Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

HAL 9000

HAL's the story's antagonist because he stands between the protagonist—whether that's Bowman or humanity—and their success in discovering what awaits at Jupiter. HAL's conflict with Bowman stems from the fact that both have opposing goals. Bowman wants to deactivate HAL's higher functions because he posses a risk to the crew of the Discovery, but HAL doesn't want to be shut off because, you know, death.

Ultimately, only in defeating HAL can Bowman learn the secrets behind monolith… well, sort of.