I feel like people here have a hard time understanding what an “antagonist” is

So after seeing the main antagonist post earlier, I wanted to bring up the whole “James is the real main antagonist argument” and make my case against it.

A common argument against Maria being the main antagonist is that she’s not a villain. As mentioned by many in that thread, an antagonist does not always mean villain. An antagonist is “defined as the character or force that opposes the protagonist.” The roles of the antagonist and protagonist do not have to align with the morality of the character. A classic example is in Macbeth, where the titular protagonist is corrupt, a usurper, and murderer, while his nemesis Macduff is the antagonist, but is seen as the hero. Likewise, James is the protagonist of Silent Hill 2, but is no hero. Maria, meanwhile, is not a villain, but is unquestionably an antagonist.

Now a classic example of conflict in literature is “person vs. self”, in which there is no external antagonist to the protagonist. Instead, the conflict emerges from an internal struggle within the protagonist. In this way, one can argue that this story has no antagonist, or is the same person as the protagonist. James’s greatest enemy is himself, so I see the argument for why he would be his own main antagonist. However, I disagree by virtue of Maria and Pyramid Head existing at all. Yes, James created them, but they are still external entities created by his internal struggles. These external threats are now fulfilling a purpose for their existence. This purpose was given by James, but they are still entities with something of a will of their own, as seen with Maria taking action against James or on her own volition.

Silent Hill 2 is based on Crime and Punishment, a classic person vs. self story, but the game’s setting and embodiment of James’s struggles into external threats has it dance on the fence of person vs. self, person vs. person, and person vs. the unknown. It’s something that adds to SH2’s greatness. While James’s internal problems are ultimately at the core of his conflict, he is not his own main antagonist. Maria and Pyramid Head are his main antagonists because they are characters who fulfill that function, both as given by the writer and as given by James himself.

Anyway, this was a post I wanted to make after reading the comments earlier. If any of you disagree, I’d actually really like to hear your takes on who the main antagonist of SH2 is. I think it could be an interesting discussion into the game’s writing.