When you realize you hate your own character...
Back in the day I was a participant of a particular campaign here on RPOL that (I personally believe) was somewhat legendary in its scope and style. For the most part, the quality of the players and the GM in particular set an extremely high bar for me, one which few if any other games have managed to measure up to.
I'm happy to say I was at least witness to the campaign completing on the sidelines, though no longer a participant, and for a very specific reason: I ended up hating my own character.
He was a challenge to begin with. At the time of joining, I wasn't very experienced with non-Freeform RP, though I understood the universe and the game's mechanics, my own maturity level left something to be desired after a while and this unfortunately reflected on the character as well through my writing and RP. While he injected a certain aggressive "energy" to interactions with other party members, and even managed to be loved to some extent, or so it seemed, I won't deny that this character must've been difficult to deal with for my fellow players and my (infinitely patient) GM.
The end result was me flagging out of this wonderful campaign, both from life-things happening as much as me simply being tired of the character himself. I saw potential in him, he could've moved beyond what he'd ended up as my participation waned, but I just didn't have it in me. I loved him, but didn't love him enough to care. I loved the campaign and my fellow players, but couldn't muster up the energy to continue.
Interestingly, this character in particular has become something of a representation for my "Ur-Character" in my other writing, a hero who begins as a flawed menace only to transcend and become something more - the "hero's journey" in a nutshell, I suppose. Perhaps there is some love there, after all.
Am I alone here? Have you ever created - and played - a character you ended up hating?