GojiBean
Your resident irradiated Kaiju King
Hoyo!
This'll be a really short one, promise!
So, obviously we're talking about the relationship between some terms used in writing: Antagonist, villain, protagonist, and hero.
These four terms, while related, are not interchangeable for one another. At least not on paper as standalone terms. We'll get back to this in a minute.
Let's go over the terms and their meaning in relation to the character(s) in your story:
Antagonist - A character who stands in direct opposition to the goals and/or morals of the protagonist, and who challenges them and forces them to change for the better or worse
Villain - A character who stands as a force for evil, and whose actions drive the plot forward
Protagonist - A character who serves as the central figure of the story whose actions also drive the plot forward
Hero - A character who stands as a force of love and positivity at all times, and is often hailed as a hero in the lore of the story by others for their noble deeds
As said before, these four terms are related to one another. But as standalone terms, they are not one and the same.
However, there is a condition within which they can be used interchangeably to talk about a single character so long as that character is specifically designed to occupy one or more of these roles.
Many of us do this by default and make our protagonist characters also heroes with a steadfast sense of altruism and who stand as a positive force in the story at all times. At the same time, we often make our antagonists villains who are pure evil and drive the story forward in direct opposition to the protagonist/hero.
However, you can also mix them with the opposing related terms, such as a protagonist who's also a villain.
Two fantastic examples of this exact concept at work are Light Yagami from Death Note, and Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan. Both are the central protagonists of their respective stories, but they are also the villains.
Understanding the difference between these terms in isolation, and how they relate to one another and can be combined in ways which are not universally thought of as standard, such as the protagonist/villain combo, can really help you come up with some interesting combinations of traits for your characters.
Cheers!
This'll be a really short one, promise!
So, obviously we're talking about the relationship between some terms used in writing: Antagonist, villain, protagonist, and hero.
These four terms, while related, are not interchangeable for one another. At least not on paper as standalone terms. We'll get back to this in a minute.
Let's go over the terms and their meaning in relation to the character(s) in your story:
Antagonist - A character who stands in direct opposition to the goals and/or morals of the protagonist, and who challenges them and forces them to change for the better or worse
Villain - A character who stands as a force for evil, and whose actions drive the plot forward
Protagonist - A character who serves as the central figure of the story whose actions also drive the plot forward
Hero - A character who stands as a force of love and positivity at all times, and is often hailed as a hero in the lore of the story by others for their noble deeds
As said before, these four terms are related to one another. But as standalone terms, they are not one and the same.
However, there is a condition within which they can be used interchangeably to talk about a single character so long as that character is specifically designed to occupy one or more of these roles.
Many of us do this by default and make our protagonist characters also heroes with a steadfast sense of altruism and who stand as a positive force in the story at all times. At the same time, we often make our antagonists villains who are pure evil and drive the story forward in direct opposition to the protagonist/hero.
However, you can also mix them with the opposing related terms, such as a protagonist who's also a villain.
Two fantastic examples of this exact concept at work are Light Yagami from Death Note, and Eren Yeager from Attack on Titan. Both are the central protagonists of their respective stories, but they are also the villains.
Understanding the difference between these terms in isolation, and how they relate to one another and can be combined in ways which are not universally thought of as standard, such as the protagonist/villain combo, can really help you come up with some interesting combinations of traits for your characters.
Cheers!
