Jin Yong/YMMV

Butt Monkey: The Golden Wheel Monk. Ostensibly a fighter on par with the Greats, he ends up getting his ass kicked at every turn and humiliated constantly. He does have a change of heart at the end and sacrifices himself to right a wrong he had committed, however.
Complete Monster: Jin Yong tends to, at the very least, try to avoid making his villains these by giving insight into their motivations and past. Although he also did create certain villains that were completely irredeemable (*ahem* Yue Buqun *ahem*)...
Draco in Leather Pants - Xuedao Laozu ("Blood Saber Elder") of all people. Namely in the 2004 TV adaptation of A Deadly Secret. Just going through the comments on Chinese sites about his scenes, one can find an abundance of people admiring him and calling him the best as well as being incredibly badass. To his credit, though, he was the character that provided the most comic relief in that entire series.
- The 2008 Live Action Adaptation of Legend Of The Condor Heroes may have made Yang Kang out to be this. Not only did they make him a lot more sympathetic with a very attractive actor, he also actually pulls a Heel Face Turn near the end.
Ensemble Darkhorse - In Legend of the Condor Heroes, quite a few fans' favorite character is one of the Five Greats instead of the actual protagonists. The most prominent one might very well be Zhou Botong.
Strangled by the Red String: The most widely agreed upon is the romance between Chen Jialuo and Princess Fragrance. And then there's quite a large hatedom for Duan Yu and Wang Yuyan... including a memetic mock shrine dedicated to them. As for the love between Yang Guo and Xiao Long Nu, while some fans feel that it's a very touching, Romeo and Juliet-ish eternal romance, there's also quite a few fans that felt it was very forced and exceedingly Wangst-filled.
The Woobie - In his stories, almost always there will be at least one. For a lot of fans, Ouyang Feng managed to achieve woobie status during Return of the Condor Heroes despite being one of the main Big Bads of the previous series. Probably has to do with the fact that he was one of the few people who actually treated Yang Guo with any warmth or decency.