(Or “When the Sidekick is Better than the Hero”)
Have you ever read a book about a broken hero?
Yeah, that one about the hero who really isn’t that nice of a character, who might have some kind of addiction, or a very shady past.
They’re becoming more and more common nowadays. Everyone likes a broken hero,
because we’re all broken heroes in our own ways.
But what happens when the glorious Ally shows up?
Suddenly our less-than-perfect Heroine is a loser. She’s a
pathetic coward compared to the fearless Ally who is willing to sacrifice her
own goals for the heroine’s. What kind of heroine is she, anyway, to let the
wonderful Ally sacrifice for her?
Yeah, she's back, but it's a nice picture |
Some authors solve this problem by making it so the Ally is
only perfect on the outside. They’ve got some broken thing inside them, too,
but no one can see it. But when those authors do that, the reader feels cheated. We were
looking up to the Ally, and so was the Heroine, only to discover that this
admirable Ally isn’t so admirable after all. They’re just like us; they wear a
mask to hide their true selves.
Other authors find it useful to pull the “savior” card with
the Ally. The Hero is moping along, being their beat up, despondent selves when
BAM
The Ally drops in from the heavens to the sound of an
angelic chorus and redeems the Hero. Within the course of a chapter and a half,
the Hero has laid aside his anger issues, his regrets, his drunkard identity,
recovered from amnesia, depression, and his OCD.
Because when Allies find someone like the Hero in real life,
this always happens.
Always.
A very, very common use of that sort of strategy is through
the Love Interest. This poor guy/girl falls in love with the dark, sad main
character. I really do pity them, falling in love with… that. But somehow, they teach the main character to love again, to
be healed and new and beautiful.
In the course of the week the book spans.
While defeating the real
villain, pulling down the totalitarian government, and restoring order to the
universe.
No.
The Ally who is “good”, who is in some way “better” than the
Hero, can’t just be there to solve
the MC, and they can’t just be there to empathize
with the MC. If that’s the only reason the Ally is there, it would be better if
they did not exist.
Let me give you an example, like I’ve been doing the past
few weeks. I could give you Ron, because not only is he special, but
he is in several regards better than
the protagonist.
However, let’s expand our views look at a different Ally. He
very well may be the most famous of all Allies, the one you immediately thought
of when you heard the word.
He’s special, different, has his own reasons to exist, and
is in many ways better than his Hero.
His name is Samwise Gamgee.
Because his po-tay-toes are better than your po-tay-toes. |
Before we talk about how he is the kind of Ally who is
better than the Hero, yet goes about it correctly, let’s check to make sure he
really does need to exist:
-Does he have goals of his own?
Certainly. He
wants to be a gardener. More than anything else in the world, it seems, he
loves plants. Whether for food or for beauty, there’s nothing he loves more,
except his Master Frodo.
-Does he sacrifice his goals for the Hero’s?
Above all else.
Samwise gives up everything to follow his Master Frodo, even to Mordor, which
is the polar opposite of everything he loves. Samwise comes to realize that
Frodo’s goal of destroying the Ring of Power is more important than his own
desires for the comforts of home and for his garden. In fact, he gives up
everything he deems precious (including his prized collection of pots and
pans!), even himself.
Samwise is noble, kindhearted, and all-around a good
character.
Not so Frodo. Part of it is due to the ring: we see him
become selfish under its influence, as well as cruel. He’s broken by his
hardships, and aware that the world is not so innocent a place as Sam sees it.
But does Sam ever try to “fix” Frodo? Certainly. As Frodo is
taken under the power of the ring, he repeatedly points out the affects. Yet
Frodo is unchanged.
And does Sam ever reveal something in himself that is broken
just like Frodo is broken?
While he certainly proves he is not perfect, he never once shows himself to have the same dark mantel
on his shoulders.
Sam understands that he is not there to fix the MC. He
realizes that his job is to sacrifice what must be sacrificed to help Frodo
attain his quest.
He is the contrast by which we see the evil of the Ring
truly portrayed.
He is the light Frodo needs to keep going, to fight his
inner self.
Sam is the one who carries Frodo, when he knows he can’t
carry the true burden himself.
And isn’t that the job of the Ally?
Aren’t they the characters which carry the Hero, even when
they know they can’t carry the true burden of the Goal?
That is a beautiful character.
That is an Ally worth cheering for.
What about you? What
about your Allies? Do they sacrifice something for the Hero? What is it? Leave
a comment and share!
SAM <3
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite of your Ally posts, but they were all awesome.
My Ally in my book, "Kingdom Bonders", is (sadly) the Love Interest, but he doesn't 'change' my hero. Instead, his humor and easy-going personality kinda rubs off on my hero a bit and she softens. A little. She's still her snappy, sarcastic self.
Anyway, my Ally wasn't better than my hero, but he wasn't pointless either. Rather, they helped each other to defeat a cruel man's plans.
Your Ally posts have given me confirmation that my Ally wasn't so bad. I feel better now.
Well thanks! ^_^
DeleteGood, I'm glad he's not too bad. Allies who aren't too bad are the best kind, usually.