...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Unintentionally Sympathetic
- 196 statements
- 34 feature instances
- 17 referencing feature instances
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | label |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | page |
UnintentionallySympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | comment |
A case of Misaimed Fandom. When a character is Unintentionally Sympathetic, it means they get a lot more sympathy from the audience than the writers were expecting. But unlike Draco in Leather Pants, this isn't a case of audience members downplaying their flaws because they think the character is sexy, cool, or funny. Rather, something about the narrative itself — the character's motivations, their actions, the others' response to said actions, the framing of the scenario, etc. — does the job for them. On the low end, you have characters the audience still acknowledges is in the wrong, but think the punishment they received outweighs whatever the wrongdoing was. On the high end, not only is the audience wholeheartedly on the side of the wrongdoer, but they've now started hating the "heroes" instead for punishing or opposing the character when said character is either harmless, not at fault for the actual problem, or completely justified in their actions. Plus they donate to charities and help out the community, so where's the part we're supposed to hate? Possible reasons for unintentional sympathy include: Cry for the Devil or Alas, Poor Villain is in play, but the author succeeds too well. The supposed hero is a dick or/and a jerkass. The character may not seem that villainous if you think about it, and the author may not have. Alternatively, they are villainous, but they're so bad at it that you can't help but feel sorry for them. Or, whatever villainy they are supposedly guilty of is either an Informed Flaw or part of a Noodle Incident / Riddle for the Ages that is never really explained to the audience. So the audience might end up giving the villain the benefit of the doubt because they aren't given a real reason to hate and/or root against them. The character is The Resenter, and his reasons for his resentment seem perfectly justified. The character wasn't fully in control of their heinous actions, be it through brainwashing, The Corruption or whatever. The character gets their Laser-Guided Karma, but their actions weren't as bad as the story makes them out to be, so the "karma" feels a bit extreme. Thus, the story's attempts to paint them as an Asshole Victim fall short, especially if Blaming the Victim is in play somehow. The reasons you must hate the character carry Unfortunate Implications. The character may be a villain in their own right, but they've killed off and/or punished a character who is even more despicable or that the audience hates even more (i.e. a Hate Sink, The Scrappy, a Jerkass, a Complete Monster, or a Creator's Pet, to name a few). Bonus sympathy points if they actually have a moral compass or some principles compared to their victim. Values Dissonance: Ideals that are unacceptable at one time or place are more acceptable at another. The character has some objectively good points (for which their "crimes" may seem minor compared), but neither the story nor the heroes really seem to consider them. The character is an Anti-Villain but for one reason or another the work treats them as a straight villain (this is more common in adaptations and Fan-Fics, but not exclusive to them). While many a Propaganda Piece will try to make the villain as unlikable and flawed as possible, others curiously make the villain an otherwise good person who doesn't conform to the author's beliefs. This is probably intended to show "Xism alone can make somebody evil" but often backfires spectacularly, especially if the character in question doesn't actually do anything with these beliefs. The Non-Malicious Monster was just about to get the hug they needed to stop their rampage or even turn face, but then some idiot pressed shoot. The character is finally having their big moment after being put through so much abuse. The story went through a rewrite (possibly with a different author at the helm this time) and was originally going to be more nuanced if not straight Grey-and-Grey Morality. This can result in a lot of the above situations if the villain's original redeeming points don't get removed, reworked, or acknowledged. A fantastic element that makes a viewpoint that's widely considered reprehensible in real life far more valid in-universe. A common example is a character who is meant to come off as bigoted for not trusting a race with supernatural powers, or even a verifiable natural inclination to harm people. Inversely, a viewpoint presented as wrong can be seen as far more valid without the fantastic elements. Doubly so if there is a masquerade going on and the character isn't fully aware of the implications of their actions. The characters in question are Mooks or Bit Part Bad Guys, but they're not particularly evil or are just simply doing their jobs. But then the so-called "hero" kills them in a particularly gruesome and horrifying manner. This is especially true for Slave Mooks who are forced to serve a villain against their will but get brutally slaughtered anyway. A Freudian Excuse portrayed as insufficient has more ground to stand on than the story or characters claim. The author themself is morally reprehensible and holds viewpoints that most people would consider to be closer to a villain than a hero, so the work is presented through their deeply skewed perspective. Remember that different people have different standards, and the author can't necessarily account for every audience member's reaction: some people are going to sympathize with the villain no matter how unspeakably vile you try to make them. In adaptations, especially ones made long after the source material, it's not uncommon to see these characters re-interpreted as outright Tragic Villains. It is also worth noting that the un part of the title is important here. Characters only belong on these lists if they were intended for the audience not to like them. If it is intended for the villain to be sympathetic, you have Cry for the Devil. Compare with Strawman Has a Point, where a character who is intended to be unsympathetic makes a point that's better than the author's own, and who doesn't necessarily become more sympathetic in the process (although the two may overlap); Karmic Overkill, when audiences feel they deserved punishment but what the narrative treated as fair was excessive; Jerkass Woobie, for characters who were supposed to be seen primarily as Jerkasses but are instead more seen as Woobies by many fans; and Unpopular Popular Character, where a character isn't liked in-universe, but has plenty of fans in the real world. Contrast with its inversion, Unintentionally Unsympathetic, although both are very likely to occur together. For example, if a character is written to be cheered by the viewers but fails to do so, the character who's meant to be unfavored for opposing them tends to be Unintentionally Sympathetic. Both tropes, particularly together, often result in an Esoteric Happy Ending. On the Sliding Scale of Character Appreciation, these guys fall under "Villains we sympathize with" Not to be confused with Rooting for the Empire, which is about liking characters in spite of the fact that they're explicitly bad guys, although they can overlap. Contrast Right for the Wrong Reasons, for when someone is intended to be in the right for different reasons than argued. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | fetched |
