Hannibal Lecter is one of the antagonists in Thomas Harris’ The Silence of the Lambs. Since the whole point of a foil character is to be completely unlike the protagonist, it’s pretty common for antagonists to be used as foil characters, and therefore to be static for example, every Disney villain ever. In most cases, static foil characters stand opposite dynamic protagonists, highlighting the ways in which they change during the narrative. The fact that Watson and Sherlock are both static characters is quite rare. As opposites, they expose each other’s strengths. While Watson is modest, selfless, and pragmatic, Sherlock is confident, selfish, and brilliant. Speaking of Watson, he’s a prime example of a foil character: a side character whose qualities contrast and accentuate the protagonist's most important personality traits. Most antagonists and side characters are static But why should he change, when readers root for him as he is? Half the charm of the Sherlock Holmes books is the protagonist’s unwavering personality - the other half being his unwavering sidekick, John Watson. He faces every conflict with the same attitude and never changes. One of the most beloved protagonists in mystery history is Sherlock Holmes - and throughout all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, Sherlock remains consistently witty, confident, and eccentric.
That’s not to say that great characters can’t be static. This guy? Generous, compassionate, and warm? Surely not. By the end of the story, he is the picture of yule-time joy: generous, compassionate, and warm. But over the course of the narrative, through his interactions with three Christmas spirits, he is gradually redeemed. In Dickens's novella A Christmas Carol, he starts as a bitter, cold-hearted old miser. Christmastime mainstay Ebenezer Scrooge is one of the most famous dynamic characters ever written.
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