How do you write a morally questionable character?

[Kilolo]

the streamers I like talk about this on their stream and it was pretty interesting. so I kinda wanted to know what you guys can come up with.

to elaborate the title, what I meant by morally questionable is someone who is doing things that while some people call them evil, some other people would call it justice.

the popular example is like Kira from Death Note, Keyaru from Redo Healer, or Leluoch from Code Geass

how would you wrote a character like that? but it has one rule : do not make it cringe.

 

[RepresentingThree]

Provide sound logic. No "Just because I felt like it." Take the hypothetical situation where one elderly person and one young child are on separate tracks. No matter which you choose 50% of people will be made at you. Make it seem like neither choice was good. You can do that with a lot of realism and some choice cynicism.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Its basically going against the norm of human logic and thinking. The basic example would be the gender equality thing where its pretty much bias towards women rather than men and when you put someone(such as Kazuma) who acts in the middle of things, you can say they are morally questionable act even though its something logical to think about.

Another thing is murder which its wrong to kill someone but put a character that kills evil guys and you have a character that is morally questionable(even though he kills only bad guys), he acts with a sense of justice in his actions.

 

[MyukiMruieast]

Uhhhh, begin with an answer on why they have become like that? An example: What was the reason behind all of this?

 

[Cipiteca396]

Morals are a person's personal beliefs and ideals. Writing a morally questionable character is identical to writing a morally sound character: Both believe in what they are doing.

If you acknowledge that what you're writing is morally questionable, you are breaking character. They are justice. They did the right thing. (You may need to put a content warning and a disclaimer at the beginning and end of the chapter.)

If the character doesn't believe in what they are doing, then there should be emotional turmoil. They should look for ways to avoid it, they should grit their teeth and get angry or miserable. If they do it anyway, there should be regret, or guilt. They may even lie to themselves and say that it was justified.

 

[Irl_Rat]

A good way to do this is to give the character a goal. Notice how all the popular examples are characters driven by a goal that they are willing to do terrible things to accomplish.

Now make this goal something that would have other people oppose it, which is really easy considering how people argue over the smallest things irl. What will the character do in response to this opposition and how will they face setbacks and obstacles. That's where their questionable actions come into play.

The goal doesn't even have to some grand vision or world changing ideal. Denji was willing to fight eldritch horrors just to touch some booba.

 

[BenJepheneT]

There are many ways you can divulge moral integrity in a story but one of the easiest way to do so is through situational convenience.

Let me give a hypothetical: there are two paths standing between MC and a million dollars. MC has a sister who's dying of cancer and she needs that million dollars to pay for surgery. Path A is short, but has a geriatric, harmless grandma standing in the way. If MC chooses that Path A, he has to "push" the grandma out of the way to get that million dollars. Sister gets the surgery, but the grandma wouldn't survive to see it.

Path B involves a long, arduous path filled with spikes and volcanic rocks that will undoubtedly take a long time to get there. The sister might not survive by the time MC gets to that million dollar, but there's no collateral damage to be had, save for some fucked up feet and some bruises.

Will MC take Path A and guarantee his sister's life in exchange for a dead grandma, or with MC take Path B and rely on his own strength and risk his sister's death for the best possible outcome?

This is one of the ways to show moral complexity. There's an easy route and a hard route for the MC to attain his goal. It shows the depth of his integrity in contest with his familial relationship. Would he kill for his family, or risk it all to retain an innocent life he's never met before?

 

[KuqKuburra]

the streamers I like talk about this on their stream and it was pretty interesting. so I kinda wanted to know what you guys can come up with.

to elaborate the title, what I meant by morally questionable is someone who is doing things that while some people call them evil, some other people would call it justice.

the popular example is like Kira from Death Note, Keyaru from Redo Healer, or Leluoch from Code Geass

how would you wrote a character like that? but it has one rule : do not make it cringe.

With morally questionable answers

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Carefully

 

[SakeVision]

You don't. It's not up to you to morally question your characters, it's up to your reader.

Kira and Keyaru weren't supposed to be questionable, they were supposed to be villainous. And Lelouch was supposed to be a good guy. But fans have their own perception, and they can see things through their own lenses, regardless of what the author intended.

 

[PancakesWitch]

Its basically going against the norm of human logic and thinking. The basic example would be the gender equality thing where its pretty much bias towards women rather than men and when you put someone(such as Kazuma) who acts in the middle of things, you can say they are morally questionable act even though its something logical to think about.

Another thing is murder which its wrong to kill someone but put a character that kills evil guys and you have a character that is morally questionable(even though he kills only bad guys), he acts with a sense of justice in his actions.

Well, the gender equality thing feels like this because when there was no gender equality at all, women were treated like utter garbage, violated, and used as items, gender equality has to do many things for women for them to finally begin being treated as persons, but this is also the reason why some guys dislike it, thinking that because a few women they found that were assholes must be treated with respect, it just applies to all women being assholes suddenly, the same generalization that everyone do against certain groups of people. If you ever think that shitting on women is "what makes sense to do" then you're pretty fucked in the head

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

the streamers I like talk about this on their stream and it was pretty interesting. so I kinda wanted to know what you guys can come up with.

to elaborate the title, what I meant by morally questionable is someone who is doing things that while some people call them evil, some other people would call it justice.

the popular example is like Kira from Death Note, Keyaru from Redo Healer, or Leluoch from Code Geass

how would you wrote a character like that? but it has one rule : do not make it cringe.

look to political opinions, apply the assumptions and end goals to a character and turn them into a terrorist

 

[2021]

Rapers, Dog-fuckers, Milf-lovers, people who have lost all-care-for-the-world They no longer feel much for doing a action: murder, seeing something wrong. They just feel empty, they could know it, or not, but it’s empty, they are empty, not allowing to feel emotion normally, this can be done from them experiencing a pretty messed up childhood that force them to grow-up fast, or by experiencing something were their mind found it easier to just shut everything off, etc.


