ANTIHEROES - Terrible Writing Advice
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2024
- The steely stare of the bitter and lone writer need not be in vane! Why struggle to write a hero when you can write an antihero instead? Antiheroes are way cooler which means a writer can put even less effort into them than other characters! Even better, maturity is optional when writing an antihero. The best antiheroes are the ones that conform to what a 13 year old thinks is cool! A writer can even skimp on dialog when it comes to writing an antihero! So dial your self-awareness back and get ready to brood up a storm as we write an antihero. Just be careful to not cut yourself on all the edginess. Read my honest thoughts on antiheroes here: jpbeaubien.com/...
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Music: "Quirky Dog", "Monkeys Spinning Monkeys", and "Son of a Rocket" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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For the record, Berserk is my favorite story and I think that Guts is an amazing protagonist and antihero. I love his design which I referenced when making the character for the antihero in the video along with drawing inspiration from Image comics and 80s action films.
Unfortunately, success spawns imitators who often fail to imitate the deeper themes and elements that make Berserk such a great character driven story. So no, this video is not a dig at Berserk or Guts. Instead, the video proposes what such a character might be like if a less skilled author read Berserk and decided to try to write an antihero by essentially copying the surface elements and ignoring the deeper themes of the story and more subtle nuances of characterization Guts receives throughout the story.
Terrible Writing Advice
What do you think of Kratos? He's an anti hero that a lot of people hate
actually pretty ironic because i was gonna mention guts as an amazing antihero
Needs more likes, it's a good explanation.
I saw the thumbnail and thought to myself, oh boy he's gonna rag on my boi Gattsu isn't he.
Honestly as much as I love Berserk and think Guts has some pretty deep character; it isn't something that needs justification even if you were to rag on it. Particularly since I was certain that your video wasn't about Guts, but about how antihero writing has become this trend that people follow without possessing the knowledge to understand how an antihero should work as an authentic part of their story.
I have some news though, brace yourselves everyone, Guts isn't the only "antihero" worth discussing.
"I'm morally ambiguous."
*"You just killed hundreds of innocent people."*
"You don't understand me."
You can still make it morally ambiguous:
- By killing them, he saved MILLIONS of innocent people.
- He was forced to do it by the bad guy.
- It's part of a plan to destroy the bad guy that does worse things all the time.
- The world is so garbage that mass murder is just considered a misdemeanor.
- He did it on his past when he was an idiot, and he now must carry the weight of the dead in his conscience.
- He was convinced they were not innocent at all.
- He practices a religion that makes human sacrifices a regular part of life, but is a good guy in everything else.
- The situation was so desperate that "collateral damage" was acceptable.
- He did it to spare them a fate worse than death.
- Uhhh... It really was an accident he caused, but he's convinced it was the bad guy's fault...
- Uhhh...He literally can't tell apart good from evil and if he ever does good is because he's blindly following orders from the actual heroes...
- Uhhh... He knows that is wrong, but he has been sentenced to summary execution for a crime he didn't commit, and after years of being on the run he no longer cares following the law... And the bad guy is worse.
I don't know... Effort, amirite?
Sounds like The Punisher.
@@DonVigaDeFierro I got one, unbeknownst to most people those thousands of innocents were possessed by malevolent spirits and he's so broken from his past trauma that he simply could do what had to be done
That’s why I like Guts from Berserk. He is by no means a hero, but he’s not a completely terrible person.
Odin sphere in a nutshell
You missed the most important part of the anti-hero! Once he slaughters his way up to the villain with more corpses than have been used to show the villain as a monster, he proves he is NOT evil by refusing to kill said villain, showing everyone how much he has developed in the 5 seconds since his last kill! Bonus points if the love interest gives a quick speech about becoming "just like him" to make the situation appear more complex.
standard mook, who was probably blackmailed into helping the main antagonist or is just trying to make a living: butcher him
main antagonist, who is responsible for everything and wants to commit mass murder: spare, otherwise you are just as bad
hero logic
BCPowerhouse I absolutely love your comment It so true I hate that cliche too.
+Veronique van Dijk selective justice
that sounds like vegeta in majin buu saga
Susaga I might have done a slight subversion on that. I hope it's subverted enough.
Anti heroes can be some of the best well written protagonist in any medium but also are some of the easiest to fuck up
Joebroe
Guts yes?
Kratos?
Tudor Ciubotaru Kratos is the antihero that they screwed up.
Travis Touchdown (No more heroes) manages to avoid so much of this video, and he's one of my favourite antiheroes.
My favorite part of Final Fantasy 7 is how Cloud acts exactly like this and everyone makes fun of him for it. What's more, it isn't even his real personality: he's literally just trying to act cool in front of everyone, and the whole party can tell.
The original or the remake?
@@sodaftpm185 both, but in the remake is more obvious
I find it also really funny how Tifa notices that Cloud's acting weird and basically decides not to kick him out because she thinks he's mentally ill
@@arambles1 Have you seen Critical Drinkers Video-Series "Why modern movies suckkk"?
@@nenmaster5218 isn't that just most of Critical Drinker's content? "So and so bad"
Too much work, just humanize Shadow the Hedgehog and you're good to go.
Katrinasis LMAO
Katrinasis you say "humanize" but now i want to do a fanfic where Shadow DOES get some depth. Or at least he's reacted to the sane way.
Yup 😆
i mean he had 4-ish games to get some depth
his character was humanised well in the comics but humanising their characters is the last thing SEGA will do.
The best part of an antihero is they can get an anti-love triangle!
asterluke you mean the hate triangle where they hate a character who wont hate them back and thus have to deal with their anger because if the other person hated them back they could be enemies and just fight.
