History Main / MoreHateableMinorVillain

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has grey morality overall, and the titular Titans are sympathetic antagonists, with even their employers, the Kingdom of Marley, being complex antagonists. However, there are a few minor villains who prove to be exceptions:
** Floch Forster is an out-and-out fanatic betraying former allies and friends left and right in blind support of a cause in which he is no longer capable of accepting or processing the many risks that come with it. Fully devoted to an imperialist agenda in which Eren would rise as the leader of Eldia and destroy its enemies, even if that means destroying the rest of the world to do it, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he's clearly no better than those who themselves tried to destroy his people]].
** For the most part, Marleyans are portrayed as complex characters who are antagonistic because of the poisonous anti-Eldian propaganda they've been raised with... and then there's [[DirtyCop Sergeant Major Gross]], who's basically all the worst traits of Marley wearing a hat. He's a sadist who tortures and murders Eldians, [[WouldHurtAChild including a young girl]], and feels justified because they're 'subhuman'. Don't feel too bad that he only lasts a few chapters before his gruesome demise.
** Karina Braun is an incredibly petty and delusional woman, manipulating her son down a path that destroyed his life and eager to do the same to her niece. Even her moments of affection towards Reiner are tainted by her constant lies, and inability to comprehend her son's pain. She's one of the few characters in the story not involved in any position in the military or the authorities, that has absolutely no redemptive qualities, save for [[HeelRealization realizing what a terrible person she's been]] too late to make a real difference. What makes it worse is that she cannot even be called "crazy"; she's just a terrible person altogether.
** Grior is unrepentantly racist and fully committed to the belief that the islanders are devils to be slaughtered; turns out not even Yelena has the patience for his hateful sentiments.
** Despite only appearing in a ''[[SmallRoleBigImpact single chapter]]'', [[GreaterScopeVillain King Fritz]] manages to establish himself as a brutal warlord, rapist, {{Domestic Abuse}}r, {{abusive parent|s}}, butcher, and quite possibly the evilest character in the manga.
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'' has BlackAndGrayMorality; Lelouch, Suzaku, and even members of the Britannian Royal Family, like Emperor Charles and his son Schneizel, do terrible things do so with the best intentions. But these characters are okay to hate:
** [[ImmoralJournalist Diethard Reid]] is the TokenEvilTeammate of Lelouch's Black Knights who only wants bloodshed. He uses his media connections to stoke the flames of war, urges Lelouch to wage global war, and even has the gall to [[spoiler:betray Lelouch in favor of Schneizel and his super weapon apocalypse plot]], showing that while Lelouch wants to free the world from Britannian tyranny, Diethard only wants to see people die.
** [[FourEyesZeroSoul Alicia Lohmeyer]], Nunnallly's aide, despises the Japanese and tries to use her position to subvert the compassionate Nunnally to make life as hard for them as possible. Her crowning moment comes when she orders a massacre of one million Japanese to punish them for trying to secede from Britannia, only stopped by Suzaku.
** [[PsychoForHire Luciano Bradley]] is a psychotic and sadistic murderer who gleefully admits that he serves Britannia [[BloodKnight in order to be respected for killing people]].
** The [[EunuchsAreEvil High Eunuchs]] sell out their land and their empress, and even betray their comrades just for personal gain.
** V. V., brother of Charles, does anything and everything to make life hell for Lelouch for being the son of Charles' beloved Marianne, who [[MurderTheHypotenuse he murdered]] because he suspected she was getting in the way of the contract, and then lied about it, [[{{Hypocrite}} going against what he says about eliminating lies]]. [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Charles, who is pretty far on the evil scale in this series]], is pissed off by the lie and betrayal, and at one point [[PayEvilUntoEvil kills him for it by taking his code]].
** [[RichBitch Mrs. Stadtfeld]], Kallen's stepmother, only appeared in one episode, but is racist towards Elevens, especially toward Kallen's mother (who's working as a maid for the Mrs. Stadtfeld) and abuses her verbally and physically.
* The main villain of ''Anime/DoraemonGreatAdventureInTheAntarcticKachiKochi'' is Blizarga, an ancient EldritchAbomination who cursed entire worlds into an EndlessWinter, but being a non-sentient elemental acting on instincts (and that it exists to provide an exciting, 15-minute long final battle) Blizarga's nowhere as hateable as the ''other'' villain: Yamitem, the shapeshifting robot psychopath who ambushed and tortures Doraemon, before tricking the others into a deathtrap and trying to manipulate the other heroes into attacking Doraemon when the latter tries saving his friends. Yamitem gets defeated before the climax can begin, but he's easily more despicable than Blizarga.
* In the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga and ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistBrotherhood'', BigBad Father is too cool to hate, while his Homunculi all have their own sympathetic qualities and quirks. These villains do not:
** [[MadScientist Shou Tucker]], though an extremely minor villain, is the only character to go to hell during the author's "In Memoriam" omakes, and for good reason. [[spoiler:He subjects his wife, then his [[WouldHurtAChild five-year-old daughter]] and her BigFriendlyDog, to a FateWorseThanDeath as chimeras both to keep his job and ForScience, driving the first one to suicide by starvation. Even the financial justification he gives for his actions just comes across as the worst kind of pathetic. When under house arrest, all he does is whine about how no one understands him]]. Remorselessly depraved behind his mild exterior and lacking the coolness of the major villains, Shou Tucker's [[SmallRoleBigImpact one-shot appearance]] leaves a massive impact throughout the series. [[https://www.ranker.com/list/anime-characters-we-hate/ranker-anime In an online poll about]] The Most Hated Anime Characters of all time, out of a list of over 1000 characters, Tucker (deservedly) earns the #1 spot with '''29,000''' votes. The list's runner-up [[note]]Danzo from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''[[/note]] has 15,000 votes, or '''nearly half''' of Tucker's.
** [[MadDoctor The Gold-Toothed Doctor]] also lacks the coolness of the Homunculi. He is the only one of their human allies who knows Father's plans to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, something he doesn't seem to care about. Responsible for the creation of Wrath, he killed the first eleven candidates in painful experiments before turning the remaining men into expendable mindless EliteMooks. He not only [[spoiler:slits Riza's throat in an attempt to force a SadisticChoice on Roy]] but also disgusts both Roy and Zampano with his smug belief that the candidates must have been grateful to him for taking them in, feeding them, educating them and giving them the meaning of existence. No tear is shed [[spoiler:when Pride and Wrath use him as an [[HumanResources alchemic resource]], leaving him a hideous ball of flesh.]]
** [[GeneralRipper General Raven]] and his associates in Central Command are a corrupt group of military officials who aid the Homunculi's plans to [[TheQuisling usurp humanity]] in a bid to [[ImmortalityImmorality grant themselves immortality.]] These include instigating multiple civil wars to complete Father's Transmutation circle, such as the Ishvalan genocide. When Raven arrives at Fort Briggs to cover up Sloth's attack, he tries to persuade Major General Armstrong to join them while leaving several of her troops for dead. Much later, during Roy Mustang's coup of Central City, General Clemin callously writes off the Fuhrer's wife as expendable when she's taken hostage. Central Command oversees the creation of the Immortal Legion, an army of tormented monstrosities [[HumanResources created from Philosopher's Stones]]. While claiming to be making a new, better world, the Central Commanders' utter lack of remorse for their crimes makes it abundantly clear [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist they only care about their own supposed entitlement to eternal life]]. [[spoiler:It is incredibly satisfying when the Major General gets done playing tit-for-tat with Raven's vile seductions and promptly reduces him to foundation via sword stab into cement.]]
* ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'': [[GreaterScopeVillain The Emperor of Kutou]] is a vile, sleazy, SmugSnake who commits genocide on peaceful tribes. Also a [[spoiler:rapist and pedophile]], he [[spoiler:violates]] the youthful Nakago, causing his StartOfDarkness. While most other villains are given levels of tragedy and catharsis, there is no individual who stands more loathed by everyone who knows him than the emperor, with [[BigBad Nakago]] plotting his death for years.
* ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'': Zorin Blitz is an incompetent, vile military commander in contrast to the despicable but brilliant Major and cements her loathsomeness in her callous mistreatment of her men and use of her psychic abilities to leave her enemies in mental anguish and helpless as she slashes through swathes of the Wild Geese, completely lacking in any intelligence or admirable traits to offset her nature.
* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'': Quattro, a SmugSnake who serves Jail Scaglietti. At her best, she enjoys making fun of her younger sisters and at her worst, has absolutely no regard for human life and thinks those who do so are foolish, and this in a series with only a couple actually evil characters out of a massive cast. She gets even ''more'' hate points with everything she does to [[CheerfulChild Vivio]]. That she is such a [[SmugSnake rat]] [[ManipulativeBastard bastard]] definitely makes her VillainousBreakdown all the sweeter when [[spoiler:Nanoha [[WaveMotionGun blasts the crap]] out of her from across an entire space ship. Yes, [[DungeonBypass even through the walls]].]]
* In ''Manga/MajesticPrince'', we have [[GeneralFailure Captain Komine]]. The [[AlienInvasion Walgaru]] are hard to hate, since they have a serious case of BlueAndOrangeMorality, and [[WorthyOpponent there is a certain nobility to them]], despite (or perhaps, ''because of'') them being a race of [[TheSocialDarwinist social Darwinists]]. Komine is an incompetent fool who spends pretty much his whole time onscreen making things difficult for the young heroes and the rest of the military, being a {{Jerkass}} and [[NeverMyFault pointing fingers at his underlings]] for his own screw-ups.
* ''Anime/MichikoAndHatchin'': Hacchin's foster family from the very first episode are singularly awful in their abuse and bullying of Hatchin. The stepsiblings bully her near on all the time, and the stepmother makes her do all the chores and even makes life harder for her by making her clean up messes she herself makes. And when Michiko, the other half of this BadassAndChildDuo, kidnaps Hatchin, the foster father assumes she did this to hurt him and decides to try to collect on Hatchin's life insurance by ''trying to murder her''. Not exactly Parents of the Year.
* ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'': Since the nominal villain of the series is the much-beloved protagonist, and the antagonist of the series is the villain's heroic counterpart and friend, once the series progresses beyond the Monster of the Week format, there's few people to hate. Enter Milverton, who has absolutely no redeeming qualities of any sort and whose narrative role is fulfilled by [[spoiler:being unobjectionable enough for Sherlock to murder and still keep the audience's support]].
* The primary antagonist of ''Manga/PandoraHearts'' is Glen Baskerville, who slaughtered the entire city of Sablier. Despite his horrific actions, his sympathetic motives and backstory prevents him from being utterly despicable. [[spoiler:And Jack Vessalius, the other villain, is just as sympathetic, being motivated by his love for Lacie.]] On the other hand, Isla Yura is a repulsive cult leader who plans to repeat the Tragedy of Sablier and drag the entire world into the Abyss for his amusement. He doesn't actually have the means to pull it off and is a minor, forgettable villain in the grand scheme of things, but proves to be far more repulsive than the main antagonists.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'''s villain, All For One, is too cool to hate, but these two villains are not:
** Muscular, a villain who joins the League of Villains and helps them attack the training camp, endangering the lives of teenage heroes in training. As if this wasn't bad enough, he also murdered the Water Hose heroes (Kota's parents), ForTheEvulz, and [[WouldHurtAChild tries to kill Kota]] before Midoriya intervenes. While some of the other League of Villains members have sympathetic traits, Muscular is nothing more than a psychotic murderer.
** Overhaul is a ruthless {{Yakuza}} boss who [[EvilUncle abuses his young ward]], Eri, draining her blood to make Quirk-destroying bullets, reassembling her body when she runs out of blood to give, and calling her a cursed being born to destroy people. The ordeal has traumatized her so much that even after his defeat, she doesn't know how to smile. He [[BadBoss treats his subordinates no better]], using one as a meat shield against Shigaraki, [[YouHaveFailedMe killing another for failure]], and [[spoiler:forcing two to become part of his OneWingedAngel forms. He has Nemoto use a Quirk-destroying bullet on Mirio, destroying the NiceGuy's promising career as a hero. Later chapters somewhat {{downplay|ed}} this, as they reveal that he's a WellIntentionedExtremist who wants his syndicate back to power in hopes of repaying his old boss, but even then, he put his boss in a coma in order to do so because his boss was against his methods. The LaserGuidedKarma hits him when Shigaraki and Mr. Compress destroy his arms to avenge Magne's death and the loss of Compress' left arm.]]
* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' likes to give every one of the main villains some sympathetic quality or tragic backstory. However, there are a few minor villains who are given no such sympathy:
** Mizuki is the opening villain of the series. He takes advantage of Naruto's goal to be a ninja and reveals he's the container for the Kyuubi, while trying to kill fan-favorite Iruka. Brought back in a filler arc, he reveals that he had always been TheSociopath, hated his "friend" Iruka all along and was just using him, was secretly working for the then-BigBad Orochimaru the whole time, abused his LoveMartyr fiance, has outright killed comrades in the past when convenient, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking hates ramen]].
** Hidan is a cruel psychopath and member of a ReligionOfEvil, who worships violence and death, and sees mercy as a sin. He slaughtered his village simply because he was disgusted with their pacifistic way of life, and performed gruesome rituals to attain immortality for himself. Unlike the rest of the Akatsuki, he has no real FreudianExcuse for his actions.
** Yashiro Uchiha, a minor member of the Uchiha clan who showed up in the flashback arc leading up to the massacre, becomes this in ''Itachi's Story''. He's a {{Jerkass}} who has little patience for Itachi's idealism, and [[spoiler:while not the mastermind of the Uchiha plot for a coup, he was one of the members pushing Fugaku to rebel, despite warnings that it couldn't possibly end well for the clan or the village. When Itachi carries out the massacre, [[DirtyCoward Yashiro]] [[AintTooProudToBeg begs for his life]], and even dishonestly claims he'll call off the coup if he's spared]]. While Itachi is broken by slaughtering the clan, particularly killing his girlfriend, his parents (who FaceDeathWithDignity) and one of Danzo's subordinates[[note]]One of two twins who impersonated a dead Uchiha and had to be killed to tie up loose ends[[/note]] he loathes Yashiro and feels no guilt about subjecting the man to a CruelAndUnusualDeath [[KickTheSonOfABitch by torturing him with]] [[MindRape Tsukuyomi]], [[OffWithHisHead then decapitating him]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': The BigBad of Season One was the Ice Truck Killer, a SerialKiller who killed prostitutes, drained them of their blood, and publicly displayed their bodies. Despite the gruesome nature of his crimes, he was given a sympathetic backstory and even formed a bond with VillainProtagonist Dexter. On the other hand, there's Paul, Rita's abusive ex-husband. He tries to get custody of his kids from Rita and even frames her for assault after she hit him in self-defense. Despite never murdering anyone, he's given far less sympathy than the Ice Truck Killer and is portrayed as more of a nuisance than a threat to Dexter.
* Given the [[CrapsackWorld setting]] of ''Series/GameOfThrones'', there are some minor villains whose dickery rivals that of more serious but complex threats:
