Have you ever heard of an anti-hero or an anti-villain? I've always been somewhat confused as to what the difference was. At a glance, they seem like the same intermediate step between evil and good, but there is a difference.
So, you have a good guy. He does good things in uncompromisingly good ways. He's polite, he follows the rules, and he will never go against his beliefs to accomplish his goal. As you travel down the ladder the hero gaets a little more tarnished; he may have a tragic past, or may have questionable methods. 15 22 1
The anti-hero takes this a step further. He has good goals/intentions, but is willing to do potentially bad things to accomplish them. Alternatively, he may believe in "good," but doesn't agree with the laws, and so he takes justice into his own hands.
If an anti-hero does good things in a bad way, then an anti-villain does bad things with a strong moral fiber. His goals fit the "evil" standard, but there are things he will not do, lows he shan't sink to, in pursuing those goals. Anti-heros and anti-villains walk a fine line between good and evil.
Then you have sympathetic villains. These guys are really evil, but the reason they became evil, or their behavior, warrants your pity or remorse.
Finally, there are the completely irredeemably evil characters. They kick puppies, they twirl mustaches, and they do it with a smile on their face.
Literarily speaking, there are a number of shades of grey in between the black and white of moral struggle. The "greyer" a character is, the more rounded of a persona they may be.
I have never heard of an anti-hero or anti-villain before. However, after pointing this out, it does make sense that there are heroes and villains of different levels. Using examples in your blog would strengthen your descriptions of these characters.
ReplyDeleteThis was an interesting topic to read about and you see it all the time from movies like Megamind to The Professional, and it relates to Odysseus as well.
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