Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Anti-Heroes

Top 5 Wednesday was created by BookTuber Lainey, at gingerreadslainey.  If you want to join in, please check out the Goodreads group.

This week's topic is favorite anti-heroes, which is an excellent one.  I really like anti-heroes because they are so complex.  In real life, most people have their moments of weak morality.  We can be righteous cowards or brave thieves.  But many characters in literature are written with a lack of moral duality, so I love it when I find a protagonist I'm not sure if I quite cheer for.


Here are my favorites (in no particular order):

Number Five

Ramin Karimloo is my favorite Phantom

The Phantom

If you have never read Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, please do. And then watch the musical production. It's a beloved classic of mine, and it's solely because of the Phantom. Though he does awful things, he redeems himself in the end, and it's difficult to loathe him because of how pitiable he is.

Number Four

Severus Snape

Snape is the absolute picture of an anti-hero, isn't he? Throughout the entire series, I couldn't decide whose side he was on, if he was good or bad. At the end I realized that, though he sided with Dumbledore, he still wasn't a good person. In fact, he was a despicable character who tormented kids and couldn't mature past his Hogwart's days. In my opinion, his love for Lily was his one redeeming factor. Yet, he was one of the bravest characters in the series. I love his complexity.

Number Three

Rorschach

Rorschach is the Watchmen vigilante that others label the sociopath. In his quest to stop crime, he goes to the extreme and employs questionable tactics, including murder and torture.

Number Two

Tyrion Lannister

Who doesn't love Tyrion? He's witty, intelligent, and a master manipulator. He uses what he has to survive in a world that looks down on him.

Number One

Roland Deschain

This gunslinger has a very special place in my heart. Stephen King's Dark Tower series is a masterpiece, and when I first read it as a teen, it blew me away.

Roland is the protagonist of the series, but he employs questionable means to achieve his end, and isn't always the most likable. Several times he does things that are just wrong, and the reader feels such hatred toward him. Yet, he is still the hero, and you have to root for him.

So those are my favorite anti-heroes. Who are yours? Link me in the comments below.
Happy reading!