Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What is the motivation to use a useless dolt as a protagonist?

+1
−0

I want to root for the protagonist. I want to feel the weight of his burdens so I can turn around and celebrate with him when he overcomes them. However, occasionally I come across a protagonist who is so unbelievably stupid and useless I just can't bring myself to feel bad for him.

So it's a natural puzzle to me when other authors employ a protagonist who offers no comic relief, has no skills, relies on everyone else to solve the simplest of problems, and says so many dumb things my palm starts rubbing the skin off my forehead.

What does a protagonist like this add to the story?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/30184. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

0 answers

Sign up to answer this question »