Tragic Villain

From the Villains Wiki:

"A character who, although acting for primarily 'evil' or selfish goals, is either not in full control of their actions or emotions and the reader or viewer can sympathize for due to them not being evil by choice; but rather by them being a victim of circumstance. These villains can face a crisis of conscience in which they submit to doing evil. These villains often have confused morals believing that they are doing moral when in fact they are doing evil."

A type of Anti-Villain and the ultimate Deconstruction of the Villain, a Tragic Villain is completely aware of their evil but is unable to stop it, or must continue to do evil for other reasons.

A common form of Tragic Villain is one who has his Heel Realization after crossing the Moral Event Horizon: he has no hope of redemption, so despite My Master, Right or Wrong, he continues to follow orders. A Knight Templar who stops attacking potential rebels may realize how his orders are doing more wrong than right, but the side of good will never take him... there's no turning back from where he is standing.

Or maybe a Hero was forced to commit a necessary evil, and never forgave themselves, deciding they were now a villain beyond hope/not deserving of salvation or redemption, possibly becoming a Death Seeker in the process.

May also be a Tragic Monster; there is strong overlap. A prime candidate for redemption, but also everything associated. Compare to Well-Intentioned Extremist, who commits evil actions in hopes of producing good results. They often have Tearjerker moments to them and viewers often empathize with these people.

Examples of Tragic Villain include:

Anime

• Yu-Gi-Oh! has Pegasus, who was driven mad by the Millenium Eye, and his primary motivation for his subsequent villainy was the resurrection of his dead wife.
• Stella Louissier in Gundam Seed Destiny, due to being a brainwashed Super Soldier who was given Training 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 and broken she is, and her love for Shinn Asuka.
  • She is an Expy of Four Murasame and Rosamia Badam in Zeta Gundam, who also suffer the same horrible fate and sacrifice their lives for their only redemption. Louise Halevy in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is another example, only she got better in the end thank to Saji and Setsuna. However, Anew Returner is not as fortunate...
  • As you go down the line from the One Year War, you'll find Zekes and Feddies both that get caught up in a Cycle of Revenge as the previous wars left them scarred and without purpose but vengeance. The most recent example of this is Loni Garvey from Gundam 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 a Big Bad due to his weak heart by Complete 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 a Complete 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.
• In Code Geass, either Lelouch or Suzaku or both 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 of six. Unlike most examples, though, he doesn't seem to be aware that he is evil.
• Some of the Undead in Shiki hate what they have become, but the pressure from other vampires combined with their incontrollable bloodlust and desire to live mean that they can't stop themselves. The best example would be Tohru.
• The Akuma from "D.Gray-man" could count, especially the ones given backstories, like Mimi, Crea/Claire from the first few episodes, and the witch from the witch arc.
• Gaara of Naruto started out as a Complete Monster, but Character 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.
  • Also Sasuke is this due to his beloved brother brilliant planning that include Teach Him Anger and The Power of Hate via Mind Rape.
• Rosine from Berserk was an abused child who sacrificed her parents to the Godhand. There's also Griffith, who is a Complete Monster, but only became one after crossing the Despair Event Horizon. In fact, all of the demonic Apostles, the main villains of the series, were once humans who made a Deal with the Devil during a moment of ultimate despair.
• The King of Night in Kore 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 from Adolf. He was forced to go to Adolf Hitler Schule and became a true Nazi who killed without compassion. He crossed the Moral 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...
• In Sonic X, Dark Oak, also known as Luke/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's Heroic 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 in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha The MOVIE 1st combines this with Fatal Flaw and Fond 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.

"I never notice things before it's too late."

• Accelerator from To Aru Majutsu no Index is this at the beginning and after his Heel Face Turn. He is desperately trying to make up for his very heavy sins.
• Gluttony from Fullmetal 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 to his mother than actively hurting anyone beyond eating them. No doubt tears were shed when he himself was eaten by the Complete Monster Pride, calling out to Lust (who died earlier in the series) to help him.
• Magic Knight Rayearth has Zagato who is actually trying to protect Emeraude.
• Reiko Kitami from the Bible Black series was The Ingenue until she was turned into a demonic sacrifice. She is forced to make a Deal with the Devil to save herself.

