Protagonist and Antagonist

This is true. The person telling the story is the narrator. The protagonist, as stated, is the person who the story follows.

 

Lord of Hats seemed to be under the illusion that the narrator and the protagonist were invariably one and the same.

 

...As you were...

 

I direct you to my post afterwards in which I recant that as poorly worded and say that the protagonist is the central character/character we are following in the story and not always the narrator.

Try reading before you say someone is under an illusion.

 

I think this would be easier if I narrowed it down to good and bad guy instead of antagonist and protagonist.

 

That too is just as confusing. Does the promise of utopia for everyone justify the means a character uses to get it or is the character who stops the birth of heaven on earth the evil one? Haha, don't take it seriously, I'm just antagonizing you.

 

While it's true that ninety percent of the time, the antagonist is the "evil" one and the protaganist is the "good" one, it doesn't always hold true. However, there are times when the protagonist(s) of the story would be considered the evil ones. The protaganists are simply the main character(s) and the antagonist(s) are the ones they are against. In some stories it's better to use the term protagonists and antagonists are better terms to use because it's questionable as to who is the "good" or "bad" guy of the story.

 

To... much... talk... about... good and evil...
About 4 years ago, a game came out called "Beyond Good and Evil". I bought it, simply because it's brilliant title.

Saying things like "this guy is good" or "this guy is evil" is pointless, since it is all in the eye of the beholder. I don't believe in good nor in evil. They're but brief descriptions of something that is entirely based on the readers background. You are presenting two points of view; treat them as such.

Yes, it is possible to have your antagonist to be the narrator. Have the antagonist oppose the protagonist, but, for the love of the god I don't believe in, don't mark them as good and evil. Leave the labeling upto the reader.

 

No, it is not. The definition of antagonist is pretty solid:

[SIZE=-1]In literature, the antagonist is against that which the main character or protagonist contends. An antagonist is often a villain, but may be a force of nature, set of circumstances, an animal, or other force that is in conflict with the protagonist[/SIZE].
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The main character is always the protagonist (regardless of their moral alignment), and the adversary is the antagonist.

I'm sure you'd love to read Nietzsche, the man was simply genius. The game borrowed the title from one of Nietzsche's books where he discussed pretty much what you're saying. Here's the link to the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_and_Evil_(book)
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'Evil' is a matter of opinion, as someone stated earlier. Good villains usually don't consider what they are doing as evil.

Writing purely evil characters or good characters makes them flat and unbelievable in my opinion. There's a mixture of good and bad in everyone. As long as the reader is close to and sides with the 'protagonist', then you can still have that struggle between two forces, even if the other person isn't particuarly evil.

 

Maybe you're better off leaving it unclear.

In a war, the "bad guys" and the "good guys" are usually determined by who walks away victorious.

In fact, half the time the enemies are more alike than different.

 

Hmmm...I didn't exactly intend on going insane over the definitions of bad, good, protagonist, and antagonist, but okay.

I was just curious about switching things around, making the main character...well, not the nice one, and the "other guy" (now I'm afraid of calling him "good"), the...nicer one?

So if I had a story about a character who is getting shot down by some maniac guy, what would happen if I made a story about a maniac guy trying to shoot down some random person.

I guess you could do it if you really wanted to. I was just wondering what everyone else thought about it.

 

It has been done, and very successfully. Which is NOT meant to say don't write your own take on it.

Go for it, and good luck!

 

I never intended on writing something like this. But I might actually try it...once I figure out what it's going to be about.

 

Dean Koontz often writes both POV's. The bulk of the story is from the Hero's POV, but many scenes are written from the Villain's POV.

What is interesting then is they are both each other's antagonist.