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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jonesy" data-source="post: 7610380" data-attributes="member: 10324">There are stories that depend on you to dislike the main character. For example, in The Girl on the Train, the main character is purposefully written to be unlikable. The reasons for this are plot spoilers, but suffice to say that the main character begins as an unreliable narrator, who comes to realize herself that she is an unreliable narrator. In the movie they made her Emily Blunt, which takes away some of that since the actress isn't all that unlikeable (in my opinion Emily is extremely likeable).One of my all-time favourite scifi stories features a character who is more than unlikeable, and actually far more unlikeable than the story first lets you know, because the reveal at the end changes everything. The big problem with this book is that talking about it spoils it. The reveal is a supporting structure.Another scifi book with unlikeable stars is The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson. It's a very well written interesting story, but the main male character is a really disgusting monster and the main female character is written to be a pitiable victim who, I guess, grows up through the abuse suffered by him (there are a lot of questionable decisions made both by the characters and the author). Still a good story.---But what makes me like a character? If they make me smile (Aziraphale from Good Omens), or laugh (Crowley from Good Omens), or go "huh, that's true" (I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic made me like Zlatan). A realistic and/or relatable portrayal of their reaction to the situation at hand can help (Arthur Dent), although sometimes a character is fun when it has an outlandish reaction (Zaphod Beeblebrox). Sometimes a story flips them around (Caramon is mostly relatable but uninteresting, while Raistlin is mostly unrelatable but interesting). Sometimes the normal people in the world dislike a character who is still written to be likeable (Geralt of Rivia). Other times you keep wondering why the story keeps thinking that the protagonist is likeable (Richard in the Sword of Truth).</blockquote>

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