History FromNobodyToNightmare / FanWorks

** [[spoiler:Mikumo Akatani]], KnightOfCerebus, ManipulativeBastard, and a fearsome Yakuza Patriarch, started down his life of crime after [[spoiler:he failed to get into UA because the physical exam was geared to exclude quirkless people and his mom died]]. He just a random quikless bullied teen before that.

* In ''Fanfic/TheButcherBird'', Grigori Vinci goes swiftly from rookie [[VillainProtagonist pirate]] to legitimate Paradise threat to leader of a pirate alliance that [[spoiler: gets him a Warlord position.]]

[[AC:''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'']]

* ''Fanfic/OniGaShikuSeries'': [[spoiler:Mikumo Akatani]], KnightOfCerebus, ManipulativeBastard, and a fearsome Yakuza Patriarch, started down his life of crime after [[spoiler:he failed to get into UA because the physical exam was geared to exclude quirkless people and his mom died]]. He just a random quikless bullied teen before that.

* ''WebAnimation/WhereWasMyHero'': [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Miles Prower]], "thanks" to [[ButterflyOfDoomtripping over a rock and thus never encountering Sonic]], goes from a timid bullying victim to a mass-murdering tyrant.

* ''WebAnimation/WhereWasMyHero'': [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Miles Prower]], "thanks" to [[ForWantOfANail tripping over a rock and thus never encountering Sonic]], goes from a timid bullying victim to a mass-murdering tyrant.

[[AC:''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}]]

* ''[[Fanfic/ApotheosisMHA Apotheosis]]'': Midoriya Izuku went from a bullied quirkless kid to the worst supervillain Japan has seen since All for One in little over a year, all thanks to the Infinity Gauntlet.

[[AC:''Franchise/TeenTitans'']]

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures Ghidorah]]'s backstory reveals that the spacefaring, {{omnicidal|Maniac}} DraconicAbomination and ArchEnemy of Godzilla used to be nothing more than a species of wild critter on a distant alien world that was just fighting every day for survival. Then [[spoiler:[[AbusivePrecursors the Makers]] nabbed those critters]]...

** Last but not least, [[TheDreaded Kyril Sutherland]]. [[PlayerCharacter The Good Hunter]]. Chronologically, he manages to ''[[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zag]]'' this trope. At the beginning of it all, he was a son of a poor farmer. The remastered version describes this as "a dirty existence eked out on a potato farm". Then ''VideoGame/BloodBorne'' happened, [[spoiler:[[AndThenJohnWasAZombie and then Kyril was]] [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext a squid]]]]. To keep this concise and more understandable, he went to a town named Yharnam in search for a cure for his illness, as an unarmed outsider. It is how he became an EmpoweredBadassNormal HunterOfMonsters, slaying beasts and other hunters by the dozens and hundreds, even to the point of [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punching out]] at least three [[EldritchAbomination great ones]]. After that, [[spoiler:he was somehow [[EldritchTransformation transformed]] into a [[EldritchAbomination great one]] himself, but he managed to avert the BlueAndOrangeMorality that comes with his [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascension]]]]. [[spoiler:Taking a [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith human form]]]], he [[WalkingTheEarth wandered around the world]] until his arrival to Eostia, again as a foreign outsider. There, he started out as a regular [[HiredGuns sellsword]], only to kick tons of ass and be [[{{Knighting}} knighted]] as [[BlackKnight Sir Kyril (the Bloody)]]. He even gets [[FieldPromotion promoted]] to Lord Executioner, equivalent to the ruler's left-hand man. The kicker is that the people InUniverse believed that this trope is PlayedStraight for him once (because [[spoiler:Kyril's true nature]] has yet to be common knowledge), but the readers who have played ''VideoGame/BloodBorne'' before will [[DramaticIrony understand]] that it actually applies to him ''twice''.

* In ''Fanfic/TheWizardInTheShadows'', Harry is technically already a nightmare - to the bad guys. He proceeds to become an even bigger nightmare. First, he's an eleven year old muggle raised kid. Then he becomes TheChosenOne and a general badass. After his unwilling long term stay in Middle-Earth, he's a KnifeNut, a MasterSwordsman and the terror of every bad guy short of Sauron himself - who is noted as being wary, though not in a personal sense, of what Harry is capable of - and has people speaking his name in tones of awe/fear from the tip of Northern Middle Earth to Far Harad.