2024-04-10T04:31:23Z | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | parsed |
2024-04-10T04:31:23Z | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to AccidentalPun: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to AlwaysChaoticEvil: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to AssholeVictim: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to ChristmasSongs: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to ColdBloodedTorture: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to CreatorsPet: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to DrivenToSuicide: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to GodNeverSaidThat: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to HeroWithBadPublicity: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to HulkingOut: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to KafkaKomedy: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to LeonineContract: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to PeripheryHatedom: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to SadistTeacher: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to StrawCharacter: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to SuperSoldier: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to SympathyForTheDevil: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | processingComment |
Dropped link to TheUNFavourite: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12300cc3 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12300cc3 | comment |
Watchmen: Alan Moore was genuinely surprised to find out that everyone loved Rorschach. This is despite the fact that he wrote the character as a paranoid nutcase and exactly the opposite to Alan Moore politically. The most likely explanation is that, 1) even though Rorschach's methods are excessive, they're still cool to watch, 2) Walter Kovacs is very clearly traumatized, and 3) most of the people he fights are even worse than he is.note Key word being most— the cops who apprehend him are just doing their jobs. Actually, Alan Moore intended for Rorschach to be sympathetic yet flawed, and even mentioned in interviews at the time Watchmen was released that Rorschach was his favorite character. What he never intended was for some readers to uncritically accept all of Rorschach's viewpoints. There is also a bit of Flip-Flop of God involved, as Moore got more critical of superheroes and their fans over time. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12300cc3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12300cc3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Watchmen (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12300cc3 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12998143 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12998143 | comment |
Terrible Writing Advice: The "Grimdark" episode has a rare In-Universe example of this. The villain is supposed to come across as worse than the hero, but he ends up coming across as more sympathetic than him, as the villain was actually given some depth and redeeming qualities. Naturally, the author should respond by making the villain a Hate Sink who randomly crosses the Moral Event Horizon. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12998143 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12998143 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Terrible Writing Advice (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_12998143 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_154a6eb0 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_154a6eb0 | comment |
In the original run of Miss Saigon, Kim's fiancee Thuy is portrayed as a violent Jerkass who, among other things, attempts to murder Kim's part-American infant boy who she had with the soldier Chris. On the other hand, Thuy REALLY gets the short end of the stick. He's a Vietnamese guerrilla fighter who hasn't seen his fiancee in a long time because of said war, and since he and Kim are also related, NEITHER of them have any family left. Combined with how Kim is one of many young women who had mixed-race children with departed soldiers, and the revival's portrayal of Thuy as much more sympathetic than the original run made him, it's easy to wonder if Thuy's actions are actually a result of untreated PTSD. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_154a6eb0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_154a6eb0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Miss Saigon (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_154a6eb0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_15c6ea11 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_15c6ea11 | comment |
Wonder Woman (1942) Vol. 1: While it's pretty easy to feel uncomfortable at Wondy having any of her villains locked in a Venus Girdle, Byrna Brilyant (Snowman/Blue Snowman) really gets the short end of the stick. Her initial crime is attacking and holding an entire community for ransom using "blue snow" which does not actually harm any of her victims physically. She's then taken, without trial, to Reformation Island and locked in a Venus Girdle indefinitely alongside serial killers and horrific war criminals. She never falls completely under the Girdle's mind controlling sway so while she has no choice but to follow every order given to her and can tell the thing is forcing her to act happy about it she's horrified and doing everything she can to escape. When she joins Villainy Inc. with new armor she secretly made while imprisoned her anger feels extremely justified. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_15c6ea11 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_15c6ea11 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wonder Woman (1942) (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_15c6ea11 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_177dff01 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_177dff01 | comment |
The Red Ten: Androika, from what little is established of her due to being the first to die, was said to have killed her creators. Messages between the two revealed one was worried she was having an existential breakdown regarding her existence, but that and the deaths are all we know. It's never confirmed as to what exactly happened, making it vague if she deliberately killed them. As such, it makes her a bit more sympathetic due to the idea that she might not have been to blame for what happened. Mold. The narrative specifies that Mold isn't technically alive and has no will of its own, so you can't really hate a puppet. You can very much hate its pedophilic creator, but knowing Mold had no choice in the actions it took being used as a weapon by everyone, it's easy to feel sorry for the creature when it had no control over of its life only to die as a puddle of goo. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_177dff01 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_177dff01 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Red Ten (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_177dff01 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bb5d5f4 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bb5d5f4 | comment |
