A few days ago, my family and I fell to talking about one of our favorite antagonists: The Joker. Then, as our conversations sometimes do, we began to speculate, create a hypothetical situation. What if all the fascinating antagonists from the stories we know met? What would they think of each other? The conversation went on a sidetrack from there, but I got to thinking about the main antagonists in those stories. What makes those characters fascinating? What is compelling about them? Why do they make good antagonists? Is there something that they all have in common that is the key to making a good antagonist? This article will talk about the common themes among these characters, and later a few things that we can take away from them.

Antagonists

This is a fraction of the list of the fascinating antagonists we came up with. We mentioned quite a few others, but these are the ones I decided to mention.

1. The Joker
2. The Master of Ballantrae
3. The Duke of Coffin Castle
4. The Bishop of Aquila

Two Common Themes

Charisma

Anyone who has played anything like Dungeons & Dragons will know about charisma. It is ‘a measure of your confidence and eloquence that can influence or entertain others.’ Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines charisma as either ‘a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure’ or ‘a special magnetic charm or appeal.’ All of these fascinating antagonists have charisma, though in different ways.

Complete Evil

This shared theme is something that is very important for an effective main antagonist, and it seems to have been lost in a lot of modern stories. Each of these characters is completely evil. Some of them, you feel sorry for. Gollum (he is not included in this particular list, but he is another good antagonist) is an example of an enemy you pity. Others, like the Master of Ballantrae, you do not pity, at all. But they are completely evil. It is important to remember that complete evil does not mean there is no choice to be good. Complete evil means these characters have chosen the evil path, and will not stray off, for anything.

What Makes Them Fascinating?

For me, a good antagonist is often more fascinating than a good protagonist. But why? Well, I cannot give any sure answers, since every antagonist is different, but here are a few thoughts. They do not all relate to all the antagonists (The Joker is a bit of an anomaly in every respect), but I think they are, generally, true. First off, charisma has a lot to do with it. It’s a kind of charm that’s strangely irresistible. Most main characters do not have that charisma. Secondly, the antagonist is mysterious. He is not as well known as the main character, and so the curiosity of the audience is piqued. Thirdly, people are attracted to conflict. When there is good conflict, where the protagonist comes to grips with the fact that he could be where the antagonist is now if he took a certain road, who is the one the audience looks to? The antagonist. This is the one your hero could be. You already know your hero, more or less. If you know the general feel of the movie/book, you’ll know whether your hero will rise or fall. And so, all attention is drawn to the antagonist.

What Makes a Good Antagonist?

A good antagonist is the one who forces the protagonist to face the truth. Whether it is the protagonist’s past, or future, or failures, or dreams, or ideas of good and evil, or something else, the antagonist forces the main character to come to grips with the facts. So, how do the two common themes fit into this? Well, it would seem logical that the antagonist would need some level of charisma. If he did not have some amount of power or control, the protagonist would likely never have to come to face the truth, and he would not change.

Sidetrack: The Antagonist vs. The Big Bad Guy

Now, we come to the slightly difficult discussion of complete evil, and it leads us to the discussion of antagonist vs bad guy. When you think of the bad guy in most movies, who does it end up being? Very likely the big bad guy, the ‘Dark Lord’ stereotype. But these characters are not very fascinating. They seem flat somehow. It is the ‘secondary’ antagonist, the second-in-command, who is more relatable, more fascinating. Think of the Emperor vs. Darth Vader in Star Wars. The Emperor is the big bad guy, and he is an antagonist, but he is not the antagonist. Darth Vader is the antagonist. When you have an antagonist who is both the antagonist and the big bad guy, he is completely evil. That is not to say you do not pity him, or hope for him, but he has passed all hope of redemption. However, when the antagonist is not the big bad guy, very often the antagonist comes to his last chance of redemption, and takes it, though he dies in the end.

Back to Discussion: Complete Evil

The most fascinating antagonists tend to be those who are the antagonist and the big bad guy. They have left behind them any chance of change and have charged on into the deepest, darkest roads of Evil. Perhaps this is another thing that makes them more fascinating, though not quite in the usual sense. Fascination is generally thought of as a wonder, an awe, and usually used in a positive sense. This kind of fascination is the wonder of how someone can be so evil and live as if their evil was not only normal, but right.

Conclusion and Extra Thoughts

A good antagonist is, as said above, the one who forces the protagonist to face the truth. A good antagonist has a kind of charisma, a power, some control, to push the protagonist to this point. A good antagonist should have a character arc, just as the protagonist does. Antagonists are people, after all. A good antagonist needs the chance of change, even if they have already passed the point of change. This is to show to the protagonist and the audience point blank that the antagonist has had the chance. A good antagonist is a mirror of the protagonist, the person the protagonist will become if the protagonist refuses the chance of redemption.

What are your favorite antagonists? What do you find fascinating about them? I hope this article helped. If you like my articles, feel free to check out my other posts, you can find them in the ‘More’ section.

Keep writing, keep learning, keep growing!