* ''[[TheWolvesInTheWoodsMiraculousLadybug The Wolves in the Woods]]'' applies this to the majority of Marinette's former classmates. Thanks to Ms. Bustier's [[MisplacedKindergartenTeacher questionable]] [[TurnTheOtherCheek policies]] effectively ''rewarding'' bullying, along with Lila [[MadeOutToBeAJerkass painting Marinette as a]] BitchInSheepsClothing, Alya and most of the class drove her out of Francoise Dupont. Their success in doing so has emboldened them to the point that they freely threaten the {{New Transfer Student}}s to get in line ''or else''. Lila herself is horrified by what she's unintentionally created, mostly because she recognizes [[HourglassPlot they expect HER to become their new Marinette]] and [[AllTakeAndNoGive do whatever they demand of her]].

[[AC:''Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys'']]

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/38673057/chapters/96685986 The Wolves in the Woods]]'' applies this to the majority of Marinette's former classmates. Thanks to Ms. Bustier's [[MisplacedKindergartenTeacher questionable]] [[TurnTheOtherCheek policies]] effectively ''rewarding'' bullying, along with Lila [[MadeOutToBeAJerkass painting Marinette as a]] BitchInSheepsClothing, Alya and most of the class drove her out of Francoise Dupont. Their success in doing so has emboldened them to the point that they freely threaten the {{New Transfer Student}}s to get in line ''or else''. Lila herself is horrified by what she's unintentionally created, mostly because she recognizes [[HourglassPlot they expect HER to become their new Marinette]] and [[AllTakeAndNoGive do whatever they demand of her]].

[[AC:''Literature/{{Temeraire}}'']]
* ''Fanfic/BlackWingsBlackSails'' follows Will Laurence as he goes from a tolerated third son of a minor noble and ordinary ship captain in His Majesty's Navy, to a feared pirate with an ever-growing bounty on his head.

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* ''Fanfic/FriendshipIsMagicalGirls'': [[spoiler:Snails starts as one of Sunset Shimmer's minions in the Magic Arc, until she sacrifices him to Chrysalis to appease her. This leads to Snails being transformed into the Royal Drone Eskarrg, who acts as Chrysalis' [[TheDragon Dragon]] in the Loyalty Arc.]]

