#imperfect characters

[curious-trickster]

Just finished the 'Folk of the air' series by Holly Black and I might be slighty obsessed now.

The character cast was very diverse and I loved the side characters, how real they felt and that they actually got character development!

I love how unforgiving Jude was on her way to win. She had fire in her from a young age and she let it grow and fed her enemies to it. I love how her injuries were never just 'cured' the way it often happens in books, but that she felt the starvation and knew she was in no shape to fight, the way she felt the barely healed wound in her abdomen, when Roach kicked her in his sleep. I love how she couldn't hold on when she was shot down from her hiding place because of her injuries.

She was hard but also imperfect, she couldn't help loving Madoc even though he killed their parents, she helped Taryn even after the betrayals, she fell in love with Cardan even though he was mean and cruel but she saw his wicked intelligence and charm and loved him with all his sides.

I love both Cardans and Judes struggle with their feelings, because they know they can't trust the other, they are afraid of each other. Their kisses and intimacy didn't take over the plot of the book, because it wasn't the main focus and I am so so happy with how their love story was executed by the author, because most of the time the plot gets pushed into the background by all the romance shenanigans. And it always makes me so mad, because the people keep making cow eyes at each other while their enemies burn the kingdom down or whatever. But not Jude and Cardan. They do have their moments but they are short and sweet and they never forget what's happening around them.

Cardan is such a good character, because he is so damn imperfect. Not a good guy, but a mean bully. Not a good prince or king, but someone who absuses his power and is way to casual about his job, someone who rather drinks and laughs instead of plotting and strategising. He is beautiful but that only adds to the things that make him a terrible person, filled with arrogance and cruelty and anger.

But. He is charming. He gets soft for the people he loves. He wants people to be proud of him. He doesn't force Jude to return, in his letters he begs her instead. He thought he wanted complete control over Jude, that he wanted to see her yield, but discovered that he underestimated her again and again and now he would kneel for her without hesitation and want HER to have control. He knows that he isn't a good person, but he hopes that Jude loves him anyways.

They work so much better as a team. Cardan reminds Jude that murder is not always the answer and she pulls him from his excessive partying and makes him do stuff.

They are both horrible people with many many faults. But god to they deserve each other and make a good team.

[han-nah-banana]

Maybe I just read too much into things BUT here's my rant.

You CAN critique or dislike a character bc of their actions. It's totally normal and can be how we relate stories to real life. But that does not make them a poorly written character. Obviously, it depends on how their actions are being portrayed in the author's eyes. But it is unrealistic to expect characters to be absolutely perfect and gracious (especially female characters and queer characters and minorities). Like we say we want complex characters but we can't handle a young girl absolutely failing at her personal life and relationships (I'm low-key talking about the belly haters lol). It's okay for the main character to make the wrong choice or to have some room to grow. It's what makes them relatable even if it's a bit cringe. Like I get second hand embarrassment sometimes with things, mainly bc I've had that same level of immaturity and poor execution. But it also feels refreshing to see a character that has the room to be embarrassing. I don't really want a Mary Sue character that already knows how to navigate smoothly through everything or a passive character that just lets the story happen to them. That being said, a character that is imperfect can simultaneously have positive traits! They can be socially likable or creative or brave while also being cowardly, and awkward, and small minded. So if we really do want realism, or to be able to see our flawed selves in a character, then it's important to accept characters that haven't figured all of their shit out. Otherwise, where's the growth? We don't have to like every single one of their actions but it's good to get to know the character in order to understand their actions however silly or unwise they might be sometimes.

[houseofhurricane]

This is your regular reminder that characters in a novel don’t have to be good. They only have to be interesting.

The mark of a badly-written character isn’t that they’re evil, it’s that they’re boring or predictable.

If a character starts a novel being good and making all the right choices, the story has no place to go.

At the end of the day, a novel’s main purpose isn’t to teach you morality (although it certainly can!), it’s to tell an interesting story.

[i-will-write]

I write imperfect characters because I love them and relate to them.

I'm not interested in perfection, I'm interested in humanity.

[phoenixkaptain]

There is something so comforting about characters who choose not to be evil.

Like, Luke Skywalker stands on the precipice of not coming back, almost let’s his rage and fear overtake him, and you can see him realize that. You can see the moment where he makes the conscious decision to take the hard way out of this. You can see him choose to stop, choose to control his own impulses, and choose to show mercy on a being that has not showed or been shown mercy in a very long time.

Or Cissie King-Jones in the Young Justice run. Her school was attacked, the woman who got Cissie out of her horrible living situation was murdered, and Cissie was inadvertently shown the tape that the murderer made of killing her, where he made her beg to live but shot her anyway. Cissie is rightfully pissed. Cissie hunts down the shooter. Cissie makes him beg for his life, makes him fear that she’s going to kill him. And, Superboy comes in to remind her that she doesn’t want to be a killer, but it’s Cissie herself who stops. It’s Cissie herself who realizes that she doesn’t want to be in this position, that she’s scared and feels alone and vulnerable and she doesn’t know what to do. Cissie pulls herself out of the situation, she decides that she can’t kill someone who isn’t worth going to prison for. She makes that choice, even though it’s the most difficult choice she’s made.

