The principle that everyone is the hero of their own story is something I’m really passionate about.
No one does things just to be evil. They have reasons for doing what they do. And in their mind, those reasons are enough to explain why it’s necessary to do what they’re doing.
A lot of the time, it’s not that one person is evil and the other wants to do good. They’re both trying to do what is right based on their understanding of the situation. But they have different perspectives.
And those different perspectives make them see the world differently. That, in turn, forces them to make decisions that come into conflict with each other.
Sometimes, it’s not even only about worldview and seeing the world in different ways. It can also be that their circumstances are genuinely in conflict with each other.
For instance, in my story about Gallus, there is a race called the raiders who steal from the humans. The humans think they’re despicable because, hey, they’re stealing our food!
But the reason the raiders are stealing food is that they were forced out into the Dark Forest, where not enough grows for them to survive. They have been forced to steal from the humans in order to stay alive.
That doesn’t mean the raiders are evil. They’re trying to survive. They’re doing what they need to do to survive.
I think one of the main themes in my stories is the idea that you need to look beyond your preconceptions and communicate with others to understand their point of view in order to solve conflicts.
And that evil isn’t necessarily a thing.
Well, it might be. There are people who seem to have no concept of other human beings, and you could certainly say that their actions are evil. But often, people believe they need to do what they’re doing. They believe the result is worth the harm they cause along the way.
That’s why I think it’s really important that stories have complex characters. Characters shouldn’t do things simply because they’re evil and want to destroy things.
They might do them because they’ve been forced into a corner and think this is the only way forward. Or because they’ve been hurt so much that they just want to lash out. Or because their circumstances make it impossible for them to survive if they don’t act.
Even if a story has a protagonist and an antagonist, and we never get the antagonist’s perspective, I think there need to be at least some clues about why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Because antagonists need to be people too.
They need to be the heroes of their own stories, just as much as the protagonist is the hero of theirs.
So, do you agree?
Do you prefer stories where everyone is the hero of their own story? Or is it okay for some characters to have only one purpose in the story?