I have a protagonist who, while she tries very hard to be a good person, does not do a good job at it. She isn't a good person at all. Here's the background: she can time travel. She is vaguely aware that her best friend has a crush on her, but when he confesses, she does not return it because she has to leave that time. Only after figuring out he has died (just a year after she left) does she go back and say she likes him, and she kisses him. She does this the night before the past her has to leave, and she does not reveal that it's the her from the future. So, like, the boy never knows that her attraction to him is real? And then she goes and traps herself in another reality and then he dies? So like, I guess my question is: Is that bad?
Like, I can make my protagonists do bad things, right? Have you guys ever made your protagonists do bad things? Does it make them any less of a protagonist?
Protagonists are supposed to mess up. Let your characters mess up –badly. It humanizes them. Plus, a protagonist doesn't even have to be a hero or a good person. A protagonist is simply a main character.
In answer to your actual question: My protagonist is driven by revenge. She's a good leader, but sometimes she loses herself in her mission. She's not actively suicidal, but she is overly willing to give up her own life, and unwilling to sacrifice her teammates. She assumes that they understand that, but during a dangerous mission where she insists on going into battle unprepared, her best friend is killed trying to safe her. It's a really horrible mess up that changes the course of the plot and forces character development.
Yes, you can make your protag do bad things (though I would say that there should be a limit as to what they do (cold-blooded murder, rape, that kind of thing are not ideal in a protag), otherwise they'll be unlikable in the readers eyes). One of my protags betrays her new-found friends' trust because she saw lying to them to be an advantage to her when she did.
I believe the thing that makes a protagonist a good person (or at least not a bad person) in spite of the bad things they do is the guilt they do or don't feel after it. There's a quote that for the life of me I cannot find again but it went something like this I know that you're not bad person because you are so terrified of becoming a bad person. The devil isn't worried that he's going to hell. The idea is that when you're protagonist makes bad decisions it doesn't make them evil, it makes them human, but when they make those decisions and people get hurt and they believe they did no wrong or just don't care then you should take a close look at what side of the line you're on. I have a character that was a soldier, and during his time in the service he and his team did some horrible things, he left people for dead, he tortured enemy agents, and he killed scores of people, many soldiers, some civilians, he was kid who got in over his head and became the the type of person he was always afraid of. But now he recognizes the evils he took part on and is consumed with guilt, he's actively suicidal and has Post Trauma Stress that is nearly unspeakable, This is what I think justifies him, not as a hero but as not a monster in spite of the monstrous things he's done. Admitting guilt is the first step to forgiveness and being so horrible afraid that you're going to become evil is probably the biggest blockaide that keep you from it.
I think it's a good point. Like, the protagonist needs to be flawed, otherwise they're no longer human and the reader wouldn't be able to empathise with them. I think the point is to let them mess up, not not too badly and immediately feel bad about it.
I'm not sure if this counts as cold-blooded murder but basically she threatens a kid related to the antagonist in front of his army, like, you know the "You attack and the kid gets it" tactic and the antagonist is, like, "Oh sure" because he believes she wouldn't do it and she had to because, well, reasons. Afterwards she basically cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness
I agree with those above that a protagonist HAS to have things that challenge them and make them falter - or else you will be left with an unbearable Mary-Sue. In my humble opinion it all comes down to the driving motivations. Take Hermione Granger, the purest of the pure, she hexes the sign up list for Dumbledore's Army and causes permanent boils to pop up on Marietta Edgecombe's face that spelled SNITCH (to keep the DA) and she mind-wipes her parents of any memory of her (also to keep them safe) and setting up Delores Umbridge to be attacked by centaurs. All could be seen as evil actions but the motivations behind them are pure (from a certain point of view) and lets be honest - Delores deserved it. It's all about making the action seem justifiable in the eyes of the audience.
It seems like your character tries to alleviate her best friend's pain as much as possible, fate just gets in the way - that doesn't make her evil, just unlucky.
So for making my characters do bad things … whoo buddy, yeah they do. One of my protagonists kills his brother in a sword fight. The brother has just assassinated the love of his life and if left alive, would kill his adopted infant daughter and the nursemaid. So he does it to protect the baby, but it's still fratricide. Then the daughter grows up and is definitely not afraid to protect herself. In one scene she kills three thugs who are threatening to "have their way" with her and another girl. In the scene afterwards, she is trying to scrub the blood from her hands and has a break down and this is what really humanizes her (beyond her justifiable motivation). I think the worst thing you can do is have your character move forward as if nothing has happened, that is where you move into psychopath territory and really start to lose your audience.
Hope this helped!
Making your characters do bad things is a good way to show your characters priorities and help them grow. They’re human, they’ll make mistakes and choices that will either haunt them or change them, maybe they’ll get over it who knows.
My main character, Monroe has two children and a husband. He’s the love of her life and they’ve been married forever happily. In the middle of his new character arc, he’s a threat to their children. She knows that if she doesn’t do something, her kids are at a very high risk. He begs for her to help and tries to make her see the good in what he’s doing, but she’s forced to kill him (by her own will, she sees it as the only way when later she realizes she acted on her own will and could have found a way to spare him) her children drift away from her and she reminds herself every day what she’s done. There are consequences for actions and most aren’t small.
One of my main characters, Walt, is actually working for the antagonist. His friends don’t know, (duh :p), and he has been subtly working pretty hard to ensure the climax of the story takes place when and where the antagonist wants it to. I haven’t written it yet, but I plan to have him betray the group of protagonists, jumpstarting the climax. He will regret it when the antagonist reveals her true intentions, and try to help the protagonists, but it will be too late. They’ve already put their trust in him once, and he threw it away like it was nothing. There is no way that the protagonists will fall for that again. But, by refusing Walt’s help, they also unknowingly refuse any chance they have at overpowering the antagonist.
As I’m rereading this, it sounds terrible, but oh well. I promise I do really have a plan :)
I had my shyest character witness a murder…
