AntiHero

An Archetypal Character who is almost as common in modern fiction as the Ideal Hero, an antihero is a protagonist who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. (S)he may be bewildered, ineffectual, deluded, or merely apathetic. More often an antihero is just an amoral misfit. While heroes are typically conventional, anti-heroes, depending on the circumstances, may be preconventional (in a "good" society), postconventional (if the government is "evil") or even unconventional. Not to be confused with the Villain or the Big Bad, who is the opponent of Heroes (and Anti-Heroes, for that matter).

Most are to the cynical end of the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. There are just as many variations on Anti-Heroes as there are normal heroes. Some common attributes are: rarely speaking, being a loner, either extreme celibacy or extreme promiscuity, father issues, occasional Bad Dreams and flashbacks relating to a Dark and Troubled Past that can take many forms depending on the Anti-Hero in question; and being able to tell the story of their life through any Nick Cave song. Some won't Save the Villain, but they will Shoot the Dog, and they will not hesitate to kill anyone who threatens them.

Other characters may try to impress upon them the value of more traditional heroic values through The Power of Friendship, but these lessons tend to bounce more often than stick.

What amoral antiheroes learn, if they learn anything at all over the course of the story, is that an existence devoid of absolute values offers a lot of isolation. Which may be to their liking. Don't You Dare Pity Me! is common, and gratitude may be repulsed with Think Nothing of It (just to get them to leave him alone.)

Antiheroes often crop up in deconstructions of traditionally heroic genres. As the struggling, imperfect protagonist begins to gain more respect and sympathy than the impressive-but-impossible-to-relate-to invincible superhero, "anti" heroes have come to be admired as a perfectly valid type of hero in their own right.

Sometimes, they are not the "star" (protagonist), but serve as The Rival or Worthy Opponent of the protagonist and are prone to becoming a Ensemble Darkhorse as fans enjoy their interactions with the protagonist. If they are part of a Five-Man Band, they will most certainly be The Lancer. Well liked ones may become a Deuteragonist or at least get a Day in the Limelight to please the fans.

The term is used more loosely today than it used to be, at least on This Wiki. In one definition of the word, the appeal of an antihero is that he or she is often very literally a hero: Namely; he or she does heroic deeds. But whereas Superman, Wonder Woman, Hercules, and many other conventional heroes have both the physical and moral capabilities to do it, an antihero almost never has both.

Antiheroes are spread all over the alignment chart, tending toward Neutral types.

Traditionally, in literary analysis, the meaning of antihero was effectively the opposite of the now common usage, lacking the elements that make a hero "cool" rather than the elements that make them "good". Willy Loman and Shinji Ikari are archetypes of this form. Character types particularly prone to antihero-dom (though each has its share of straight-up heroes, and villains too) include:

Anti-Hero Substitute Blood Knight Black Knight (when not evil) Byronic Hero Classical Anti-Hero Cowboy Cop Dashing Hispanic Designated Hero Femme Fatale Fully-Embraced Fiend Gentleman Thief (when they're the hero) Good Is Not Nice Good Is Not Soft Heroic Comedic Sociopath Hero with an F in Good He Who Fights Monsters (when they're the hero) The Hunter Jerkass Woobie Jerk with a Heart of Gold Knight in Sour Armor Some examples of the Knight Templar. Loveable Rogue Mr. Vice Guy Monster Knight Moral Sociopathy (when they're the hero) Nineties Anti-Hero Noble Bigot

o Noble Bigot with a Badge Noble Demon Nominal Hero Pay Evil unto Evil Pragmatic Hero Punch Clock Hero Rebellious Spirit (when heroic) Reformed But Not Tamed The Rival Serial-Killer Killer Sociopathic Hero The Fighting Narcissist (when heroic) This Loser Is You Token Evil Teammate

Tragic Hero Unfazed Everyman Unscrupulous Hero Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist Vigilante Man

Compare Anti-Villain. A character who is a Wild Card or a Heel-Face Revolving Door can be capable of being both an Anti-Hero and an Anti-Villain depending on whether or not they are acting for or against the protagonist at the time. For an ensemble of these heroes, see Anti Hero Team.

If you've been sent here by a work referring to someone as a "Type-I" antihero (Or so forth), they are referring to Analysis.Anti Hero, which is a sub-page of this one. Since those numbers are no longer used even on that page, they should be replaced with an appropriate named type.