student asking question

What's the main difference between a "villain" and an "antagonist?"

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Villains are known for being evil. They exist in many different stories, and the importance of their role may vary. Meanwhile, an antagonist is specifically a character that opposes the protagonist. They may or not be a villain, and may or may not even be bad or evil! So a villain can be an antagonist, but the antagonist is not necessarily always a villain. Ex: The villain of the story was a serial killer named Peter. Ex: The book's antagonist became more mature and made amends with the protagonist.

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