Bad to the Bone

Who is the antagonist and what do they want? I understand that making an impression with an antagonist depends on the story. Fantasy tales tend to introduce the antagonist either by having you meet them, or by having others tell you stories of their evil exploits before you come face to face with them. In mysteries, we're not supposed to know who the evildoer is until the reveal, which should be as close to the end as practical. In a horror, we might never get to know who the antagonist is, or they may be as much part of the story as the mystery antagonist. Finally, Dark Romance/Vampire fantasy will have us meet the antagonist early to ensure we see how appealing they are. They want us to like them.

A growing trend in fantasy genre is the tendency to have the antagonist not be a bad person. They may be set in opposition to the protagonist, but their motives are pure.

Bad to the Bone!

In some thrillers (particularly political thriller) it is often impossible to tell who the baddy is, as the supposed allies of the protagonist are almost as reprehensible as the forces they seek to overthrow. 

So, what do we have our antagonist do that makes us root for our protagonist rather than them?

The reason my mind is spinning this way is down to my daughter. She came up with an idea for a protagonist who is out to save the world, not because he's a good guy, but because he's a bad guy having a really good time being bad and doesn't want it to end. I am reminded of the Greek Goddess, Eris, who managed to start the Trojan war with a simple apple. She isn't a bad guy, but she knows how to sow chaos, particularly when she is troubled herself.

"Can't we just talk about this?"

That is a power that can lead to some serious stories, while our protagonists have to clean up the mess, or to put an end to the antagonists released by the chaos. There perhaps isn't a "plan" as such to do wrong, but the chaos has created a situation untenable to the status quo which must be undone. Is Eris an antagonist? Not really. While she has created a situation that is not in the best interests of the heroes, she isn't actively working against them.

The antagonist must be a personal foil to the protagonist. They must either be aware of the consequences of their actions for the antagonist, or to simply not care once they know that their actions are affecting the protagonist. Once there is awareness of one another, then we have the primary conflict in our story. Later, we get to the inner personal conflict.