The Bad, The Worse, and the Vile: The Art of Being Evil
Anti-heroes are what you get when a player decides that playing a good guy needs to be tempered with a certain amount of unnecessary cruelty, murder, and insanity. Sometimes these anti-heroes prove to be fun three-dimensional characters that add a layer of complexity and emotion to a flat party of do gooders. However, just like any character that has a strong moral bias it is easier to play an anti-hero bad then it is to play a good one. Over the course of this article I’m going to refer to two particular fictional characters. Namely, Riddick from Pitch Black, and Gerald Tarrant from the Coldfire Trilogy. In my mind they are the perfect anti-heroes. They are universally feared and reviled yet no one could question that their actions serve a better cause. Selfish, murderous, and unpredictable these two characters epitomize what it is to be a bad good guy. So let us delve into the minds and souls of anti-heroes and discover how to make them work.
A Dark History
A proper anti-hero begins with their past. Normally it’s tragic, bleak, and something the character doesn’t like talking about. In the case of Riddick his troubles began from the moment he was born. Having his entire race annihilated and being strangled nearly to death by his umbilical cord was just the start of a long and nasty history of violence and crime. Tarrant had a history that could have been called nothing less than golden. He was a noble lord and an intelligent renaissance man who laid the foundation they would ensure mankind’s survival on a terrible and hostile world for centuries to come. His road to darkness began when he made a pact with dark forces and paid them in the blood of his loving family.
In any case there has to be a valid reason for a characters blatantly evil behavior and bleak cynicism. Perhaps he’s just a soldier whose seen too much of war. A knight rendered into a dark viewpoint by trying to live up to impossible ideals that no one seems to give a damn about. Perhaps a lack of self confidence brought on by an abusive childhood forces the character to strive for strength above all else, even morality. Of course you could just have a perfectly happy and normal past as a twist on the theme and leave it up to in-game experiences to justify your hate.
Cruelty with a Purpose, Valor with an Ulterior Motive
I’ve heard spirited debates on the idea of selfishness. These debates lead to the conclusion that ultimately every living thing is selfish even though we tend not to think or feel that way. An anti-hero understands this concept and lives by it like a moral code. Everyone is in it for themselves, civilization was created because it’s hard living as a nomad, and agriculture came about because it beat the random lottery of having to scrape up dinner. The anti-hero looks on the paladin with disgust because they are ultimately selfish and blind to the fact. Paladins do what they do for the glory it brings, the power that glory brings, and the points they score with their god. To an anti-hero a character with high morals has their heads shoved so far up the asses of god they could inspect his divine colon with a flashlight.
With that in mind the anti-hero does what he does because if he didn’t the consequences would be a big hassle to deal with, or more than likely he’ll get something nice out of it. Saving a baby from a burning fire is a way to earn favor with the family in case it may be needed later. An anti-hero does everything with this justification in mind. If that justification is not fulfilled then the anti-hero reacts violently or at least protests the actions of his peers. Why waste time on people who can do nothing for us?
On the flipside, evil has to have the same goal. Torture is justified by the millions of lives saved by the information garnered. Betraying an ally can have the benefit of removing a future threat to the group’s goals. Stealing a holy relic can remove having to deal with a zealous priesthood that would continue in their idiot ways while the world burns. Riddick trapped people in a cave so they wouldn’t slow him down on his bid to escape while Tarrant feasted on the despair of a woman so he could sustain himself on a long trip for the battles that lay ahead. Anytime a good guy looks on your actions with disgust you have to be prepared to explain why the puppy had to die, the orphan had to cry, and why that baby that woman brought you can’t possibly be yours.
Good Guy doesn’t mean Nice Guy
You might be on the side of light, but that doesn’t mean you don’t cast a shadow. Anti-heroes take pleasure in doing dark deeds even if it is for a good purpose. Tarrant certainly could not say he never enjoyed being the Hunter; he would be a liar if he said he never savored the taste of a beautiful woman’s fear and agony. Riddick likes to mess with people’s heads and loves to remind people of their own evil whenever they call him out.
To bring in another example think of the dirty Harry movies. No one could deny what he does is for the best, but he gets constantly reprimanded for his brutal tactics and homicidal rampages. In real life this would never work, in a game there’s a possibility that such a character could exist and do remarkably well. In the end one has to understand that even in the best good guys threes a burning heart of rage that could be unleashed by the actions of evil. Riddick murdered a man in cold blood when he only suggested the idea of slaughtering a child to save them. There’s no reason a good guy can’t act violently in the face of certain nasty actions, nor any reason why a bad guy can’t act with honor and valor in certain situations even they find too bleak.
I Will End You
Anti-heroes add a touch of gray to what might otherwise be a blank white character sheet. Riddick managed to pull a holy man and a child out of a situation where even he didn’t think he would get out of. Tarrant ended up sacrificing himself to save the world from eternal damnation. Who’s to say that such deeds are out of range for a character you make. Almost every great role-playing story I’ve ever heard come from some character doing something unexpected and incredibly awesome. So, get your anti-hero on and tell me yours.
