Hate Sinks are characters who were specifically written into the story just to be hated by the audience. While many are primarily made up of villains, it is still possible for certain Neutral Characters, or non-villains, to be considered hated.

Because they're meant to be hated, they're the complete opposite of Love Exalted characters. So, these two categories shouldn't overlap.

Also, DO NOT add Neutral Characters like these to this category even if they're not Love Exalted:

• Characters that rely on the Word of God that explain that they're meant to be tragic or liked do not count. A Hate Sink must be written to be hated to qualify.
• Alternatively, if a character is written to be hated, but is too well-liked to be hated, they also do not count.
• Characters that have too many comedic moments do not count. However, there are exceptions to this if the comedic moments are played for karmatic reasons.
• Those who aren’t meant to be hated, but are hated anyways, do not count either. These characters are called Scrappies. However, it is possible for both of these categories to overlap if they’re meant to be hated, but also hated for entirely different reasons that aren’t related to them being hateable.
• Just because there's multiple incarnations of a character that exists, where at least one version of said character is a Hate Sink, doesn't mean that other versions of the character instantly qualify. If they don't meet the criteria, they do not count.
• If a character lacks enough screen time without much of a hateable presence, they do not count. However, there are some exceptions if the character in question does enough in their short runtime to be considered hateable.
• Characters that had a hateable presence, but had since Reformed, do not count (e.g. Ivan). A Hate Sink can never be redeemed, regardless if they have redeeming qualities or not.

In some of the most awful cases, a hated character can also be a Pathetic Pinhead if they're not only shown to be hateable, but also stupid (e.g. Customer).

Alternatively, it’s also very rare for a Hate Sink to be an Ensemble Dark Horse, if the character is well-liked for a reason other than being written to be hateable.