In universe I mean, not by the reader. I remember the few times I saw stories like that were fairly… cringe; the MC was usually a loner and the people didn’t have a good reason to hate him, if any at all!
But when there is a reason, whether it would be something they did in the past or being bad in the present? I love the drama and conflict potential. Does anyone know a book like this?
An obvious one might be Rand from Wheel of Time series. He is feared/hated by various groups for various reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that he is destined to break the world again. The Aiel especially have a weird relationship with him because of this.
Yet managed to get three wives out of it.
One of them being more insufferable than he was.
It was mostly just Morman fan fiction with magic.