Antiheroes

Fitzgerald, Milton, Rowling, and Shakespeare. Homer, Mitchell, Cervantes, and Byron. Though the word was only coined in 1714, the use of the antihero spans millennia, and it never really went out of fashion. Perhaps the reason for this can be found its definition: the antihero can be defined as any character having opposing ideals to those of the hero. While typical villains are usually excluded from this definition, it's a very broad definition, and it seems like it would be applicable to most stories; there's no story if there's only a hero, and there's not much of a story if there's only a hero and a villain. And it's true; it is applicable to most stories throughout history and present day. But strangely enough, most antiheroes are never classified as such. It seems that literary critics are almost universally reluctant to use the word antihero unless the book they're critiquing can be considered a literary masterpiece. Literary critics will be talking about an antihero in a relatively unknown book and will call this character a "bully-turned-hero," for example, when their epithet almost precisely fits the definition of a 'developing hero' – a character who starts off as a bad person and becomes a hero. All of this is to say that there are far more antiheroes that can be found in novels than we are aware of, as this 'developing hero' subcategory, like many others, are further subcategories of the three main branches of the antihero: the Byronic Hero, the Satanic Hero, and the antihero.

The subcategory of an antihero probably seems strange to you. It is strange – there's no denying it; however, there is an actual distinction. Whether good or evil, a protagonist with very human characteristics (having a fragile self-esteem, acci...

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...he tropes with very highly pre-defined characters) that are here enumerated: the Byronic Hero is arrogant, sly, apathetic, astute, prideful, temperamental, highly intelligent, self-critical (with potential self-hatred), either extremely repulsive or extremely attractive (no in-between), and is dark and brooding. This hero is also treated poorly by the rest of society – society tends to loathe this hero for not conforming or even pretending to conform (as the other tropes tend to do). The Byronic Hero has a fatal flaw (hamartia), will typically discount social rank entirely, and has strong beliefs (leading to internal conflict). This hero can be on any side, be it evil, good, or his own (though it will typically be the side of good or his own side). The Byronic Hero is a very cerebral character and is often found recounting painful memories, trapped inside the past.