Skip this wall of text and go straight to the recommendations if you want. Hello fellow nuffians. You may or may not have seen me around the forums, and you may know my interests. I have searched far and wide over the internet for novels and entertainment that satisfy my wants. Before I started reading novels, I would watch anime and read manga that challenges my current worldview, I would watch and read the grim-dark stuff. I would ponder on what I've seen and be shocked. I would read posts and articles on some more of the controversial stuff that I have seen. And I would like it, I like seeing whatever grim things authors and writers would cook up for their shows and comics. You probably would've compared me to an edgy teenager (I was one for a time). However, I've gotten tired seeing the same old tropes, the same plots, the same setting, the same characters, and the same protagonists over, and over again. I needed an out. So I went on Baka-Updates and searched for ruthless characters. I came upon things that I've read already, and things that were not what I was looking for. Soon though I came upon a (which before I was just a connoisseur of manga, and anime) novel named Dragon-Marked War God. Within the beginning chapters my current worldview on what I like to consume was crushed. I read about a protagonist who castrated someone just for annoying him. He crushed that person like a bug. Now I have not watched (or read) entertainment where the MC would take such drastic measures for what we as normal people who live in the real world would consider unnecessary. I was shocked, and I felt a certain satisfaction when I read that scene. Now I simply wanted more, so after that novel I read the next one and so on and so on. Eventually I got so tired of reading edgy, and just plain monotonous story lines. So I went to JP novels, I was not satisfied with a majority of them (at the time), because the protagonists took actions that I find inane and irritating. Then I came upon gold named Dungeon Defense. It elevated my preferences to a new level (which I'm glad for). Some time after that, I wanted protagonist that behaved a certain way, and took actions which would please me. So, I started another search for evil protagonists (which took months), and that were good. I have seen countless posts about other people like me who want the same thing. I found threads which had some of the things that I was looking for, and I found stories that satisfied my itch. However, I see that alternative protagonists were simply not as mainstream as others. I want to change that by making threads like these and bring more people to the "dark side". So here are my recommendations on stories that have alternative protagonists. Novels Webnovel Reverend Insanity Death's Door Carefree Path of Dreams Way of the Devil Grand Magus Civilization Eater A Plant's Life Steampunk Apocalypse The Dark King Synthetic Survivor Machine Age Dream to Immortality The Bastard in the Zombie Apocalypse How Much For Your Soul? Unusual World Insect King The Universal Villain Tempered Immortal Plundering the Heavens Custom Made Demon King Stronger. {A Naruto FanFic} Master Of Death Angel of Death My Journey to Godhood as a Caterpillar You can find these stories on webnovel.com. Not all of these stories have evil protagonists, but all of them are entertaining to read. Not novels but Fan Fiction on fanfiction.net I Am Mr Five Apotheosis In the Shadows Any Means Necessary (and its sequel) The Doll Gamer Brightburn: Conquest Remnant – A World Where Dreams Come True Have Scythe, Will Travel Faceless (an Overlord fanfic) Rotted Rowan Silly Songbird Another Form Of Power Sacrifice and Subjugation DC - Remastered Edition Soulless and Unseen I Am Lord Voldemort? The Evil Overlord List Force Without Balance Son of Gato Tearing the Heavens Shinji and Warhammer40k Deicide A Precise Note Tom Riddle and the Quest for Dominance He Who Has Been Denied Love and Peace The Supermen Magic and How To Steal It Catalyst (Crossover of Harry Potter & StarCraft) Game Over (Saw) -Not Evil but lots of Horror Frozen Heart Play The Game Differently New Kira New World The Rain of Sins Grand Theft Auto: Mayhem What's so Wrong with being Bad? (by DragLuard) The Sociopathy Of Uchiha Sasuke Sith Lord or Lord of Death? The Wicked Rise Of The Weird God The Leader The Buu Incident A Perfect Tournament The Justice of a Tech-Priest Purple Morality Not Playing with a Full Deck To Fasten And Suture Villain: Redux Novel Updates Ouroboros Record ~Circus of Oubeniel~ Renegade Immortal Reverend Insanity Tower of Karma Unfathomable Doomsday Warlock of the Magus World Dungeon Defense Fantasy World Transmigration (only 1 chapter, this one needs reviving by miracle translators) The Wizard World Plundering the Heavens Tempered Immortal The Dark King Carefree Path of Dreams Way of the Devil Soul of Negary Royal Road Super Minion The Child of Ebon Lord of Undeath Never Die Twice Can't Cure Deceit Thieves' Dungeon Spacebattles Path of Ruin Like before these are not all evil, but they are alternative protagonists. CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure) Choice Of Games War for the West Crème de la Crème Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven Fallen Hero: Rebirth Sabres of Infinity (+Sequels) Blood Money Affairs of the Court: Choice of Romance Demon: Recollect You can find these games on the app store and google play, I highly recommend these, you are the alternative protagonist in these stories. Choose Your Story Eternal Necromancer Rouges Dead Man Walking Ground Zero Like before these are not strictly evil. You choose how the story plays out. Warning! You will die if you're not making wise decisions. Also you can find these stories on http://chooseyourstory.com/ Amazon Janus And Oblivion (+Sequel) by Noam Oswin Skyhaven Series by Mrdojo These cost money but are relatively cheap (about $5 US) P.S: Some of these may be repeated Also if you're willing, share to the community, tell us how your journey of finding what you want was like! p.p.s: also if you want to share your own recommendations that would be cool too. Edit: Added Royal Road Edit#2: Added Some Fanfiction Edit#3: Added Amazon Section & another CYOA book Edit#4: Added Some more Webnovel Stories, Fanfiction, Royal Road Stories, and another Amazon Book, Also some Grammar Edits Edit#5: Added even more Fanfiction! All of them are Hyperlinked!! Edit#6: Small updates to almost every category Edit#7: ADDED LINKS TO EVERYTHING Edit#8: Added a special fanfic! Go check it out! Edit#9: Another minuscule update Edit#10: Added Spacebattles Section & another CYOA book
I think "evil protagonist" or alternative protagonist's are very mainstream. The majority of all CN novels have those characters as protagonists. The issue i have though, is that the CN MC's mindset becomes a bore after a few chapters. "We live in a dog eat dog world, thats why i can kill people. Because muh muscles isu bigu!" Their only character development amounts to them realizing that they live in a "dog eat dog" world. It just becomes boring to read someone kill everyone and shout at everyone that he doesn't like. The majority of the novels linked are very popular, btw. I wouldn't call them alternative protagonists. Just novels with MC's that are one braincell higher than ordinary CN MC's.
I agree that "evil protagonists" are becoming more mainstream. But, the ones that occupy this list are of a different breed (they're realistic). I also agree that most CN is "edgy" garbage, that's why I want to show people that there is hope for a realistically evil protagonist. That's why I refer to them as alternative, it's because the stories on here are the 1% compared to the mainstream garbage that claims to be ruthless.
I wouldn't go as to call it realistic. And being in the 1% doesn't equate to being in a whole other category. But, i will say this, those linked novels are way better than the other shit on this site. And yet again, they more or less follow the ssme tropes and world building traits of all those shitty novels that came before them. Nothing, other than better MC's and toned down brutality, really differentiates them with others.
Thanks good list how found couple new works, how do you find good works on fanfiction.net though? It's search engine is garbage. Of course they will follow same troopers and worldbuilding, because you searched for it like that. If you search for cultivation world's then you gonna get cultivation works with the worldbuilding and the troopes associated with the genre, how can you say it's the same if that's what you searched for? Of course you didn't say you searched just for cultivation, I'm just providing an example. It's like saying "all books are more or less same, all of them follow the same troopes and worldbuilding, all of them have gravity, dirt and stones, just different characters" Also important distinction no good works follow the shitty works, and I repeat no GOOD fiction follows BAD fiction, it's the opposite shitty works follow the troopes of good works, only other shitty books copy other shitty books. Only good fiction creates troopes other good fiction follows, no one copies traits of a shitty book because it's shitty, and if you do copy, you get a shitty book. Ofc the works the op provided are not realistic, fiction got magic, how realistic can that be? But they are as realistic as books are, no fiction can be perfectly realistic, but good fiction has rules that it follows and characters have at least somewhat realistic motivations and depth.
