If you’re a student of story structure, then you probably have a pretty good idea how each of the major plot beats affects your protagonist—and, indeed, how the protagonist in turn drives the plot beats. But what about the antagonist? What is the role of the antagonist in story structure?

Plot can be described in many ways, but one of the simplest and most useful is that of plot as conflict. And what creates that conflict? Although we often hear the word “conflict” and think of confrontations and altercations, what “conflict” really points to within story is simply the complications that arise when a character’s goal is met by obstacles. The character must re-calibrate—sometimes in a minor way, sometimes in a drastic way—and form a new plan to try to either maintain equilibrium or keep moving forward toward a specific goal.

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The beats of classic story structure present a roadmap of sorts through the rising and falling repeat cycles of a character’s intention, action, and reaction. That character is the protagonist, and we often speak of this character as “driving the plot.” It is the protagonist’s intention and subsequent ability to act upon that intention that frame the plot.

But what about the antagonist?

First, it’s important to remember not all stories will feature human antagonists or even specific antagonists. For example, a story’s main conflict might arise from the protagonist encountering multiple antagonistic proxies who represent the larger antagonistic force of a corrupt societal system, such as we find in stories like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street. That said, the antagonist’s function within the plot is usually most obvious in stories that feature a specific human antagonist whose personal intentions, actions, and reactions oppose the protagonist’s in such a way that they create obstacles for one another.

Especially in a tightly plotted story, the antagonist is every bit as important a driver of the story structure as is the protagonist. Therefore, there’s little wonder I’ve been receiving quite a few requests for a post that focuses on the antagonist’s role at each of the ten major plot beats.

Before diving into an overview of the antagonist’s impact upon each of the structural beats, I want offer a few clarifications:

1. There’s a difference between the antagonist’s structural role and the antagonist’s POV (point of view). Even if the antagonist does not have a POV within the story, he will still be an active force upon the structural beats (even if sometimes just implicitly).

2. The antagonist’s most important structural role is that of impacting the protagonist. From a characterization perspective, it is always important to create the antagonist as a person who is as fully dimensional as the protagonist. However from the perspective of plot dynamics, the antagonist functions primarily as a catalyst for the protagonist’s choices, actions, and development. Therefore, in most stories the best approach will be to view the antagonist less as an equal player within the story’s structure and more as a force that moves the protagonist through the structural arc. This a zoomed-out, mechanical perspective that can help you prevent the problem of an antagonist “taking over” the story. But if it feels too confining, just keep it in the back of your mind and don’t worry about it too much.

3. What follow are generalizations for the antagonist’s function at the major plot beats. Particularly in a story that is focused on a less personal version of the antagonist (more of an antagonistic force instead), the antagonistic effect upon the protagonist will often be less precise. Indeed the catalyst that complicates the protagonist’s desires and moves her forward to seek new solutions may well arise primarily from within the protagonist herself.

4. What I am referencing below is based on a story structure in which the protagonist follows a Positive-Change Arc—which I view as the foundational character arc, upon which all others are adapted. With an understanding of the other arcs (Flat and Negative), you can adjust the following to your needs.

The Antagonist’s Role in the First Half of a Story’s Structure

Because this turned into quite a lengthy discussion, I’ve split it into two posts. Today we will examine the antagonist’s role in the first half of a story’s structure, from the Hook through the Midpoint.

1. The Role of the Antagonist at the Hook

In some stories, the antagonist will be present from the very beginning of the story. His goal will almost always predate the protagonist’s in some way, although he may or may not be aware of the protagonist’s potential threat to that goal. For that matter, the antagonist may not even be aware of the protagonist’s existence as yet. However, this does not necessarily mean the antagonist will personally show up in the story’s Hook or even in the First Act for that matter.

In a protagonist-centric story (and especially one that does not feature the antagonist’s POV), the Hook will usually focus on the protagonist. If the antagonist is not personally present, the force of antagonism within the story will be represented symbolically via the protagonist’s current state of existence. Thematically, the true antagonistic force in any story is the Lie the Protagonist Believes. One way or another, this Lie will come to be represented by the story’s specific antagonist. However, at the very beginning, it is often enough to simply dramatize the protagonist’s inner conflict, which will prepare a place for the antagonist’s role in her life later on.