Peter Parker’s violent thoughts are often portrayed as a joke, especially early on, but Peter is always holding himself back. He is constantly making the choice not to hurt people. He is always conscious of his super strength and how easily he could hurt someone or kill someone with it. He is always aware of his own potential to cause pain. But he chooses not to. He chooses to keep his touch light, even when he could make the excuse he was distracted. He is always making that choice, he always makes the choice to be a better person, he always tries so damn hard to be a halfway decent person, even on days he wishes he could be awful and selfish and cruel.

There’s just something about characters who have walked that line. Characters who stopped themselves and thought “I don’t want to do this.” Characters who are scared and who worry that their capacity for evil alone makes them less good. Characters who decide that it doesn’t matter, because they’re going to try to be a better person whether the universe allows it or not.

I don’t know. I just love those characters who had to go through Hell to be what they eventually become. Characters who are broken down and build themselves back up even stronger. Characters who put the reins on their impulses and decide that they’re in control, not their instincts and not anybody who might desire to control them.

There’s something immensely comforting that some of the most powerful characters in media are not made any less powerful or any less heroic because of things they cannot control, like their thoughts. They can only control how they respond to those thoughts. That’s what separates them from villains, that’s what makes them so powerful, they don’t choose the easy way out of things. Their willpower is stronger than steel. And it’s nice.

[askcharaandfriends]

Goldy remind me what toriel did... I can't remember or recognize what she did as bad

Hot Take Warning: It wasn't so much as what she did as what she didn't do. Apologies in advance if this gets lengthy.

Firstly, she abdicated her throne... which was just as much an impulsive decision on her part as Asgore's declaration of war. And counterintuitive too, when you consider that, as seen in-game with their different styles of ruling, executive decisions were Toriel's domain, while Asgore's was mainly PR. Meaning that all the nitty-gritty details of carrying a war out- recruiting soldiers, drafting up battle plans and attack strategies, creating a budget for costs, training exercises, expected losses... Toriel literally could've done more to prevent the war- and the humans' deaths- if she stayed, since all that would've been delegated to her. All she had to do was just say no and that would've been that.

Secondly, Toriel is arguably as responsible as Asgore is for the deaths of the six humans, by way of negligent manslaughter. She knew what was waiting for them, and let them go anyway. Consider: Why didn't Toriel stop them? Why didn't she destroy the door to the rest of the Underground well before the second human fell down after Chara? She hardly has the right to call out Asgore when she not only did nothing to help on her end of things, but also came up with shoddy solutions that weren't any better than what Asgore could come up- in some cases, even worse! Taking a SOUL isn't something you can do peacefully, since SOULs are confirmed in-game to still be people, and that's essentially trafficking at the least. How would you hash out the details of the SOUL's rights? Who would have the right to make that kind of call? Taking the SOULs of criminals is also a bad idea since their minds are trenchcoated with the monster who absorbs them, allowing either violent or deceitful, untrustworthy people to command immensely powerful magic. That is disaster waiting to happen.

But it's also important to keep in mind that neither Toriel nor Asgore were in their right minds back then- how could they be? It was the worst day of their lives. Their kids died, and you don't think straight with that kind of pain. Worse yet, that pain went unaddressed for years and years. A century if you go by the popular headcanon. Both of their mental healths deteriorated, as seen in the game with Asgore's dialogue, and Toriel's alarm clock dialogue outside the game. It doesn't excuse or justify anything, but at the same time, trying to hold either of them accountable with a conventional sense of right and wrong, or crime and accountability, doesn't lead to any kind of good resolution either. Sometimes, we need an "escape clause" from justice. It's the very definition of Mercy. A second chance. It's easy to argue this point because the game makes us take the time to get to know these characters, unlike the people featured in the media who do absolutely heinous things.

And finally... despite all of the above, Toriel is, at the end of the day, a kind motherly figure, who given the chance, is a good parental figure for Frisk to stay with. Think on that conclusion: a woman who lets kids die- someone guilty of numerous cases of negligent manslaughter- is still able to be a good parent, once she actually addresses her pain and gets the help she needs. When she's got her equilibrium, yeah, I'd definitely trust her with watching any kids of mine.

[anoootome]

Season 2 of Shunichiro really changed my opinion of him... like right now definitely doesnt deserve MC and is a lil shitty

[marymolnar]

It was easy to blame someone else. She made it a personal habit at the age of eight. It carried into her adult years. The trait was comforting and kept a part of her mind sane. Everything that fell through and made the world seem like a hell scape had to be someone else’s fault. While that way of living had brought nothing but loneliness, it kept her from absolutely hating herself. Accepting that the world wasn’t out to get her seemed like much more than a baby step at this point. So, she ignored each person that slipped out of her life. Besides, it was their fault they left not hers. Never hers.