There’s a problem with today’s prompt. I’m supposed to tell you about the worst thing that protagonist Maywin has ever done, but Maywin really hasn’t done anything bad. Even over the course of the book, he maintains his moral standing. He never kills, robs, hurts, or lies to anyone. This of course doesn’t mean he’s a perfect person. In fact, one of his main personality traits is guilt.
For spoiler’s sake, I won’t give you the full story, but long ago, Maywin had a little brother named Milo. When Milo was six and Maywin was eight, a tragic accident took Milo’s life, and Maywin has blamed himself for his brother’s death ever since. He’s developed what’s known as a pleaser child mentality, in which he tries very hard to be the perfect son to his parents to make up for what happened with Milo. I don’t think that “pathological morality” is the perfect way to describe Maywin’s mentality, but it works pretty well.
So, does Maywin do anything wrong over the course of the book? He doesn’t always listen to his friends, occasionaly putting himself needlessly in danger for their sake. He develops a crush on someone even though he’s in a semi-relationship with another character. (By “semi-relationship” I mean that they’re friends and, since a marriage between them would make economic sense, they’re sort of mentally preparing themselves to be married to each other.) In general, though, Maywin’s battle isn’t with vice. It’s with other manifestations of darkness, things like sorrow and hopelessness. I’ve heard that hopelessness can be considered a vice, and if that’s true, the worst thing Maywin does is lose hope.
But that’s not very exciting. What about my other major characters? Vataris is definitely the least disciplined out of everyone–which isn’t entirely her own fault. She’s rich. She’s fourth in line for the throne of Galvettena. Her uncle is the second most powerful elf in Galvettena, her father is the Captain of the Queen’s Guard, and her mother is an important ambassador. And moreover, she’s in college, which already lends itself to some interesting life choices. But while Vataris might be selfish and undisciplined, she has a good heart. Cory the dwarf has a few vices–he’s a bit racist towards the elves, and he tends to be the most inappropriate of the trio. But he also has a good heart, and is generally a decent if not outstanding person.
A while back, I made a blog post about morally gray characters. Basically, a morally gray character is someone who is morally questionable, neither good nor evil, whom the reader is supposed to like and root for. I don’t like morally gray characters, at least as heroes or main characters. I want my main characters to be morally good. I want a clear distinction between good and evil. I want good to win.
Again, none of my character are perfect. People in general aren’t perfect. But in the words of Ellis Peters, my characters are “ordinary, decent, fallible men.” Maybe someday I’ll write a hero with a bit of a darker backstory, but that day is not today. Unless you count Lukas from my Clouds Aflame series.
Lukas has killed people.
Lukas has killed several people.
Technically, it was self defense, or at least he was convinced that he was in danger, because PTSD is one heck of a motivation for killing people who look and talk like the people who beat him three-fourths to death while his impaled father screamed his name. But we don’t talk about that. Lukas doesn’t talk about it. No one needs to know.
What’s the most unforgivable thing ever done by one of your favorite fictional characters? Let me know in the comments below! God bless you, dear readers, and don’t forget to review us on Amazon and Goodreads!