I don't think she has to take either path. I believe a lot of Nano is about exploring the possibilities. Yes you could take both of those, but there is a way to have your cake and eat it too. Yeah, I am going to refer to TV and movies here but writing is writing. The new show The Blacklist. Has two protagonists. The FBI Profiler and the man who holds the black list. They have only played the pilot for it so far but as of right now I don't feel the least bit sorry for our criminal. I believe *spoiler alert here* that he is the father of our profiler. I believe she is extremely sympathetic and that he is a very very bad man. He is a bad man trying to make amends to his daughter even though she doesn't know she is his daughter, sure. But, they don't come right out and say it. They do tell you that she grew up in foster care. Her father a criminal and her mother having died from the stress. They tell you that he lost his wife and daughter in a government raid of his home after he leaked government secrets.

It's not as cheesy as you might think considering how much it draws off of what is happening today and "Silence of the Lambs". He doesn't kill people. He just profits where he can when he can. I ask you this... Who is the protagonist of "Silence of the Lambs"?

I don't think it was the woman he was willing to talk to. I think it was the serial killer himself. In the end it is his story we remember. It is his lines we quote. It is he we relate to, and it is he we rooted for.

It can be done. I highly encourage you to do so. As to possible sympathetic aspects... Consider this... As horrible as Hitler was, he honestly thought he was doing the world a favor. He was working off the idea of the "greater good" Exploring that aspect of things or the events that lead to create an antagonist, is as legitimate a reason to write your bad guy as your lead as anything. Just realize the inevitable end. These stories rarely end well for your bad guy.

I personally will be writing in third person omniscient. I have two antagonists. One will eventually see that he is wrong. The other won't. My readers will get it from all sides. Who they decide to sympathize with is up to them.