Jo, that’s where my cynical feeling comes in to think that’s what they’d do. There’s a neat article with Chris Lowell who played one of two guys in a triangle with Veronica Mars, and he basically says he’s rooting for the other guy “for survival reasons”. It’s a pretty funny quote, because he’s basically saying it should be a no-brainer that his character is the good guy, but the majority of the fans can’t let go of the “bad boy” who had a rocky history with Veronica. Sometimes, the story has to go where the fandom has its heart, not where the character’s heart might be if written as being in character.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass