Fitzgerald, Milton, Rowling and Shakespeare. Homer, Mitchell, Cervantes and Byron. Although the word was only coined in 1714, the use of antihero spans millennia and has never gone out of style. Perhaps the reason for this is to be found in its definition: the antihero can be defined as any character having ideals opposite to those of the hero. Although typical villains are usually excluded from this definition, it is a very broad definition and seems applicable to most stories; there's no story if there's only one hero, and there's not much story if there's only a hero and a villain. And it's true; it is applicable to most stories throughout history and the present day. But, strangely, most antiheroes are never classified as such. It seems that literary critics are almost universally reluctant to use the word antihero unless the book they are criticizing can be considered a literary masterpiece. Literary critics will talk about an antihero in a relatively unknown book and call this character a "bully turned hero," for example, when their epithet fits almost exactly the definition of "developing hero" — a character who begins as a bad person and becomes a hero. All this is to say that there are many more antiheroes to be found in novels than we know of, since this subcategory of "developing heroes", like many others, are further subcategories of the three main branches of the antihero: the Byronic Hero , Satanic hero and anti-hero. The subcategory of an antihero probably seems strange to you. It's strange, there's no denying it; however, there is an actual distinction. Whether good or bad, a protagonist with very human characteristics (having a fragile self-esteem, damn...... middle of paper ......tropes with highly predefined characters) which are listed here: the Byronic Hero is arrogant, sly, apathetic, cunning, proud, temperamental, highly intelligent, self-critical (with potential self-hatred), extremely loathsome or extremely attractive (no middle ground), and is dark and brooding. This hero is also treated poorly by the rest of society: society tends to dislike this hero for not conforming or even pretending to conform (as other tropes tend to do). The Byronic Hero has a fatal flaw (hamartia), typically discards social rank entirely, and has strong beliefs (leading to internal conflict). This hero can be on any side, whether evil, good, or his own side (although he will typically be on the side of good or his own side). The Byronic Hero is a very cerebral character and is often found recounting painful memories, trapped in the past.