I saw this quote on social media, and it got me interested in wanting to read a good villain origin story:
“The story of villains is much more entertaining than the story of heroes, because monsters are not born, they are made. They do not emerge from the void or darkness by themselves, but they are shaped by circumstances, by the wounds of the world around them. They reflect the deepest of human pain, rejection, loneliness, misunderstanding. A hero is defined by his acts of bravery, but a villain is the result of a heart that was once pure and ended up corrupted. The monsters, in their tragedy, show us what could happen to us all, if the world turned its back on us.”
by Sulfito
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Peter David’s *Sir Apropos of Nothing*.
-We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Schriever
-The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
-DC Black Label’s Harleen (graphic novel)
-Lost Boy: The True Story Of Captain Hook by Christina Henry
Also the descent into madness is a very common theme in mythology, most notably the Greek myth of Medusa and the Norse Eddas. If you’ve never read the Eddas I’d recommend starting with Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology.