DE: My best trait

[bjornwilde]

 So we've talked about tragic flaws, let's flip the tables and talk about heroic virtues. What is your character's?

Comments

[road_to_calvary]

Gene - despite being quite a lot of a bastard, and having any number of questionable methods in his policing, really will put himself on the line in order to catch a crook. He does care about the people who have been hurt by criminals, and will move heaven and earth to catch the ones who do real damage. He doesn't ask his team to do any dangerous stuff he wouldn't do himself (and there's no dangerous situation he won't chuck himself into); he's brave to a fault, and will stand up for those that need him to.

Valjean - uhhh. Will put his life on the line for pretty much anyone. Old guy who doesn't like him gets stuck under a cart and will certainly die? Valjean will crawl under that thing himself and lift it on his own back while every other man stands around and watches in fear. A man has been arrested and will go to jail for life because they think he's the real Valjean? Valjean will go and denounce himself, ruin the town that has come to depend on him, and face the rest of his life in the living hell he spent so much time trying to escape. Daughter loves a man who has gone to fight on a barricade? Valjean will go to fetch him, literally walk through gunfire, and then carry the man for miles in a sewer to give him the chance of life, so his girl can be happy. Even though he doesn't want his daughter to marry anyone, and it ends up killing him. The man is selfless to the point of ridiculousness...and death, which is one of the points Victor Hugo was trying to make. You can be too selfless and heroic, just as you can be too selfish.

Javert - Javert is a dick, there's no doubt about it, but he's a dick because he's the 'evil of the good'. He tries so hard to be good, and virtuous, that it's damaging to people around him and, ultimately, himself. But he does have heroic virtues because of this: he is another one who is brave, and he spent his whole life doing a lowly Inspector's job so that he might serve society and the people in it (at least the ones deemed worthy of protection by said society's rules). He's not heroic enough to think for himself and act in the interests of everyone, regardless of class and station, but he'll put himself onto a barricade with no thought for his own safety. If he makes a mistake, he expects to be held to the same punishment he would mete out on anyone else. Javert's tragedy (or, one of them) is that he had the basic characteristics to have been a good man, but they were subverted because society isn't interested in what an individual is made of, only their status and birth. At least, that is what he saw from a young age, and refused to unsee ever again. So: Javert's heroic virtues - courage, humility, selflessness - are all a little twisted, but are there in some form.

Bruce Wayne - courageous, selfless, generous. He cares about the city, and the poor people in it suffering at the hands of crime. Hes innovative in his heroic virtues - coming up with a new persona for people to have hope in is a masterful stroke, and not something he could ever have done in his own name. Probably. Not that he really tried.

Bruce Banner - possibly his greatest heroic virtue (at least imo) is how desperate he is to fix his mistake. Because some people (hi Abomination!) would want what he has for the wrong reasons; some wouldn't see why it's so dangerous, or wouldn't care about the damage inflicted. Bruce changes his whole life in an effort to contain the Hulk, and make sure it's controlled and not able to hurt other people. He doesn't try for a bit, get bored and say 'ah fuck it' either, so he can do what he wants. He is dedicated to staying out of people's way, and not letting the big guy do his thing. That's heroic.

[camwyn]

Um. lessee. I'm not too good at this, usually I put a list of my characters out and ask what other people think their virtues are...

Gordon... Gordon has the stubbornness of John Henry. He might be bleeding from more places than he has orifices, he might have been awake and fighting for twenty-eight hours straight with no food in his stomach, he might be dizzied and shaking from explosives near his ears, but if he believes the way out of a bad situation is through, he'll keep going for as long as his body has the structural integrity to do so. Couple that with caring about other people, particularly when he knows they can't do for themselves what he can.

Shephard- Shephard has an 'acceptable risk to life and limb' meter, like everyone else alive. The difference between him and other people is that Shephard's is calibrated way too high. It's not that he's not aware of danger and consequence, it's that he looks at a situation with an 85% chance of death and 10% chance of survival with horrible sequelae and a 5% chance of good survival, and considers that to be borderline acceptable, so long as it's for the right reason. That, I think, is another heroic virtue; unlike a lot of guys with their risk-to-life-and-limb meter set too high, he has the sense to ask what's at stake first. He'll do stupidly, insanely dangerous things if they need to get done to protect and save the people he's sworn to defend, but he refuses to die a redneck joke, or to have his last words be 'Hold my beer, I wanna show you something'. And the last one is that he knows these things are going to come up, and while he doesn't know what they are, he's damned well going to be prepared for as much of them as possible- it's one thing to be willing to risk your life to save people, but it's not going to mean very much if you aren't skilled enough or capable enough to pull it off.

Ellen- Practicality. This is not a terribly heroic virtue on first glance. However, it's kept her alive in the Wasteland, and it's driven her to get a lot of things done that weren't happening otherwise- as her father said, things are bad, but they're only going to get better if someone makes them get better. And unlike her father, the idealist, she has to think about what needs doing and how to sustain it in order to make things better; see the Pitt for an example of how one goes about removing a dangerous slaver threat to your homeland without unnecessarily loss of life. See also what happened at Adams AFB, because some threats can't be neutered, but have to be ended permanently.

