The Differences between Villans/Antagonists?

@freedomwriter76

But what do y’all think makes the difference between an Antagonist and a Villain? 😉

Interesting discussion. I agree with you on what you said there.

When I think of a Villain, I think of someone who is evil through and through….one who intentionally is looking out for ways to hurt and harm people. Their very nature is wicked and they find pleasure and fulfillment in it.

To me it seems an Antagonist might have a bad influence in their life that they can’t get out from under….for example, in Star Wars, I would consider Luke’s father as an Antagonist….he is influenced by the higher powers for evil but deep down, he still feels love for his son and we know what happens in the end. I think antagonists are often imprisoned by outside forces….maybe threatened? People will do a lot to save their own skin.

That was just a little of my thinking aloud *aka: typing* 😉 🙂  Hopefully it made sense.

@freedomwriter76

Ooo, interesting question.
Hmmmm
I’d say villains are antagonists that the authors chose not to redeem… but villains aren’t necessarily always antagonists. So, people that learned the truth, and to their own detriment, rejected it.
Antagonists by a literary definition are someone/thing that opposes the protagonists. They’re kind of like foils 2.0. Or at least that’s what my literature book said. XD
The way you’re talking about antagonists reminds me of the anti-hero (or is it anti-villain? I get the definitions confused). And while anti-heroes and anti-villains can be antagonists, they don’t have to be. An antagonist is a role, not the character and their struggles. Whereas villain, hero, anti-hero, anti-villain are general types of characters.
Using antagonist as you meant it, I think the biggest difference is over whether they learn the truth and accept versus learning it and rejecting it.

@freedomwriter76

Oh, interesting! I tend to think of villains as less likely to be redeemed too. I mean I’ve only get one villain in my story, and he’s basically got a negative character arc into becoming a villain. Whereas my antagonist just needs to learn more about life/mature. I agree with historian’s thought that antagonists can be good, super random but my sister was just telling me about a old his fic movie she saw where the mc turns to greed, tries to kill the other mc, and the side character becomes the protagonist and mc. Kinda interesting, because the side character that came out as the new mc would have been an antagonist previously because he was opposed to greed, which the current mc had fallen to. great topic btw!

I’d say that an antagonist is the opposite of a protagnoist, whereas a villain is the opposite of a hero. The protagonist is the character the reader’s supposed to be rooting for, and that makes the antagonist anyone who gets in the way of the protagonist’s goals. A hero, on the other hand, is the good-hearted, morally-centered character who wants to do what’s best and serve others in a sacrificial way, and the villain is the one trying to tear things down, protect only themselves, and who doesn’t particularly care what’s right or what’s wrong.

With that definition in mind, I’d say that in The Little Mermaid, Ariel’s father serves as an antagonist whereas Ursula serves as a villain.

@freedomwriter76

You’re welcome! =) Thanks for the topic!
By the way…did you change your username or am I misremembering…?

An antagonist is whatever opposes the MC. It doesn’t mean that the antagonist is evil – that isn’t necessary – the person or force need only deter the MC from his goal.

Whereas, a villain is necessarily evil.

@freedomwriter76 Totally 🙂 These topics are interesting.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by whaley.