: Re: How can I portray a character with no fear of death, without them sounding utterly bored? Imagine a fantasy hero with a 'time reset' ability like the protagonists of Groundhog Day or Edge of

@Sherry594

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There are many more interesting things to fear than death. Losing a loved on, being injured or losing a limb, being trapped, phobias, etc. And there are many things that can be done to a character without them ever truly being in mortal danger.

Fear of death isn't, or shouldn't be, the only thing that drives a person or character. We want to learn, better ourselves, make a difference, experience things, help others, etc, and any of these could be excellent driving motivation rather than fear of death. Someone deeply devoted to their cause may not consider death, but they are not necessarily an uninteresting character because of it.

I think the potential problem here with motivation is similar to your example, Groundhog Day- Phil reaches a point where he's so despondent because of how he is trapped in this one day in this one place that he chooses his to experiment with different ways to potentially kill himself and therefore stop the cycle rather than be trapped. Your character is not trapped - they can do anything! See anything, as many times as they wish! Learn anything! It's how they choose to use this power that will say something about them as much as how they 'sound' while doing so - do they become a concert pianist, or binge all of Doctor Who in an afternoon? Do they use it to get time alone in museums, or to spy on people, or to study more? Do they consider this an obligation, to do good because they have this power, and are vaguely annoyed by the disruption, or are they happy to help, or caught up in the challenge of getting it right? Are they aware that this is not an ability others have and are scared of losing it at the worst possible moment, and therefore rush through things they shouldn't? Do they have a memory clogged with things that haven't happened, do they get caught up in getting every moment Exactly Perfect and lose track of what they were supposed to be doing?

There are definitely options here. It's all in how you work it, and what you want your story to say.

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