List of fictional antiheroes: Difference between revisions
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*[[Tommy Vercetti]] from ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]'' [http://www.escmag.com/v5/features/feature.cfm?fv=5] |
*[[Tommy Vercetti]] from ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]'' [http://www.escmag.com/v5/features/feature.cfm?fv=5] |
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*[[Roger Wilco (Space Quest)|Roger Wilco]] from the ''[[Space Quest]]'' series. [http://www.playphoria.com/features/indepth/spacequest/] |
*[[Roger Wilco (Space Quest)|Roger Wilco]] from the ''[[Space Quest]]'' series. [http://www.playphoria.com/features/indepth/spacequest/] |
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*[[Agent 47]] from the Hitman series of games. |
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Revision as of 04:01, 12 February 2007
This list is for characters in fictional works who exemplify the qualities of an anti-hero. Characteristics in protagonists that merit such a label include, but are not limited to:
- Imperfections that separate them from typically "heroic" characters (selfishness, ignorance, bigotry, etc.)
- Eventual redemption through love, friendship, duty, etc.
- Qualities normally belonging to villains (amorality, greed, violent tendencies, etc) that are tempered with more human, identifiable traits (confusion, self-hatred, etc.)
- Noble motives pursued by bending or breaking the law in the belief that "the ends justify the means."
Each of these examples has been identified by a critic as an anti-hero, although the classification is somewhat subjective matter. Some of the entries may be disputed by other sources.
Literature
- Alex, the narrator of Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange [1]
- Patrick Bateman from Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho [2] [3]
- Leopold Bloom from James Joyce's Ulysses [4]
- Pinkie Brown from Graham Greene's Brighton Rock [5]
- Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye [6]
- Conan from the stories by Robert E. Howard, the archetypal "amoral swordsman" of the Sword and Sorcery genre [7] [8]
- Stephen Dedalus from Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man [9]
- Arthur Dent from Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series [10]
- Roland Deschain from Stephen King's Dark Tower series [11]
- Raoul Duke from Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas [12]
- Tyler Durden and the Narrator of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club [13] [14]
- Artemis Fowl II from the Artemis Fowl series.[15]
- Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby [16]
- Hamlet from William Shakespeare's play of the same name [17]
- Humbert Humbert from Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita [18]
- Iago from William Shakespeare's Othello.[19]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/0e/Anthony_Hopkins_as_Hannibal_Lecter_%28screenshot%29.jpg/250px-Anthony_Hopkins_as_Hannibal_Lecter_%28screenshot%29.jpg)
- Hannibal Lecter from a series of novels by Thomas Harris [20] [21]
- Lestat de Lioncourt from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles universe [22]
- Lucifer/Satan from John Milton's Paradise Lost [23] [24] [25]
- Macbeth from William Shakespeare's play of the same name.[26]
- Philip Marlowe from Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window, The Lady in the Lake, Playback, The Little Sister, and Poodle Springs [27]
- Mephistopheles from Goethe's Faust and Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.[28]
- Dexter Morgan from the novels Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Deeply Devoted Dexter, later made into a TV series.[29][30]
- Parker from a series of novels by Donald E. Westlake [31] [32]
- Alexander Portnoy from Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint [33]
- Raskolnikov from Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment [34]
- Mark Renton from Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting [35]
- Tom Ripley from Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad" series [36]
- Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead [37]
- Shylock from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice [38]
- Sam Spade from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon [39]
- "The Underground Man", narrator of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground [40]
- Yossarian from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 [41]
- Wei Xiaobao from Jinyong's The Deer and the Cauldron [42]
Film
- Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver [43]
- Edmond Burke from Edmond [44]
- Lester Burnham from American Beauty [45]
- Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry series [46]
- Chev Chelios from Crank [47]
- Michael Corleone from The Godfather trilogy [48]
- John Creasy from Man on Fire [49]
- The Dude from The Big Lebowski [50] [51]
- Dante Hicks, Randal Graves, and Jay & Silent Bob from Kevin Smith's "View Askewniverse" films [52]
- Jigsaw from Saw and its sequels Saw II and Saw III.[53][54][55]
- Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane [56]
- Beatrix Kiddo from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films [57]
- Mickey and Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers [58] [59]
- Léon from Léon or The Professional [60]
- "The Man with No Name," a stock character in westerns popularized by Clint Eastwood in films such as For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly [61] [62]
- Tony Montana from Brian De Palma's Scarface [63]
- Snake Plissken from Escape From New York and Escape From L.A. [64]
- Richard B. Riddick from Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick [65]
- Max Rockatansky from the Mad Max series [66]
- Anakin Skywalker from the Star Wars films [67]
- Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean [68]
- Napoleon Wilson from John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 [69][70]
- Yojimbo's nameless protagonist [71]
Television
- Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell from Prison Break.[72]
- Edmund Blackadder from BBC's Blackadder series [73]
- David Brent from The Office [74]
- Archie Bunker from All in the Family [75]
- Al Bundy from Married... with Children [76]
- Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm [77]
- Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald from Cracker [78]
- Tommy Gavin from Rescue Me [79]
- Gregory House from House [80]
- Vic Mackey from The Shield [81]
- Ally McBeal from the eponymous series [82]
- Jimmy McNulty from The Wire [83]
- Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly and Serenity [84]
- Michael Scofield from Prison Break.[85]
- Michael Scott from The Office [86]
- Homer Simpson from The Simpsons [87]
- Bart Simpson from The Simpsons [88]
- Tony Soprano from The Sopranos [89] [90]
- Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel [91]
- Al Swearengen from Deadwood [92]
Comic books
- Batman [93]
- Johnny C from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac [94]
- Catwoman [95]
- John Constantine from Hellblazer [96]
- Jesse Custer from the Preacher series [97]
- Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan [98]
- Magneto from the X-Men series. [99]
- Marv and Dwight from Frank Miller's Sin City [100]
- The Punisher [101]
- The Shadow [102]
- Spawn [103]
- "V" from V for Vendetta [104]
- Venom [105]
- Wolverine [106]
Video games
- Carl "CJ" Johnson from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [107]
- Kratos from God of War and God of War 2. [108]
- Duke Nukem from Duke Nukem series [109]
- Max Payne from Max Payne and Max Payne 2 [110]
- Raziel and Kain from the Blood Omen and Legacy of Kain series. [111]
- Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog series [112]
- Tommy Vercetti from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City [113]
- Roger Wilco from the Space Quest series. [114]
- Agent 47 from the Hitman series of games.