone's life but Mezool's, but his puppy-like devotion makes his eventual death (both of them)feel very sad.

The Master fromDoctor Who, especially during the two-parterThe End of Time.

Breaking Bad, given it's a show about criminals, is bound to have these among its huge cast:

The whole plot is all aboutWalter White's transformation into aVillain Protagonist, at first only working in the drug industry to provide for his family, but eventually choosing evil as a way to feel powerful after many missed opportunities largerly caused by hisPride.
His "accomplice"Jesse Pinkman wasn't all that innocent at the start, but partnering with Walt led him to lose everything he truly cared about, all while being blackmailed into doing heavier stuff.
The spin-offBetter Call Saul recontextualizesPlucky Comic Relief Saul Goodman into one, showing his "Saul" persona to be a mask formed byJimmy McGill as a way to cope with hismany traumas andpoor decisions that led him on the criminal path.
Said spin-off also fleshes out some ofMike's background, withhis son's death brought indirectly by his actions laying the groundwork for him to become Gus' henchman seen in the series proper, with BCS's events only making him even colder (though he stays anAnti-Villain the whole time).
Gustavo Fring's cold and calculating demeanor hides avery angry man obsessed withgetting revenge on the Salamanca Family for killing his partner/possible lover and making him watch, to the point he rejects any chance of true happiness and camaraderie to carry said vendetta,which ultimately costs him his life.
Asutterly unlikable as he is, Jimmy/Saul'sbrother Chuck is a rather sad figure, struggling with both hisunspecified mental illness anddeep jealousy of his brother, ultimatelyending upbeingDriven to Suicide with his career, reputation and house utterly ruined due to his actions.
And then there'sIgnacio "Nacho" Varga, who only became a criminal to take care of his father, only to end up caught between the ugly Fring/Salamanca War to such a degreehecommits suicide tofree himself andhis father from all the Cartel insanity.

Music

"Paint It Black" byThe Rolling Stones.

Three Days Grace's song "Animal I Have Become" could be interpreted as being about one of these.

Other songs that seem to portray this trope seem to be especially prevalent in the metal and punk genres, such as:

"My Own Hell" byFive Finger Death Punch
"Monster" and "Falling Into Black" by Skillet
"It's the Fear" by Within Temptation

Video Games

Final Fantasy IV hasGolbez, reallyTheodore Harvey, Cecil's brother, who may cross theMoral Event Horizon several times in the game, except thathe was under the control ofZemus and takes full responsibility for his actionsonce freed from Zemus's control.

In the DS remake, it'smuch worse. The implication is that Golbezwasn't brainwashed, and that it was the darkness in his own heart that led to him being controlled. The remake makes a much bigger deal out of hisReformed but Rejected status after the spell is broken.

Mass Effect hasmost of the decoyBig Bads throughout both games, via varying forms ofMind Control andMind Rape. Matriarch Benezia, the Collector General (the whole Collectorrace), Shiala, even Saren gets a fewwoobie moments, despite being established as aComplete Monster Knight Templar long before Sovereign got his tentacles into him. The Collector General especially gets quite a few fan-tears shed over its death.

David Archer from theOverlord package.
In fact, almost all the antagonists in the series are this in one way or another, to the point it would be easier to list those who aren't this trope from those who are.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Yuriko Omega,born Yuriko Matsui, was kidnapped byMad Scientist Shinji Shimada and transformed into aTetsuo-like psionic monster with no feeling of empathy toward anyone else, particularly because she was bullied by her schoolmates due to her natural psionic ability that caused her tragic fate. She even went through hell to find and save her sister, who turned out to be just another power-hungryComplete Monster who wanted to be at the top of the world, just like other people, including the Allies. After doing what has to be done, Yuriko still remained a lonely, unloved girl, vilified continuously by the news media of the major global powers (all Allies, the Soviet Uion, and Japan).

All four main antagonists in theFatal Frame series. All of them were nice people when they were alive, it's only when they died and were corrupted by their respective gates to Hell that they started killing everyone.

The Beauty and the Beast Unit fromMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.

