Reverse Engineering a Villian

So one of the major villians in my series 'reason for evil' happens to be best described by Neutral Evil and Pragmatic Villiany. The Pragmatic Villiany actually makes a lot of sense for his character, because he happens to be well educated and frankly doesn't like getting his hands dirty. His Face–Heel Turn involved him realizing that the 'heroes' probably wouldn't win and it would be a better idea to join the 'bad guys' just to save his skin in advance.

• The one thing I'm not exactly sure about is: exactly what would his Freudian Excuse be? It wouldn't be a traditional Freudian Excuse, because he happens to be esentially a repungant human being who has almost nothing to put the 'blame' on for his villiany. (Grew up quite wealthy, had none of the other tradition blames: No Child Abuse, etc.) But exactly HOW would he become such an asshole?
• I have a few ideas regarding this:
  • A.) He was spoiled rotten by his parents who gave him whatever he wanted and therefore, began to think he was entitled to everything
  • B.) His parents fought constantly and he learned that by actively taking a side, he would benefit from it

I'm not sure if either of those make any sense, but I'd really appreciate any feedback or ideas you may have regarding this.

Need he a reason? Some people are just douchenozzles.

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!

While I don't think that he needs an excuse for his behaviour, combining both options would make for an interesting explanation of his attitude, if not his actual reasoning. Having two parents that fight constantly and try to bribe you to their side with gifts and flattery can really skew someone's impression of what "picking a side" really means.

I'll hide your name inside a word and paint your eyes with false perception.

Seconding this. He'd be more inclined to ask himself "What can I get out of this deal?" more than "Which side is actually right?"

I've considered this same thing actually with own character. I can say given own research into matter that your explored reasons with entitlement and such really are spot on. Plus plenty of documented real life cases about such people. A good series I can throw to look at if you ever get chance is ID's Behind Mansion Walls. It documents tons of people exactly like that and stuff that can lead into it.

One thing I could suggest looking into other things that turn people into things. Really, the whole "abusive" backgrounds aren't the only factors that can make someone an ass. In any case, the parents angle there I absolutely adore! Really, and I hate to say this, but even something as simple as that is all you'd really need. Just long enough influence of that in their life would hit on things. Humans really aren't all that "complex", I hate to say. We just have layers and reasons for it.

Improving as an author, one video at a time.

Thanks. That actually helped a lot.