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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/29950
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/29950
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I'm currently writing a tale with two protagonists. One of them is a dark protagonist - that is, technically evil. The other protagonist is not evil. I'm wondering if this will cause the reader to gravitate toward the good protagonist.

I have a way of dealing with dark protagonists. The trick is to make sure they realize their darkness, and want to be better. That gives the reader something to hope for. While this works adequately when the dark protagonist is alone, I'm wondering if it will be outshone by a normal good protagonist.

**With two protagonists, will the reader gravitate towards a 'good' one, and away from the evil-but-trying-to-be-better one?** In other words: can the reader like both protagonists _equally_? This is important because both protagonists are PoV characters. I don't want the reader wanting to get back to one character while he's reading the other (eg Eragon vs. Roran in _Eldest_). The reason for this question is that while the dark protagonist is trying to be better, he's still evil at the core. He's still a bad guy.

_Do note that my two protagonists are on the same side. One is not the antagonist to the other._

Original score: 18