The protagonist is the hero of his or her story. That “hero” could be a shinning knight out to save the world from evil or an assassin who sets out to avenge the death of his wife. Hero and anti-hero, good and bad, noble and justified. Being the hero doesn’t necessarily mean being the good guy.
Yet we love our heroes no matter where they fall on the good to bad scale. We cheer for the assassin just as loudly as we do for the hunky guy in colorful tights. It’s not their profession we find heroic, it’s what they’re doing with those skills.
You killed the puppy his dead wife sent him? Oh dude, you gotta die. (John Wick)
No matter what moral compass your protagonist follows, something about her is worth reading about. She’s trying to do “the right thing” even if that follows a dark set of rules.
Because of this, heroism can take many forms, but at the core that one thing remains—doing what’s right.
Marvel Comics does this particularly well, and their recent string of movies offers multiple examples (warning: some spoilers if you haven’t seen these movies yet):
In Antman, the hero is Scott Lang, a thief who went to prison for exposing a corporate scam that stole millions from its customers. He’s hired by Hank Pyn, who’s trying to stop a former protege from using his technology for evil and world domination. Even Scott’s subplot of wanting to see his daughter Cassie again puts this hero vs. thief idea front and center—to be the father he wants to be, he has to be the thief. The “good guy thief” is so strong, that viewers are behind Scott (the thief) and not his daughter’s new stepdad-to-be (the cop).
Scott’s doing what’s right—stopping bad guys from getting tech to cause evil in the world, taking care of his daughter, robbing from the criminal rich to give to the poor. His heart is in the right place and we love him for it.
For comparison, Captain America: The Winter Solider challenges viewer perception of “what’s good.” The Winter Solider is technically a bad guy doing bad things, yet he’s also Cap’s best friend acting under mind control. It isn’t his fault per se. And Shield, (the good guys), are building warships capable of killing millions of people at a time, claiming it’s to help keep the peace. And it is, but as Cap says, “that’s not freedom, that’s fear.” Even though the good guys are trying to protect the world, their path to get there is rocky and Cap knows that. He’s seen where that road leads. The “right thing” Cap believes goes against what the good guys believe—and what many viewers likely believe. It forces you to consider the bigger moral picture.
This goes a step further in Captain America: Civil War. After a fight that results in collateral damage and the deaths of innocent people, the world wants to put the Avengers (and all superheros if you look at the original comic) under registration and control. The government wants to decide what they do and where they go, and they want to keep track of them. The Avengers (all the heroes we love who always do the right thing and fight the bad guys) are split—some think they need oversight, others think losing control and the right to choose who they fight and why leads down a dark road. Not discussed in the movie, is the “all powered people must register” aspect that sounds all too familiar to Captain America, who fought the Nazis.
Doing “the right thing” here isn’t so cut and dry. In a story filled with heroes, who is “the hero?”
In storytelling brilliance, Marvel spent a lot of time and effort setting up Captain America to be the moral center of the Avengers, and the guy who knows “the right thing” when everyone else is being short-sighted. He sees the bigger picture even when the “right thing” looks different when faced with the immediate problem at hand—how do you protect innocent bystanders from super-powered fights?
For a non-Marvel example, just watch the movie Mama. Everyone in that movie is trying to do the right thing by two little girls (even the antagonist), but they each have a different view on what that is. It’s hard to even know for sure who the protagonist is. Good and bad, right and wrong, they all get warped in this fabulous movie that strips away what we “know” as the right thing to do. It makes you question what’s right and wrong in a wonderful (if creepy) way.
(Here’s more on why every writer should watch Mama)
Using This in Our Own Writing
No matter who our protagonist is or what we want them to do, their actions should be heroic. They should be trying to do “the right thing,” even if the rest of the world doesn’t see it that way. Their plan for doing that might not be classic “good guy” in nature, and maybe their motives are a little less honorable at first, but at the core, what they want is “the right thing” to do.
Note: As all things writing, nothing is absolute. If the whole point of your story is to show the protagonist doing the wrong thing, that’s fine. Just remember that it’s harder to keep readers rooting for a protagonist who’s doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons and there’s nothing to redeem them. So if you want your non-heroic protagonist to be “the hero,” they need to eventually be on the “right side” of whatever the problem in the story is. If you don’t care, and you want to show the bad side of things and have a protagonist readers won’t relate to or support (for example, American Psycho), then the heroic aspect wouldn’t apply.
Think about the type of protagonist you want to write. Are they a hero?
What makes your protagonist heroic?
Find out more about characters and point of view in my book, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems.
With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Fixing Your Character & Point-of-View Problems offers five self-guided workshops that target the common issues that make readers stop reading. It will help you:
- Flesh out weak characters and build strong character arcs
- Find the right amount of backstory to enhance, not bog down, your story
- Determine the best point(s) of view and how to use them to your advantage
- Eliminate empty dialogue and rambling internalization
- Develop character voices and craft unique, individual characters
Available in paperback and ebook formats.
Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book. She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.
When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.
My author tagline is "Stories to show that monsters can be beaten," so I guess it goes without saying that I love to write heroes.
ReplyDeleteI think another point worth considering is that it's not just the hero's motives and goals that make them heroic, but also the challenge. This is what bugged me about the original Authority comic. In one issue, the team are up against the dictatorial government of an alternate Earth. One of the characters decides that the "simplest" way to put a stop to them is to hold Italy (where they're based) completely still, and let the rotation of the Earth destroy the country.
When a character can solve their problems like that, why root for them? Nothing is ever going to be a believable threat. Weak characters can have more freedom to act, but the smaller the gap between the power of the hero and the power of the villain, the more restrictions need to be placed on how readily the hero can take action against them.
Indeed and well said :) A hero is only as worthy as the foe she faces. That must be why I love the villains so much -grin-
DeleteI love that you brought Mama up again. After your original post on it, badgered my family into watching it--much harder to do than getting them to watch my usual super hero fare, and I loved it. You are so right about it!
ReplyDeleteIn my series, pretty much everyone is trying to do something good, or heroic, but some are willing to do some pretty terrible things to accomplish them.
I just love that movie. There's so much a writer can learn from it.
DeleteThat line is the best, isn't it? How far do you push and still be a good guy?
Perfect timing here...and Mama is now on my list of movies to see.
ReplyDeleteMy protagonist has a slightly different angle...she knows what is right, or what she thinks is right, but she's being told "should" instead. And when she follows "should," disastrous things happen. I just hope she's sympathetic enough, and can see the bigger picture things, even if they're not as clear in the beginning.
Cool :) It's creepy, but powerful.
DeleteI like that, especially if her learning what's really right and wrong is part of her character arc. Perhaps if you show why she thinks she "should" do what she's told, then readers will see she's trying to do what's right, but is being misled on some way.
I think this is probably common (in a general sense) of a lot of genre fiction, as protagonists are participating in worlds with skewed morals or ethics, and learning the do the right thing is part of the story. So if your story fits that concept, I suspect readers will stick with you to see how she changes.
I love the Marvel movies, and `Winter Soldier' and `Civil War' top the list because Captain America is trying so desperately to do the right thing. (And I love how much Tony Stark is also trying to do right in `Civil War' I felt so bad for him. He was still a hero, just one who happened to be on the opposite side.)
ReplyDelete