According to the American Heritage Dictionary the definition of an Anti-hero is;

“A main character in a dramatic or narrative work who is characterized by a lack of traditional heroic qualities, such as idealism or courage.”

In more generalized terms that would be a far from perfect hero. And individual who crosses the lines  between good and bad for what they consider the ‘right reasons’. The rule benders and outright rule breakers are on the side of good for their own reasons. We have seen and read many of these types before that don’t mind killing the Bad Guys to save someone. Now that sounds like a dangerous line for a hero to walk. So why do readers like anti-heroes so much?

Well, I think I can say it is the same reasons I love to write an anti-hero story.  Without further delays let me get straight to my five reasons.

1) Anti-Heroes are More Realistic than the True Hero.

An example of a True Hero in fiction would be Captain America for his high moral values although he had killed during WWII like all other soldiers. That does not mean True Heroes are boring, they are just true heroes in every sense of having the idealism and courage fueling their heroic actions.

Anti-Heroes lacking such qualities make them more relatable, which makes them more realistic to the bulk of the readers. There are several examples  in fiction of Anti-heroes that don’t mind killing the bad guys and sometimes the not so bad guys to get the job done such as; Deadpool, Snake Plissken, John Rambo, Rick Grimes andTanner Brown.

2) They are more entertaining to readers.

I am not saying a true hero is a boring read, far from it. But a true hero will walk a straight line all the time and we don’t get that ‘snap’ moment as much with them.

Anti-heroes tend to ‘snap’ a lot more often at unpredictable moments. We follow anti-heroes for those key moments when they decide to ‘abort’ the rules for whatever reason.  This makes them more direct or more cut to the chase in their attitudes when interacting with other characters.

Like Wolverine in his no none sense manner or how David Gemmell’s ‘Druss the Legend’ would carry himself without remorse as he killed either good or evil characters who challenged him in a duel to the death.

3) They rebel social constraints.

Have you ever heard, ‘Stick it to the man’ or ‘Fight the system’? Well, that is the anti-hero in a basic form. The individual that just does not want to play by the same rules as the rest of us and has the fortitude to back it up. Does that mean an anti-hero could land in jail? If you consider they take the law into their own hands.

In a way readers consider the anti-heroes live with more freedom than the average person or at least that is what the anti-hero thinks.

4) Anti-Heroes are multi-dimensional

Most anti-heroes are broken individuals playing the hero role. This alone makes for a character who has several dimensions to his creation. Picture a Sports Car built together from spare parts from a junk yard. All its parts refurbished and put together into a power house machine. Each piece of that sports car came from somewhere else. Each piece has its own different story how it arrived at that junk yard. This makes for several stories of possible car crashes behind the revitalized sports car. From wrecks came a sports car.

An anti-hero is not much different as they have fascinating stories of how they fell from grace and picked themselves back up again.

5) No Moral Compass.

“It feels good to be bad.” Most readers have had bad days and very bad days. But we have a moral compass that keeps us from cutting loose. Anti-heroes, none what so ever. They cut loose at the drop of a hat and keep on trucking.

We may not admit it in public but we love a story where someone got to cut loose their frustrations on a bad day. It makes for a more ‘I wish’ type of read.

Ref:

https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=Antihero

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