** Meryn Trant is a knight of the Kingsguard who, in spite of his oath, shows cowardness, brings injustice (e.g. forcing a man to drink pour a barrel of wine down a fewllow knight's throat) and [[PaedoHunt abuses children and teen girls for his own (sexual) lust]].
** Janos Slynt is the former commander of the City Watch of King's Landing whose treachery leads [[spoiler: to the death of Ned Stark]] and he follows Joffrey's order to slaughter his father's bastard children with no regrets. Despite being easily disposed by Tyrion soon after, he wastes his only chance to remain alive as a member of the Night Watch by bullying Jon Snow even after the latter becomes the new Lord Commander. Unsuprinsingly, his insubordination is punished with a quick and humiliating death (his last words being "[[VillainsWantMercy I've always been afraid]]").
* ''Series/{{Narcos}}'': The series is full of psychopaths of all nature in the cartels, and several nefarious CIA types who are willing to deal with them or do anything to "win" the war on drugs. However the cartel are often very badass, and the main CIA badguy, Bill Stechner, is very machiavellian and cool-headed. When Bill makes a deal with Felix Gallardo, the main bad guy of the first two seasons of Narcos Mexico, he has the state department send in an obnoxious smug bureaucrat named Ted Kaye. Ted Kaye proceeds to act like an entitled ass to Walt Breslin, the main protagonist, telling him that he made a shit sandwich, and he's trying to put a little mustard on it. He later ends up giving Breslin an award, while forgetting that they met before. Ultimately the likes of Bill Stechner or the cartels have far more direct influence on the story than Kaye who only appears in two episodes of the entire series.
* [[AnimalisticAbomination The Demogorgons,]] [[EldritchAbomination Mind Flayer,]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Vecna]] from ''Series/StrangerThings'', are all too cool to hate. Same goes for most of the major human antagonists, such as [[TheBrute Grigori]]. Fortunately, there's also [[TheSociopath Sulliva]], [[TheBully Troy and Tommy,]] [[AlphaBitch Angela and Carol]], as well as so many other [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] that the series has a [[HateSink/StrangerThings page dedicated to them.]]
* ''Series/SquidGame'': The Host of the titular DeadlyGame is a twisted man who is still shown to be capable of forming genuine friendships, while [[TheDragon the Front Man]] runs the game but takes no enjoyment in doing so. Instead, these villains serve as the target of audience hate.
** [[TheBully Jang Deok-su]] is the most evil and psychotic of the Squid Game players. Already a brutal gangster known to have committed crimes that landed him in debt to underground elements, Deok-su contrasts the other players, who fear for their lives and dislike making opponents die, with his bloodthirsty enjoyment of the game's brutality. He is introduced bullying Kang Sae-byeok for [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain being a woman (and North Korean refugee)]], then spends the series being a {{Jerkass}} to the other players, killing them whenever he can get away with it, and even treats his own allies as expendable pawns. He also proves to be a DirtyCoward in the fifth game where he risks everyone's lives to force another player to endanger themselves instead of him. Despite not being a member of the Squid Game organization, he matches their cruelty and lacks the redeeming qualities of [[spoiler: Oh Il-nam and the Front Man]] while being a more personal enemy to hate.
** The [=VIPs=] are wealthy elites and friends of the Host who help fund the games. Though only appearing in two episodes, they show themselves to be worse as they lack the Host's sympathetic qualities. They view the death games as entertainment and show a disregard for the lives of the contestants, are {{Psychopathic Manchild}}ren with a juvenile sense of humor, and one of them outright tries to force a waiter to sexually service him under threat of death.
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'': A few minor villains are presented as far more detestable than the main threat of the series or deadlier villains, either because of their sheer personality or lacking any coolness factor.
** ''Series/UltramanTiga'': While Gatanozoa is the series' main antagonist, it doesn't appears until the final episodes, even if it sent monsters to do its bidding so it doesn't gets portrayed as too much of a bastard for the audience to hate. [[MonsterOfTheWeek Enomena]] is a completely different story, being an [[AliensAreBastards alien invader]] written to be as despicable as possible, planning to drive humanity to destroy and kill each other by using a HatePlague and hunts down an innocent alien, Deban, purely [[ForTheEvulz because he can]].
** ''Series/UltramanCosmos'': While Chaos Header is a terrifying force, it still has a degree of sympathy played for it as the series progresses and is ultimately a WellIntentionedExtremist that's lost its way. The Alien Nowar are minor villains for some episodes but are nonetheless the show's darkest antagonists, painfully turning various innocent creatures into cyborgs against their will unlike Chaos Header lack any real excuse for their actions.
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': Mitsuhiko Hirukawa, while ''far'' away from being much of a threat compared to other villains in the show, is nonetheless the absolute least sympathetic character in it and lacks any redeeming factor to his character. The guy is simply a greedy journalist who doesn't cares who he hurts in his pursuit of good news, trying to discredit GUYS purely because it'll make him famous and even unwittingly helps [[TheDragon Yapool]] by revealing Mirai's identity as Ultraman Mebius to the world.
** ''Series/UltramanX'': While [[BigBad Greeza]] is a world-destroying abomination, it is nonetheless a mindless entity that is more of a force to be stopped. No such thing applies to Gargorgon, a sadistic sapient Kaiju who petrified entire worlds for her amusement and enjoys every second of her victims' suffering and her many atrocities.
* ''Series/TheWire'' loves this trope. There are several drug dealer characters on the show who are outright murderers, and yet they often get sympathetic traits or characterization. They are often contrasted against these characters: Rawls, Burrell, and Valchek who are commanders at the BPD; Clay Davis, Nerese Campbell politicians who are active in Baltimore; Thomas Klebanow and James Whiting who are head editors at the Baltimore Sun. All of the aforementioned characters are for more concerned with petty personal vendettas, furthering their careers, or furthering the institution's reputation rather than actually fixing the city's problems.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''Videogame/{{Ann}}'': [[spoiler:The Principal]], despite his few appearances, is revealed to be the one who turned Hana Itakagi into the StringyHairedGhostGirl who haunts the Delta Academy of Arts. [[spoiler:He would [[SexForServices trade sex with his students for good grades and other favors]], pressuring students into the deal, and when Hana caught him doing it with her best friend, she confronted him, leading him to strangle her to cover it up. He then tells her spirit that [[NeverMyFault its all her fault]] for not keeping quiet. Though he never directly antagonizes Ann, he is the indirect cause of all the suffering in the game, and when Ann sacrifices him to Hana to quell her rage, [[AssholeVictim nobody mourns him]].]]
* The ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series has its share. Most of its {{Big Bad}}s ([[VideoGame/BaldursGate Sarevok]], [[VideoGame/BaldursGateII Irenicus]], and [[VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal Amelyssan]]) are brilliant {{Chessmaster}}s, some of them have sympathetic traits and tragic backstories (especially [[VideoGame/BaldursGateSiegeOfDragonspear Caelar]]), and they're generally too likeable to hate entirely. Even Bhaal, the GreaterScopeVillain of the series and one of the most evil deities on Faerun, makes a nebulous target for audience hate due to [[TheGhost how little time he spends on-screen]]. Thankfully, we have the following characters on-hand to provide easy targets:
** Angelo Dosan, a CorruptCop and one of Sarevok's lieutenants who assumes control of the Flaming Fist after Sarevok becomes duke of Baldur's Gate. If he captures you he puts you through a KangarooCourt and sentences you to hang purely because you oppose his boss; in fact, [[KickTheDog he will kill one of your party members]] [[DisproportionateRetribution if you piss him off at this time]]. He is also the abusive father of party member Shar-Teel, which goes a long way towards explaining her hatred of men. Killing him in the final fight is thus very satisfying.
** Also from the first game is a more indistinct example: Sarevok's stepfather Rieltar Anchev. He isn't ''just'' a CorruptCorporateExecutive leading the Iron Throne; he didn't ''just'' strangle his wife with a garrote over [[EvilIsPetty infidelity]] in front of their adopted son; he even helped dwarven party member Yeslick to reclaim his clan's mines, only to betray him, slap him in a dungeon, and take the mines over for the Iron Throne. His death either at your hands or those of imposters hired by Sarevok is used to frame you for conspiring with the Shadow Thieves in distant Amn to bring about a war between Amn and the Sword Coast; otherwise it's a textbook example of KickTheSonOfABitch with shades of PayEvilUntoEvil (Sarevok orders the imposters to [[KarmicDeath use a garrote]], to begin with). All in all, he is the one character Sarevok kills or has killed that [[AssholeVictim you can really, truly feel no sympathy for whatsoever]].
** In ''Siege of Dragonspear'', Hephernaan takes this role. Whereas Caelar is [[HeroAntagonist a noble and kind woman whose intentions are merely at odds with your own]], Hephernaan [[ObviouslyEvil couldn't look, sound, or act more villainous if he tried]]. His entire role in the story is to manipulate his superior and you to fulfil his dark goal of [[spoiler:opening a portal to the Nine Hells to unleash TheLegionsOfHell on Faerun]], when he's not berating underlings for forgivable failures or running a cabal of necromancers behind Caelar's back. Both of his possible deaths are triumphant examples of DeathByIrony. [[spoiler:Either he dies in battle alongside his demon lord master when you and Caelar team up to stop him, or Caelar, enacting a FaceHeelTurn by making a DealWithTheDevil (the devil in this case being Hephernaan's master), asks only that her new lord destroy Hephernaan for his treachery, which said demon lord gladly obliges, even as Hephernaan pleads pathetically for his life.]]
** In ''Shadows of Amn'' there are the Cowled Wizards, who are a bunch of KnightTemplar, HolierThanThou jackasses who imprison mages on Crowleyed-up charges, have a secret torture room, kidnap Imoen along with Irenicus at the start of the game, and try to murder potential party member Valygar just so they can get access to an interplanar spaceship using his corpse. Consequently, when Edwin assigns you the job to kill one such wizard tracking him, even good companions admit that [[KickTheSonOfABitch going after a Cowled Wizard is okay in their book]]. All this seems to be designed to ensure that their downfall -- Irenicus breaks free from their holdings and slaughters them all, mocking them for thinking they could hold him, and takes over their asylum to serve as his new base of operations -- elicits NoSympathy from the audience and causes them to applaud the style with which Irenicus pulls it off. Just to drive the point home, just before Irenicus breaks free, two wizards discuss how Imoen "is a cute one" and that they'll "have to practice some Enchantment spells" on her.
* ''Videogame/BatmanArkhamSeries'':
** Seeing as how most of Batman's RoguesGallery fall under either the EvilIsCool or DracoInLeatherPants categories, it can be difficult for writers to make the audiences root against a common target. Fortunately, these guys pulled it off by creating the most obnoxious, irritating version of the Riddler yet. You name the annoying trait, chances are he has it. He's an InsufferableGenius who thinks he's smarter and better than everyone, a {{Hypocrite}} who chides Batman for cheating on his riddles when his "puzzles" would be impossible for even a high intellect to solve without access to Batman's technology and he constantly changes the rules to benefit himself, [[NeverMyFault he never accepts defeat nor take responsibility for any of his actions]], has a massive [[AGodAmI God Complex]], he's a HollywoodAtheist, [[{{Sadist}} doesn't give a damn about anyone]], and lacks any of the characteristics that make the other Rogues cool or relatable. While he does have a FreudianExcuse like the other rogues (he was physically and verbally abused by his father and bullied by his classmates), he arguably brought it on himself by lying and cheating his way through life. And to further hammer it home, he is universally despised in-universe (not even the other villains like him) and appears in every game, getting more and more dickish as time goes by, constantly distracting Batman from far more important matters with his puzzles[=/=]deathtraps.
** The Penguin as well. An obnoxious, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain homophobic, misogynistic, racist]] psychopath [[SmugSnake who thinks he is way more sophisticated than he actually is]].
** ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins Arkham Origins']] [[DownloadableContent Cold, Cold Heart]]'' has its incarnation of Ferris Boyle. While Boyle is an awful person in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', he did have a point that Victor's experiment was unauthorized. [[AdaptationalVillainy This Boyle has no such excuse, and is given far greater crimes than his animated counterpart]]. [[spoiler:He makes a deal with Victor that he will help him find a cure for Nora in exchange for him developing cryo-weapons, personally assaults Victor when the latter realizes that he has no intention of honoring his bargain and refuses to cooperate with him any further, kidnaps Nora (all the while claiming she's his property as cryonic test subject), sadistically taunts a helpless Victor about how he will kill Nora in front of him before killing him, [[ForcedToWatch just so he can see her slip away]], all the while bashing him in the head, and [[UngratefulBastard attempts to kill Batman despite the latter saving his life]] just so he can erase all evidence of his crimes.]] Batman punching him unconscious is definitely satisfying as it is well-deserved.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'': The main antagonists -- Lady Arkham, Penguin, and Two-Face -- are all varying degrees of sympathetic. The same cannot be said for these particularly loathsome individuals:
** Hamilton Hill is the [[CorruptPolitician corrupt mayor]] of Gotham City. Back in the day, Hill was in a partnership with [[TheDon Carmine Falcone]] and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Thomas Wayne]], and was complicit in having innocent citizens committed to Arkham Asylum in order to steal their land and riches. Among Hill and Wayne's victims were Esther Cobblepot, the mother of Oswald. When Martha, Thomas's wife, threatened to expose her husband and Hill's activities, Hill hired Joe Chill to assassinate both Thomas and Martha. In the present day, Harvey Dent, backed by Bruce Wayne, is running for mayor against Hill. Hill, teaming up with Oswald Cobblepot, gathers incriminating evidence against the Waynes to hurt Harvey's chances of mayorhood. If Bruce chooses to visit Hill as himself after discovering his partnership with Cobblepot, Hill will try to convince Bruce to stop supporting Harvey in exchange for information, angrily throwing him out if he refuses. During a live debate with Harvey, Hill, under the influence of a drug by the Children of Arkham, reveals his desire to [[KillThePoor incinerate the city's poor]]. Under the mercy of Cobblepot, Hill [[VillainsWantMercy pathetically begs for his life]], before Cobblepot shoots him to death, avenging his mother.
** John and Patricia Vale are the foster parents of Victoria Arkham and one of the [[FreudianExcuse main catalysts for her descent to villainy]]. Taking Vicki in after her birth parents' deaths, the Vales would routinely [[AbusiveParents abuse]] her and their other adopted children by chaining them up in their TortureCellar and [[DontMakeMeTakeMyBeltOff beating them with a belt]]. Years later, Vicki, now going by the alias of Lady Arkham, pays the Vales a visit and brutally murders them in retribution for all the pain they put her through.
* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'':
** Joey Drew, the GreaterScopeVillain. Henry finds a lot of evidence of how [[BadBoss poorly Joey treated his employees]] -- there's not a single character (other than Joey himself) that mentions Joey without having something negative to say about him sooner or later. He [[spoiler:[[FauxAffablyEvil doesn't even believe in his "dream" rhetoric]]]], and he's directly responsible for manipulating and ruining the lives of many other characters. He's also the one to blame for turning his studio into an EldritchLocation.
** Susie Campbell as Physical Alice: Other characters hate her because she tortures, vivisects, and uses body parts from any ink being that comes near her. They hate her to the point where they write NO ANGELS on their sanctuary walls. Players often hate her because she sends [[PlayerCharacter Henry]] on numerous [[FetchQuest errands]], often with weak weapons to defend himself with, and speaks condescendingly to him as he does so. One such errand is to purposely get [[RunOrDie Bendy]] angry at Henry for destroying his cut-outs. She will also present Henry with a tommy gun before she sends him to see a former friend of his, which she will take away right as he's grabbing it unless players fulfill a strict set of criteria. After doing all this, she [[spoiler:attempts to murder Henry, kidnaps his pal Boris, and [[ReforgedIntoAMinion modifies him to be a monster who does her bidding]]]] using the things that she had Henry collect for her.
* ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'':
