Why do we love anti-heroes? They certainly do some horrible things, they certainly act out quite viciously at times. Take Walter White from Breaking Bad for instance; Mr. White builds a Meth empire at the expense of the lives of others, killing others and doing what he sees is necessary in order to build his legacy. How about Sherlock Holmes in the British TV series Sherlock? He is an arrogant, selfish, high-functioning sociopath who does what he does not to help others, but because he enjoys solving crimes, outsmarting serial killers, and to feed his ego. So, why would we ever love these characters!? They are obviously horrible people who act upon situations selfishly and exploit others to build upon their own self interest. WHY ARE THEY LIKE THAT!? I’ll tell you why, because they’re REAL. They’re complex, they’re complicated, they don’t wear their heart and their intentions on their shirt for all to see, they are the most human characters in any form of Entertainment. The definition of an anti-hero is this: the anti-hero is a protagonist which does the wrong things for the right reasons. So, what are the “right reasons”? Why do anti-heroes act out in often violent or cold, ruthless ways? How do anti-heroes justify their actions? And do we attempt to justify their actions as well no matter how bad things get?

Let’s start with Walter White/Heisenberg/Mr. White. Walter starts his journey as a quiet, sheepish, and submissive High School Chemistry teacher, however, when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer he turns to cooking and selling the highly-addictive drug crystal meth. Though he loses his true self and becomes a ruthless, cold, and calculating drug lord, you really have to look at his intentions to understand why we continue to cheer for him throughout the entire story. Walter has a steady but average income, one of his old friends makes millions benefitting off of a scientific theory that he created himself, he has cancer and no way of paying the bills, if he died he doesn’t want to leave his family in financial ruin, so, he does what he thinks is necessary in order to protect his family. We can’t help but feel for Walter because of all of these reasons, and as he becomes desensitized as the seasons go by I feel that we as the audience have become so attached that even we support some of the horrible acts he commits. For example, letting Jesse’s girlfriend die of a heroin overdose, poisoning a child, allowing a child to be killed right in front of him and doing nothing etc. These are all horrible, but we never stop rooting for him because we are so connected to his character that even we believe in his own justifications for his actions. We keep connected to Walter because the story told is Walter’s story, so, as the audience we subconsciously take the point of view of whichever character the writers and directors want us to pay attention to. We even temporarily adopt Walter’s form of ethics for the duration of the show. The form of ethics Walter uses to justify his actions is called Consequentialism, which is the concept that every action that takes place and every decision made is just a means to an end, as apposed to Deontological theory, which is the idea that you must always stay true to your duty and the means or the end is irrelevant. For example, Batman wants to stop the Joker, but refuses to kill him. Killing the Joker would obviously deter the murder of possibly thousands of people, but, the Dark Knight refrains from killing because he does not believe it is necessary to achieve his goals and believes that killing is the only thing which separates him from the lunatics he faces, he believes it is his civic duty to remain morally pure in that sense, thus making Batman/Bruce Wayne a deontological thinker. Walter is most definitely a consequentialist as he uses cost-benefit analysis to make his decisions. Cost-benefit analysis is an ethical theory apart of consequentialism which uses logic and mathematics to ascertain the most positive conclusion. For example, you have 2 cookies, you can choose to either share with your best friend or your crush. A deontologist would share one of the cookies with their best friend because “bros before hoes” is staying true to the code/the law/a bro’s duty. While a consequentialist would share one of the cookies with their crush and justifies it because it will provide the most overall satisfaction to himself/herself overall if this chivalrous act ends up being one of the reasons why he/she wins over their crush later on, and the “bro” never has to know that there even was a cookie to share. So, how does this apply to Walter? Well, Walter is constantly analyzing how much meth he must sell and for what price to evenly balance out the cost if he gets caught. Walter mathematically plays out in his mind what is necessary to be done in order to achieve his overall goals. For example, when Walter and his partner Jessie start to sell their product on their own, Jessie hires his friends to sell for them. One of Jessie’s friends is robbed and to Jessie it is okay because a $1,000 loss is nothing compared to the $10,000 a day that they are making. However, the problem with Jessie, and what makes him Walter’s perfect foil, is that he is all about instant gratification. Jessie is willing to let things go and forget about the robbery because he is happy with the money they make already. But, Walt is not happy with this because he is all about the overall prize which they can achieve. Walt points out that if word gets out that this man robbed Jessie then everyone won’t take them seriously, everyone will assume they can steal from Jessie and Walter, and thus end in an overall bigger loss. So, Walt decides that the necessary decision for a better overall outcome is to kill the man who stole from them. But, Jessie does not want to go out of his way to kill someone. Jessie, although a drug addict and drug dealer, is very much so a deontologist, he refuses to kill someone unless in self-defense, he doesn’t want to treat people like numbers much like Walt does and it is Jessie’s compassionate heart which eventually drives him away from Walter and plays a big role in Walt’s downfall. Walt’s logic is sound and valid, and in the end he surely does make it known that he is not someone you want to mess with. Because, if you get in his way and stop him from achieving his overall goals, you will hear a knock on your door, and Walter is the one who knocks.

