Hello, everyone. I often like to challenge myself in the character creation arena by taking on challenges that may seem too daunting or impractical to pull off (with varying degrees of success). Today, I aim to figure out the best way to create something people have always told me not to attempt:
The morally flawless character.
A criticism I sometimes get with my characters is that some of them fall into this category, but is that inherently a bad thing? What I hope to discuss here is why such characters usually fail and how to best work around that in order to create an interesting, compelling character who is completely good. Am I insane for trying this? If so, why? Talk to meh, peoples!!
The morally flawless character.
A criticism I sometimes get with my characters is that some of them fall into this category, but is that inherently a bad thing? What I hope to discuss here is why such characters usually fail and how to best work around that in order to create an interesting, compelling character who is completely good. Am I insane for trying this? If so, why? Talk to meh, peoples!!
A "morally flawless" character must have his/her beliefs challenged by people, events, or ideas, as any other compelling character would. If anybody agreed with this character on first impression and/or never questions the motives behind the character, then you might as well be making a Mary Sue. If you're going to make a "morally flawless" character compelling, I strongly suggest you show all sides of the argument that they pose. You have to show that even if this character is "morally flawless," that he/she has other weaknesses to overcome. You have to let them fight temptations, if possible.
When you say "weaknesses," what do you mean exactly? Physical, emotional, all of the above? And what is a weakness, anyway?
Let's say my story took place at sea, and my characters were all fish. They can't move about on land, but that doesn't matter since there's no land to go to most of the time. But one fish not only finds land, but also discovers that ability to traverse it for a short time. Are the weaknesses, needing to breathe water, that which makes this walking-fish like his brethren, as compelling as that which makes him stand out, i.e. walking on land, which his unique strength? So far neither his strengths or his weaknesses have anything to do with good or evil. Is this the kind of "weakness" you're talking about?
Let's say my story took place at sea, and my characters were all fish. They can't move about on land, but that doesn't matter since there's no land to go to most of the time. But one fish not only finds land, but also discovers that ability to traverse it for a short time. Are the weaknesses, needing to breathe water, that which makes this walking-fish like his brethren, as compelling as that which makes him stand out, i.e. walking on land, which his unique strength? So far neither his strengths or his weaknesses have anything to do with good or evil. Is this the kind of "weakness" you're talking about?
This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately! Apologies for the wall o'text 
Morally flawless is something that depends on the viewpoint you are taking. Morality and ethics have been points of great discussion since antiquity! Even a character that is morally flawless from a certain viewpoint will not be flawless from another, so they can be challenged by exposing their grey areas, making them interesting and unique characters that are all nothing like Mary Sues (the cast of Watchmen being a good example of this), despite their stalwart adherence to their codes of ethics.
Is your character a believer in Aristotelian virtue ethics, meaning that each person's character defines what kind of behavior is correct in each situation, in a case-by-case basis? Introduce another character who also follows this belief but has a different personality and makes different ethical decisions. Make them clash.
Does your character follow Kant's approach on morals, according to whom certain actions, like lying or stealing are wrong by themselves, regardless of context or excuse? Face them with moral dilemmas. Would they lie to save a life? Would they steal to save a life? Would they kill to save a life? If they made an exception for a situation, what stops the exceptions from becoming more and more common and greater and greater until the character can no longer consider him or herself morally flawless? If they don't make an exception, consider the baggage of causing someone to die just because you were not willing to break your tenets.
Are they a follower of Utilitarianism, thinking that the ends always justify the means? Make them choose between two evils, such as slaughtering a town of innocents to save an entire country from a plague. Maybe their beliefs in the greater good will be shaken when they have to personally execute people who did no wrong.
There's a lot of ways to look at morality, and it's doubtful that there will ever be any unified view of these matters. This means your character can be irreprehensible from a certain viewpoint and a monster from another! It's a boon for those who want to tell interesting stories, there's a lot of potential conflict and morally gray situations even for a character that is a goody two shoes!
