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He can be admirable yet remain 'unlikeable' for the manner in which he deals with the challenges which you create for him, ie holding the moral high ground, exhibiting a sense of humour. You could ...
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34509 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
He can be admirable yet remain 'unlikeable' for the manner in which he deals with the challenges which you create for him, ie holding the moral high ground, exhibiting a sense of humour. You could make his antagonists 'likeable' to start with to keep the reader's interest, then gradually twist the perspective around. Clint Eastwood's character in 'Unforgiven' was pretty repellent in a variety of ways but we kept watching anyway, partly out of a morbid curiosity of how much more grim and violent he could become.