List of fictional anti-heroes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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.

Contents 1 Literature 2 Film 3 Television 4 Comic books 5 Video games 6 References

[edit] 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 [1]
• Arthur Dent from Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series [2]
• Roland Deschain from Stephen King's Dark Tower series [3]
• Raoul Duke from Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas [4]
• Tyler Durden and the Narrator of Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club [5] [6]
• Artemis Fowl II from the Artemis Fowl series.[7]
• Jay Gatsby from F. Scott Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby [8]
• Hamlet from William Shakespeare's play of the same name [9]
• Humbert Humbert from Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita [10]
• Iago from William Shakespeare's Othello.[11][12]
• Hannibal Lecter from a series of novels by Thomas Harris [13] [14]
• Lestat de Lioncourt from Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles universe [15]
• Lucifer/Satan from John Milton's Paradise Lost [16] [17] [18]
• Macbeth from William Shakespeare's play of the same name.[19]
• 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 [20]
• Mephistopheles from Goethe's Faust and Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus.[21]
• Dexter Morgan from the novels Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Deeply Devoted Dexter, later made into a TV series.[22][23]
• Parker from a series of novels by Donald E. Westlake [24] [25]
• Alexander Portnoy from Philip Roth's Portnoy's Complaint [26]
• Raskolnikov from Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment [27]
• Mark Renton from Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting [28]
• Tom Ripley from Patricia Highsmith's "Ripliad" series [29]
• Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead [30]
• Shylock from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice [31]
• Sam Spade from Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon [32]
• "The Underground Man", narrator of Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground [33]
• Yossarian from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 [34]
• Wei Xiaobao from Jinyong's The Deer and the Cauldron [35]
• Gully Foyle from Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination [36]

[edit] Film

• Anastasia from Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
• Danny Archer from the 2006 film Blood Diamond [37]
• Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver [38]
• Edmond Burke from Edmond [39]
• Lester Burnham from American Beauty [40]
• Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry series [41]
• Chev Chelios from Crank [42]
• Michael Corleone from The Godfather trilogy [43]
• John Creasy from Man on Fire [44]
• The Dude from The Big Lebowski [45] [46]
• Dante Hicks, Randal Graves, and Jay & Silent Bob from Kevin Smith's "View Askewniverse" films [47]
• Jigsaw from Saw and its sequels Saw II and Saw III.[48][49][50]
• Charles Foster Kane from Citizen Kane [51]
• Beatrix Kiddo from Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films [52]
• Mickey and Mallory Knox from Natural Born Killers [53] [54]
• Léon from Léon or The Professional [55]
• "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 [56] [57]
• Tony Montana from Brian De Palma's Scarface[58]
• Snake Plissken from Escape From New York and Escape From L.A. [59] [60]
• Richard B. Riddick from Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick [61]
• Max Rockatansky from the Mad Max series [62]
• Sheldon Sands from Robert Rodriguez's 2003 film Once Upon A Time in Mexico [63]
• Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader from the Star Wars films [64]
• Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean [65]
• Vincent from the movie Collateral [66]
• Napoleon Wilson from John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 [67][68]
• Yojimbo's nameless protagonist.[69]

[edit] Television

• Kerr Avon in Blake's 7 [70]
• Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell from Prison Break.[71]
• Edmund Blackadder from BBC's Blackadder series [72]
• David Brent from The Office [73]
• Archie Bunker from All in the Family [74]
• Al Bundy from Married... with Children [75]
• Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm [76]
• Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald from Cracker [77]
• James "Sawyer" Ford from Lost[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]

[edit] 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]

[edit] Video games

• Agent 47 from the Hitman series [107]
• Arthas Menethil from Warcraft III [108]
• Carl "CJ" Johnson from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [109]
• Captain Qwark from the Ratchet & Clank series [110]
• Kratos from God of War and God of War 2. [111]
• Conker the Squirrel from Conker's Bad Fur Day and Conker: Live & Reloaded [112]
• Duke Nukem from the Duke Nukem series[113]
• Dante from the Devil May Cry series [114]
• Max Payne from Max Payne and Max Payne 2 [115]
• Marcus Fenix from Gears of War [116]
• Rayne from Blood Rayne and Blood Rayne 2 [117]
• Raziel and Kain from the Legacy of Kain series. [118]
• Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat series
• Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic the Hedgehog series [119]
• Tommy Vercetti from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City [120]
• Roger Wilco from the Space Quest series [121]
• Wario in Warioworld [122]

[edit] References