Nah, they usually just get a regular love triangle. Changing the formula is far too much work.
Gregor Hodson But that doesn't fit with the anti in anti hero. We need not a love triangle, because as you said, can't change the formula. But an innocent, sheltered, and ignorant woman who is an heir to be a space empress, and is the most beautiful in the galaxy fall for him. This is obviously called the bad boy trope, and in no way needs any other explanation to why she manages to break through his tough exterior, and what actually made them meet. You only need to see the anti-hero's past and feel for him, which only makes that woman fall even more for him.
Edit: I wrote that before the part where he says the love triangle part
Anti-live quadrangles are better. Please refer to "Midsummer Night's Dream" for details.
@Jeffrey Wasn't that the plot of Lego Batman?
TWA: Anti-Heroes becoming full heroes would mean he loses his appeal to women
Zuko: Allow me to introduce myself
Zuko, look, yer honor! *points somewhere*
I think he actually became *more* popular when he started to become better
Docrof Reborn she escaped! But how?
Ye, but this is _terrible_ writing advice.
@@mahogania5536 The hair helped 😂
Antihero: *kills everyone*
Comic relief character: *Z A P P E R S*
@Marc buck and fuck
“My name is Buck, and I came here to party” 😉
z o o w e e m a m a
*W O W Z E R S*
Red Hood and Robin basically
If I buy your book, will you release my family from your dungeon?
Please?
It's been a year...
Sorry but I called dips on them.
ÈRPÉKA oh fuck. Just don't put them in a love triangle, ok?
Jaiya Papaya Too late... I already shipped your parents together... And you won't know who the third one is...
I am the embodiment of evil! *twirls a fake pair of mustaches*
ÈRPÉKA NOT THE CLICHESSSS
The book? You mean Aeon Legion: Labyrinth?
My god he covers every book stereotype there is and I love it
CRAWLING IN MY SKIN
heh, nothing personnel, kid
*I'VE BECOME SO NUMB I CAN'T FEEL YOU THERE!!*
ENCHANTMEN pffft
t850terminator CRAWLING IN MY CRRRRAAAAAWLLLLL
THESE CRAWLS THEY WILL NOT CRAWL
Ahh Guts. The anti-hero done right.
so goddamn right
except his fan are fucking retarded. Griffith is bad guy not guts bla bla bla.....is like they dont even read berserk There isnt a BAD GUY ON BERSERK is a Super GRAY STORY in FANTASY and Gore.
ever heard of the PUNISHER?
was thinking of him too~
Raul Rojas agreed, I don't know why Griffith is considered so evil . I found it irrelevance. What he did was in human but come on he is human too... And one of the best character writing ever .
I want someone to write a book with all the advises from this channel used.
oh, wait. let me check.
The Twilight saga? what's that?
Moonlightpetal Cherry
Thank you for the edit! I was really invested in the uncliche story.
...how that's VERY CLOSE to the Birth of Democracy propaganda story in Centaur's Worries.
You mean YA novels in general
Twillight has antihero's you just don't realise their antihero's cause their so uncool basically the exact opposite of this video
There's even a Love Triangle! :D
"Anti-heroes should be edgy!!"
Shadow the hedgehog *cough cough*
You know he was never like that in Sonic Adventure 2 right they just turned him into that in Shadow the Hedgehog. Why he was not like that and o-6 but after that ya
Did you mean "Ow the edge"?
@@lonelywolf5659 Sega tends to fuck up some characters as time goes on, I'm sure this may end soon though.
"Shadow" best name ever xd
Edgy the Hedgy.
He slaughters minions with realative ease
Makes crushing empires seem such a breeze
He may lack motive he can't fly
But this hero's one *HELL* of a guy
Edgy Kong is Dead!
HUH!
GRIFFITH!!!!
shenotski Guts is the best antihero
shenotski humans are weak and we die easily, but no matter how weak we are, no matter how much we are tortured or trampled upon, no matter how much pain we feel, we still want to live.
lutin grognon then live long enough to swing back with double the force
Wait isn't guts the anti hero here?
CASCA!!!! 😠😱
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“Antiheroes speak a special language consisting only of grunts and short sarcastic quips.”
Geralt Of Rivia: * Nervous sweating *
Gervant oscilates between short sarcastic quips and long monologes.
“Sure, what do I know? I’m only a Witcher.”
Dare you spend an entire episode on the dreaded love triangle?!
Though seriously, I think you should save the inevitable love triangle episode for your one-year anniversary, or a huge subscriber milestone, like a million.
the BERMUDA LOVE TRIANGLE™ (or BLT)...NOTHING ESCAPES its influence or devious grasp on FOOLISH HEARTS and DYSFUNCTIONAL/IRRATIONAL EMOTIONS!!...NO ONE!!!!!
So, Sasuke Uchida?
1. Dark and brooding with no other character traits? Check.
2. Has no motivation beyond revenge? Check.
3. Part of a love triangle he didn't want to be a part of? Check.
4. Begins with no superpowers compared to other characters until he becomes the focus of the story, where he gains incredibly overpowered abilities (coughSharringanEyecough)? Check.
lmao
cyrad I agree. But for the revenge part, I'm glad that the characters called it out early on. I remember Kakashi going up to him and asking "what are you planning on doing after your revenge plan?" And Sasuke didn't say anything.
Aye, but putting a lampshade on it doesn't make Sasuke an interesting character. He's boring and cliche.
+cyrad
Sasuke most definitely isn't dark and broody. He was only eight years old when he returned home to find his clansmen slaughtered with his beloved older brother being responsible. Its not like he was a 12 year old child who knew who was responsible for the act and (understandably) desired to take action against them in order to gain justice for the deaths of his clansmen and move on from that part of his life.
