Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-26512661-20200118161649/@comment-43757330-20200119173132

Granaatti wrote: Motivation and backstory are often linked though. Backstory typically reveals character motivation, because that's what good backstory does. Cinder has backstory, it's just shallow backstory that doesn't bother to reveal any of her character motivations. Just because her backstory is crappy doesn't mean it isn't backstory. That's why I prefer that people say she has no motivation as opposed to no backstory. Technically, she has more backstory than most of the other villains. Its the motivation that she lacks.

Hazel, for example, has only had his backstory explored through mere mention. But the context of that backstory reveals his motivation. That's why his backstory is better than Cinder's, despite it being far less explicit than hers.