It's really, really hard not to be sympathetic to Harry Beaton in Brigadoon, given that all he wants to do is leave a village where he is utterly miserable - he can't marry the girl he loves, and he can't go to seek a better life elsewhere - and in which he has been essentially imprisoned for all eternity without his consent. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bb5d5f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bb5d5f4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Brigadoon (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bb5d5f4 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bdeba5a | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bdeba5a | comment |
X-Men: Marvel spent a lot of effort to destroy Cyclops's legacy as a hero during their push of The Inhumans as essentially a replacement for X-Men, which all came to a head during the infamous Terrigen Mists storyline. Essentially, the Inhumans' Terrigen Mists got released into Earth's atmosphere, creating two large clouds that floated around the Earth. Terrigen Mists caused two things to happen. Firstly, they unlock superpowers in any human that has the Inhuman gene, making the Mists important (and even holy) to the Inhumans as a whole. Secondly, they cause infertility and eventually death in anyone who has the mutant X-gene. Over the course of several months, many mutants died from the Mist. Cyclops, in an attempt to save the rest of mutantkind, led a mission which ultimately destroyed one of the clouds. In retaliation, Black Bolt and Medusa killed him on the spot. Then somehow, society as a whole came to see Cyclops as a monster for this act, with one character explicitly comparing him to Hitler for destroying the cloud. That's right; the character opposed to gassing innocents to death is compared to Hitler. And it's clear that the audience is supposed to agree, even though the Mists were killing Mutants while the Inhumans didn't really care at all. And to top it off, the Inhumans don't need the Mists to survive. They can live their whole life without ever being exposed, they simply don't develop any powers. The worst part is that Cyclops didn't even do these supposedly-terrible acts; he'd actually died from Terrigen poisoning early on, and the "Cyclops" seen afterwards was secretly just a mental projection by Emma Frost. Even after this revelation becomes public knowledge, other characters still talk badly about Cyclops. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bdeba5a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bdeba5a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| X-Men (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_1bdeba5a | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_20028d77 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_20028d77 | comment |
The Spectre: There is a very old comic story starring the Spectre back when he was just a normal superhero and not the personification of the wrath of God, which opens with a scientist who receives telepathic messages telling him to build a rocket and follow the source. He does, only to be tricked into freeing the villain, and is rewarded by being immobilized forever by the ray which had trapped the villain. And he isn't freed at the end, since the villain never tells anyone how he escaped. The scientist asks for a reward immediately after freeing him, so he’s meant to come across as an Asshole Victim who only helps people for selfish reasons. However, we see so little of his personality and his punishment is so disproportionate to his vice that readers just feel sorry for the guy. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_20028d77 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_20028d77 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Spectre (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_20028d77 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_251e67c5 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_251e67c5 | comment |
Justice League of America: The narrative of Justice League The Rise Of Arsenal was specifically trying to make sure Roy Harper was Jumping Off the Slippery Slope following the loss of his arm by Prometheus and his daughter being violently crushed to death in Justice League: Cry for Justice, with him verbally lashing out at his loved ones when they try to help before he relapses into his heroin addiction and becomes a violent antihero. Roy fans are still arguing about how sympathetic he comes off in this story due to criticisms over how his friends handled his situation (such as allowing him to be kept on a heavy amount of pain medication while he was comatose despite knowing his history, which coupled with the infection in his arm, led to him waking up already hallucinating and emotionally unstable on top of his grief). The scene in the second issue where he attacks Mia Dearden at Lian's funeral was meant to show him being unreasonable and horrible as he drives Mia to tears, blaming her for leaving Lian alone when she did. It instead comes across as a grieving father enraged that the person culpable in his child's death chose his daughter's funeral, of all places, to vainly attempt to beg his forgiveness for what happened. The fact that everyone else sides with Mia instead of asking why in God's name she genuinely thought this was a good time to approach Roy to apologize for her actions makes his anger at her and them a lot more understandable (even if his insult at Donna Troy about how her son died because "she was whoring in space with Kyle Rayner" is indeed harsh). | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_251e67c5 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_251e67c5 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Justice League of America (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_251e67c5 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2d36f9cb | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2d36f9cb | comment |
In 2018, Christiano Chiarot viewed Carmen as this, misinterpreting the applause after the opera's grim finale as the audience approving of it. For context, Carmen is a Hot Gypsy Woman who loves and leaves men. Don José, a Nice Guy soldier, falls in love with her, only to become a Crazy Jealous Guy because he's too attached to her. Carmen doesn't like that and resolves to leave Don José. Towards the end of the opera, she falls in love with a laid-back matador named Escamillo, much to Don José's chagrin. When Don José confronts her for it, Carmen defiantly refuses to return to him! In the end, she is killed by Don José. By 2018, in the context of the #MeToo movement, Chiarot mistakenly believed that the audience's praise of the singer's art was approval of Domestic Abuse, so he created a controversial production that ended with Carmen shooting Don José, who in turn is vilified as a domestic abuser from the start. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2d36f9cb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2d36f9cb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Carmen (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2d36f9cb | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2f92f79b | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2f92f79b | comment |
