Discussion Main / HatesInk

Hate Sink's are allowed to have a genuinely understandable motivation right?

Meryl (real name Hannah) from The Truman Show is entirely unlikable despite having a genuinely sympathetic explanation as to why she'd act that way.

Why do I feel like this trope is also an implicit audience reaction (unless mitigated by other reactions like Love to Hate or Fountain of Memes that indicate failure of intent, or caveats like the Hate Sink status being in a more lighthearted sense (ie for being annoying, not evil even if the latter is true)) in and of itself?

Isn't Hate Sink supposed to be within Your Mileage May Vary, since characters under this tropes is hated by other characters and audiences like ourselves?

Unless I'm wrong, I'm certain that (almost) all villains in media are Hate Sinks to a degree. Villains aren't (usually) characters we (are supposed to) root for.

TLP link

I don’t think Alberto’s father from the film Luca should be in the hate sink examples for animated films. My reasoning for this is that the character is way too murky and not fleshed out enough as he never actually appears in the film and the film never explains why he abandons Alberto in the first place. We do not know much about his personality and overall relationship with Alberto

Just out of curiosity, if a character who would otherwise fit here is also played for something like Fanservice or Rule Of Cool, do they become any less of a Hate Sink? Since the audience is given something to like about them which is unrelated to their repugnant personality?

Is there an inverse equivalent to this trope known? I feel like I've seen a proverbial "Love Sink" in a lot of places too, a character made exclusively to appeal to the audience in a cute sort of way.

Seems like a fairly common trope so maybe I just don't know the name

Previous TRS

Does Warren Mears from Buffy the Vampire Slayer count?

Does Haris from Illymation count? It is a recount of Illyssas real life story, but in Web Animation format, written by the person having experienced Haris abuse. (All real names are utilized in the animation.) As this is in Web Animation, she is in full control to have written Haris in a way that anyone watching despises him. And if this was her intention, it worked. If you read the comments on any of Illys Abusive Ex-Boyfriend videos, the majority of comments are cries for Haris blood.

I would like to nominate Haris as an example for a Hate Sink in Other Media under the Web Animation Folder.

Is it okay for a villain to be listed as both Laughably Evil and a Hate Sink at the same time? I know that at least Eric Cartman and Terrence are listed as both. Is them being Laughably Evil grounds for them being cut from Hate Sink?

Am I the only one who thinks that many examples of the Hate Sink fall under Love to Hate? Usually because despite being their intended purpose being to be hated by the audience, at the same time they can't help but like them at the same time for factors like being well-written or entertaining?

Can a character be this and a Knight of Cerebus at the same time?

If it's possible for a character to be a Hate Sink without being a Complete Monster (I'm pretty sure there are still people who keep mixing these two up), is it possible for a character to be a Complete Monster without being a Hate Sink?

Eh...There sees to be a problem, I've started a Comic Book Page for this trope, but the link is red even though it's working.

Is there a rule against adding your own characters to the Hate Sink list?

A lot of these examples are just plain old villains. I thought a hate sink was a character who wasn't so much the villain but occupies a role to be hated by the audience.

Can a Magnificent Bastard be a Hate Sink?

So, is there a temporary version of this trope? (excluding RFtSH)

Do the popular kids from The Fairly Oddparents count? They are design to act mean, and since they're the type that picked on Butch Hartman, he really wants you to hate them.

In order to prevent an edit war, let's debate this entry for Diamond Tiara from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic". In the character sheets for the show, she is listed as a minor antagonist, and this trope usually applies to characters who aren't'' antagonists, but we are supposed to hate them.

• ** For the longest time, Diamond Tiara, who's really just a ordinary filly with an Alpha Bitch streak was presented as the least sympathetic character in the show and only appeared to exist to make life miserable for the Cutie Mark Crusaders and other school-aged characters. It wasn't until Season 5 that they presented her in a sympathetic light and shouldn't be considered an example of this trope any longer. However, the same episode also introduced her mother, Spoiled Rich, who's an incredibly nasty snob who looks down on everyone for virtually no reason and holds Diamond Tiara to ridiculous standards, with no forgiveness should she fall short.

