The limits of a writer's imagination: Can Characters Surpass Their Creators in Intelligence?

[CarburetorThompson]

Depends on what type of intelligence you are trying to portray.

I don't think the person who wrote Jimmy Neutron or Dexter knew how to make a laser gun or a spaceship. But you can understand the characters implied intelligence without them running through every single math equation.

Only problem is if you're writing someone like Moriarty or Sherlock Holmes. Who's actions need to be calculated and have logic behind them. Unlike the prior example you can't really imply that someone has an amazing well thought out scheme without showing it and the methods behind it.

As a writer you can choose the actions of characters, but if you make characters make unreasonable choices in order to progress a plot or scheme it won't be very enjoyable to read. You risk making all your other characters seem stupid just so another looks smart by comparison.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

As a writer you can choose the actions of characters, but if you make characters make unreasonable choices in order to progress a plot or scheme it won't be very enjoyable to read. You risk making all your other characters seem stupid just so another looks smart by comparison.

You've highlighted an important and tricky aspect. That is, in the attempt to make a character appear intelligent, there's a risk of inadvertently making the others, especially the antagonists, seem stupid.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Depends on how you define "intelligence" and if it's the same definition as the readers. A character can act smart but be dumb, can be streetwise but can't read, can remember everything read once but not implement it, and so on. Some people even define "intelligent" as those annoying know-it-all characters that only seem to exist for info dumps...

 

[nemonusquam_]

That's a tricky one. I am inclined to say no, because you can't think about something you don't even know about. Hence the importance of reading, even if one isn't a writer; it expands our boundaries.

 

[prognastat]

It's possible to a degree because as the author you can plan your story in advance and have knowledge of what will be happening, what other characters have done that the character in question hasn't witnessed etc.

However there is a big danger that it can turn into feeling like they are simply imbued with ridiculous levels of plot armour if not done well. Like even if you know something, the character doesn't you can't just have them somehow know it without giving a good reason for it.

So it's possible, but requires quite a lot of planning for a character to appear smarter than the writer. This also works better for characters that aren't POV characters where we are given insight into their mind/thoughts. It also works better in traditional writing formats than the kind of write as the story goes that is more common for web novels because if you are writing the story as a whole before publishing any of it you can do a lot of editing as you finish it and touch up earlier part to work with what you wrote later on to make their thoughts/choices make more senses.

For example the aforementioned Aizen from Bleach. Tite Kubo didn't write a character that was actually a genius, but since he is the writer he could make the story around it make it seem more like it. It wouldn't have worked if Aizen was the MC or even in the main cast rather than just showing up once in a while as if everything had been according to his plans. So it's more implied intelligence than depicted intelligence. This only works for characters that only appear sporadically though.

You've highlighted an important and tricky aspect. That is, in the attempt to make a character appear intelligent, there's a risk of inadvertently making the others, especially the antagonists, seem stupid.

Something that is unfortunately quite common and an annoyance when it does appear.

 

[Comiak]

Stupid people tend to think intelligence is a super power. MC of Evangellion, demiurge of overlord, aisen of bleach, all of whom are so giga brained they can plan out absolutely everything you do even though that is so unreasonable, impractical, and nearly impossible to actually do. Not even the best ai with a million futuristic supercomputers can do that. Humans as a group can be predicted but an individual cannot, especially if you never actually met them and know them intimately. Maybe, maybe if a character knew someone for twenty years they might be able to predict broad behavior but that takes a long time to reach that point.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

Stupid people tend to think intelligence is a super power. MC of Evangellion, demiurge of overlord, aisen of bleach, all of whom are so giga brained they can plan out absolutely everything you do even though that is so unreasonable, impractical, and nearly impossible to actually do. Not even the best ai with a million futuristic supercomputers can do that. Humans as a group can be predicted but an individual cannot, especially if you never actually met them and know them intimately. Maybe, maybe if a character knew someone for twenty years they might be able to predict broad behavior but that takes a long time to reach that point.

Indeed, those hyper-complex perfect plans with millions of moving parts that fit together flawlessly, where just one minor variable could throw everything off, always leave me a bit perplexed and strain my suspension of disbelief.

 

[Sice]

Indeed, those hyper-complex perfect plans with millions of moving parts that fit together flawlessly, where just one minor variable could throw everything off, always leave me a bit perplexed and strain my suspension of disbelief.

I'm remembering Harry Seldon, Foundation, and Psychohistory now and how good a writer Isaac Asimov was. In the Foundation novels, Seldon's plan probably can't qualify as "hyper-complex", but a variable did make it off the rails, not that Seldon was around to correct it.
However, I wouldn't say Seldon was smarter than Asimov. Still, Seldon is an intelligent character whose plans continued for centuries after his death without error, though not for their full 1000-year span.

I'll repeat what others said a bit differently. How intelligent a character appears is separate from how intelligent an author is. For instance, a character may invent a hyperdrive in their setting, which would make them intelligent. The author doesn't need to know how to make a hyperdrive, at least not more than the broad strokes that make such a thing convincing to the reader. If they could explain it in detail in the novel, they would be writing a hyperdrive manual flavored with a story, not to mention making decent money if such a thing actually worked.
In short, how intelligent a character can be in the story is determined by the author's skill and the need of the story, not their intelligence.