In Richard III the Villain Protagonist is by far the most interesting character, having been reviled for his whole life for his disability and, especially if you have read/seen the prequel Henry VI - he's arguably the Only Sane Man in the Yorkist court. Yes, he murders his nephews, his wife and arranges his brother's execution, but even if you don't know that the real Richard III was a pretty good king, the play's version is remarkably competent compared to every other character in the play and probably would rule better than any of them | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2f92f79b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2f92f79b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Richard III (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_2f92f79b | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_35e05f2a | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_35e05f2a | comment |
RWBY: Ozpin in Volumes 6-7. He didn't tell the group that the Relics attract Grimm or that Salem is immortal and apparently can't be killed. However, the group only learns the latter by watching his greatest regrets and mistakes play out in front of them, including having to watch the love of his life become a monster and his children die. Being forced to relive the trauma drives him to tears; in spite of knowing this though, Yang and Qrow (and later Jaune) tear into him while the others just watch in disapproval. Although he tried to explain why he kept secrets, they don't let him speak, resulting in them denouncing him just as he feared. A lot of fans, therefore, think the group is too hard on Ozpin, and that he was justified in his behavior, which is reinforced during Volume 7. Namely after Ruby repeats Ozpin's lie to Ironwood, and Oscar later admits that Ozpin's true fear was that the truth would destroy people's hope, which has been the case for almost every character who found out: Raven, Leo, Qrow, and Ironwood. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_35e05f2a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_35e05f2a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| RWBY (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_35e05f2a | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_3c38c613 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_3c38c613 | comment |
Shylock from The Merchant of Venice to modern readers, who are much more prone to sympathize with an oppressed Jew getting some payback on an antisemitic society and see his final fate—losing most of his wealth as a result of the court's judgment against him and his daughter stealing from him, and being forced to convert to Christianity—as quite tragic. While Shakespeare gave Shylock some sympathetic motivation, he very possibly did not intend the audience to root for him. Shylock is, after all, a heathen who wants to murder a Christian over injured pride. In modern productions, he is often intentionally portrayed as sympathetic and sometimes even as the victim. There are those who believe that Shakespeare may have intended exactly this interpretation, having written the play as a veiled attack on anti-Jewish bigotry. One possible source of inspiration theorized is Rodrigo Lopez, Portuguese physician to Queen Elizabeth who had Jewish ancestry (he left Portugal after the Inquisition had accused him of secretly practicing Judaism). He was then accused of treason (with confessions by his supposed accomplices, plus Lopez himself, gained by torture or the threat), convicted and executed. Anti-semitism, unsurprisingly, played a large role in this. Even so, Lopez declared his love for Christ before dying, only to be mocked by the onlookers. Queen Elizabeth herself appears to have had doubts about his guilt, because she delayed signing his death warrant for three months, and returned for his family nearly all of his estate (the crown kept it all usually in treason cases). Since The Merchant Of Venice was written only a couple years later, the inspiration is plausible, and even that Shakespeare intended for some sympathy towards Shylock (he had villains similar to this in other plays after all). He's allowed to deliver a long speech denouncing anti-semitism and basically says it's this treatment which induced his desire for vengeance, supporting the idea of intended sympathy. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_3c38c613 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_3c38c613 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Merchant of Venice (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_3c38c613 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_400469e | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_400469e | comment |
Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes is meant to be a Bratty Half-Pint, but the things that his Unintentionally Unsympathetic parents, Hobbes, and Susie can sometimes do in retaliation tend to be rather nasty as well, and sometimes he doesn't even do anything wrong but still gets screwed over. For example, one storyline has him asking Hobbes to tie him to a chair so that he can escape, dubbing himself "the Great Calvini". And then his mom calls him down for dinner. Calvin finds himself unable to escape, and Hobbes is no help at all, then proceeds to just stand there reading Calvin's cub scout manual and taking his sweet time while Calvin begs him to find the part about knots and untie him. As if that wasn't enough, Hobbes acts as though he's not at fault in the slightest. Eventually, Calvin's dad walks in and sees Calvin tied up, and berates him for somehow getting himself tied to a chair (granted, Hobbes' Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane nature means Calvin's dad has no reason to think that the stuffed animal did it, but still). The storyline ends with Hobbes mocking Calvin as the boy angrily rubs his sore rear end, the implication apparently being that his father spanked him. It's really hard to blame Calvin for being ticked off. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_400469e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_400469e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Calvin and Hobbes (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_400469e | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_4fc1c922 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_4fc1c922 | comment |
Many fans of the musical Wicked think of the Wizard as sympathetic and think that Madame Morrible is the real villain. It's not entirely without reason; his songs are entirely about how he wants to make people, including Elphaba, happy, and he's genuinely heartbroken when it's revealed that he was Elphaba's father. Plus, his Fantastic Racism towards the animals is actually a Genghis Gambit. Therefore, it's hard to determine if he even qualifies here and was actually meant to be sympathetic despite his antagonist status. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_4fc1c922 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_4fc1c922 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Wicked (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_4fc1c922 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_6e966e7e | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_6e966e7e | comment |