Boss Isaac So what's your argument that Sasuke isn't dark and brooding?
anti-hero = Brody +Edge lord + asshole+ speaks only in grunts + lives for revenge + tragic backstory = Sasuke
*"SAUCE GAAAAAY!!!"*
Lol omg yes. There were so many overused tropes in Naruto. The helplessly in love female side character who gives nothing to the plot, the oldest and wisest mentor character for the hero’s, the main character being a shone protagonist that wants to become the best because?.... they want to become the best! There, now just make him super annoying and dumb, btu only when the plot needs him to be. At other times he’ll be smart enough to formulate a useful strategy despite having 0 brain cells shown beforehand. And even through all of this, EVERYONE respects him and says how good he is at making friends even though none of that would ever work in real life.
@@saffi_taffi Actually I think the protagonist thing wasn’t that common when Naruto first came out.
Otherwise, yeah, so many tropes.
@@saffi_taffi I personally think tropes aren't necessarily bad, they just get a bad rep because some writers completely rely on them and don't develop the characters. Like casca from berserk is a tsundere but she's a fleshed out character
@Supreme Ace lol are you kidding me? Sasuke is literally the king of edge lords.
I think Zuko is a perfect example of the anti-hero done right. Anyone else agree?
toriloveSubarukun agreed
I think he is more of a reformed villian. A well written one, but he wasn't introduced as a hero, so not really an anti-hero
Carewolf, his conflict that caused him to go rogue very early was already there. He rarely followed orders to the "T" choosing his own path. I can't really say he is a reformed villain, but more of a vilified antihero.
It's kind of like how Deadpool came to be. His reason was never conquest, it was money as a mercenary that drove him to do everything he did. He aided both sides of the conflict at different times. Not villain worthy material and not hero worthy either.
Zuko has redemption that pushed him, not conquest. He was literally a pawn to the villain. Zuko chose a path that was neither good or evil instead. He played major roles in both sides making him more antihero in my book than anything.
toriloveSubarukun I think he was always heroic but on the wrong side. Maybe I'm off base
toriloveSubarukun
He always cared for his crew and uncle and only wanted the Avatar.
So I don't consider him an anti-hero.
I think that after 18 chapters we are advanced enough to move to the next level of love triangle, there's not enough depth, I think we need to bring back the love The dodecahedron
The love rhombicosidodecahedron.
At thot point, I think it's just an orgy
@@mik21ak55
Yup.
"WHERE'S THAT DAMN FOURTH CHAOS EMERALD!?" - Edge 10/10
Because swearing automatically makes you edgy. Sure.
With Obama.
I'd like to see your "advice" on the Five Man Band trope
Sailor Italy Look up Trope talk
TV Tropes has a really good intake on that. It's basically the Leader, the Lancer (guy who constantly challenges the rule of the leader), the Heart (the girl to whom everyone softens up), the Smart Guy and the Big (and usualy dumb) Guy.
That is exactly how a five Man Band should look like, otherwise it wouldn't be one ;)
+lutin grognon
*"words, words, and more words"*
You forgot the love triangle! And the guy who joins up later, but was really a spy/traitor. But more importantly, the Love Triangle!
So basically JoJo part 3
This perfectly describes the punisher when being written incorrectly
Remember that christmas comic where goes out his way to be a dick to a bunch of orphans after killing their sole benefactor right in front of them all because he was a former mobster?
Seriously wtf!
Brodie Crain and that time he literally became a Frankenstein monster
The punisher is POV villian
Or that time he was in archie
Remember how Joss Whedon portrayed him in Runaways?
Anti-heroes: *Exist*
Fangirls: Allow us to write Ourselves with you
Pure evil villains: Exist.
Fangirls: Let us write stories about how you're a poor victim and all the terrible things you've done are everyone else's fault.
Anti-Villains: *Exist*
Fangirls: Let us write how much of a loser you are.
"Where is that damn 4th chaos emerald" -Shadow the Hedghog.
*“ 'Bring hope to humanity,' huh? Kinda touching...”*
*“There's no need to repeat past tragedies! Nobody else ever needs to go through the things that I have!”*
*“It's all right. I... I will always be with Maria.”*
*“[That chaos emerald,] I no longer need it. I have Maria in my heart.”*
-all lines Edgy The Hedgie has canonically said in Sonic Battle, but nobody ever quotes for some reason.
Do you have diabetes.
Renember when shadow was wll writen? I do
Yeah, that's why writers who elevate Batman and Wolverine too highly annoy me. Wolverine was supposed to be more of an underdog but then they made his regeneration absurdly powerful (and while he does take the focus of the majority of the movies, at least they always have Magneto swat him around). And then some writers don't want to write Batman, they want to write BatGOD who can effortlessly take down virtually every superpowered character and has plans for every contingency even if specific situations are too vast to completely predict, because you know, a "normal" dude who got to inherit a massive fortune at a young age and managed before the age of 30 to become the world's greatest detective, one of the best martial artists outside of a few specific characters, well versed in most fields of science, and how to successfully run a company and be a playboy while not getting a wink of sleep during nighttime, clearly that's not pushing Mary Sue levels as it is.......
With you 100%! I never understood the appeal of either Wolverine or Batman.
B Anon Be glad that the writers did made Wolverines and Batman as a rape victims like Guts the Black Swordsman. That will be going to far here in mainstream media.
That's why I've always liked Marvel more.
Marvel has Magneto, which imo, is the real essence of the 'dark side'. It's not just his mother in Auschwitz, but he has everything taken away time and time again, always persecuted by the same people Xavier keeps telling him to open up to.
His motives make a lot of sense, even if it is the genocide of the human species.
