: Re: What raises the stakes and suspicion in a plot? I was just reading about how when a character has something they truly care about, that the stakes are raised more now that they can lose it,

@Berumen699

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I've always maintained that if you want to write Superman well, you have to know that Kryptonite is not his true weakness.

Ultimately, to make your protagonist relate-able, you have to make his fears relate-able. What makes Walter White a person the audience can relate to and cheer for, even though he is a psychopathic drug lord? It's his relationship with his family... everything he does, he tells us is for his family. We excuse a lot because at the end, he's not some guy trying to sell kids his crap... he's humanized.

If your guy is the hero because he has a moral code... people get that. If he's the hero because he wants to protect someone, that's a good reason too. If he's a hero because "Earth is where I put my stuff" that's fine.

A lot of good heroes will face a temptation. Jesus was tempted by the devil. Luke was tempted by Darth Vader. What could your antagonist offer the hero, on condition that the hero never takes up his sword against the villain, that would make him back down from his fight... or even join the villain?

Throw all the Kryptonite you want at Superman... he'll fight you to his last dying breath. You cannot stop him from fighting you with Kryptonite... you can merely make it difficult for him. But anyone who has ever exerted any control over Superman has never done so with Kryptonite... they did it with Lois Lane.

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