To write a good story, there must be an antagonist who opposes the protagonist’s goals.
This antagonist can be another person, a force of nature, an animal, or the protagonist themselves.
A “Good” Antagonist
Readers don’t want it to be easy for the protagonist. A “good” antagonist needs to be exceptional enough, powerful enough, to compete with the protagonist. The stakes must be high enough to challenge both sides.
- In Divided in Death, Lieutenant Dallas of the NYPSD comes up against politics and Homeland Security.
- Luke Skywalker in Star Wars is part of a small group of rebels up against the Emperor and Darth Vader.
The antagonist needs a compelling backstory that provides the reasons why the antagonist acts as they do. They need flaws, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses. They also need a sense of morality. Give them believable reasons for doing evil, reasons that are personal to their history and upbringing.
- Sauron in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings cycle, for example, has lost physical form and craves restored power.
- Lord Voldemort’s descent from being Tom Riddle to the most notorious and feared member of the wizard community is explored throughout the Harry Potter series.
You may also want to read up on these Writing Tips posts “Protagonist“, “”Creating Memorable Characters“, or the word confusion “Antagonist versus Protagonist“.
Writing is . . .
. . . a lot of work . . . yeah, you already know that one, lol. What the posts on “Writing” are intended to do is explore the various mechanics of writing from plots to points-of-view to structure to character development to genres to voice to target audience to book types to character or story arcs to back stories to plot devices to themes to diction to copyright to flash forwards to flashbacks to framing the story or devices to memes to tropes to pace to perspective to settings to show versus tell to social context to continuity to storyboards to style to language to style sheets to syntax to tone to tropes and more…
It’s an evolving conversation, and sometimes I run across an example that helps explain better or another “also known as”. Heck, there’s always a better way to explain it, so if it makes quicker and/or better sense, I would appreciate suggestions and comments from anyone on some aspect of writing with which you struggle or on which you can contribute more understanding.
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| Antagonist | |||
| Part of Writing: Character Development | |||
| Definition: A character or a group of characters who actively opposes, is hostile to the protagonist, and/or works against the protagonist’s goals, which creates the main conflict.
This character is typically the villain but sometimes the antagonist is what the protagonist is struggling against: circumstance, natural disasters, or some other impersonal force. They embody qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of the protagonist.
A.k.a. chief antagonizer |
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| Iago from William Shakespeare’s Othello who stands as one of the most notorious villains of all time, having spent all of his time plotting against Othello, the protagonist, and his wife Desdemona.
Hannibal Lecter in Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs Nurse Ratched in Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest aims to keep all the patients in their place and control them. |
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| Villain | Definition: The traditional antagonist (not the main character of the story) is often working for evil purposes to destroy a heroic protagonist.
NOTE: There can be villainous protagonists. |
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Darth Vader from the original Star Wars trilogy
Lord Voldemort from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Captain Hook in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan Sauron in J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings series The White Witch in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia The Joker from the Batman comic books |
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| Anti-villain | Definition: An anti-villain is an attempt to lighten up a villain (the opposite of the anti-hero, which darkens the hero) but still stands in the protagonist’s way/goals, a complex villain with a backstory and motives that shows his humanity.
Not a central figure, he has heroic goals, personality traits, and virtues but is ultimately villainous. His desired ends might seem promising, or like he would build toward a utopia, but the means that he uses to get there are evil. The reader wants the anti-villain vanquished but may be torn by the idea of it. |
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Draco Malfoy in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is a ruthless and cruel figure, but we eventually see his behavior as a result of the political and personal choices of his parents. At the end he doesn’t kill headmaster Albus Dumbledore as instructed, and struggles with giving his life over to darker forces. Carrie from Stephen King’s Carrie is an outcast because of her beliefs and the way she dresses. Bullies at school make fun of her incessantly, building to the point where she turns her rage into telekinesis (mind power) to kill everyone in her school, then goes on a killing rampage through the town. |
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| Ally-antagonist | Definition: Not necessarily a bad guy, sometimes, they’re just a character whose goals are in direct conflict with the protagonist’s, adding shades of gray in the “black and white” of “good vs evil”.
