: Re: Introduce a character and forget about them until the last chapter? In my story, the main character gets help from / saved by two complete strangers. They don't tell the mc who they are or

@Nickens642

Vote Up Vote Down

I think that it really depends on how you write the story. If they save the mc right at the start, it wouldn't be reasonable for him/her to never try to find out who they are from sources that might know. (That doesn't mean that s/he has to ever find out anything; s/he just has to try.) That will suffice to keep them 'in the loop', so to speak, no matter what the reader finds out about them, if anything at all. Over the course of the story, you can have them orchestrate events from the background as obviously or as subtly as you choose. The end result must satisfy the reader, of course. The most likely reason that they couldn't do away with the villain is either they aren't able to or the villain in on guard against them, and so they are serving as a distraction to allow the mc to 'flank' him. At the end of the story, you really have two good options: you can either have them explain themselves, or, if you are intending to write more stories, have them reveal that this was just part of a much larger story that they and the mc are serving their parts in. The reader needs to feel satisfied, but that can simply mean accepting 'but wait! There's more!'

To reply to Amadeus, heroes just have to be the right person in the right place who is willing (or sometimes not) to do the right action. Bilbo & Frodo Baggins come immediately to mind; they are simply the main focus of the story; everyone else around them are the experienced, well-seasoned heroes. It's the same in the 'Wheel of Time', "The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant", and many others, where the 'everyman' finds him/herself thrust into a role of 'hero' that s/he is clearly NOT qualified for, and needs endless help just to survive to accomplish The Task. (Heck, if you told Rincewind that he was a story's hero, he would run off shrieking "Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum!" and you'd never see him again. :grin: ) Now, don't get me wrong; they can be a 'deux ex machina', but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, if explained properly. For example, while the mc can see a particular even as one, the reader could suddenly realize that all of the mysterious little things going on were actually them working in the background to ensure that the mc could do The Task, in a completely logical manner. It really depends on the writer's ability to satisfy the reader that the situation and story make sense, no matter what the environment is. In other words, people need to behave like people really do, for real reasons, not just as stereotypes and tropes. The villain sees himself as the hero, for example. (It's true; we all see ourselves as the hero of our own story. Everyone who sets themselves against us is, by very definition, a Villain, and we are therefore completely justified in whatever action we choose to take against them. As well, those who are actively pursuing a course of action that is similar to ours can be a hero to us, no matter what that course of action might be. (That's a frightening thought, isn't it? Hitler and Osama Bin Laden were heroes to themselves and others, and those that fought to stop them were the Villains.) That isn't healthy thinking, of course, and highly relative; we are, in reality both Hero and Villain in turn, and stories should reflect that. It makes things 'messier' in the reader's minds, because we like things to be nice and clearcut; 'heroes should be purely good and villains should be purely evil', no matter what the reality is.)

(0)

Login to post a comment!