What Makes Characters Strong?

I’ve already written a post about what makes a strong female character, but let’s be honest: there are a lot of not-that-strong male characters as well (not to mention non-binary ones). So let’s take a step back and think about what makes characters strong in general.

A lot of what I’ve written in that post also goes for characters in general, not just for female characters. While there has always been a misunderstanding about what makes a ‘strong woman’ in a story, there’s also other characters who would profit from being really strong and not just muscled and armed.

Yes, your former soldier/mercenary who has turned into a vigilante/hero-for-hire will, most likely, be physically fit and capable of handling most regular weapons in the military they served in. They are strong in a physical sense and chances are their story will be full of fights, dangerous situations, explosions, and other regular action yarn.

What about your young, idealistic politician who learns how to spin intrigues to finally bring down the corrupt politicians on top and bring about a better life for all through the laws they get signed? They aren’t necessarily a physically strong character, but they’ll have charisma, deviousness, and a huge network of contacts. Their story will be full of intrigues, meetings, speeches, and information being traded in secret.

What about the new teen in town who finds out that there is something weird going on at the local church and gathers a group of misfits to confront the old evil sleeping under the cemetery and being worshipped by most of the old and important families in town? They probably won’t be heavily armed and strong as Arnold Schwarzenegger during his best times, but they’ll have friends and unexpected allies and they’ll pull through with perseverance and pluck.

All three of those characters can be strong characters, but not through their physical means alone.

It’s horribly easy to hear the expression ‘strong woman’ and come up with a badass warrior without equal in the world. “Xena the Warrior Princess” proved that that can actually work very well - but Xena and Gabrielle had other things going for them than pure physical strength alone. It’s also horribly easy, though, to think that all a hero needs to be is a strong  fighter with strong morals. While that can be part of your hero’s job description, it’s not all.

Depending on your story, physical fitness might be a necessity - I’m not saying ‘never use a physically strong main character again.’ It is not what makes the character strong, though, there’s other things they need for that.

Characters need one thing above everything else and it isn’t muscles, it’s an agenda. They need a goal they are working towards. Heroes and villains of a tale have that agenda, that goal. Usually, they have conflicting goals, but that’s part of another post. All main characters, all characters who feature strongly in at least one plot arc (if not more of them) should have an agenda and that agenda should be the reason why they feature in a plot arc or more.

That, of course, bears the question ‘What is an agenda?’ An agenda is a goal, a goal which is so important to a character that they will do whatever it takes and invest all of their skills, time, and resources into reaching it. Cinderella’s agenda is to go to the ball - something she has a right to, which her stepmother and stepsisters deny her. She has help with her agenda, but it’s her own wish which starts her on that path, it’s keeping true to her goal and not giving in which in the end brings her to the ball. It’s her prince’s agenda to find the woman he danced with and fell in love with again and, because he’s not giving up and using all the resources being the prince affords him, he finds Cinderella and they both get their Happily Ever After. Little Red Riding Hood’s agenda is to bring the basket with food and drink to her grandmother. The Big Bad Wolf’s agenda is to find something to eat (of course the whole tale does have some sublime sexual context, but we’re not going there). Red travelling through the forest makes her a prime bit of food for the wolf.

Agendas need to be part of the plot arcs of your story, though. There’s no use in having the hero’s love interest wanting to be a great violinist, unless the violin will play a role in a plot later on. There’s no use in having the hero strive for a high post in the army when the plot is all about a quarrel in the family.

In addition to agendas, characters need balance. A character with too many positive attributes, be they skills, traits, or social attributes, will not work out well, because they will have it too easy. A character with too many negative attributes, be they skills, traits, or social attributes, will not work out well, either, because they will come across as contrived (nobody is that much of an underdog). It’s dangerously easy to turn an underdog into a whiny character nobody wants to see succeed - and heroes should succeed. A whiny villain, on the other hand, gives the impression that they’re not really competent, which is also bad for them. A whiny love interest begs the question of why the hero is interested in them in the first place.

A balanced character has good and bad attributes, but they balance each other out. A villain is allowed a few more bad attributes, but too many make them seem like some kind of old-fashioned melodrama or comic book villain and that’s usually not good at all. A hero should have more good attributes, so they will be likeable for the audience. Other characters should be balanced, but are allowed more good or bad attributes depending on which side they’re on.

A strong character is a character with an agenda and with a balance in their attributes. They’re not one-dimensional, they’re no paper cut-outs, and they are not just focused on the hero, no matter whether in a good (supportive) or a bad (hindering) way. They will go along with what the hero or the villain want, but for their very own reasons.