What makes for a good protagonist in fiction? Is a good protagonist necessarily synonymous with a good hero? If not, then what's the difference? And who are some of your favorite protagonists in fiction?
Protagonists
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 Violanthe |
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Posts: 229 06/17/09 2:28 PM |
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ecgordon |
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Posts: 5379 06/18/09 12:36 PM Star's Hero |
I think for a protagonist to work they have to be someone with whom the reader can identify and associate to their own life, even if it is only as a fantasy of
the type of person they would like to be.
I'll think of a few others soon I am sure, but the first one that comes to mind is my namesake, E. C. Gordon from Heinlein's Glory Road. Even though he has some extraordinary abilities at heart he is an everyman, someone who has faults and foibles as we all do, but who is undaunted when confronted with unusual events. He comes from an unspectacular heritage, a poor military family, with many moves around the country that comes with that life. His education is sporadic and undisciplined, but his basic intelligence enables him to cope, even if he is just winging it most of the time. I am sure I would have reacted totally differently if faced with the same challenges, but my dream is that I could be the hero too. |
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tek ni |
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Posts: 857 06/18/09 10:35 PM |
Hmmm. I like Arthur Dent, from the HGttG books. And Kivrin from Doomsday Book. And Darius Lonewander from The Chaos (which doesn't count because it's a
book I'm writing and he's like a fantasy version of me, in fact). Um... Alec from the Nightrunner books, I guess. Well, probably there are lots of
characters who aren't immediately coming to mind. Though I think many of my favorite characters aren't protagonists, but supporting characters (if
we're not talking about just books, some of my fave characters in Babylon 5 include Lennier, Vir, and Garibaldi; my favorite character from Romeo &
Juliet is Mercutio).
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OGRE3000 |
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Posts: 2931 06/22/09 11:48 PM Registered User |
I love and consider most of RAH's main characters to be that. A fiercely individual character that maybe not be that at first, in the fire-crisis-crunch
becomes the person at the right place at the right time. I recently re-read "Tunnel In The Sky". I really enjoyed how when the main character, Rod
Walker after going through adventures on a distant savage world and comes home and is............. treated like a child again. I really related to that after I
moved out, went to school, moved to another state, lived with my girlfriend and then, money crunches, had to come home. And was back to being a child in my
parents's eyes. Oh boy...
I also love the characters that are totally screwed over or really in it, up to their eyeballs and turn it around. "The Puppet Masters", "The Door To Summer", "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress" and so on. This is getting me in the mood to get out my RAH books and do some more re-reading... |
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