Gaming's most hate-filled characters

A healthy dose of severe dislike

Hatred is a weird emotion to grapple with. On the one hand, it's a totally normal (and evolutionary necessary) human condition. On the other hand, it's the root cause of things like atomic wedgies and genocide. Considering the terrible atrocities hatred can produce, it's pretty scary how quickly it can grow from the smallest of seeds (like that guy in our office who continually assaults a money-stealing vending machine--whoever you are, we hope you step in a very deep mud puddle and ruin your favorite pair of shoes).

Video games feature plenty of characters with a chip on their shoulder, and, whether they be evildoing villains or wronged heroes lusting for vengeance, hatred is usually credited as the primary motivation for their actions.They say love is the strongest emotion--but these characters would probably disagree.

Mr. Resetti (Animal Crossing)

Why is he filled with hate? Because you forgot to save your game, idiot.

Planning on playing some Animal Crossing? Then you better remember to save your game. Why? Because if you don't, Mr. Resetti's angry visage will appear. Then he'll proceed to lecture you on the importance of SAVING because if you don't SAVE your game you might lose some PROGRESS so please be sure to SAVE. If you continue to refuse doing so, Mr. Resetti will get furious and fake you out with a pretend reset. Or worse, he might just make you repeat certain phrases over and over until he feels you understand the gravity of not SAVING.

P.S. For real, don't forget to save. Or cheat. Or even reset. He's watching.

Dr. Wily (Mega Man)

Why is he filled with hate? Because he helped Dr. Light create awesome humanoid robots programmed to assist mankind and got zero recognition for his contributions.

Dr. Wily may be bent on world domination via his Robot Masters, but c'mon--you'd probably be a little pissed too if you helped a pal design some badass androids only to have your hard work go ignored. In Wily's case, jealousy seems a natural consequence of his experiences. But as we all know, jealousy quickly festers and becomes one of the strongest extensions of hate known to man. Symptoms include theft, crimes of passion, and the reprogramming of industrial robots so they threaten mankind with natural resources.

Barret Wallace (Final Fantasy VII)

Why is he filled with hate? Because Shinra, a huge corporation, was ruining the environment with its energy-production strategies (and burned his home village to the ground).

A lot of people would agree that killing a planet for the sake of harvesting its energy probably isn't a good thing, but Barret is one of the few people willing to do anything about Shinra Co.'s environmental violations. Now, that's partially due to the fact that Shinra basically destroyed his hometown, an act that cost Barret his arm. Thankfully he had a gun grafted on to his partial limb, promising to let fly bullets and salty swears in equal measure in the pursuit of eco terrorism--a promise he #$@!ing delivered on. Alas, he only managed a few political bombings before getting tangled up in the existential musings of two moody men.

Jack (Mass Effect 2)

Why is she filled with hate? Jack was imprisoned by Cerberus as a child and forcibly underwent experimental surgeries for biotic enhancement. In short, she's basically River from Firefly.

Being held captive against your will is horrible enough, but Jack, unfortunately, was privy to a fate considerably worse. She was also a test subject, a plaything with which evil scientists performed evil experiments, cutting into her brain and "improving" it so that Jack's biotic powers would rate off the charts. Which they did--to the point where she was able to escape and ultimately destroy the facility upon returning to that horrid place years later. Jack turned out to be a pretty awesome lady considering there are plenty of folks out there that don't have the mental capacity to handle simple insecurities, let alone surviving half a life of torture and grueling experiments. But when she's in a bad mood, it's probably best to give her some space.

Larry (The Walking Dead)

Why is he filled with hate? Because the world is ending and he wants to protect his daughter.

Out of everyone on this list, Larry is probably the one whose motivations are easiest to understand. After all, zombies were munching on people left and right, and he made it quite clear that he'd do anything necessary to ensure that his daughter Lilly didn't become an undead entre. We're not sure that excused some of his actions, though--like the time he wanted to toss the 10-year-old Duck out of the drug store without first checking to see if he'd actually been bitten by a walker, or the the time he punched Lee in the face for no reason other than he felt like it. People don't like assholes in general--but being branded as one during a zombie apocalypse means running the risk of getting your skull caved in by a giant salt lick.