Antagonist’s Plot Role in Hook: As a character at this stage in the story, the antagonist will be at work on his own plot goal, probably with no correlation to protagonist. If the goal does directly involve the protagonist, the antagonist may approach or initiate contact with the protagonist in this scene. Since the protagonist has not yet formed her own specific plot goal, she is unlikely to cause or suffer from direct conflict with the antagonist. Their contact, insofar as the protagonist (and perhaps the antagonist as well) knows, is so far incidental.

2. The Role of the Antagonist at the Inciting Event

I like to describe the Inciting Event (or Call to Adventure) as the moment when the protagonist first “brushes” against the story’s main conflict. In some stories, this will mean the protagonist has now become aware of the antagonist as either a person or as someone with the potential to affect the protagonist’s life in ways the protagonist isn’t completely aligned with. In other stories, the protagonist’s Call to Adventure will have more to do with some sort of “invitation” into what will be the Adventure World of the Second Act. Although there can be direct opposition or threat from the antagonist at this point, the conflict is just as likely to arise more symbolically through the personal situations that are challenging the protagonist to accept this invitation.

Again, from a thematic perspective, the antagonistic force may be represented solely through the protagonist’s relationship to the Lie and the Truth. The protagonist’s Normal World is now becoming less functional (although this can be a sign of evolution rather than devolution, as in the case of a protagonist rising to a generally positive life challenge, such as getting a new job). The antagonist may be directly responsible for this growing dysfunction or may simply be symbolically fitted to step into a representation of that dysfunction when he does show up in the Second Act.

Antagonist’s Plot Role in Inciting Event: The antagonist character will also be facing an Inciting Event of sorts, although he may not realize it if he is, in fact, deep into his own plans. He, too, is “brushing” against this story’s main conflict, since the character who will become his primary opponent (i.e., the protagonist) is now on the brink of becoming an obstacle.

In some stories, the antagonist will be aware of the protagonist as a potential problem and will react in some way—which will probably lead to his “meeting his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it” by precipitating the events of the First Plot Point and causing the protagonist to become fully involved with him in the main conflict.

In other stories, the antagonist will remain mutually unaware of the protagonist as a threat (or perhaps even a person) and will interact with any conflict at the Inciting Event in the same thematic way as the protagonist.

3. The Role of the Antagonist at the First Plot Point

In most stories, if the protagonist and antagonist have not physically met each other yet, they will do so at the First Plot Point. At the very least, the events of the First Plot Point will directly propel them into opposing each other’s goals. In stories with “big bads,” the protagonist and antagonist may not physically meet until the Climax, but the protagonist will at least begin encountering significant antagonistic “proxies” who represent the main antagonist’s interests and work against the protagonist to achieve them. In a more personal story, this can signify the beginning of some sort of relationship between protagonist and antagonist—or at least an intensifying of their interaction.

As the turning point into the Adventure World of the Second Act’s main conflict, the First Plot Point signifies the moment at which the protagonist and antagonist become fully engaged with each other in pursuit of their mutually exclusive goals. In fact, one or the other of them may have the specific goal of stopping the other person in order to prevent a catastrophic obstacle to their overarching goal. A story in which the protagonist’s main goal is that of stopping the antagonist will be a story in which the protagonist is in a more reactive role. But it might also be that either the protagonist or the antagonist does not directly oppose the other’s goals until later in the story. For example, in a story about competitors, the bulk of the characters’ obstacles may be personal (learning to master the necessary skills, gaining confidence, etc.) until they finally end up in a direct confrontation at the end of the story.

Antagonist’s Plot Role in First Plot Point: The antagonist character will almost certainly make an appearance, by proxy if nothing else, at this point in the story. He will have become aware of the protagonist in some capacity. Even if he is not yet directly concerned with the protagonist’s ability to obstruct his goals, he will at least recognize the threat and move to protect himself from the protagonist in some way. The connection between the protagonist and the antagonist at this point will be definitive in that it causes a specific domino effect for both characters. Their encounter with each other at this point creates consequences—and their successive attempts to grapple with those consequences will engineer the entirety of the plot conflict to follow.

