Edward Nigma is a man who has spent a vast amount of his life studying, exploring and memorizing all the knowledge he possibly could. Being raised by abusive and neglectful parents, he strived to be the most intelligent man alive. His parents (primarily his father) refused to believe he could ever become smarter than them, often accusing him of cheating whenever he succeeded in school academics or trivial games. This may have been what caused his inferiority complex to become so deep that he feels compelled to always leave cryptic clues to anyone worthy of his games in an attempt to prove both his honesty and his intellect, initially taking on the moniker of Enigma.