Robert Norton (Dead Space 3)

Why is he filled with hate? Because Isaac used to date his girlfriend. Jealous much?

The love triangle between Isaac Clarke, Ellie Langford, and Robert Norton was one of the most bizarre elements of Dead Space 3. Poor Isaac risked his tail time and time again so that Ellie and co. may live, yet every time he returned from a near-death encounter with Necromorphs, Norton figuratively shoulder checked him and said something along the lines of "Hey dude, quit talking to my GIRLFRIEND." It just seemed such an inappropriate resentment to harbor considering everyone's lives were at stake, especially when Isaac's few interactions with Ellie mostly consisted of "Hey, let's try to get off this rock alive, cool?" Of course, Norton's jealous rage drove him to believe his worst what-if scenario (Ellie leaving him for Isaac, not Ellie getting killed by aliens) was actually coming true, a thought so harrowing that he, shall we say, lost his head. BAM.

GLaDOS (Portal)

Why is it (she?) filled with hate? Who the hell knows. If science fiction has taught us anything, it's that AI "lifeforms" aren't to be trusted.

The Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, or GLaDOS as its come to be known, was an AI designed to oversee the Enrichment Center within Aperture Science. And, like just about every AI in the history of speculative science, it turned on its creators, flooding Aperture Science with a neurotoxin that killed almost everyone in the facility. At least Chell survived; otherwise we wouldn't have had cake jokes, that catchy "Still Alive" tune, or the pleasure of enjoying one of the best games ever. Let's hope the future of science doesn't involve maniacal robots that derive joy from dishing out clever insults (and also death).

Raging Raven (Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)

Why is she filled with hate? She was held captive as a prisoner of war as a child, and was forced to endure months of brutal torture and starvation before being left to die.

Like Jack, Raging Raven had a pretty messed up past. Being tortured as a prisoner of war is enough to reduce anyone's psyche to shambles, but Raven and her fellow child prisoners were abandoned by their keepers, left to be eaten alive by hungry ravens. Though she survived, her mental state was far from healthy. By joining the Beauty and the Beast Corps in Metal Gear Solid 4, she was able to channel her never-ending rage at her enemies, often putting them down with ease. Luckily ol' Snake was able to end her suffering.

Asura (Asura's Wrath)

Why is he filled with hate? Oh, you know, only because he was framed for the murder of his Emperor, which resulted in Asura's numerous deaths, the murder of his wife, and the imprisonment of his daughter.

How do we know Asura is filled with complete and utter hatred? Because his game has "wrath" in the title, and all four hours of it involve him screaming really loud and punching things so hard that the entire planet of Gaea feels the ripples from his swings. And boy, does the action tend to escalate quickly. Take, for instance, the time Asura shares a nice, hot bath with his mentor-turned-enemy before beating him senseless. Asura didn't win all his battles, though--not at first anyway. He died and was "reborn" plenty of times (remember when he got karate chopped in half?), with his rage growing even more powerful after each resurection. Harnessing the power of his hatred, he was finally able to overcome all odds and save his daughter Mitra from the clutches of evil.

Kratos (God of War)

Why is he filled with hate? Because Ares tricked him into murdering his wife and child.

Before he wore the ashes of his dead family like a newly fashioned birthday suit, Kratos was sort of an angry, hateful dude to begin with. He was a captain of a Spartan army, putting countless foes to the spear up until his fateful encounter with the Barbarian King, a battle which he almost lost. That's when he offered his servitude to Ares in exchange for victory--an offer that was accepted, costing him his family and his freedom. His desire for revenge became so strong that he killed thousands of creatures and eventually Ares himself. Did that satiate Kratos' lust for vengeance? Nay! He continued to assault the gods (mainly because Zeus was a jerk and betrayed him) until all the deities were destroyed. How's that for a comeback?

High on hatred

By this point you're probably seething with rage that we forgot to mention an obvious exclusion from our list of the most hate-filled characters in games. Lay it on us--who'd we miss? We're ready to chug the haterade.

And if you're looking for more, check out the most hateful things said by game devs and the top 7 things gamers really hate (and why they shouldn't).