I'm unsure if he is a tragic villain, a victim or a monster but I want people to feel sorry for him, just looking for feed back. I decided to make my protagonist/P a university student, just easy to relate to, how ends up being chosen to receive 4 supernatural gifts which end up putting him in a situation where staying anonymous is the only way to survive and 'win'. Personality wise, he is just an all round decent person, up until he has to take the life of his first victim. The game he unwittingly found himself in requires him to constantly be vigilant, always planning ahead, trying to find who is trying to kill him while staying anonymous and cover his tracks almost 24/7, he tries to also remain a good person but as he becomes more desperate and his family might also be in danger, he resorts to more morally damaging acts to stay anonymous. The stress of everything I mentioned above and physical and mental exhaustion starts to overtax his mind and he eventually cracks and falls apart mentally, the other players he is against also contribute to his insanity, the game requires mind games to win so while the P is mind screwing others, he himself is also a victim of manipulation, emotional blackmail and paranoia. The final nail is that the P is in a constant cycle of fall down this path, one of his own enemies is an alternate version of himself, he constantly plays with his mind just to ensure he continues the cycle.
What do you want him to be? If it's written well, the reader will feel sorry for him, provided that you give them a reason to feel sorry for him. What you have right now could make me feel sorry for him. Once again, though, it depends a lot on how you write it.
Well I suppose we can sympathize with poor little murder happy Timmy. I think he was traumatized after his sister Mary tried to cure his sick teddy bear.
I'm with ChickenFreak on this one. What are the special powers that are so important that he would kill for. Maybe it would show why he had so much stress. As far as the alternative person, I can relate to that I have one on my shoulder now.
I don't know what the name of the trope is, but there is a pretty standard one where the "hero" is forced to kill for morally righteous reasons, but develops a taste for it. He then starts looking for excuses to kill, and over time loses all inhibitions about it, becoming a monster with a vague justification for his perversions.
I think that one of the things is that we can both loath a person for one thing while at the same time feeling sorry for them. You can both a victim and a victimizer at the same time, as humans and their relations can be very complex things. But as it is right now, I can on an intellectual basis understand that he's got a shitty deal with live with and symphatize with that. With more details and characters that I've gotten to know being affected I'm sure this could affect me on an emotional level as well.
You don't need to decide when writing if the character is a tragic villain, victim, or monster. He can be all of those things, and ultimately the reader will be the final judge of how to classify the guy. Your real job will be to show the character's progression. Make sure you clearly demonstrate the stress and how he feels he cannot avoid committing murder or other acts of cruelty. Maybe show how he has no other choice and then how he rationalizes his act(s) and copes with the guilt and remorse. You can also contrast circumstances by having memories or flashbacks to simpler times to reinforce how normal things once were, and how the protagonist used to be, and then return us to the present where there are untold strains and burdens placed on his shoulders.
That's a good idea. If not a lengthy flashback scene, a thought/feeling remembered from his past when he interacts with something/somebody. E.g. the pub he frequents/crush he talks to/past worries about his studies That's key as well. Well written, developed character with a logical reason he is doing these things that make him/his alternate self do these horrible things
So, it seems your character shares a few qualities with Light Yagami of Death Note. That's not a bad thing, Light is a very interesting character, but that does mean you can look to him for how a "decent"/"average" person could become a murdering sociopath. Overall, this sounds like a very promising story that, if done right, could be great. However, there is one thing you should avoid about your character. Don't make him think that he's the bad guy. If, at the end of the story (when your character is supposed to be fully tragic villain), your character openly acknowledges that what he's doing is wrong, then he loses credibility. Someone who starts off as a morally upright guy wouldn't just go down the path of "Oh, guess it's okay to be a murderer now that I have these powers." Your character has to believe, up until the very end, that what he's doing is still not evil. Well, that's just my two cents anyway. Good luck with it.
I don't think you're going to get a "silver bullet" that if you do this, then the audience would feel actual empathy for this character. It really is about putting your audience in the shoes of the main character and that's not something anyone can really teach you how to do. The best way to develop that skill in your writing, is by showing that skill in real life. Start helping people in need. Start learning what makes people tick in real life. You ever watch the show Criminal Minds? Man, that show can make you feel sorry for some of the worst human beings on the planet. So, later seasons start to become formulaic, but overall they do a great job of garnering empathy.