Remember, however, whichever choice of viewpoint you choose for your character, that there is always a point of view that will see them as immoral or even evil.
Morally flawless is something that depends on the viewpoint you are taking. Morality and ethics have been points of great discussion since antiquity! Even a character that is morally flawless from a certain viewpoint will not be flawless from another, so they can be challenged by exposing their grey areas, making them interesting and unique characters that are all nothing like Mary Sues (the cast of Watchmen being a good example of this), despite their stalwart adherence to their codes of ethics.
Is your character a believer in Aristotelian virtue ethics, meaning that each person's character defines what kind of behavior is correct in each situation, in a case-by-case basis? Introduce another character who also follows this belief but has a different personality and makes different ethical decisions. Make them clash.
Does your character follow Kant's approach on morals, according to whom certain actions, like lying or stealing are wrong by themselves, regardless of context or excuse? Face them with moral dilemmas. Would they lie to save a life? Would they steal to save a life? Would they kill to save a life? If they made an exception for a situation, what stops the exceptions from becoming more and more common and greater and greater until the character can no longer consider him or herself morally flawless? If they don't make an exception, consider the baggage of causing someone to die just because you were not willing to break your tenets.
Are they a follower of Utilitarianism, thinking that the ends always justify the means? Make them choose between two evils, such as slaughtering a town of innocents to save an entire country from a plague. Maybe their beliefs in the greater good will be shaken when they have to personally execute people who did no wrong.
There's a lot of ways to look at morality, and it's doubtful that there will ever be any unified view of these matters. This means your character can be irreprehensible from a certain viewpoint and a monster from another! It's a boon for those who want to tell interesting stories, there's a lot of potential conflict and morally gray situations even for a character that is a goody two shoes!
Remember, however, whichever choice of viewpoint you choose for your character, that there is always a point of view that will see them as immoral or even evil.
SeraphicStar wrote:
This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately! Apologies for the wall o'text
Morally flawless is something that depends on the viewpoint you are taking. Morality and ethics have been points of great discussion since antiquity! Even a character that is morally flawless from a certain viewpoint will not be flawless from another, so they can be challenged by exposing their grey areas, making them interesting and unique characters that are all nothing like Mary Sues (the cast of Watchmen being a good example of this), despite their stalwart adherence to their codes of ethics.
Is your character a believer in Aristotelian virtue ethics, meaning that each person's character defines what kind of behavior is correct in each situation, in a case-by-case basis? Introduce another character who also follows this belief but has a different personality and makes different ethical decisions. Make them clash.
Does your character follow Kant's approach on morals, according to whom certain actions, like lying or stealing are wrong by themselves, regardless of context or excuse? Face them with moral dilemmas. Would they lie to save a life? Would they steal to save a life? Would they kill to save a life? If they made an exception for a situation, what stops the exceptions from becoming more and more common and greater and greater until the character can no longer consider him or herself morally flawless? If they don't make an exception, consider the baggage of causing someone to die just because you were not willing to break your tenets.
Are they a follower of Utilitarianism, thinking that the ends always justify the means? Make them choose between two evils, such as slaughtering a town of innocents to save an entire country from a plague. Maybe their beliefs in the greater good will be shaken when they have to personally execute people who did no wrong.
There's a lot of ways to look at morality, and it's doubtful that there will ever be any unified view of these matters. This means your character can be irreprehensible from a certain viewpoint and a monster from another! It's a boon for those who want to tell interesting stories, there's a lot of potential conflict and morally gray situations even for a character that is a goody two shoes!
Remember, however, whichever choice of viewpoint you choose for your character, that there is always a point of view that will see them as immoral or even evil.
Morally flawless is something that depends on the viewpoint you are taking. Morality and ethics have been points of great discussion since antiquity! Even a character that is morally flawless from a certain viewpoint will not be flawless from another, so they can be challenged by exposing their grey areas, making them interesting and unique characters that are all nothing like Mary Sues (the cast of Watchmen being a good example of this), despite their stalwart adherence to their codes of ethics.