4. The Role of the Antagonist in the First Pinch Point

Even in a heavily protagonist-centric story, the Pinch Points are designed to put the focus on the antagonistic force. This does not necessarily mean that the antagonist’s POV must be utilized here (especially if it wasn’t used previously). Nor does it mean that the antagonist must necessarily be present in the scene. What is most important at the Pinch Points is that the protagonist feels the “pinch” of the antagonist’s power and presence in the story. Specifically, the First Pinch Point should be a significant reminder to the protagonist of the antagonist’s ability to prevent her from reaching her goals. It is an emphasis of what the protagonist stands to lose and of the antagonist’s potential ability to take that thing away from the protagonist.

For the protagonist, the First Half of the Second Act (which the First Pinch Point splits in half) is a period of relative “reaction.” The protagonist does not yet fully understand the conflict or himself in it. Although this does not always directly correlate to the First Half of the Second Act being a period of “action” for the antagonist, it is an indication that the antagonist is usually at least a little farther ahead of the game than is the protagonist. He might not have much more figured out than the protagonist, but he is one step ahead of the game.

Antagonist’s Plot Role in First Pinch Point: The antagonist will probably make some sort of move against the protagonist here. At the very least, the antagonist will achieve an incidental victory at the protagonist’s expense. The antagonist, too, will have things at stake, and those may be referenced here but specifically in the context of the antagonist’s seemingly being able to protect them better than the protagonist is able to protect hers.

However, in achieving this minor victory, whether physical or psychological, the antagonist will also have sacrificed a little something. Specifically, he will have showed his hand to the protagonist, at least a little bit. The protagonist will gain information or insight about the antagonist. These new clues could be specifically about the antagonist’s plans within the conflict and/or they could be about the thematic context in which both characters are operating. Either way, the protagonist’s growing understanding of the antagonist will lead directly into the Moment of the Truth at the Midpoint.

5. The Role of the Antagonist in the Midpoint

The Midpoint signals a major shift in the conflict. Up to this point, the protagonist will have been operating in a relative state of “reaction,” in which she did not fully grasp the thematic or practical nature of the conflict. But thanks in part to the insights she gained about the antagonist (and thus the conflict) at the previous beat of the First Pinch Point, she will encounter a full-blown revelation or Moment of Truth at the Midpoint. Although this revelation is not enough to yet allow the protagonist to fully overcome the antagonist and reach her goals, it does allow her to shift from a primarily reactive and defensive role into an increasingly active and offensive role.

By extension, this means the antagonist’s fortunes are shifting too. Not all stories will demand that the protagonist’s victory at the end of the story must come by way of the antagonist’s defeat. It’s always possible that the conflict resolves, instead, in a mutually satisfactory way with both characters more or less achieving their goals. In that case, the “antagonistic force” driving the conflict will be less a specific person and more a problematic mindset or mode of being for one or both characters.

However, in classic conflict, the protagonist’s shift into action at the Midpoint will indicate the antagonist’s shift in the opposite direction. Particularly if the antagonist is following a tragic arc, his experience will begin to devolve from here. In contrast to the protagonist’s Moment of Truth, the antagonist is more likely to double down on dysfunctional mindsets and tactics that will eventually prove themselves ineffective in the final outcome.

Antagonist’s Plot Role in the Midpoint: Usually, the protagonist and the antagonist will come together in a significant confrontation of some sort at the Midpoint. Often, the antagonist will be the one who seems to emerge victorious. However, because the Midpoint and its Moment of Truth function as a major wake-up call for the protagonist, the antagonist’s seeming victory is often the result of the antagonist’s making a big move that ends up showing the protagonist the holes in her approach. The antagonist may “win” the Midpoint as a result, but because he fails to walk away with the same insights as the protagonist, he will not subsequently have the capacity to grow and adapt in the second half of the story. He will likely leave the Midpoint from a place of power, but however potent it may still be, it will prove to be a dwindling reserve throughout the rest of the story.

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And that takes care of the antagonist’s role in the first half of a story’s structure.

Stay Tuned: Next week, we will study the second half, starting with the Second Pinch Point all the way through the Resolution.

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! What is your antagonist’s role in your story? Tell me in the comments!

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