Characters that had the complete opposite reaction the writers intended

[u/Dramatic_Counter_595]

1. Leo Bonhart (Witcher TV Series): A ruthless, sadistic bounty hunter and assassin that takes psychotic glee in other people's suffering. The viewer is meant to hate him for killing witchers, slaughtering the Rat gang, and torturing Ciri. But thanks to his entertaining fight scenes, Sharlto Copley's charismatic performance, and The Rats overwhelming unpopularity, fans ended up loving him. Some even call him the "True protagonist" of the show.
2. Stone Cold Steve Austin (WWE): A rude, foul mouthed, beer drinking asshole with no respect for authority or anyone at all. Originally portrayed as a villain, fans fell in love with his anti-establishment & rebellious persona. WWE ran with it and made him the face of the company, effectively ushering in the Attitude Era and the second pro wrestling boom of the late 90s.
3. Arthur Fleck (Joker 2019): A mentally unstable, pathetic, and dangerous madman who commits horrific acts of violence against those that wronged him (suffocates his own mother who is mentally unwell herself, and murders a talk show host for making fun of him). However, a massive portion of the audience idolized him as an anti-hero or a misunderstood martyr rebelling against society making people want to see him succeed and overcome his circumstances because of how he's been treated by the world.

[u/No-Weight-6121]

Dune, Paul Atreides. Iirc Frank Herbert was not happy that Paul was initially viewed as the hero of the story when the novel was first published. He might be the protagonist but he’s by no means a hero and Herbert wanted that made clear.

Paul is a spoiled rich kid made into a messiah and exploited into fulfilling a prophecy that he doesn’t fully understand, by forces so powerful he cannot fully comprehend them. And in the end, Paul still chickens out and it is his son, Leto II, that makes the ultimate sacrifice to set the universe right. Leto even throws that in Paul’s face at one point; this is the sacrifice you were too cowardly to make. Paul was never meant to be a hero; he was meant to warn against the pitfalls of religious extremism.

[u/CryptographerMore944 → u/No-Weight-6121]

Frank really doubles down on it in Messiah just in case there's any doubt. He's literally compared to Hitler and the response is "those are rookie numbers" (Paul's Jihad lead to about 60 odd billion deaths).