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How to Give Your Villain an Emotional Backstory That Isn’t Tragic

In crafting a villain’s backstory, we often want the origin to be as powerful as the character themselves. As Chris Colfe says, “A villain is just a victim whose story hasn’t been told.”

Unfortunately, however, tragic backstories become tedious. Oh, of course their parents were eaten alive in front of them, their home was foreclosed on by a corrupt institution, the love of their life betrayed them, their favorite TV show was canceled, and they couldn’t get the last scrap of mayonnaise out of the jar. Someone get the fainting couch, quick.

At a certain point, it’s no longer a backstory – it’s a sob story, which quickly transforms our empathy into pity, and finally into boredom. We roll our eyes and wish the villain had kept the melodrama to themselves.

On the other side of that coin, having a character who stomps on bunnies for no reason isn’t exactly relatable, and a well-rounded character can’t just burst into existence one day fully formed. Everyone has a history. 

So how can you give your villain a backstory that tugs on readers’ heartstrings, without making it a sob story?

For this, we’re going to use Epic of Lilith as an example once again (How to Make Your Villain Domestic but Still Evil), as well as Megamind briefly. Some of these tips can also be applied to heroes, but we’ll stay villain-centric for now.  

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