: Re: Character motivations facing death? Would it be boring/unrealistic/silly/cliché if most characters only had this main motivation for most of a story: saving humanity/their country/their familly/themselves.

@Cody1607638

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People are complex. We always have more than one motivation. Always.

On the most basic level, your division into groups is correct.
Some will just wait. Some will hide. Some will run. Some will kill themselves. Some will fight.

However, believing that this grouping is all there is to say about a character is way too simple.

Help or not. One important distinction is helpers vs selfers. Some people will help others, some will help themselves. All the groups above will contain both kinds. Actually, most characters will have both tendencies and act either way at different times.

Hope. You say that things are hopeless, and most of your characters will probably agree. But there is always some people who hope, who will try to instill hope in others.

Bargaining. Regardless of how pointless it is, some people will try to bargain with the immortal, try to reason with them, try to please them.

Infighting. If this society has had a "scapegoat minority", they are going to be blamed, regardless of how illogical or pointless it would be.

Leaders People like to feel important, they will try to become the leader of whatever group that are with. A group with two or more leader candidates has a problem. How much are each candidate willing to do to become the leader? People will differ.

Children Some children will be too young to understand what is going on. What will their parents tell them?

Split families One parent wants to hide. The other wants to run. Who gets to keep the children?

Religion This is going to bring out all the nutcases. And they will gain followers.

All these aspects affect most of the characters. Mix and match!

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