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800 BCE
Odysseus
Examples of antiheroes can be found in literature that dates back to some of the first known written stories. The mythical story, The Odyssey, centers around Odysseus and his 10 year journey home from the Trojan War. Odysseus completes many heroic acts (he is clever and extremely brave) in his long struggle to get home but often sets his crew and himself back due to his hubris and selfish actions. This creates the archetype for a flawed hero, which is repeated throughout history in literature. -
416 BCE
Hercules
Hercules is a mythological demigod (half god) who becomes pretty much synonymous with strength and bravery. Hercules defeats many mythical beasts and gains the adoration of gods and mortals alike, but he is only forced to fight the monsters because he murdered his three children. Hercules has a bad temper and is very prideful, and he faces a lot of personal struggles in life. Hercules is the first deeply flawed hero (antihero) who is still able to be basically worshiped by the audience. -
Macbeth
After a large gap in written literature, antiheroes make a return in Shakespeare's "Macbeth". Macbeth is a brave soldier and the protagonist of the story, but is easily tempted into killing the king of Scotland so that he can take the throne. He then commits many atrocious acts to preserve his kingship. Despite this, Macbeth gains sympathy from the audience because Shakespeare portrays him as lonely and isolated. Audiences don't necessarily like the protagonist, but they understand him. -
Childe Harold
The protagonist from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, a series of early 18th century poems written by Lord Byron, represented a new type of antihero. Harold is wandering on a journey to escape his mysterious but troubled past and the poems follow him on his ventures . He is cynical, arrogant, rebellious, and emotionally complex but also capable of heroic acts. This style of antihero came to be known as a Byronic hero, named after Lord Byron. Modern day Byronic heroes include James Bond and Batman. -
Hester Prynne
In Nathaniel Hawthorn's "The Scarlet Letter", the protagonist is Hester Prynne, a woman who commits adultery in a very conservative, Puritan town while her husband was presumed to be dead. She is basically branded by the townspeople for her act and is shamed throughout the story. Hester is outcast from her society, but the audience sympathizes with her situation. This marks the first notable female antihero (antiheroine), which is a role historically dominated by men in literature. -
The Underground Man
Notes from the Underground by Russian author/philosopher Fyodor Dostoevsky basically consists of diary entries from an unnamed narrator who is excessively cynical of a society that he feels alienated from. The underground man is a very unlikable protagonist, but audiences can relate to him. The author uses the thoughts of the man in an existentialist way to explore and criticize many aspects of society. Using antiheroes this way has since become a popular form of social criticism in literature. -
Gregor Samsa
In "The Metamorphosis", written by Franz Kafka, Gregor awakes to find that he has transformed into a giant cockroach. While his mind remains the same, he is unable to talk or perform human functions and ends up relying on his family, who finds him repulsive, to take care of him. Gregor supported them financially before his transformation and ends up dying so that he isn't a burden to his family. Here, we see an antihero who is flawed because of something out of his control, not his personality. -
Sam Spade
Antiheroes emerge in film with Sam Spade, the main character in "The Maltese Falcon." This movie follows Spade, a private detective, in his quest to solve the mystery of the Maltese falcon and avenge his partner's death. Spade is greedy, selfish, and will sacrifice anyone if it benefits him, but he has a moral code of sorts that redeems these traits. While this antihero mold wasn't a particularly new concept, the character marks the most notable early example of an antihero on the big screen. -
The Man With No Name
Clint Eastwood stars in one of the first big "spaghetti western" movies, a genre that became very popular in America. His character, The Man With No Name, is a wandering gunslinger who enters a town and gets right in the middle of a gang war. He plays both sides against each other to make money and kills anyone in his way. This untrustworthy, rogue, outlaw with a twisted sense of justice became a popular antihero archetype and has been repeated in film since these first Clint Eastwood movies. -
Wario
Wario made his first appearance in the Mario video-game franchise in Super Mario Land 2. Wario is mischievous, cunning, greedy and originally served as an antagonist to Mario. He was described by Nintendo Power as a "pretty uncool dude" which they "cannot help but like." Wario ended up with his own game series called "Wario Land" that he is the protagonist and antihero of. This opened a new door for antiheroes in gaming, and a lot of video-game characters today could be considered antiheroes. -
Tony Soprano
The Sopranos pioneered cinematic television and created new possibilities for TV shows, all with an antihero at the forefront. The main character, Tony Soprano, is a ruthless mob boss who is emotionally complex and protects his family at all costs. This dark, groundbreaking series is regarded as one of the best shows of all time and is important for antiheroes because it showed how captivating they can be. This show led to a phenomena in television of many new antihero-based shows emerging. -
Game of Thrones
Created in the peak of the "Golden Age of Television", this show follows many non-virtuous heroes on their quest to claim the Iron Throne. There was a prominent trend of antihero protagonists in early 21st century TV, but Game of Thrones is unique because just about every character could be classified as one. This represents the climax of the development of the antihero to date, with all of the progress culminating to an illustrious, award winning show that consists virtually of all antiheroes.