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11300816/7/Combined-Perspectives Combined Perspectives]]'', a fic prequel to ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', depicts Pearl as a ShrinkingViolet of low rank, who was fleeing Homeworld authorities when [[RebelLeader Rose]] found her. [[LongLived Millennia]] later, she has become a MasterSwordswoman and experienced strategist who's defeated countless gems in battle.
* Implied in "In Her Memory". Zentashin rose from slavery to become a powerful Sith Lord, only to watch his lover die. It's implied that he wades through a lot of corpses to see her death avenged.
* [[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/255512/we-are-what-we-are We Are What We Are]] has Starshot. Downplayed in that he ''was'' Starswirl's nephew, but he starts out as just another one of the Dazzlings victims. He's now the BigBad, and come chapter 46, and he's coming ''damn'' close to getting his revenge.
* Fanfic/ShinraHighSOLDIER has Julia Nakahamou, who starts her life as the daughter of a very poor family and spends years of her teenagehood being completely terrified of her parents and allowing them to abuse her in spite of her tremendous powers. Once she is drafted into the Shinra army however, she almost immediately becomes its amoral and arrogant Commander, with genocide and arbitrary executions (through torture) as her favorite solutions to problems.
* In Fanfic/TheSagesDisciple, Crow is this to the rest of the 4th Holy Grail War participants as he literally appeared out of nowhere, leaving them with nothing to work with aside from what he lets them see. [[spoiler: He and his Servant Caster have really lived up to the nightmare part by disarming Gilgamesh of all of his weapons, a feat that left the King of Heroes catatonic for several hours.]]
* ''Fanfic/LifeOreDeath'' mixes this with MookHorrorShow for [[OriginalCharacter Ferris,]] as the villains know almost nothing about her. She has no history, being from [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy another dimension,]] but after she signed up with the [[WesternAnimation/YoungJustice Justice League]] she trounced the Light's top enforcer and wrecked several plots, to the point that they make a new plan just to learn about her.
* ''Fanfic/TheMakingsOfTeamCRME'': Cinder Fall is one of the major antagonists of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' and caused a massive amount of destruction with her actions. ''Fanfic/MyNameIsCinder'' shows that she was the little girl Cinder Autumn Stark and was continually abused by her mother. While the Stark family was rich, they were not known much outside of the elites. However, the story shows her getting on her way to becoming the diabolical Cinder Fall.
* ''Fanfic/TheLandOfWhatMightHaveBeen'' eventually reveals that the Hellion - a monster feared throughout the land and powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Elphaba - started out as [[spoiler: the alternate Dorothy Gale, an unassuming fifteen-year-old farm kid left in the path of a FantasticNuke and horribly mutated by exposure to portal radiation.]]
* Janine in the ''Series/{{Sanctuary}}'' fanfic ''Concerning Us'' starts out as a simple university student the Praxian Council doesn't even deem worthy of investigation. After spending a century fighting the product of their reckless experiment and taking several levels in badass she's ''in the secluded city'', and she's coming for them.
** Ranna qualifies as well: from just one of the aspiring young politicians to Seneschal who easily manipulates people, with a hidden agenda to take down the Council. Then she does so, in spectacular fashion.
* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'' Jeremiah Cross becomes this to the World Government after he joins the Straw Hat Pirates. He is from the regular world and was a fan of the manga, meaning he knows everything up to the end of the Dressrosa arc. After getting his hands on a transceiver, a Vegapunk device that allows to connect to every single transponder Snail in the world, he begins airing the World Government's dirty laundry for all the world to see.
* Because of his utter lack of backstory, there are numerous stories that make [[TheDreaded King]] [[EvilOverlord Sombra]] this. One such example is [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/194310/the-umbra-king The Umbra King.]] In it, Sombra was little more then an ordinary unicorn who lived on the outskirts of The Crystal Empire. But when arctic timberwolves killed his family (they nearly killed him, too) he, desperate to live again, found [[ArtifactOfDoom The Nightmare Gem]] and merged with it, leading him to become the tyrant he is now.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1201576 A Villian is the Hero of Their Own Story]]'': All For One used to be a boy named Hisashi who was kicked out of his home along with his brother Kazuki after developing a Quirk. When courting Inko, he mentions that some of his last truly happy memories are of he and Kazuki digging through Dagobah beach for scraps to survive off of. This is the same man who'd not only go on to become the top villain in Japan, but also admits he's probably killed a relative or ancestor of the vast majority of people in Japan.
* In ''Fanfic/TheWizardInTheShadows'' Harry is technically already a nightmare - to the bad guys. He proceeds to become an even bigger nightmare. First, he's an eleven year old muggle raised kid. Then he becomes TheChosenOne and a general badass. After his unwilling long term stay in Middle-Earth, he's a KnifeNut, a MasterSwordsman and the terror of every bad guy short of Sauron himself - who is noted as being wary, though not in a personal sense, of what Harry is capable of - and has people speaking his name in tones of awe/fear from the tip of Northern Middle Earth to Far Harad.
** In the fic itself, he proceeds to ramp it up even further, wielding PhysicalGod level powers (though he was being powered up for those incidents) and is revealed to be a low level RealityWarper [[spoiler: he disregards the basic laws of magic. And yes, only his finite power levels and lack of comprehension of exactly how powerful this makes him stops him being a total GameBreaker.]]
* The Oogakari from ''Fanfic/YetAgainWithALittleExtraHelp''. From what we've been shown through character profiles, before coming in contact with their [[PhysicalGod benefactress]] they were just plain old run of the mill mortals, who have since chosen the names Shadow, Waltz, Crypt, Scabbard, and Ghost, but now are credited as [[RealityWarper The Second Origin]], [[TheBerserker The Red Flood]], [[BloodKnight The Devil's Collection]], [[GadgeteerGenius The Legacy's Prophet]], and by far the worst [[PersonOfMassDestruction The]] [[BerserkButton God]] [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast of]] [[DuelToTheDeath None]] respectively. Mainly though they are a nightmare to all who know them, but more in a hilarious way rather than a scary one, [[BerserkButton mostly]].
* In a ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' fanfic, You Just Had to Destroy that Planet, Jōshō (a RealityWarper and main character) was just a married man living in said world making weapons for villains with his wife, Jihi. Said villains (except Lord Dominator) decide to raze his planet in search of a rumored ultimate weapon killing Jihi in the process. [[spoiler:Jōshō snapped and decided to actually bust out said weapon. With it, he slays the villains, breaks Wander with talking, and now traveling the multiverse as a villain who wants to see the world suffer. To add insult to injury, he gains Dominator as a girlfriend. And he's training her in his fighting style.]]