InInfamous,Kessler, reveals to be Cole from the future who have turned Empire City into hell just so that he could turn his past self into the savior of the world from the beast.

Thanks to the events ofKingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Xemnas fromKingdom Hearts,of all people, was given shades of this. His original persona, Xehanort, happens to bethe end result of Terra beingbody snatched by Master Xehanort and thenboth of them being subsequently locked out of this new being's heart,leaving the man with only about a year's worth of memories. Then he loses himself to darknessyet again, with his leftover body and soul (Xemnas) having nearly no memories whatsoever to draw upon andsuffering fromWistful Amnesia about the friends he can't entirely remember (Aqua and Ventus), much to his frustration and chagrin. Xemnas might sharea lot of traits in common withMaster Xehanort, butthe small flickers of Terra's personality within him and the life of the mind-wiped Xehanort himself make him seem almost pitiable. When Sora asks Xemnas if he can remember all of the feelings in a heart besides anger, rage, and hate and Xemnas replies with an almost sorrowful "Unfortunately... I don't,"he's not lying.That line becomes even worse when you remember that it was Terra's own hatred of Xehanort that essentially led to himbecoming Xehanort. However,other revelations in3D call into question how much of this is true and how much of this is simply Xemnas being a devious thespian.

Western Animation

Wakfu gives usNox, acrazed time mage out to gain power by any means necessary,no matter who he has to hurt. Why?So he can go back in time to save his family. In the process of doing, all of the damage he's done will be undone, creating a better future for everyone. He fails.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Prince Zuko started out as this, going on aSnipe Hunt against the Avatar due to hishorribly abusive father scarring his face and generally screwing up his life. Thankfully, he does aHeel Face Turn by joining Team Avatar, and comes out much better for it.

His sister,Princess Azula. Due to her mother favoring Zuko over her, she thought she didn't love her and spent her life becomingDaddy's Little Villain to prove she didn't need her love. Unfortunately, Ozai's teachings caused her to end upbeing betrayed by the only two people she considered friends (who were afraid of her), forcing her to confront the revelation thather main ideology is a failure. And when it becomes clear Ozai doesn't give a crap about her besides being his personalTyke Bomb, rendering her effortspointless, she ends up having one of the most epic and heartbreakingbreakdowns in animation history.
Fire Lord Sozin betrayed his best friend, Avatar Roku, and ordered the genocide of the Air Nomads in a misguided attempt tobetter his country. He ends up having aHeel Realization and died a miserable man overcome with guilt. It gets worse when his descendants became outright tyrants in comparison (especiallyOzai, who is the main reason Zuko and Azula are this trope in the first place).

Demona fromGargoyles. She seems to be aware, on some level, of her evil, but can't stop doing it or even consciously admit it to herself because that would require her to admit that much of the suffering she's experienced over her millenium-long life was her own fault. So, instead, she's the ultimateWoobie, Destroyer of Worlds, lashing out at the world around her in the hope that, if she kills enough humans (and anyone else who gets in her way), it'll be enough to make the hurting stop. She's definitely a villain who needs to go down, but you can't help but feel sorry for her all the same.

The Ice King fromAdventure Time assumes this role when it is revealed in aWham! Episode thathe used to be a normal human with a fiancé, whom he called his "princess". HisArtifact of Doom ice crown made him go insaneand made his fiancé leave him when he just tried it on for a laugh, and turned him into a hermit that constantly kidnapped princesses, subconsciously trying to get Betty back.

Lemongrab ofAdventure Time embodies many evil qualities- he's overly-controlling, harsh, often mean and cruel, unsympathetic to anyone... But his excuse is that he's a) a failed experiment with mental problems, and b) only about one year old. Also, it's implied that his creator was so taken aback by him that she had him sent to a castle to live out his life in isolation.

Several established Batman villains are portrayed this way inBatman: The Animated Series, as people whose lives have been consumed with a desire for revenge on thepeople who caused their disfigurements. Mr. Freeze in "Heart Of Ice" is probably the best example.

Freeze: To never again walk on a summer's day with the hot wind in your face and a warm hand to hold. Oh yes, I'd kill for that.

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