Villains are often fan favorites in fiction. Their dubious morals and lovable flaws solidify their place in readers’ hearts. But… what happens when the hero walks the line between good and evil?
Antiheroes combine all the best qualities of traditional heroes and villains. Their surplus of flaws gives them charm and relatability, while their strong commitment to achieving their goals makes them easy to root for. Some of the most successful protagonists are the ones that drift into antihero territory.
If you want to craft your own antihero that readers will love to hate (or love with their whole heart), then read on to learn some of the most important aspects of working with this trope.
What is an Antihero?
An Antihero is a leading character who lacks the expected qualities of a hero.
Antiheroes may be aggressive, cowardly, or even downright morally corrupt. Often, they advance the plot by pursuing selfish motives, rather than following some righteous calling or duty. They may still end up rescuing the princess, slaying the beast, or saving the world, but they won’t do it just because it’s the right thing to do. They act because it’s in their best interests to do so. They rescue the princess because they were paid, slay the beast out of vengeance, and save the world because… well, they have to live there too. In other words, antiheroes can do the right thing, but for the wrong reasons.
Are Antiheroes Villains?
Antiheroes are not inherently villains, but the answer isn’t quite that simple.
Antiheroes walk the line between hero and villain and could easily tip one way or the other depending on how the story plays out. By definition, antiheroes have more flaws than traditional heroes and are motivated by their own needs or desires, rather than some higher purpose. However, unlike traditional villains, their flaws tend to be more forgivable, and there are lines that they do not cross. Part of the fun lies in seeing whether the character can be shaken, and if they will fall victim to the consequences of their actions or start down the path of redemption.
In some stories, the only reason a character can be considered an antihero instead of a villain is the presence of a much more ruthless and formidable villain to compare them to. Readers can find themselves rooting for a bad guy, as long as he is fighting to stop an even worse person. This is just one way the framing of the story can influence how the character is perceived.
Antihero vs Anti-Villain
An anti-villain is a villain who lacks the typical qualities readers would expect a villain to have.
Anti-villains may be righteous, kind, patient, and forgiving, or they may have a noble goal that they wish to achieve (by any means necessary). They are easy to sympathize with and relate to, and their reasoning for doing the things that they do may resonate with readers. They take the role of sympathetic villain to a whole new level—often one that makes readers question if their hero is the one doing the right thing.
Ultimately, however, an anti-villain is still a villain. Even with a noble goal, they must still be willing to do unmistakably evil things to achieve it, and even if their heart is in the right place, readers should still want them to be stopped. With this kind of villain, vanquishing them is often a tragic event, not one worth celebrating.
To put it another way: Antiheroes do the right thing for the wrong reasons, while anti-villains do the wrong thing for the right reasons.
If you want a bit more help crafting the perfect villain for your story, be sure to check out my other article How to Write Good Villains in Fiction next!
How to Write an Antihero
If you want to create an antihero for your next story, there are many things you will need to consider. First, you need to make sure you are following the standard framework for creating a good character foundation.
For an introduction to the basics, check out my other article How to Make Characters Interesting, Complex, and Unique.
However, an antihero isn’t just like every other character. There’s a lot more you will need to keep in mind as you are creating them.
Give Them a Motive
Like any good character, an antihero needs a motive.
A character motive is like the character’s wants and needs, and it is the driving force behind the character’s behavior.
Don’t just think about what the character wants. You need to know why they want it. A character fights off an evil beast because they want to impress the girl. Another character may want to do so because they believe it is right. Another does so because it sounds like fun. The motive in these scenarios is whatever follows the “because.”
In the case of antiheroes, these motives tend to be dubious, selfish, misleading, or extreme. They still end up doing the right thing (most of the time), but they do so for pretty untrustworthy reasons. Let’s take a look at the examples from a previous section.
- An antihero rescues the princess because they were paid to rescue her.
- An antihero slays an evil beast because they want vengeance for the loved ones they lost to the beast.
- An antihero saves the world because that’s their home too.
In each of those examples, the motive is self-serving, but it still encourages the character to go out and do potentially heroic things.
Antihero motives can also be things like:
- Ruling the world
- Getting revenge
- Becoming famous
- Overcoming their past
- Finding love
- Achieving perfection
- Surviving
- Escaping confinement
- Becoming wealthy
- Winning (anything)
There’s a lot more to creating compelling character motives–so much more that I had to dedicate an entire article to it. Check out Character Motivations: The Key to Crafting Believable Characters if you want to read more!
Antihero Traits
Antiheroes, by definition, cannot be flawless characters. I would argue that no character should be completely without flaws, but that is especially true for antiheroes. Flaws are the foundation of a character’s status as an antihero, and they help inform and uphold the character’s motives.
There are thousands upon thousands of character flaws that you can apply to your antihero, but here are just a few ideas. They could be:
- Angry
- Solitary
- Uncommunicative
- Selfish
- Relentless
- Remorseless
- Humorless
- Cruel
- Biased
- Greedy
- Arrogant
- Harsh
- Sarcastic
- Alcoholic
- Fearful
- Mentally unstable
- Apathetic
- Jealous
- Overly emotional
- Emotionless
- Pretentious
- Nervous
- Impulsive
- Narcissistic
- Spiteful
- Overconfident
- And many… many other things.
I really recommend taking a look at my other article How to Create Complex Flaws for Characters since flaws are such a hugely important part of writing an antihero character. Just giving them a superficial label without doing the work to consider how these flaws developed, how the character views their own flaws, and how those flaws inform (or conflict with) the character’s motives can make a character feel inauthentic and stale. Remember that flaws are the backbone of an antihero!
