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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/27495
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The character I describe is in fact reflective of somebody I know in real life--a kind of nihilist who finds all pursuits and goals "hollow and ridiculous", as the person says. This inevitably implies that the person in question live day by day on trivial concerns--the pursuit of food, shelter and idle comfort, as opposed to the long-term-goal-oriented efforts of most others. (e.g.: go to school to learn a skill; earn money with skill; use money to buy a house and live happily ever after etc.)

I wonder if it would be possible to re-create such a person in fiction; my intuition is that it will be difficult to see consistently comprehensible actions from such a character, in other words, such a character will not perform series of actions that are all constituent of the same goal. Instead, such a character would only **react** to the happenings of any plot, and would thus only be suitable as a secondary character whom the main characters **observe externally**.

However, my understanding of literature is limited, and there might be precedents of such characters being successfully portrayed in other roles.

**Addendum:**  
This person whom I know in real-life developed their nihilistic attitude from religious/philosophical disillusionment, as they describe. Unlike the typical hedonistic stereotype of a nihilist, this person is in fact abstinent and holds many socially progressive views and principles. However, they said that there is no rational justification for these behaviours, and that they don't see these actions to be morally superior to "depravities" including violence and substance abuse on an intellectual level.

Beside these, this person also has talents in programming and art, and often create things in these media, but they said that while these exercises are interesting or beautiful, they are not meaningful in any way.

Original score: 1