From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsympathetic figure/charactersympathetic figure/characterliteraryALKIND someone in a book, play etc who most people like → sympathetic
Examples from the Corpus
sympathetic figure/character• The reader zooms through the story hoping for a resolution that will satisfy the mystery without sacrificing any of the sympathetic characters.• Charles didn't find many sympathetic characters among the cast.• But now he, or she, needs to be an even broader, more sympathetic figure than before. 