Hello,
reader! I’ll be posting again on
Thursday with my report card of how I did on my resolutions for October, but
for today, I’m going to take a look at what makes a good character. I’ll be using characters from books as well
as games as examples, but I’ll do my best not to let any spoilers slip.
A Sense of Humor
I
know from experience in writing that it’s really
hard to make a character with absolutely no funny bone in their body. It’s also hard to like a character like that
because they don’t seem very realistic.
Sure, there are people out there that don’t make a lot of jokes, but a
good character has to have at least a small sense of humor to be likable to
me. Here’s some characters known for
their sense of humor.
Varric Tethras from Dragon Age 2
Although
the quality of the Dragon Age sequel is a matter of some debate amongst gamers,
when it comes to Dragon Age 2, everyone can agree on one thing: Varric is one
of the best characters ever created. Why do people like him so much? It’s not because he’s crazy good in a fight
or has a heart-wrenching past. No, the
reason people like him is simple; he’s funny.
His goofy lines add a bit of levity to an otherwise rather dark, serious
game, and it’s a nice contrast.
Percy Jackson from Percy Jackson & The Olympians
“Ever
had a flying burrito hit you? Well, it's a deadly projectile, right up there
with cannonballs and grenades."
I liked this series of books
a lot, and Percy was definitely one of my favorite characters because he was
just so goofy. He goes through some
pretty crazy stuff in the course of the series, but never loses his sense of
humor, which makes him a great example of this trait.
Faults
It’s
difficult to like a character that you can’t relate to. Imagine if a character was perfect and
nothing ever went wrong in their life.
Yeah, it’d be a pretty boring story, wouldn’t it? Besides that, life certainly doesn’t happen
that way. Even though they can sometimes
be annoying, faults are a part of a good character. Here’s some characters that have a fairly
obvious fault.
Starkiller from The Force Unleashed
"I
am my Master's weapon. I lay waste to all that stands in his path."
Galen
Marek, or “Starkiller” is an interesting character. As a young child, he was abducted by Darth
Vader and trained in secret as his apprentice.
Once Vader deemed him strong enough, he was sent to assassinate any of
the Jedi Order that remained. Obviously,
with someone like Darth Vader as a father figure, Starkiller’s fault is
anger. It leads him to make a lot of
mistakes and almost ruins his life. It
also makes a really great game, but I’ll let you find that out for yourself.
Emma from Jane Austen’s “Emma”
“I always deserve the best treatment because I never
put up with any other."
I liked
the book Emma, but to be honest, Emma herself was often rather snobbish. Even Jane Austen said of Emma: “I am going to take a heroine whom no one
but myself will much like.” Emma is
a wealthy, beautiful, privileged young woman who is very polite in public, but who
also complains in private of having to visit the kindly but rather long-winded
Miss Bates. This fault really makes
sense for a person in Emma’s position, though, and she eventually sees the
error of her ways.
A Unique Trait
Although
every good character has to have faults, all my favorite characters also have
something special about them. It can be
a little thing, it doesn’t have to be a superpower, but they have to have
something about them that distinguishes them from the rest of the pack.
Mission Vao from Star Wars: Knights of the Old
Republic
“Piece of cake. I wonder when people will stop
underestimating me?”
Mission
is a girl of fourteen when you meet her in the game, but she’s not like a
normal fourteen-year-old by any means.
First of all, she lives in the dangerous underbelly of a large,
city-covered planet. Warring gangs,
dangerous diseases and an alien-hating population are only a few of her
problems. She manages to get by with the
help of her impressive skills with computers, security doors and stealth. Oh, and her friend Zalbaar, a wookiee. If that didn’t make her unique enough, she
also has the guts to insult Sith soldiers to their faces.
Sam from The Lord of the Rings
“[…] there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and
it's worth fighting for.”
Samwise
Gamgee’s just a gardener, faithfully helping his employer on this quest to
destroy the ring that could bring about the end of the world as they know
it. Except, in doing that, Sam proves
that he’s not just a gardener. It’s even
more evident in the books that Frodo would have given up his quest if he hadn’t
had Sam around. While Sam isn’t heir to
the throne of Gondor and he doesn’t have any cool wizard spells, he’s still an
awesome character. Why? Because he’s an encourager, and that makes
him pretty special in my book.
What are some of your favorite characters, and why?
