Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26116863-20161009211142/@comment-26116863-20161011040822

His characterization is sketchy, I'll give you that, but I think he is usually an anti-hero. He's deeply flawed, has a dark past that haunts him, has dark methods of taking care of things and doesn't care what people think of them, and yet he usually has noble, or at least sympathetic, ends. They may may often conflict with the goals of the other heros, but they are not evil. He has different priorities than the heros, and different standards,  His concern has usually been ensuring the safety of Neil, the safety of Belle and Henry, and now the safety of his unborn son, while they usually want to protect the entire town. From his point of view, he is acting to protect those he loves, just as the heros are. So y ou could say that he is the protagonist of his story, if not always relative to the show as a whole.

The only time he really had an evil goal was when he was talking about taking over the world, but given how that was suggested to him as a goal by someone else, and he just went along with it, I'd say that was hot air. He wanted to go with them to New York, a place with very limited magic. He wouldn't be able to take over the world there. He has never tried to take over StoryBrook as other villians have, and he's not particularly fixated on revenge (ok, *cough* Zelena....)

He doesn't have courage, idealism, or a strong morality. though. That is what sets him apart from a hero. Unfortunately, the only thing that seems to motivate him towards his understandable goals is fear and the lust for power, which is still really rooted in fear and a need to feel secure. He's a coward who is as terrified for the people he loves as himself, often more.

I'm looking at motives and goals, and since they are usually good, but persued with little regard for right and wrong, I'm going to call him an anti-hero relative to his small story sphere which includes his immediate significant others, and not necessarily the rest of the town. To the rest of the town he is often the antagonist, but he is acting like that to achieve a goal that relative to those closest to him is heroic.

Cinderella was a antagonist relative to her step-sister's seperate story, but from the frame-reference of her own story, she was still the protagonist.

I guess what I'm saying is that it depends on whose point of view we're looking at, with each one being it's own story with unique perspectives on who is hindering who.

jmo