Thread:Great Mara/@comment-35180808-20180624220035/@comment-35180808-20180624224511

Hm. How to phrase this? Being the main antagonist of a story doesn't simply mean being responsible for the most negative outcomes (off screen, in this case.) You have to factor in the experience of the viewers as well. I don't dispute that Yaldabaoth is technically the "Man behind the man," as it were. But he isn't the villain of the game until the very end.

Look at it this way: the Joker is the villain of the Dark Knight Rises, no question. He's Batman's enemy, and ours (the viewers) in the experience. But suppose, at the very end of the movie, Nick Marony came back from the dead and revealed that he manipulated the Joker and was technically responsible for everything bad ever.

Now, is Nick suddenly the main antagonist of the story? Was he Batman's nemesis? Was he the one we were rooting for him to take down? Was he the primary force opposing the hero? No. The Joker (as far as we're concerned) is still the villain of DNR--or at least 99% of it until the end.

I enjoy discussing these things--even if it's with two people at once--and I'm curious to know if you view antagonists differently.