Are traditional Chinese characters simplified from complex ancient Chinese?

Not exactly. The evolution of Chinese characters is very complicated. Generally speaking, the structure is more and more complex, the number of words is more and more, and the basic components from graphics to lines to strokes are gradually sparse, making it difficult to write. It can't be simply called simplification, nor can it be simply called complexity. Of course, the movement of simplified Chinese characters after the founding of the People's Republic of China is not such a process, it can be said that it is jumping, and many simplification methods are very unreasonable.