Is plot armor actually that bad?

[John_Owl]

May be confusing, but if it is all centered around the one thing that remains consistent, then it could make sense.

I've been working on and off to write a story that changes the MC, but at the same time, the actual Mc remains constant. That is to say, the actual MC is a Death Entity that possesses humans, goes on a murderous rampage, and when they get the death sentence, it leaves and finds a new host. The basic idea was "what if Death got bored waiting for people to die." It was supposed to be my first real forray into horror. I've dabbled with horror as a subgenre for specific chapters, but never written a story focused on it.

 

[corruption]

I've been working on and off to write a story that changes the MC, but at the same time, the actual Mc remains constant. That is to say, the actual MC is a Death Entity that possesses humans, goes on a murderous rampage, and when they get the death sentence, it leaves and finds a new host. The basic idea was "what if Death got bored waiting for people to die." It was supposed to be my first real forray into horror. I've dabbled with horror as a subgenre for specific chapters, but never written a story focused on it.

Just think of how those people would feel once they were no longer possessed.
Extra mind game points if one was the judge who sentenced another host to death.

 

[John_Owl]

Just think of how those people would feel once they were no longer possessed.
Extra mind game points if one was the judge who sentenced another host to death.

Well, I had planned that the entity was just a force, rather than an actual spirit. So the people would still feel like it was their choice, BUT they'd wonder why they felt that way. like one of those "I know it was my choice, but WHY did I choose that? It made sense at the time..." type sensations we all get.

 

[soupsabaw]

Completely depends. If it makes sense then sure, but if it doesn't, it can be off-putting.

Now Another by Ayatusji Yukito is my favorite series, and I wish everyone would read it because it's just sooo good, but there's one aspect in it that I roll my eyes at. There's a specific middle school class that's cursed. For years, they've been trying to either beat this curse or at least make it out alive. However, there's a girl in the series who just so happens to have this all-seeing-eye ability that can help solve the curse. It just felt a little too convenient when I know he has full capability of coming up with a killer solution that didn't resort to something that felt kind of lazy.

I think as long as you set it up and give a good reason why your character had such plot armor, you should be in the clear and good to go! Just don't be lazy and cliché with it, especially when it comes to dealing with plot armor.

 

[Valmond]

It is an overblown term, everything in some way shape or form has this. Yes, even fricking IRL. I nearly died almost every time I went outside for like 20 years. I kinda just got used to it. One day, the bad luck sorta just stopped.

I guess Death just gave up at that point, there were times I choked while inside my home as well.

That wreckage aside, a story has a structure. The structure typically follows one character that is at the center, and the other branching points towards that character.

That center point is what keeps the story flowing properly. The center point can consist of more than one character to mention, such as dual lead characters, or a group of main characters.

Now, within the structure, there are many possibilities. Tools to use.

The point is to get character/s from point A to B to C, etc.

Now, you can just do this normally, but that might very well be boring. Hence, now you see how you can make this more interesting.

Adding stakes, conflicts, types of settings, battles, etc.

This branches out even more, into more complex areas.

Stakes can be from low to high. A Fantasy story for instance, might start out with lower stakes but get steadily higher over time. Though, how do you get into this?

Well, conflicts and the settings.

The conflict and setting can lead into the stakes. Which then can link into the type of battles.

This then branches out even more to the countless ways to do battles. If you are writing something that is very high fantasy, then yes, you will expect characters to be taking extremely heavy to even fatal damage.

The realism comes in with the type of setting, what works in the type of universe set into place there.

And which, it branches out again.

Anyway, I think this will go on forever. Point is, Plot Armor is an overblown term, and every story has it. Yes, even IRL has things so unbelievable happen, but it happens.

Story wise, it depends on the purpose of the writing. IRL? Good luck with that.

 

[Racosharko]

IMO

Plot armour is like the Predator, if you notice it then it's not a good predator

A good predator is an invisible predator.

Same with plot armour.

 

[Clo]

They die when they should, then the story jumps to a different MC...

That's basically No Country For Old Men right there.

 

[Garolymar]

Basically the title. Is plot armor actually as bad as people make it seem? I don't mean trillion-to-one plot armor, but common plot armor. Someone escaping a battle by the skin of his teeth because he's the main character while 95% of the rest of the army died. This sort of thing.

Hacksaw Ridge and Forrest Gump both have decent plot armor - both protags were in war and avoided any lethal injuries, despite every odd saying they SHOULD have died. I don't remember many genuinely bad examples of plot armor except in spoof movies.

