When making a game based around the world's most lethal hitman, it's a hard prospect to make your central character sympathetic and likable. Murder for hire is not an act looked upon highly in real life, and Hitman, while adding some glamor, does portray it as messy and unpleasant work.
However, one way to make the audience more sympathetic to an assassin is to have their targets be wicked people. While most of your targets in Hitman end up being the sort of people nobody feels sorry for, some truly up the standard in appalling players. Yet, others give off the impression that they don't really deserve to die at the hands of Agent 47.
10 Had It Coming: Hush Preys On Society's Most Vulnerable
Human experimentation isn't an act many people consider moral, and sympathy for it drops through the floor when the test subjects are unwilling people. In Hitman 3, Hush is an amoral scientist who is obsessed with the idea of transhumanism, seeking to 'evolve' humanity.
However, rather than test in a limited, ethical fashion on consenting subjects, Hush goes for a much more vulnerable demographic. Many of his transhumanist experiments are aimed at the homeless population of the city of Chongqing. Hush lures them in with false promises and then effectively tortures them in the name of his idea of progress.
9 Didn't Deserve It: Agent 17 Has No Free Will
As his name may indicate, Agent 47 is not the first of his ilk. Instead, his designation comes from Professor Ort-Meyer's forty-seventh attempt to create the perfect assassin. Many of the earlier attempts were decried as failures for a number of reasons.
One of these was Agent 17, the first successful attempt to create an assassin by cloning. Nonetheless, Ort-Meyer was not happy with Agent 17, as he showed no capacity for independent thought, merely following orders. As such, he lacks true free will, and when 47 kills him in St. Petersburg in Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, it doesn't truly feel like justice.
8 Had It Coming: Winston Beldingford Hunts The Most Dangerous Game
Killing of any sort is far from a moral act, but it is considered all the worse when there is an element of sadism to it. Winston Beldingford, a target in Hitman: Contracts, ensures that no fan will ever pity him when Agent 47 goes to his mansion and discovers his family pastime.
Winston and his friends engage in the hunting of human beings for sport, setting them free before chasing after them with guns. Worse, Winston has inducted his son Alistair into the activity, warping him into twisted a monster like himself and ensuring the practice will go on long after his death.
7 Didn't Deserve It: Lucas Grey Is On 47's Side
Lucas Grey is an unconventional target in that there is no level of any game where 47 is actually despatched to bring him down. Nonetheless, as the mysterious Shadow Client, he is the main antagonist of Hitman (2016) and appears to be so for much of Hitman 2, with many of the other assassinations 47 commits being in the service of finding him.
Once the two do come face-to-face, Grey reveals his true identity as a clone brother of 47's. His actions of terrorism and warfare, although clearly evil, were to get revenge on the ICA and Providence for everything they put himself and 47 through. He also has a warped sense of nobility, avoiding harming innocents. As one of the few people genuinely loyal to 47, it is tragic when he kills himself to protect his brother.
6 Had It Coming: Edward Wade Carried Out A Pointless Massacre
A common element in the Hitman series involves putting Agent 47 up against other hitmen and henchmen, often those with a lesser code than he himself possesses. Often, this is demonstrated through their lesser regard for collateral damage.
Edward Wade is an antagonist in Hitman: Absolution, who is responsible for the kidnapping of Victoria, a young girl who 47 spends much of the game protecting. To acquire her, Wade massacres the staff of the orphanage Victoria lives in, killing dozens when there was no real need while showing no remorse.
5 Didn't Deserve It: Victims Of The Nabazov Virus
Patient Zero is a side-story released as DLC for Hitman (2016), which features 47 and his handler Diana going up against a cult seeking to release a bioweapon known as the Nabazov Virus on humanity. Highly infectious and lethal, it has to be contained.
In the final mission, the virus is likely to spread from person to person before 47 can kill its initial carrier and begins infecting exponentially. Aware of the threat, Diana authorizes 47 to kill anyone infected with it. As such, 47 has to go on a rampage against a lot of people, many of whom are innocent researchers or domestic staff who pose no threat themselves to anybody.
4 Had It Coming: Sean Rose Is A Child Killer
Although Lucas Grey is ultimately a noble and anti-villainous character, many of those he hires for his private army in his war against Providence are not. Sean Rose is one of the terrorists who make up Grey's militia, and even by that low standard, his record is dark.
Known for a string of bomb attacks, Rose's bombs have killed dozens. Notably, at least one of his bombs killed a number of children alongside his intended targets. By the simple standard of being happy to blow up children, Rose ensures that no players will cry for him when he dies.
3 Didn't Deserve It: The ICA Agents In Berlin Are Doing A Job
Although Agent 47 ultimately ends up fighting for something resembling good in the 'World of Assassination' trilogy, he is still far from a good person. Although he can claim a moral high ground on some of the other assassins he crosses, he is much less able to do this when facing those who work for the same agency he himself once worked for.
In Hitman 3's Berlin level, 47 leads several ICA agents pursuing himself and Olivia Halle to a nightclub, where he swiftly turns the tables on them. Although they're far from good people, many players don't feel particularly moral hunting them down one by one and killing them - many in potentially horrific ways.
2 Had It Coming: Arthur Edwards Hurts 47 And Diana Personally
After several games spent getting to know 47 and Diana Burnwood and becoming invested in their friendship, many players found themselves protective of the two. As such, Arthur Edwards earned fan ire by interfering with them on an emotional level, regardless of his other moral atrocities.
The ultimate antagonist of Hitman 3, Edwards aims to turn 47 and Diana against one another by revealing to Diana the truth of her parents' deaths. It is not for moral reasons. He simply wishes to gain control of both of them to further the aims of Providence, including kidnapping and brainwashing 47 to return him to the life he has tried so hard to escape.
1 Didn't Deserve It: Diana Burnwood Has Her Reasons For What She Does
The very first level of Hitman: Absolution sees Agent 47 given a uniquely personal contract - the assassination of Diana Burnwood, his loyal handler and only friend. 47 has been tasked with this because Burnwood has gone rogue from the ICA, taking the enhanced asset Victoria with her.
It is notable for being one of the few contracts 47 expresses reluctance in carrying out, having to talk himself into the task. When he confronts her, 47 finds out that Diana did everything to protect Victoria, a young orphan who is going to be pressed into assassination much like 47 was. Her death turns out to be faked, as she is one target who, despite her moral wrongs, even 47 agrees does not need to die.