Their backstory is their excuse for everything and it works on you every single time.
Your red flag has a past so devastating that it retroactively justifies every terrible thing they've ever done — at least in your eyes. They weren't born a villain. They were MADE one. And you see the person they could've been underneath the person they became, and you love THAT ghost more than you've ever loved anyone real. They hurt people. They've probably hurt you. But then they tell you about the village that burned, the family they lost, the choice they were forced to make at an age when they should've been playing, and suddenly your anger dissolves into aching tenderness. They use this. Maybe not consciously. But the pattern is clear: damage → reveal backstory → forgiveness → more damage. And you keep the cycle spinning because you genuinely believe that if you love them hard enough, the tragedy will become a redemption arc. It won't. But god, you'll try.
Get your read — free on iPhoneyou love the tragic villain because you've been the person who needed saving and nobody came.