Comic Books

• Batman has Mr. Freeze, an archetypical Anti-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 in Batman: The Animated Series is that a Corrupt Corporate Executive directly caused his Freak Lab Accident that nearly killed both him and his wife.
  • Every Batman villain that isn't The Joker, Victor Zsasz, Riddler or Bane has a tragic motivation.
  • The Joker has one too...probably. He just can't remember what it is. Or, possibly he 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 the Titans series, he mentions that all he wants now is to be left alone.
• Recently, 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 during Civil War) who attack Avengers Mansion and Stark Tower, demanding that the Avengers be disbanded.
• While Doomsday may seem like a sociopathic, mindless monster (and he is), he didn't choose to be that. No, instead he began his existence as an alien baby created by an ancient scientist called Bertron on prehistoric Krypton, and forced to become this through a really long and violent process. I mean, if you were killed, cloned and revived for 3 decades straight, you would be pretty unhinged.

Film

• Star Wars: Darth Vader. Sure, he's pretty evil (although not comparable to Big Bad Evil Guy Palpatine), but the prequel trilogy (Insufferable Hatedom aside) made him go from just Luke's evil father to Luke's tragic, evil father.
• Most of the Corleone men in The Godfather.
  • Vito was ran out of his own country by a mobster only to become one himself. He is disappointed with how his family is now permanently intertwined with a life of crime.
  • Michael starts as an independent minded War Hero, but he is 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, and passes the torch to a new Don.
  • Fredo is the overlooked middle son and isn't trusted to make good decisions. He often falls into bad company which leads to him betraying Michael by accident and almost getting his brother's family killed. Michael has him killed for this.
• 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.
• Black Panther: the main antagonist of the film, Erik Killmonger descended into madness as a boy after learning his father was murdered by his uncle (the king of Wakanda) and was left alone as an orphan to raise himself in Oakland, California making him angry, ruthless, and incredibly vindictive. But still saw his actions as just due to how the world treated him and truly wanted to help his people.
• Godzilla. The original 1954 film Gojira showed that he was as much a victim of the atomic bomb as everyone else.
• Loki from the new Thor. He was motivated by a combination of sibling rivary 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 of M doesn't want to murder children, but just feels compelled to do so. His speech 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.
• Keaton from The Usual Suspects is an ex-Dirty Cop who just wants to go straight with his girl Edie but a wrongful arrest leads him back to crime. Keyser Soze engineered his arrest then killed him and Edie once he served his purpose.
• Glengarry Glen Ross. Shel Levine stages a robbery of the office to delay the deadline so he won't get fired but his sale turned out to be worthless anyway since the people he sold land to don't have a dime to their name. They just like talking to salesmen.
• Dubov from Face Off is a Giant Mook whose wife and sister had a threesome with Castor Troy on the day he went to prison. He is convinced by Sean Archer (disguised as Troy so he can gather information in the prison about an upcoming terrorist attack) that that was just a lie and he does a Mook Face Turn so they can both escape but he is killed. Dubov dies believing a beautiful lie while helping someone he normally wouldn't have.
• Mike Dexter, the Jerk Jock from Can't Hardly Wait, breaks up with his girlfriend Amanda when they graduate but he tries to get back together. She rejects him but his need to save his pride causes him to make a fool of himself. In the end, he learned nothing and he's back to his immature self. His transformation into a Future Loser is as tragic as it is inevitable.

Literature

• Wuthering Heights: Heathcliff. He terrorized two families for almost twenty years due to growing up in an abusive household and being wronged by his lover.
• Dune: Dr. Yueh. He effectively killed the Atreides, for his Wanna.
• Moby Dick: Captain Ahab. While the whale can be seen as the villain, Ahab could 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 wants to mold Christine into his muse and great love.
• 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. in Harry 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 a Parental Substitute.
• Both Rhulad Sengar and his boss, the Crippled God, from the Malazan Book of the Fallen commit or orchestrate acts that cement them as villains, but both are also portrayed as deeply tormented victims of circumstance (a Jerkass Woobie and a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds, respectively) and you really can't help but feel sorry for them.
• This is what Murtagh from the Inheritance Cycle is supposed to be. During Eldest, he is enslaved by the Big 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 Dragonm Thorn, is as well, as he appears to wonder why he was brought into the world just so he could be tortured and destroy things.
  • The Big 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; his real rider was killed when he was a hatchling and he was forced to bond with Galbatorix, driving him insane. When he finally appears in Inheritance, he is a nightmarishly huge and powerful dragon that appears to be an Omnicidal 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 of Babylon 5 is a perfect example. He often expresses regret for his ultimately genocidal actions, but continues to dig himself in ever deeper until midway through season 4. He ends up doing some medium-evil things but also suffering greatly and ultimately sacrificing himself for his country.
• Michael Dawson from Lost, who murdered 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 of Prison Break, is only trying to murder the protagonists because the Nebulous Evil Organisation is blackmailing him (they know he murdered a Serial 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 the Greeed in Kamen 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 make Team Mom Mezool happy. He's still The 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 from Doctor Who, especially during the two-parter The End of Time.
• Calixta from Maria La Del Barrio was forced to give up her daughter Soraya to be raised by her boss. Soraya grows up a mean woman who treats Calixta like trash. Soraya exiles Calixta after finding out the truth about their relationship. Soraya accidentally kills Calixta years later when she tried one last time to be with her.
• The Wire
  • Wallace felt guilty about his involvement in Brandon's death so he turns himself in and is hid away with his grandmother but hegets bored and comes back. He believes his friends will never betray him but boy was he wrong.
  • D'Angelo is at first enamored by the gangster lifestyle until a witness is killed. Guilt and paranoia consume him until he gets arrested for drug possession and he tries to use it to get out but his mother persuades him into pleading guilty. In prison, he becomes reclusive and distant. String has him killed because he thought he couldn't be trusted anymore.
  • Avon is a Family Values Villain but he makes the Tragic Mistake of not avenging D'Angelo by killing String but instead covers up for him. String in the end betrays him to the police and he spends the rest of his life in prison. His sister also stops talking to him after finding out his part in her son's death.
  • Bodie is a drug dealer off the corner who is a hard-working guy at heart. He sacrificed everything for The Game including his friend Wallace because he thought it was the right thing to do. When his new boss Marlo had his friend Little Kevin killed for suspected snitching, Bodie turns on him but he is killed before he could cooperate with police.
  • Wee-Bey regrets not being a father to his son Namond and gives up his custody so he can have a normal life. It's also implied that Bey never wanted to be a gangster either.
• 24
  • The Araz family are part of a terrorist cell but Navi and Dina's conflict over what to do about their son Behrooz boils over until they are all destroyed.
  • Dana Walsh was The Mole in CTU New York but she wanted out so she can marry Cole but she is exposed so she abandons him but Jack kills her in cold blood.
  • Marcos is a young man who joins terrorists to avenge injustices done to his father. He is forced to give valuable information to Jack when he promised not to hurt his mother. The terrorists detonate his bomb vest after he does this.
  • The terrorists in season 5 all have legitimate reasons for trying to kill President Suvarov. Season 8 reveals that he also helps terrorists when it suits him.
• Orange is the new Black has lots, being that it's set in a prison after all.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
  • Ampata was a girl sacrificed to a pagan god. Her body was dead but her spirit wasn't and she was trapped in her own corpse for centuries. She escapes but she Came Back Wrong as a soul sucking monster who had to be put down.
  • Jonathan is a semi recurring character who tries to become a full villain but he realizes all he wanted was friends. The First has Andrew kill him as a sacrifice to reopen the Hellmouth.
• Person of Interest
  • Theresa's uncle in "Ghosts" gets her family killed because of a money laundering scheme. He redeems himself by refusing to help an assassin, at the cost of his life.
  • Ulrich Kohl is an ex East German assassin who goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge to kill his former team who betrayed him and got his wife Anja killed when the communism fell. He finds out too late that she and their daughter are alive and he lets Reese kill him so his daughter will never find out what a monster he was.
  • Vigilance is a domestic terror group out to expose the Machine's existence. It is revealed to be Decima's Unwitting Pawn and it's members are framed and killed once they've served their purpose for an attack to justify the activation of Samaritan.
  • Mrs. Thomson is just a random woman forced to become the mayor of a Town with a Dark Secret; it's controlled by Samaritan. Reese and Root nevertheless verbally and physically abuse her. She is given no sympathy even when she decides to stay and quit her job.
  • The Knight Templar Control falls victim to Samaritan's "Correction" and she is taken away to an unknown location, never too be seen by anyone, not even her daughter.