World War Hulk: The decision of the Illuminati (Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, Charles Xavier and Dr. Strange) to shoot the Hulk into outer space is treated as an unforgivable crime and a terrible betrayal of a close friend, ally and hero. Except the impetus for the Illuminati's decision was the Hulk going on a rampage which killed 26 people. This was also a period in which anti-superhero political forces were just LOOKING for an excuse to enact registration laws. Exiling him was being pretty lenient, and arguably doing him a favor since "Leave Hulk alone" is one of the Hulk's catchphrases. That's not even getting into the fact that the Illuminati meant for the Hulk to land on a peaceful uninhabited planet, only for the ship to accidentally crash on Sakaar, something none of them could have predicted. And while the Hulk's Roaring Rampage of Revenge was caused by the ship later exploding and killing his wife, the Illuminati had nothing to do with that, since it was the Hulk's rivals on Sakaar who planted a bomb in the first place. Worse, one of the Hulk's new allies was aware of this and chose to keep it a secret so the Hulk would become the World Breaker. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_6e966e7e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_6e966e7e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| World War Hulk (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_6e966e7e | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_76e7de99 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_76e7de99 | comment |
That said, it's not always rolled with; it heavily depends on the setting being used as a base and the group in question as well as the sourcebook in question. The Forgotten Realms based "Volo's Guide to Monsters" portrays kobolds in a very sympathetic light and fleshes out orcs a fair bit, but has the least sympathetic portrayal of gnolls of virtually any edition to date. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_76e7de99 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_76e7de99 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Forgotten Realms (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_76e7de99 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_853937a3 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_853937a3 | comment |
My Fair Lady: When it was first made, Eliza Doolittle came across as much more unacceptably uncouth to theater-goers, and therefore just as bad as Henry Higgins. But nowadays, it's getting more and more common to see Eliza as being put down by Henry the misogynistic, snobbish villain. Basically, they're both meant to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but current values don't look favorably on characters like Higgins. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_853937a3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_853937a3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| My Fair Lady (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_853937a3 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_98c961e2 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_98c961e2 | comment |
Helluva Boss: In "Unhappy Campers", While Moxxie can be viewed as a Woobie in this episode, his constant attention-seeking, narcissism, and jealousy make it clear he's mostly meant to be viewed in the wrong. However, some fans actually ended up sympathizing with Moxxie a lot more than Millie's pleas of finally feeling appreciated beyond being an assassin. This likely stemmed from how Moxxie's insecurities, backstory, and Butt-Monkey status have been shown and explored fully in previous episodes, while Millie's own insecurities were only really hinted at with minuscule foreshadowing, making some viewers think that it came out of nowhere and in turn not be as sympathetic for her. Furthermore, it did not help in the slightest that Moxxie was put through the wringer moreso than usual, coming off more mean-spirited rather it being karma for his behavior. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_98c961e2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_98c961e2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Helluva Boss (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_98c961e2 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ab064e6 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ab064e6 | comment |
In Les Misérables Javert is presented as being, well, an Inspector Javert when he refuses to let our hero go look after Cosette, instead insisting that Valjean has to come with him now. Of course, Valjean has already tried to escape prison (multiple times) and did violate the terms of his parole, so it's hardly surprising that Javert refuses the request. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ab064e6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ab064e6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Les Misérables (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ab064e6 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ff7441c | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ff7441c | comment |
In The Men from the Ministry, the General Assistance Department's boss Sir Gregory is a Bad Boss to the core, being a mean and unnecessarily cruel as well as occasionally violent towards his underlings. However the General Assistance Department is also the most incompetent office in the whole of Whitehall, so his anger is often more than justified. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ff7441c | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ff7441c | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Men from the Ministry (Radio) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_9ff7441c | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a5549ed0 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a5549ed0 | comment |
Plenty in The Bible, due to Values Dissonance. Ishmael and his mother Hagar are treated badly by Sarah because Ishmael is Abraham's bastard son, despite his conception having been Sarah's idea in the first place, and because Hagar rubbed her pregnancy in Sarah's face. Because their presence caused tension in the community, they are forced to leave. Fortunately, they are not forsaken by everyone, and God helps them both survive in the wilderness. Leah, Rachel's older sister, is forced to marry a man she knows does not love her (her father tricked Jacob into marrying her instead of Rachel, who Jacob really loved, because of a custom that the oldest daughter must be married first) and is forever The Un-Favourite, despite giving Jacob six sons and one daughter as opposed to Rachel's two (the other four sons were the children of Leah and Rachel's handmaids). None of this is her fault, and she can come across very sympathetically to modern audiences. Though, to be fair, God also sympathized with her and made sure she had kids while Rachel was barren to try to get Jacob to treat her better. Not only that, but two of her sons were Judah and Levi—the fathers of the Royal and Priestly tribes, respectively. Famously, Judas Iscariot given how he almost immediately regretted his betrayal of Jesus to the point of hanging himself which the narrative plays as a shameful end rather than an Alas, Poor Villain. It doesn't help that his betrayal was part of God's plan of salvation, that the Gospel of John has Jesus telling him "What you are about to do, do quickly" or that the Gospel of Luke implies that he was possessed by the Devil yet verses like Mark 14:21 still implies that he went to Hell after his death. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a5549ed0 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a5549ed0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Bible | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a5549ed0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a78cc92f | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a78cc92f | comment |
