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Don Quixote and his sidekick Sancho Panza, by Gustave Doré: their character contrasts are made manifest not only by their behavior, but also by their physical appearance.

In fiction, a foil is a character who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in order to highlight particular qualities of the other character. A foil's complementary role may be emphasized by physical characteristics. A foil usually either differs drastically or is extremely similar but with key difference setting them apart. For example in Cervantes' Don Quixote, the thin, dreamy and impractical Quixote contrasts both in body and personality with his companion, the fat, realistic and practical Sancho Panza. Another popular fictional character, Sherlock Holmes, is tall and lean; his right-hand man Doctor Watson, meanwhile, is often described as "middle-sized, strongly built." Sydney Carton and Charles Darnay from A Tale of Two Cities are also considered classic foils, though ironically they look exactly alike. The "straight man" in a comedy duo is a comic foil. While the straight man portrays a reasonable and serious character, the other portrays a funny, dumb, or simply unorthodox one.

Laertes and Fortinbras in Shakespeare's play Hamlet are also examples of character foils- all faced with the dilemma of how/whether to achieve revenge for the murder of their fathers, Laertes and Fortinbras serve to highlight Hamlet's morality.

In some cases, a subplot can be used as a foil to the main plot. This is especially true in the case of metafiction and the "story within a story" motif.

The word foil comes from the old practice of backing gems with foil in order to make them shine more brightly.

See also

• Sidekick
• Protagonist
• Antagonist

References