Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-37185619-20181013215412/@comment-35248429-20181018064542

An antagonist is an opposing force. She is the antagonist in the first half of Alicization. Quinella accidentally fused herself with the Cardinal System in an attempt to guarrantee she was the highest authority in the Underworld. She follows it's core principle of regulating the world but takes it a step further by trying to keep the entire Underworld in stagnation.

At the point Kirito enters underworld she is more a force to work against than a true villain. Much like the original Cardinal system in Aincrad.