When writing an ally-antagonist, remember to:
A.k.a. conflict-creator, hero antagonist, opposing force |
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The snooty Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
Inspector Javert in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables is working to arrest Valjean. Boromir from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers disagrees with destroying the ring and this morally complex character crosses the line from ally to antagonist. |
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| Sympathetic Antagonist | Definition: The antagonist character who’s hard to hate, after you hear their whole (back) story. Of course, if they’re conflicted about what they’re doing, that’s even better. | ||
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Frankenstein’s monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein experiences pain and ridicule from everyone around him, and he eventually goes on a killing rampage to try to destroy the life of his creator, Victor Frankenstein.
Catwoman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns wants to take down the mob that destroyed her — a (kind of) a good reason for what she’s doing. Gollum in J.R.R. Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings had friends before he encountered the ring, after which he is quick to murder, but he does save Sam and Frodo a few times. |
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| Inanimate Force | Definition: A force or opponent that creates challenges or conflict without any motivation.
Natural disasters, like earthquakes, storms, fires, plagues, famines, and asteroids are other often-seen, non-living antagonists. A.k.a. force of nature |
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The sea in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe caused the shipwreck and prevents Crusoe from getting off the island.
President Snow and the Capitol in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games represent the government that conspires to keep the people subjugated. The Party in George Orwell’s 1984 is a totalitarian, bureaucratic world that suppresses individuality. Shift, an ape in C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle, orchestrates events that result in the final days of the land of Narnia. |
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| Interfering Authority | Definition: Character who uses or abuses authority to impede a character’s progress toward goals. | ||
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Assistant Director Quinn Sparrow in J.D. Robb’s Divided in Death uses his position in Homeland Security to try and shut down Dallas’ investigation.
Professor McGonagall in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter is a “good” antagonistic interfering authority when she enforces the rules, even if those rules stop Harry and the others from doing what they thought was important to save the rest of Hogwarts. Allie’s mother in Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook who hides love letters from Noah to Allie due to her class-conscious concerns and controlling nature. |
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| Protagonist | Definition: The main source of conflict in a story can be from within the protagonist themselves — their shortcomings or insecurities, anything that causes an inner conflict or a moral conflict inside his mind, which is keeping them from reaching their goal.
A.k.a. inner saboteur |
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| Holden Caulfield in J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, with the ever-present antagonizing conflict coming from his own obsessions and insecurities.
Faustus in Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is conflicted by pride and his desire for knowledge and power but realizes he’s unfulfilled. Hamlet in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has his madness to contend with. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde explores the theme of doppelganger in which Hyde is Jekyll’s evil double and his antagonist. Elizabeth’s pride in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice The group of friends in Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting in which they try to get clean from heroin and yet die one by one |
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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
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Resources for Antagonist
“Antagonist Definition.” Definition and Examples of Literary Terms. Literary Devices. n.d. Web. 1 Mar 2022. <https://literarydevices.net/antagonist/>.
Barron, Kaelyn. “What is an Antagonist? Common Types and Examples from Literature.” TCK Publishing. n.d. Web. 1 Mar 2022. <https://www.tckpublishing.com/antagonist/>.
Jordan. “Types of antagonists: Creating riveting opponents.” Character Writing. NowNovel. n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2022. <https://www.nownovel.com/blog/types-of-antagonists/&gr;.
Longley, Robert. “What Is an Antagonist?” ThoughtCo. 23 Nov 2019. Web. 1 Mar 2022. <https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-an-antagonist-4164839>.
“Pragmatic Villainy.” TV Tropes.org. n.d. Web. 2 Mar 2022. <https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PragmaticVillainy>.
Stilling, Jessica. “Anatomy of an Antagonist: Writing the ideal villain for your fiction.” TheWriter. <https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/anatomy-of-an-antagonist-writing-the-ideal-villain-for-your-fiction/>.
“Writing 101: Protagonist vs. Antagonist Characters.” MasterClass. 28 Sept 2021. Web. 1 Mar 2022. <https://www.masterclass.com/articles/writing-101-protagonist-vs-antagonist-characters#2-tips-for-writing-a-strong-antagonist>.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Darth Vader by p2722754 is under the Pixabay License, via Pixabay.
