Not everyone in fiction can be an Ideal Hero or a Breakout Character. Stories generally have someone to dislike, most characters require flaws, and stories usually have moral leanings.
These are tropes creators use to ensure the audience knows who and what not to sympathize with. If used on accident, they might lead a character into Unintentionally Unsympathetic or The Scrappy territory.
This list is not an Index of Hated Characters, which is about characters' reputation in-universe.
Subcategory
Tropes:
- 0% Approval Rating: An authority figure who everyone in the work hates.
- Abusive Parents: Parents who abuse their children.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Sentient aliens who all seem to be Jerkasses.
- Always Chaotic Evil: A race that is evil to the core.
- And Your Little Dog, Too!: Threatening something innocent to hurt someone else.
- Axes at School: A school is a good place to kidnap or kill a lot of kids at once.
- Bad Boss: When the workers are treated as slaves or receive unjust corporate punishment.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Animal cruelty is typically a quick way to invoke audiences' wrath.
- Bait the Dog: Tricking the audience into thinking they're likable usually makes them feel betrayed.
- Belated Child Discipline: A Spoiled Brat finally getting punished for their obnoxiousness.
- Beyond Redemption: A hero gives up on redeeming someone.
- Bratty Half-Pint: A child is an annoying brat.
- The Bully: A character who bullies others.
- Bullying the Disabled: Bully someone with a disability.
- Burn the Orphanage: Burning down an orphanage.
- Child Abuse Is a Special Kind of Evil: Child abuse is used as a Moral Event Horizon.
- Child Eater: Someone eats children.
- Child Hater: Someone hates children.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Character repeatedly betrays people.
- Complete Monster: A purely evil character with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: A villain who runs a company.
- Cruella to Animals: Someone who delights in the suffering of animals.
- Cruelty by Feet: Violence or humiliation via stomping is seen as reprehensible.
- Dirty Coward: A selfish, callous character whose cowardice ends up getting others hurt.
- Eats Babies: A villain so evil they literally eat babies.
- Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: A character who is known for their love hates someone? Bad news.
- Evil Gloating: Characters who rub in their evil deeds.
- Evil Is Petty: When a villain engages in minor, pointless acts of cruelty in addition to their grander crimes.
- For the Evulz: When their given excuse is explicitly because they like doing bad things.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: If the antagonist is the queen, they're likely to be the most abusive ruler ever.
- Hate Crimes Are a Special Kind of Evil: Crimes motivated by bigotry are much more horrific than garden-variety crimes.
- Hated by All: A characters who is hated by every single person in the setting.
- If I Can't Have You…: A rejected suitor trying to try to murder the object of their affections out of jealousy.
- It's All About Me: Excessive self-absorbtion
- I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: Threatening an underling's loved ones.
- Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Being mean is less likeable than being evil.
- Kick the Dog: Actions designed to show the meanness or outright evil of a character.
- Kick the Morality Pet: Hurting the one person they were established to be kind to.
- Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: Killing a family member is is the one of the worst things you can do.
- Lack of Empathy: A person who is apathetic toward the suffering of others.
- Made of Evil: Villains that are literally composed of evil.
- Moral Event Horizon: The point at which the audience can no longer justify a character's actions.
- Narcissist: A self-absorbed character who demands appreciation from others.
- No Sympathy: A character is not showing sympathy towards someone.
- No Sympathy for Grudgeholders: A character rebuked for refusing to forgive another character.
- Obviously Evil: Evil is entirely unsubtle in design.
- Parental Incest: Sex between a parent and their child, often predatory on the part of the parent.
- Pedophilia Is a Special Kind of Evil: Targeting kids for sexual attention is one of the worst things you can do.
- Powered by a Forsaken Child: Something only functions if an innocent pays the price.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Rape is one of the worst things you can do.
- Sadist: A character enjoys the pain of others.
- Sadist Teacher: A teacher who bullies their student.
- Sapient Fur Trade: An entire sapient race is routinely murdered because their dead bodies are useful.
- Serial Rapist: A character who has committed or has attempted to commit three or more rapes.
- Sinister Suffocation: Suffocating someone is one of the worst ways to kill or torture them.
- Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Enslaving people is the one of the worst things you can do.
- The Sociopath: A social predator with a Lack of Empathy.
- Spoiled Brat: A child who is entitled and obnoxious.
- Superhuman Trafficking: Human trafficking of super-powered individuals.
- Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Betraying someone is the one of the worst things you can do.
- Trial Run Crime: Committing a crime against an innocent bystander to see how well the plan works.
- Very Punchable Man: A character whom others express a desire to punch (or otherwise harm) on general principles.
- The Villain Must Be Punished: Simply defeating this villain's plan isn't enough — they have to pay for what they've done.
- Wife Husbandry: A parent raises a child (or children) to be their lovers.
- Would Hurt a Child: A character is willing to hurt even children.