I was talking to my Discord members about Dream SMP fanfic (as you do) and we ended up ranting about the idea of "character sympathy", basically, where the writer writes down a plot point or characteristic that makes a certain character more sympathetic to the reader. Writers do this often times to add complexity to a character, or have the reader undertand why a character might act a certain way. I understand that some characters in the SMP are more sympathetic than others (ex. Tommy v.s Dream), but through this discussion, I ended up discovering what made me so annoyed with certain fanfics when conversing about how they presented a sympathetic characteristic to their characters.
I feel like, as a whole, people often times need to justify the actions they take in order to defend their character. There always have to be some reason, some trauma, some point in your person that clicks everything into place. This idea, I believe, leaks into writing since fanfic, above most forms of expression, is the greatest reflection of ourselves. To me, there are a thousand reasons, a thousand ways, that can explain or make a person the way they are, each one different from the next. Maybe those reasons aren't ones you can understand or respect, but you shouldn't have to. What makes these characters so interesting and alive is the many differences in which they choose to live their lives. In conclusion, I don't think every character needs to fit a mold of "sympathy" in order to actually be sympathetic, and forcing them to destroys what makes them special in the first place. Sorry for the long rant, but this has been in my head for a while and I just wanted to write it down. Hope you all have a great day.