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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48219
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48219
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

You can create a character that is a fraud, and seems to have inherent weaknesses, but once in a while they act **out of character** and against their supposed weakness, in some situation that is critical.

The reader will suspect the weakness is not _really_ a weakness, and thus the character is a fraud, but nobody in-universe (unless you want them to) notices the fraud _didn't_ fail.

In truth, the weakness is an adopted trait of the fraud they can use to conceal their covert actions or communications. I have seen this in movies before, the guy in a wheelchair is not disabled at all. But it doesn't have to be that dramatic; I have also seen the simpleton bumpkin janitor (mental weakness) turn out to be an expert multi-millionaire hacker.

Plutarch, that you mention, first meets Katniss at the palace dance; and in that dance he tells her, "being the head game maker has never been the most secure job in the world." She asks, "then why are you here?", and he responds "for the same reason as you, I volunteered." When she asks "Why?" he claims it was ambition, he wanted the games to mean something. She says they never meant anything, and he says "Maybe you inspired me to come back."

In other words, every time he is telling her the truth! But in an off-handed way, it is double speak. In watching the movie, it was at that moment I decided he was a double-agent:

- "The same thing as you, I volunteered", was more than a surface truth, he was risking his life for love of a cause in the same way Katniss risked her life to save her sister. 

- "Ambition" was a misdirection, revealing his false weakness if taken as "personal ambition", which most would. But in a sense (I just realized) it was also a truth, his true ambition was altruistic, to overthrow Snow.

- "I wanted the games to mean something" was a veiled truth, they would mean the end of dictator Snow.

- And finally: Her courage in volunteering truly did inspire him to come back, to enter the lion's den.

His "weakness" of pretended personal ambition was enough to convince Snow and his crew that Plutarch's reason for volunteering was pure ambition. He was brutal and got people killed horribly in doing his game-maker job, but he was risking his own life and justified the casualties necessary to please Snow as acceptable losses.

Nevertheless (and perhaps because I write and know that every word in a screenplay should be meaningful) I decided he was probably an ally, I think even the choice to dance with Katniss was a clue. I admit I could not be certain he was a double-agent, I just couldn't think (as a writer) for any other purpose to that conversation, for chewing up three minutes of screen time for nothing.

Look for ways a "weakness" can be used to shield your double-life character, and let them speak the truth, albeit in veiled terms. Then trust your readers to put the pieces together.

Original score: 2