Reasons for being hated: stalker, useless, stupid, weak, ugly, hypocrite, crybaby, Mary Sue, scheming bitch, whiny brat, hates the other Gundam pilots, gets in the way of alternate Hiiro pairings, is the focused love interest.
WAH!!! Relena is a stalker!!!
Why? Because she found Hiiro at the Navy yard in episode two? A lucky guess because her classmate Kai told her he'd seen Hiiro headed in that direction. Showing up at the school he and Duo are hiding? She could already sense him, and was looking to him as a symbol of strength. Delivering the letter Mrs. Noventa wrote to him? Mrs. Noventa ASKED Relena to deliver it for her, and Relena used her computer to locate Zechs. Honestly? She seems to spend most of her time with Pagan, Noin, Dorothy, the Romefeller Foundation and Zechs than she does with Hiiro.
WAH!!! Relena is useless!!!
If she were, she'd have never have been included in the series. Relena isn't "useless"; she's a survivor, just like Hiiro, Duo, Quatre, Trowa and Wu Fei. She survived the Cinq Palace massacre and fire when she was just two years old, her school being attacked by OZ mobile suits and several other assassination attempt.
WAH!!! Relena is stupid!!!
Why, because Duke Dermail and Dorothy treated her that way? She may be a little naive, but she's not stupid. If she were, the ESUN would never have appointed her to her foster father's former position.
WAH!!! Relena is weak!!!
Then why does Hiiro call her the STRONGEST person he knows? And not just in the series, but in canonical mangas such as Blind Target (based on a Japanese radio drama), and in semi-canonical mangas like Ground Zero (the chapter titled Sub Rosa) and Battlefield of Pacifists? If she were weak, she would never have earned the respect of any of the Gundam pilots, let alone Treize, Noin, Lady Une or her own brother.
WAH!!! Relena is ugly!!!
Considering the fact that the character designer for Gundam Wing said in an interview that he modeled her after Roman Holiday star and Oscar, Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award winner Audrey Hepburn, who was and still is considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, I'd beg to differ. The resemblance is most noticeable when she's in her Queen Relena gown. She might not think of herself as beautiful, but she is.
WAH!!! Relena is a slut!!!
Geez, sometimes I swear you'd trot this one out if the main female character wore a burqa.
No, Relena is NOT a slut. She doesn't sleep around, and THE definition of a slut is a woman who sleeps around without being paid for the pleasure. Yes, she wears short dresses and skirts and even a bikini in some art book pictures, but she also wears longer dresses and skirts, a floor-length gown, pant suits, and even knee-length breeches, waistcoats, cravats and frock coats. Just because a girl likes to wear short skirts once in a while doesn't make her a slut.
WAH!!! Relena is a hypocrite!!!
Why, because she shot at Lady Une in Moscow, intending to kill her? The woman had just killed the man Relena called father for thirteen years a few weeks earlier. She was grieving and wanted revenge for his death, decided to use a gun to get it and nearly succeeded. Later, on MO-2, when Lady Une handed Relena her gun and told her to take her revenge, Relena not only refused to take the weapon, but forgave Une instead.
WAH!!! Relena is a crybaby!!!
Relena cries exactly twice in the entire series: when her adopted father passes out in the rebels' transport, and in the Operation Meteor specials, when she sees that Hiiro's not only destroyed the remnants of Libra, but survived.
WAH!!! Relena is a Mary Sue!!!
Cripes, you say this same thing about every female character in existence.
The prototypical Mary Sue is an original female character in a fanfic who obviously serves as an idealized version of the author, mainly for the purpose of Wish Fulfillment. She's always exotically beautiful and knows it, often having an unusual hair and/or eye color, and a similarly exotic name. She's exceptional talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story relevant, character flaws - either that or her "flaws" are so obviously endearing that EVERYONE falls in love with her.
In other words, the term "Mary Sue" is generally slapped on a female character who's important in the fan fiction story, possesses unusual physical traits and has an irrelevantly overly-skilled or over-idealized nature.
Repeat after me: canon female characters are NOT Mary Sues. Relena is a pretty, kind-hearted and strong girl who has a normal hair and eye color. She not only stands up for herself, but stands up for and stands by the Gundam boys.
WAH!!! Relena's a scheming bitch!!!
How so? Because she gives the new boy at school (Hiiro) an invitation to her birthday in the hope that he'll come and have a good time? Or is it because she offers to help Quatre, who was a total stranger to her at the time, look for Trowa? I think you're confusing Relena with the Dorothy Catalonia.
WAH!!! Relena is a whiny brat!!!
How is she whiny? She doesn't throws fits or temper tantrums. Have you forgotten that she's had a tragic past? She went through a lot of crap throughout her life and she's the stronger for it.
WAH!!! Relena hates Duo/Trowa/Quatre/Wu Fei!!!
Again, I think you're describing Dorothy, except the fork-browed one hates ALL the pilots, Hiiro included.
WAH!!! Relena gets in the way of Hiiro pairings!!!
Oy, vey. This is the one thing that can really turn me off of a fandom, when some fans stoop so low as to hating a character because, in their opinion, they get in the way of their preferred pairings. Well, I'm sorry, but there are some folks in this world who enjoy canon couples, and your pairings aren't the only ones out there. So please, please, PLEASE get over it and let others have their opinion without trying to tear them down because they like something you don't care for, okay?
WAH!!! Relena is a focused/canon love interest!!!
Well, this all relates back to the above, pairings. It's all a matter of opinion what you see of her. Yes, she may be the focused love interest in your eyes, but it could also be what the creator(s) had in mind when they created her character. Keep in mind, you can't control canon, you can't control what the creators' original intentions were, and you most certainly can't control the creators' own creation in a canonically proven way like, obviously, the creators can.
WAH!! Hiiro belongs with me/Duo/Trowa/my OC!!!
You know, you're certainly welcome to pair Hiiro up with whomever you choose, but no one knows who he or Relena are going to end up with. That's something only their creators can decide. As for the "me" part, Hiiro would never love you because he doesn't exist, and even if he did, he wouldn't tolerate anybody hating Relena because she's very important to him. Hiiro only belongs to Sunrise/Sotsu, and nobody else.