Is your character a believer in Aristotelian virtue ethics, meaning that each person's character defines what kind of behavior is correct in each situation, in a case-by-case basis? Introduce another character who also follows this belief but has a different personality and makes different ethical decisions. Make them clash.
Does your character follow Kant's approach on morals, according to whom certain actions, like lying or stealing are wrong by themselves, regardless of context or excuse? Face them with moral dilemmas. Would they lie to save a life? Would they steal to save a life? Would they kill to save a life? If they made an exception for a situation, what stops the exceptions from becoming more and more common and greater and greater until the character can no longer consider him or herself morally flawless? If they don't make an exception, consider the baggage of causing someone to die just because you were not willing to break your tenets.
Are they a follower of Utilitarianism, thinking that the ends always justify the means? Make them choose between two evils, such as slaughtering a town of innocents to save an entire country from a plague. Maybe their beliefs in the greater good will be shaken when they have to personally execute people who did no wrong.
There's a lot of ways to look at morality, and it's doubtful that there will ever be any unified view of these matters. This means your character can be irreprehensible from a certain viewpoint and a monster from another! It's a boon for those who want to tell interesting stories, there's a lot of potential conflict and morally gray situations even for a character that is a goody two shoes!
Remember, however, whichever choice of viewpoint you choose for your character, that there is always a point of view that will see them as immoral or even evil.
You, sir, make good posts with lots of brain thinking!! Seriously, this is a good lot of stuff to think about. But then, within the context of one's strict moral code, is it possible to have a character who sticks to said code like glue, and yet that still not always present a very clear answer to narrative conflict? I think that's the basic idea of your post, but I'm just clarifying.
Oh, yes! It all depends on the kinds of conflicts you come up with. A strict code of ethics actually makes some problems harder to solve, because it makes a character immediately refuse to do a number of actions that could save them ("no, I won't lie to gain passage"; "no, I will not retreat from this fight that I know I have no chance of winning"; "no, I won't kill this bad guy, we wait for the cops to get here", etc).
SeraphicStar wrote:
It all depends on the kinds of conflicts you come up with.
Focusing on getting your conflicts right is the way to go. Ever been bored to death by a "just say no to drugs" PSA where the morally flawless 14 year-old just says no to drugs and... that's all? Avoid those kinds of situations where saying no to things throws the brakes on the actions of other people's characters/the plot and you ought to be good to go, best of luck.
i have a charater like the one you speak in the right situations with th right player there very fun to play. but if not paired right it can be a flop. but what i worked on for her was... what where her moral for her race and position and what she would do tp those whom do not hold the same ideals. a devil to other devils could be morally perfect but not form a humans point of view.
then there is a another issue....flaws. flaws make good story telling so how you going to balance the moraly pefection with flaws.. physical? mental?dose is morals cause him yo be unliked and why?
then there is a another issue....flaws. flaws make good story telling so how you going to balance the moraly pefection with flaws.. physical? mental?dose is morals cause him yo be unliked and why?
SarietheFae wrote:
i have a charater like the one you speak in the right situations with th right player there very fun to play. but if not paired right it can be a flop. but what i worked on for her was... what where her moral for her race and position and what she would do tp those whom do not hold the same ideals. a devil to other devils could be morally perfect but not form a humans point of view.
then there is a another issue....flaws. flaws make good story telling so how you going to balance the moraly pefection with flaws.. physical? mental?dose is morals cause him yo be unliked and why?
then there is a another issue....flaws. flaws make good story telling so how you going to balance the moraly pefection with flaws.. physical? mental?dose is morals cause him yo be unliked and why?
I think what you're really talking about here is not so much a "flaw" as much as it is a "limit" of some other kind. They're not the same thing, technically, but I think that's the thing that needs to be present more than a flaw. Limits.
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