skaetblog by skaetlett

Irredemable Character Flaws in Stories

Character flaws are a hallmark of a functioning story. Typically, people don't want to read about a perfect character who doesn't learn anything because, well, they're already perfect. What else have they got to learn? Flaws make a character well-rounded, believable, and relatable.

But what about the other side of the pendulum: when characters are irredeemable? When, whether or not their flaws are improved upon, they leave you with such a bitter taste in your mouth that by the end of the story, you still hate them. I'm going to talk about 3 traits that make a character generally unforgiveable, whether you want to make an unforgiveable character or to have caution when writing a character with growth through a story.

(disclaimer I'm not an expert on writing yadda yadda these are my own thoughts! feel free to email me with yours!)

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Harming anything without the power to defend themselves

e.g.: babies & puppies

You may have heard of how a character kicking a puppy can never be redeemed, which is true: a puppy is defenseless, wanting to simply bring joy to its owner, and does not expect to be kicked. I'd like to propose adding on babies to that rule, as babies are similarly defenseless and innocent. (Though, many times babies are hurt or kicked into the atmosphere for comedic effect, so, who knows.)

Characters who pick on defenseless animals are irredeemable because these things are done out of malice. You never kick a puppy because it's attacking you; you never choke a kitten because it's a threat; and you never step on a baby with cleats for any justifiable reason.

Vitriolic racism or bigotry

your nazi character cannot be saved by kindness later on

Now, there are stories (good stories!) where the character confronts their owen biases and bigotry and comes out the bigger person. And we need those stories because they inspire people to look at their past wrongs and strive to be better.

But there's a limit to what's forgiveable, what's a good character backstory, and what someone can redeem themself within the constraints of a narrative for.

Is this to say that Nazis can't change for the better in real life? No; if someone manages to transform from a Nazi to a human being, sure. This isn't a post on change and/or redemption in real life. No matter what a Nazi in a story does later on, from giving to charity to saving the puppies from being kicked in the prior example, their past as someone who contributed to such vicious and real hatred sticks with readers.

Sexual assault or rape

the sole inexcusable crime

IMO, sexual assault and rape are the only crimes that are indefensible. There are many, many, many explanations for why someone would turn to murder, arson, robbery. That's not to say any of these things are right; but as some examples, people turn to murder to get away from abusive relationships, in self-defense, as accidents.

There is no excuse for rape. It's never done in self-defense. It's never done as an accident. Even when someone does it out of incompetence in a story (e.g. a character not knowing proper consent practices), it leaves a permanent stain on their character. The audience can never look at a character who's committed this sin in the same way.

(the only exception i can maaaybe see; if you are writing a dark romance, though, where many of the characters rape or assault partners, it's oftentimes the expectation. a normal character doing this would be irredeemable, but... it's kind of what people are signing up for with dark romance or erohorror -shrug-)

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To be clear, none of this is intended to be advice against writing these sorts of characters. They have their place in some stories; any kind of "better in fiction" erotica being a good one. And hey, no one's stopping you from writing a character like that in any story, really. But if you decide to, do so with the knowledge that by the end of the story, your reader might not be rooting for the character -- especially if they're a protagonist.

Hell, if you want easy ways to make characters irredeemable, this is a good place to start. There are more gray areas (in terms of redeemability) that can still render a character irredeemable, such as:

Ultimately, though, this more of a warning on writing unlikeable characters. You don't have to write someone being a war criminal or an animal abuser to be unlikeable, and doing so may seem forced and out of place. In Elfen Lied, there's an infamous scene of a puppy getting kicked to death, and it's supposed to be a hashtag-deep commentary on how evil humanity is... but to be honest, it's just unpleasant to watch, and there were probably better ways to show that humanity is evil in a hashtag-deep metaphor. So maybe proceed with caution.