An Antihero’s Heroic Traits
With that out of the way, you need to start considering what redeeming qualities the antihero character should have. They can’t be nothing but a clump of unlikable traits mashed up into the shape of a person, after all. No one would read your story if they hate the main character’s guts. (Unless you have really, really good supporting characters…)
The positive traits you give your character shouldn’t be enough to make their negative traits seem justified. All these positive traits have to do is make readers like the character, in spite of their less-than-admirable qualities. As a bonus, a good balance of positive and negative traits can make a character more relatable, and readers will be more likely to stick with your story if they can see a little of themself in the main character. It may even make readers more hopeful that the antihero will get their own redemption arc at some point in the future.
Like with flaws, there are countless positive traits you can apply to your character. Here are just a few! They could be:
- Funny
- Attractive
- Dedicated
- Passionate
- Loyal
- Empathetic
- Intelligent
- Generous
- Charismatic
- Disciplined
- Resilient
- Witty
- Courageous
- Kind
- Humble
- Gentle
- Righteous
- Patient
- Honest
- And any more!
Make sure that the positive qualities don’t conflict with the flaws you’ve already given them unless you have a good way of justifying that. And remember, the character’s flaws should be much more pronounced than their good qualities–at least at the beginning of the story!
Antihero Origin Story
By now, you should have a pretty good scaffold for the character’s personality and the role they will play in the story. What you need now is a justification for their behaviors and ideals. That’s right, just like with villains, antiheroes need an origin story!
Now obviously, there’s a ton of work that goes into giving a character a fully fleshed-out backstory, and I can’t cover all of that here. However, you should consider how the character’s upbringing and experiences shaped their motives and led to the development of their flaws. The things we experience in our pasts steer us towards becoming who we are today, and the same is true for characters. What are the defining moments of the antihero’s past? What happened to them to make them turn out this way? How did their past lead them to this particular point in their life?
If you want a good breakdown of the different elements of a character’s backstory, be sure to read my other article How to Create Compelling Character Backstories, and give extra consideration to the section titled “The Defining Moments.”
Let Them Make Mistakes
One of the most important strategies you should use when writing about an antihero is having them make decisions that a traditional hero (or even any reasonable person) would not make. These can be mistakes, or they can be deliberate poor choices. Although an antihero’s heart might ultimately be in the right place, that doesn’t always mean they are the best suited to the job.
A good example of this is an antihero turning their back on others to save themself or otherwise benefit. A true hero would put themself at risk to protect the lives and safety of other people, but an antihero might not be rushing to put everything on the line for people they don’t know or care about.
In a more extreme example, an antihero could end up doing something straight-up immoral, such as failing to show mercy, falling into their vices, or deliberately harassing someone else, like an ex or former partner. They might be rude, sinister, or downright cruel, and do things that look more like the actions of a villain than a hero.
Alternatively, they might just not be very bright, and prone to making mistakes despite their best efforts.
The point of all this is to create conflict in the narrative. Conflict is the lifeblood of a story, and it is the very thing that will make your antihero so lovable–or abhorrent. Creating conflict, making it worse, or failing to navigate it effectively are characteristics of an antihero, so don’t neglect this idea!
Keep the End in Mind
This is good advice in general, but when you’re writing a story with a morally dubious or ambivalent character, you need to have a clear understanding of what the end looks like for them. Are they doomed to die at the end of the story? Will they descend into villainy or madness? Do they get a long and difficult redemption arc? Do they get what they ultimately deserve?
If you keep the ending in mind from the beginning, then all of your plot arcs can contain little hints that help build up to the most impactful delivery of the finale. If you can do this well, then you could even incentivize readers to read through your story again to search for this foreshadowing.
Give Them a Deeper Meaning
Antiheroes call into question what it means to be good or evil. They show that the hero of a story can be an ordinary person–one who has their own problems that they’re dealing with outside of the confines of the plot. They may have personal struggles or flaws, and they aren’t going to perfectly handle every situation they find themself in. The character’s struggles don’t make them “evil,” even if it makes them behave in ways that aren’t necessarily heroic. Even characters who are ultimately bad people can still do the right thing when the situation calls for it. Rarely, if ever, is anyone fully good or fully evil.
Antiheroes can also create a hidden commentary on notions of fairness, justice, and what it means to be human. Consider how your character’s mindset and behaviors explore ideas of morality and guilt, and how their actions build up to a larger message you want readers to take away from your story.
Although it isn’t strictly necessary to have your antihero play into some deeper meaning, it’s never a bad idea to add some profundity to your story. Just make sure you keep it implied and don’t spoon-feed the moral of the story to your readers like kindergarteners–unless you’re writing a story for children, I guess.
Why are Antiheroes so Popular?
Time and time again, antiheroes find themselves among readers’ favorite characters, and it’s with good reason.
There are many reasons why antiheroes will never go out of style. For one thing, their flaws make them more realistic and relatable than a hero who can always make the perfect, selfless choice every time. Readers like to see their own characteristics in the characters in a story, especially if those characters find acceptance or support regarding their flaws, or show that growth is possible. Antiheroes who find themselves on the path to redemption can be particularly cherished for that reason.
Alternatively, it can also be satisfying to watch a character who deserves to fail… fail. Sometimes, that’s the hook that keeps readers engaged until the end–will he make it, or will his poorly executed plan actually fall apart as readers expect it to?
Will the character face redemption? Will the underdog succeed? Will the selfish character who refuses to change get a satisfying reality check? Will the character find love and support despite their flaws, or will they reach an unfair, tragic fate? All of these scenarios can end up being impactful finales, and those are the moments that keep readers looking forward to the end.
