Right now I am working on writing a particularly tragic scene in the Outcast series. One of our characters turned hero makes a great sacrifice to save another. This hero not only sacrifices himself, but sabotages another character's attempt to save him in order to protect her. As the reader, you want him to be saved. You want this even though you know he has done things that perhaps never should be forgiven. But those things were so long ago, and it's not like you were there.