Asian Saga/YMMV

Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: In Shogun, Mariko's letter to Blackthorne after her death, encouraging him to build his boat and to never fear. He, in return, dreams of a beautiful, a perfect ship that will conquer all the seas of the world, and unite England and Japan, and will be named The Lady, in Mariko's honor.
Complete Monster: Most of the books heavily feature a Gray and Gray Morality, and the majority of the antagonists are well rounded and semi-sympathetic, but there are a few who fit here. Gorth from Tai-Pan is one such example, being a brutal sexual sadist who, unlike his father, has no sense of honour whatsoever, and who tries to hurt his enemy by arranging for his son to be drugged and bedded by a prostitute with syphilis (which was completely incurable in those days and a very, very horrible way to go.) Norbert Greyforth in Gai-jin and Ferriera in Shogun might also count, as despite being relatively minor characters they are totally without redeeming features. Whirlwind features Abdollah Khan, who comes across as this to such an extent that even the extreme Values Dissonance of the setting cannot excuse him.
Foe Yay: Dirk Stuan and Tyler Brock are very obsessed with dominating the other. The start of their enmity was when Struan was a cabin boy on which Brock was a bo'sun, and apparently the latter was very fond of flogging Struan.
- Given what people normally think about sailors at sea, and that Brock was a young man while Struan was just a boy, there is one (totally unconfirmed) interpretation that springs to mind...
Magnificent Bastard: Toranaga in Shogun. Being played by none other than Toshiro Mifune helps a LOT: this video shows some of his finest moments. In particular, the look he gives at 0.17 is one of the best "you do not want to screw with me" looks you'll ever see.
- Dirk Struan and Ian Dunross from the other books would fit this, too.
Memetic Mutation: From Shogun: Hai, Toranaga-sama!.