Compare that to: Anakin gets dumped and then kills of a bunch of kids. Really, George?
As for Batman-- my sister loves it and I don't have a clue why.
Where'd the money come from? Does he resell bat droppings as Herbalife, or something?
Where's his misery coming from? His parents? Millions of kids grow up fine after having lost their parents at a young age and they don't have a castle full of stolen Stark Industries toys.
I enjoyed most of the Batman stuff (movies, cartoons, etc.), but the fundamental story is pretty crap. The best Batman films just straight up ignore his backstory, just like the best Starwars films just straight up ignore Darth Vader's backstory. No story is better than bad story.
I've always liked how they made Batman and the crew have to hype up on super pills and do weird shit in order to gain a chance at defeating Superman in Gods Among Us. Because Batman cannot headbutt Superman into outer space, contrary to popular belief
Well, Batman is normal by comparison of the company he keeps. Outside of that, yes, he's pretty much extraordinary by human standards. But, one must also recall that's a world where men can fly, magic lassos can force you to tell the truth and a ring can help you build giant constructs through sheer force of will.
Anti-hero is just the name most mal Mary-Sues have...
I'm pretty sure they tick of every box if you take any gender specific things out.
-Dark mysterious past
-good looks, despite some unusual optical features (scars ect.)
-for unknown reasons everybody likes them
-they are just the best
-they bend the reality around them to make sure they end up on top
-get the love interest even
Did I forget anything?
Do your research before typing bullshit.
That's exaggerated/flawed but valid criticism.
Do your's as well.
Who else would like an anti-hero like that, but he’s self aware and questions why everything is going his way, then goes insane cause of it
You were described Mary sue not anti hero.
The described anti-hero is basically Sasuke Uchiha
Sirfancylot
Still an ass, tho.
Not even close due to his incredibly complex story. In fact, his story is the most well written one in Naruto.
Think about it.
And that has something to do with his complex story because?
Filip Ferenčak What in his story was complex? He spent first two thirds of the entire story pinballed around on as shallow and pathetically overtheathrical revenge quest like in a game of pong between brooding emos. And then he just scooped himself up from that cesspool by asspulls made by an author out of ideas...
edit: a few typos
What Sasuke killed all those samurai and deserted the village (Something that used to mean death no questions asked, just ask Zabuza)? Well that's OK because he helped stop two bad guys (Before attempting to assassinate the Kage and his best friend...again.).
GRIIIIIFFIIITH
Did nothing wrong
Ben Botka Looks like a girl
Ben Botka guts get characterized it's ok
Griffith did noting wrong
Ben Botka ha! But for real...f*ck Griffith
Everyone knows that in fiction there are absolutely no consequences to smoking
Unless you're in the original Metal Gear, where it kills you.
If it makes you feel any better, I did write a story once where a character who was a chain smoker eventually died of lung cancer.
Reminds of the fact that most Marvel characters who smoked were people who wouldn't die from it (Mr Fantastic, The Thing, Nick Fury Sr, The Hulk and Wolverine) with the few exceptions being Mary Jane and JJJ
@@logopolizer7602 or if you're in Madness Combat
Unless you're the question
Is that Guts in the thumbnail?
Neil Gallardo no, but resembles him slightly
Talk about killing characters and resurecting them!
Sorry, you misspelled "the comics industry"
The only example of a character dying and then coming back in comics is (from what I can remember) The Death and Return of Superman and Knightfall (he may as well have died).
Red Hood's death actually meant something, though, so I'm mot really going to count it. Green Lantern, no. When Lantern's die, they give their ring to a new Lantern. Lantern's do stay dead (if they're not revived as a Black Lantern).
He didn't really die, though. He fused with the spectre and came back as Green Lantern later
On the one hand: Resurrecting can make the threat of death meaningless, and will make any drama based on death from then on moot; On the other hand: In a character driven story, killing off a character that could still have interesting stories done with them limits the situations you can put characters in.
I want some terrible writing advice on philosophy in fiction. Maybe talk about how it's the easiest way to be seen as super deep and pragmatic without understanding a subject at all.
Don´t forget that the antiheroes in his infinite brooding still has weakness for kids and will do anything to protect them because they remind them of his own children they lost,ex: Frank Castle with Amy, Kratos with Pandora and Joel with Ellie
Shadow the Hedgehog and Maria, Seto Kaiba with Mokuba, Wolverine and X-23, Bruce Wayne and Damian Wayne, etc.
But that's actually kind of adorable.
I love the ending. Anti- heo grows, love intrest say "meh I only like bad boys" Priceless.
Love interest? I thought that was a fangirl- probably off to go write some fanfiction set "before he became good and dumb" or something.
And sad. But it's a Mary Sue. Shallow heroines longs for a shallow traits.
...and then someone worthy of his affection comes into the fray, and they help one another become the best version of themselves.
To put it in a nutshell
CORPORATIONS MAKE EDGY ANTY HEROS BECAUSE IT TAKES MINIMAL EFFORT AND THEIR EASLY MARKETABLE AND EASLY BECOME FAN FAVORITES BECAUSE FANS CAN “ IDENTIFY WITH THEIR NO CARE ATTITUDE”
Kids always like edgy things
@@a_naotenhonome780 Ah, olá pt/br randômico.
Well my anti hero wasn't easy nor minimal effort to make, it took quite sometime to fully create a good enough character to have redemption and reasoning.
@@megaalex6720 One (kinda obvious though) hint to make a good "edgy" anithero is to make them go through a lot of shit to justify their broken personality. The most obvious example of this is Guts. But of course, give them a human side too.cDon't make your entihero edgy for the sake of being edgy like Shadow.
