(no subject)

[kippurbird]

So I've been NaNoing away and I came to the realization that one of my character's flaws is that he's a hero. Now, I realized that this sounds very much like a Mary Sue (or in this case Gary Stu) flaw, but as I looked at it deeper, it really is a dangerous and devastating flaw. The character, Kale, is perfectly mortal. He has no extraneous special abilities. The only thing you could say is unique about him is that he's descended from the Morrigan, but there's at least a hundred generations between him and her. So, for all intents and purposes he's normal, human, and an average warrior.

Yet, he has this stupid, stubborn need to go out and help people. He is willing to go into deep fairy to find the Deep Hunt which is created by the nightmares of the fey without a second's thought. The other person who is willing to do this is a powerful mage, one of the strongest living or ever will live. The mage is probably the only one who could survive it. But Kale is going to jump head first, sword swinging (metaphorically) into this and not look back or regret it.

I think it would be more of a Mary Sue flaw if he was a magically or super-sphesul individual, where there wasn't any real risk for him.

But the fact that he's so completely idiotic at doing this. He has such a drive, a blinding need to do these things and act like a hero, even if he doesn't think he is, is more than dangerous, it can be down right deadly for him and the people around him who will have to rescue him when something goes bad.

Meanwhile: I broke 50k yesterday.

NEVER AGAIN. I did like 14k in three days and my left arm is KILLING ME. I'm still going to work on it. The book isn't done yet. It's actually ... only part of the 50k cause I decided about 15k in (after two starts) that I was writing something completely different than what I set out to do. It was just supposed to be a scene. 34k words later.. It's a lot of scenes.

Right.

Comments

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

Being "a hero" isn't a real flaw.
It's just a socially acceptable version of http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TooDumbToLive

He really needs more of a motivation beyond "it's the right thing."

Harry Dresden does it, but he has the badass to back it up.
Tavi of Calderon does NOT do it at first. It just keeps being forced on him. As he becomes more capable, he tends to seek it out more. Even then, it tends to be "no other option" scenarios, without a real choice.
October Daye does it because that loyalty and service is what made her life living, when she became Sylvester's knight.

Either he needs SOME kind of edge that makes him confident that his stupidity isn't going to kill him instantly. Or some kind of deep seated compulsion that goes beyond "Must Be Do-Gooder".

Even then, he should get his shit seriously fucked up. All the above three, who all have magic powers and more, get seriously injured, maimed and even killed by things.

[swevene.livejournal.com]

Being too dumb to live is something I'd call a flaw.

[timothy niederriter (from livejournal.com)]

Agrees with swevene.

Also, great job on getting to 50k so quick Kippur!

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

Killed my arm... but yes. Thank you!

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

It's not a very plausible flaw.

The biggest problem with it is "how did he even live long enough to start the story?"

WSOD suffers greatly when you have unexplained and unjustified Too Dumb To Live

[swevene.livejournal.com]

I can think of a few... to start with, maybe this is the first opportunity he's had for heroism in a dangerous situation. Or maybe he's always had people around to pull him out of the frying pan AND the fire.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

He survived by being a member of the Morrigan's personal guard all of whom had about the same amount of power as he did and there not being anything really dangerous up until this point for him seriously get out of his depth.

[white-wolf03.livejournal.com]

Wasn't that one of Harry Potter's main flaws too?

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

I think so.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

The difference is that Harry Potter has TONS of power AND backup at his beck and call, to make diving into danger not actually suicidal.

[swevene.livejournal.com]

In his first fight against Voldemort? Not exactly. That was sheer luck/someone else's sacrifice.

Also, nowhere did Kips say there wasn't backup.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

He didn't seek out that first fight though. It was a complete accident. He didn't even know V existed (nor did anyone really).

Remember, he went looking to steal the philosopher's stone before Snape could get to it. His plan involved AVOIDING everybody.

[swevene.livejournal.com]

He went for the Stone after he thought Snape had already gone in. That is pretty stupid.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

His first fight with Voldemort, I believe, was in book four. The previous times weren't really fights.

It was the back of his teacher's head in book one, and then he went looking for the Philosopher's Stone even though it was supposedly protected by the best of the Wizarding World's wizards and in a safer spot than Gringots and he was eleven.

In book two it was fighting Voldemort's shadow which he did because it had taken Ginny and no one else, apparently, like the adults, could have rescued her. The adults with years more experience and spell casting abilities and he was twelve.

Book three wasn't against Voldemort exactly but he still went and searched after a Dangerous criminal who was supposedly trying to find and kill him. Despite the fact that it would have been safer to stay with the adults. He was thirteen.

Book FOUR was when he and Voldemort first met for real, face to face, and he was forced into the fight and only because, as mentioned, luck and circumstances was he able to survive. And he was fourteen.

[kippurbird.livejournal.com]

I don't believe Harry had tons of power and back up at his beck and call. He was on his own for most of the books and was a fair to middling wizard. The only thing he was good at was Qudditch and the defense against the dark arts, really.

[palmer-kun.livejournal.com]

He was never a slouch at magic. What he lacked in knowledge and skill, he made up with raw power. Remember, he had that spell-duel with in Goblet of Fire, and his freaking EXPELLIARMUS (harmless, half-joke spell) overpowered Voldemort's freaking Avada Kedavra.

Being able to go one on one with supposedly the second most powerful wizard of the age does not make one "fair to middling".

He also had Ron (of questionable value), Hermione (of exceptional value), Neville (of epic value) and DUMBLEDORE (Chessmaster Extraordianaire) backing him up the whole way.

[thecapillary.livejournal.com]

Well done on making the 50k!