Backstory Villain
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“A hall-burning,” Rorik said bitterly.
“Hall-burning?”
“It happens at home,” Rorik explained. “You go to an enemy’s hall and burn it to the ground. But there’s one thing about a hall-burning. You have to make sure everyone dies. If there are any survivors then they’ll take revenge,

(from) The Last Kingdom Bernard Cornwell

Basic Information

The backstory villain is a character from the protagonist's past who has played a significant part in forming their direction in life - usually the person that killed their family/mentor/home village or committed some other crime that either drives the protagonist to specific revenge or motivates them to prevent such things happening in future.

Sources

Bibliography
1. full source reference

Game and Story Use

  • Subverting this character can be great fun:
    • The backstory villain actually is the character's long dead parent/mentor - only works if the killing occurred off camera. (See for example "Darth Vader killed your father").
    • The character's parent/mentor was the backstory villain's backstory villain (for legitimate reasons or otherwise - finding that the guy you have dedicated your life to destroying is generally regarded as a hero and the loved one you hope to avenge is better known as a villain can be extremely subverting).
      • On a lower tier this is standard blood-feud/vendetta stuff: you kill the man who killed your father and his son comes hunting for you.
    • The villain has since become a hero - or at least The Atoner.
    • The character needs the villain's assistance against something far worse.
  • Also, consider the but for me it was Tuesday phenomenon - where the villain is genuinely surprised by the character's motivation and/or doesn't recall them or the incident they are avenging.
    • Or the villain actually didn't do it, but was false flagged or had an out of control subordinate acting outside their orders.
  • Likewise subverting this trope is when the revenge quest is set overly wide - for example the stereotypical fRPG character who has sworn genocide against orcs because of an orcish raid on his village when he was a child. Played straight this should actually be a far less wholesome character than it is often portrayed as being.

"My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father! Prepare to die!"

(from) The Princess Bride William Goldman

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