* In ''Fanfic/AmbienceAFleetSymphony'', Franklin Roosevelt Kevinson, [[spoiler:the former admiral of the first-generation Shiratsuyu-class]], was originally just some two-bit lieutenant who got chosen to play the role he got. In chapter 293, [[spoiler:Sanford says that both he and Big]] made the mistake of thinking that Franklin would be just an indignant but ultimately powerless nobody once his part came to an end. Little did they expect that he would make his return as [[spoiler:a superhuman cyborg, admiral to the first American shipgirls and a major player in the coup against President Blackwood.]]
* ''Fanfic/ApotheosisMHA'': Midoriya Izuku went from a bullied quirkless kid to the worst supervillain Japan has seen since All for One in little over a year, all thanks to the Infinity Gauntlet.
* The ''Temeraire'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BlackWingsBlackSails'' follows Will Laurence as he goes from a tolerated third son of a minor noble and ordinary ship captain in His Majesty's Navy, to a feared pirate with an ever-growing bounty on his head.

* In ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'', the heroes view Ami in this light. She's actually more of an [[OutsideContextProblem outside context]] [[GuileHero stealth hero]]. However, subtle foreshadowing indicates that TheCorruption might become a problem at some future point, and cause [[spoiler: Empress]] Mercury to play it straight.
* This is pretty much the whole point of the {{WesternAnimation/Superfriends}} story ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4602078/1/Challenge_of_the_Super_Friends_The_End The End]]'', where the Legion of Doom become far, far more tormented, horrific and powerful beings than their previous laughably incompetent selves.

* ''FanFic/EscapeFromTheMoon'': [[spoiler: Doa/Spliced Genome was just an independent biochemist researcher consultant before she became a war criminal with a death count in the billions.]]

