User blog comment:Zoether/Would you consider Courtney an Anti-Hero or Villain/@comment-1854897-20140101085321/@comment-24600224-20140105052746

The rule of thumb for interpretting when someone is an anti-hero vs. a villian is whether said character's motives is in direct conflict with that of the protagonist or in indirect conflict with that of the protagonist. Courtney's motives where she was directly against the protagonist was in TDA where she was against, coincidentally, both Duncan and Beth. Her motives in TDI where not in conflict with Gwen or Owen or even Heather for that matter. The same can be said for her motives in TDWT (which, need I remind you all, was to eliminate Gwen, then eliminate Duncan. This is not the same as her previous motives, which was to win by any means possible. Therefore, she was indirectly against Heather which made her an anti-hero). Her motives where not to win in TDAS either, it was to befriend Gwen and move on.

Also, need I remind you, anti-hero is a role in a story. It is not a quality that describes a person. In every single story, there is a protagonist with an antagonist, and depending on the amount of characters, an anti-hero can also get involved with their own agenda which typically formulates a second smaller plotline aside from the "big picture". There is a difference between "Hero" and "Protagonist" just as there is a difference between "Anti-hero" and "neutral".