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Do Antagonists have Character Arcs?

March 13th, 2007 · No Comments

Perhaps you think Main Characters are the only ones who are allowed to change in a story. Or maybe you think every character should have some type of “character arc.” Which school of thought is right? Chris Huntley might have the answer for you in his Tip of the Month for March 2007.

The first thing you should square away is your understanding of the difference between change and character arc. If you’re still confusing these two terms, you might want to check out my post on why character arc is not all about change.

If you’re clear on these and still wonder why you keep writing an anatagonist who seemingly grows throughout a story, Chris has a good explanation of why:

in cases where an antagonist is combined with the Main Character or Impact Character, that “character” has a character arc. In cases where the antagonist is only an antagonist, there is no character arc.

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