Corporations won't lean to far into the character's negative aspects because they still want to make them marketable
1:45 I love how the plan is to get the empire into bankruptcy, which is such a power move that is almost never used.
Except Rick in Rick and Morty.
Cristian Lopez
Of course he’s the exception😂
But seriously, you don’t see anything that involves politics or economy which I get can be sometimes be boring but can be effective if properly illustrated
Hella smart
Littlefinger in ASOIAF used that
This was a strategy the Hulk of all people considered using to defeat the Minotaur in the Immortal Hulk
I love how you used Guts haha, he's one of the greatest examples of a dark hero/anti-hero ever. There's a lot of mental and emotional trauma, betrayal, abuse of sorts that make his actions and behaviors understandable and in some cases, even worthy of sympathy. He changes a lot over the course of the story, and now he's become almost like a father figure to a group of young folks. He realized the error of his ways without completely changing and losing what made him interesting and strong.
Don't forget to give your anti-hero a badass name or moniker that highlights how badass he is. Like Guts, or shadow.
Guts is just a name adaptation, he's called Gatsu in his original portray.
Or Snake.
Blaster Magician guts is confirmed canon
Grim Monarch Hey, lay off on Berserk.
Blaster Magican Gatsu is a common Japanese mispronunciation of guts the mangaka confirmed it to be guts himself
Neku from The World Ends with You is one of my favorite anti-heroes, mainly because no one really likes him specifically BECAUSE of how obnoxiously standoffish and just plain edgy he is. It also helps that Neku doesn't have any tragic backstory or anything like that, he's just a very realistic portrayal of an edgy teenager who think's that he's smarter and more enlightened than everyone else and that other people are just simple-minded sheep.
Neku is legit a compelling anti-hero. I also like how he isn't a try hard unlike Shadow the Hedgehog or Akame. He's just kinda a little shit.
Dear God! I know a teenage coworker at work who is literally like this
I like how he changes
And that one time where
**SPOILERS**
He perceives one of the characters as simple minded, but when he finds out it’s actually his favorite artist Cat, it starts a development
I see morbidly crude drawing of Guts, I click faster than the speed of photons
A few years ago, before I'd ever heard of Breaking Bad (because really, the story of my anti-hero is quite similar), I decided that for a friend's super-serious DMing experience, I wanted to throw a curveball into his campaign by roleplaying as a kind-hearted alchemist trying to make enough to support himself and his daughter after his wife died in a goblin raid on his village.
To do so, he turned to producing illegal substances on the side without regrets. After all, it was well within his skillset and there was an established market for it in our DM's intricately crafted world. He was most definitely the anti-hero of the group, and I was always attempting to derail the party from their mission to either look at some interesting plants or strike up trade arrangements with the bandits we were supposed to be taking care of. Things came to a head when my dude established a goblin slave market in the capital as a way of getting back at the feral creatures that had slaughtered his wife years earlier. This didn't go down well with the rest of the party, and my alchemist found himself left behind one night while the rest of the party went out to complete their mission as ordered. When they returned months later, my alchemist had managed to climb to the top of the criminal underground and had begun to create a drug empire, all within the full knowledge of the city guard whom he had in his pocket with the profits from his venture.
To compound the issue and to piss off the party even more, he was also getting into the clinical business to treat the addictions his own substances were causing. Eventually, he nominated a successor to his empire and dedicated the remainder of his days to helping the victims of his own ambitious criminal establishment from his clinic, content in the knowledge that he'd seen to his daughter's well-being.
And that's my anti-hero. A kind old man who put his talents to use in the best way he knew how, unshackled by common morality, in order to both provide for his daughter and to see his wife's killers brought to harsh justice.
Anti-heroes aren't always who you expect them to be. Sometimes they can be the kind old man who runs the corner store, secretly operating a criminal empire to support a noble cause. Sometimes they can be the captain of the watch, corrupted by personal greed but stuck with an undying romantic notion of honour that saw them begin their career in the first place. But all anti-heroes share one common trait: A willingness to forgo common morality in order to achieve their goals. They don't need to be brooding or enigmatic, but they *must* be pragmatists who will seriously consider all available options without the restraint of society's often arbitrary moral stance.
That was pretty cool. I agree that anti-heroes are far more flexible than many people think and that we need more varieties of anti-heroes than just the "Brooding, black wearing badass with a tragic pass" archetype.
Personally, I feel that the greatest anti-heroes are the type you can't help but want to be around; the charismatic bastards who, despite you knowing that they lead a life that brings gleeful ruination onto those worse than them, are genuinely cheerful and funny characters. Those are the anti-heroes that need more of the limelight.
Hmmm. Yeah, the problem is that "anti-hero" and "byronic hero" are usually used interchangably and they're really actually fairly distinct and need not appear in the same character whatsoever. The marks of the Byronic hero are the brooding and the cynicism with maybe a heart of gold under it all. The anti-hero is not necessarily any of that, just a type of hero who tends to reject heroic notions and motivations. A good example that the video gets wrong here is Batman. Batman is very much a byronic hero. He's not really an anti-hero. He definitely has heroic motivations, he's just super brooding about it.
Like, pretty much ALL Westerns are about anti-heroes because the protagonists are usually in it for pretty selfish reasons. Whether it's just getting a payday on a bounty or finding the buried gold or personal revenge, they're after the villain (or not even after them, just competing with them or confronted by them) not for the sake of a heroic notion like saving the village or because it's about justice being done. If those things happen to occur at the same time, then fine, whatever. No skin off their back. They just wanted the money or that guy wronged them in the past so they needed to die.
But Walter White wasn't really an anti-hero. More a Villain Protagonist. He goes well beyond the moral event horizons that separate the two and kicks many dogs and cats and kids to let us know that he is not only just morally flexible, but morally irredeemable by the end of Breaking Bad.
