Not every protagonist in a game is the hero, and not every game makes it clear if it's going to be one of them. Some games have it so that it is open for interpretation on if the protagonist was secretly the villain, throwing around typical gameplay mechanics to have players question morality. Others have a twist where characters had someone else pulling the strings all along and fans are unsure if that makes them inherently bad or not.
This all makes it difficult to figure out who is really the hero in the story and who is really the villain. Sometimes the game is content with an end that justifies the means to a a character's behavior, while others leave fans wondering who really is in the wrong.
10 Assassin's Creed: It's Hard To Tell Who Is Worse, Assassins Or Templars
The Assassin's Creed games love to blur the lines between who is really right and who is really wrong. They bank on typical video game conditioning that the player is in the right and doing what is best.
That is not always very clear within the series, and sometimes it's really hard to tell if the protagonist, usually a literal assassin, is better or worse than the Templars. Many fans typically say both factions are bad, but that makes it even harder to tell who is the hero and who is the villain in these stories. What's even worse is they all have a historical context, so any prior knowledge of the event can really shape opinions on the matter.
9 BioShock: Jack Was Being Manipulated, So It Is Difficult To Tell If He Was Really At Fault
One common way to determine if someone was at fault for their actions is to decide whether or not they were in a good state of mind at the time. So when it turns out that someone is being manipulated during their long-running acts of possible villainy, it can suddenly muddy the waters and make it difficult to tell if they are truly in the wrong.
Jack from the original BioShock game, as well as the player themselves, were being manipulated throughout the game by the phrase "would you kindly?" on top of normal video game conditioning which had them not realizing until the end that they were probably the villain of the story. However, since it was caused entirely by some clever manipulation, some fans argue whether or not Jack really was a villain at all.
8 Dark Souls: The Chosen Undead Is Still Undead
Something that sets the protagonist of the Dark Souls games apart from the other undead is that they still have memories of their humanity. They go around the world as The Chosen Undead, fighting, questing, and searching for more means of regaining their lost memories.
This doesn't stop them from being undead and being part of the problem the world is facing as a whole. Instead, some fans see the protagonist more as an exceptionally dangerous undead that is vying for power using the scapegoat of humanity to make it look like they are heroic.
7 Donkey Kong: Ape Antagonist Turned Protagonist That Still Fights Everything
Nintendo's iconic ape started out as a villain for Mario before Mario even officially had a name. After some time away from the spotlight, he returned in the '90s with the Donkey Kong Country series of games where he still runs around destroying objects, crushing opponents, and generally keeping up with the typical villain persona while under the guise of heroism.
He's clearly a hero to other primates, but for just about anything else, he's up there with Bowser for iconic Nintendo villainy. He's going to get where he wants to go through sheer force and isn't going to take no for an answer.
6 God Of War: Kratos May Or May Not Actually Be A Hero
Kratos has an epic story where he was deified and then turned on the gods themselves. While in his point of view, it's easy to feel like he is the hero of the story, righting wrongs and setting forth anger-fueled justice on those who really seem to deserve it.
However, looking at his story externally, he fits in with the traitorous villain role. He was elevated to godly status and then near-immediately turned coat and switched sides. Coupled with his rage and extreme destructive tendencies, Kratos has some fans wondering who is really the hero and who is really the villain of the God of War series.
5 The Last Of Us: Joel's Alignment Can Go Either Way Depending On How One Sees His Big "Decision"
The Last of Us is a game that made serious waves and still continued to do so with its second installment. Joel, the protagonist of the first game, is not always shown in the greatest light. He had some serious issues, but he was willing to take Ellie throughout the game and canonically cannot hand her over despite the fact that she alone might be the cure for the disease.
Even though that is the canonical ending, players are given the choice themselves to decide how he reacts. Both options are terrible, with one saving the girl he's essentially adopted and thus likely dooming the entire human race, while the other kills a girl everyone has gained an emotional attachment to for a chance at the greater good.
4 Mario: The Former Plumber Destroys Everything In His Path For The Princess
One of the most iconic figures in all gaming media is the Italian plumber himself, Mario. In the majority of his games, his goal is to make it through the Mushroom Kingdom and save Princess Peach.
In doing so, Mario goes through the entire map, destroying structures, stepping on creatures, and fighting against anything in his way just to get to a singular princess who doesn't always seem like she was in danger in the first place. To complicate matters further, he is actually the official villain in 1982s's Donkey Kong Jr., so he was already playing that role in what was only his second video game outing.
3 Pokémon: Sometimes The Leaders Seem More Interested In Saving The World Than Everyone Else
In Pokémon, there are teams out there trying to destroy, conquer, or simply become rich beyond belief. While the player instinctively opposes these teams, especially when their grunts seem more insane than their leaders, it is not always clear who is really in the wrong.
For example, Chairman Rose was attempting to provide power for the entire region out of concern for the global impact they were causing. Lysandre was trying to stop wars from happening by either removing humans or removing Pokémon. Guzma was trying to help the much crazier Lusamine research and understand questionable new forces. Giovanni was trying to find his son. Archie and Maxie were trying to terraform to make more space for things to live. The only thing that seems really villainous about some of them is just how extreme they were willing to go in order to meet their goals.
2 Portal: Chell And GLaDOS Blur The Lines Between Protagonist & Antagonist
The Portal games are some mind-bending puzzles in rapid succession. GLaDOS seems to be a cut and dry antagonist, especially in the first game. However, she only really starts acting out when Chell starts defecting from her testing. This is even pretty typical behavior for the real world when things don't go according to plan, albeit without the use of deadly neurotoxins to punish whatever got out of hand.
In the second game, GLaDOS is given some humanity as the players discover her origins. Once she is returned to a properly functioning computer, she decides that she was not interested in that aspect of her and deletes it. This sounds horrifying, but perhaps if Chell had been a little more helpful and less infuriating at points when they were opposing Wheatley, she might have come to a different conclusion.
1 Shadow Of The Colossus: Wander Is Corrupted While Trying To Do Good
Shadow of the Colossus starts out with the protagonist trying to stop the Colossi in order to save a loved one. As the game progresses, they become more and more corrupt as they are primed to become the next host for the villain they had been trying to defeat throughout the whole game.
However, due to the fact that they were attempting to do a virtuous act and were corrupted and used by outside means, some fans have difficulty deciding whether or not Wander/Wanda should be considered the hero or the villain of their story. They knew they they were hurting innocent beats, but they were also doing it to save a loved one. It's a grey area indeed.
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