Character Morality – The good, the bad, and the ugly

One of the oldest clichés of all time is to have a clear cut spilt between the ‘good’ guys and the ‘bad’ guys. Protagonists are your typical white knights in shining armour, being completely incapable of doing something ‘evil’ or morally questionable. Antagonists are the other extreme – they’re completely sadistic, disgusting in their actions, and regularly act immorally without second thought. This is known as ‘black’ and ‘white’ morality, and one of the tell-tale signs of a newbie author.

In reality, humans don’t work like that. The line between what is ‘good’ and ‘evil’ is harder to draw – especially since different people have different views on what these terms even mean. Or even if they exist at all. Trying to categorise the majority of normal people like this is downright impossible, because at the end of the day, people can do either. ‘Good people can to bad things and bad people can do good things’, as is said. No one is flawless and no one has absolutely no good sides either.

This applies to all well-made characters as well. Your protagonists, for instance. They don’t have to be ‘always right’ and always do good things – if anything, this makes them much harder to relate to. Protagonists could even be almost villanous in nature if you wanted them to be, even if they’re fighting for the ‘right side’. After all, many mean people can be intelligent, funny and entertaining. Your protagonists don’t even have to be mean – jealousy, disloyalty, over-seriousness are all as valid as flaws. However bad-natured your protagonist may be though, you must ensure that they remain likeable and that the reader wants to ‘root’ for them. A hero which no-one cares about is a failure.

The same goes for antagonists. Too often have I have seen a potentially great story ruined by a incompetent or ridiculously evil villain. Your antagonist doesn’t need to be the worst guy out there to be an interesting villain. A good villain, despite their personality, will oppose your protagonist naturally, and it is because of that you’ll hate them. Not because they’re sick bastards – although the two can come hand in hand. Villains aren’t permenantly evil, and there are different ways of pulling them off. In some cases, they can appear to be just like normal characters, but with a difference. Maybe they believe what they’re doing is right by a different set of morals, they could just have one flaw which has become exaggerated and corrupted, or maybe they just might be morally ambiguous anyway. Good-natured antagonists exist just as bad-natured protagonists do.

So we have looked at our main protagonists and antagonists – what next? Supporting characters, of course. This is where it becomes interesting – and where the idea of sides you can ‘root for’ blur together, and where we can experiment more. I’m talking about ‘grey characters’; characters who are equally flawed and lacking in flaws, very much like you or I. Ultimately grey characters can fit in almost anywhere – they’re generally diverse and flexible in terms of where they stand. They don’t have to even take sides at all, which always makes things more unpredictable and more interesting. As well as this, they can take sides for different reasons and motives, and put differing slants on ideas, turning a simple two-sided battle into a far more complicated matter.

A final important point with morality is to consider character development. People aren’t static. They learn things constantly; therefore, their mindsets will change. People may start off with one task, but become disillusioned with what they’re doing. They might continue doing it for a different reason, or change their method slightly, perhaps starting conflict with some of those one their ‘own side’ with the traditional mindset. Development doesn’t always have to be positive – supporting protagonists, for whatever reason, can become antagonists, just as the opposite can happen too.

Like I said, experimentation, if pulled off correctly, can be hugely effective here. Of course, character morality isn’t the first thing a new writer should be thinking of – getting a solid foundation for prose comes first. Making sure you can make your protagonists likeable and your antagonists realistic comes before you go crazy with experimentation. For those of you who want to play around, while strictly not your traditional literary gold the manga series Death Note is a brilliant experimenting here. The protagonist becomes more villainous as the series goes on, and who is plays what role is very debatable. A good base to start with if you’re stuck for ideas – and as always, reading around helps immensely.