Character Empathy

The main key component of having the audience empathize and relate to a character is to see them struggle to reach their goal. Everyone in real life has goals of their own, allowing them to understand the problems of other people. If we give a character the same traits, making them strive for what they want and showing us their journey on how they got there, it makes the character feel even more alive. Once we see a character reach their goal that they've been striving for, theres a sense of relief and joy. The desire to see a character succeed in what they aim to do brings us, the viewers, a sense of happiness just like the character is feeling.