Now, how about Sherlock? He is certainly not as bad as Walter, he helps people and saves lives and brings justice, but he doesn’t do it for them, he does it for himself. Sherlock uses his own form of logical deduction to solve crimes, understand people, and dissect every bit of a person’s personality. Sherlock is blunt, rude, manipulative, and seemingly does not care for the emotions of others (but at the same time he does). Sherlock obviously loves the thrill of the chase, he doesn’t care much for saving lives, he just wants to be superior, brilliant, and feed his ego. He seemingly cares for nobody, but, he sacrifices so much in order to protect the people that he loves. Actions speak louder than words. For example, at the end of Season 2, Sherlock faces off with Moriarity, his greatest foe, on the top of a building. Moriarity tells Sherlock that he has to kill himself and, if he doesn’t, then his men will assassinate his friends and loved ones. At first, Sherlock outsmarts Moriarity, but underestimates how far Moriarity is willing to go to beat Sherlock. So, Moriarity kills himself thus leaving no one to call off his men, and so Sherlock must kill himself or let his loved ones die. So, Sherlock seemingly does it, although it is later found out that he staged his own suicide and is really alive, he shows a moment of weakness and sensitivity as he was obviously willing to kill himself and destroy his reputation to keep his friends safe. As arrogant and unpleasant he might be, he certainly does care about others and sees there is something else bigger than himself. And that is why we love him! If we came across Sherlock in person he would most likely offend us, say something rude and pick us apart ruthlessly, however, he fights for the bigger picture and for what he knows is morally right and for the better of society. Essentially, Sherlock is very much so a consequentialist just like Walter White. Sherlock lies to his own friends, manipulates those closest to him and seemingly turns his back on them at times, but, this is all done to achieve an overall goal and the best possible conclusion. A deontologist would make themselves a martyr if necessary because that is the right thing to do no matter what, no questions asked. However, Sherlock sees that there is a way he can save his friends and himself, though there is obviously a chance that Sherlock could be caught and risks the safety of his friends, Sherlock sees the risk as necessary in order to receive the best outcome, aka cost-benefit analysis. This is also what makes Watson perfect for Sherlock as his antithesis and his partner. Watson is an honorable man who gives strict observance to the law, rules, and his duty as a man, friend, and husband. Watson would never even think of the clever, ingenious, and creative ways which Sherlock makes decisions, because he is dutiful, loyal, and traditional. Not to undermine Watson, because he is brilliant in his own way and he often plays as Sherlock’s conscience, but him and Sherlock are obviously different. Sherlock is innately flawed, but he is admirable and lovable because he is so human and when we get an inside look at his mind and thought process, how could we not fall completely in love with him and support him through everything?

Anti-heroes are taking over all forms of media, I believe they are the most popular of all modern characters. Just to name a few: Deadpool in Deadpool, Jordan Belfort in Wolf of Wall Street, Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, Nancy Botwin from Weeds, Frank Underwood from House of Cards, every single character in Orange is the New Black, literally ever character in Game of Thrones is an anti-hero, Dexter Morgan from Dexter, Tony Stark AND Captain America in Captain America: Civil War etc. There are countless anti-heroes and seem to dominate film and television. Later this year, the film Suicide Squad will be released, it is literally about villains taken out of maximum security prisons to fight other bad guys. Villains who have killed innocent people and who are insane, and yet we cheer for them because we love their flaws, because they are human, and we wish we had the power that they did. Take a look at the current political world and the run for president. I personally don’t like Donald Trump, but let’s all be honest here, if you do like him it’s because he says the things you “wish could say but are too afraid to,” he fights for himself and doesn’t take crap from anybody. Trump is a real life anti-hero. Trump believes he is doing what is best for America, in his own selfish way, but he says a lot of taboo and questionable things to achieve his goals. I even personally believe much of what Trump says is for publicity reasons and to grab attention rather than an accurate depiction of who he truly is, but Trump does what he sees is necessary to become president. Trump really is a modern day anti-hero. In such a messed up world it is understandable as to why we love such flawed characters. No one is perfect and we love to see the underdog win and I don’t think that passion will dissipate anytime soon. Mark my words, anti-heroes are on the rise.