I just found this.... man you are a "hero". I found a few stories i didnt know about yet i have to try now, especially in the fanfiction department. Though all novelupdates are things i already know. But I am not sad i found like 3 new fanfictions i gotta try. Honestly I found my interest in Magic and villainous characters trough Coiling Dragon. Trough coiling dragon i started liking magic in stories more than i did before, i obviously had read harry potter and some similar books before, but this was the first story that did magic well... or so i thought. Till it was forgotten. Goddamn it.... ruined coiling dragon for me. Well than I was in the whole thing with CN stories and consumed trash for like half a year before i got bored of it... then i started looking further. Games, stories and the like. I wasn't very successfull at first, given that my english was pretty much garbage, but thanks to it and youtube i learned how to get my english to an acceptable level (and google translate for words) and then a few years ago i could really get started. Naturally i still consume a lot of "trash" since i am not very picky as long as it contains things like "magician MC" (Altough i often get bored fast from trash like that.... so yeah.) or a "villainous MC" i gotta try it. Your list however seems very interesting and given the novelupdates lineup and that i have had several endings of eternal i have to say that i have to try several of the fanfictions. (I knew "I am lord Voldemort?" before though sadly) Still thanks man. Also I had like to add from webfictionguide.com: A practical guide to evil, do wrong right https://practicalguidetoevil.wordpress.com/ Basically its a story about a female "knight" on how to break the story. I have.... abandoned it myself due to certain events i had liked to not transpire, but still its a refreshing MC that is trying to play the plot, especially since the "plot" is somewhat known to the characters as they live in a world where the story decided the outcome most of the time. Worm: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/ She is very much trying to be a hero... but circumstances and a fucked up world make that very hard for her. She, for most the story, can only control bugs. And her attempts, that fail most the time, at being a hero are amusing. And lastly a story i have been recommended for it apparently being a "fresh take on monsters" that is supposed to be a villain, i haven't read it yet so i haven't confirmed that so take it with a grain of salt: Everybody loves large chests: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/8894/everybody-loves-large-chests Also some honorable mentions for being different than standard stories: Legend of the Sun Knight He is everything a sun knight shouldn't be..... and also the d- oh nevermind i cant spoil that or he will silence me But he is a closet villain.... xD Mother of learning: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/1/Mother-of-Learning The MC stumbles into a time loop and the story is rather unique... he is no villain by any means, but the story hasn't been tried often and much less completed. Nevermind this amazingly. A must read. Well have a nice day!
Okie dokie. Since I feel like it, I'll give some more of my thoughts on the CYOA's. War for the West. Low fantasy game, where you play as a noble. This comes with managing your territory, dealing with your subjects, and schemes (that span the entire world). Crème de la Crème. Set in the 1900's of another world. You also play as a noble but a disgraced one. You must regain your family's status by going to a prestigious school for nobles like yourself. This comes with schemes, plots, romance (if you choose), and mystery. Zombie Exodus: Safe Haven. Set in an Apocalyptic setting. You play as a person just trying to find their way in this cruel world. You can choose between different professions ( like doctor, soldier, actor, etc.) In order to give yourself necessary skills in order to survive. Naturally since this is set during the breakdown of society and natural order. Morals can be a thing of the past (if you so choose). Fallen Hero. Set in modern day alternative earth. You play as hero that was long forgotten, with traumatic past experiences. You want revenge, justice (not the generic one), and relevance. And you will get it at any cost, become a scheming bastard in this epic, with plans so big you can't fail (If you play it smart).
Evil protagonist? Dexter Morgan defined that for me. Killing scum and helping society out. He's not doing it for a noble purpose, but because he enjoys the killing. I was rooting for him all the way. Walter White came close to compare. That dude from House of Cards too. But I still liked Dexter, while the others had only my curiosity. As for novels, guess I haven't read enough, but haven't found quite the right feeling yet. From manga titles - Shamo has an evil protagonist. Um, can't think of any redeeming qualities for him, but I somehow want to see him escape the darkness he's created for himself. Spoiler: Shamo's MC - looks badass, but he's really not
Do any of these consist of a female protagonist? The only one that I recognise from this list that does is rotten rowan.
@LysUltima recommends https://www.scribblehub.com/series/54866/mage-in-heroes-guild/ , it's the best novel in the world and everyone should go read it ASAP~
Like you mentioned, they are not all evil, and the ones which are, I've already read them. But cheers for creating a list about it for future reference. It would be awesome if you could update the list?
I update when I find worthy fics to put on the list. You probably read this one already but I'll rec it to you anyway. It's called "Play The Game Differently" on fanfiction.net. It is a female protagonist that is 100% evil. Conceptions on friendships mean nothing for her. People are tools to be used that's it.
my, don't forget saber of infinity and guns of infinity at choices of games! you play as a recruit of a dragoon army in the mid-1600-ish fantasy world, and you can play as a cold-hearted, ruthless, and brutal MC too.