Chick Tracts: Many Strawman Political. Particularly those who end up in hell when they have not done anything really wrong other than disagreeing with the protagonist. The missionary couple in "Flight 144" are the most infamous example. Most of Chick's Designated Villains are at least given some genuine vices, but these two are genuinely good people and devout Christians themselves, and yet we are supposed to root against them simply because they aren't subscribers to Chick's far-right brand of Christianity. Granted, there's likely intended to be a certain level of tragedy involved when good people go to Hell, but it often seems as though God is being unfair in those cases. Esau. Apparently, not fully appreciating his birthright and trading it for some food when he's (most likely literally) starving is bad enough for God to hate him, even if he's largely a victim of his brother Jacob's trickery. He later reconciles with Jacob, but apparently, this, like the conflict between Isaac and Ishmael, is meant to be a parallel to the Israel-Palestinian conflict in Chick's eyes.note It is unlikely that Chick knew about this or cared, but The Talmud retcons Esau’s character to be much worse than we actually see in the Book of Genesis, being allegedly guilty of such things as lying about forgiving Jacob (and actually trying to kill him when they kiss and make up), being an Ungrateful Bastard, disrespecting Jacob even after his brother’s death, and raping and murdering a girl. Of course, going only by Genesis there is no textual evidence for any of this whatsoever, and the ancient rabbis seem to have just made it up centuries after the fact because of Esau’s descendants were hostile to the Israelites, and Chick would reject it because he’s a sola scriptura Protestant, so it’s weird that he would go for such an unfavorable interpretation. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a78cc92f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a78cc92f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Chick Tracts (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_a78cc92f | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b40eb913 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b40eb913 | comment |
Infinite Crisis: Wonder Woman. The story portrays Diana killing Maxwell Lord as cold-blooded murder. However, this ignores that Max had taken control of Superman and was trying to use him to start a war between humans and metahumans by having him kill thousands of innocent people. Diana herself had begged Max to cease his villainous actions, had used the Lasso of Truth to determine that the only way to stop Max was by killing and was doubtful she could survive if she continued to fight Superman; Diana killing Max was less her committing cold-blooded murder and more her being backed into a corner and taking the best option available to her. This wasn't even the first time Diana had killed a villain before but it was the first time she killed one who looked human... which doesn't paint the people angry at her in a good light. Not helping things was the fact that on the verge of defeating Brother Eye, the rogue satellite projected footage of the death scene worldwide in an attempt to drag her reputation down with itself. Some of the heroes that still took her side, like Superman and Batman, were upset for a different reason, regardless of how bad a man is, heroes don't kill, period. Ultimately, the incident causes Wonder Woman to turn right around and convince Batman to spare Alexander Luthor Jr. when the villain puts Nightwing in a coma in what was originally intended to be the hero's death scene. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b40eb913 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b40eb913 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Infinite Crisis (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b40eb913 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b50cc7e6 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b50cc7e6 | comment |
The Incredible Hulk: Writers have a habit of painting anyone who reacts negatively to the Hulk's destructive temper as being in the wrong. Thaddeus Ross is the most frequent victim of this but even other superheroes aren't immune: World War Hulk: The decision of the Illuminati (Iron Man, Mr. Fantastic, Black Bolt, Charles Xavier and Dr. Strange) to shoot the Hulk into outer space is treated as an unforgivable crime and a terrible betrayal of a close friend, ally and hero. Except the impetus for the Illuminati's decision was the Hulk going on a rampage which killed 26 people. This was also a period in which anti-superhero political forces were just LOOKING for an excuse to enact registration laws. Exiling him was being pretty lenient, and arguably doing him a favor since "Leave Hulk alone" is one of the Hulk's catchphrases. That's not even getting into the fact that the Illuminati meant for the Hulk to land on a peaceful uninhabited planet, only for the ship to accidentally crash on Sakaar, something none of them could have predicted. And while the Hulk's Roaring Rampage of Revenge was caused by the ship later exploding and killing his wife, the Illuminati had nothing to do with that, since it was the Hulk's rivals on Sakaar who planted a bomb in the first place. Worse, one of the Hulk's new allies was aware of this and chose to keep it a secret so the Hulk would become the World Breaker. Giant-Size Hulk #1: The story "Green Pieces" has the Champions of Los Angeles (Black Widow, Iceman, Hercules, Darkstar, Ghost Rider and Angel) about to be recommended for freeing the U.S from the mind control of Dr. Doom in an older story when they receive word that Banner is back in town. Knowing what tends to happen when the Hulk is around, they scout the city for him. Angel encounters him first when Banner hulks out in the middle of a traffic jam. The Hulk throws a car door at Angel who has to intercept it from hitting a nearby couple. The other Champions arrive and engage the Hulk until he decides to leave for a hospital and turn over a woman who was in the car to the doctors. This woman turns out to be Jennifer Walters (best known as She-Hulk), Banner's cousin, and after her surgery she explains that Bruce was trying to get her to the hospital because her appendix burst. When Hercules asks why the Hulk did not simply explain his troubles, Jen responds that the Champions never tried to ask him what his problem was. The story tries to make it look like the Champions jumped to conclusions and attacked the Hulk without cause but the Hulk did not make himself look sympathetic by attacking the first person who approached him and endangering nearby civilians. And considering that Jen was in the car when Banner hulked out, it's a miracle she was still alive when he got her to the hospital. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b50cc7e6 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b50cc7e6 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Incredible Hulk (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b50cc7e6 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b843223a | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b843223a | comment |
