What is a Foil Character in Literature? A foil character is someone who contrasts the traits and actions of another character, often the protagonist. By contrasting two different characters, the author seeks to emphasize the strengths, weaknesses, philosophies, and/or themes that each character represents.
Harry Potter's rival Draco Malfoy makes an excellent foil example in the Harry Potter series. Uber-creepy Professor Snape allows both boys to "to experience the essential adventures of self-determination." But while Harry chooses to fight Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters, Draco Malfoy instead joins them.
In any narrative, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character, typically, a character who contrasts with the protagonist, in order to better highlight or differentiate certain qualities of the protagonist. A foil to the protagonist may also be the antagonist of the plot.
Typically, however, foil characters exist to challenge or oppose the main character (or protagonist) of a story. A good foil character highlights the good and bad in their counterpart, shining a light on the foiled character's personality without spelling it out.
A character that exhibits opposing traits to another character is called a foil. Foil characters can be antagonists, but not always. Sometimes, character foils will even be other characters alongside the protagonist.
2. Ron and Hermione. Much like Shakespeare, J. K. Rowling loves populating her world with literary foils. Two that work quite well together are Ron and Hermione, the protagonist's two best friends that accompany him on his adventures.
A foil character is a character who contrasts the traits and actions of another character, often the protagonist. Now, the emphasis here is on contrast, not necessarily on opposition. In other words, a character foil for your protagonist won't always be the antagonist.
In Frozen, Anna and Elsa are the singing foils. One is magical, while the other can sing. Well, they both can sing, but they're there to show what Elsa cannot have because she's not like Anna. And the story becomes two foils coming back together because love is stronger than their differences.
Examples Of Foil Characters. Some of the most famous foil characters in movies include Captain America and Iron Man, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, and not to mention Superman who has the perfect foil character in his alter ego, Clark Kent.
A foil can even be a friend of the character they are supposed to draw attention to: Dr. John Watson, for example, is a foil to Sherlock Holmes in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.
Character foils underscore the personality traits of your protagonist. That can mean their strengths and their flaws. So, write foils that are the opposite of your character in both positive and negative ways. Have your foil's story arc mirror the hero's in some way.
Juxtaposition is everything when developing a foil alongside your protagonist. So, make a list of your protagonist's character traits—maybe the top five. Then, make a list of the complete opposite of those traits, and that'll help with your foil.
The most common foil characters are the heroes and villains, who stand for different values and want to achieve separate goals. Mirror characters are used for a similar purpose. They tend to share several qualities and are used to complement and highlight each other's traits.
One of the best examples of a sidekick foil is Woody and BuzzLight Lightyear in Toy Story. While Woody is down-to-earth and emotional, BuzzLight is a problem solver and stoic, rarely exhibiting emotion. All rights reserved to Disney.
In Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear and Woody contrast in that Buzz is a shorter, rounder figure and Woody is tall and skinny. The same contrast exists with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Miguel de Cervantes' eponymous novel Don Quixote—the two are physically different but one is a dreamer and the other a realist.
Foil characters are characters with traits opposite to another character's traits. The foil characters in the play are Romeo and Mercutio, Benvolio and Tybalt, Paris and Romeo, Juliet's Nurse and Lady Capulet, and Rosaline and Juliet. The most famous foil character in the play is Mercutio.
Batman and Superman are often Foils to each other in terms of Brains and Brawn, respectively; or Dark Good vs. Light Good, or The Cowl and The Cape. Related to the above are Harvey Bullock and Dan Turpin.
Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Watson is a perfect foil for Holmes because his relative obtuseness makes Holmes's deductions seem more brilliant.
Gaston serves as a foil personality to the Beast, who was once as vain as Gaston prior to his transformation.
Olaf may not have a gender, strictly speaking, but he's always been played by men: voiced by Josh Gad in the 2013 movie and played by Greg Hildreth on Broadway.
These are characters with contrasting personalities or traits. For example, if one character is outgoing, their foil character might be shy. If one character is a hero, their foil character might be a villain. While an antagonist and protagonist can be foil characters, so can a sidekick.
In The Avengers, Iron Man and Captain America can be seen as foils to each other, especially in Civil War.
A foil character, or “literary foil,” is meant to draw attention to or highlight the qualities or traits of another character. More often than not, the other character is your protagonist, but it could also be your antagonist or a prominent secondary character. To this end, your protagonist isn't a foil.