Antagonist

by Maria
(Lansing, US)

Should I have only one antagonist, or can I have multiple antagonists?

ANSWER

In general, a story needs one protagonist and one antagonist. However an antagonist might also be a group of people, or you may have one primary antagonist and others who support that individual. Sometimes an antagonist is not a person, such as in Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" where the sea itself, or more specifically the sharks, is the antagonist that makes life difficult for Santiago in his goal to bring in the huge marlin.