From Nobody to Nightmare is a popular scenario involving a character, a ordinary good guy who was either harmless/helpless, looked down upon, his/her existence was ignored, and worse, considered as an outcast or an individual that often being abused by other people that dislikes/hate them, either the Big Bad or minor yet crucial antagonists/villains in the story where they were featured at. Every abuse and misfortune the character endured holds a role in their character development, but in stark contrast of From Zero to Hero cases, said development takes a negative turn which lead to his/her growth into a villain, often the terrifying ones. Their opposites are characters who started off as normal citizen's and later became heroes.

Examples include Niles, Gray, Trollge, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Greg Heffley.

In addition of whether the future villain will eventually give in to the growing bitterness in their heart, there are external factors which contributed to this kind of character development:

• Protagonist/other good guys tragic mistake or other well-intentioned but disastrous acts that resulting in them depressed and pushed to the dark side.
• A result of the Big Bad or other villain's evil acts that intended to either merely ruined their innocence; rewarding the character with violence and cruelty out of prejudice/fear/jealousy sheer hatred; or more complex instance corrupted so they become their servant/disposable pawns.
• Feels dissatisfied with current life/status but chooses to go for the dark path to improve it.
• Becoming more and more villainous than they previously were

In either way, once this character descended into villainy, they would prove themself as one of the world's most terrifying villains ever seen. Befitting to this Origin Story route, their Rising to Power would be particularly terrifying for the audience as they unleashes her rage upon the world that has wronged them, often at the most catastrophic level possible as demonstrated by the titular character from Stephen King's Carrie.