Are they dimensional? Are they intimidating? Are they goofy and silly or scary and terrifying? Do you have a Voldemort or a Robbie Rotten as your antagonist? Do they give your protags a hard time or do they get redeemed in the end? Are they a character with motives and aspirations that happen to conflict with the hero, or are they the actual scum of the earth that do evil for personal gain and desire? Let's hear what you all have to say!
Hi!
Does this count anti-heroes?
Or just antags?
I'm afraid not since this discussion calls for charcaters who oppose the protagonist. If the anti-hero is being opposed or conflicted by someone, that someone is their antagonist. (Unless the anti-hero's antagonist is themself or something.)
I should have added that anti-heroes count if they are a reformed villain of some sort
Daw alright
Bc I have a trio of MCs and one of them is an anti-hero, another is a protag and the third is the middle ground so… idk. Have a nice thread!
One of the antagonists in my story is a malevolent spirit that acts as a medium between two opposing factions. He treats them like pieces in a grand game of chess and often goes out of his way to manipulate the characters to further conflict because he simply has nothing better to do in the afterlife than exploit their struggle for his own entertainment.
Well, I'm in the proccess of making a comic where there isnt really an antag. Instead of having a main one, my antag is slavery and oppression.
What a dip weed! But interestong nonetheless! So he's almost like a bored deity of sorts, but is ultimately a bored, mean spirit that likes to mess with the protags. Very Cool!
Nice! Concepts of evil as an antagonist allows for character growth/self recognition; like a self reflection story! That sounds rad!
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My antagonist isn't inherently evil… She just has goals, specifically to avenge her brother and make sure no one else has to suffer the same fate as he did. To do that, she has to join a group of more unsavory figures who tell her to do some questionable things. Still trying to figure out how villainous to make the rest of them, but for her, I know she betrayed her friends in a way that enabled the group to come in and burn the whole village to the ground and kill most of the people there. But she definitely feels remorse, and acknowledges that there should be better ways to achieve her goals, but there aren't.
Ah! So a Well Intentioned Extremist type! Those offer very interesting dynamics and blur the line between pure good and pure evil! Making the protags think about justifiable actions and how pain affects judgement and choices. But still make it clear that the actions are bad and require clear judgement. Very nice and very introspective!
I am not pretty sure what will i do with my character since she is not a villain, jut an anti-hero. But she is not really bad, just misunderstood. I think that making your villain or anti-hero believable is the most important thing. You have to give him/her a reason to be doing what they are doing or/and let the readers try to understand what they are doing and their point of view
I have a sadist mob boss as my favorite antagonist. She's pretty small so she wears jackets with shoulder pads and this badass spiked fingerless gloves that she crushes her younger brother's hand with after he double crosses her. Her goal is to take over the city of Aurum because she thinks that the current leader is inadequate he is, but he's also a 17 year old boy and she's powerhungery.
I have a sadist mob boss as my favorite antagonist. She's pretty small so she wears jackets with shoulder pads and this badass spiked fingerless gloves
that she crushes her younger brother's hand with after he double crosses her. Her goal is to take over the city of Aurum because she thinks that the current leader is inadequatehe is, but he's also a 17 year old boyand she's powerhungery.
Wow, she sounds pretty intimidating! Interesting how she acts upon necessity AND desire, but most likely seeks the power aspect like you said. Keep it up!
I have a sadist mob boss as my favorite antagonist. She's pretty small so she wears jackets with shoulder pads and this badass spiked fingerless gloves
that she crushes her younger brother's hand with after he double crosses her. Her goal is to take over the city of Aurum because she thinks that the current leader is inadequatehe is, but he's also a 17 year old boyand she's powerhungery.Wow, she sounds pretty intimidating! Interesting how she acts upon necessity AND desire, but most likely seeks the power aspect like you said. Keep it up!
Thanks! Her name's Talia Brecker.
There's a lot going on for my antagonist. Actually there's two, one is the antagonist for both my main characters and the other becomes the antagonist later and she is a main character. Bronn's first but he's not as interesting as Mara who is the main ultimate villain.
Mara is a hybrid which means she feels no emotion and is compelled to kill and eat humans. Most hybrids end up dying by their twenties because of a sort of mind-sickness that overcomes them. They feel both physical and mental pain because they're unnatural and not properly constructed. Hybrids, instead of emotion, are driven by desires and thoughts which are usually twisted due to their mind-sickness. Mara is driven by a need for revenge and the need for some sort of meaning to her life. This makes her able to overcome her nature and live for a very long time. She's manipulative, shameless, arrogant, and incredibly intelligent.
She does actually end up taking over and causing tremendous amounts of death and destruction but she is eventually contained.
I need to stop before I start writing an essay
Don't feel that way! You could write a full length novel and I'd read the whole thing! An antagonist with tremendous amounts of determination that overcome the impossible is definitely one that's both worthy of appreciation and fear! A very good villain in my opinion.
My villain is calculating, manipulative, and knows exactly what to say to get to you. Let's say you're being tempted to join him, he feeds you your deepest emotions and then tells you he can solve the problem. You fear losing your friends? Join him and they will be safe! Are you angry at your mentor, parent figure for keeping you in the dark? Join him and you will never be treated like a child again! He preys on the most primal emotions and manipulates them, twisting your words and thoughts, getting to you in the worst way possible. Through yourself. You refuse to join him? He paints a picture, a terrifying mural. Your friends will perish and you will be helpless to stop it. You will be shunned by your peers, and you're mentor will be disgusted. That is how he gets to you. Through your own mind.