: Re: Is a lawful good "antagonist" effective? In my post-apocalyptic novel, my protagonist is not necessarily "good", and although the antagonist is an honest and kind person, my protagonist perceives

@Samaraweera193

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As others have said, the antagonist doesn't necessarily have to be a bad guy. It's also worth mentioning however, that "bad guys" generally tend to think that what they're doing is good.

Consider for example someone who holds order and stability to be the most important thing there is, and so acts to stop any major change from happening, whether that change would be ultimately good or bad. What they're doing is upholding the order and stability that they hold dear, and they may well think they're truly doing the best thing for the country/world/etc. But what if this means they oppose getting rid of slavery, for example, because that is also a major change?

Consider also the ruler who is forced into a hard decision. They may be forced to choose between closing off all borders to protect their people from a plague that's ravaging the nearby countries, or sending aid to a long-time ally who has been struggling with the plague. Whichever decision they make, perfectly reasonable people can come to the conclusion that it was the wrong one.

Real-world problems are complex, and the best writing shows this. An antagonist whose motives and reasoning you can understand and perhaps even agree with is a sign of a good writer, in my opinion.

Some examples of this type of antagonist:

(the list below contains spoilers, I have listed author/publisher for each entry so hopefully you can choose what you want to see)

N.K. Jemisin's

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Brandon Sanderson's

Mistborn trilogy

The Konami video game

Suikoden 2

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