Board Thread:Character Discussion/@comment-25926288-20170805235523/@comment-28162607-20170806084604

I am going to dabble in a bit of fandom psychology. PLease not I am NOT saying "all fans of X or Y think this" I am talking about BAs.

First off, people may dislike these characters because of personal reasons, which is understandable. Rape victims are of course going to be made uncomfortable by the presence of Regina and umple, two canon rapists, and Killian, who has had some less than perfect moments. Likewise, abuse victims may be made uncomfortbale by any of these characters, given that R&R are abusers and in a different context Hook's actions could possibly be abusive.

Let's start with Killian. I think we can all agree that the "Killian is a selfish, unredeemed sociopath" has no basis in actual canon. However, certain groups of fans want a reason to dislike him. Rumple fans dislike him because he does not grovel at Rumple's feet and has not apologised for being mean to him in 2x04, or for "stealing" Milah (gag). Since Killian does not forgive Rumple and act like Rumple is the second coming of Christ, he is viewed as a sociopath (even though that is not what a sociopath is). In addition, Rumple stans seem to resent Killian because he got the development they wanted Rumple to have. Rather than admitting that s4-6 Rumple is 100% in character, they blame Killian for 'ruining' him. There is also a bit of overlap between Swanfire shippers and  Rumple stans, and BA swanfire shippers hate Hook for "stealing" Emma. They hate Hook because they believe his place is where Neal should be, and so make up hate to justify their dislike of him.

Many Regina stans are also SQ shippers who hate Hook for getting in the way of their ship. And the fact he is not overly friendly to Regina does seem to play a part. Which may explain why they project all Regina's flaws onto Killian, even when they are simply not true eg. "Hook has no regret" despite Hook repeatedly showing regret while Regina has admitted to having no regrets.

Please note I am not saying Hook is perfect or everyone should like him (he is far from perfect and has no shortage of flaws), I am explaining the basis of the mouth foaming Killian hate, most of which is not even hating on the acutal character, but a fanon version of the character.

On to why people dislike Rumple. The answer is, because we should? This is like asking "Why don't people root for Moriarty's happy ending on Sherlock?" Because why would people root for the villain of the story to be happy? From what I can tell, people dislike Regina more than Rumple because at least with Rumple, the narrative does not pretend he is a good person. I disagree in light of 6b but can see what they mean.

And many Killian fans dislike him because why would one like their favourite character's abuser?

And then there is Regina. I think the reason so many Hook fans dislike Regina is because Killian fans also tend to be Emma fans (and a good portion of them like Emma more than Killian). I know much of the reason I dislike Regina is because I love Emma. Also fans of the Charmings as well as Emma and Killian dislike Regina because their characters are often done a disservice by Regina (Snow, Henry and Emma are the biggest victims of this, Killian and Charming less so) and are frustrated by how the Charming family dynamic has been dumped in favour of Snow Queen/Regel Believer.

I feel like Regina and Rumple fans formed an opinion of their characters in season 1 and 2 and now refuse to change their minds about them, despite the show portraying them (Rum more so than Reg) as terrible people.

However this is not a black and white situation; there are Regina fans who like Hook (some even multiship SQ and CS), some people who dislike Regina and stan Rumple, etc.