** Phillip Holmes is Jodie's verbally and emotionally abusive adoptive father. When she was a young girl with barely any control of her powers or brother Aiden, Phillip would openly call Jodie a "demon", or "monster". In addition to blaming Jodie for her shortcomings, and not defending her when she's bullied and nearly smothered in the snow, he reacts with impatience or annoyance when someone stands up to him. While it's implied that they lost one child in infancy, Phillip doesn't have that much consideration for his wife's feelings, pressuring her to abandon her second child that she clearly cares about.
** The [[TeensAreMonsters bullies]] at the party Jodie attends. They tease and try to humiliate her for being different, and force her into a closet simply because she got one of them a book for her birthday. It'd be cathartic to have Aiden go on a rampage against them, but in the aftermath, they will refuse to own up and accuse Jodie of being the devil.
** In the homeless chapter, we are introduced to a gang of degenerate youths who assault homeless people for the fun of it and film it. When Jodie fights off one of their attacks, they go set their building on fire, not seeming to care that there is a baby in there. After Jodie manages to save her friends, they bash her head with a baseball bat, putting her in a brief coma. Mercifully they are arrested shortly after the fact.
** [[GreaterScopeVillain General [=McGarth=]]] is the head of the Department of Paranormal Activity, and just about every scene involving him highlights his corruption. These include having Jodie kill an innocent politician to trigger a war, forcing Jodie into a final mission by promising her freedom, and trying to lock Jodie into a permanent coma to tie loose ends, revealing he did the same to her mother and rubbing it in her face. Despite this, when entities rampage in the DPA headquarters, [=McGarth=] has the audacity to beg Jodie and Ryan to help him.
* The ''VideoGame/BioShock'' series has no shortage of evil characters. However, even the most depraved antagonists tend to avoid this trope and fall squarely into EvilIsCool, LaughablyEvil, or CryForTheDevil territory. The same cannot be said for these specific characters:
** [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Yi Suchong]] from [[VideoGame/BioShock1 the first game]] is a despicably immoral MadDoctor who [[ForScience performs horrific experiments on human test subjects with no remorse for their suffering]]. Unlike fellow MadDoctor J.S. Steinman, who is loudly enthusiastic about his work, Suchong shows nothing but cold indifference to the pain and anguish others suffer because of his actions, and [[CardCarryingVillain he explicitly says that he neither knows nor cares what a conscience is]]. He worked with [[spoiler:BigBad Frank Fontaine]] to make [[spoiler:the PlayerCharacter, Jack, a LaserGuidedTykebomb from birth]], testing his mental conditioning of the young man by [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals forcing him to kill a puppy]]. He later [[WouldHurtAChild slaps a Little Sister]] just for getting in his way -- only to suffer an ''immensely'' satisfying KarmicDeath immediately afterwards. During the events of ''[[BioShockInfinite/BurialAtSea Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea]]'', the player learns that he'd steal ideas from Jeremiah Fink, as Fink stole from him, depriving them of much credit for their innovations. During part II, he forces Elizabeth into doing relatively meaningless chores for his own benefit, such as forcing her to fix the tear machine (though she had her own reasons for fixing it) and risk going deeper into Columbia to get a hair sample (that ultimately becomes meaningless and is, not to Suchong's knowledge, Elizabeth's own hair). Elizabeth gets a first-row seat to witnessing Suchong's KarmicDeath with her own eyes.
** Stanley Poole from [[VideoGame/BioShock2 the second game]] is a {{smug|snake}}, sleazy JerkAss who has [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder a nasty habit of betraying people at the slightest provocation]]. He got himself into Andrew Ryan's good books by having the enigmatic folk hero Johnny Topside -- of whom Poole spoke highly beforehand -- turned over to the authorities, whereupon Topside was forcibly converted into the Big Daddy who would be known as Subject Delta, the PlayerCharacter. After ingratiating himself with the city's top brass, Poole infiltrates Dionysus Park on Ryan's orders, only to join Sophia Lamb's cult just to further his own goals. Poole [[TheStoolPigeon rats out Lamb to the police]] and has her imprisoned so he can have the run of the Park. He then proceeds to blow all of Lamb's money on [[HookersAndBlow lavish parties full of sex and drugs]]. When Lamb unexpectedly escapes from custody, Poole panics, because he doesn't want her to know what he did. To that end, he has Lamb's daughter, Eleanor, sent away to become a Little Sister (essentially damning her to a life of human experimentation and slavery) and [[KillEmAll floods Dionysus Park, killing everyone inside]] [[HeKnowsTooMuch just to keep his misdeeds under wraps]]. Poole keeps this information secret from you as he tasks you with finding and eliminating the Little Sisters, the last people who would know about what he did. When you find out the truth about Poole's doings and go to confront him, he [[DirtyCoward pathetically begs for his life]].
** [[DastardlyWhiplash Jeremiah Fink]] from ''[[VideoGame/BioShockInfinite Infinite]]'' is a CorruptCorporateExecutive who keeps the economic wheels of Columbia turning. He's insufferably condescending, shamelessly narcissistic, [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain extremely racist]], and [[SmugSnake not nearly as clever or cool as he'd like to believe]]. He abuses his workers, keeping them toiling in conditions of virtual slavery (giving them 16-hour workdays with no sick leave and lunch breaks, paying them in scrip than can only be spent at his company stores, forcing them to live in ghettoes near his factories, etc.), all the while justifying his heinous actions with [[InsaneTrollLogic rhetoric that makes sense only to him]]. His only remotely redeeming qualities seem to be [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes his genuine love for his brother and son]], but even then, it's not given much focus and any good features the man might have had have long been drowned out by his {{greed}} and {{pride}}.
* ''VideoGame/Borderlands2'': [[BigBad Handsome Jack]] generally avoids this for the most part, being an [[LaughablyEvil entertaining]] and charismatic villain fans LoveToHate. [[spoiler:His [[FreudianExcuse backstory]] even puts him in a [[TragicVillain tragic and sympathetic]] light.]] There are a plethora of other characters you can genuinely despise, though:
** Dave, from the Outlook side missions. A StayInTheKitchen misogynist, his only function is to annoy/aggravate both the player and Karima, his fellow Outlooker, which makes his eventual death-by-mortar that much more satisfying.
** Hunter Hellquist, the head of the Hyperion propaganda news program, ''This Just In''. He constantly spouts lies about the Vault Hunters, accusing them of murdering [[BlatantLies "unarmed civilians" (Bandits and Hyperion soldiers)]], slaughtering orphans, and generally insults them at every opportunity he gets. [[spoiler:He also [[KickTheDog announces that Bloodwing's mutilated remains will be publicly displayed in the city of Opportunity and celebrates Roland's death]].]] Thankfully, there's a late-game mission where you get to raid his propaganda station and shut him up permanently. Even better, he has a chance to drop [[GameBreaker one of the best Legendary shields in the game]] upon death, meaning there's justification for killing him over and over again.
** Flesh-Stick, a bandit who sold Tiny Tina's parents out to Hyperion for Slag experimentation, with Tina being [[SoleSurvivor the sole escapee]]. You have this [[DirtyCoward supreme coward]] to blame for Tina being [[AxCrazy the]] [[CuteAndPsycho way]] [[CloudCuckoolander she]] [[StepfordSmiler is]] [[MadBomber now]]. A side mission involves luring and capturing him for a [[DeadlyEuphemism "tea party"]] Tina is hosting. At first, Flesh-Stick acts all smug, [[KickTheDog mocking Tina over the death of her parents]], and assuring the two that his bandit pals will come to rescue him. After you gun down them all down, though, he starts [[VillainsWantMercy crying and begging for mercy]], even apologizing for selling Tina's parents out. Tina, as you would expect, [[HighVoltageDeath doesn't give him any]].
** ''VideoGame/CorpsePartyPC98'':
*** [[spoiler:Sachiko]]'s [[NoNameGiven unnamed]] teacher, though seemingly friendly, is the one indirectly responsible for turning [[spoiler:Sachiko's anger and despair]] into the BigBad. [[spoiler:When Sachiko was alive, he met her after school and showed his true colors by [[AttemptedRape trying to rape her]], leading to her accidental death when she fell out the window trying to escape, and her return as a malevolent spirit.]] Even worse is the fact that [[KarmaHoudini he is never caught for this]].
*** [[spoiler:The principal]] helped to cover up [[spoiler:Sachiko's death]] and allowed the aforementioned teacher to [[KarmaHoudini get away with his crimes]] in order to [[SlaveToPR protect the school's reputation]]. When he is later tortured by [[spoiler:the evil half of Sachiko]], he [[NeverMyFault behaves as though he is an innocent victim]], completely ignoring the role he played in [[spoiler:her suffering]].
** In the Heavenly Host continuity, [[spoiler:Principal Takamine Yanagihori]] is the father of BigBad Yoshikazu Yanagihori and is indirectly responsible for his insanity. In the past, he [[AttemptedRape tried to rape]] [[spoiler:Sachiko Shinozaki's mother Yoshie]], leading to [[spoiler:her accidental death when she tripped down the stairs trying to escape, and then [[WouldHurtAChild strangled the seven-year-old Sachiko to death]] to [[HeKnowsTooMuch keep her quiet]]]]. As a result, [[spoiler:the spirit of Yoshie cursed him and his bloodline for all eternity]], which made Yoshikazu go insane -- and [[spoiler:his murder of Sachiko [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom unwittingly unsealed]] the Nirvana/Witch Queen, the [[TheWomanBehindTheMan true villain]] behind Yoshikazu]], making the events of the game his fault. Even when [[spoiler:the spirit of Sachiko]] tortures him for his actions, he refuses to take responsibility and blames her instead. [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Though revered by the community as a good man]], [[spoiler:Takamine Yanagihori]] is rightfully considered by Aiko to be a disgusting individual who is ultimately responsible for the suffering that the heroes and trapped souls must endure.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', Knight-Commander Meredith and First Enchanter Orsino may be the final bosses, but Mother Petrice is the game's main HateSink, being a paranoid bigot who constantly raises tensions between the Qunari and the rest of Kirkwall in the hopes of getting the Qunari banished from Kirkwall or killed off.
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': While the vanilla game and its [=DLCs=] each pit the Dragonborn against a variety of powerful villains, it is Harkon from the ''Dawnguard'' DLC who is easily the most detestable of the lot. By comparison, [[BigBad Alduin]] from the main game, in spite of being an arrogant monster, is ultimately a necessary force of nature whose sole purpose for existing is to destroy the world so that a next world may be born, something that several characters point out throughout the game. Arch-Curate Vyrthur, from the ''Dawnguard'' DLC (and the true BigBad of the DLC), is just seeking revenge against the god he once worshipped out of belief that his god abandoned him by letting him become a vampire, while Miraak was ultimately a pawn of the Daedric Prince Hermaeus Mora in the ''Dragonborn'' DLC. Mora himself, like all Daedric Princes, is an [[EldritchAbomination eldritch god]] that operates on a [[BlueAndOrangeMorality different]] sense of morality, but is considered one of the more neutral Princes, as he rarely engages in acts of cruelty, always [[IGaveMyWord keeps his word]], and prefers tempting mortals with promises of power over actively coercing them into servitude [[note]] At worst, if he decides he has no more need for a loyal servant, he grants them a painless death [[/note]]. Harkon, on the other hand, is an arrogant and sadistic monster who is too shortsighted to see how much his plans would inevitably, massively backfire (even if he managed to complete them), he views all mortals as [[FantasticRacism inferior animals]] who only exist to feed him at his pleasure, he sacrificed thousands of innocents to Molag Bal (the truly, unequivocally evilest of the Daedric Princes) to gain the 'gift' of vampirism, and he is dumb enough to betray [[note]] If the Dovahkiin decided to join Harkon's clan instead of the Dawnguard [[/note]] and antagonize the Dragonborn, one of [[PhysicalGod the most powerful demigods]] to have ever existed on Nirn. Worst of all, he's a monstrously abusive father, whose first concern when reuniting with his only child and daughter Serana was ensuring that the Elder Scroll she carries was safe in his [[EstablishingCharacterMoment establishing moment]]. Needless to say, killing him at the end of the Dawnguard DLC is immensely satisfying.
* ''VideoGame/ForestOfDrizzlingRain'': The Kotori Obake, despite being a child abductor, is too insane to hate [[spoiler:and is also very sympathetic because she was tortured into her insanity]]. But these two men are much more personally loathsome:
** The nameless Government Official only appears in one scene near the beginning, but establishes himself as a SmugSnake nonetheless. In said scene, he informs Suga, the manager of the local museum, that the government plans to demolish the museum to make room for land development. He proceeds to be rude and disrespectful to Suga, outright telling him he does not care if Suga ends up jobless, then when Sakuma objects, he tells her that her father would support the demolishment. Finally, when Shiori tells him that she is the heir to the museum and can shut him down, he rudely expresses disbelief before storming out in a huff.
** [[spoiler:The first Ogami-san, though seemingly a benevolent hero of old, is revealed to have been the GreaterScopeVillain who warped an innocent woman into becoming the [[BigBad Kotori Obake]]. Running a system in which crimes are punished by selling the wives and children of the criminal into [[SexSlave sexual slavery]], he fell in lust with a woman, and so falsely accused her of crimes to imprison her, before having her family executed. He then raped her and later killed the fetus, finally driving her insane. Ultimately, all the sorrow and child deaths at the hands of the Obake can be traced back to him.]]
* ''VideoGame/GhostOfTsushima'''s Khotun Khan, while the main force of the Mongol invasion of Tsushima, proves to be an interesting character on top of being a pragmatic villain. It's also hard to hate [[spoiler:Ryuzo]], as he is ultimately a tragic villain who makes several mistakes that lead to his downfall. However, there are plenty of minor villains who serve as the hate sinks throughout the game:
** [[spoiler:Lady Hana Ikeda]], the [[spoiler:older sister]] of Lady Masako Adachi and ArcVillain of her quest line is the mastermind behind an attack on Clan Adachi during the Mongol invasion that resulted in the slaughter of Masako's daughters-in-law and grandchildren carried out by former servants of Clan Adachi (most of who were equally vile people), while Masako's husband and sons were dying in battle. [[spoiler:Her motive? Hana strongly resents Masako for being the one to marry the samurai Lord Adachi, while she was sent up north to marry a retainer who turned out to be an abusive drunk behind closed doors. Even worse, Hana insists that she suffered more than Masako ever did, and feels no remorse for killing innocent children, even blaming Masako for everything bad in her life. Hardly anyone sheds a tear when she ends up [[SpitefulSuicide committing suicide]] in the last mission of Masako's questline, and records scattered throughout the game even indicate that Hana Ikeda isn't as well-liked among people as much as she thinks she is.]]
** Kajiwara, a former retainer and one of the conspirators behind the attack on Clan Adachi, responsible for hiring the assassins who carried out the attack. Fired after being caught abusing his wife and daughter by Lady Masako, he later killed them both when the Mongols threatened his home in order to save his own skin. When Jin and Masako corner him, Kajiwara still tries to justify his actions by saying he'd killed them "out of love", which completely disgusts Jin, and his death at Masako's hands is completely deserving and justified.
** The Black Wolf, one of the villains of Yuna's quest line. A shameless and unrepentant pedophile slaver who targets children, he was the one who sexually assaulted Yuna and Taka when they were children before selling them to the equally vile Mamushi brothers, which is what he has been doing for at least twenty years, only getting worse when working alongside a Mongol general. When Yuna and Jin confront him, the first thing the Black Wolf does is try to throw his boss under the bus, then has the gall to victim-blame Yuna for him sexually assaulting Taka, even calling him his favourite. It's all the more satisfying when Yuna cuts him down with her sword, ending his cruelty and ensuring that no more children get hurt by him again.
** The Mamushi Brothers, a trio of cruel slavers and the other villains of Yuna's quest line. Both Yuna and Taka were enslaved by the brothers when they were children, and it's heavily implied that they and many other slaves were raped by them during their time in captivity. During the events of the game, the Mamushi brothers operate with even ''greater'' cruelty under the Mongols, leaving burnt corpses impaled on pikes outside their farmstead as a message to any slave that might want to escape, in addition to decapitating slaves who displease them. Having Jin carry out Yuna's vengeance proves to be quite cathartic, as he goes as far as beheading the brothers before mounting their heads on a pike to send a message to the Mongols.
* ''Videogame/GhostSchool'': [[spoiler:Reika Izayoi]], the VengefulGhost in charge of the titular school, was warped into a hateful being by nasty bullies and is sympathetic. The bullies and one unrelated villain are not.