This video also confuses "Anti-hero" with "Lancer" which is also a kind of different archetype in its own right though there is often a lot of overlap. Technically, a lancer (which is the archetype of the guy who is usually the second in command/prominance on a team story, like, if Superman is the leader of the Justice League, the Lancer is Batman on that team, or Wolverine is the Lancer to Cyclops on the X-Men) is just the second in command who has flaws that contrast with the team leader that make them not fit to lead the team even if they constantly talk shit about how they'd be the better leader or have a better idea of how to resolve situations (Wolverine did this CONSTANTLY in X-Men).
This tends to fit Anti-heroes well, which is why it's done a lot. But there are Anti-Heroes (like, say Conan the Barbarian) who become fine leaders and have their own lancers, and lancers who aren't anti-heroes at all really (like, oh, say Wheeler on Captain Planet or whoever is second fiddle and in conflict with Cap on the Avengers at any given time - usually Hawkeye or Iron Man).
Great point about Walter White. While he begins with a respectable goal (pay his way through his therapy) with a morally flexible method (use his skills to produce contraband and sell it for more than a few pennies), he slides into the role of a villain protagonist and the audience sees this downfall yet still roots for him despite being repulsed by his actions.
I ended up preferring anti-heroes as I became adult largely because of how much more relatable they are, especially when you break out of the sheltered [but coveted] view of childhood innocence. The world is a fucked up place and the anti-heroes are generally the ones to explore that more than the heroes. Or, if the heroes do, it hardly ever seems to affect their unwavering judgement and they become less something to aspire to and more something to be perplexed about or irritated by.
Agreed, I'm writing a series where the main character is a vigilante anti-hero and guess what, I have him surrounded with people. When he's in a bar, he's hanging out with friends (old friends from his time in the Special Forces). When he's on a mission (taking on organized crime), he's sometimes working with people so he has someone to either coordinate him or watch his back. Just because he's morally grey, doesn't mean he's a total loner.
You make a good point, but your name is REALLY not helping you.
Nah. Optimism is a more difficult choice. Cynicism is an easy escape for the weak:
The weak take refuge in cynicism, because if the world is a horrible shitty place, they are allowed to be horrible shitty people, right? And cynicism sanctions their greed, dishonesty, entitlement... Is merely an excuse to not be held to the same standards as heroes with pure morals.
"I can't be Superman because I didn't grow up in a comic book! This is the real world! You can't judge me or what I do!"
Because when they see a true hero with pure morals, they don't see an ideal to aspire to, but a standard they fall short of.
People have really missed the point on what a "hero" is supposed to be and represent.
@@DonVigaDeFierro This exactly. It's fine for people to like anti-heroes, there is something appealing about someone willing to shatter the bureaucracy and get shit done. However people act as though being a cynical asshole who is cruel to others because the world hurt them is something to aspire to. Being kind is not perplexing, being optimistic is not childish, and being helpful is not naive. A sad upbringing is not an excuse to be an asshole, and I think too many writers and readers conveniently forget that in favour of acting as though being a cynical pessimist is something to aspire to.
Antiheroes are first and foremost very unhappy people, but they do good things. They aren't always good people, but they try to make the world around them a little better. They aren't just cynical for the sake of being cool and edgy.
@@ButterflyScarlet "They aren't just cynical for the sake of being cool and edgy."
*Or at least the **_interesting, well-written ones_** aren't.*
Lelouch is a good example of a anti-hero. Hes fake bad, we get to see him as his true self a weak person who can be bested easily by his own mistakes and others good planning, and when shown kindness regrets what he had done.
Boob Machine Yeah definitely not perfect, but hes definitely top 100 if not top 20. I dont know many anti heros who even come close to that of lelouch.
Boob Machine I'd say season 1 was good. 2 not so much and idk y even there is 3.
Boob Machine It was far to corny for me to get into, and the writing left much to desire. But he was a lot like Lelouch.
Magnus Error I agree with you on that completely.
His melodrama was part of the charm.
Guts is one of my favorite anti heroes, nothing like a loud CLANG to get your point across.
I'm still waiting for the cyberpunk technological future type video so I can say I never asked for this. But seriously, all of these videos are great.
Biting Bison Your wish has been granted!
Ivypool of ThunderClan Yes!
What about Kanji Tatsumi from Persona 4? He could have easily been an generic angsty, edgy, angry teen, but he actually has depth to him, and is into cute feminine hobbies that leads him to get bullied by teen girls, hence having trust issues at first, but later on in the game sees the main character as his best friend, and even a hero 😭 He is one of my favorite characters not only in videogames, but in any media.
They also do a lot of funny scenes with Kanji, and are not afraid to poke fun at him 😂 but he still is tough and shouldn't be messed with when there are serious scenes.
Guts is a close second. He has a lot of depth, and goes through hell throughout his life, but he also keeps going, and is able to fall in love, have friends etc
Heck, I am warming up to Cloud Strife as a character. The bond he has with Aerith and Tifa is just.... amazing ❤
I wish all the other generic edgy characters had humanity to them, and are not just boring, miserable, hateful and grouchy all the time, because it "looks cool". Like would it hurt them to enjoy life once in a while, have a laugh, a giggle? Have a hobby? An interest? An interesting personality outside of all the angst and gloom? Shadow, Sasuke, Levi, etc I am looking at you.
I am glad Kanji Tatsumi is brought up! He is one of my favorite characters too! The poor guy gets teased for being gay, or seen as a weirdo or a creep by girls 😭 all because he is into sewing. Talk about double standards.
I do agree that Kanji's character is more three dimentional than any poorly written generic edgy character combined.
Underneath the tough and 'manly' attitude, he is just so cute and adorable 😂 and also really funny 😂
*looks at my antihero character who wears dark colours, bears permastubble, has a cynical jaded jerkass personality, smokes a lot and has a rogueish disregard for the rules*
Well, sheit.
(but hey, at least he's not an overpowered vengeful mass murderer, so there's that.)
They can be all those things and still a good character
@@FreshZCORD yeah, I still love him anyway ಥ◡ಥ
I’m making my anti hero dress in mostly white or pink
I'm making him wear white so that his Armor is seen completely covered in blud once he's done fighting.
Sounds like all characters in my DnD parties...all of them...always.
Sounds like my Animation Meme OCs
+Ben Sam
I'm interested in your play log. It sounds quite funny.
Ben Sam How many of "That Guy" are you roleplaying with?
Ben Sam It sounds like you need a Jamhorn Glittergold.
Look it up, it's one of the best stories to ever come out of a D&D campaign.
To sum my latest party up: There was the super edgy tiefling berserker with giant ass horns grey skin with black tattoo like markings that glowed orange when he raged...also he wanted to be immortal and carry around an amulet containing the mind of a mad god, so yeah Illidan on crack was always going on about how he wasnt the bad guy and people shouldnt fear him while he looks like a fucking archdemon and runs around while giant spiked axes threating everyone who just questions some tiny details about his plans....also he was pretty damn rapey around women all the time. Then we had an alcoholic ex military gnome who led his entire platoon into a massker and always went on like...oh he can never lead an army again and everything he loves dies so hes better off alone anyhow, he later kinda turned into a fullblow necromancer anti hero. And then there were the two humans, one of which just was a basic rogue who stabbed people and stole stuff but was like a assassins creed character with the edge amped up to eleven, you know the kind of "i do bad things for the right reasons so im only chaotic neutral" oh and last but not least the black knight....yeah he had black iron armor and was a massive racist going so far as calling dwarfs "Underhumans"....he wasnt even a anti hero that guy was just a dick... Yeah... Their PCs are all dead now (not my fault).
An antihero that I find to be entirely overlooked outside of the fandom to which he belongs is Amos Burton from the Leviathan Wakes series/The Expanse. He’s such a brilliantly characterised character for whom people can’t help but feel sympathy anf affection despite his emotionless, violent, and blunt approaches to things.
Reminds me of those loose cannon police that act like ill tempered childern and have fits whenever you try to tell them they arent god and that there are rules to follow
This is why I dislike Lee Child's Jack Reacher character. I served in the US Army MPs 👮🏻♂️, 4yr enlisted. A Reacher type would be cut or RIFed in the 1990s. The US Army has the CIDC or 🕵🏼♂️ but they are mostly Sgts, Warrant Officers & a few commissioned officers who are NOT bitter, angry, conflicted. Most want to get promoted or be E-9s, Cols.
you mean like the anime Mad Bull 34?
What are you? A BLM activist?
@@brianaguilar8283 Mate, cops follow a pretty strict hierarchy.
Like, all criticisms of the police aside, the rules are not lax, and you cannae just go around shooting people.
Fire Tarrasque tell that to the gangs that commit crimes in their own communities
Lol your channel has grown a lot since a few months ago. Great job!
Oddly enough, one of my favorite Anti-heros is Boone from New Vegas. Brooding, badass, and relatable
Guts is the best antihero:
1. Doesnt try to be edgy for the sake of being edgy. He has to in order to survive.
2. Actually realizes revenge is futile after pursuing it for several years
3. Realizes his badassery in the end is pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Everyone else is just a wannabe antihero for edge factor with a heart of gold.
Specific examples?
@@sodaftpm185 1. Just read the entire series
2. After he meets Griffith he decides to give up on revenge and focus on fighting for his and Casca's happiness instead.
3. Towards the end of the golden age arc he has a multiple conversations with the band of the hawk members of him talking about how everyone else has a their own purpose in life but all he is good at is just swinging his sword and surviving. After Griffith gets on with the nobles, Guts separates from the band and goes on a journey to figure out meaning in his life(which is also how he meets the blacksmith who made his sword).
Oh people won't like you made the guy look like Guts.
0:15 I cry with joy whenever I see someone make that reference.
Seriously, The Critic was cancelled FAR too soon.
King Dedede is the best anti-hero
Meta Knight is pretty good too
@@mittycommitspizzatime92 Both of them are anti-villains.
Wario is better
I love your reference to The Critic. "Buy my Book!"
*CRAWLING IN MY SKIN*
*THESE WOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAL*
Guts is the best Antihero
Occasionally, the TH-cam algorithm strikes gold. Great channel!
I like how the anti-hero vaguely looks like Guts but with a little Logan and Punisher mixed in. Especially considering that there's many times where Guts plays these tropes straight and times where he subverted or completely averted them.
When you hear the word "Antihero", you think of Deadpool don't you?
[Yoshikage_Kira] Nah I was thinking guys from Berserk
I see you everywhere kira yoshikage. Am I stuck in a time-loop where I always run into you.
[Yoshikage_Kira] I mean, I'm kinda thinking of Joseph Joestar.
EmpireBuilder12 Holy shut, that guy looks exactly like him
Punisher
Rorschach is one of my favorite antiheroes.
Brooding is like a charging state for them
6:18
Plot twist: The antihero is actually asexual!
Was this plot twist foreshadowed throughout the story? No. It just makes me feel smart and that's all that matters!
3:14
Batman fanboi: no batman DOOOES HAVE A SUPER POWER it’s his M̶o̶n̶e̶y̶ intelligence
@Logan Waltz Why's that though? Is it the infamous plot serum? Or does he have an actual reason to be this way?