Many of the examples seem to be just really hated characters as opposed to those who are hated but not the main source of the stories conflict. Is this within trope definition? If not, should examples that are not clearly this be removed?

What's with all the Big Bads being listed on this page? As far as I can tell, the Hate Sink is primarily supposed to be a character besides the BB that is just intended to be hated. Yet scrolling down I see main villains listed on this page.

• Angel Bunny. Holy hell, Angel Freaking Bunny. He's almost universally hated by the fandom who think he's a worse villain than Diamond Tiara and Lord Tirek combined. This doesn't help that in almost every one of his appearances, he's being a jerk to Fluttershy or Spike. It goes well beyond him being a Scrappy as he has even less fans than Flash Sentry, Diamond Tiara, Prince Blueblood, and Gilda. It's gotten to the point that people completely demonize him by making him Fluttershy's abusive ex who then goes on to marry Rainbow Dash, Rarity, or Big Macintosh. With that said, he does have some redeeming qualities, but many of those are forgotten by haters and him kicking Fluttershy out of her house is treated like an every day occurrence.

This seem is a better example of The Scrappy and Ron the Death Eater, it put too much emphasis on the YMMV aspects of his hated, lacks explanation for his hatred, ignores that he got more positive characterization later, and reads like complaining. I think it should be removed or heavily revised.

What's with Hate Sink keep popping up on YMMV pages? It's not even a YMMV trope! Maybe I should discuss it on Trope Repair Shop.

Should Hate Sink be mentioned in the YMMV sections, since it's a sibling trope with The Scrappy?

Someone removed a bunch of examples with the reason "A Hate Sink can't be an actual villain, then they'd just be a villain."

Where does it say that? The description says they're not always a villain, but doesn't say it can't be one. In fact, the fact that Politically Incorrect Villain is a subtrope, I'd say a villain definitely can be a Hate Sink. Especially since as the page points out, there are definite examples of villains whom the writers don't intend audiences to hate.

What if I like these characters?

So as a sometime Prof. who teaches a course on SF, I've always referred to this type as "The Guy Who Just Doesn't Get It." I agree that the key feature in identifying this character type is that he/she is NOT necessarily the villain, or a traitor who works for the primary Big Bad. But the function isn't just about catharsis (venting hate). This character is there to provide a moral dimension to the story that would otherwise be lacking (the monster/Big Bad is just an Eldritch Abomination). Ripley's invidious comparison of Burke to the Aliens (in paraphrase: "I don't know who's worse, you or them—they're just doing what they're evolved to do") makes that explicit, but it also forges a metaphorical connection between the Critter and what Burke represents, namely corporate greed (allied to Social Darwinism) in its nastiest form, the Military Industrial Complex. Etc. etc. A force that knows no ethics/mercy and will destroy all humanity (in metaphorical as well as literal sense).

But note that there are other characters performing this exact function who are not at all the object of hate, and thus Hate Sink ends up being a subsidiary instance to the larger He Just Doesn't Get It function. The "it" being whatever moral dimension the story is actually about. For instance, Prof. Morpheus in Forbidden Planet. A classic and wonderfully compressed instance of the type. He Doesn't Get that his "beloved Krell" created a god-like power that led to their—and his—downfall. The "IT" being the "Monster from the Id," specifically Morpheus's id ("it") which he denies to the end. The thematics of his failure to get It being all about brain and no body, They Dared Think of Themselves As Gods, etc.

More commonly you have all those blinkered adults in teen-oriented 50s monster movies, who think the Kids Are Just Making Stuff Up when there really IS a weird deadly radioactive Thing in that swamp. Stodgy adult authoritarianism, lack of perception/imagination being the thematics there. They're objects of teenage frustration and resentment maybe, but "hate" is really too strong a term. It's their failure to be hep to what the young cats are saying that is their real crime, like all adults in teen movies.

And what really focusses me on the Just Don't Get It aspect as being the most salient point about this character function is the fact that they almost always meet their demise at the hands (talons/tentacles/pseudopods) of whatever It is that they've denied the existence or significance of. This frequently becomes literally true: their ignorance almost always results in them stumbling into the way of the Thing and being devoured or horribly shredded by it. Thus the ultimate proof of their failure to Get It: if you don't Get It, It's gonna Get You.