No sweat, detailed responses are a good thing. (:
I chose not to list Felix on the anti-hero because to me, he kinda lies in a grey area between the two. However, part of the reason is that he's completely silent in TLA... The Proxian characters I still classify as villains though (or they could be considered anti-villains).
Sephiroth? I thought he was a villain through and through. Then again, I haven't actually played FFVII past the beginning, so I don't know. Maybe he could also be considered an anti-villain? (no spoilers plz, just sayin')
I don't know any of those anime characters you mentioned.
For me, I've also grown fond of anti-heroes more than heroes. The way heroes are portrayed in most media makes it hard for me to relate to them, especially JRPG heroes. A lot of them fall under this same ol' same ol' feeling because the main characters are very similar.
In some movies, it's a little different because the heroes are sometimes acting out of necessity, desperation, etc. so the heroes are a little more relatable, such as Ellen Ripley from Alien.
In the first Iron Man, Tony Stark can be seen as a quasi anti-hero because of how he acts partly out of revenge, and that's why he's one of my favorite superhero characters.
In Frozen, the character I identified most with was by far Elsa, who can be seen as both an anti-hero and anti-villain (depending on the part of the movie).
This could all mean that because I've also felt a great deal of ostracization in my life, I tend to like characters who are very different from normal people. Anti-heroes usually fit this definition. Normal people, I would assume, would identify better with traditional heroes who act heroically by choice.
However, whenever I take on a choose-your-own-path type role in a game such as Elder Scrolls or Fable, I gravitate towards heroic actions. I even destroyed the Dark Brotherhood on my first Skyrim file lol. Then again, I was also kind of roleplaying as a character from my story. It doesn't help that in many of these games, being heroic is more rewarding though.
Some of my favorite heroes:
Shulk from Xenoblade Chronicles - Despite being a traditional hero (for the most part) he reminded me a bit of myself in the way he is not the strongest person around and gets overly attached to people who show affection to him, which is why he totally lost it when the Mechons killed Fiora in the beginning of the game. He displayed some (arguably) anti-hero traits when he repeatedly swore revenge, but that was never his true desire, even from the beginning.
Odysseus from The Odyssey - What I like about Odysseus is how he's abnormally strong-willed and cares for his country and the good people who reside there. It took him 20 years, and he fought many struggles with the forces at play, including his own human nature. Though he slaughters his enemies ruthlessly in the end, and even encourages his son to do it with him, they were wicked, corrupt, power-hungry leeches to whom I would do the same.
Favorite anti-heroes:
Zero from Drakengard 3 - From the beginning, Zero seems to be a classic villain more than anything else. She's rude, uninhibited and pretty psychopathic. But she has reasons for doing what she's doing, and... it's very spoilery. Just sayin'
Laharl from Disgaea - A demon prince whose weaknesses are love, compliments and sexiness... Laharl's (mis)adventure in the first Disgaea game is full of emotional moments that open up his eyes to things he's always been trying to distance himself from. He's cold, pushy, arrogant, and yet, still lovable all the same.
Jack Sparrow - Mostly because he's funny. Just sayin'
Other:
Felix from Golden Sun - Like I said, he's kind of in a grey area. On one hand, he's questing with Saturos and Menardi to save the world, but on the other, he's misleading his best friend Isaac just like they are, and not telling Isaac and the others the truth of what's going on. In the second game, he takes on a pretty straight-forward hero role, even though he still is avoiding Isaac the entire time.
Jr. (Rubedo) from Xenosaga - kind of an in-between character as well, since he's consciously on the heroic path, but subconsciously has an appetite for destruction. It's all in the way he was created as an artificial human and weapon to harness the power of (spoiler). He also has a reputation for being pretty self-centered and he's easily provoked, but he's loyal to his closest friends.
Poll
Topic: Heroes or Anti-Heroes? (Read 1902 times)