Examples of Unintentionally Unsympathetic in Once Upon a Time.
- Regina as of season 4. Suddenly, everything bad she ever did is the book's fault, not hers. She blames Emma for seemingly saving one of Regina's previous victims because it inconveniences Regina to have the woman alive because she's Robin's wife. Her berating Emma and plotting to kill Marian are played as if we are supposed to sympathize with Regina. Both Snow and Henry are happy Marian is dying because it gets the woman out of Regina's way. She steals Belle's heart and wipes Belle's memories of it ever happening. The few times someone calls her out, like Gepetto, it's not allowed to stick. And Henry, while reading the book that details all of Regina's evil acts, such as killing whole towns, declares she's not a villain.
- Season 5 has not improved. Regina admits she enjoys that the dagger gives her power over Emma, doesn't have to really pay the price for magic when she forces Emma to use magic to save Robin's life, declares herself the savior over Emma in a manner that left a bad taste in many fans' mouths, and has added yet another village massacre to her list.
- As of the Season 5 finale it has finally improved, with Regina actually showing remorse for having been the Evil Queen due to Robin's death making her fully aware of how much bad karma she's accumulated due to her crimes, and having a desire to get rid of her which is fulfilled via Enemy Without, meaning that we now have both an actual sympathetic Regina and an intentionally unsympathetic Regina - the Evil Queen - on the show. Unfortunately, this didn't end up going the way most people thought it would and the complaints returned, since apparently the writers didn't even want the intentionally unsympathetic Regina to go without a happy ending.
- Hook can come across as this for much the same reasons as Regina. The show has a tendency to ignore some of his more villainous acts and make it seem like he is a completely different person post-Heel–Face Turn than he was before it, a notion which ironically he himself seems uncomfortable with. This is not getting into the fact that he is Easily Forgiven for his actions as the Dark One and killing David's father, and while it might make sense for the former when all things are considered, it does not for the latter given David's murderous rage toward King George when he thought that he had been his father's killer, and yet then just shrugs off the revelation that Hook actually did it.
- Hook and Emma kissing after Hook saves her father is supposed to be charming and romantic, but a lot of fans find it a bit hard to swallow on Hook's end. The sticking point is Hook seemingly pressing Emma for the kiss due to saving her dad, basically asking for a reward for doing the right thing, even if that was not the intention. While it's meant to be a flirty little back and forth between the two, some of Hook's dialogue, such as "That's all your father's life is worth to you?", reads as accidentally manipulative. Add to this Emma originally turning down kissing him, and you have the reason a lot of fans see it as creepy instead of romantic.
- On the heroes' side, there is the way they all treat Belle. Despite seeming to value her, they show no interest in helping her at any point and ignore her problems all the time (in one egregious case, nobody comforted her when she collapsed on the street in tears after Rumple's Heroic Sacrifice in "Going Home"). This means she always goes to Rumple which backfires on her more often or not.
- Belle herself for quite a long time was seen as this too, as she was constantly excusing Rumple's actions from both the past and the present. Since the mid-season finale of Season 4, however, she finally wised up and stopped doing this, being more than willing to call Rumple out on his behavior during his future transgressions.
- Prince Charming. He operates on Black-and-White Morality and it reaches Black-and-White Insanity and Idiot Ball at times, especially when the villains in the middle of a Heel–Face Turn are concerned. In Season 2, his tendency to blame Regina for everything, including a wraith dragging Emma and Snow into the Enchanted Forest which was not her fault, did nothing except isolate Regina and almost make her turn evil again when she genuinely wanted to change. The Neverland arc would have also gone much smoother if he was not constantly belittling Regina and Hook when they were trying to help. It reaches its nadir in season 4B where it is he who is spearheading attempts to cover what he and Snow did to Maleficent and even more adamant about it than Snow.
- On the flip side, Snow is often seen as having become far too forgiving and accepting of Regina, to the point where she ignores her own daughter in order to cater to the woman who ripped Snow apart from said daughter for 28 years.
- Ursula the Sea Witch in the "Queens of Darkness" story arc. While her backstory shows that she used to be a kind mermaid until Hook stole her voice, her transformation into a monster was self-inflicted yet she puts all the blame on Hook. Just as she’s about to strangle Snow, Hook brings her voice back and makes her reconcile with her father. She’s suddenly considered as good and free to leave the town even though she expresses no remorse in actively helping Rumplestilskin and the other Queens to turn Emma into a villain. Not helping is the later revelation that she and Cruella left Maleficient’s baby daughter to die.
- Robin Hood for his Lack of Empathy toward his wife Marian. When he finds out that Regina was the one who killed her before Emma undid her death, he doesn't seem to care at all being mostly concerned with still being in love with Regina. He then starts an affair with her while Marian is in the coma. Marian turns out to be Zelena the wicked witch who killed and replaced her. Once again Robin is barely concerned by the revelation and is immediately ready to move on with Regina. The only remaining obstacle is Zelena being pregnant with his baby.
- Emma in Season 5B comes off as unsympathetic to many fans, despite the story clearly wanting them to feel sympathy towards her. While her losing Hook is tragic and her desire to get him back is understandable, many feel like she goes a little overboard in this pursuit. The main thing for many is how she drags her whole family, including her young son, and friends into going into what is basically Hell in order to pull off a plan that most tell her won't work. Even when Hook tells her that he is not worth saving or risking their lives, she ignores his wishes and continues on with her plan.
- Cinderella/Jacinda. There's no denying she's been through a lot of pain and loss, and the acting and writing for her wants her to come across as unique: badass and cynical. However, somefans find it to be done poorly, given that she comes off as whiny and cold. Case in point, she punches Henry and steals from him despite him trying to help her, yet he doesn't even hold it against her. She does admittedly get better in later appearances, but many make complaints about her lack of development and likable moments.
