Are all character capable of redemption?

[CheertheSecond]

This is a vast grab.

Do you think there are characters that no matter how they try to redeem themselves you will never be able to forgive them?

 

[ThrillingHuman]

define redemption

 

[Cipiteca396]

Yes and no.

Characters that are designed to be hated will be hated. The reason you can't believe that they could be redeemed at that point is because it breaks the willing suspension of disbelief. 'That character wouldn't try to seek redemption, so the attempt is a failure on the author's part'.

On the other hand, people would happily accept a redemption arc from the absolute most horrid person ever if it's believable.

 

[CheertheSecond]

define redemption

Yes and no.

Characters that are designed to be hated will be hated. The reason you can't believe that they could be redeemed at that point is because it breaks the willing suspension of disbelief. 'That character wouldn't try to seek redemption, so the attempt is a failure on the author's part'.

On the other hand, people would happily accept a redemption arc from the absolute most horrid person ever if it's believable.

Technically, I am trying to see if it's possible for an incestuous pedophile to be a main character and how to redeem himself so that people will like him.
I also want to see if it's possible for people to like any character as long as they redeem themselves or impossible for certain characters.

 

[sanitylimited]

instead of killing off popular characters they would rather turn them into good guys.

i can't stand the trope of the only thing required to turn the bad guy into the good guy is the protagonists fist

 

[LunaSoltaer]

Technically, I am trying to see if it's possible for an incestuous pedophile to be a main character and how to redeem himself so that people will like him.
I also want to see if it's possible for people to like any character as long as they redeem themselves or impossible for certain characters.

ill answer the declared question later, but you are going to want to comb through ToS and SH rules extreeeemely carefully if you're going to do this.

 

[LilRora]

It depends what exactly you mean. Everyone can redeem themselves, no matter what they did, but they themselves and other people will always remember what they did. The guilt, or at least the memories, will always stay with them.

The matter of forgiveness though is very subjective and it's a similar problem to the question how many good deeds someone needs to do to balance their karma from doing something very bad. It's just not possible to give a straight answer.

I personally have things I would never forgive (almost) anybody for, but I can see other people letting go of the grudge. If it's in redards to a story, then no, there are no characters that can't redeem themselves that I won't be able to forgive. You just need to give a good enough reason and show them actually fixing their mistakes and feeling their impact on their life.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Technically, I am trying to see if it's possible for an incestuous pedophile to be a main character and how to redeem himself so that people will like him.
I also want to see if it's possible for people to like any character as long as they redeem themselves or impossible for certain characters.

Why would this character want to seek redemption? What did he do, and how could he possibly make up for it?

In order to seek redemption, he would need to understand that he did something wrong.
If he understood it was wrong, why did he do it in the first place?
If he was compelled or couldn't help himself, why would that suddenly change?

 

[Corty]

Yes and no. Yes, because he/she could do many things that would redeem him/her. And no, because it depends on others if they accept his/her redemption or not.

 

[APieceOfRock]

ill answer the declared question later, but you are going to want to comb through ToS and SH rules extreeeemely carefully if you're going to do this.

Or not. There's a 500k+ views story with a 14-year-old protagonist who rails every MILF there is. Okay, maybe the impossible-to-follow plot and extremely bad grammar still keeps it on-site for so long, but still...

 

[NotOriginal]

This is a vast grab.

Do you think there are characters that no matter how they try to redeem themselves you will never be able to forgive them?

I am sure there are characters like that, one that comes to mind is Griffith from Berserk

 

[NotaNuffian]

Technically, I am trying to see if it's possible for an incestuous pedophile to be a main character and how to redeem himself so that people will like him.
I also want to see if it's possible for people to like any character as long as they redeem themselves or impossible for certain characters.

Yeah.

NO.

There is something called Moral Event Horizon and it is a standard hardline for people not to cross.

A child molesting/ raping MC is a no go. A definite no-go.

