A Hate Sink is a character who is introduced to the story only so that the audience can hate them. This character is intentionally made to be vile and unsympathetic by the creator. Amongst a group of jerks, they stand out as particularly cruel.
Note that a Hate Sink is not the same thing as The Scrappy. Whereas the hatred towards the Scrappy is unintentional, the hatred towards the Hate Sink is entirely on purpose. While the two tropes can overlap, in order for a Hate Sink to also be considered a Scrappy, they have to be hated for different reasons than the author intended. Example
The key differences between the Hate Sink and The Scrappy are thus:
- The Hate Sink is a character which was created by the author with the intended reaction to be loathed by the audience.
- The Scrappy is a character which was not made to be hated by the author, but still has the unintended reaction of being loathed by the audience.Examples
Compare with Complete Monster, which is about Audience Reactions to how vile someone can getnote ; Anti-Role Model, where the character is designed to be a bad example to the audience; Love to Hate, when the viewers actually enjoy this character because of how effective they are at being hatable; The Heavy, which is about the impact for the story; Jerkass, who may be unlikable, but stays above the Moral Event Horizon; and Jerks Are Worse Than Villains, which is when fans hate the jerkass character more than the actual villain.note Contrast with Anti-Villain, when a villain has sympathetic traits; and Laughably Evil, when a villain is funny and thus entertaining (though in some cases a villain can be both sympathetic and funny).
If all of the work's other characters hate this individual instead of the work's audience, then they are instead Hated by All, although the two tropes can and frequently do overlap — a character being Hated By All is often a good indication that the audience is supposed to hate them as well.
- Abusive Parents: Oh man, it's still 100% easy, it's either a parent or both parents that is/are abusive with their own child or children and it's most likely to start their Start of Darkness.
- Absolute Xenophobe: Aliens who kill anything that isn't their own species.
- Asshole Victim: An asshole who dies or is otherwise victimized.
- Bad Boss: A person in charge who treats their employees like garbage.
- Barbaric Bully: An Obviously Evil bully.
- Big Brother Bully: An older sibling who treats their younger sibling horribly.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Someone who puts on a façade of kindness to hide away their true vile nature is usually not sympathetic or entertaining.
- The Bully: Yep...
- Dirty Coward: These villains will try to save their hide instead of coming up with a plan or Last Stand.
- Embodiment of Vice: A character who exists to represent a negative trait.
- Entitled Bastard: A narcissistic character who sincerely believes they deserve respect from the very people they disrespect, and/or believes they have the right to do whatever they want and nobody has any right to object.
- Evil Colonialist: Cruel exploiters who enslave, sell and/or outright brutalize the local people.
- False Friend: Forming a "friendship" with another solely to take advantage of their trust.
- The Fundamentalist: A person who openly mocks (or is hostile towards) those whose beliefs don't align with theirs.
- Heel: The professional wrestling version: bad guy personas who exist to anger the crowd and antagonize the Faces.
- Hope Crusher: Villains who are out to drive people to despair are almost never sympathetic, especially if they enjoy it.
- Human Traffickers: People who enslave and sell other people.
- It's All About Me: Unfortunately, yes it is, and also... Don't even think about trying to become selfish, only villains and most hated characters can be fit in this trope.
- Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk: A character seems to come around to be sympathetic, only to turn out to truly be a jerk.
- Killer Cop: Someone who's supposed to protect others uses their position to kill them.
- The Klan: The Ku Klux Klan and substitutes.
- Lecherous Stepparent: A stepparent who makes advances on their stepchildren.
- More Hateable Minor Villain: A minor villain written to be loathsome when the Big Bad cannot fill that role.
- More Despicable Minion: A minion written to be worse and more detestable than their (often sympathetic) boss.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Fantasy-counterpart Nazis.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Someone who claims to be a Well-Intentioned Extremist, but whose motivations turn out to be selfish.
- Pedophile Priest: A priest who sexually abuses children.
- Pervert Dad: A father who makes sexual advances on his biological children.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: A bigoted villain.
- The Prima Donna: An overbearing, egocentric, and unlikable counterpart to The Diva.
- Rabid Cop: A cop who regularly commits Police Brutality.
- Serial Rapist: A rapist with multiple victims.
- Slimeball: A sleazy, morally repugnant slob who does terrible things for petty self-gain.
- Smug Snake: An overconfident villain with delusions of grandeur.
- Spree Killer: A murderer who attacks multiple locations without a break.
- Straw Character: A character intended to (mis)represent views the creator disagrees with.
- Temporary Scrappy: A temporary addition to the main cast who is intentionally written to be unlikeable so the audience will want them gone.
- Terrorists Without a Cause: Terrorists who don't have any mission or intentions behind causing terror.
- The Unapologetic: A horrible jerk who is never sorry for their acts of cruelty.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Someone who doesn't properly thank people when they do good things for them, or even repays them with The Farmer and the Viper treatment.
- Viler New Villain: A new villain is introduced who is comparatively less likable than the previous one.
- Villainy-Free Villain: An antagonist who doesn't do anything truly villainous, but has an unpleasant personality so the audience will root against them.
- Wicked Stepmother: A stepparent who is mean and cruel to their children.
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