Trestkon: Still though, I'm clearly the protagonist of this show. You're... a supporting act, at best.
Slicer: You're obviously the villain, Trestkon! Protagonists do not sell their soul to evil corporations!
— The Nameless Mod, just before the Boss Battle versus Slicer.
Thief: If we already had a real faerie, why would we tear off its wings only to glue them on a baby that we'd have to steal?
Black Mage: To inflict the most harm in the least time, duh.
The Godfather is told entirely within a closed world. That’s why we sympathize with characters who are essentially evil. The story by Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola is a brilliant conjuring act, inviting us to consider the Mafia entirely on its own terms. Don Vito Corleone emerges as a sympathetic and even admirable character; during the entire film, this lifelong professional criminal does nothing of which we can really disapprove. During the movie we see not a single actual civilian victim of organized crime. No women trapped into prostitution. No lives wrecked by gambling. No victims of theft, fraud or protection rackets. The only police officer with a significant speaking role is corrupt. The story views the Mafia from the inside. That is its secret, its charm, its spell.
"I guess things have kind of turned upside down. That whole superhero thing I told you about, before? It… really didn’t work out."
— Taylor Hebert to her mother's tomb, Worm
My biggest fan!? You shit! I'M THE VILLAIN IN THIS FUCKING STORY!
— Johnny C, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
Remember, I'm the hero.
— Last words of hitman Cleve in Best Seller (1987)
Heroes — These pixelated little bastards have set out to enter your dungeon, slay your minions, and drag you bleating and screaming to the surface, to be prostrated in front of the king. There's only one thing to do: slay them all!
"Do you know to break the cycle of hatred?" I asked.
"Love," said Gomst, all quiet-like.
"The way to break the cycle is to kill every single one of the bastards who fucked you over," I said. "Every last one of them. Kill them all. Kill their mothers. Kill their brothers. Kill their children. Kill their dog." I ran my thumb along the blade of my sword and watched the blood bead crimson on the wound. "People think I hate the Count, but in truth I'm a great advocate of his methods. He has only two failings. Firstly, he goes far, but not far enough. Secondly, he isn't me."
— Prince Jorg Ancrath, The Broken Empire Trilogy, Prince of Thorns
"The biggest problem in the series is something that no amount of editing can get around: The series compels viewers to empathize with a serial killer, to root for him to prevail, to hope he doesn't get discovered."
"The world will never understand harmony without knowing chaos,
Mankind will never know peace without knowing fear,
This is chaos.
This is fear.
Nothing can prepare you for Pale Blue.
This is the other side of the superhero story we've come to know.
A story about the one who choose to stay in the dark side.
And live as an enemy of mankind.
(...)
To create our own ideal global utopia.
And together we'll bring to this world,
The beginning, of the end".
Mankind will never know peace without knowing fear,
This is chaos.
This is fear.
Nothing can prepare you for Pale Blue.
This is the other side of the superhero story we've come to know.
A story about the one who choose to stay in the dark side.
And live as an enemy of mankind.
(...)
To create our own ideal global utopia.
And together we'll bring to this world,
The beginning, of the end".
Some people are born to be the hero of a story. I was born to be the villain. I see the charming, good looking, obnoxiously noble type of guy and I feel compelled to start a battle I’m doomed to lose.
—Sylvester, Twig
You're getting verrry greedy! You are me, Wario! You're very handsome. You have amazing powers! Plunder and pillage pirates' treasure! Bag a bazillion coins! Buy me a castle bigger than Mario's! Repeat after me. I'm the bad guy in Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, where being bad is good and greed is good!
—North American commercial for Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
"After all, at its core, Yandere Simulator is a horror game. Where you are the monster..."
—YandereDev, Yandere Simulator
Because of the divisiveness of this movie, I feel I should add the disclaimer that, while I called him the "hero", it was said tongue in cheek because, even though he's the protagonist, he's a very bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad man.
Breanna: Hey, look. We're gonna mess this guy up pretty hard. Are we the bad guys here?
Sophie: Oh, yeah. Never forget that, Breanna. We're not heroes. We're just necessary.
"I'm the bad guy? How did that happen? I did everything they told me to."
—D-FENS, Falling Down
"Protagonist" doesn't necessarily mean "good person". Believe me, I know.
— Izzy Pritchard, Ennui GO!, "Captain Hydra"
