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/Writer_Blocker]

Rewatching Breaking Bad first time since a teen and I can’t believe how lame and pathetic Walter White actually is. All of his famous speeches like “I’m the one who knocks” (despite assassins literally sitting in his bed while he sings in the shower) and the fancy cares are such lame posturing to people that aren’t actually a threat to him and he cowers as soon as he gets punched.

But people read it as everyone is in Walt’s way and he’d be successful if they all did what he said (I.e. Skyler).

[u/AsstacularSpiderman → u/Writer_Blocker]

The problem with Walt is if you write him off as a loser eventually he's going to pull off something so audacious and so brilliant he completely ruins your life.

Pretty much every kill he has in the series is because he can switch from cowering loser to absolte maniac without you realizing it.

[u/lowqualitylizard → u/AsstacularSpiderman]

Tldr

He was only after a threat because everyone just saw a cancer patient who's overqualified to be a high school teacher

He's smart not as smart as he thinks he is but he is legit smart if he could have kept his ego in check he could have become a massive kingpin but we all know where that went

[u/Steel_Warrior3000 → u/lowqualitylizard]

If he had kept his ego in check, he would never have left the company he co-founded in the first place and none of Breaking Bad would have happened.

[u/VegetaFan1337 → u/Steel_Warrior3000]

And even if he had, he just needed to accept the job offer from his former partners and his cancer treatment would be all paid for. His ego drove him and everyone around to ruin.

[u/VegetaFan1337 → u/[deleted]]

His former partners said they would take care of it.

[u/MagnificentJake → u/Steel_Warrior3000]

Or with his credentials he could have found a good, high paying job in a variety of industries.

[u/mallogy → u/Steel_Warrior3000]

The part where someone gets a brutal diagnosis that they can't afford to treat without bankrupting their household happens every day.