** [[spoiler:[[TokenEvilTeammate Yakumo Kurosaki]] is an [[NightmareFetishist occult fanatic]] who [[{{Jerkass}} behaves rudely to the other students]] and shows no concern for their safety in having been trapped in the titular school, instead only caring about seeing a ghost. He refuses to help the others unless he occasionally feels like it, steals the eyeballs of Sayuri's corpse which turns ''her'' into a VengefulGhost, and eventually [[AxCrazy snaps]] and tries to kill the others.]]
** [[AlphaBitch Tatsuki Sawashiro]] relentlessly bullied Kiyoka Kawamura for being "weird", doing things like making her BetaBitch Tomoko stick sharp tacks in Kiyoka's shoes. Also bullying Tomoka for her weight, when the teacher learns of what they did, Tatsuki shifts all the blame to Tomoko, [[spoiler:driving her to suicide]], to which Tatsuki reacts with apathy. She then [[spoiler:causes Kiyoka's death, [[AssholeVictim causing Reika to brutally murder her]]]]. Even her FreudianExcuse of having an EducationPapa does little to make her sympathetic.
** Yume, Rie, and Tomoka are the trio of bullies who targeted [[spoiler:Reika]] and are responsible for her death. DrivenByEnvy of her TeachersPet status, the three invited her over to the school at night and picked on her, ending in Tomoka pushing her over and killing her. The three then decide to bury her and hide any evidence of what happened. Tomoka in particular shows her loathsomeness by kicking [[spoiler:Reika]]'s [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals pet cat Chloe to death]], [[EvenEvilHasStandards disgusting even Yume and Rie]]. And unlike [[spoiler:Yakumo]] and Tatsuki, the trio [[KarmaHoudini is never shown being punished for their actions]].
* ''VideoGame/MidnightTrain'''s antagonists, the Black Gear organization, are a sympathetic vigilante group, so these backstory characters serve as the {{Asshole Victim}}s that they targeted:
** The mayor's son, from Apollo Carson's backstory, is a haughty UpperClassTwit who beats up Apollo one day simply for being poor. He does this while espousing his hatred of poor people, whom he considers to be a plague on "his" city. As a result, [[spoiler:Apollo pushes him into a fence in self-defense, killing him]].
** [[spoiler:Apollo's unnamed partner was a prisoner of the Midnight Train like him, and brought a pet bird, Celeste, along. He would befriend Apollo and bond with him, only to eventually steal his pocket watch, which would leave Apollo trapped in the PrisonDimension forever, so he could escape, even [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals abandoning Celeste]], leading to Apollo's deep trust issues. In the next building, he [[PsychologicalProjection becomes so paranoid about Selene Ambrose betraying him]] that he refuses to take her advice and rejects her help, resulting in him getting killed by a trap. While Neil pities him, he ultimately shows himself as a pathetic, cowardly man.]]
** The unnamed terrorist from [[spoiler:Luna Wyndell]]'s backstory is a MadBomber who pretends to be kind to [[spoiler:Luna]] before bombing the nearby restaurant, killing her parents in the process. This even traumatizes [[spoiler:Luna]], to whom the terrorist gloats before deciding not to kill her, because [[CruelMercy he finds letting her live with the trauma to be sweeter]]. He then says he will be planning his "next show" before leaving. [[spoiler:Luna]] ultimately joins Black Gear and stabs him later [[YouKilledMyFather as revenge]].
** Neil Lawton's EvilUncle took him in after the death of his parents, only to [[AbusiveParents abuse him]] by giving him pieces of bread for food while gorging himself and crippling his self esteem by forcing him to verbally degrade himself. Uncaring of the bullying Neil has to deal with at school, the uncle also shows disdain for Neil's father, whom he calls useless. [[spoiler:He is also in the business of extorting money from people, and kills a man for not paying on time, then threatens Neil into staying quiet and is acquitted as a result, going on to kill two innocent sisters. He is promptly targeted and assassinated by Luna.]]
** The child kidnappers from the backstory of [[spoiler:Justice II/Kale]] and [[spoiler:Purity/Lucine]] captured them as well as several children. Putting them through abuse so horrible that most of the children died from it, the kidnappers would receive comeuppance thanks to [[spoiler:Justice I]], who killed them. This traumatic event is what led [[spoiler:Kale and Lucine]] to join Black Gear.
* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': Of the main villains, Something is too {{eldritch|Abomination}} to hate, and [[spoiler:Omori himself]] too sympathetic. [[RoyalBrat Sweetheart]], meanwhile, is TheHeavy and an obnoxious, arrogant monarch whose main role is to get in the way of the heroes' quest to rescue Basil. Despite her public image as a kind girl, Sweetheart is a tyrant who throws her subjects in the dungeon for the pettiest of reasons (like trying to ask her out but being too short), and she twice dates Captain Spaceboy only to cruelly dump him because he is not good enough for her, leaving him heartbroken. She is narcissistic enough to then demand a clone of herself to marry, only to try and cheat the clone-makers out of payment for not satisfying her. It is thus karmic when she is eaten by Humphrey and forced to serve as Perfectheart's maid for the rest of her life.
* ''VideoGame/PeretEmHeruForThePrisoners'': [[spoiler:Soji Mizumi initially seems to be a simple photojournalist who is only concerned with getting a big story from the tourist expedition into the ruins but is, in fact, a SerialRapist who tries to {{blackmail}} Sae Otogi, the tour guide, into having sex with him by threatening to expose her drug dealing, [[EvilGloating bragging]] that he's done so with many women in the past. He lacks the sympathetic backstory of Professor Tsuchida and is [[KarmaHoudini never punished for his crimes]].]]
* The ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games tend to be lighthearted, with nearly every character, even the BigBad of each game, usually having [[AntiVillain some sympathetic qualities]]. However, they'll throw in the rare character you just can't help but find hate-worthy. Case in point, [[spoiler:Prime Minister [[CorruptPolitician Bill Hawks]]]] from ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture''. [[spoiler:He is the [[GreaterScopeVillain source of the miseries]] of the sympathetic [[BigBadDuumvirate Dimitri Allen and Clive Dove]]. Initially an associate of Dimitri's, he ends up being too ambitious for his own good and insists on testing the time machine despite being warned about it in order to gain the money he was promised for testing the invention. This ends up fatal, as it causes an explosion which kills several people, chief among them being Clive's parents and Layton's sweetheart/Allen's crush, Claire. Hawks, having survived, uses the funds as a means to become Prime Minister, while the former's deaths would end up becoming the [[StartofDarkness beginning of the path to evil for Clive and Dimitri]], who'd conspire to kidnap him. This escalates into London being nearly razed to the ground thanks to Clive's machinations, yet even after being rescued by Layton and co., [[NeverMyFault Hawks never once shows remorse]] for his actions and winds up [[KarmaHoudini getting away with everything in the end]]. He has a tendency to get on many Most Hatable Characters in Games lists, and it is easy to see why; screwing over innocent people for the sake of his greed, Bill Hawks is the embodiment of political corruption.]]
* ''VideoGame/SeraphicBlue'': Of the main antagonists, the Gaia Cancers are too eldritch to hate, Ende is more scary than hateable, [[spoiler:the goddess Er]] is a product of [[FreudianExcuse childhood trauma]] and nihilism, and [[spoiler:the Kursk family]] truly believe in their cause. These men, on the other hand, have no such qualities:
** Siegbert Ansbach is in charge of raising Vene to be one of the members of the titular Seraphic Blue. However, he clearly cares more about satisfying his sick sense of humor when he tries to kill her emotions via killing kittens in front of her whenever she gets attached to them. Eventually, he makes Vene apathetic enough to do the deed herself, all while claiming that emotions and compassion are unnecessary for saving the world. [[spoiler:When he discovers his actions caused an evil SplitPersonality, [[BigBad Er]], to emerge in Vene, he decides to keep Vene's evil half a secret for his own amusement. Said evil personality is also capable of misusing Seraphic Blue's power to end the world, thus destroying any of his claims of being a WellIntentionedExtremist. Sure enough, Er kills Siegbert and he's so hated by the party that they taunt him as he dies, telling him that it's "Game Over" for his life of treating everything as a game. He continues to be a complete ass beyond the grave when the government finds that he has an elaborate security system protecting Er's data, which will be automatically deleted if they botch too many attempts to crack the password.]]
** Georg Roseburg was once a normal village pharmacist before getting [[DrunkOnPower drunk on the economic power and knowledge]] granted to him by the Fezzite government, causing him to become one of the most hatable characters in the game. He proceeds to become a CorruptCorporateExecutive with ambitions of conquering Fezzite and [[CardCarryingVillain tearing the world apart]], regardless of if he has to stage false flag operations on his hired soldiers, if he has to [[AMillionIsAStatistic sacrifice a city]] that was built over his war machine, or if he has to team up with the Gaia Cancers in their goal to destroy the world. His family life makes him worse, since he's possessive of his daughter, Syria, to the point of leaving her to die when she gets pregnant and sending assassins after her lover and child. Worse yet, when his daughter is reincarnated as Vene, Georg intends to steal Vene's spirit and place her in a clone of Syria in order to make her a possession again. Eventually, he allows Ende to transform him into a Gaia Cancer so he can take the party down with him, forcing Lake to perform a HeroicSacrifice.
** Morgan Douglas doesn't have as much onscreen villainy as the other two and is more of a DirtyCoward, but his very existence still warrants disgust. For one thing, he endorsed the aforementioned Siegbert's abuse towards Vene because of his love of harming the weak. Some time after he gets demoted, he teams up with Ende and starts a coup d'etat against Queen Minerva Fezzite, and then engages in a terrible war against Georg where both sides use [[WasOnceAMan Devil/Lucifer]] soldiers. At one point, he tries to torture a civilian hostage ForTheEvulz, only to be scared off when another [[BareFistedMonk hostage]] threatens him. Despite claiming that he doesn't want to go as far as destroying the world, he has no issue with using his newfound Gaia Cancer transformation to kill all three members of Seraphic Blue out of spite for the one who caused his demotion, making him the most pathetic antagonist in the game.
* Most of the villains in ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' are either TragicVillain[=s=] (i.e. Mr. Negative [[spoiler: and Dr. Octopus]]), have a noble side (i.e. Tombstone, Shocker) or get taken down a peg by Spider-Man's constant quipping (i.e. Electro, Rhino, Hammerhead). However, two villains stick out as truly loathsome individuals:
** Mac Gargan/Scorpion is the Sinister Six's resident HateSink. While the Master Planner motivated the other villains by promising them a better life (freeing Rhino from his suit and curing Vulture's cancer) or helping them achieve their goals (giving Electro his wish of becoming pure energy and helping Mr. Negative kill Norman Osborn), Scorpion is motivated only by money and opportunities to indulge his sadism. He poisons Spider-Man and taunts him as he swings around New York finding the ingredients for an antidote. Once the hallucinatory parts of the poison kick in, hallucinations of Scorpion harass Spidey, crossing a line by mocking Uncle Ben's death. To make him even more infuriating, he's completely incapable of backing up any of his tough talk, relying on sneak attacks and Spider-Man being overwhelmed by numbers in their two fights. In his boss fight, his contributions consist of screaming insults at Rhino and throwing easily-dodgeable poison attacks, all the while talking a big game of killing Spider-Man and keeping his corpse as a trophy. All this to say, most players understood when Rhino snapped after one too many insults and turned on Scorpion to deliver a long-due beatdown.
** Screwball first appears in a side mission in the main story, which sends Spider-Man on a wild goose chase to save a hostage that doesn't exist, all a gambit for her to gain followers on her social media. That's unlikeable, but her sheer contemptibility ratchets to eleven in the DLC. Here, she takes Taskmaster's place in setting up challenges for Spider-Man around the city. Unlike Taskmaster, who either sets up bombs in isolated areas or sends Spider-Man after other mercenaries, her challenges regularly put innocent people in danger, from setting up bombs, using her social media influence to release and arm dangerous criminals, and setting up [=EMPs=] that could leave thousands of people without power. And unlike Taskmaster, a silent observer, Screwball provides a constant stream of obnoxious commentary, mocking Spider-Man if he doesn't get the maximum score and threatening to dox livestream viewers who try to report her crimes to the police. Many a player were happier defeating her than Hammerhead.
* In the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'', the BigBad is typically revealed to be some form of sympathetic villain, whether they be a WellIntentionedExtremist, TragicVillain, NobleDemon, or the like. So to give the audience someone to hate, each game will instead have another villain who lacks the sympathetic qualities of the main villain and exists to earn the ire of the heroes.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'': [[spoiler:[[SinisterMinister Grand Maestro Mohs]]. More or less every moment he's onscreen oozes smug sliminess, and he's got an impressive [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] resume ranging from warmongering to [[spoiler:masterminding Akzeriuth, convincing Natalia's father to kill her and Luke, holding Anise's parents hostage to blackmail her, and killing Ion by forcing him to read the Score. He is ultimately a patsy for Van Grants, [[WellIntentionedExtremist who is much more sympathetic]], and by the time you fight him, he's completely lost his mind and been turned into a monster]]. The characters [[AlasPoorVillain express pity on his death]], but more likely, the audience will not.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'': Of the main villains, [[spoiler:Alexei Dinoia]] wants to bring order to the Empire and feels guilt over [[spoiler:nearly dooming the world]], while [[spoiler:Duke Pantarei]] wants to save the world and hates humanity for betraying his friend, and [[spoiler:The Adephagos]] is just a mindless EldritchAbomination. But the game has a pair of particularly villainous characters [[spoiler:whom Yuri ends up killing in the name of vigilante justice]].
