Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Anti- Heroes we have loved...

Options
  • 07-12-2005 11:50am
    #1
    Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 66 ✭✭


    I've recently finished reading 'A hero of our Time' by Lermontov and was so taken with the character of Pechorin that I had to ask myself why it was that anti-heroes are so attractive. I was always fascinated by Raskolnikov, Maldoror, Meursault, Moriarty and even Count Ugolino!... To name a few.

    Anyone else have any? I could compile a list here of beloved anti-heroes!


    (incidentally, for anyone who's read the book, I'm informed 'Pechorin' in Italian is an act between people who love each other very much...)


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    Playboy
    Registered Users Posts: 2,923 ✭✭✭Playboy


    Meursault would definetely be my favourite!


  • Options
    #3
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    Yossarian rules!


  • Options
    #4
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    Yossarian Lives!


  • Options
    #5
    gaf1983
    Registered Users Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭gaf1983


    Shylock was pretty groovy in his day, although he was in some ways as much of an underdog as an anti-hero, so I was gunning for him.

    Jaggers, the lawyer in Great Expectations, has to be there too. Although not quite an evil character, he just displays such gall in never letting the truth get in the way of his clients' cases (as long as the clients could afford to pay him, that is) and it is obvious that he is feared rather than respected by the wider community.


  • Options
    #6
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 0 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Yossarian !!!!!!!!!!111one


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    Laplandman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 89 ✭✭Laplandman


    Pinnochio


  • Options
    #8
    Dar
    Registered Users Posts: 763 ✭✭✭Dar


    Yossarian :)


  • Options
    #9
    John
    Registered Users Posts: 12,135 ✭✭✭✭John


    Judge Dredd


  • Options
    #10
    Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 66 ✭✭Richelieu


    grumpy smurf?


  • Options
    #11
    Nimrod's Son
    Closed Accounts Posts: 664 ✭✭✭Nimrod's Son


    Definitely Yossarian. Respect to Tyler Durden as well.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #12
    theCzar
    Registered Users Posts: 2,078 ✭✭✭theCzar


    Didn't like Raskolnikov really, i think just his moroseness annoyed me at times.

    Yossarian is the ultimate, my favourite character from any book, in any capacity. Actually Colonel Korn and ex-PFC Wintergreen are well up the list as well.

    second place to Pablo from "For Whom the Bell Tolls"

    honourable mention to Cathy from "East of Eden".


  • Options
    #13
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 90,813 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    John2 wrote:
    Judge Dredd
    Him, anti-hero ?
    How about the Stainless Steel Rat


  • Options
    #14
    Amazotheamazing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,048 ✭✭✭Amazotheamazing


    I suppose it'd be wrong to say Humbert from Lolita? (joking of course)


  • Options
    #15
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    moriarty!
    melkor!


  • Options
    #16
    gaf1983
    Registered Users Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭gaf1983


    Julius Caesar in the Asterix comics. He was always fairly slick, and it was really just his incompetent centurious in Gaul that let him down. The Soothsayer in Asterix and the Soothsayer was a bit devious too.


  • Options
    #17
    Doctor Benway
    Registered Users Posts: 144 ✭✭Doctor Benway


    Judas?


  • Options
    #18
    tonymontana
    Closed Accounts Posts: 50 ✭✭tonymontana


    Dr Zhivago?

    Never really understood his character


  • Options
    #19
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    Amazotheamazing wrote:
    I suppose it'd be wrong to say Humbert from Lolita? (joking of course)
    Why joke? I was going to suggest him before I remembered Yossarian :)


  • Options
    #20
    gaf1983
    Registered Users Posts: 1,208 ✭✭✭gaf1983


    This doesn't really concern literature, but would anyone consider Vinny out of the 1992 film "My cousin Vinny" as a villain?


  • Options
    #21
    GadgetFiend
    Closed Accounts Posts: 154 ✭✭GadgetFiend


    Like the suggestion of Julius Caesar from Asterix

    I reckon for sheer consistency, it has to be Satan from Paradise Lost. the guy you hate to love... for centuries and centuries


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #22
    Chinafoot
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,894 ✭✭✭Chinafoot


    Vindici from Revenger's Tragedy for me. :D

    I really liked this play and the film version with Christopher Ecclestone and Eddie Izzard was very......interesting.


  • Options
    #23
    Richelieu
    Closed Accounts Posts: 66 ✭✭Richelieu


    just finished Notes from the underground.
    narrator of that has to figure pretty highly too I reckon...


  • Options
    #24
    Vokes
    Registered Users Posts: 5,836 ✭✭✭Vokes


    For me, it has to be David Gemmell's Waylander - an assassin that has spent his life committing evil, but is given a chance at redemption. A classic anti-hero.

    The end of the third Waylander book is particularly poignant.


  • Options
    #25
    Húrin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,045 ✭✭✭Húrin


    My favourite anti-hero is Túrin Turamabar of The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. (My username is the name of Túrin's father Húrin Thalion, another great character). That tale is the saddest I have ever read.

    Unbeknownst to him, Túrin and his sister Nienor are cursed by Morgoth. Túrin brings sorrow to all around him wherever he goes, despite trying to do good. Due to the spells of the dragon Glaurung they marry without recognising each other. It ends in suicide.


  • Options
    #26
    theCzar
    Registered Users Posts: 2,078 ✭✭✭theCzar


    Surprised nobody (including myself in my earlier post) mentioned Vetinari, a tyrant's tyrant, man is that guy cool...


  • Options
    #27
    Cabelo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 599 ✭✭✭Cabelo


    Dorian Grey... lovely chap.


  • Options
    #28
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    I love the Targaryens.


  • Options
    #29
    Siogfinsceal
    Registered Users Posts: 1,915 ✭✭✭Siogfinsceal


    I love hannibal. Also Lestat from the anne rice books and th emain character from american psycho.


  • Options
    #30
    Valmont
    Registered Users Posts: 5,856 ✭✭✭Valmont


    I was thinking of buying 'hero of our time'.Is it good? I saw the review in the Irish times. What book is this Yossarin character from?
    The only real anti-hero I know is Raskolnikov. It is amazing how the book depicts his descent into madness, I really liked his character. How it just got worse and worse for him. I really liked his interviews with Pyotr Petrovich (the detective?), I was so enthralled I almost felt like I was being accused of murder.

    Well he is the only literary Anti-hero I know, but an excellent one at that. Anyone agree?

    Patrick Bateman also deserves an honourable mention.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #31
    plastic membrane
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,219 ✭✭✭plastic membrane


    Gulliver Foyle - Tiger! Tiger! (The Stars My Destination)


Advertisement