diff --git a/frontend/src/components/MotivationBadge.tsx b/frontend/src/components/MotivationBadge.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d1f703c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/components/MotivationBadge.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+/**
+ * MotivationBadge — renders a threat actor motivation pill with a
+ * CSS-only hover tooltip explaining what the motivation means.
+ */
+
+const COLORS: Record<string, string> = {
+  espionage:   "border-purple-500/30 bg-purple-900/50 text-purple-400",
+  financial:   "border-yellow-500/30 bg-yellow-900/50 text-yellow-400",
+  destruction: "border-red-500/30    bg-red-900/50    text-red-400",
+  hacktivism:  "border-cyan-500/30   bg-cyan-900/50   text-cyan-400",
+};
+
+const DEFAULT_COLOR = "border-gray-600/30 bg-gray-800/50 text-gray-400";
+
+interface TooltipLine { label: string; text: string }
+
+const TOOLTIPS: Record<string, { heading: string; lines: TooltipLine[] }> = {
+  espionage: {
+    heading: "🕵️ Espionage",
+    lines: [
+      { label: "Goal",    text: "Steal sensitive data, intellectual property, or government secrets for intelligence purposes." },
+      { label: "Typical", text: "Nation-state APTs, long-duration intrusions, low detection priority." },
+      { label: "Example", text: "APT28, APT29, Turla, Lazarus Group (intelligence ops)." },
+    ],
+  },
+  financial: {
+    heading: "💰 Financial",
+    lines: [
+      { label: "Goal",    text: "Monetary gain through fraud, ransomware, cryptocurrency theft, or banking trojans." },
+      { label: "Typical", text: "Opportunistic attacks, ransomware deployment, data exfiltration for sale." },
+      { label: "Example", text: "FIN7, Carbanak, Cobalt Group, Wizard Spider." },
+    ],
+  },
+  destruction: {
+    heading: "💥 Destruction",
+    lines: [
+      { label: "Goal",    text: "Disrupt or destroy critical infrastructure, systems, or data — often geopolitically motivated." },
+      { label: "Typical", text: "Wiper malware, ICS/SCADA attacks, denial of service campaigns." },
+      { label: "Example", text: "Sandworm, APT37 (destructive ops), Cleaver." },
+    ],
+  },
+  hacktivism: {
+    heading: "✊ Hacktivism",
+    lines: [
+      { label: "Goal",    text: "Promote political or ideological causes through defacement, leaks, or disruptive attacks." },
+      { label: "Typical", text: "Website defacement, data leaks, DDoS campaigns, public statements." },
+      { label: "Example", text: "Anonymous Sudan, various politically motivated collectives." },
+    ],
+  },
+};
+
+interface MotivationBadgeProps {
+  motivation: string;
+  size?: "sm" | "md";
+  /** Show icon before label */
+  showIcon?: boolean;
+  className?: string;
+}
+
+export default function MotivationBadge({
+  motivation,
+  size = "md",
+  className = "",
+}: MotivationBadgeProps) {
+  const key = motivation.toLowerCase();
+  const color = COLORS[key] ?? DEFAULT_COLOR;
+  const tip = TOOLTIPS[key];
+  const pill = size === "sm" ? "px-2 py-0.5 text-[10px]" : "px-2 py-0.5 text-[11px]";
+
+  return (
+    <span className={`relative group inline-flex ${className}`}>
+      {/* Badge */}
+      <span className={`inline-flex cursor-help items-center rounded-full border font-medium capitalize ${pill} ${color}`}>
+        {motivation}
+      </span>
+
+      {/* Tooltip — below badge */}
+      {tip && (
+        <span
+          className="
+            pointer-events-none absolute top-full left-0 z-50 mt-2
+            w-72
+            rounded-xl border border-gray-700 bg-gray-900 p-3 shadow-xl
+            opacity-0 transition-opacity duration-150
+            group-hover:opacity-100
+          "
+        >
+          {/* Arrow */}
+          <span className="absolute bottom-full left-4 border-4 border-transparent border-b-gray-700" />
+          <p className="mb-2 text-xs font-semibold text-white">{tip.heading}</p>
+          {tip.lines.map(({ label, text }) => (
+            <div key={label} className="mb-1.5 last:mb-0">
+              <span className="text-[10px] font-medium uppercase tracking-wide text-gray-500">
+                {label}
+              </span>
+              <p className="text-[11px] leading-snug text-gray-300">{text}</p>
+            </div>
+          ))}
+        </span>
+      )}
+    </span>
+  );
+}
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorDetailPage.tsx b/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorDetailPage.tsx
index f4a602f..77b434f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorDetailPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorDetailPage.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { useParams, useNavigate } from "react-router-dom";
 import MarkdownText from "../components/MarkdownText";
+import MotivationBadge from "../components/MotivationBadge";
 import { useQuery } from "@tanstack/react-query";
 import {
   Loader2,
@@ -218,10 +219,7 @@ export default function ThreatActorDetailPage() {
             </span>
           )}
           {actor.motivation && (
-            <span className="inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full border border-purple-500/30 bg-purple-900/50 px-3 py-1 text-xs text-purple-400">
-              <Target className="h-3.5 w-3.5" />
-              {actor.motivation}
-            </span>
+            <MotivationBadge motivation={actor.motivation} />
           )}
           {actor.sophistication && (
             <span className="inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-full border border-cyan-500/30 bg-cyan-900/50 px-3 py-1 text-xs text-cyan-400">
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorsPage.tsx b/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorsPage.tsx
index 65e6383..33e2d49 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorsPage.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/ThreatActorsPage.tsx
@@ -35,20 +35,7 @@ function coverageBg(pct: number) {
 }
 
 /** Motivation badge colour. */
-function motivationColor(m: string | null) {
-  switch (m?.toLowerCase()) {
-    case "espionage":
-      return "border-purple-500/30 bg-purple-900/50 text-purple-400";
-    case "financial":
-      return "border-yellow-500/30 bg-yellow-900/50 text-yellow-400";
-    case "destruction":
-      return "border-red-500/30 bg-red-900/50 text-red-400";
-    case "hacktivism":
-      return "border-cyan-500/30 bg-cyan-900/50 text-cyan-400";
-    default:
-      return "border-gray-600/30 bg-gray-800/50 text-gray-400";
-  }
-}
+import MotivationBadge from "../components/MotivationBadge";
 
 export default function ThreatActorsPage() {
   const navigate = useNavigate();
@@ -161,9 +148,7 @@ export default function ThreatActorsPage() {
                     </span>
                   )}
                   {actor.motivation && (
-                    <span className={`inline-flex rounded-full border px-2 py-0.5 text-[11px] font-medium ${motivationColor(actor.motivation)}`}>
-                      {actor.motivation}
-                    </span>
+                    <MotivationBadge motivation={actor.motivation} size="sm" />
                   )}
                 </div>