From Dragonbored: while you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually likes the main character Carl, because he is a rather unpleasant person, many viewers nevertheless believe that, even if he was kind of a douche, he really didn't deserve the Humiliation Conga and eventual And I Must Scream Fate Worse than Death that he ended up getting. The reasons for this are threefold: first, while other characters repeatedly pay lip service to how lazy, selfish, and irresponsible Carl supposedly is, the audience doesn't get to see very much evidence of that aside from Carl's addiction to video games. Even then, he's only ever shown playing a very specific video game that we are explicitly shown was designed to make people addicted. Second, while Carl is a jerk, the other characters are hardly any better: Jessica is a stereotypical Straw Feminist who drops Carl like a sack of hammers once the new guy comes along, LeBron is a Mean Boss, Carl's friends (with the sole exception of Taylin) don't really seem to care about his wellbeing at all, and Jimbroth, aside from stealing Carl's life and callously abandoning him to his fate, is shown to be emotionally manipulative, destructive, painfully old-fashioned, and commits quite a few serious crimes for which he is never punished, and everyone forgives him because of his charisma and Fish out of Water status. Third, Carl is meant to be a caricature of obsessed nerds, but he's too handsome, sociable, well-groomed, and gainfully employed to be convincingly sold as the pathetic waste-of-space the writers want us to think he is. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b843223a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b843223a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Dragonbored / Webvideo | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_b843223a | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_bcadd7cb | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_bcadd7cb | comment |
Warhammer 40,000: Though basically the Gestapo 5.0, The Inquisition is often seen as this. Despite their motto, "Innocence Proves Nothing", downright batshit crazy inquisitors of note and seemingly liberal use of Exterminatus. in a galaxy that's cranking out a new horror almost every week and the insidious corrupting nature of Chaos, such actions and cast are much easier to justify. Not to mention, the Inquisition has a recruitment policy that makes the "Greater Good" look downright intolerant by comparison; literally ANYONE, including mutants, psykers, nameless factory workers or planetary governors can be recruited as "acolytes" and (provided they survive around 10 years of getting shot at on a daily basis) become an Inquisitor and drag even High Lords of Terra to court. It also helps that consistently throughout Warhammer 40K lore, it's the Inquisition that's often the only ones actually doing their freaking job and actually getting results. They're also the only faction in Warhammer 40K who are consistently shown to not only realize what the consequences of their actions will cost the Imperium, in spite of their necessity but actually be subject to the backlash of their own actions, such as when the Space Wolves space marine chapter declared a short war on them for purging an entire planet to hide the existence of the Grey Knights or when the Inquisitor who first reported the existence of the planet-devouring Tyranids to the Imperium was kicked out for simply planning to let 100 worlds be eaten to stop the Tyranids. This also applies to the Imperium as whole; while it's intentionally composed of every dystopian idea cranked up to 11 ("the bloodiest regime imaginable"), the genuine heroism and faith of the soldiers the story usually focuses on makes it easy to forget they're bad guys. It doesn't help that so much of what we see is in-universe Imperial propaganda (usually heavily based on Nazi and Soviet examples); it's easy to forget how ludicrous the justifications are and get swept up in the theatricality. Much of this owes to the fact that it's easy to get on board with xenophobia and military-worship when the aliens really do want to murder everyone and the army includes actual Super Soldiers, and it's easy to get on board with thoughtcrime and persecution when thinking bad thoughts or following different beliefs literally summons demons. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_bcadd7cb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_bcadd7cb | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Warhammer 40,000 (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_bcadd7cb | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_c7f59f7d | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_c7f59f7d | comment |
Teen Titans: Terra from the storyline The Judas Contract is referred to repeatedly as an insane, unrepentant monster who has no one to blame but herself for her behavior. It's hard to believe this one-sided characterization for her. There are several signs towards Freudian Excuses for her. She had a bad home life, was ran out of her home country, and ultimately met Deathstroke. Their sexual relationship is supposed to make Terra seem gross, however instead many view Deathstroke (who is at least thirty years older than her and an adult) as grooming and manipulating the vulnerable teenager. Not helping is that Beast Boy, the teammate most romantically interested in her, was very much an immature womanizer towards her yet received no consequence for it. Terra being unintentionally sympathetic is a large reason why DC retconned her later on, with a movie and several later cartoons applying outright Adaptational Heroism to make her sympathy more intentional (often with a dose of Adaptational Villainy for Deathstroke's manipulative nature), complete with her making a Heel–Face Turn, though the former two works make use of Redemption Equals Death (outright in the film and depicted as petrification in the Teen Titans cartoon), and the latter cartoon had her survive but her brother Geo-Force replaces her in the villains' schemes. A 2000s issue implies that Deathstroke drugged her into being how she was, which was demonstrated to also have happened to Cassandra Cain, while Rebirth depicts Deathstroke seducing Terra as a Moral Event Horizon. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_c7f59f7d | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_c7f59f7d | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Teen Titans (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_c7f59f7d | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_cc72e218 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_cc72e218 | comment |
