# Anti-hero > A protagonist who lacks the usual heroic qualities, such as courage, decency or idealism, yet still carries the story and earns the audience's interest. Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Walter White in Breaking Bad and Deadpool are anti-heroes. Also known as antihero, anti-heroine ## In practice An anti-hero is defined by what they lack, not by what they want. They may chase a goal the audience supports, such as protecting a family or exposing a corrupt system, but they pursue it with selfishness, cynicism or violence that a classic hero would refuse. The tension between the goal and the method is what keeps the audience watching. Audiences follow anti-heroes for reasons other than admiration. They may be funny, competent, honest about their own failings or simply more interesting than the people around them. They're often placed among characters who are worse than they are, so that by comparison the audience can root for them without approving of everything they do. The anti-hero has a long history in literature. The narrator of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground (1864) calls himself one, and the American films of the late 1960s and 1970s, from Bonnie and Clyde to Taxi Driver, made the anti-hero a leading figure in cinema. Prestige television since The Sopranos has built entire series around them. ## The wrong reason, the right result **A scene where an anti-hero does a good deed for selfish reasons** ``` INT. PAWNSHOP - DAY DEL (50s), unshaven, counts cash behind the counter. A TEENAGER slides a wedding ring across the glass, hands shaking. DEL Your mother's? TEENAGER She won't miss it. She's in the hospital. Del pushes the ring back, peels off three bills and drops them on top. He's already turned away by the time the kid looks up, muttering that he can't move the ring anyway. ``` Del helps the kid, but he hides the kindness behind a business excuse and won't accept thanks. That gap between the act and the attitude is typical of an anti-hero. The audience sees decency that Del refuses to admit, which makes them curious about what he'll do when the stakes are higher. ## What makes a character an anti-hero An anti-hero is the protagonist of the story, so the audience experiences events through them and wants to see what happens to them. What sets them apart is that they lack one or more of the qualities we expect of a hero. They may be cowardly, cruel, dishonest, lazy or morally indifferent, and the story doesn't pretend otherwise. Anti-heroes usually have a code, even if it's a narrow one. Han Solo looks out for himself but won't abandon his friends at the end of Star Wars. Deadpool is violent and vulgar but his violence is aimed at people who deserve it. That code gives the audience a reason to hope for the character and a line they can watch the character approach or cross. The anti-hero sits on a spectrum. At one end is a basically decent person with rough edges, like a reluctant detective who drinks too much. At the other is a protagonist whose actions are close to villainous, like Walter White in the later seasons of Breaking Bad. Where a character sits can shift during a story, and that movement is often the story's arc. ## Anti-hero, villain and villain protagonist A villain opposes the protagonist and is usually the story's antagonist. An anti-hero is the protagonist, even when the people they oppose are better than they are. The difference is a matter of story position, not morality: an anti-hero can do worse things than some villains and still be the character the story is about. Some writers distinguish a villain protagonist, or anti-villain, from an anti-hero. A villain protagonist pursues goals the audience recognizes as wrong, and the story invites fascination rather than sympathy. Lou Bloom in Nightcrawler and Patrick Bateman in American Psycho fit this description. An anti-hero's goals are usually ones the audience can share, even when the methods are not. These labels are tools, not rules. Audiences disagree about whether Tony Soprano or Michael Corleone is an anti-hero or a villain, and that disagreement is part of what makes those characters endure. When you write, focus on what the character wants, what they're willing to do to get it and how the audience is meant to feel about each choice. ## How to write an anti-hero Give the audience a reason to stay with them early. Competence, wit, a wound the audience understands or a single act of unexpected decency all work. In the pilot of Breaking Bad, Walter White is humiliated at work, diagnosed with cancer and worried about providing for his family before he ever cooks meth, so the audience follows him into his choices. Make their flaws cost something. An anti-hero whose selfishness never hurts anyone is just a hero with a bad attitude. Let their choices damage relationships, close off options and create consequences that come back later. The audience will believe in the character's flaws only when the story makes them pay for those flaws. Decide whether they change. Some anti-heroes move toward heroism, like Rick Blaine in Casablanca, who gives up Ilsa and joins the fight. Some slide toward villainy, like Walter White. Some stay as they are while the world around them changes. Each is a valid arc, but the choice should be deliberate and shape the ending. ## Common questions ### What is an anti-hero? An anti-hero is a protagonist who lacks traditional heroic qualities such as courage, morality or idealism. The story still follows them, and the audience stays invested in what happens to them despite or because of their flaws. ### What is the difference between an anti-hero and a villain? An anti-hero is the protagonist, the character the story follows. A villain usually opposes the protagonist. An anti-hero may be morally worse than a villain in some stories, but their position at the center of the story is what makes them an anti-hero. ### What are examples of anti-heroes? Well-known anti-heroes include Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver, Walter White in Breaking Bad, Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, Don Draper in Mad Men, Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, Deadpool and Han Solo in the original Star Wars. ### Is Batman an anti-hero? Batman is usually considered a hero, but some versions treat him as an anti-hero because he works outside the law, uses fear and violence and often acts alone. Darker interpretations, such as The Dark Knight, lean further toward the anti-hero end. ### Why do audiences like anti-heroes? Anti-heroes are often more complex and unpredictable than classic heroes. Their flaws feel recognizable, their competence or wit is entertaining, and the question of whether they'll do the right thing creates tension in every scene. ### Can an anti-hero have a character arc? Yes. An anti-hero may grow toward heroism, as Rick Blaine does in Casablanca, or fall further, as Walter White does in Breaking Bad. Some anti-heroes stay largely the same while the story tests the people around them. ## Related terms - [Protagonist](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/protagonist): The character whose pursuit organizes the story — the person whose want, decisions, and costs we track most closely, even if they are not morally "heroic." - [Tragic hero](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/tragic-hero): A protagonist whose downfall comes from their own error or flaw, so that the audience feels pity for them and fear at how easily it could happen to anyone. Aristotle described the type in the Poetics; Oedipus, Macbeth and Michael Corleone are tragic heroes. - [Antagonist](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/antagonist): The force that opposes the protagonist's pursuit — a person, institution, environment, or internal pattern that applies intelligent pressure and forces harder choices. - [Character arc](https://www.inkwell.software/glossary/character-arc): How a character changes — or meaningfully refuses to change — across the story, measured in choices under rising pressure. --- Canonical page: