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"Never let your sense of morals stop you from doing what's right."
The questionable shade of gray between good and evil, an anti hero is a rather dark, edgy character who has the opposite of most of the traditional attributes of a hero. He or she may be bewildered, ineffectual, deluded, or merely pathetic. More often an antihero is just an amoral misfit.
Lives f-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-r from the ideal end of the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism.
Other common attributes are: rarely speaking, being a loner, either extreme celibacy or extreme promiscuity, father issues, occasional Bad Dreams, being able to tell the story of their life through any Nick Cave song, a name from the Dark Age Of Supernames and wearing lots of black. They won't Save The Villain, but they will Shoot The Dog, and they will not hesitate to kill anyone who threatens them.
Other characters may try to impress upon them the value of more traditional heroic values through The Power of Friendship, but these lessons tend to bounce more often than stick. Hopefully.
What amoral antiheroes learn, if they learn anything at all over the course of the story, is that an existence devoid of absolute values offers a lot of isolation. (But that may be to their liking. Dont You Dare Pity Me is common, and gratitude may be repulsed with Think Nothing Of It just to get them to leave him alone.)
Antiheroes often crop up in deconstructions of traditionally heroic genres. As the struggling, imperfect protagonist begins to gain more respect and sympathy than the impressive-but-impossible-to-relate-to invincible superhero, "anti" heroes have come to be admired as a perfectly valid type of hero in their own right.
Sometimes, they are not the "star" (protagonist), but serve as The Rival or Worthy Opponent of the protagonist and inevitably steal the spotlight. If they are part of a Five Man Band, they will most certainly be The Lancer.
It should also be noted that in one definition of the word, the appeal of an antihero is that he or she is often very literally a hero: Namely; he or she does what we wish we could. But whereas Superman, Wonderwoman, Hercules, and many other conventional heroes do it because they lack the physical limitations we do, an antihero does it because he lacks the moral limitations.
See also Nineties Anti Hero for a specific version whose embodiments may completely lack redeeming qualities, Heroic Sociopath when said Nineties Anti Hero is given an overdose of badass and played for laughs, and Villain Protagonist for when the character is an outright villain. The Loveable Rogue is morally a click below, but can rise to this level. Often separated from antagonists by being A Lighter Shade Of Grey.
Be careful when writing Anti Heroes. At one time they were a clever and unique idea, but today there are so many of them, that they are just as clichéd as the regular Hero. The idea that they're automatically more "deep" than a straight up good guy seems to imply that Good Is Boring. A lot of anti-heroes are also Chaotic Neutral, but not all.
Alas, expect to see very few female Anti Heroes, except the occasional sympathetic Femme Fatale.
The term is sometimes used more loosely. See Sliding Scale Of Anti Heroes for the possibilities.
And on the contrast front: Anti Heroes and Heroes may or may not annihilate one another on contact. See Anti Villain for this done from the other end.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- Spawn (that is, from Todd McFarlane's comic book of the same name).
- Every single protagonist in the Sin City series qualifies as an Anti Hero, though given the Wretched Hive they live in, it's pretty much a given. Marv, for instance, feels no remorse for torturing and killing a great deal of people over the course of his story, even bragging about it on one occasion, but he has several lines that he crosses only with extreme reluctance, such as hitting a woman. Dwight, on the other hand, has hit several women in the heat of anger and has let his anger get the best of him on many an occasion, but he never turns his back on people who need him.
- Rorschach from Watchmen. Subverted in that his violence is not due to amorality, but rather to an impossibly high standard of moral absolutism that makes almost everyone a potential target of his extraordinarily harsh sense of justice.
- The Comedian would probably qualify as well, except that, as Dr. Manhattan points out, he is "so deliberately amoral" that any heroic aspects are essentially non-existent.
- Undoubtedly the king of anti-heroes is Batman. Batman displayed the traits of the modern anti-hero since his debut in Detective Comics, 1939. Nearly all the characters above are living in the house Batman built for them.
- Although it's worth pointing out that Batman's status as an anti-hero ultimately depends on who's writing or portraying him; many have leaned towards a more traditional idea of heroism. For example, whilst Frank Miller's might fit this trope like a glove, it's hard to really describe Adam West's Batman as an anti-hero. And even when he most resembles an anti-hero, Batman still often displays the morality and traits of a traditional hero, many of which are essential to his character (such as, for example, complete selflessness, an absolute devotion towards protecting the innocent and a blanket refusal to kill regardless of the circumstances). As such, even in his most dark and edgy moments, it's hard to describe Batman as a genuine anti-hero.
- It should be noted that though Batman wasn't always as strict about his no killing policy, meaning back in the day he was closer to our modern anti heroes(not to Frank Miller's level though)
- If there's anyone capable of taking the mantle of 'ultimate' anti-hero away from Batman, it would have to be Hellblazer's John Constantine. He is a self-described chain-smoking, swearing, binge-drinking dog kicking asshole, making all sorts of crooked deals with demons and exploiting loopholes (even damning angels) to save his soul from the ensuing damnation. He saves the world several times, but more often just so he has a place to buy a decent pint of Guinness and a pack of cigarettes. Despite his misconduct, he does manage to defeat the baddies and make the world a slightly better place in the end.
- Say his name with me, comic fans: LOBO. Definitely The Lancer on the spacefaring L.E.G.I.O.N. team, and in Young Justice as the de-aged Slobo.
- Rayek from ElfQuest always does what he thinks is best for the entire elfin race, without ever stopping to ask the rest of the elfin race what they think is best for them.
- The DCU introduced a slew of Anti Heroes to "replace" their traditional heroic characters during the Dark Age — the Eradicator for Superman, Jean Paul Valley for Batman, Artemis for Wonder Woman, Dark Flash — though whether they were supposed to emphasize how good the originals were in comparison or a cynical attempt to get with the Darker And Edgier trend of the '90s depends on how charitable you are. The only one with any staying power was Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, but he was never really an Anti Hero to begin with.
- Kyle Rayner was brought in to replace Hal Jordan who had become the supervillain, Parallax. He didn't need to be dark and edgy.
- Marvel's The Punisher is a Badass Normal, trenchcoat-wearing, Vigilante Man who often uses extreme amounts of violence to combat criminals.
- For some reason, The Other Wiki claims that Spider-man is an antihero. How the hell is the nonlethal, old-lady saving Spider-man an Antihero?!
- Evolving Trope?
- He probably, like Arthur Dent (not the trope) falls under the Type I in the Sliding Scale Of Anti Heroes.
- Actually, Peter Parker is an Anti-Hero according to an early and very basic definition of the character type, which is someone who would rather not be hero but does good deeds due to another reason then pure good will. And indeed, All the other super heroes of his time decided to be goodguys from the get-go. Peter wanted to use it to profit. Of course the definition has changed.
- Spider Jerusalem loves to eat puppies, shatter illusions, knock people's teeth out and drive his poor editor to the brink of insanity, but he's also about the only journalist left in his world who tells the truth no matter what.
- The titular character of the Lucifer series is very much this trope, his vast intelligence and strict code of honour tempered by the fact... well, that he’s a selfish, self-centred ass who is defined by his own pride and somewhat childish petulance at the fact that he cannot fully define his own existence.
- Sure he doesn't belong somewhere else? Has any good he ever did been for the sake of doing good? Has he any heroic showings?
- Well, he did save the existence, risk himself for Elane Belloc and possibly Mazikeen.
- Cassie Hack in Hack/Slash. Her motivation is mostly admirable, but her tactics and personality are... not role model material.
- Batman, Marvel/DC Happy Hour:
I may seem like a cool vigilante crusading for justice, but I know myself well enough to know this: I'm one of the richest men in the world, and yet I have absolutely nothing. I'm obsessed, emotionally distant, incapable of maintaining any kind of relationship, and when I die, I'll just be an old man with no wife, no children, no family. Because no matter how many times I close my eyes, all I can see is the blood of my parents on my hands. I believe in what I do, but I'm no role model. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. That sound cool to you, Parker?
- Never mind the fact that Batman does have family. It's even called the Bat-family and stretches from Alfred, to Robin, to Huntress, to Catwoman, tofucking Superman. Batman has the best kind of family, one of chosen friends.
- Blade
- Sometimes the Incredible Hulk due to multiple personality disorder.
- Namor the Submariner, since the beginning. He's a month older than Batman, but nowhere near as influential.
- Usually moving between this and being an Anti-Villain.
- Wolverine
- Crackerjack in Astro City, not in the sense of being grim and ruthless, but in the sense that he fights crime and saves people primarily for his own self-aggrandizement and is, simply put, a jerk. At least, this initially seems to be the case, but he's portrayed in a more favourable light in later stories.
- A classic example is Raven in Zoids: Guardian Force. Once you get to the last episode, he's screaming antihero.
- Marvel also has Hellstorm:The Son of Satan.
- Deadpool. Because, although he might technically like to do good, and currently consider himself a hero, let's not forget the time when he brought down a Skrull warship on top of an Atlanta Braves game so that he could get 1.5 million dollars.
- In old Westerns, when the hero and villain would face off in a duel, the hero would traditionally wait for the villain to draw, then draw awesomely faster and shoot first. Antiheroes, like most of Clint Eastwood's characters, facing a villain, would simply draw first.
- Pretty much any character ever played by Clint Eastwood will be an anti-hero
- Takeshi Kovacs, from Altered Carbon. He's certainly not a good character, although his motivations mostly are (take down major crimelord, solve murder case, protect his girlfriend from eternally being tortured to death and resurrected to be tortured more).
- Come to think of it, the entire cast of Beetlejuice are a bunch of anti-heroes in that none of them are purely good and they do rather terrible things to one another, and yet they still pull of some heroic stunts. Remember, Charles was willing to turn the house into a sort of amusement park and have Adam and Barbara perform like some sort of dead sideshow freaks. Otho stole the Handbook For The Recently Deceased. Delia was just an overall snob towards everyone. And Lydia technically used Betelgeuse to save the Maitlands. Remember, Betelgeuse didn't force Lydia into marriage. It was part of a deal that she managed to get out of.
- Dante and Randall, the main characters of Clerks and Clerks The Animated Series, are Anti Heroes — not especially moral and not especially successful. Jay and Silent Bob, recurring characters in The View Askewniverse, also count, being crude, rude drug dealers who nevertheless dispense wisdom and help out the main characters — when they aren't the main characters themselves.
- Richard from Dead Man's Shoes is another sympathetic Serial Killer; his victims are the gang who bullied his mentally disabled younger brother when they were teenagers and drove him to suicide.
- Technically, he's a "spree killer". Serial killers don't for revenge... well, not the standard kind of revenge, anyway.
- The Warden in Death Race. She is also, by her manipulation of the convicts into playing the Game Show she runs to finance the prison, a Chess Master, is definitely a Manipulative Bastard but almost but doesn't quite qualify as, and falls just a bit shy of being a Magnificent Bastard.
- Sarah from The Descent. What, she doesn't seem all too "anti," to you? Keeeep watching.
- Snake Plissken from Escape from New York and its sequel.
- In fact, just about anything set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland tends to have a couple show up simply because such settings tend strongly towards the latter end of the Sliding Scale Of Idealism Versus Cynicism.
- When he's not destroying Tokyo on a daily basis, Godzilla is often saving the world from some other giant monster.
- The guys In Bruges would be shining examples of this trope, if anti-heroes were allowed to shine. Even the villain is Affably Evil and has some very clear principles.
- Lawn Dogs has two of them, adult Trent and 10 year old Devon. Both cause mischief in town, but both are really the only likeable characters in the film, as well as the main characters. Devon is VERY anti, however, when she threatens her own father at gunpoint and steals his wallet in an attempt to help Trent escape.
- Hans Beckert, from M, is either a perfect Anti Hero or a perfect Anti Villain. He's a sympathetic childkiller.
- Porter, Mel Gibson's character in Payback. A film whose tagline was "Get ready to root for the bad guy!"
- And of course, Parker, the character in the Richard Stark novels that the movie is based on, is a resolute anti-hero. Possibly even more so since he has no compunctions about killing innocents in his way, not just those on whom he's getting revenge.
- Let's not forget Walker in the original adaptation of a Richard Stark novel, Point Blank. Quite possibly the only guy who could make walking down a hall threatening.
- Tony Montana from Scarface is a murderous drug lord not above gunning down his many enemies, but refuses to kill innocents and breaks with his more vicious fellows, to his very great detriment.
- In Star Wars, Han Solo is also an Anti Hero, most vividly seen by comparing him to Luke Skywalker, the obvious hero (which also makes him The Lancer). At the end of the first movie, he has a Big Damn Hero moment. From there, he moves more toward the standard hero as time goes on.
- In contrast, Boba Fett, who was depicted as a villain in the movies, is portrayed more as an Anti Hero in the Expanded Universe. While he's still the Bad Ass bounty hunter who won't hesitate to disintegrate you if somebody is willing to pay him for it, Fett does have a very loosely defined code of honor and apparently has a soft spot for orphans and the oppressed, and will often go out of his way to help them. Examples include him giving money to charity and saving an alien species from extinction for a hundred credits (it's even implied that he gave their money back).
- Anakin Skywalker as seen in the second and third Prequel movies is considered by some to be Anti Hero material.
- Terry (Takuma) Tsurugi from the Sonny Chiba grindhouse classic The Street Fighter is a particularly vicious Anti Hero. He fights with a savage brutality seldom seen in the action world (including one scene when he castrates a rapist with his bare hands, which earned the movie the industry's first X rating for violence), he doesn't hold back against men or women, and he protects those he counts as friends with his life. On the other hand, Terry isn't above sacrificing innocents who he's not specifically helping, he can be a stone bastard to those he feels has betrayed him, and he's not above sending you out a window and selling your sister into prostitution if you can't afford to pay him for the job he's just done for you.
- Sweeney Todd starts out as one of these, plotting to avenge his wrongful imprisonment and the rape of his wife upon Dirty Old Man Judge Turpin. Then around the middle of the movie, his bid to kill Judge Turpin goes awry and in the midst of his less than Heroic BSOD, he launches into the dynamite "Epiphany" number which marks his transition from Anti Hero to full on Villain Protagonist with a nasty grudge against humanity in general, and then starts killing people and having them baked into pies.
- Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates Of The Caribbean. While you can generally count on him to do the right thing in the end, most of the time he's a largely amoral, perpetually intoxicated, marginally sane rogue who's out only for himself (and occassionally people he likes). And we love him for it.
- Bryan Mills in Taken is a ruthless anti-hero who takes the law into his own hands. His daughter is kidnapped to be sold into slavery, so.. he mercilessly tortures and kills hundreds of people connected to the kidnapping including unarmed mooks who have surrendered. He is not afraid to Shoot The Dog a few times either.
- Batman's unscrupulous methods in The Dark Knight make him something of an anti-hero. His intentions are heroic but he is willing to break the law in order to achieve them.
- Wikus in District 9 is an example of this: cowardly and selfish, he displays little to no empathy for the aliens except under the most extreme circumstances such as being forced to shoot one against his will, even doublecrossing his only ally until almost the very end of the movie.
- In Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Randle Patrick McMurphy is a sleazy, violent, and sometimes downright insane convict. He's still not as bad as Nurse Ratchett.
- Riddick.
- Jet Li's character in Warlords had good intentions and started out as a good guy but as he grew in power his methods became more and more extreme even if his goals were still for the overall greater good.
- Pam Grier's character in Coffy. She's a nurse-turned-vigilante who goes after drug dealers and mafiosi in order to avenge her little sister (who became addicted to heroin when she was eleven) and her childhood friend (a police officer who was beaten into a coma for refusing to sell out to organized crime). Her victims are depicted as getting what's coming to them, but she does readily resort to lethal force, fights dirty, and at one point physically threatens an informant to get information.
- Hello, Inglourious Basterds. You want to run around WWII-era France and use guerrilla warfare to kill Nazis because they're Acceptable Targets, even though you all have just about the same kind morals as they do? Okay, but make sure your most Bad Ass member uses a baseball bat.
- The outlaw protagonists of Water Margin, and especially Song Jiang.
- While Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus already displayed all the hallmarks of the Anti Hero, the archetype was popularised in the heyday of Romanticism with characters like Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, Edmond Dantes in The Count Of Monte Cristo or Jean Valjean from Les Miserables... and, of course, practically the entire oeuvre of Lord Byron (see Real Life) and Goethe.
- Major Elim Rawne and his handpicked cronies from Dan Abnett's Warhammer 40000: Gaunt's Ghosts are all coldblooded, merciless, deceitful, and coldly ambitious. Ironically, Rawne himself has perhaps the weakest claim to Antihero status, given that he's also highly respected by his troops and has once been saved by the Power Of Friendship.
- To be honest, pretty much all the Ghosts are anti-heroes to some extent. These are not nice people, they are trained killers, and damn good at it. The few exceptions include Dorden, Curth (before Gereon anyway) and Kolea, to some extent.
- The protagonist of William Barton's When Heaven Fell.
- In Steven Brust's Dragaera novels, Vladimir Taltos, an assassin for a criminal outfit who has been known to destroy souls on accident. Lampshaded in Issola:
Better watch out. These things are cold-blooded killers.
I hate to say this, but so are you, boss.
Yeah, but I'm a nice guy.
- In Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, Harry Dresden is an Anti Hero: Badass Longcoat, check; won't hesitate to kill someone who threatens him or someone he loves, check; bucketful of flaws, check; chivalry, check. He's also been known to murder and torture enemy captives, wantonly destroy property, and accidentally get Innocent Bystanders killed. Contrasted with straight up Hero Michael Carpenter. Still more of a Type 2 AntiHero than anything else, though, as he will take incredible amounts of damage to try to protect other people. He got his left hand charred almost to a cinder giving a friend time to save some kids who were being held captive in a closet rigged with an antipersonnel mine and sheltered one of his oldest enemies for several days, despite the fact that this put three or four groups of rather dangerous people after him at once. Oh, and he's managed to resist almost every single temptation of power he's been given so far; even the fallen angel in his head for three years didn't do much more than make him grouchier, and in return he actually managed to redeem her into a Heroic Sacrifice.
- Harry claims he's an anti-hero at best, but everyone and their faerie godmother knows different. While he isn't exactly a shining paragon of morality, he is chivalrous, responsible, and most of the time does not think the ends justify the means. For example, you know that fallen angel example above? Harry got her in his head as a result of him protecting a child from its power.
- In Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Ender Wiggin is not only the most talented boy in Battle School - he's also a killer. He isn't the gleeful sadist type: that would be his brother Peter. But, all the same, he gets away with killing two boys who bullied him, and doesn't find out that they really were dead until he saves the world by nearly wiping out an alien species in a war that he didn't know was real. Despite having acted in self-defense, he edges towards suicidal over their deaths:
Well I'm your man. I'm the bloody bastard you wanted when you had me spawned. I'm your tool, and what difference does it make if I hate the part of me that you most need? What difference does it make that when the little serpents killed me in the game, I agreed with them, and was glad. —Ender, at the end of the book
- Raymond Chandler's iconic private eye, Philip Marlowe.
- Ferdinand Bardamu, from Louis-Ferdinand Celine's oeuvre. He is, among other things, an Author Surrogate, and a real anti-hero. This troper earnestly recommends Celine's work, by the way; he was one of the greatest novelists of the 20th century.
- Thomas Covenant from Stephen Donaldson's Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant is an unusual anti-hero in that he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever — not just in a moral sense, but in a literary sense as well. He manages to mostly not do anything, but just catalyzes events by being present. The world mostly falls apart around him while he stalwartly tries to remain ineffective.
- Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov, the main character of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, who in the first part of a six-part novel, brutally murders an old lady and her meek, innocent sister. This example subverts the typical cynicism, though, since he is ultimately redeemed by The Power of Love
- William Gibson's drug-addicted burnout protagonist Case in the seminal Cyberpunk novel Neuromancer.
- The Continental Op from the Dashiell Hammett books, wellspring of things Noir. He goes after criminals and usually gets them. More importantly he always makes money from the gig: money from crooks or good guys, it doesn't matter. Catching criminals is just a dangerous job, and any effective method is a good one, even making deals with criminals or inciting them to murder. He holds to a private code of honour, a tightly bound book his enemies never see and he himself suspects might be nothing but blank pages.
- Also from Dashiell Hammett is Sam Spade, pretty much the ultimate hardboiled detective. He's rude to everyone, sleeps with every woman he speaks to, and steadfastly refuses to let the bad guy (or girl, as case may be) get away.
- Yossarian from Joseph Heller's Catch-22.
- Film and literary example: Robert E Howard's Conan the Barbarian is strong and bold, but he also frequently engages in behavior that the law would call "theft" and "murder," without remorse.
- I'd have to say the main reasons to call Conan an Anti Hero would have more to do with him being a selfish bastard, who mostly does acts of good/heroism by killing the REALLY bad people/monsters that get in his way.
- In George RR Martin's A Song Of Ice And Fire, Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane are probably the best examples, in terms of their personalities. Their actual roles as protagonists or antagonists are debatable.
- In Graham Mc Neill's Warhammer 40000 Ultramarines novel Dead Sky Black Sun, Vaanes sharply points out that the Imperial soldiers in the hands of Chaos forces can't really be rescued, and leaves them to death; is hard to persuade to help Uriel because of the danger, though he knows it is the right thing; is willing to leave his companions behind when they are all prisoner but he is free to move; is so horrified by the appearance of the Unfleshed that he assumes they must be evil; and leaves Uriel to carry out his mission alone, taking his fellow Space Marines with him. At the end of the book, he accepts an offer to work for the Chaos forces, for Revenge on Uriel for persuading him to so dangerous and killing so many of his men — including those he was willing to leave behind. Sequel Hook, anyone?
- The nonhuman sorcerer-king Elric of Melnibone from the works of Michael Moorcock, who, like Lestat, must kill human beings regularly to stay alive (in his case, the sustenance are souls fed to him by his sword Stormbringer.) Elric ultimately manages to redeem himself, however; while his actions set into motion a course of events that destroys civilization, kills off the human race (and all the others on his world as well), and ultimately leads to the apocalypse, in its aftermath he creates a new world free of magic and divine influence where beings such as himself cannot exist.
- Not quite. Dorian Hawkmoon, another incarnation of the Eternal Champion, did away with the Lords of Law and Chaos and the Cosmic Balance too, after which the Multiverse was finally free of the Eternal Conflict. Elric managed to kill the Dukes of Hell on his world during the final battle of Law vs Chaos. (Alas, Chaos gods are notoriously hard to destroy completely.) He managed to thrice blow the Horn of Fate to birth a new world from unformed chaos. However, Elric's world was wiped out in a maelstrom of pure roiling Chaos energies, with him the only survivor; and he was shortly afterwards treacherously killed by his own sword Stormbringer, because he had forgotten that the malicious demon inhabiting the blade Stormbringer was a creature of Chaos too... and it was set free in the new world, laughing as it flew away.
- Elric doesn't actually have to kill people with Stormbringer to stay alive. He can use a "combination of drugs and herbs" to sustain himself.
- Elric TWICE tried to "kick the habit" of stolen soul energies, and was successful for several years, but unfortunately events forced him take up the demonic runeblade again. He also once tried to simply throw Stormbringer into the sea, but found out to his horror that the runeblade is not only sentient but can also levitate on its own and likes to have a master that will wield it in battle. If Stormbringer isn't "fed" sufficiently, the sadistic blade is entirely capable of jumping from Elric's hand and piercing the heart of one of Elric's allies, lovers or friends in front of his eyes.
- A better example from Moorcok would be Colonel Pyatt - not only a (cowardly, cocaine-addicted and cruel) anti-hero, but a self-glorifying Unreliable Narrator. Pyatt claims to be aCossack (because he's really an anti-Semite whose father was a Jew); claims to have invented manned flight before the Wright brothers; and rapes a woman on a cocaine binge (well, he doesn't think it was rape, but it's pretty clear) all the while decrying others for their "degeneracy".
- Kaoru Genji, from Lady Murasaki's Tale Of Genji, is considered by many scholars to be the Trope Maker.
- Hawk from the Spenser series by Robert B. Parker is a great example of an anti-hero. Parker often writes the characters as being something dark, powerful and inhuman. Yet, Hawk often considers the main protagonist, Spenser, the closest thing he has to a friend and he treats him as such. Wherein Hawk has few if any rules with respect to violence and its' application, Spenser is his opposite. What makes the series fascinating is that the two work together well.
- Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld is both a subversion and a deconstruction of Anti Hero image. He is portrayed as cynical, unshaven, anti-authoritarian and so on... but is actually one of the most noble heroes in the series.
- In fact, Vimes' dedication to justice and Law (not laws) is so great, that he has constructed a policeman inside his own head that keeps him from succumbing to the darkness and the rage of the Beast deep down in his soul. "The Watchman" as the personification of Vimes' quintessential nature takes on semi-mythical proportions in the novel Thud, when Vimes is "infected" with an ancient demonic spirit being from dwarven folklore, the Summoning Dark, and the Watchman repels it. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Vimes watches himself. Like a hawk.
- Likewise Granny Weatherwax, who's a good witch (in more ways than one, as she'll be the first to tell you) with a bad attitude.
- Discworld has a more traditional anti-hero in the form of Cohen the Barbarian, an Affectionate Parody of Conan (which see).
- Lestat, of Anne Rice's vampire novels, is an anti-hero who seeks to rationalize his feeding on humans for sustenance by only allowing those he considers "evil" to die, though his morality has been known to lapse at times.
- Although, if only the first two books in the series are taken into account, this could be considered an example of unreliable narrator, since Louis and Lestat disagree about so much, including who Lestat killed, it's really up to the reader if they believe Lestat only killed murderers.
- Severus Snape from JK Rowling's Harry Potter novels. He's a bastard, and he is known to have dabbled in the Dark Arts... and Harry never quite knows which side he's on, but Dumbledore trusts him implicitly to do the right thing.
- Julien Sorel of Stendhal's The Red and the Black is an interesting case. He's the youngest, smartest, and most attractive of three brothers; he's The Unfavorite of his family; and he's subjected to the whims of so many stupid, boorish people it's easy to feel as the story wants you to feel sorry for him. However, he's hypocritical, pretentious and ruthlessly ambitious. What's more, his schemes almost always fail because his emotions get in the way of his machinations, but he never learns from this. Entire critical essays have been written about whether or not the reader is supposed to like Julien; in this troper's opinion, it boils down to how much of yourself you see in him, making The Red and the Black a favorite of pretentious intellectuals.
- In Matthew Stover's The Acts Of Caine, Caine of Garthan Hold, also known as Hari Khapur Michaelson, the Blade of Tyshalle, and a total bastard.
- Raistlin Majere of the Dragonlance Chronicles is a textbook example. He's a sarcastic, ambitious, cold-hearted, ruthless bastard who never has a good word for anyone, particularly the twin brother who cares for him devotedly. When dogs need shooting, Raistlin is always the one who pulls out a shotgun. At the same time, he's brave, intelligent, never gives up, and has a soft spot for outcasts and rejects like himself (his friendship with the gully dwarf Bupu is heartbreaking). He later abandons his Anti Hero role to become an outright villain in Dragonlance Legends.
- Pretty much everyone from Laurell K. hamilton's Anita Blake series.
- Meursault, from Camus' The Stranger. Actually, pretty much any Existentialist hero, as noted on the Sliding Scale Of Anti Heroes.
- Sherlock Holmes dabbles with cocaine (though this was not actually illegal at the time). He has also been known to let the perpetrators of crime escape if he feels that they were justified and commits a few minor crimes himself in pursuit of the truth. Of course, the cause is always excellent.
- Jame in P.C. Hodgell's Chronicles Of The Kencyrath is a Type II ("Disney anti-hero"), in that she has a strong sense of honor and a will to do the right thing, but it's not wrapped in the nicest of wrappings. She was raised among the bad guys for an ill purpose, but rebelled; she still has much of the "darkling" image and glamor, however, and a feline sadistic joy that she allows to come out against those she feels deserve it. She's a killer, a predator, an avatar of destruction, not safe to know or be anywhere near.
- Kelsier from Mistborn is a brilliant revolutionary determined to bring down The Empire, but he has absolutely no mercy for the nobility, even those who seem to be good people, and those who know him best suspect that he's in this as much for personal glory as for freedom. His protege Vin starts off as one, though she becomes a more solid hero post Character Development. Vin's main anti-heroic trait is her rampant paranoia- in the authors words "she's not a bad person; she just thinks everyone else is." She gets better.
- Malachi Thorndyke in Christendom - an ugly smoking, alcoholic, former smuggler, arsehole, slob who goes out of his way to prevent people from getting to know him.
- Haplo from the Death Gate Cycle is an unusual example in that he goes through various stages of Anti-hero-ness through Character Development. He starts out an outright Villain Protagonist, as he's essentially The Dragon to an Evil Overlord who wants to conquer the universe, and is going around destabilizing various governments to make this takeover easier. Both Haplo and his lord are given somewhat sympathetic backstories, but at this point that the character's actions are falling pretty clearly on the side of evil. After the first two books he becomes an Anti Hero when he starts being pitted against people much more evil than he is, and begins to question his Lord's judgement in private. In the last two books he morphs into someone more purely heroic, as he dedicates himself to saving the universe from The Heartless after they corrupt his Lord to their cause.
- Hester Shaw from the Mortal Engines quartet. She kills people ruthlessly, and at one point sells a city into slavery just to get rid of the second girl in a Love Triangle. She hovers between this and a Villain Protagonist, but her goals are usually those of the non-Anti Hero protagonists, and it's all for some kind of noble end.
- The Whiskey Priest in Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory
- Lisbeth Salander in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy.
- Larry Niven's Beowulf Scheaffer and, to a lesser extent his stepson Louis Wu.
- Murtagh of the Inheritance Cycle, who can be interpreted as an antihero, an antivillain, a True Neutral individual who constantly plays both sides and straddles the fence between the opposing sides, etc. Elva leans towards this as the series goes on, until she actually eventually devests herself of loyalty to any group and resolves that she'll do whatever she thinks is right.
Live Action TV
- Wesley from Angel, after the whole throat-cutting thing.
- Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, especially after he gets wired by the Initiative and before he gets a soul
- Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica.
- Avon of Blake's 7 is a particularly good example: He begins as a mix of The Rival and The Lancer, supporting Blake only when it's in his personal interest and because he wants the Liberator. Later, once he becomes the leader of the group, he becomes increasingly paranoid and sociopathic, at one point nearly murdering Vila in cold blood.
- Walt on Breaking Bad. A high-school chemistry teacher who makes crystal meth to support his family upon learning he has cancer. Just one example of his awesomeness: Taking revenge on an obnoxious lawyer by placing a squeegee on his car's engine, causing it to explode.
- George from Dead Like Me.
- Paige Michalchuk and Gavin "Spinner" Mason from Degrassi The Next Generation. The two of them are among the most loathsome teenagers ever portrayed on TV, but the audience can still root for them because they suffer far more than even they deserve.
- Now that you mention it, Paige did get a lot nicer after she was raped.
- Although the Doctor from Doctor Who is traditionally a Heroic Archetype, some incarnations have been less merciful and more deceptive than others. While Sylvester McCoy's Chessmaster of a Seventh Doctor is arguably the most sly, Colin Baker's Sixth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor and David Tennant's Tenth Doctor have been amongst the most ruthless of his incarnations. Perhaps the clearest example of the Ninth Doctor's anti-heroism appears in the episode Boom Town - when the villainous Margaret Blaine tells the TARDIS gang about the painful execution awaiting her on her homeworld, all but the Doctor - even the Loveable Rogue Jack Harkness - are unable to meet her gaze, but the Doctor is clearly unfazed.
- Really, she had previously tried to blow up the Earth for profit, and then destroy an entire city to get home. And that's not counting her life of crime, or that she is wearing someone else's skin. In the end, she is de-aged to a baby, and the Doctor says there is no need to bring her to trial, she can grow up outside a criminal family. If we want to talk about Anti-Hero Doctor moments, there's the fate of the Family of Blood, each doomed with immortality in the worst way. It is specifically stated that the Doctor hid from them not because he was afraid of them, but because he was afraid of what he would do TO them. And he did. Oh did he ever.
- Speaking of the Whoiverse, Captain Jack Harkness himself is one, moreso in his own show, Torchwood. Then again, everyone in Torchwood is an Anti-Hero.
- Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly, who demonstrates a mixture of altruism and ruthlessness, along with a powerful loyalty to his crew. When a defeated opponent threatens to hunt down and kill Mal — and by extension, Mal's crew — Mal's response is to kick him into the engine of his ship. He is glad to make use of River's Psychic Powers, bringing her along on dangerous jobs, but at the same time is willing to risk his life to keep her safe. He has no problems returning a cargo of critical medicines he's stolen once he realizes how badly they are needed, but also has no issue with gunning down murderers and war criminals in cold blood.
- Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights. He's a junior alcoholic, he's slept with pretty much every girl at Dillon High, sees nothing wrong with letting his harem of groupies do his homework for him, and usually, when faced with a choice between The Right Thing and The Wrong Thing to do, will pick the Wrong Thing every time. He's been involved in petty theft, has stolen money from a meth dealer, and has picked more than one bar fight. He carries around a huge suitcase full of self-loathing even though he's one of the best looking people on the planet and is a star on the football team, thus a hometown god. Yet, he's incredibly charming and good hearted, and he'd move Heaven and Earth for those he loves.
- Dr. Gregory House of House MD.
- Det. Crewes from Life. On the surface he practices Tao and is into self help materials. Underneath, he has a vengeful Count of Monte Cristo thing going on as he tracks down who was responsible for setting him up when he went to prison for 10 years. Moreover, despite all of his wisecracks during each episode, he always looks like he is going to snap (and sometimes he does).
- In Life On Mars, DCI Gene Hunt is a racist, sexist, homophobic, crude, lazy and borderline corrupt Old Fashioned Copper who has no problems with taking the odd kickback, beating up a suspect to get a confession or to frame someone 'who has it coming' for a crime they didn't commit. Yet he's still one of the good guys, mainly because even in the grey area where he keeps his ethics, there's still a line - and once it's crossed, he won't rest until the person who crossed it is brought to justice.
- Yaguruma Sou/Kick Hopper in Kamen Rider Kabuto, after taking a level in badass. He's still a Kamen Rider, still kicks monster ass on a regular basis (except when he gets so nihilist that he chains himself to prevent himself acting on his impulses to fight said monsters, because that's seeking the light), but claims to be "a loser that walks in the darkness" and is in hell. Not to mention his hatred for the Designated Hero... and acting on said hatred.
- Lincoln Burrows of Prison Break is probably the best example of that show. His past life was that of a normal thug. In the first 3 seasons, this was largely overshadowed by more important plot points. However, in season 4 he seems to gladly show that he's not a nice guy.
- Profit's titular character regularly engaged in blackmail, bribery, extortion and intimidation to achieve his nefarious goals.
- And this makes him heroic at all, how?
- Neil Burnside of The Sandbaggers is not above lying and cheating to get his way, as both Wellingham and Peele frequently tell him. He even (unintentionally) drives a young woman to suicide in order to prevent her boyfriend from resigning from Special Section.
- Both Cameron and Derek Reese of The Sarah Connor Chronicles fit under this - Cameron especially, as she is entirely willing to kill people who may be a potential threat to the Connors, and in one case used a man who knew important information on the promise of helping him, and then casually walked away when mobsters came to kill him. Derek, on the other hand, also has no qualms with killing people who may be a threat or bring about SkyNet's creation.
- Dr. Cox from Scrubs.
- Tony Soprano of The Sopranos.
- Vala in Stargate SG-1, though less so as time went on and BadassDecay set in.
- This troper actually thought she was still pretty awesome by the end - even in the final episode she was still able to terrify the rest of the team with her amazingly grey morality.
- While they still might be the good guys (and guilt whores to boot), both Sam and Dean from Supernatural fit into this category. Dean's pretty much always been wallowing in a deep, dark pit of death-seeking self-loathing while Sam only saves people (but this only happens for a while) to balance out his bad karma. They're co-dependent, childish, self-pitying, martyred jerks with hearts of gold who don't care all that much about the human hosts anymore. Captain Empathy is usually just an act while Dean was brainwashed by Daddy and while Dean's "stupidity" is made fun of more often, Sam's usually not as clever as he thinks he is.
- Jack Bauer of 24. He's perfectly willing to torture, mutilate, execute allies if necessary, and break nearly every law in the book. To his credit, he does intend to stand trial for any laws he breaks, even though this never actually happens (given that this is Jack Bauer we're talking about, perhaps nobody is brave enough to try).
- The military team from The Unit. They are a representation of real world US special operations soldiers like Delta Force, Seal Team Six, etc. They are highly trained, efficient, and ruthless. They will do anything needed to complete their missions. Although they operate by some rules and moral codes, they are trained to do things that the average person would not have the stomach for.
- The main character of Breaking Bad could qualify. He is diagnosed with terminal cancer and learns he has only a relatively short time to live. So he decides to start using his degree in chemistry to make drugs and gather a tidy profit to provide for his family after he dies. He is perfectly fine with breaking the law and contributing to the addiction and destructive habits of random strangers, so long as his wife and autistic son are provided for after he's gone.
- Malcolm in The Thick Of It. He started off as the arch-enemy of the main character, then was made the main character, when the writers realised an amoral spin doctor is a far more entertaining character than a worn-out middle-aged politician.
- Guts from Berserk has one goal in life: making his former ally Griffith pay in blood for what's happened to him. A childhood spent as a mercenary and an adult life spent being attacked by demons left him with few moral precepts. He thinks nothing of cutting people in half, although he does prefer not to take out bystanders (still a bad idea to stand in his way, though). On the other hand, he cares deeply for Casca and has given some thought to what he really wants to do with his life once he's gotten his revenge; he doesn't have an answer for that one yet.
- You could say that the main cast of Black Lagoon could count as Anti Heroes, but that would be a misnomer.
- Lelouch, cynical and borderline-sociopathic protagonist of Code Geass, will climb to any height — and stoop to various lows - to destroy the corrupt and decadent Empire of Britannia, including lying to his allies, breaking a few eggs, and outright murder. In an interesting twist of the common combination, Suzaku, Lelouch's best friend, is an Anti Villain with the goal of reforming rather than toppling the Empire, even if it means selling out his own people. How these opposed approaches to the same basic goal conflict with and complement each other form the moral arc and tension of the story.
- Light Yagami from Death Note starts out like this, a Vigilante Man vowing to rid the world of criminals with the power of the titular Artifact Of Doom, but when the police get in his way, it doesn't take long for him to become a full-fledged Villain Protagonist.
- Light's rival, L, is basically The Anti-Bishonen. He dresses like a bum (he doesn't even wear shoes!), his black hair is shaggy and unkempt, he looks permanently hungover, he strongly detests physical contact with anyone and is close to emotionally dead. As far as his morality is concerned, he's willing to commit acts of kidnapping, murder and torture to help track down Kira.
- Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z. In his first appearance, he's the Big Bad, but in the ongoing series, in his effort to beat Goku, he keeps saving the day. He also often unnecessarily endangers the situation by letting his enemies reach their full potential, so he can have a honorable fight.
- To a lesser extent, Piccolo could also be seen to possess some Anti Hero qualities. Though he essentially became one of the good guys after his sacrifice for Gohan, Piccolo was still somewhat aloof, anti-social, and soft-spoken (save for when he launched himself into battle). And though he became one of the Z Fighters, there were still a few instances where Piccolo didn't really view the human members of the team including Yamcha, Tenshinhan, and Chaotzu as being in his league (though not to the same extent as Vegeta viewed them). In the Tree of Might movie, Oolong compared Gohan's new pet dragon to Piccolo, saying neither of them let their guard down around anyone except Gohan.
- Archer of Fate Stay Night was walking this line. He grew up as an idealistic busybody, believing that he could be a 'champion of justice' and turn the world into a better place. In the end, he realized that for everyone he saved, someone else must die. He lost faith in his own ideals, and from then on, he simply killed whoever posed a threat to the rest of humanity, saving millions by killing thousands - "for the greater good", literally. Naturally, he's also a White Haired Pretty Boy.
- This was in no small part thanks to his father, Emiya Kiritsugu, who held the same ideals, and did pretty much the same thing - killing people whose work would involve death of others, even if it would've benefited others. After the 4th Grail War, finally believing that he made a difference in the world (ordering Saber to destroying the Grail) he dies. Of course, the Grail wasn't really destroyed...
- Shirou during the "Heaven's Feel" route faces an important choice between two ideals, both leading to Anti Hero-dom. Choosing to kill Sakura leads him to kill his emotions and become an Archer/Kiritsugu-style "questionable method" antihero (this, incidentally, is a Bad End). On the other hand, choosing to protect Sakura, no matter the cost, leads him to become more of a "questionable motive" antihero (since the one way to save Sakura is to stop the Grail War, something unquestionably heroic).
- Scar from Full Metal Alchemist starts out as a villain and gradually transforms into one of these.
- Getter Robo combines the old Super Robot ideals like Hot Bloodedness with anti-hero main characters. Ryoma is rowdy and an asshole, Hayato's pragmatism in decision making borders on (and sometimes goes beyond) cruelty and so on.
- Virtually anyone with any power in Hellsing.
- And then there is Integra...
- Sesshomaru, from Inuyasha.
- Nao Yuuki from Mai-HiME is an arguable case; bent on vengeance for her mother, who was severely wounded in a robbery, she uses herself as bait to trap paedophiles, who she proceeds to rob. It's never made clear if her victims receive punishment under a proper judicial system. In fact, she seems to enjoy going after her victims a bit too much.
- Yukiteru from Mirai Nikki, after his parents were killed and he Takes A Level In Badass. The most recent chapter showed him massacring orphans in the name of becoming God; its implied that once he becomes god he'll bring them back (keeping him from outright villainy).
- Shinji Ikari of Neon Genesis Evangelion is a messed-up, whiny and nearly unlikeable protagonist, but is shown to be a good person under his many psychological problems, all of which stem from him being the series' resident Butt Monkey. Asuka, too, fits the role of Anti Hero, as her only reason for piloting her Evangelion isn't to protect mankind, but to show everyone how talented she is.
- Mirielle and Kirika in Noir are assassins, more or less ruthless, cold blooded, killers. Kirika is saddened, not by killing, but by the fact she isn't saddened by killing, and Mirielle, not even that much, sometimes joking about their kills off-handedly. In this anime, they are the heroes.
- Brilliantly lampshaded in an episode of Pokemon. Anti Villains Team Rocket are disgusted by how Anti Hero Paul mistreats his Pokemon, given the fact that they're nicer people than he is, and they're criminals!
- Which falls kind of flat when you consider their past misdeeds, such as constantly stealing Pokémon away from their loving trainers, jamming them into tiny cages and preparing to sell them as if they were objects...
- Saito Hajime from Rurouni Kenshin is the very epitome of this trope.
- Ikki Phoenix from Saint Seiya starts out like this. It took some time before he stopped horribly killing every opponent.
- Nicholas D. Wolfwood of Trigun is not amoral by any means, but his harsh "no matter the cost" martialism copied from Knives and Chapel and his sense of fashion screams Anti Hero, especially when compared with Vash.
- Vinland Saga. Are they Anti-Heroes or are they out and out villains? You decide!
- Mashiba from Hajime No Ippo is this on his good days. Otherwise he's just a Heroic Sociopath. He protects his sister, but overall is a very scary and sadistic boxer. You get to see his really◊ bad side◊. However, he gets better later and refrains from cheating.
- Yami Yuugi from the early Yu Gi Oh manga. Example: A guy steals a playing card from Yuugi. Yami Yuugi comes out to drive him permanently stark raving mad. Whenever he gets out, someone is gonna die or go nuts. Not to mention the fact that he is smiling as he lights people on fire, condemns them to insanity, etc.
- Sagara Sousuke from Full Metal Panic fits this trope's description pretty well. Somewhat of a Heroic Sociopath, all that really matters to him is Kaname's safety and completing his missions. Empathy and strict moral principles aren't really qualities that fit in to his personality. He is definitely against saving villains, has a naturally violent nature and sees absolutely nothing wrong in offing people or Shooting The Dog, tries to be a loner (though he tends to fail at that), is both very chaste and celibate, and has rather dubious combat methods.
- Bleach's Zaraki Kenpachi and Mayuri Kurotsuchi are definitely examples.
- Five Iron Frenzy's song 'My Evil Plan to Save the World' illustrates this point to an extent.
Professional Wrestling
- Professional Wrestling thrives on anti-heroes, as the very nature of the show requires even the most idealistic to pound someone into a gooey paste for a living. Plus, if a woman dumps a man and betrays his trust, the audience will often demand physical retribution from the wronged hero.
- However, Stone Cold Steve Austin raised it to an art form by becoming (in his own words!) a "trash-talking, beer-swilling, backstabbing son of a bitch" who was the hero because he opposed Corrupt Corporate Executive Vince McMahon.
- Further, during the Rock's heyday, he was cheered by millions (and millions) of fans while showing classic bullying behavior, most notably to Mick Foley.
- Macho Man Randy Savage, meanwhile, made his name by always being on the edge of a psychotic breakdown and would defend his girlfriend Elizabeth whenever necessary — even though he wasn't always the nicest guy to her.
- Hulk Hogan's status as superhero and protector of the innocent meant he could get away with a lot of things on camera, such as hogging the spotlight and fighting fire with fire. The deconstruction of his wrestling style helped facilitate his infamous Face Heel Turn in 1996.
Close Professional Wrestling
Video Games
Web Original
- All three leading men of Broken Saints fit this in different ways—see the Sliding Scale Of Antiheroes.
- In Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the titular character is actually an aspiring supervillain and the good guy, Captain Hammer, is an egomaniac.
- Gavin Taylore of KateModern is often cowardly, often selfish, and sometimes a bully, and cares not for the civil liberties of webcam users, but somehow it's hard not to root for him.
- In Survival Of The Fittest, some of the most popular characters are anti heroes. Among the most prominent examples are version two winner Bryan Calvert and version one contestant Hawley Faust. Over the course of version one, Adam Dodd steadily turned into one.
- Several characters in Tech Infantry qualify. Others flirt with the line between Anti Hero and Villain Protagonist.
- Clark of Clark Kallen And His Merry Band was made with this trope in mind.
- Sami Reese from Little White Lie, plagarizes a classmate by taking advantage of the fact that he's in a coma and that he has a crush on her to win a battle of the bands and to get a record deal. Oh, and she's a total bitch to everyone else in the process.
Western Animation
- The titular character cartoon version of Beetlejuice is rude, gross, mean, a pervert (though, not as much as he is in the movie), and is willing to scam even his own friends out of their money. His redeeming qualities? He cares deeply for Lydia and will do anything to make her happy.
- Valerie Gray The Hunter on Danny Phantom
- The Transformers series Beast Wars had a handful of characters who would arguably qualify, most notably (but by no means limited to)...
- Dinobot, a Defector From Decadence who never lost his Predacon sense of warrior honour - but had a tendency to push for the more aggressive option.
- Depth Charge, gritty loner determined to bring Protoform X to justice.
- And, in the third season, Blackarachnia, who joins the Maximals mainly to save herself, although Silverbolt's constant romantic/chivalric advances may have had something to do with it.
- Later series have this as well, including Ultra Magnus in Transformers Robots In Disguise and Starscream in Transformers Armada.
- Craig from South Park. He is implied to have bad behaviour, and is referred to as "the biggest trouble-maker" in his class by Eric Cartman. Craig seems to be one of the most stoic, gloomiest kids from his class, having a darker personality than the rest of the characters, being pragmatic, monotone and ironic. In the early episodes he was indifferent to everyone, constantly flipping them off. In the latter episodes, he is the leader of a gang who are social rivals with Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny. Cartman frequently refers to the gang as "Craig and those guys".
- His assertiveness could also lead to bullying, because, when kids from their class bullied someone, Craig was usually the first who "gave the attack".
- Eric Cartman, indeed.
- One of those rare, completely uncool examples: Batman The Animated Series, detective Harvey Bullock. He despises Batman, works below the board, lies about his accomplishments, has zero respect for people and their privacy, and in the words of Alfred, "looks like an unmade bed". Yet he's also a startlingly skilled fighter and wholeheartedly dedicated to getting rid of Gotham's "scum".
- The title character of El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera is a preteen super deciding between the heroic path of his father and the villainous one of his grandfather. Lampshaded when in one episode he's subjected to a machine designed to tell whether one is a hero or villain and it explodes!
Tabletop Games
- It would be easier to list the traditional hero archetypes found with the Warhammer40000 canon.
- The above troper Did Not Do The Research. Captain Uriel Ventris. Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt. Possibly Ciaphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM! Gregor Eisenhorn. Gideon Ravenor. Captain Alaric Eshara. And so on. It gets on this troper's nerves when people try to characterise Warhammer 40000 as a 'verse devoid of true heroism.
- Ciaphas Cain is hard to pinpoint, but if his own words are to be believed, he is a clear antihero. However, several chapters of Space Marines are known to be pretty damn heroic at times, extra points going to the Space Wolves, due to it being pretty much part of their fluff to have truly heroic individuals. The Ultramarines are no slouches in that department, either.
- Toshiro Umezawa of the Magic: the Gathering setting Kamigawa is a selfish, conniving, snarky bastard. Doesn't keep him from fighting against a war against nigh-omnipresent and incredibly powerful god-spirits wanting to tear the entire world apart, for obvious reasons.
Real Life
- It's a rather common argument in literary circles that Lord Byron himself was an example of an anti-hero (well, a Byronic Hero). He was a hard drinker, drug addict, notorious womanizer/manizer, had an unusually close relationship with his sister, and was (possibly) a paedophile who wrote some spectacular poetry and prose. Hell, the Byronic Hero was named after and inspired by him, and it's quite often interchangeable with anti-hero. Although not identical.
- To be fair, Lord Byron also supported the Greeks in their bid for independence from the Ottoman Empire, and spent a lot of his own money refitting their ships and paying their sailors. His support was short-lived, however, due to a slight case of death.
- He also argued passionately in favour of the Luddite cause in The House of Lords, which is something considering the Luddites were generally working class and had no voice in the upper echelons of society until then.
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