With Nwalme, it's a mix of being extremely manipulative, and having lots of redeeming qualities (as well as being pitiable to a large extent).
Nwalme has a very deliberate, thorough method fer getting people to like him, and as he's more of an improviser than a planner, he doesn't really get put off/taken off guard when someone throws some sort of wrench into getting on folks' good side. He's very observant, very good at picking up on people's traits, and very good at following through with doing what is necessary to secure a position in someone's good graces (but he ain't infallible, and he's occasionally got outmaneuvered to devastating effect).
His redeemin' qualities muddy that up a fair bit, and it ties into being somewhat pitiable. He has
strong emotions for a select few folk, and for some he doesn't understand why he doesn't feel anything for. When he starts using these things as justifications for his actions (even if he personally realizes all he's doing is, say, using the death of his child as a hollow excuse to be petty), often he manages to get folk to view him more as a
pragmatic hero, or indeed
anti-hero, when in fact Nwalme is something more like a
card-carrying anti-villain.
Do it with
style, be charismatic, and
amass a following. Furthermore, don't stop sailing just because the waters have gotten rough. Bein' a villain is fairly hard, relatively speakin' to a more passive role. In Altera, it typically works that
villains act and heroes react. When you try to pull off a plot and some dude has, through some frustrating OOC means, flubs up everything you've worked for up to that point- you just have to pick yourself up, and keep rollin' with the punches.
... I think I answered that sufficiently, not completely sure.