Varic is actually a prince, and rightful heir to the elf kingdom of Wintervale.  His youth was spent as a spoiled, arrogant, stuck-up little shit, and he fully embraced his family's belief in their own natural superiority.  His views only changed after he was in his early second century.  To his own shock as much as anyone else's, he befriended a soulless maid.  She was, in fact, his first crush.  Though it was highly doubtful anything would have truly blossomed from their friendship, he never had the chance to find out.  His parents learned he was "slumming beneath his station" and had the poor girl flayed in front of him.  It was a sudden and harsh realization of the sort of family he had been raised by.  He stole away in the middle of the night and made a vow to whatever er would hear him that he would make up for the legacy he was a part of.

He journeyed for years, a wandering swordsman who threw himself at the worst cruelties imaginable in the name of justice for the helpless.  It wasn't long until he had not only respect from everyday people, but the blessings of the divine, serving as a paladin, delivering holy smiting where it was needed most.  He fought man and beast, mage and dragon, demon and abomination.  Always with a clear future goal on mind.

With several friends he'd met over the years and made his name with, he returned to Wintervale and with his friends' help, he slew and overthrew his family.  He refused the crown, knowing that as bad as his family was, there was a deep streak of corruption in the kingdom that needed to be stamped out before he could consider ruling.