Common Strings in Stories: Good Guy vs. Bad Guy

[Arczu]

I was thinking about it most of today at work and it got me thinking about it for awhile.

Everybody knows the common story: Protagonist vs. Antagonist. Usually, main characters meets Antagonist, Antagonist tries to defeat or suppress Protagonist, but no matter how close they are to winning, something always happens to let the protagonist win. I'd say about 96% of the time, the Protagonist is going to stand atop the opposing foe-- be it an actual person or something else that goes against the main character.

But when you think about it, why is it that a good force should always win? Yeah, sure, evil demons taking over the world is not a favorable ending, but what if there could be a story where the protagonist does not win, and end up loosing to the antagonist? What if there was a book where the first focuses on everything that happened up to the point where the protagonist lost, but then the second book shows the return of that same character, and THEN he finally beats the antagonist? I haven't seen this type of story at all.

I think mostly because a story where the bad guy wins is not as good as one where the main good guy 1-ups the bad one. It's not a stretch to say that a story that ends with evil roaming around the earth just seems wrong. I don't know, but if this concept was executed the right way, it could end up being a great series.

And this brings me back to the main point I started: Is it always fair that the bad guy always looses in the end? Ally-to-foe conversions tend to end up the same way.

[Shrran]

I've noticed that too. In a story I'm writing, the hero doesn't win. He wins once, but ends up dying from his wounds while the "enemy" regroups and takes over. It's very sad. I actually want to change it, but I can't imagine any other way to end it.

[Angelwang]

Yeah, it'd be nice to have a change every once in awhile. Partially why I love the Gargoyles storyline so much. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a 'happy ending', of course.

[loony636]

I once read a book, can't remember its title, that set itself up about being the classic good vs evil. But it changed during the book. The origional bad was killed by the origional good, so the bad then went around trying to repair the damage he had done. He was unableto fix it so he killed himself to reset the balance between good and evil.

[Arczu]

In a story I'm writing, the hero doesn't win. He wins once, but ends up dying from his wounds while the "enemy" regroups and takes over. It's very sad. I actually want to change it, but I can't imagine any other way to end it.You see, that's the problem. In this case, the Protagonist lost because of a fatal wound. If he was the only person opposing the bad guy, then it seems like a sad or less-than-preferred ending that in the end feels sorta wrong. A story where there is a happy ending usually means that antagonist...

A) Gets defeated/killed
B) Is sealed away or banished
C) No longer becomes a threat
D) Coverts to the protagonist's side

Most stories falling into case D's clause are usually good, or fail miserably. The only prime example I can muster up right now is Beyblade. Seriously, every single person they meet who opposed the Main character is on the same side at the end. But that's TV, so yeah...

Hey loony, that book you described sounds MESSED-UP (and I mean in an interesting way)! You sure you don't remember the name of that book?