Donovan Levine | Agent, Writer, Copyeditor

My Protagonist Is The Absolute Worst, That’s Why People Love Him

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Donovan Levine

A lot of fiction story protagonists are legitimately terrible people. For every ‘hero’ we see in a good story, there’s a Tony Soprano, Alex DeLarge, Joe Goldberg, Marla Grayson, and Dexter Morgan to boot with it.

I’d even guess most of the stories that feature a legitimate “according-to-Hoyle” hero protag are almost always nonfiction in today’s day and age, like Nolan’s Dunkirk or Howard’s Cinderella Man, which decades from now will be classics of their time, based off true stories, and truly glorify the decisions of real-life men and women who overcame great odds and did the right thing. But when it comes to fiction, we have a tendency of creating protagonists that are the absolute worst.

There are even more apathetic protagonists who are indifferent to injustice, and these are more so anti-heroes who we root for, for the same reasons. Katniss Everdeen (I’m going to be using so many Hunger Game references throughout this blog series), the Narrator/“Tyler Durden” from Fight Club, Rue Bennett, the list goes on. The Writing Cooperative also has a great article on this. Gone are the days where the main character is someone we idolize, emulate, or hold to a higher standard. Instead, they’re just as messed up and desensitized, if not more so, than the average viewer, and we watch them overcome these demons to encourage ourselves, rather than hold ourselves to impossible standards like the Supermans or Luke Skywalkers of the world.

A lot of times these character’s just feel like the lesser of two evils, and if fire is necessary to fight fire, you need these anti-hero protagonists to rise up and represent the hero, even when they themselves are flawed, making them both relatable and still able to toss themselves aside to do the right thing.

In fact, a lot of the apathetic protagonist types make excellent narrators, to give us a more natural lens to view an already twisted and messed up world and presents us with an interesting protagonist-narrator relationship. Take Nick Carraway’s (narrator) relationship with Jay Gatsby (protagonist) from The Great Gatsby or Red’s (narrator) relationship with Andy Dufresne (protagonist) in The Shawshank Redemption.

There are even instances where shows attempted to create a “bad guy”-protagonist/“good guy”-antagonist dynamic, like formerly FOX &  now Netflix’s Lucifer, where the writers subverted our expectations by making the literal devil and ruler of Hell more likeable and agreeable than the angels of Heaven, though this show’s attempt to make Lucifer’s character arc change to a better man felt rather underwhelming since the beginning of Lucifer’s character was still fairly tame and decent for someone that’s supposedly been torturing the absolute worst of humanity for, well, as long as human existence.

There are tons of classic, famous literature with either dangerous, uncanny protagonists, or simply darker stories by nature: 

A lot of earlier forms of TV and movies had classic good vs evil centering around the protagonist’s moral and ethical duty to do the right thing. When this became too predictable for viewers, the new trend that stuck was to make protagonists who were the adversaries and explore more deeply how their lives became so dark. Why do we root for them??

We relate to their struggle

There are levels to this. Sure, the struggles the every-day viewer may not always compare (as to what is shown via movies and TV is usually far more extreme examples in order to capture interest, e.g., Euphoria, Fleabag, Mr. Robot, you get the idea), but to some degree we understand it and daresay even had those same impulses as well. The rational person weighs the pros and the cons and upon fearing the consequences, does not give in to these impulses. Yet we feel sometimes as though in spite of those consequences, our self-serving needs are ultimately still needs, and ‘Esteem’ is rather high on Maslow’s hierarchy. Fictional stories, or even real-life stories of someone who’s gone too far, can at times serve as some sort of goal post standard to measure just how far is too far, and when that line is crossed.

“You cross the line, Alfie” | S03E06 | Peaky Blinders – YouTube

Like I said earlier, the lesser of two evils can still be “the good guy”, much like how many millennials or Gen Z’ers feel they are living in a world full of apathetic, desensitized bystanders ruled by individuals who aren’t necessarily “good”, “honorable”, or “morally outstanding”, but are just “better than the other guy”.

It can feel that people have become so accustomed to the ideas of endless wars and problems that are never solved, they can’t help but be a part of the dragon that fuels the world’s greed, thus losing their veneer of morality, borderline moral entropy.

