What are your favorite negative character arcs?
A negative character arc is one where the protagonist gets worse over time rather than better. They might or might not turn for the better in the end, but the majority of the time is spent on a negative descent.
A well-done example would be Frodo. The ring wears him down through the course of the story.
An example that should have been good but wasn’t executed as well as it should have been, would be Anakin in the Star Wars prequel.
Walter White
SAME
I should have used that example. Holy shit.
Michael Corleone, in the sense that he gets more and more spiritually isolated as he evolves.
It's such a great show. Did anyone else's opinion of Walter change after re-watching? I guess I was so accustomed to liking the protagonist as a hero, that it clouded my judgement on the first watch. I thought Walter was cool and Skyler was annoying. But after re-watching, I dislike walter a lot, especially for what he does to Jesse and his whole family lol.
Would Light from Death Note count?
Alex verus is a good series that does that. He keeps trying to do good. He was raised by bad guys, trys to be a good guy, is practically ostracized by "light" society. Kinda snaps and goes down the dark path for a while.
Probably Walter White.
Daenerys Targaryen. The actual arc is interesting, even if the producers failed the landing
Connie Nikas from Good Time. He was a shit to begin with but just keeps digging the hole deeper.
How about Thor from the MCU. In the beginning of the first movie, he's very full of himself, by the end of Love and Thunder he's almost a completely different person.
I see people already said Walter white, so I’ll say Daenerys Targaryen (although it would probably be a lot better in the books if they were ever written)
Rick Sanchez
Knockout Ned in City of God
The Blues Brothers.
Doing all the wrong things for an naively idealistic, childish reason.
All with one of the best soundtracks ever put together.
Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan.
Literally every main character archetype in a Shakespeare tragedy.
Walter White
Wendy (Ozarks)
I have three picks for this category.
First one is obviously Khaleesi Daenerys from a naive little girl to nephew f***. One of the most hated character.
More than that, Shakespeare's Macbeth. Then there is this protagonist in the Malayalam language movie - Joji Panachel. You can draw a parallel between Macbeth and Joji. Both driven by jealousy, greed and guilt. They both have a fitting fall. If you are ok with watching a malayalam movie with subtitle, I would say, you should try it. Worth the time.
Available on PrimeVideo... https://watch.amazon.com/detail?gti=amzn1.dv.gti.1abc43fe-9a80-f520-78e5-ddf5d955977a&territory=US&ref_=share_mac_movie&r=web
Dr. Seth Brundle
Captain Ahab
Nicolas Cage's character in Leaving Las Vegas
Michael Corleone
The characters in Breaking Bad.
Harvey Dent, the dark knight.
The Anakin story arc in the confines of the prequel movies I'd say was disappointing and feels rushed, but it was much more fleshed out in the Clone Wars series. It's totally worth a watch.
Saul Goodman?
Thanos had a great arc. Being consumed by his idea, willing to kill his own daughter and half of life in the universe, and believing he’s doing the right thing.
Nah that was trash
Danny McBride in “this is the end”
Cerci from GOT. She’s terrible the whole time but gets worse
Sounds like the opposite of the hero's journey
joker 1
Frank Underwood through POTUS
Richard Hatch
Walter White, Breaking Bad
Louis Creed in Pet Sematary is a good candidate!
In the book series of The expanse - Inspector Miller, defenitely fits like a glove in that definition
We may never know but I am assuming the BOOK version of Daenerys is amazing. Much more slow and subtle transformation from hero to totalitarian
Craig wright
Charlie Gordon, Flowers for Algernon is interesting one. He actually manages both positive and negative arc in one story.
As a generalist in America the hero normally comes through ala Disney, in Europe he/she may or may not ala Brothers Grimm, in Eastern Europe/ Russia the arc is relentlessly negative, no one has any redeeming qualities, life is short and brutal, everyone dies
I’ve also seen a rise in dystopian novels where you NEED anti heroes - art imitating art me hears “…in the near future in LA …”
Walking Dead has some brutal ones, where main characters end up as the zombies attacking the living.
The pigs in Animal Farm
are we all suffering from confirmation bias? - i sometimes listen to eurodollar uni and find myself thinking if bitcoin does not go higher… and save advice lyn?
Walter off of Breaking Bad gets into a hole and keeps digging. He's getting better and better at being bad.
the character of Nao Yasutani in , by Ruth Ozeki. This book helped make Zen/Buddhism approachable and understandable for me.
Nao, and her dad, both wanted to commit suicide… then her great-grandma, a Zen Buddhist nun was dying, and left a message… Ruth, the narrator, also had a strange dream connection with Nao’s dad. This made Nao and her dad want to live again. Her dad worked on an internet anonymity tool, and Nao went on to study French to read the writings of Marcel Proust. Ruth the narrator, feels happy with her life with Oliver and their cat.
Cruella! The prequel was very underrated, but showcased the native character arc perfectly.
negative*
Walter White 🙃
Michael Saylor
