Theory on why the people, particularly a main character or two, are presented as psycho rapist killers
Spoiler:
All the mean stuff Ed Harris has done to Dolores is probably him trying to "wake her up" or something. We'll learn more about how he's actually a good guy and why he thinks bad things need to be done.
This is gonna get confusing if we keep using spoiler handles, so whoever is trying to avoid westworld spoilers, stop reading NOW.
I don't think Ed Harris is going to be in the second season. I think he's dead. And we never really saw him do anything too terrible to Dolores. And if he did, it was out of anger. Not to 'wake her up'. He got pissed on his second trip to the park and saw Dolores in her 'loop' with another dude. That's when he realized it was all fake, went berserk, and went on a 30 year mission looking for something 'real'.
They made it seem like his motivation was long lost love for Dolores, but he was really just looking for a game with 'real stakes'. Clementine's shotgun gave him his wish.