Daisy Edgar-Jones is having a moment. The English actress is fetedCelebrated; honoured. for her role in the TV drama Normal People. The next step could be a leading role in a Hollywood blockbuster.

But Edgar-Jones wants something else. Her dream part, she said in a recent interview, is "a really iconic villain with an amazing costume". 

Once, it would have been a surprising admission. The hero is the lead role. Many films are named after them. The audience is supposed to identify with them and hope they succeed. The villain is secondary to the hero, an obstacle to overcome.

Yet things have become muddled. Villains have become popular. A 2022 online poll ranked Darth Vader as the most popular character in the Star Wars universe. Disney villains Maleficent and Cruella de Vil have even been given their own film series.

A recent research project found that we are attracted to fictional villains as darker versions of ourselves. People do not want to compare themselves to bad people in the real world. But, says researcher Rebecca Krause-Galoni: "When people feel protected by the veil of fiction, they may show greater interest in learning about dark and sinister characters who resemble them."

Others question why the same can not apply to heroes too. Just as a villain can help us explore our worst traits, a hero can let us reflect on our best, or what we can do better.

It is at least as interesting to watch supposedly good characters make mistakes. AristotleA student of Plato, tutor to Alexander the Great and the father of political philosophy. wrote that heroes in drama should have a fatal flaw. Shakespeare's heroes often demonstrate a complex mixture of traits, which sometimes lead them to commit terrible acts: Othello murders his wife Desdemona out of jealously, but he remains the play's tragic hero.

Yes: Villains can be unpredictable. They are creative, producing evil plans that heroes merely have to react against. And while heroes often protect the status quoA Latin phrase referring to the current or present situation., villains represent change.

No: Fiction is full of bland heroes who face intriguing villains. But that is just the result of bad writing. Some of the most fascinating characters of all are heroes, from Hamlet to Sherlock Holmes.

Or... Most people contain a mixture of good and bad. The best stories reflect this, with characters too complex to neatly fit as hero or villain alone. The most interesting characters defy categories.