Santo- Strength, bravery, and a sense of moral responsibility to the everyday people of Mexico.

Stacker- Stacker has a tremendous sense of responsibility and a willingness to submerge his own problems and issues hard in the name of making sure Earth is defended.

Varric- A sense of personal loyalty to friends and family is probably as close as he comes; he's not exactly what you'd call top-rung heroic, tbh.

Edward Kenway- Well, he's persistent and focuses on goals admirably, but, uh. Edward's got a long ways to go in terms of character development before getting to the point of anything that could be recognized as a heroic virtue.

Medic- Is an absolute bastard whose most redeeming trait is that he values intelligence; the man runs on spite like the Sun runs on hydrogen.

[bjornwilde]

Selina Kyle: I don't know that we've seen enough of her to judge, honestly. I know she cares about and empathizes with other people regardless of social standing, but she also will set that aside if it's in her interest. She is a survivor. I've been reading the first collection of Catwoman comic book series (NuDCU) and if that is anything to go on, I would say she sees people as who they are rather than what the are. Everyone deserves respect in her eyes, regardless of what they do to feed themselves. Unless you are physically preying on those less fortunate or those who can't defend themselves.

Rand/Tybalt: At his present age, self-sacrifice. I haven't gotten to where he displays this though. In the future, I'd say his complete self-confidence. He will succeed because he knows he will.

Sam Wilson: I'll take empathy and compassion for $500?

Hank McCoy: His intelligence. This is also his flaw.

Andrea Nash: Her dedication to duty. Now if she could find an organization that was worth that dedication.

Jessica Drew: I would say her hubristic tenacity. As Kelly Sue Deconnick once said, Jess leads from the hip as far as doing the right thing is concerned. She needs to be pulled into it most often. But once she is in, she is in and damn the universe.

Brimstone: Self sacrifice. Everything he does is for his people.

Ethan Chandler: Another for compassion I think. He also isn't afraid to get his hands dirty for the right person.

Quinlan Vos: I would say his unconventional thinking. Unlike most jedi, he questioned things. He saw the lower dregs of Republic society, both in the galaxy and Coruscant, and didn't try to make excuses for the Republic. He knew they could do better, he just didn't think the Separatists could do any better and were likely to do worse. He was even planning on leaving the Jedi Order once the war was done.

And apologizes to anyone waiting for tags from Selina, Rand, or Quinlan. I was hit with a migraine this morning. I am feeling better but need to get the oil changed in my car. I should be tagging tonight.

[runningred]

*hugs* Hope you're feeling better. No rush and feel free to fade the other threads with Jay if you like.

[bjornwilde]

I appreciate that! I would like to give the garage thread a little more time but I think the lock picking can slide to hand waved and faded land? I'm going to assume Jay taught her some basics for door locks as well since she breaks into Wayne manor in an upcoming episode. = ]

[runningred]

Works for me. Whenever you're feeling up for it.

I swear, every episode she does something awesome on the show, I can almost hear Jay chuckling proudly.

[bjornwilde]

Win!

\o/

[mnt_mike]

Mike:
is pretty selfless when it comes right down to it. He'll put his own problems on the back burner indefinitely for the sake of others.

Raph:
is loyal to a fault. Once you're family, you're family, and there's no being rid of him.

Splinter:
is even tempered at all costs.

Aang:
is kind and gentle when the world wishes for him to be anything but. There's a strength in being true to one's self against all odds.

Bumi:
is brave. He's an underpowered guy living in an overpowered world, and doesn't let that stop him from doing what he knows in his heart to be right.

[lazy_but_loyal]

I don't know if there's anything heroically virtuous about Pam. She doesn't really care about anybody except herself and Eric most of all, and she would risk everything and die for him if she had to.

[onceaviking]

Her loyalty, even when faced with horrors. Even when faced with anger and abandonment.

[death_gone_mad]

Amascut has a very good memory and is good at thinking on her feet, which is important for keeping all her stories straight. Good for her schemes too. Oh, if only she were a heroic character. Also, her schemes, as cartoonishly complicated as they get, always accomplish at least some of her goals. That might be mostly because her goals are simple things like breaking and smashing things and making a mess, but still.

Fairy Fixit has that frightful level of expertise that old hands get from working a trade for so long, and hers is splicing teleportation networks together. She also is good at keeping secrets despite being a blabbermouth and she's pretty loyal to those who have earned her loyalty.

[student_of_impossibility]

Henry's is probably hope.

Eriond's are compassion and forgiveness.

Lois's are integrity and determination.

Tavi has a trifecta: compassion, with the accompanying integrity that tends to win him supporters; determination to do whatever is necessary; and sheer intelligence and creativity to find solutions no one else can see.

[filemyclaim]

Clementine: Clem is surprisingly very good at dealing with teenagers. And well, she IS a police officer and is willing to die in the line of duty, no matter how strenuously she avoids doing so.

Dixie: Is talented, truly cares about justice and others deeply. She's a lady of the revolution for a reason!

Pinkie: Lives to spread happiness, and she's done lots of stuff to support Twi that shows her generosity and her sense of fairness.

Juliet: A tough cop who will never, ever, ever say die in the name of protecting people.

Eponine: Is ultimately selfless and pure of heart.