The opposite of a post from earlier: characters who are undeniably bad, but are portrayed in a way that creates sympathy without condoning or redeeming them

Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler is a monster, but one that is created and even required by even more monstrous enterprise. His actions are undeniably bad, but motivated by a sympathetic desire to find a purpose in a world lacking one.

Count Orlock in Egger’s Nosferatu is never shown as having a tragic or origin, but what he is still tragic. He’s no longer a man, he is “only an appetite”. He symbolizes the absolute and consuming nature of death, and his defeat is not the heroes slaying a villian, but rather allowing something beautiful to be sacrificed to a natural force. His death scream feels less like terror or agony and more like aching relief. You get the sense he himself longs for death even as he brings so much of it to others.

Patrick Bateman in American Pyscho is torn between his desperation to stand out and his crippling need to fit in with his fellow yuppies. In the end, not matter how bad he acts or how he tries to repent, he can’t find any condemnation or forgiveness.

Wrath in FMAB is unflinchingly, almost admirably adherent to the purpose he was made for. More so than any of the other homunculi, he never wavers in his devotion. He dies with dignity, feeling no regret for anything. It’s simply that entire reason for being is to aide in an omnicide. His devotion to it isn’t shown as noble as much as a way to contrast his inability to change with the other characters who can adapt and grow past their nature.