*** Magistrate Ragou harshly taxes his people, and offers a reprieve to anyone who retrieves the horn of the Rhybgaro, a monster, simply because [[ForTheEvulz he's amused by the idea of people getting eaten by monsters]]. He also takes the loved ones of people who owe taxes as collateral, [[WouldHurtAChild including their children]], and imprisons them with monsters. He's even responsible for the storms that make sailing out of his town difficult, thereby ruining the economy for his own twisted amusement.
*** Cumore, an Imperial Knight, tricks people into volunteering for strenuous labor with the false promise of making them nobles. He later pressgangs peasants into searching the desert for the phoenix-like monster Phaeroh, and the party finds two parents almost dead of thirst in the desert. He even [[YouHaveFailedMe gives the same punishment to one of his men for not rounding up people quickly enough]].
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2'' has [[SmugSnake Rideaux]]. He's smarmy, snarky, and generally acts very pompous to the party, even going so far as to mock their (and the player's) attempts at fixing the prime dimension. Rideaux is also fought multiple times, so as [[CatharsisFactor satisfying]] it is to beat him up, one still has to do it three times in total, [[spoiler:and even then, the player doesn't get to finish him, either. He gives one last mock to Ludger, before being dragged off and KilledOffScreen]]. Oh, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and he's the reason Ludger, and the player, is hit with that]] [[ScrappyMechanic obnoxious debt]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking to begin with]].[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}'', both the Visual Novel and the Anime Adaptation, usually is in a setting where there is NoAntagonist, thus it's a daily life series. Every character seems to always have more sympathetic qualities. However, the closest they can have for this trope is the whole soccer team, a team very full of JerkJock, that while Youhei Sunohara was being a jerk that they kicked him out, they were no better, with implications that they did enjoy making Sunohara's time in the club miserable, and when his sister Mei begged for them to put him back to the club to re-ignite his passion in life, they instead chose to torment not only Mei but also Tomoya (and in the anime, also Nagisa, who tags along) for nothing but laughs with false promises that if they put up with it, they will let Youhei back. Of course, they refused to make good of the promise, to the point that when Youhei, usually the ButtMonkey of the whole series, struck back at them for bullying his sister. It is saying something that in the same series, there's a group of [[{{Delinquents}} Biker Gang/Yakuza]]... and they have a lot more moral standards (and a sympathetic story arc) than the club.
* ''Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}'':
** ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' features a great number of villains, but nearly all have some sympathetic quality, even [[BigBadDuumvirate Kirei and Gilgamesh]] (or at least something that makes them undeniably cool villains). Then there is Shinji Matou, Sakura Matou's [[BigBrotherBully abusive brother]] who is unpleasant on a personal level. A [[SmugSnake smug braggart]], Shinji also mistreats his own servant, Rider, and cares nothing for her well-being, and he desires to force Rin Tohsaka to bow to him and satisfy his lust towards her. In the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, he's also revealed to be [[spoiler:[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil a rapist]] who primarily targets [[VillainousIncest his sister]], already a very sympathetic character]]. Arrogant and sexist, Shinji Matou lacks the interesting qualities of his rivals, instead being a pathetic loser who [[BigBadWannabe always gets outwitted]]. It says something that, in nearly two decades of vile villains in the ''Nasuverse'', this one high school kid ''still'' manages to be the most near-unanimously hated character. It's even lampshaded in ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm'' where Sakura outright says that his only positive quality is making everyone around him look good.
** The 2014 ''Anime/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks'' TV adaptation gives an expanded character to Caster's summoner and first Master, who in the VN is supposed to have been a boring coward, but is nameless and never appears onscreen. Atrum Galliasta is AdaptationalVillainy personified, with zero redeeming qualities and even less sympathetic than ''Shinji'', if that's possible. He sacrifices orphans/kidnapped children for mana and ''doesn't'' like that Caster can gather much more mana without killing anyone [[GreenEyedMonster because it shows that she's a better mage than him]]--and possibly because [[AxCrazy her method doesn't involve killing anyone]]--[[TooDumbToLive he hits and insults his far more powerful Servant]] and uses poorly-thought-out methods to enforce her obedience, and he's a StrawMisogynist on top of everything else, keeping a literal harem and using only girls for his mana sacrifices. He's present mainly to make Caster [[EvenEvilHasStandards look like a saint]].
** ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'': The Red Faction are full of varying characters with their own motivations that can be noble, including the leader Shirou Kotomine[[spoiler:/Amakusa Shiro]]. The Black Faction is a mixed bag as it has a lot of selfish and underhanded character mixed with good people. And worse, the patriarch, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia, was part of the Nazi and has been consuming souls of children, but he exhibits style, being genuinely nice to the good members of his family and generally being more of a team player, focusing his efforts to make sure his family gets the Holy Grail. On the other hand, one of its member, Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillenia, stands out as an extremely horrible one note evil bitch who is completely evil, one of the vilest beings to ever grace the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}. She only does her magic research to torture people because she gets off it, she gains the service of the virtuous Astolfo for the purpose of breaking his morality and drive him to despair by violating his Paladin code for her own pleasure, she murders people on a whim and goes into horrific details in how she wants Sieg to be offed because he got the attention of Astolfo more, going so far to waste all her Command Spells only for specific ways to kill and torture Sieg done by Astolfo, meaning that she didn't share Darnic's team spirit, she's only in to satisfy her own lust. It's little wonder that her sudden end by Mordred decapitating her from behind was met with joy and the remaining family proceeded to forget that she ever existed, with no one ever mentioning her again.
** ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':
*** UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus, known as the Rider of the Resistance that debuted in the Agartha Singularity. Unlike other Servants, Columbus instead got an overblown HistoricalVillainUpgrade, having the negative rumors and traits about him [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]]: He's a two-faced self-serving bastard that masks his own dark, selfish desires with positive traits such as being an inspiring {{Determinator}}, while also holding high values that usually disgusts normal people (for example: [[spoiler:Slavery should be promoted because it's much more profitable, even if the age of slavery has been long gone]]). While he is summonable, the game and narrative makes no excuse that Columbus is an utter bastard you're supposed to dislike. [[EvilOldFolks Being portrayed as an old man]] [[DoubleStandard instead of having]] a GenderFlip like other Servants might help push this trope further too, and while he doesn't promote slavery as often, he still does everything in the name of profit thus most of his actions tend to leer into another unsavory role of a ConMan.
*** From the same game, when it comes to non-Servant, there's also the Demon God Pillar Flauros, though you know him more as [[spoiler:Professor Lev Lainur]]. What differentiates him from other Demon God Pillars are that [[spoiler:he begins the game by gruesomely killing Olga Marie Animusphere to non-existence, all while taunting how pitiful she is, and he spent the rest of his time being a supreme SmugSnake, always babbling about how doomed you, the players, are in the face of him and the other Demon God Pillars; and makes unpleasant SlasherSmile too while he's at it. And when eventually his master, Goetia, developed his own character and other Demon Pillars gain their own quirks, Flauros basically stays in square one forever, still the same SmugSnake as ever.]] This results fans cheering when [[spoiler:Altera]] butts into the Septem Singularity to [[spoiler:kill him]], and it's considered one of the few good things of the Singularity when it's considered problematic. And additionally, in the Salomon Singularity, after the fans were done farming with [[MemeticLoser Barbatos]], they went straight to obliterate Flauros with full intent of making him pay for [[spoiler:the gruesome murder of Olga Marie]] and for being a smug ass to the end.
*** The Caster of Limbo (a.k.a. Ashiya Douman) ''revels'' in being a SmugSnake supreme, making the lives of everyone in the Shimousa Sub-Singularity miserable and takes extra delight in the suffering of Katou Danzou as his 'puppet'. Even his fellow Swordsman of Carnage, Saber Empireo/Yagyu Munenori, doesn't have high opinions on him and killed him when he tried to enact his revenge on Musashi, but he lived and revealed that all his servitude was an act, his true loyalty was to the Alien God and the whole thing was just a prelude he prepared for the Lostbelts. He then gleefully made some peaceful Lostbelts into hell on Earth (the Yuga-Kurukeshtra, especially) and gives a MUCH more revelling towards the sufferings he caused, and in his last stand at Lostbelt 5.5: Heian-Kyo, it turns out that [[EvilIsPetty he does all those for the sole reason of surpassing his eternal rival]] UsefulNotes/AbeNoSeimei and satiating his pride, which Seimei used to the heroes' advantage by not appearing in physical form, allowing him to be beaten for good. After being summonable, he might have claimed himself to be free from the Alien God's link, but all of those petty and despicable actions are still on his own volition.
* In the original ''VisualNovel/TheHouseInFataMorgana'', most villains are shown to have once been good people before being DrivenToVillainy, even the BigBad herself, The Witch, but these [[AristocratsAreEvil nobles]] were not:
** Antonin Bollinger is the {{abusive|Parents}} father to Michel Bollinger. Raising his [[spoiler:intersex]] child as a daughter, he [[spoiler:[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain declares him cursed when Michel comes out as a trans male]]]], and has him locked up. Allowing [[spoiler:Aimee Joubert]] to torture him, Antonin also repeatedly rapes [[spoiler:Giselle]], a servant of his, and carves the word HARLOT into her crotch. Eventually ordering Michel executed and sending [[spoiler:Michel's own beloved brother Didier]] to do the job, Antonin shows no love or concern for anything but his own reputation.
** [[spoiler:Aimee Joubert]] is the one mainly responsible for Michel's trauma. [[spoiler:The fiancee of Georges Bollinger who created on him with his brother Didider, Aimee [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain shows disgust towards homosexuality]] when the female-presenting Michel kisses her. When Michel is locked up, Aimee gleefully [[ColdBloodedTorture tortures him]], depriving him of food and water, ritually humiliating him, and taking great pleasure in all of his pain. Later, she slowly poisons Georges to death to gain all his property. When she reappears in the backstage interviews, [[KarmaHoudini she smugly gloats about how she went on to live a life of comfort and security and faced no justice for her crimes]].]]
** Amadee is the leader of a local village who initially befriends [[spoiler:Giselle]]. When she is falsely accused of stealing from the village, Amadee refuses to listen to her, subjecting her to ColdBloodedTorture instead, and it is later implied that he was the one who framed her. [[spoiler:When Michel is set to be executed, Amadee takes his corpse and humiliates him in front of the whole village, calling him a demon. Like Aimee, Amadee is [[KarmaHoudini never shown having paid for his crimes]].]]
** In his appearance in the original game, [[TheCaligula Lord Jean-François Barnier]] is the one responsible for driving [[spoiler:Morgana]] and [[spoiler:Jacopo]] into villainy. A tyrant who torments everyone around him for fun, he buys [[spoiler:Morgana]] and organizes the blood sabbaths where he and other nobles drink her blood. His torment of [[spoiler:Morgana]] is a major part of what drove her to become a WickedWitch.
* ''VisualNovel/MysticMessenger'''s main antagonists, the Mint Eye cult led by The Savior/[[spoiler:Rika/Mina]] and Unknown, are creepy and legitimately dangerous, but all the members are mentally ill and treated with some sympathy- even the Savior and Unknown have a FreudianExcuse. Two of the routes have {{Arc Villain}}s who are much easier to hate:
** Echo Girl's only purpose is to serve as an antagonist in Zen's route while Unknown and The Savior are doing their own thing. She is a famous celebrity who tries to pressure Zen, a co-actor in an upcoming production, into sex, then makes a FalseRapeAccusation as revenge for being turned down, nearly destroying his reputation and career. She has no redeeming qualities, and the only good thing she's ever done for Zen was to convince the director not to drop Zen from his project when he injures his ankle, albeit for ulterior motives.
** Glam Choi and Sarah from Jumin's route are a pair of greedy {{Gold Digger}}s who seek to marry Chairman Han and his son Jumin, respectively, solely for their immense fortune. The two have no redeeming qualities, with Sarah trying to force Jumin into a marriage he doesn't want and [[ClingyJealousGirl antagonizing the heroine for being close to him]], and like Echo Girl, they serve no real purpose other than to cause trouble in a route where Mint Eye doesn't play as much of a role.
* ''VisualNovel/PrincessEvangile'' has [[AbusiveParents Shinya Okonogi]], the father of protagonist Masaya Okonogi. Despite Masaya taking care of him for years after him and his mother got divorced by doing part-time jobs and earning money for both of them, Shinya makes no hesitation in selling out ''his own son'' to the {{Yakuza}} during the prologue. In most routes, he's a KarmaHoudini, never seen again by Masaya despite the latter winning the lottery ticket Shinya himself had asked Masaya to buy. In Chiho's route, however, [[spoiler:he's part of the BigBadEnsemble alongside the Headmistress. And here, he proves to be even scummier than the former (who at least [[EvenEvilHasStandards has a code of loyalty]], when it's revealed he stabbed his ex-wife for refusing to give him money, kidnapped Chiho, and even [[SlippingAMickey drugged]] his own son into handing over his lottery ticket winnings, threatening to kill him and Chiho if they refuse.]]
* ''VisualNovel/ShinraiBrokenBeyondDespair'': [[spoiler:Hiro Shiratake]] may not be [[BigBad the killer]], but he is much more of a scumbag than said killer, [[spoiler:Momoko Mori]] (a SympatheticMurderer). [[spoiler:After Momoko became popular, Hiro set out to make her his trophy girlfriend, ditching Runa Hikari when [[GoldDigger he realized she wasn't rich]]. He later tried to charm Momoko's best friend, Kamen Eiga, while he was dating Momoko, and caused Momoko to think her best friend was sleeping with her boyfriend, setting off Momoko's murderous revenge plot. Hiro is ultimately killed by Momoko, [[AssholeVictim with nobody mourning his death]], and Raiko Shinpuku agrees that [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse even his bad childhood does nothing to excuse his actions]].]]
* ''VisualNovel/TokyoDark'': Reina is ultimately a tragic figure with a FreudianExcuse; but these four men, two of whom warped her into a monster, are the embodiments of misogyny and arrogance:
** Goto is a {{fat|Bastard}}, ugly, and perverted businessman whose hobby is pressuring teen girls into sexually servicing him in the sewer. When [[TheHeroine Detective Ayami Ito]] first encounters him, he hits on her; later he is discovered to have antagonized Akane to the point of making her cry. When Ayami returns to make him stop, he is seen with yet another girl whom is pleading with Ayami to save her. Ayami can choose to [[spoiler:blackmail, threaten, or even kill him; taking the last option leads to the ending where Ayami is arrested]].
** Detective Akira Taira is TheRival to Ayami and a haughty {{Jerkass}}. Constantly deriding Ayami at every opportunity and treating her as incompetent simply for being a woman, Taira is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] mocking Ayami for failing her mission, an event which had traumatized her due to [[spoiler:the death of her LoveInterest]]. When she gets demoted as a result, he takes her spot, and repeatedly antagonizes her whenever he finds her, treating her like a criminal. In the Arrested ending, [[spoiler:he gleefully arrests Ayami for killing Goto, gloating the whole time, while ignoring her protests that Goto [[AssholeVictim deserved to die]] for victimizing innocent girls]].
** Eiichi Higashi was the {{Human Trafficker|s}} who abused [[spoiler:Reina]] and directly turned her into an evil spirit. As the head of the talent agency Omega, he would recruit girls to be his idols while pimping and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil sexually abusing]] them behind doors, with [[spoiler:Reina]], his adopted daughter, as his latest victim. He would put her through horrible abuse until she finally snapped and [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide killed herself]], then [[TheDogBitesBack came for him]] as a spirit]]. Everyone who mentions Higashi describes him as a monster, and even Ayami feels that he [[AssholeVictim fully deserved his fate]].
** Tokimassa, real name Shinji Umezawa, was the deranged leader of the second Kamenkai cult. [[MisanthropeSupreme Despising humanity and modern society]], he turned down-on-their-luck people into his followers, fleeing with them to Aokigahara. He world emotionally abuse a young [[spoiler:Reina]] and eventually make her into the Mask Bearer by [[spoiler:killing everyone in a mass MurderSuicide, including her mom, traumatizing her]].
[[/folder]]