Video Games

• Final Fantasy IV has Golbez, really Theodore Harvey, Cecil's brother, who may cross the Moral Event Horizon several times in the game, except that he was under the control of Zemus and takes full responsibility for his actions once freed from Zemus's control.
  • In the DS remake, it's much worse. The implication is that Golbez wasn'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 his Reformed but Rejected status after the spell is broken.
• The Icy Shadows series is a very interesting concept, Blake Von Jaeger, the series' true Big Bad, is responsible for creating other villains:
  • Morris the V: Tricked him into releasing the Shi Calamities by telling him a lie that Corinne never came back for him.
  • The Hoshi Kata: A very interesting concept. They made 1/3 of the stars on Kepler-777, and the people on that planet admired their beauty. However, Blake Von Jaeger turned into his seven headed dragon form swept them from the sky to the earth, put lies into them, and has his associates Dr. Gavin and his dragon Slick Terror transform them into the monsters they are today.
  • And also the Heartless Kings by telling them that their desire for revenge will satisfy them.
  • Dr. Gavin himself is also this - in a very Tearjerker way -
  • Sully X-29 was an unnamed child whom the Spooks, a faction within Blake's Ambush Creepers, Scorcher X-29 and Screamer X-29 kidnapped and killed his biological human parents, and they named the child Sully X-29. They then taught malice into the child, eventually making him feel a lot of regret.
  • William Afton from Five Nights at Freddy's.Main Villain of the series.Was abused by the Yellow Guy,who theorized to be his father,He has a daughter he seems to genuine love. So that's a disqualifying factor.He lost both his daugther and son.
• Mass Effect has most of the decoy Big Bads throughout both games, via varying forms of Mind Control and Mind Rape. Matriarch Benezia, the Collector General (the whole Collector race), Shiala, even Saren gets a few woobie moments, despite being established as a Complete 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 the Overlord package.
• Yuriko Omega, born Yuriko Matsui, was kidnapped by Mad Scientist Shinji Shimada and transformed into a Tetsuo-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-hungry Complete 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 the Fatal 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 from Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots.
• In Infamous, 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 of Birth by Sleep, Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts, of all people, was given shades of this. His original persona, Xehanort, happens to be the end result of Terra being body snatched by Master Xehanort and then both 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 darkness yet again, with his leftover body and soul (Xemnas) having nearly no memories whatsoever to draw upon and suffering from Wistful Amnesia about the friends he can't entirely remember (Aqua and Ventus), much to his frustration and chagrin. Xemnas might share a lot of traits in common with Master Xehanort, but the 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 him becoming Xehanort. However, other revelations in 3D call into question how much of this is true and how much of this is simply Xemnas being a devious thespian.
  • Lysandre from Pokemon X and Y would likely qualify. He was once a kind hearted scientist and entrepreneur who tried to save the world using his resources, but in his own words, "The world was just too vast... Too full of fools I couldn't save through my hard work alone..." So he planned to create a beautiful world by eradicating all the cruel and unproductive people in the world with the ultimate weapon. But unfortunately, he thinks that Pokemon would inevitably become tools for said people to use, and feels he should destroy them too, even openly crying about it when you ask him about the fate of all Pokemon which is a first for any villain in the series (Also shown by him being able to Mega Evolve his Gyarados). It was clear that his plan was something he didn't want to do, and it hurt him dearly. Though he lacks a Heel Face Turn at the end, seeing the world as doomed, there are hints that he is still redeemable, as none of the other characters actively hate Lysandre
  • William Afton from Five Nights at Freddy's Series. One day, in Fredbear's Family Diner, as Fredbear was serving cake to the children, a girl was crying outside because she was locked out of the restaurant by three other children. As she cried, William drove over in a purple car and murdered the girl. 

Fredbear was unable to protect the child. With that, Purple Guy drove away, leaving the child's corpse outside. The girl's spirit, possibly driven by revenge, and a desire to help William's other victims, was theorized to have possessed an animatronic a certain time after that, known as The Puppet. Fredbear's Family Diner was then shut down.

Later, in 1983, Fazbear's Entertainment opens Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, introducing Freddy Fazbear, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy as the new mascots. These new animatronics were added alongside the original Fredbear and Spring Bonnie characters, which were made as springlock suits that doubled as both animatronics and costumes that a person could wear. William returned to the restaurant and wore the Spring Bonnie suit to lure five children, one by one, into the establishment's Safe Room before murdering them. Afterwards, The Puppet, possessed by William's first victim, stuffed the corpses of the five children into the Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Golden Freddy animatronics, allowing their spirits to possess them.It's revealed he cares about his daugther Elizabeth and Son Michael Afton.

Western Animation

• Wakfu gives us Nox, a crazed 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. His sister Azula is also tragic in a different sense, arguably even moreso than him, all things considered.
• Demona from Gargoyles. 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 ultimate Woobie, 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 from Adventure Time assumes this role when it is revealed in a Wham! Episode that he used to be a normal human with a fiancé, whom he called his "princess". His Artifact of Doom ice crown made him go insane and 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 of Adventure 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 in Batman: The Animated Series, as people whose lives have been consumed with a desire for revenge on the people 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.

• In Dan vs. Dan is heavily implied to have had an abusive childhood, to the point of sending a psychologist (notable for specializing in torture of highly trained soldiers) into a mental breakdown upon recounting his childhood. In "the Ski Trip" and "Anger Management" it is shown Dan is cursed with being able to see flaws in everything, contributing to his anger and that he can get better, but his anger will resurface.