Villains you feel sorry for

[Yegargeburble]

...How could it get worse than that.
Anyway, I don't really feel bad for many villains, if only because their motives are often poorly explained.
Villain protagonists, however, are different.
Dexter is a guy I can agree with pretty much all of the time.

This may not be a good thing to say, but while reading the books and watching the series, I rarely disagreed with what Dexter did. He did what he had to to prevent becoming an ordinary soulless serial killer, instead becoming an evil guy killing serial killer. He doesn't kill innocents, and a few bad guys...disappear. What's not to like?

Edit: added some sentences

 

[Blind0bserver]

It's kind of iffy if he can be considered a villain of just another victim, but Jinno/Kuma from Afro Samurai is definitely a character I can feel sympathy for. Jinno saw his entire life fall apart and the people he considered to be his family die in front of him just so Afro, a person he considered to be his brother and closest friend, could get just one step closer to avenging his father's death.

Revenge is a funny thing. When a person is seeking vengeance for something history has a nasty habit of repeating itself, as demonstrated by the tragedy of Jinno. After nearly dying he was found by a group of monks called the "Empty Seven" Clan that rebuilt him using cybernetic parts and implants to he could live. Jinno took the name "Kuma", which means "bear" in Japanese, after the cybernetic mask he wears. That bear mask is a mirror image of a teddy bear that a young girl he knew from his childhood constantly carried that he believed died thanks to Afro's actions.

His heart burning for revenge against Afro and what he did, he agreed to stand watch outside of a mountaintop gate so he could one day challenge him when he arrived. When the day finally came, Jinno almost killed his old friend, but was instead cut in half at the waist and left to die. He would not be defeated that easily. He was again revived and repaired and rose to challenge Afro again. After a point Jinno had been repaired and augmented from various injuries so many times that he was far more machine than human. He had become mindless, an empty vessel that's only use was killing. He had let his hatred consume him until he had lost his last shreds of humanity. In order to reach his goal he stopped being him.

Jinno's story is a sad one, a life destroyed by another's quest for vengeance that would spawn a similar hatred and malice in another as a result. His story is an object lesson in the vicious cycle of revenge. One person's actions to punish an enemy will inevitably cause another to hunt them in turn. It's a self-perpetuating cycle of death and self-destruction in which there is no escape.

 

[AceDiamond]

Alma and Saren, definetely. Especially since Saren gets fully taken over by Sovereign even after his sacrifice (by the way, being able to convince Saren to shoot himself is one of the most badass moments in Mass Effect in my opinion)

 

[Axolotl]

The Master from Fallout 1, he only wanted to rebuild civilization, but I had to kill him.

 

[goin-mad]

Jigsaw, from the Saw movies. He tries to improve life by reminding us of death.

Seymore from FFX, his mom sacrificed herself so that he could bring peace to Spira. I think her death made him turn evil.

The Operative from Serenity (the Firefly movie). He just wanted to bring peace to the galaxy through service to Parliament, but he was really serving to protect a greater evil. He did change his ways when he found out though.

 

[GreenDevilJF]

Andrew Ryan - I didn't see any actual reason to kill him, I agreed with his views but I didn't have a choice.

Alma - Because of the description in the OP.

Joker - Nevermind I don't feel sorry for him.

 

[Hed_Kansa]

Tetsuo Shima from Akira

 

[Crystal Cuckoo]

Megumi from TWEWY.

Spoiler: Why? (Spoiler Alert)

He was actually trying to save Shibuya form being destroyed. The Composer (Shibuya's unknown ruler) decided that Shibuya needed to be remade, and therefore destroy it. Megumi (The Composer's second-in-command) waged a bet that he could change Shibuya into the ideal city, a utopia, if it would prevent it from being annihilated. They both chose proxies to do their bidding, Megumi's being the first boss (Higashizawa) and the Composer's being the protagonist (Neku). It was kind of a plot twist when it was discovered Neku was inadvertently working for the enemy.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I'd have to second Roy from Blade Runner. The guy is actually more likeable than Deckard for me. I also really enjoy Magneto, though I don't agree with his philosophy (I'm not saying that I think there are superpowered mutants) and approach to trying to make a better world. Lady from Shadow Hearts 3 turned out to be much more than a standard mustache-twirling type.

 

[Earthmonger]

Andrew Ryan (I just... were that scene interactive, I'd never have finished the game, because I'd never have swung the club. That was the first time a game had genuinely made me feel 'used')

You nailed it. Andrew Ryan is the one I feel the most genuine sympathy for. Bioshock went to great lengths to define Ryan's character to that deeper level, to understand the man, the ambition, frustrations, and ultimately, the man's kindness. He was warped, sure, but I often felt I was looking into a mirror.

 

[SecretTacoNinja]

Alessa from Silent Hill.

Does she count as a bad guy?

 

[Tsuki Tanaka]

I doubt anyone is going to recognize these references, but I really felt for Gekiranger's Rio. He was really only trying to attain absolute power, so that he would no longer have to feel sorrow.

 

[Lv2sfo]

I can't believe nobody brought up the boss from MGS3!

The fact that she wasn't a villain at all kind of messes it up, but she was like the ultimate martyr. A martyr whose role was unappreciated by her entire country.

 

[Danglybits]

These aren't villains I empathize with. Someone said that every villain is the hero of his own story and I'm inclined to agree so I can see almost any villain's point of view. These are people I feel some kind of pity for.

I guess Liquid Snake and Big Boss because their origins are so fucked up and they get totally screwed by their friends and die in really painful ways.

But Illidan Stormrage tops the list. Everywhere he goes he gets his ass kicked and he takes it so hard. Not to mention that little love triangle with his brother that he lost. Being hunted by a fanatic just makes him even more piteous.

 

[Magical Hans]

Ahhh..... i know!
First of all theres Dong Zhuo from the Dynasty Warriors series, so what if he's a tyrant?
Then we've go Hel in Viking Battle for Asgaard and finally for me theres:





Liquid Snake

 

[Mikaze]

Looking back a bit, Dagoth Ur from Morrowind. All he's trying to do is rid hos homeland of invaders (using slightly underhanded tactics) and suddenly everybody hates him. In fact, Mehrunes Dagon could almost be pitied to if you believe some of the stuff you hear in Camoran's Paradise about Tamriel being Dagon's plane of Oblivion.

 

[riftinducer]

Personally, I'd say Cid, Vayne and Venat from Final Fantasy XII. All they wanted was to free the world from the control of the Occuria. They just had to kill a bunch of people to get the magic-absorbing stones they needed.

 

[Pipotchi]

Jowy Blight in Suikoden 2, just trying a different path than the protagonist