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Villain or a mere antagonist

So, this is a spinoff of the other villain thread. But here is a question for you.

I am writing a fantasy courtroom drama, the MC is trying to prevent his friend from losing his own soul to a demon. They are fighting it in human courts. (Genre is urban fantasy with a secret world that suddenly becomes not so secret). And so, the demons are represented by a human attorney. Human attorneys finds out they are demons but is like, "Eh, may as well, they pay their bills and everyone deserves representation in court." And this other attorney is a bit shady but not like evil shady. More like more shady than other attorneys but nothing evil shady. What makes him shady is that he just wants to win. But he does his job and that's all he thinks of it as.

Of course, the attorneys are fighting in court, so is the Demon Attorney a villain or an antagonist?

Should I make this guy more evil? What if he is more than just a hired gun but is like a demonic cultist acolyte? What would be more interesting?
 

Yora

Maester
It depends on the point of view of your narration. If the story is being told pretty objectively from the outside, I don't see why the antagonist needs to be depicted as villainous at all.
If the story is being told from the perspective of a character opposing him, than that character could regard him as a villain and describe him accordingly.
 
It depends on the point of view of your narration. If the story is being told pretty objectively from the outside, I don't see why the antagonist needs to be depicted as villainous at all.
If the story is being told from the perspective of a character opposing him, than that character could regard him as a villain and describe him accordingly.
If I were to do this in 3d limited or first, the POV character is probably the "good" attorney. So I am not certain that character would cast the other attorney as evil, but just be frustrated he's trying to win for demons (which will happen to the good attorney in the next book after a demon gets arrested and put on trial.)
 

Mallet

Acolyte
The antagonist sounds non-villanous to me. He sounds like a guy trying to do his job.

Should he be more evil? Well, that depends. What do your readers want? Are your readers going to appreciate a more nuanced character, or do they want a black-and-white, good-vs.-evil confimation of their personal biases?

Would it be more interesting if he was a demonic cultist acolyte? It depends on the execution. Can you make it more interesting? To whom? Who are you writing this story for? What will that reader find interesting?

Personally, I'd recommend knowing who you are writing the story for, then figure out what that person would like to read.
 
I think antagonist's are the best kinds of opposition - someone who is just trying to do their job or feed their family. Even if we disagree with how they go about it, we need to understand the underlying motivation. It's very easy to say "I'd never steal." When you've never been up into a position where you have to or you'll die. So give your antagonist stakes. Make it personal for him. If he fails to achieve his goal, what happens to him?

I never try to make a villain evil or more evil because then it becomes obvious to me as a reader they are trying to make a bit bad. I like villains that feel human even if they aren't.
 

WooHooMan

Auror
If I were doing this story, I would make the other attorney (I assume he’s the prosecutor?) more of a good guy.

There’s nothing villainous or shady about a lawyer wanting his client to win unless he absolutely knows his client is guilty but if that were the case, he’d be either stupid or immoral (or desperate) to even accept the job.

I would use this character as a way to make the morality of the story a little more dynamic. Maybe he’s a really good family man who was genuinely duped into representing an evil demon. That would add a tragedy to him that could turn him into an interesting character. Like a victim antagonist who believes he’s a hero.
It would also make your MC look more on the ball and capable if he knows about the demon shenanigans but the other lawyer doesn’t.
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
Reminds me a little bit of Javert from Les Misérables. He wasn't evil, just pathologically dedicated to his passion for law and order, and was deeply convinced that he was doing the right thing. Personally, I think that that is what makes him such a fascinating antagonist.

In our series, the Books of Binding, we have protagonists, antagonists, and monkeys in the middle who will often jump back and forth across that moral fence. We believe that greed and apathy can be just as evil as violence and destruction. I don't think that there is such a thing as "just" an antagonist and I don't often use the word "villain" because most characters don't consider themselves to be evil. Everyone is the hero of their own story.
 

Svrtnsse

Staff
Article Team
To blatantly oversimplify things, here's how to decide:
If the other guy cheats, he's a villain. If he's fair, he's an antagonist.

Clearly, there will be nuances, but I think it might work as a starting point.
 
You should consider what story you want to tell. As you can see from all the other answers here, there's room for all different versions. You could have him simply be a lawyer who really wants to win, and then the only reason he's antagonistic is that he's opposing your protagonist. After all, many lawyers defend criminals in the real world both for money, but also (and just as importantly) because everyone deserves a lawyer to defend them in court.

You could also have him be the "go-to" guy for demons who go to court. A kind of demonic cultist who makes his living defending demons (though again, that could be simply because he needs to pay the bills or because he's "evil").

You could even take the middle road and give him a character arc, where he transitions from one to the other. Where he starts out as simply a lawyer doing his job and he gets sucked into the whole demon thing as the trial proceeds.

Lots of options. And I think they can all make great stories with the right execution. So it's all about what story do you want to tell.
 

Aldarion

Archmage
So, this is a spinoff of the other villain thread. But here is a question for you.

I am writing a fantasy courtroom drama, the MC is trying to prevent his friend from losing his own soul to a demon. They are fighting it in human courts. (Genre is urban fantasy with a secret world that suddenly becomes not so secret). And so, the demons are represented by a human attorney. Human attorneys finds out they are demons but is like, "Eh, may as well, they pay their bills and everyone deserves representation in court." And this other attorney is a bit shady but not like evil shady. More like more shady than other attorneys but nothing evil shady. What makes him shady is that he just wants to win. But he does his job and that's all he thinks of it as.

Of course, the attorneys are fighting in court, so is the Demon Attorney a villain or an antagonist?

Should I make this guy more evil? What if he is more than just a hired gun but is like a demonic cultist acolyte? What would be more interesting?

Difference is in motivation. If the other guy is opposing the main character for a valid reason (even if he is mistaken about it), he is an antagonist. Heck, you can make it so that the main character is the one in the wrong; but even if he is not, as long as the enemy has proper motivation, said enemy is an antagonist, not a villain. But if opponent's motivation is selfish or evil, and if actions taken are evil, then he is a villain. It gets murkier in the middle - is an opponent who does evil deeds because he sees them as necessary to achieveing a good goal an antagonist or a villain? What about an opponent who has evil motivation but avoids doing evil deeds? Personally, I define that through motivation, but I understand that somebody else might do it differently.

In your example, it seems to me that the Demon Attorney is merely doing his job, so he is definitely an antagonist, not a villain. And no, making him more evil would, if anything, make it less interesting - unless you are planning to write a metaphysical commentary in the vein of Lord of the Rings (and now I have vision of Saruman and Gandalf hamming it up in a courtroom. Thank you).
 
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