20 Characters With Surprisingly Tragic Backstories

Not every villain needs to have a tragic backstory — in fact, they’re often scarier the less we know about them. Like, it wouldn’t add anything to No Country for Old Men if they threw in a flashback of the bad haircut man’s father being unsupportive. Likewise, Ted Lasso doesn’t need to have overcome the mean streets of Wichita to be the most wholesome character on TV.

Sometimes, though, writers give a character a backstory shocking enough to belong in a Hans Christian Andersen story seemingly just for the hell of it. Sure, it might explain a villain’s motivations or make an inspirational hero even more so, but not without traumatizing the audience almost as much. That’s why user thedragwol5 asked r/AskReddit, “Which character has a legitimately sad and not annoyingly edgy backstory?”