Nemesis

Just the name inspires awe, a level of attention and gravity. Because it was a name before it became a noun: she was the ancient Greek goddess of revenge and retribution against those who committed any kind of hubris.

In stories though, a character that takes the position of nemesis, must be the main, most insurmountable foil for the protagonist; the one person (or group of persons, or agent, or force of nature, you name it) that the protagonist cannot win over, cannot overcome, cannot conquer.

The nemesis outclasses every and any other antagonist in the story from the first moment the spotlight is on him/her/it. The audience realizes somehow or suspects that he/she/it is the Big One.

The only difference, in my opinion, is when the spotlight really falls on the protagonist’s nemesis. It might be in the last act, if he/she/it had been working in the shadows, lurking and conniving with machinations, or just unnoticed by circumstance or chance; or it might be from the get go, to immediately set the stakes on what the final confrontation will entail.

Both can work excellently to set the tone, mood and suspense in a story. Even more so in webcomics, when the story is complemented with strong visuals and ‘camera’ angles.

In my opinion, a story is defined by the nemesis as much as it is by the protagonist. So much so that the nemesis might decide the story’s genre- for example, when nature is the nemesis, we get disaster movies.

In the same token, the nemesis defines the protagonist, just as the protagonist defines the nemesis as well; I’ve always thought, for example, that the Joker is basically Batman’s doppelganger, drawn to antagonize Batman because they’re both intelligent, violent and willing to go above the law to enforce what they want (whether it is nihilistic anarchy or ordered state/benevolent crony capitalism, depending on the writers, heh heh).

On the other hand, Batman as a character defines Joker as his nemesis, because Joker employs the exact principles and methods that go against everything that could constitute Batman’s approach. They are nearly equal forces, with different methods and philosophies and motivations, that continually clash- and that makes for ultimate confrontations and great drama: Sherlock Holmes vs. Moriarty, MacGyver vs. Murdoc, Jean Valjean vs. Inspector Javert, Light vs. L, Zuko vs. Azula, Johann vs. Dr. Tenma… everyone has the nemesis that matches.

Or maybe the one they deserve?

So what about you? Is there a nemesis in your webcomic? Will there be?