* The ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'' games tend to be lighthearted, with nearly every character, even the BigBad of each game, usually having [[AntiVillain some sympathetic qualities]]. However, they'll throw in the rare character you just can't help but find hate-worthy:
** ''[[VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndtheUnwoundFuture Unwound Future]]'': [[spoiler:[[CorruptPolitician Prime Minister Bill Hawks]] is the [[GreaterScopeVillain source of the miseries]] of the sympathetic [[BigBadDuumvirate Dimitri Allen and Clive Dove]]. Initially an associate of Dimitri's, he ends up being too ambitious for his own good and insists on testing the time machine despite being warned about it in order to gain the money he was promised for testing the invention. This ends up fatal, as it causes an explosion which kills several people, chief among them being Clive's parents and Layton's sweetheart/Allen's crush, Claire. Hawks, having survived, uses the funds as a means to become Prime Minister, while the former's deaths would end up becoming the [[StartofDarkness beginning of the path to evil for Clive and Dimitri]], who'd conspire to kidnap him. This escalates into London being nearly razed to the ground thanks to Clive's machinations, yet even after being rescued by Layton and co., [[NeverMyFault Hawks never once shows remorse]] for his actions and winds up [[KarmaHoudini getting away with everything in the end]]. He has a tendency to get on many Most Hatable Characters in Games lists, and it is easy to see why; screwing over innocent people for the sake of his greed, Bill Hawks is the embodiment of political corruption.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndtheLastSpecter Last Specter]]'': "Third Eye" Jakes is Misthallery's [[DirtyCop corrupt Police Chief]]. A FatBastard of the highest order, Jakes is [[VillainWithGoodPublicity supposedly a talented officer]] whose "Third Eye" allows him to peg the criminal of any case, but in truth he is a ManipulativeBastard who uses his men to force a confession out of anyone he doesn't like. He goes so far as to threaten Layton and crew, even sending his men to attack them, [[WouldHurtAChild including]] the mayor's son Luke. He happens to be in league with the BigBad [[spoiler:Jean Descolé]], who conspired with Jakes to capture the supposed spectre [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter Loosha]] and [[TheScapegoat get her executed in front of the whole town]]. Thankfully, the professor exposes his lies and he loses his power and respect by the end of the game. Lacking the charisma and later revealed sympathetic backstory of [[spoiler:Jean Descolé]], Jakes is nothing more than a bully with a badge.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'': [[spoiler:[[SinisterMinister Grand Maestro Mohs]]. More or less every moment he's onscreen oozes smug sliminess, and he's got an impressive [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] resume ranging from warmongering to [[spoiler:masterminding Akzeriuth, convincing Natalia's father to kill her and Luke, holding Anise's parents hostage to blackmail her, and killing Ion by forcing him to read the Score. He is ultimately a patsy for Van Grants, [[WellIntentionedExtremist who is much more sympathetic]], and by the time you fight him, he's completely lost his mind and been turned into a monster]]. The characters [[AlasPoorVillain express pity on his death]], but more likely, the audience will not.]]

# Works in which the protagonist, in addition to fighting the BigBad, struggles against a faceless group, such as a [[MegaCorp corporation]] or an institution, on the side. Here, the MHLV is a representative of the group, not necessarily its leader, who embodies all its vices and maybe more. Likely to be an ObstructiveBureaucrat and/or CorruptBureaucrat.

** ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'': [[spoiler:[[SinisterMinister Grand Maestro Mohs]]. More or less every moment he's onscreen oozes smug sliminess, and he's got an impressive [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] resume ranging from warmongering to [[spoiler:masterminding Akzeriuth, convincing Natalia's father to kill her and Luke, holding Anise's parents hostage to blackmail her, and killing Ion by forcing him to read the Score]]. He is ultimately a patsy for Van Grants, [[WellIntentionedExtremist who is much more sympathetic]], and by the time you fight him, he's completely lost his mind and been turned into a monster]]. The characters [[AlasPoorVillain express pity on his death]], but more likely, the audience will not.]]

[[/folder]]

* [[AnimalisticAbomination The Demogorgons,]] [[EldritchAbomination Mind Flayer,]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Vecna]] from ''Series/StrangerThings'', are all too cool to hate. Same goes for most of the major human antagonists, such as [[TheBrute Grigori]]. Fortunately, there's also [[TheBully Troy and James,]] [[AlphaBitch Angela and Carol]], as well as so many other [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] that the series has a [[HateSink/StrangerThings page dedicated to them.]]

** [[TheBully Jang Deok-su]] is the most evil and psychotic of the Squid Game players. Already a brutal gangster known to have committed crimes that landed him in debt to underground elements, Deok-su contrasts the other players, who fear for their lives and dislike making opponents die, with his bloodthirsty enjoyment of the game's brutality. He is introduced bullying Kang Sae-byeok for [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain being a woman (and North Korean refugee)]], then spends the series being a {{Jerkass}} to the other players, killing them whenever he can get away with it, and even treats his own allies as expendable pawns. He also proves to be a DirtyCoward in the fifth game where he risks everyone's lives to force another player to endanger themselves instead of him. Despite not being a member of the Squid Game organization, he matches their cruelty while being a more personal enemy to hate.

