forum What are the best flaws you've given your characters?

Started March 25, 2019 by @WaffleWizard

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What kind of flaws have you given your characters? How did it get in their way? How did you come up with it?
I'm interested to know what you all have to say.

Personally, my boy Cameron, has a rather simple trait, but with his (also simple) character motivation (in my stories, which is love) stands massively in the way. That trait is overprotectiveness. This has gotten in the way of his lover/wife/girlfriend person, Xanthe, who likes to have a lot of freedom to move. And when I introduced more males to the story (which she happened to love more than Cameron, RIP) she gravitated towards them rather than poor Cameron, who was absolutely heartbroken and left with their children.
But, it doesn't end there. Cameron managed to make his first son (he has many children with Xanthe, you'd think she'd stay with him just to like, have a functioning family) pissed off with him. I don't remember the exact reason, but I'll try to find out from my friend. So basically this anger in Cameron, which most likely stemmed from him being overprotective, has pushed him away from his main motivation.

Personally, my boy Cameron, has a rather simple trait, but with his (also simple) character motivation (in my stories, which is love) stands massively in the way. That trait is overprotectiveness. This has gotten in the way of his lover/wife/girlfriend person, Xanthe, who likes to have a lot of freedom to move. And when I introduced more males to the story (which she happened to love more than Cameron, RIP) she gravitated towards them rather than poor Cameron, who was absolutely heartbroken and left with their children.
But, it doesn't end there. Cameron managed to make his first son (he has many children with Xanthe, you'd think she'd stay with him just to like, have a functioning family) pissed off with him. I don't remember the exact reason, but I'll try to find out from my friend. So basically this anger in Cameron, which most likely stemmed from him being overprotective, has pushed him away from his main motivation.

I love it! I always try hard to make characters weaknesses a part of the plot too. Looks like you've done an awesome job there!

I really like Rostal's flaw because it wouldn't typically be regarded as one. He's a very caring person who tends to give way to the wishes of others more often than not. the problem is that this annoys the heck out of everyone else because he never clearly says what he wants and they need him to be the mediator between Malin and Naxaschirqal.
speaking of who:
Malin can't concentrate on anything, has no fear and is super selfish which creates the flaw of running of/ disappearing to who knows where which is incredibly inconvenient because she's supposed to lead the group.
Nax is supposed to be her opposite, which is true in terms of personality and reason of badassery, but he has a 'hit first, ask questions later' mentality in stressful situations.
then there's ELgroth who was supposed to be a minor character but I got carried away with his development. His flaw is that he fixes everything broken he sees right away, in the middle of the night, while everyone is sleeping, usually a wagon someone is sleeping in.

@Emi-Has-Her-Squishbeans , thanks for using that link-into-name-thingy. I learned something new and it's very useful. Now I don't have to clutter the text with links.

One of my character Coallen's greatest strengths is also his greatest weakness: his loyalty. If he's loyal to something or someone, he'd kill and die (permanently) for it, among other things. This eventually leads to his downfall, as his intelligence (another one of his strengths) detects rebellion in the ranks, and he KNOWS the consequences of what he's doing, but his loyalty keeps him bound to a sinking ship, metaphorically.

I have a character named Peter. He's really good at lying and uses it to his advantage, but several times it has gotten him into trouble with other characters.
Then there's Sylvester who is all too reckless, and let's just say that never really ends well for a character.
Those are probably my favorite examples off the top of my head.

I have my character, Alexa, who can’t say no to people as she’s afraid to hurt their feelings. This is really bad as at one point there is a traitor infiltrated in her group but although she suspects him she can’t refuse anything from him which gives him easy access to many things, because she’s scared of hurting his feelings

For Sparrow I made her controlled as in from being abused she can be manipulated easily. Or mislead.

Aurelius is way too willing to put himself in harm's way when it comes to protecting the people he loves. It's not because he has no sense of self-preservation or feels invincible. He literally just doesn't care if he dies, really. He tends to throw himself into the fray, and this continuously puts him in bad situations.

Ignis is really smart, but also really shy and insecure. They are often afraid to speak their mind, even when they know they're right, and a dire situation is at hand. This leads to sub-optimal outcomes in some situations, and if they had spoken up, things could have turned out much better.

Pollux is a healer, but he really doesn't feel much. He's not very empathetic at all, and in fact, tends to be a little blunt and can come across as a jerk, even though he means well and he's only telling the truth. This leads to some distrust and hard feelings between him and the other characters, which is bad because… well, he's their healer, and they need him.

Valkyrie is really susceptible to offering blind loyalty. Once she's offered up her allegiance, she is very protective and stubborn about her stance. It takes a lot to sway her from what she believes is right, and unfortunately, this is what leads her down the wrong path.