I can go on, since *rubs under the nose* I’m a human philosopher-blah-blah

 

[LynaForge]

Provide sound logic. No "Just because I felt like it." Take the hypothetical situation where one elderly person and one young child are on separate tracks. No matter which you choose 50% of people will be made at you. Make it seem like neither choice was good. You can do that with a lot of realism and some choice cynicism.

Nah. That old person has already lived their lives. Besides, their karma was so bad that they ended up on the tracks. Save that kid.

?????

the streamers I like talk about this on their stream and it was pretty interesting. so I kinda wanted to know what you guys can come up with.

to elaborate the title, what I meant by morally questionable is someone who is doing things that while some people call them evil, some other people would call it justice.

the popular example is like Kira from Death Note, Keyaru from Redo Healer, or Leluoch from Code Geass

how would you wrote a character like that? but it has one rule : do not make it cringe.

All characters are morally questionable. The only characters that aren't are boringly prefect Mary Sues. Even Ironman was an arms dealer.

Make a flawed character and then either let them accept it or try to change. Otherwise, the character is 2-dimensional and unrealistic because I'd argue, at the root of it, all humans are morally questionable...to a point.

 

[owotrucked]

A morally questionable character does not refill the toilet paper after it ran out because their responsibilities lie in greater causes.

 

[TheDylanDrakes]

Remember that everyone, no matter how messed up, thinks they are the protagonist of their own story. They don't have a problem -- they are probably looking at everyone else and thinking how amoral or naïve everyone else is!

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Well, the gender equality thing feels like this because when there was no gender equality at all, women were treated like utter garbage, violated, and used as items, gender equality has to do many things for women for them to finally begin being treated as persons, but this is also the reason why some guys dislike it, thinking that because a few women they found that were assholes must be treated with respect, it just applies to all women being assholes suddenly, the same generalization that everyone do against certain groups of people. If you ever think that shitting on women is "what makes sense to do" then you're pretty fucked in the head

But don't men also being treated like this as well? What I mean is basically just going against what the norm in society which you can't justify it mainly because the views changes as time passes by. In the past, we once treated women as reproduction which degrade their uses to just that until society changes it to how we should treat women in a new way. In turn, we slowly change our thinking into how the opposite became and now men are treated like women in the past. Thats how defying the norm in society means.

I don't specify which is which since social changes happens time to time and we can't balance things out but once a person defies the 'norm' of how society thinks means the answer to this thread.

My answer to the thread is just how questionable characters think and not how I'm degrading women. I'm already trash already and the bin is full by just adding more things inside here.

 

[Roland_Pine]

I think that the core of "morally questionable" has to be our ability to relate to the character. A lot of my writing interest circles around the idea of wanting to do the right thing, but failing to do so because it would mean sacrificing some extant privilege. It comes from my own experience as someone growing up to a rather wealthy family but who spent a lot of time with working class movements in university. There's very complicated feelings of pressure to do the right thing and the fear of giving up luxuries for the sake of a potentially doomed cause that I like to explore.

 

[2021]

L

But don't men also being treated like this as well? What I mean is basically just going against what the norm in society which you can't justify it mainly because the views changes as time passes by. In the past, we once treated women as reproduction which degrade their uses to just that until society changes it to how we should treat women in a new way. In turn, we slowly change our thinking into how the opposite became and now men are treated like women in the past. Thats how defying the norm in society means.

I don't specify which is which since social changes happens time to time and we can't balance things out but once a person defies the 'norm' of how society thinks means the answer to this thread.

My answer to the thread is just how questionable characters think and not how I'm degrading women. I'm already trash already and the bin is full by just adding more things inside here.

Humans are pretty shitty, we all suck, all don’t suck, depends on the perception of person.


This has been shown in recent events, with the white house being raided by trump supporter, because her didn’t get voted in again. People say he’s bad in what he did, while his supporters approve.


It all depend on perception, but just look of stuff most commonly disapproved apon

 

[Gryphon]

I have a character in my story that is pretty morally questionable and has done, and still does do some things that people wouldn't say is right. Granted, I haven't gotten to that yet, but considering what she does, I highly doubt that people will see her as some type of heroic justice type of person.

Basically, I do what people don't normally do when writing these characters. Before I get into the morally questionable shit, I make sure to depict their good sides first. The character in question is an upbeat, cheerful, and ambitious person. She wants to accomplish her goal, even if its daunting compared to her. Yet, she'll have a smile on her face, cry and rage along the way, but she still has a heart. That is until a certain event that opens up the real side of her character.

The best advice I can give is this. Don't do the adult cartoon route of characterization and make everyone an asshole for the sake of them being an asshole. And for the love of god, don't make them being an asshole be their introduction unless if they're specifically characterized as being straight up evil or heinous. If you want a fully fleshed out character, introduce them in their brighter moments, and then pull back the curtain when the time is right.