Evil protagonists from fiction - or 'Examples of how to play the bad guy without being a total jerk'
Enevhar Aldarion
Hero
You will have to explain your view on that one. I have read both series several times and never see him as evil or a bad guy.
As for the actual topic, Baron Zemo from The Falcon and Winter Soldier TV show. That made him much more likable, while still being a bad guy.
Anti-heroes in general have always been popular, though I think you are looking for characters who are still on the wrong side at the end of the story, more like the benevolent villain?
Campbell
Relaxed Intensity
Corwin is pretty much the perfect realization of the magnificent bastard. He's likeable, even somewhat nice at times. Gets along well with others. However, until his change of heart near the end of his cycle Corwin is motivated almost entirely by personal ambition, petty jealousies, and the naked pursuit of power for its own sake. He wants to rule over Amber not because he is the most suited or could do good things with it, but rather because he wants it. He also shows a willingness to do just about anything to get it. Before his imprisonment Corwin is a bad dude. A likeable bad dude, but still a bad dude.
Flamestrike
Legend
Enevhar Aldarion
Hero
Except that what he did in his past, before the opening of the first book, and what he did during the books, before and after his amnesia, are not the same thing. Some of that past may also be twisted versions of what actually happened because of the Shadow versions.
Flamestrike
Legend
Frank Castle. (Marvel Comics, the Movie) - LE. A marine recon sniper, who returns home from war to see his entire family gunned down in front of him, and then being left for dead, he dons a menacing black attire and fights an unrelenting one man war on crime, like his DC counterpart, Batman. What separates the two however is their methods. While the latter avoids killing, or indeed even using firearms, the former embraces torture, mass murder, and inflicting extreme suffering on his victims.
''I am going to hell. I sent many deserving criminal souls to their doom. I have no regrets. They’ll be waiting for me. When I arrive, they’ll wish they’d sent me to heaven.” - Frank Castle
Only caveat with Frank is, while he's not a team killing jerk, he does NOT play well with others; most other Good aligned heroes being reluctant (to say the least) to work with him, due to his extreme methods.
''I am going to hell. I sent many deserving criminal souls to their doom. I have no regrets. They’ll be waiting for me. When I arrive, they’ll wish they’d sent me to heaven.” - Frank Castle
Only caveat with Frank is, while he's not a team killing jerk, he does NOT play well with others; most other Good aligned heroes being reluctant (to say the least) to work with him, due to his extreme methods.
Esau Cairn
Explorer
De Niro as Louis Cyphre in Angel Heart (or the novel Falling Angel; both novel and film are excellent).
Literally the Western definition of evil, and with his refinement and class, he finds vulgarities uncouth.
Elric is a pawn of Arioch, a Lord of Chaos. Moorcock differentiates Chaos from Evil. If anything, the evil character would be Stormbringer.
As for Elric not being a jerk, the decision could result in a hung jury.
Literally the Western definition of evil, and with his refinement and class, he finds vulgarities uncouth.
Elric is a pawn of Arioch, a Lord of Chaos. Moorcock differentiates Chaos from Evil. If anything, the evil character would be Stormbringer.
As for Elric not being a jerk, the decision could result in a hung jury.
Flamestrike
Legend
Yeah; Elric is just CN and a lone wolf who plays by his own rules.Elric is a pawn of Arioch, a Lord of Chaos. Moorcock differentiates Chaos from Evil. If anything, the evil character would be Stormbringer.
As for Elric not being a jerk, the decision could result in a hung jury.
Stormbringer is CE; when the sword takes him over, THEN Elric becomes a team killing jerk.