Whether this is the case or not, characters who embody and validate these feelings in us and have the strength to, not only acknowledge, but stand up to it. Thus, making the “insane” look more lucid than the “sane”.

The “Literally Me” genre

Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049.

It’s crazy that an awkward, bizarre, and emotionally delicate film like Her (2013) can be in the same category as the vulgar, brash, and violent film like Drive (2011), yet here we are because of this phrase we keep saying, “literally me”. Characters who stand out from the crowd, often rejects or loners, who often check the boxes of romanticized, Byronic anti-heroes that draw people’s attention. 

These characters are often misunderstood, and dangerously idolized (I’ll get to this in a second). Think of characters like:

And there’s (A LOT) more, but I’ll keep it brief. Each of these characters have fanbases of their own, hordes of recommendations from cinephiles to say, “watch this”, and tons of iconic industry-changing moments, leading to boundless popularity.

Sugar is stale

A character’s degree of niceness and altruism, while great traits are nice to inspire in your readers, can sometimes be dismissed for that very same reason. Characters that are complex and make us think are often ones who are very broken and undergo story arcs that are heartbreaking, cruel, and horrific, and subsequently aren’t very nice people. 

Of course, this isn’t always the case. While “negativity and pragmatism” often rule storytelling, there’s still a charm to certain “do no wrong” characters. Westley from The Princess Bride primely comes to mind. There are always suckers (myself included) for cheesy plots, happy endings, classic and simplistic storytelling. That feel-good element can still work for people. But for the majority of people, those sugary goody-two-shoes characters are too stale to keep audiences engaged. 

Not to mention, a character who is too much of a saint can sometimes make us lose our connection with them. They can come across as preachy, condescending, virtuous, in a class above, and in some cases they are self-righteous, which can sometimes be less likeable than the antagonists we’re supposed to hate. For example, watching AMC’s critically acclaimed Better Call Saul, I found Chuck McGill, a well-established lawyer who upholds the law and moral standing more unlikeable than Gustavo Fring, a literal drug kingpin. Writing a character who’s only real flaw is that they’re “too kind” and “too nice” are a bit too Mary Sue-ish to root for or enjoy, often forcing the audience to cling to a more relatable, intricate, jaded side character. At least, a lot of us may have preferred Han Solo to Luke, or preferred Arya Stark to Jon Snow.

The “underdog” factor

The biggest overriding reason I believe anyone roots for the anti-hero or bad guy protagonist is because they’re usually an underdog to something, be it society, the hero, or some other thing. Discovering their own insignificance and how it damages their ego so they lash out and make their own mark on their lives, making them extraordinary, despite many of them being dangerous individuals we (likely) wouldn’t be close to if we ever knew them in real life. They’re loners by nature, anyway. Their ‘angst’ is what actually gives them their charm.

Possibly doomed to fail from the start, their strife still gives some glimmer of hope that life has meaning in a doomed world. A bleak mantra, for sure, but one that a lot identify as reality and who’s to say they’re wrong. 

And just like in sports, you always want to give the underdog a chance, because it’s unpredictable, and makes you wonder just how on earth they’re going to pull this off, and it makes you believe in something and have faith.

The caveat of anti-hero protags

These characters are not meant to inspire, but to warn. Unfortunately, these characters are sometimes idolized because of their portrayal. So much of movies like Joker or Taxi Driver use glorifying shots of these sorts of characters that is romanticized, and while most of us can rationalize and understand Travis or Arthur are unreliable narrators, whose heads are not in the right place, but unfortunately that deep sense of loneliness will allow some to become attached. TV series like Breaking Bad or Peaky Blinders at least show you the downfall, or pitfalls at least, of the indulging egos of their lead characters, so as to say, “Yeah, these guys are badasses, but karma keeps its kiss for all of us.”


Whether or not you should write a “good” or “bad” or “indifferent” protagonist is too broad a question to ask in general, but what you should ask is if it will fit in your story. Every story is different, but writing an unsympathetic, offensive, or even evil protag is not off the table.

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