LRed13 he trained for like 7 years under ras al ghul in the movies at least
Give him a power suit that gives him the powers of the Justice League, effectively replacing them, and he went from anti-hero to full-blown Mary Sue.
Half Mask he trained for ten years I believe in the comics since he started mental training at a young age and of course did his physical training
Bro no batman fanboy says he has superpowers. He is great because he doesn't have any idiot
This describes every bootleg Guts and Diet Batman out there.
And Kirito
Why are your likes so inconsistent, completely different from the other comment gods
Shadow is my favorite Anti-hero.
Yeah, he's pretty cool.
So, I have an Antihero OC. I went through 7 revisions while designing him.
Risking a r/woooosh here, I feel Shadow the Hedgehog is a good anti-hero. He is (in paper) more powerful than Sonic and was created to do evilness, but then it turned good and it's becoming "more good but still edgy" as time went by.
Is this a berserk reference?
Guts is actually the antithesis of this
Berserk and a ton of other things.
Freedan yeah but guts is the opposite of this
Coulomb's farce Yes and no berserk was first aired in the 80s so most of the popular or modern versions of antiheroes are borrowing character traits. It like lord of the ring most people copy from Tolkien yet fail to give the same depth or send the message Tolkien was trying to send
Say no to memes shit guts is human that's Kirito who's the edgelord
Antihero?
**thinks about King Dedede**
Pabu's Animations and Metaknight
The fanfiction Part Sounds just what they die with zuko
Someone needs to write an antiantihero, who is an antihero, but is also a social drunk and enjoys relaxing and cats or something. Basically a Dostoyevsky side-character, but with a dark past and some sort of holy quest or vendetta.
Favorite characters from shows and games:
Shadow from sonic
Kaiba from yugioh
Sasuke from naruto
Vegeta from dbz
The first three are all pretty much the same then u get to Vegeta who’s such an antihero that he refuses to be like an antihero
Of course you only list anime characters 🙄
You have a not so good taste
@@notflaz4420 just look to his profile pic
I want a story with an antihero like this but literally everyone is constantly making fun of him and teasing him and nobody listens to him
Neku from The World Ends with You.
What about Anti-Heroes that evolve into villains?
Your antiheroe is evolving
Hes now harvester
0:31 Edginess™ is trending now...at least in the currently desired target demographic test markets and regional age groups with frivolous disposable incomes and very short attention spans
RIP Miura
Basically, make him good guy. But he hates cop and kill.
WHOA! Thanks for this. It never occurred to me that Batman was an Anti-hero. Since he is a founding member of the Justice League and Super friends always just thought of him a a regular hero. It also now makes sense why they always have him and Superman butting heads.
Gabri'el Alexander
I don’t think batman is an antihero.
@@j2dragon109 he's no hero either, he's a psycho vigilante, but all in all yes he's an anti hero no doubt about it, remove his no killing role, what you have look at his early comics and Affleck, anti heroes don't play by your daddy's rules they get the job done and batman takes the law by his own hands all these bone breaking and violent methods and street style is far from the classic hero types so in a way he's an anti hero to an extent he's pretty much an anti hero trying to be a hero.
ghost of death
Can you tell me a superhero who doesn’t punch people in the face and isn’t a vigilante? Cause that applies to Superman too. Like the only antihero aspect of normal batman is his aesthetic. He’s a paragon who acts to protect others and has a strict moral code.
@@j2dragon109 superman is a boyscout, batman is a bad boy
ghost of death Batman is a emo boyscout.
*sigh* Shadow the Hedgehog...
More like Shadow the Edgehog, lol.
*+BigBossMan538* He was actually good at first before they made him edgy for the sake of being edgy.
@Der Slendy You took the words right out of my mouth. Have an upvote.
Do a video on adventure, historical fiction and writing for animated films.
The one book I've read with a good antihero is Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - the antihero, Kaz Brekker. His backstory is quite simple and well handled, and he is flawed but not just for the sake of it - you get the sense that his flaws were not just added to make him edgy, but arose after Bardugo considered the plot carefully. His backstory is relevant to the running plot and his defined character doesn't tip the balance and make other characters pale in comparison, as they are all so well defined.
I've said it a million times. READ THIS BOOK.
He also has a fleshed out character based around rumours and reputation, and manipulates almost every weakness into an advantage. His only scar is a permanent limp, and he is eloquent to the utmost degree.
You perfectly explained Sasuke
I didn't know they had synopses of Hunt Down the Freeman out this early
Historical Fiction, Redemption Arcs, and Representation definitely need videos!
The concept of an "anti-hero" or "atypical hero" I quite like. My experience in Special Forces has shown me that this kind of character is actually more close to reality than the concept of the general or standard "Hero". At SOCOM, you don't run into alot of those. I've only met maybe 3 males and 2 females that qualify as standard or straight "Heroes". Everyone else was some kind of "Anti-hero" spin off. That's out of hundreds of people?
That's kinda the point of heroes. They're not supposed to reflect reality, but represent what we should aspire to be.
now im positibly sure im doing an "anti-hero" right, and you dont know how stressing it was to not know
Your conservation of coolness theory seems most acurate
Hell, a perfect example of an Anti-Hero done right is Red Hood
I would LOVE an antihero story where we find out that he had a painfully average life.
Not perfect, but maybe little things affected him greatly and he’s playing it all up to sound cool or scare people away.
please do horror stories next !!
I remember a character I had that was an anti-hero and also a General of an Evil Musket-wielding army. Kind of wish there were more people who would make stories based around Black Powdered Warfare if they weren't all about two sides standing in lines and shooting eachother
Is this you Gerald?