Sympathetic but wrong

In my original work, I'm considering showing the father of the main character as a very gray character. He doesn't seem to like his oldest son Dex, and has little too no affection for him. He isn't cruel to him but Dex can tell that his father does't really care for him. But Dex was born because his father was enslaved under a love potion by his mother Dex's mother also abused his father (Elliott) and treated him like property. So when Elliott looks at Dex he sees a reminder of his ex-wife.

Also Elliott is somewhat emotionally distant from his younger children. He brings up the main character , Skye with the belief that he is always responsible for looking for his younger brother. He encourages his younger son to keep his empathy a secret and spoils him in compensation but doesn't really teach the kid to stand up for himself and manage his ability.

For why he stresses the concept of 'big brothers burden' is because when he was stuck in his abusive marriage he tried to get help from his older sister but she brushed him off called him a liar or accused him of being an Attention Whore. When Elliott's younger brother Ian tried to stick up for him by confronting his wife and sister ,he (Ian) ended up dead. Elliott still believes he's to blame.

Though to be fair he's largely (though unintentionally) drawing on how he was brought up. He had distant parents who gave him things and expected him to do whatever the family called upon him to dos something.

The main character initially looks up to Elliott and wants to be a better son than Dex was and make his father happy. But after his father dies and he finds out more about him, he still loves him but realizes that he has faults.

Does Elliott sound sympathetic? What should I do or avoid if I want to pull off the effect I want?

edited 14th Dec '10 10:36:51 AM by JewelyJ

I think he's sympathetic. If you want to make him moreso, you could add some behavior that shows genuine goodness in other areas.

Yeah, I can sympathise with him. He's not perfect, but he sounds like a decent person to me.