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.