In Witch Girls Adventures, the organization Malleus Maleficarum are supposed to be a Fantastic Racism murder-cult who have dedicated their lives to the complete extermination of all Witches, even small children — the power can awaken in 6 year olds at the youngest. The problem is that, thanks to the source material's extremely Unintentionally Unsympathetic portrayal of witches, killing them all actually comes off as the most rational thing to do. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_cc72e218 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_cc72e218 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Witch Girls Adventures (Tabletop Game) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_cc72e218 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d2dfd2f2 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d2dfd2f2 | comment |
The part where Zhu Bajie is recruited to join the pilgrims in the Journey to the West can be uncomfortable to modern and/or Western audiences, because the crux of the incident is Sun Wukong being hired by Zhu Bajie's father-in-law to drive him away or kill him because "it's undignified to have a monster for a son-in-law". Even though, as the man admits, Zhu Bajie's superhuman strength and stamina has only made the farm prosper, as the disgraced spirit can do the work of dozens of men at a time. The worst that can be said of Zhu Bajie's behavior is that he will not let his wife speak to her parents, and even that could be cast as him punishing them for their Fantastic Racism. Because Xuanzang agrees with the man, Son Wukong promptly beats Zhu Bajie to a pulp and would have killed him had Zhu Bajie not revealed he was one of the redeemed monsters that Xuanzang was supposed to take with him on the pilgrimage for protection. It's telling that many adaptations try to make Zhu Bajie less sympathetic; Monkey portrays him as becoming a drunken wastrel after his marriage and this is why his in-laws want him gone, whilst his counterpart in the early arcs of Dragon Ball Oolong is a pervert and thief who was introduced abusing his shapechanging powers to bully innocent villagers. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d2dfd2f2 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d2dfd2f2 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Journey to the West | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d2dfd2f2 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d52dfe03 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d52dfe03 | comment |
Big Nate: Mrs. Godfrey is depicted as an often Sadist Teacher who often targets and is harsh with Nate, but Nate often does things that would seem just as bad to her when looked at from her perspective, such as drawing mean cartoons and blatantly disrespecting her in front of class. Big Nate himself as the strips are meant to show him as a jerk who deserves everything bad that comes to him, but the comics end up presenting it as a Kafka Komedy with Nate continuously being manhandled by Kim with her suffering no consequences, his friends being toxic and no better than his enemies, and even random background characters beating on Nate for petty reasons. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d52dfe03 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d52dfe03 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Big Nate (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_d52dfe03 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_de48ce05 | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_de48ce05 | comment |
Happy Tree Friends: While Sniffles is going out of his way to devour the Ants, he ends up becoming the lesser of two evils compared to them since they often retaliate by torturing him in such painful and horrific ways that go far beyond self-defense. Two occasions has Sniffles just minding his own business until they provoke him, either by stealing his cookies or causing him to trip and have his tongue stuck on ice. While Sniffles did eventually get episodes outside of his ants-conflict and has moments of intentional sympathy, Lifty and Shifty don't catch a break. While the audience is presumably supposed to view them as villainous thieves, the twin raccoons are shown to be poor and are usually stealing food more than money. This doesn't stop them from dying in nearly every appearance they make. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_de48ce05 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_de48ce05 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Happy Tree Friends (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_de48ce05 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_f163bd9f | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_f163bd9f | comment |
ElfQuest: Rayek comes off as this in the first book. Yeah, he's an arrogant Jerkass, but Cutter won the trial of wits by openly cheating, and the judge let him skate on a flimsy technicality based on the fact that he didn't know any better. Nothing breeds sympathy like watching a competitor being unfairly mocked because he had the audacity to follow the rules while his opponent was ruled the winner for being ignorant. The other two trials aren't any better. The first trial is a hand-to-hand, blindfolded wrestling match, where Rayek is a hunter for a peaceful village that has no enemies, and Cutter is a seasoned veteran of an endless conflict between humans and elves for his entire life. In the third, Savah lays it out that Rayek's fear of losing is a more difficult one than Cutter's fear of heights to overcome, but she chose a contest for both that only tested a fear of heights and made Cutter go first, meaning that the best Rayek could do in that trial was tie for winner, depending on whether Cutter succeeded or failed. However, it's not really fair to say Cutter cheated in the Trial of Wits. The Trial of Wits required him to retrieve his sword from a crevice where it was out of reach, without using magic. He did it by using Skywise's magnetized lodestone that Skywise had lent him for luck. No magic involved, although it looked enough like magic that most of the onlookers, and Rayek, thought it was magic. But Suntoucher, who was judging the contest, apparently knew enough basic physics to know it was not. Similarly, the Trial of Hand is a Sun Folk game. If anyone had the advantage, it should have been Rayek. It's hardly Cutter's fault that Rayek challenged him to a contest where Cutter's natural advantages were enough to overcome Rayek's experience. |
|
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_f163bd9f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_f163bd9f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| ElfQuest (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_f163bd9f | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_fb173de | type |
Unintentionally Sympathetic | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_fb173de | comment |
The Phantom of the Opera: Carlotta is hated by lot of fandom, just like intended, but some fans have pointed out that she is harassed and physically attacked by the Phantom, then lashes verbally Christine - falsely but genuinely thinking that Christine is in cahoots with her tormentor - and is then "punished" for this crime. | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_fb173de | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_fb173de | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Phantom of the Opera (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Unintentionally Sympathetic / int_fb173de |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.