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

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If your protagonist is infamous or an anti-hero, representing him as a dolt can actually add to the reader's interest, primarily through comic relief.

For instance, many of the late- medieval/early-Renaissance Christian monarchs were nothing short of concentrated evil. However, a historical fiction novel set in 15th century Rome pretty much has to have the Pope either as the protagonist or antagonist. Good luck trying to sell a book with, say, Pope Sixtus IV, the author of the Spanish Inquisition, as the antagonist.

However, to focus on his few positives while poking holes through his ridiculous rationalization process can make the reader kind of feel sorry for him. Add in the monarchs as the antagonists. Then, focusing on a personal transformation can lead to a happy-ish ending (in this case, reserving a piece of the Holy Roman Empire in modern Germany and Poland for the Jews).

Coming-of-age awkwardness in either film or fiction is not uncommon. In the end, boy gets girl or vice versa. Again, we feel sorry for him, start to root for him with comedy thrown in, and want to see his transformation that makes him desirable.

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A dull protagonist won't add much to a quest novel.

But some novels emphasize setting over character and plot.

In 1984 Winston Smith was dull, ordinary, smoked, and lived in an apartment that smelled like cabbage. But he was just a means for Orwell to show what society had become.

What if Winston had been brave and led the counter-revolution? It might have been interesting, but the emphasis would have been on the struggle, not Orwell's vision of dystopia.

Winston did struggle a little bit, but in the end he was just an ordinary Joe who got jobbed by the machine. He needed to be, for the book to work.

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