** Mac Gargan/Scorpion is the Sinister Six's resident HateSink. While the Master Planner motivated the other villains by promising them a better life (freeing Rhino from his suit and curing Vulture's cancer) or helping them achieve his goals (giving Electro his wish of becoming pure energy and helping Mr. Negative kill Norman Osborn), Scorpion is motivated only by money and opportunities to indulge his sadism. He poisons Spider-Man and taunts him as he swings around New York finding the ingredients for an antidote. Once the hallucinatory parts of the poison kick in, hallucinations of Scorpion harass Spidey, crossing a line by mocking Uncle Ben's death. To make him even more infuriating, he's completely incapable of backing up any of his tough talk, relying on sneak attacks and Spider-Man being overwhelmed by numbers in their two fights. In his boss fight, his contributions consist of screaming insults at Rhino and throwing easily-dodgeable poison attacks, all the while talking a big game of killing Spider-Man and keeping his corpse as a trophy. All this to say, most players understood when Rhino snapped after one too many insults and turned on Scorpion to deliver a long-due beatdown.

Enter the More Hateable Minor Villain. This character is not the Big Bad of the story, but since the actual antagonist is unlikely to draw the ire of fans, they serve as a {{Viler New Villain}}s. They can range from your garden-variety {{Jerkass}} all the way up to a mass-murdering psychopath, and they are often used to make the main antagonist look better in comparison.

Enter the More Hateable Minor Villain. This character is not the Big Bad of the story, but since the actual antagonist is unlikely to draw the ire of fans, they serve as a replacement. They can range from your garden-variety {{Jerkass}} all the way up to a mass-murdering psychopath, and they are often used to make the main antagonist look better in comparison.

* ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha'': The Red Faction are full of varying characters with their own motivations that can be noble, including the leader Shirou Kotomine[[spoiler:/Amakusa Shiro]]. The Black Faction is a mixed bag as it has a lot of selfish and underhanded character mixed with good people. And worse, the patriarch, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia, was part of the Nazi and has been consuming souls of children, but he exhibits style, being genuinely nice to the good members of his family and generally being more of a team player, focusing his efforts to make sure his family gets the Holy Grail. On the other hand, one of its member, Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillenia, stands out as an extremely horrible one note evil bitch who is completely evil, one of the vilest beings to ever grace the Franchise/{{Nasuverse}}. She only does her magic research to torture people because she gets off it, she gains the service of the virtuous Astolfo for the purpose of breaking his morality and drive him to despair by violating his Paladin code for her own pleasure, she murders people on a whim and goes into horrific details in how she wants Sieg to be offed because he got the attention of Astolfo more, going so far to waste all her Command Spells only for specific ways to kill and torture Sieg done by Astolfo, meaning that she didn't share Darnic's team spirit, she's only in to satisfy her own lust. It's little wonder that her sudden end by Mordred decapitating her from behind was met with joy and the remaining family proceeded to forget that she ever existed, with no one ever mentioning her again.

* ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'': Quattro, a SmugSnake who serves Jail Scaglietti. At her best, she enjoys making fun of her younger sisters and at her worst, has absolutely no regard for human life and thinks those who do so are foolish, and this in a series with only a couple actually evil characters out of [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters a massive cast]]. She gets even ''more'' hate points with everything she does to [[CheerfulChild Vivio]]. That she is such a [[SmugSnake rat]] [[ManipulativeBastard bastard]] definitely makes her VillainousBreakdown all the sweeter when [[spoiler:Nanoha [[WaveMotionGun blasts the crap]] out of her from across an entire space ship. Yes, [[DungeonBypass even through the walls]].]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Films - Animated]]

[[folder:Films - Live-Action]]

** "Peak Performance" features Vex, a sadistic necromancer and hunter who uses necromancy to bring animal corpses to him for selfish taxidermy, and also skinned Merilwen's wildcat companion and turned it into a hat, mocking her subsequent distress. To date, he is one of the very few villains not played for humour, and DungeonMaster Johnny has admitted they designed Vex to be as loathsome as possible (which worked too well when Ellen, Merilwen's actress, burst into tears at the end). Ironically, the character gained

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* ''Series/TheWire'' loves this trope. There are several drug dealer characters on the show who are outright murderers, and yet they often get sympathetic traits or characterization. They are often contrasted against these characters: Rawls, Burrell, and Valchek who are commanders at the BPD; Clay Davis, Nerese Campbell politicians who are active in Baltimore; Thomas Klebanow and James Whiting who are head editors at the Baltimore Sun. All of the aforementioned characters are for more concerned with petty personal vendettas, furthering their reputation, or furthering the institutions reputation rather than actually fixing the cities problems.

* Most of the villains in ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' are either TragicVillain[=s=] (i.e. Mr. Negative [[spoiler: and Dr. Octopus]]), have a noble side (i.e. Tombstone, Shocker) or get taken down a peg by Spider-Man's constant quipping (i.e. Electro, Rhino, Hammerhead). However, two villains stick out as truly loathsome individuals:
** Mac Gargan/Scorpion is the Sinister Six's resident HateSink. While the Master Planner motivated the other villains by promising them a better life (freeing Rhino from his suit and curing Vulture's cancer) or helping them achieve his goals (giving Electro his wish of becoming pure energy and helping Mr. Negative kill Norman Osborn), Scorpion is motivated only by money and opportunities to indulge his sadism. He poisons Spider-Man and taunts him as he swings around New York finding the ingredients for an antidote. Once the hallucinatory parts of the poison kick in, hallucinations of Scorpion harass Spidey, crossing a line by mocking Uncle Ben's death. To make him even more infuriating, he's completely incapable of backing up any of his tough talk, relying on sneak attacks and Spider-Man being overwhelmed by numbers in their two fights. In his boss fight, his contributions consist of screaming insults at Rhino and throwing easily-dodgeable poison attacks, all the while talking a big game of killing Spider-Man and keeping his corpse as a trophy. All this to say, most players understood when Rhino snapped after one too many insults and turned on Scorpion to deliver a long-due beatdown.
** Screwball first appears in a side mission in the main story, which sends Spider-Man on a wild goose chase to save a hostage that doesn't exist, all a gambit for her to gain followers on her social media. That's unlikeable, but her sheer contemptibility ratchets to eleven in the DLC. Here, she takes Taskmaster's place in setting up challenges for Spider-Man around the city. Unlike Taskmaster, who either sets up bombs in isolated areas or sends Spider-Man after other mercenaries, her challenges regularly put innocent people in danger, from setting up bombs, using her social media influence to release and arm dangerous criminals, and setting up EMPs that could leave thousands of people without power. And unlike Taskmaster, a silent observer, Screwball provides a constant stream of obnoxious commentary, mocking Spider-Man if he doesn't get the maximum score and threatening to dox livestream viewers who try to report her crimes to the police. Many a player were happier defeating her than Hammerhead.

* The villain must be a minor villain- they must play a small role in the overall plot. {{Arc Villain}}s can qualify if there is an overarching BigBad and the arc villain is unrelated to them (ie, a RolePlayingGame split up into several chapters with their own subplots), and a SmallRoleBigImpact villain can qualify as well.
* The villain must be unaffiliated with the BigBad- if they are employed by them then they are a MoreDespicableMinion, which is a related but separate trope.

* In the ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' manga and ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistBrotherhood'', BigBad Father is too cool to hate, while his Homonculi all have their own sympathetic qualities and quirks. These villains do not:
** [[MadScientist Shou Tucker]], though an extremely minor villain, is the only character to go to hell during the author's "In Memoriam" omakes, and for good reason. [[spoiler:He subjects his wife, then his [[WouldHurtAChild five-year-old daughter]] and her BigFriendlyDog, to a FateWorseThanDeath as chimeras both to keep his job and ForScience, driving the first one to suicide by starvation. Even the financial justification he gives for his actions just comes across as the worst kind of pathetic. When under house arrest, all he does is whine about how no one understands him]]. Remorselessly depraved behind his mild exterior and lacking the coolness of the major villains, Shou Tucker's [[SmallRoleBigImpact one-shot appearance]] leaves a massive impact throughout the series. [[https://www.ranker.com/list/anime-characters-we-hate/ranker-anime In an online poll about]] The Most Hated Anime Characters of all time, out of a list of over 1000 characters, Shou (deservedly) earns the #1 spot with '''29,000''' votes. The list's runner-up [[note]]Danzo from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''[[/note]] has 15,000 votes, or '''nearly half''' of Tucker's.
** [[MadDoctor The Gold-Toothed Doctor]] also lacks the coolness of the Homunculi. He is the only one of their human allies who knows Father's plans to cause TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, something he doesn't seem to care about. Responsible for the creation of Wrath, he killed the first twelve candidates in painful experiments before turning the remaining men into expendable mindless EliteMooks. He not only [[spoiler:slits Riza's throat in an attempt to force a SadisticChoice on Roy]] but also disgusts both Roy and Zampano with his smug belief that the candidates must have been grateful to him for taking them in, feeding them, educating them and giving them the meaning of existence. No tear is shed [[spoiler:when Pride and Wrath use him as an [[HumanResources alchemic resource]], leaving him a hideous ball of flesh.]]

* While Unicron is a world-eating PlanetKiller culpable for the deaths of billions in ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformersTheMovie'', it's implied that, much like Marvel's Galactus, he has to do it to survive, and so is more a force of nature than a true villain. However, there are the Quintessons, the villians of one of the WhackyWaysideTribe vignettes in the second act. They run a KangarooCourt that ArtisticLicenseLaw seemingly dispenses with charges]] and goes straight to the verdict -- it's heavily implied that all the "defendants" are actually innocent of whatever the hell brought them to the Quintesson tribunal in the first place. And the "verdicts" always lead to the same result -- if the "defendant" is judged guilty, they are dropped into a [[SharkPool tank full of Sharkticons]]. If the "defendant" is judged innocent, [[MortonsFork they are dropped into a tank full of Sharkticons]]. It's made blatant that the Quintessons are pretty much doing it all ForTheEvulz.

* [[AnimalisticAbomination The Demogorgons,]] [[EldritchAbomination Mind Flayer,]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Vecna]] from ''Series/StrangerThings'', are all too cool to hate. Same goes for most of the major human antagonists, such as [[TheBrute Grigori]]. Fortunately, there's also [[TheBully Troy and James,]] [[AlphaBitch Angela, Tommy, and Carol]], as well as so many other [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] that the series has a [[HateSink/StrangerThings page dedicated to them.]]

* [[AnimalisticAbomination The Demogorgons,]] [[EldritchAbomination Mind Flayer,]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Vecna]] from ''Series/StrangerThings'', are all too cool to hate such as [[TheBrute Grigori]]. Same goes for most of the major human antagonists. Fortunately, there's also [[TheBully Troy and James,]] [[AlphaBitch Angela, Tommy, and Carol]], as well as so many other [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] that the series has a [[HateSink/StrangerThings page dedicated to them.]]

** The VIPs are wealthy elites and friends of the Host who help fund the games. Though only appearing in two episodes, they show themselves to be worse as the lack the Host's sympathetic qualities. They view the death games as entertainment and show a disregard for the lives of the contestants, are {{Psychopathic Manchild}}ren with a juvenile sense of humor, and one of them outright tries to force a waiter to sexually service him under threat of death.

Typically, when the audience is intended to hate a character, it's the BigBad. After all, they're the one responsible for the hardships the heroes are going through. The ClassicVillain fits this archetype.