I am sure there are characters like that, one that comes to mind is Griffith from Berserk

As for Griffith, I think some people like him out of the memes while others who are irredeemable (in aspects) IRL projected themselves and see that being a self-entitled asshole who betrayed their friends is a-okay because they will do the same as well.

Which for all the records, not cool.

Moral Event Horizon is there for a good reason, there might be people who like Eren Yeager (myself included) because of this hot blooded past, it does not change the fact that he has turned into a omnicidal maniac when he did the Rumbling which, while cool as fuck, is horrible to the rest of the people whose crime is just happening to be alive at the time.

 

[Rhaps]

Like the person who inspired me to write, my DM and former best friend, I don't believe anyone can have redemption because everyone walks their own path, they are the protagonist of their own tale, and in their eyes what they do and think is correct to achieve their goal. There is no redemption when you are the protagonist.

As a writer, I'm in the stance against redemption through actions and change in behavior, you cannot redeem a heinous crime, only punish it. Either you lose and pay for what you did, or win and continue with your journey for another day.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Yes.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

Technically, I am trying to see if it's possible for an incestuous pedophile to be a main character and how to redeem himself so that people will like him.
I also want to see if it's possible for people to like any character as long as they redeem themselves or impossible for certain characters.

You can. It won't be targeted to the general public, but those who like dark protagonists will eat it up
"Haha, classic Joe, raping his 3 year old daughter lol, love this bastard"
I guess what I want to say is that you can try, and while most people won't love your character, it shouldn't stop you

 

[NotaNuffian]

There are ways to make the character "redeemable" in sense.

1. Black and black (black and grey) morality/ crapsack world. Eg. a child molester < child eater
2. MC just stomps hard on the "evil" pedal and not letting go like Fang Yuan and become so Pure Evil that he is the epitome of Pure. We all love dedicated MCs. Eg. Molesting for the sake of ___

 

[BlackKnightX]

Hatred is an emotion, so is forgiveness. Imagine someone did something really bad to you—so bad, you thought that person shouldn't have been born at all. Now, that's a deep hatred. But when the time comes when that person starts to change, and you see it. Their entire demeanor changes, becoming more pleasant to be around. The hatred will slowly melt away, the memory fades, until you decide to go visit that old nostalgic place again and are left with a bitter taste in your mouth that doesn't feel quite the same. Surprisingly, it doesn't feel as bad as before. Then you'll come to realize hatred and forgiveness are nothing but emotions. They are fleeting. Coming and going but never stay.

 

[LunaSoltaer]

Okay, so this is part of a broader question of: what does it mean to be bad?

Is a bad action enough? What constitutes a bad action? Can there be mitigating factors? Are they in play?

I have somewhat of a bias because one of the things I'm trying to do is essentially: Voldemort, but NOT an idiot and NOT evil for thr fuck of it.

Of course the tall order here is having a literal genocide-all-nonmages cult leader be somehow moral in all of this.

I do have some ideas on how to present this, because one of the core tenets I held when writing this book is "No One Is All Good, but more importantly No One Is All Bad."

Now I'm not trying to redeem this antagonist so it's a bit off topic...

BUT having someone honestly be trying from the beginning to Do Good leads to much more believable redemption arcs later.

Can you redeem any character? Yes, Moral Event Horizon be damned. Will the audience buy it? Maybe, but probably not for all possible characters. And I think audience buy in was your Real question.

Now, writing skill and more importantly Knowing Your Audience will get you a lot further with selling a character as redeemable. Because again it's your audience's eyes youre trying to paint the picture in.

Also consider this: you cannot make a single character redeemable in everyone's eyes. Not even Darth Vader or Cecil Harvey or Discord that one chaotic shit from My Little Panic Attack.



another note on your thing about the incestophile: I was scared and pre-empting attempts to cancel from people for the lovely crime of giving positive character traits to someone literally trying to kill a sizeable portion of humanity for something they cannot control. That and the awful crime of not allowing a mage to transition and keep their magic.

You're considering something far more reviled across the board.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

No.

 

[Theirl]

No dio from jojo is not.