(Or “Why Your Ally Shouldn’t Exist”)
Today begins a series of posts by yours truly. Obviously.
Less obvious, however, is what the series is about. Sort of.
In short, I’m titling the series “Allies in August” because
of the month, but really they’ll all be labeled “Sidekicks Part 1/2/3”. Then
I’ll have the real title of the post and then the actual post.
So, applying our newfound knowledge, today’s post is the
first in the series, and it’s about allies
who shouldn’t exist.
Sure, Deyu's not an Ally, but it's a nice picture, right? |
Before we begin to get to the real meat of this post, I want
to talk a little about the Ally.
This poor fellow (or… fellowette? Fellowy? Fellay?) is
forced to accompany your main character through the most dangerous adventures
in his/her entire life. They’re not central to the story, their death won’t
mean the villain wins, and chances are they wish they were the love interest
instead. At least if they were the love interest the main character would try
harder to save them from the clutches of the evil overlord.
They will get bruises, bumps, hunger pains, dehydration,
countless cuts and skinned knees, at least one broken bone, an ugly scar on
their face and/or hand, and might even die.
Woe to those who
desire to be an ally, for they will suffer and be rewarded little for their
aid.
Based on this, it is easy to wonder why anyone would want to be an ally. I know I wouldn’t. I’ve got my own
goals in life; I’m too busy to be swept off by my friend (who I probably just
met) to go hunting dragons. Who hunts dragons in North America anyway?
But there are still allies. They still hang around; still
sacrifice their own desires for the hero’s.
Why?
What makes your ally give up his grand dream of becoming the
world’s first person to skydive without a parachute and survive?
Quite simply, because the ally feels some sense of loyalty toward the hero. (Also because the
cruel author made them.)
I’ve read many a novel where the ally doesn’t feel like a real person. In fact, they feel more
like a robot. That is, feeling-less. The ally (regardless of how well they know
the hero) mindlessly joins the hero’s quest, throwing aside all of their own
wants and goals. Sure, they feel
emotions, but they’re not real emotions. They’re reactions to something the
ally never should have been feeling in the first place.
These sorts of allies are the kind who exists merely for the
sake of the author. The hero needs help, so why not give them a random friend
to help? Make said friend good at blacksmithing, carpentry, swordsmanship, or
humor, and you’ve got a way for the hero to achieve his goal.
But… is that how characters are supposed to be made? Are
they simply tools, means to an end?
Of all the characters, the Ally seems to be the most often
ignored, undeveloped, and least useful. They never have goals of their own,
desires, hopes, and dreams. Even if they do, these objects of their wanting
somehow happen to be identical to the
hero’s story goal.
How convenient.
Today, today I want to address this sort of ally.
The ally who does nothing but what the hero wants, desires
nothing but what the hero needs, and achieves nothing that is not involved in
the hero’s schemes.
The ally that doesn’t
need to exist.
Before I give you a list (because lists are my favorite) of
things which point toward a useless ally, I want to give you an example. And
before I give you the example, you need to understand that this example is only
my opinion. Others can and will disagree with me. That’s okay. But this is
where I get my turn at the soapbox. Feel free to take your turn in the comments
section at the end. Soapboxes for
everyone!
My example is from a rather popular young teen fantasy
series called The Ranger’s Apprentice.
In this series, a kid named Will becomes (you guessed it) apprenticed to a
ranger. Somewhere along the lines (it’s been ages since I read the first few,
so pardon me as I forget and am too lazy to look it up) of the first two/three
books, young Will meets a boy named Horace.
Horace the Horace |
Horace is the ally of the series.
And he didn’t need to
exist.
If you took Horace out of the series, nothing would chance.
Sure, Will would need to have worked harder to achieve his goal, and half of
the horrid puns would be missing, but nothing of great importance would change.
Nothing.
That… that is a sign that a character is not needed. (And I
won’t go into the horrid puns section… case in point, there.)
Why then, does Horace exist?
Will needed him to. (More correctly, the author, John
Flanagan, needed him to exist.) It made the story goal so much easier to
achieve for Will when he had a trusty, stocky swordsman at his back making
stupid jokes and killing enemies who escaped Will’s arrows.
Great job, Horace. You deserve a medal for bravery, a
horrible sense of humor, and the ability to lessen tension.
After all, as long as Horace is around, Will is safe in
close quarters (and as long as Will is around, Horace has only to kill the one
brute Will can’t shoot in time).
Horace is not his own
person. His goals seem to be identical to Will’s: Protect the kingdom. Kill
bad people. Train to be a warrior. Crack ridiculous puns (so when I said I
wouldn’t address the humor…). Get the girl (thankfully a different girl than
Will; no love triangle around here for very long).
There is nothing Horace wants (if I’m wrong, please remind
me, it has been a while) that
conflicts with what Will wants. At least nothing that lasts, nor anything which
is decided in Horace’s favor.
It would be better if Horace
had never existed. Will would have needed to try harder, be cleverer, more
resourceful, and more real.
Now. I’d like to share a very short list of ways in which
allies become the kind of character that are unnecessary.
-They have the same goals
as the hero
-Everything they do must
help the hero
-Chances are they feel
inadequate compared to the hero and the hero helps them overcome this.
-Their best scene is where they help the MC overcome self-doubt and/or some physical task.
-Their only purpose is that they’re funny.
-This character leaves to go on an adventure with the hero
for no visible reason (their motivation
is weak).
-Allies who meet the hero at the beginning of the book and
yet immediately trust this stranger.
-An ally who “can’t”.
They’re too weak, so it’s up to the hero.
Does your ally fit these things? Is your ally a comedic
relief character, or the character that the hero must save from depression?
The most important question you can ask when it comes to the
necessity of an ally is thus: “Why are
you following the hero?”
If, even for an instance, you think the answer might be
“because I the author need them to”, then something needs to change.
The ally is the hero
of their own story.
They have a real life outside
the main character’s goal.
This person has desires, dreams, and goals which are not
identical in every way to the hero’s.
Don’t let them fall
into a shadow they weren’t meant to be in.
If they must exist, it must be because they chose to aid the
hero, to take on this quest despite
their own goals.
That is a beautiful character.
That is sacrifice.
It’s a story worth telling, even if they aren’t the main
character.
What about you? Does
your Ally NEED to exist? Why? Leave a comment and share!
That's funny...I usually have the opposite problem where my Ally is way too involved, and ahead of my Hero and constantly getting my Hero to /do something/.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I've seen (read) my share of useless Allies.
Great post!
Ehehe. Funnily enough, I'll be talking about that kind of Ally, too. So, I guess stay tuned! ;)
DeleteThanks!
Aah, okay. Staying tuned ;)
Delete