A villain the reader can genuinely empathize with because their pain, motivations, or circumstances make their path to villainy understandable - even if their actions are not forgivable.
A sympathetic villain is an antagonist designed to evoke the reader's empathy alongside their opposition. What separates them from a generic bad guy is that the reader can trace the emotional logic of how this person became what they are. Their suffering is real, their grievances might be legitimate, and in a different story with different luck, they might have been the hero. The key word is sympathy, not agreement - the reader understands the villain's pain without necessarily endorsing their actions.
A sympathetic villain elevates your entire story. When the reader feels a pang of sadness watching the antagonist lose, or catches themselves hoping the villain gets a second chance, the conflict becomes genuinely painful - and genuinely memorable. This kind of villain forces your protagonist (and your reader) to wrestle with the uncomfortable truth that good people can do terrible things.
The creature is perhaps literature's first great sympathetic villain. He asks for nothing but companionship and turns to violence only after every avenue of connection is denied to him.
Cersei Lannister commits genuinely terrible acts, but her perspective chapters reveal a woman shaped by a world that punished her for being female and powerful. Understanding her does not excuse her - it complicates her.
Several antagonists in this series operate under their own internally consistent moral frameworks, and Sanderson gives readers enough of their perspective to understand why they believe they are doing the right thing.
Elphaba - the Wicked Witch of the West - is reframed as a misunderstood activist fighting genuine oppression. The entire novel is an exercise in generating sympathy for a classic villain.
Sympathy has to live in the present, not just the past. Show moments where the villain hesitates, regrets, or demonstrates the good person they could have been. The backstory explains the wound; present-tense moments make the reader feel it.
The villain still needs to do villainous things. If the audience wants the antagonist to win, either your protagonist is too bland or your villain has become the actual hero of the story. Recalibrate.
Some of the most powerful sympathetic villains stay villains. The tragedy is that you understand them and they still choose destruction. Do not feel pressured to redeem a character just because you have made them relatable.
Write a 400-word scene from the villain's perspective at the moment they committed to their villainous path. Show the pain, the reasoning, and the specific breaking point that pushed them over the edge. The goal is to make the reader think, 'I hate what they are about to do, but I completely understand why.' Do not let the villain monologue about their plan - keep it personal and emotional.