Write about a bad person (ex. a killer) and make the reader feel sympathy for them

He stood on the cold and dark battlefield and surveyed his surroundings carefully. Bodies were piled up high around him in a bid to clear the field. Amongst the bodies laid broken chariots, arrows and swords. The air was thick with the smell of death and a chilly fog was starting to set in. The ground was soaked crimson with blood. Ashoka thought he would be filled with pride for he single handedly won this victory. He wanted to use the war to send a message to his enemies throughout the kingdom and beyond that he was still King. But he felt so cold and empty as if all emotions had left his body, much like the departed souls of the men he had killed. He realised that he was in shock by slowly and surely his guilt in killing innocents of people across the years, overtook his body and he fell to his knees with a sob that echoed across the quiet field.

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Ashoka knew what people said about him. The demon king who killed all who stood against him. They even questioned his legitimacy as King Bindusara’s son. His 8 years of reign so far has seen the death of most of his brothers and uncles. He had to remove them from the line of succession, to ensure his path to remaining king was unchallenged. Of course, he had people to do his work for him but the primal urge to fight in his campaigns fuelled his bloodlust. His reign also involved many conquests and quashing of rebellions across the Kalinga region that he ruled. After each conquest and rebellion, he had always felt contempt - he was near to his goal of ruling the whole of Kalinga and perhaps one day the whole subcontinent. He had done something that neither his father nor his grandfather had done. He had united the whole of Kalinga and proven to his father, the mighty Bindusara, that he was indeed worthy.

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His instinct to be bloodthirsty began as a child. Ashoka was one of many boys born to the Mauryan Emperor Bindusara. His mother, Subhadarangi, was a priest’s daughter, plucked from the harem to become the chief Queen, despite not being from a noble family. She had fought her way, using her wits and beauty, to become the firm favourite of Bindusara in order to make sure her children always had precedence. As a boy, Ashoka was not taken seriously. He was slow to walk and talk and wasn't as athletically inclined as his brothers. Plus his father detested the way Ashoka looked. It wasn’t Ashoka’s fault that his skin was tough and rough like an elephant’s. He had to work twice as hard to be recognised. He trained and trained until he could wield a sword and ride a horse better than the instructors. But he knew that his wits would prove to be the best option.

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The day to prove himself came when one day, Bindusara asked his sons to assemble at the Garden of the Golden Pavilion. An ascetic, Pingala-vatsajiva, was invited to determine which of the sons was a worthy successor. The ascetic realised that Ashoka was destined to be king but refused to name him as such as he realised that this would incur the wrath of Bindusara. Instead, the ascetic claimed that the son who had the best mount, seat, vessel and food would be the next king. Ashoka realised that he had met this criterion - he had rode into the garden on an elephant (the best mount possible), he sat next to the king (had the best seat) and ate and drank the same food as the king. He exclaimed before the king that he should be considered for the next in line. Despite his dislike for Ashoka’s appearance, Bindusara reluctantly agreed to give Ashoka some responsibilities including suppressing a revolt in Takshashila and governing the province Ujjain. But there was a catch - Ashoka was provided with an army but no weapons. This was a way for Ashoka to fail but despite this Ashoka still wanted to please his father.

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Despite this, it was still a chance for Ashoka to prove himself to his father. He declared that weapons would appear before him if he was worthy of being a king. This declaration led to eternal deities emerging from the earth and provided weapons to the army. This proved that Ashoka was capable of being king. When Ashoka reached Takshashila, the citizens welcomed him and told him that their rebellion was only against the evil ministers, not the king. Using this information, Ashoka won over the people by murdering the ministers without a fair trial. This incident set the course for Ashoka’s rule. He was elevated to viceroy of Takshashila and eventually won the support of his father’s ministers to make him king. Ashoka used his wits as well as bribery and murder to control situations during his viceroy job. Soon the death of Bindusara from sickness, gave Ashoka the chance to seize the throne and this involved killing his 100 or so half-brothers and uncles over the course of 4 years to finally be crowned king.

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As he knelt on that cold battlefield, his life before this battle flashed before him. He remembered the ministers that he killed when they refused his orders to cut down every flower and fruit tree. He remembered the 500 concubines that he had burnt to death just because they failed to satisfy him once. He remembered the mass killings of his brothers and uncles and each enemy. He was so ashamed about the deaths that he had caused and endeavoured to become a good king. He vowed to repent from that day forward and devoted himself to righteous conduct.