* [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Toph]] is this to the Fire Nation in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13677849/5/Flames-of-Regicide Flames of Regicide]]''. From a nobleman's blind daughter to a powerful earthbender to quite possibly a worse threat than the Avatar, all because of her invention of metalbending. All of the Fire Nation's machinery, weapons, and armor are made out of metal, so if Toph can teach her metalbending to others, a relatively small force of earthbenders could devastate the Fire Nation's armies with ease.
* In ''Fanfic/MastermindStrategistForHire'', Izuku goes from a bullied Quirkless kid to a widely-feared criminal mastermind and one of the greatest threats to Pro Heroes in all of Japan.
* [[spoiler: Future Devastator]] in ''FanFic/TheMeasureOfATitan'' began as a chemical engineer in Gotham who barely understood how his powers worked. When [[spoiler: ComicBook/TheJoker murders his wife and blinds him]] he [[JerkassHasAPoint begins to obsess that repeatedly throwing crazy metahumans in jail doesn't solve the problem]] [[CardboardPrison as they easily break free.]] He goes up into the mountains for a few months, and when he returns he ''single-handedly levels Arkham Asylum and kills everyone inside''. He then goes on to become the most dangerous mercenary in the world, specializing in metahumans, and becomes capable of [[spoiler: single-handedly killing the Titans in a four-on-one-battle]].
* Five hundred years before the events of ''FanFic/MyLittleAlicorn'', Kuchen was originally the eccentric son of a pair of bakers. Then one day he [[CrashIntoHello literally landed on Celestia's back]], and impressed her enough with his knowledge that she made him her student. Over the years, he proved himself to be an excellent researcher, so the Princess had him research Alicorns [[spoiler: so she could find a way to bring Nightmare Moon back earlier and expel her from Luna without the Elements.]] And then a combination of a very bad judgment call on Celestia's part, and him discovering [[UnreliableNarrator Luna's journal]], eventually drives Kuchen to try and [[WellIntentionedExtremist better the pony race by]] [[EvilutionaryBiologist turning everypony into Alicorns.]] By the time Celestia finally stopped [[spoiler: and killed]] him, he had slaughtered entire villages, [[BodyHorror created the Seapony race]], [[spoiler: killed his best friend and used his skin as a blanket for his TomeOfEldritchLore]], and to top it off, [[spoiler: possessed his wife and children so that someday, he would be able to [[GrandTheftMe possess them and get revenge on Celestia.]]]]
* Suzaku Kururugi of ''FanFic/MyMirrorSwordAndShield'' was a OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent HappilyAdopted by Britannian scientists, Cecile and Lloyd and accidentally {{Time Travel}}s too far back in his attempt to prevent his adoptive father's death and ends up in the War of Ascension. Suzaku ends [[HiredForTheirLooks being hired as eye candy]] for [[EvilOverlord Emperor Lelouch]] and ends up being Emperor Lelouch's [[UndyingLoyalty loyal]] and [[TheDreaded feared]] [[TheDragon Dragon]], the White Death who can take down the Black Knights and the Knights of Round single-handedly. All to in sure the [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight proper timeline]] and a peaceful future.
* ''Fanfic/NewTamaran''
** While Scarecrow is normally a C-list villain, here he manages to take over the mind of Raven, an overpowered half-demon, whom he almost turns into a GodOfEvil.
** [[spoiler:Blackfire has gone from a two-episode villain to … well, everything about her.]]
** [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/19168039 Cheshire’s story]] has her going from third world village girl to master assassin to leader of a terrorist organization to triggering a xenothium bomb in Dubai.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' has a sidestory centered on Twenty Gyarados Bill, who is cited as the reason for the six active Pokémon limit. It depicts how he started as a simple crewman in a fishing boat who was always mocked by everyone for being useless, even given a Magikarp as a mock gift, being called as "the Magikarp of humans". Needless to say, [[AnalogyBackfire he took this comparison to heart]] [[MagikarpPower and decided that he would become]] [[TheDreaded the Gyarados of humans]] to get revenge on everyone who laughed at him, becoming the terror of coastal Johto.

* ''FanFic/TheRiseOfDarthVulcan'' has the titular character: Ted was originally just a common teenage {{Jerkass}}, until he [[GrailInTheGarbage found the Alicorn Amulet]] and was transported to Equestria. Now, he's an EvilSorcerer who can fight the Mane Six and the Princesses evenly, leads a [[EqualOpportunityEvil vast army]] of Diamond Dogs, [[spoiler: changelings]], Equestrian criminals and outcasts of every stripe, and minotaur mercenaries, and has declared himself the absolute ruler of the Everfree Forest.

* ''Fanfic/FriendshipIsMagicalGirls'': [[spoiler: Snails starts as one ofSunset Shimmer's minions in the Magic Arc, until she sacrifices him to Chrysalis to appease her. This leads to Snails being transformed into the Royal Drone Eskarrg, who acts as Chrysalis' [[TheDragon Dragon]] in the Loyalty Arc.]]
* [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/17890/fallout-equestria-starlight Fallout: Equestria: Starlight]] has the Sins, seven ponies (well four ponies, one zebra, one donkey ghoul, and one minotaur) who were transformed and given great power through dark magic. All of them qualify, but none more so then Sloth... ...Better known as [[spoiler: Cranky Doodle Donkey.]]

* In ''[[Fanfic/YuGiOhTheThousandYearDoor Yu-Gi-Oh! The Thousand Year Door: Redux]]'', the Shadow Queen was originally a starving, penniless, malnourished beggar until a DealWithTheDevil made her a cruel tyrant and powerful dark sorceress with goals of world domination.
** The same could be said for [[TheDragon Lyrius]], who was simply a teenage boy and a resident of a city in the path of her demonic army, who would have been slaughtered just like everyone else had he not had the courage to stand up to her, thinking he had nothing to lose. She was in no danger, but [[TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne the display impressed her enough]] to offer him a [[WeCanRuleTogether place by her side]] which he accepted. He later became one of the most dreaded warriors of the Emperor of Shadow, and feared by the Queen's subjects almost as much as they feared her.