The way I see it, the story can't really happen if the MC dies to the mundane. It's what makes the story worth telling in the first place right? there's limits to how far that stretches obviously but it honestly never has really bothered me too much.

If it starts to feel like a elementary school friend making powers up on the spot to counter yours while you LARP in the playground though that's kinda goofy.

 

[D.S.Nate]

Plot armour can only be plot armour if you do not give the reader a compelling reason why they survived X

Where that X lies and how it affects them depends on the type of story you are writing and the promises you are making to the reader. Like you don't expect the MC to die easily if he is immortal for example.

And also there is the fact that in real life there are people who survived some crazy things, stuff like this just happens. In a story sure you have to be a bit more selective and intentional about it but the same thing applies. If written competently then I would not really call it plot armour. It's when the character survives because of reasons that I'd say you have a problem. That can often happen because of a lack of foreshadowing of the thing that saves them, say like an army that saves the hero in the last second just before they are about to be cut down... I'm looking at you GOT >.>

 

[SirContro]

Similar to what the person above said, for an event to be recognized as plot armor you have to have objectively done bad writing. No one is questioning why Joe didn't spontaneously combust after his morning jog. You have to have written a near-death scenario and also not make the fact that the character survived believable. Just don't do that. Make the person capable of ending the MC see something in them they like, or have the MC get rescued by friends but make it clear prior to the event with foreshadowing that this was always part of the plan so it doesn't come off as cheap.

 

[John_Owl]

View attachment 36397

Now see, this just ain't helpful. Plot armor, by definition, is armor provided by the plot. I.e., the character didn't die because the plot still needs him. I've seen good examples (Frodo didn't die from the stab at Weathertop because the poison was slow acting and elvish medicine specifically counters dark poisons), I've seen bad examples (Mulan didn't die in the avalanche because an arrow just HAPPENED to land near her, and she just HAPPENED to have a bow and pull off the luckiest snap shot int he history of EVER), and I've seen examples that are intentionally bad, intended to make you smile and roll your eyes (nearly every episode of futurama that features some sort of danger).

the question wasn't intended as a "not all plot armor is bad, guys!!" type defense. I haven't been accused of plot armor or anything. But more as a means to get everyone to think about it because the term has been so watered down that the moment it comes up in a comment, people automatically assume it's a bad thing. Have I used plot armor? Yes. Because the plot needed the main character to not die. Have I avoided plot armor? Also yes, because the individual wasn't important to the plot anymore.

 

[SirContro]

Now see, this just ain't helpful. Plot armor, by definition, is armor provided by the plot. I.e., the character didn't die because the plot still needs him. I've seen good examples (Frodo didn't die from the stab at Weathertop because the poison was slow acting and elvish medicine specifically counters dark poisons), I've seen bad examples (Mulan didn't die in the avalanche because an arrow just HAPPENED to land near her, and she just HAPPENED to have a bow and pull off the luckiest snap shot int he history of EVER), and I've seen examples that are intentionally bad, intended to make you smile and roll your eyes (nearly every episode of futurama that features some sort of danger).

the question wasn't intended as a "not all plot armor is bad, guys!!" type defense. I haven't been accused of plot armor or anything. But more as a means to get everyone to think about it because the term has been so watered down that the moment it comes up in a comment, people automatically assume it's a bad thing. Have I used plot armor? Yes. Because the plot needed the main character to not die. Have I avoided plot armor? Also yes, because the individual wasn't important to the plot anymore.

It's really not as nuanced as you're trying to make out. If you consider an important character not dying to be plot armor even if it's logical than literally every writer does plot armor and it's impossible to escape from. If plot armor isn't that but is instead illogical writing that can be avoided it should. Things that don't make sense take the audience out of the world so if you can make your story entertaining and have these near death experiences without it looking stupid than you always should do that.

The fact that you define good plot armor as a logical reason for survival seems like the only thing you care about is changing terminology rather than actually changing how authors think about writing. Seems we both agree that an illogical reason for survival is bad writing and should be avoided.

Nitpick: killing off a character after their purpose to the plot has been served isn't ignoring plot armor because they had the armor when they were needed for the plot.

 

[DireBadger]

Plot armor is just a term people use to try and criticize writers when they can't come up with a legitimate complaint.

It's meaningless.

Deus Ex Machina? That's a real flaw, but plot armor? merely being the protagonist in a story based on Earth is a one in eight billion chance. Complaints about plot armor can safely be ignored.