I tell you, Satan's gonna have no trouble taking over here 'cause all the women are gonna say: 'What a cute butt.' 'He's Satan!' 'You don't know him like I do.' 'He's the Prince of Darkness!' 'I can change him.'
There's a difference between having
a sympathetic backstory and actually being
sympathetic.
When a fandom takes a controversial, antagonistic or downright villainous character and downplays his flaws, often turning him into an object of desire in the process.
This can run into conflict with the opinions of writers not willing to
retool the character to fit this appetite.
Executive Meddling in this arena often results in quick
Woobiefication (deep devotion by contrary fans) or even
Badass Decay. In fanfiction, they are frequently the object of the local
Mary Sue, who
uses the power of love to redeem the character. In extreme cases, the affection these characters receive from fans can lead them to forget that
they're actually still supposed to be villains, meaning that
even the mildest and most obvious act of villainy that these characters commit can be blown out of proportion by their fans and viewed as the production team attempting to force them to commit 'out-of-character' acts of atrocity. Or, on the flip side, even the worst crossings of the
Moral Event Horizon can be rationalized, while any insult from the hero towards the villain is cast as deplorably mean. Needless to say, this is dirty pool.
Common reasons for this include the character being wicked in a
classy or
cool way, or a deliberate contrast to a hero they find too squeaky-clean (or
stupid). A physically attractive character is much more likely to be subject to this trope than a physically ugly one;
Beauty Equals Goodness, after all, and shallow as it may be it seems that for some fans this is the case even when the character's beauty only does extend to their appearance. It is possibly a real-life example of
All Girls Want Bad Boys (most victims of this trope are male). Characters of this type are also often prime repositories for
Fetish Fuel, so softening their darker aspects may in some cases be a fan's self-justification for her own
Perverse Sexual Lust.
It's also true that many villains (especially nowadays) come with
some story attached that does make them seem more sympathetic. This can sometimes cause fans to zero in on such stories and forget that the characters are still supposed to be villains.
Jerkass Dissonance usually plays a part in this trope; it is much easier for people to forgive and overlook the negative qualities and stress the
Freudian Excuses that form a vaguely sympathetic back-story for fictional characters than it is to do the same for people in real-life, because the actions of the fictional character have no real-world effect. Chances are, someone who waxes lyrical over a
Draco In Leather Pants would in all likelihood detest someone with the exact same qualities if they encountered them in
Real Life, sympathetic back-story or not - it is much easier to derive affection and amusement for such characters if you don't have to deal with them in person on a frequent basis, or if their actions have no real world consequences.
In fairness, more than a few authors have written morally
ambiguous characters, then acted surprised when sections of a fandom embraced them as heroic. The personal nature of morality means that actions one person finds to be
equatable to dog-kicking will seem
perfectly justified, even pragmatic to another, especially if it's of the
Designated Evil variety. This is especially common with the
Magnificent Bastard and the
Designated Villain. This can be especially true if the setting is the
Crapsack World or
World Half Empty: in a state of moral ambiguity, if the heroes are not good, and the bystanders are not innocent, audiences will naturally root for the coolest character.
Named for a term in
Harry Potter fandom for the most sympathetic
Fan Fic portrayals of Draco Malfoy, who in
Canon is a petty,
smug Spoiled Brat and admittedly pitiable annoyance. A fanfic series authored/assembled by
Cassandra Claire
titled
The Draco Trilogy featured Draco as a clever, snarky
Anti Hero and had him wear leather pants. While the story somewhat justified this by giving him a
Heel Face Turn, the characterization soon became standard
Fanon even among people who weren't explicitly Draco fans. And, of course, subsequent fanfic writers left out the
Heel Face Turn part, acting as though Draco was somehow a good guy all along and the canon heroes just didn't
understand him enough. (While it existed before
the movies, casting Tom "Ooh, he's so dark and bishie" Felton as Draco did not help things. Or greatly helped them depending on your point of view...)
The biggest red flag for this trope might be fans lusting after an evil character; however, that's by no means conclusive, since
some villains really are just that good looking.
For other cases where the audience embraces a villain, see
Unintentionally Sympathetic. For the fan villainization of one or more of the original protagonists, see
Ron The Death Eater. When the audience embraces admire a villain, knowing he's evil, then it's
Love To Hate. Some villain archetypes, such as the
Smug Snake (because of their off-puttingly arrogant personality), female villains (they
might even
be hated for
exactly the same actions),
AntiHeroes,
AntiVillains and the
Complete Monster (because of the severity of their evil deeds) are rarely susceptible to this. But is still could happen.
Remember, simply liking a villain or even fetishing over them is not this trope!
Character Tropes in danger of becoming
Dracos in Leather Pants:
Not to be confused with
a certain video making the rounds these days.
Note: Justifying edits along the lines of, "Well, Character A redeemed themselves of killing a family of five with a screwdriver by handing a little old lady a hundred dollar bill" will be considered as the strongest evidence possible that the character BELONGS on this page.
Examples:
JustBugsMe 
Quotes 
PlayingWith 
SugarWiki 
