Got a question - requesting opinions

[blacknblue]

I was having a debate with an online acquaintance (superficial, I just met the guy recently) concerning character motivation and I wanted to check something here.

This person is writing a story. He and I had a minor difference of opinion regarding the probable reaction of the main character to a revelation. I wanted to find out if I am weirder than I think. So I figured you folks would tell me without pulling any punches.

This story is set in a fantasy world. Standard elves, dwarves, magic, yadda yadda, etc. The hero is a young forester. Returning home one evening after a long day out tramping through the woods he is chagrined to find his home in flames and his parent in the process of being dismembered by a demonic figure. He gets there just in time to see the demon finish killing his parents, rise from their corpses, turn and face him. The young man, not being a complete idiot, turns tail and runs like hell (no pun intended).

He takes off down a nearby stream bed with the demon in hot pursuit. He follows the stream bed until it meets a cliff, whereupon he ducks into the bushes and starts ducking and dodging among the underbrush, with the fiend smashing through right behind him. He accidentally stumble upon a narrow opening in the cliff face and ducks inside, which ultimately leads him to a hidden valley and a small lodge inhabited by an old man and his granddaughter.

Turns out the old man is a retired wizard. He nails the demon without breaking a sweat, and they two newcomers help our hero bury his parents. Realizing that the hero shows some magic talent, the old man offers to take him as a student and he moves in with them. He spends the next three years there as an adopted member of the family, learning magic and falling in love with the granddaughter, as per standard fantasy story expectations.

All good so far?

Now here is the issue to be settled.

The hero and the girl go on a picnic. They return to find the old man in battle with a massive demon, bigger than any the hero has ever seen. The demon kills the old mage, but he weakens it enough for the hero and girl to finish it off. Whereupon the hero finally learns that his adopted family are really high ranking members of the underground resistance movement who are trying to overthrow the evil Dark Mage who rules the country. That's the real reason they are living out there in the ass end of nowhere. It is not explicitly stated, but obviously implied, that they are most likely the reason for the demon attack three years ago that killed the hero's parents. This latest attack means that the enemy has finally located their home and it is time to bail out.

Now the question. My acquaintance maintains that the hero would quickly forgive and forget. He thinks that a casual apology for three years worth of secrets and lies would suffice, and the two of them would go on with their lives with everything sweetness and light.

I, on the other hand, believe that the hero could not possibly escape having some lingering feelings of resentment. Even if he is in love with the girl, he couldn't escape being pissed off. He lived with these people for three years, thinking that he was a member of the family. Now he discovers that they both had a whole other life that they hid from him.

What do you guys think?

[CX]

I think he'd be pissed, especially since the way it sounds these people basically brought down the first demon on his home and parents.

[CoffeeCat]

Does your friend, by any chance, take writing lessons from Bermaga?

I agree with CX. Lala land doesn't happen over night. Why don't some writers *get* angst?

[dialee]

BnB:

You only gave two choices. How about a 3rd choice? Yes, I think the hero would be mad at first but after a short period, he's going to recognize who the real evil is and responsible for the death of his parents. He will rise to the occasion and help the heroine bring down the dark wizard.

My $0.2 cents for what its worth.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

The hero should be righteously pissed off. In fact, even if the mage's daughter is on the good side, it would make for a better and more compelling story if this theme was introduced. Not only would the hero be fighting the real evil but also struggle with the resentment towards his "adoptive" family.

[evcake]

Has the hero any secrets himself? Any dark aspects to his character? Anything that might give rise to empathy?

[HopefulRomantic]

dialee and evcake seem to be on the right track. In the love story genre (and this seems to be a love story at this point), one of the parameters often used effectively is that at least one of the lovers harbors a dark secret that she thinks, if revealed, will cause the other to stop loving her. Eventually, despite the secret-keeper's best efforts, the dark secret is revealed, and the revelation initially freaks out the other love interest (conflict--good thing) and puts the relationship at risk...but also forces him to examine the deeper issues going on (in this case, it could be the resistance movement, the lad's own emerging powers, his fear of having to "come of age" as a wizard, the sacrifices she's made...whatever the story calls for). Eventually, he accepts her and her secret.

So the initial reaction may lie somewhere between the writer's conflict-light "casual apology" and your "pissed off" suggestion (which sounds a bit harsh, considering the lady has just lost her father).

[Distracted]

I agree with HR. Some people hold grudges forever, but they're not very pleasant to be around. Others stuff their anger somewhere and move on, only to have it explode later... usually at an inconvenient time. IMO, if you want your hero to be portrayed as truly in love with this girl, his empathy will be elicited by her feelings of grief over the loss of her father and his desire to protect her, so he'll be angry, but probably not at her so much as at her father. Since her father is dead, that leaves him without anyone to safely be mad at while she's so upset. Maybe have him get businesslike and somewhat distant with her initially. Then she notices his change in behavior and keeps bugging him about what's wrong until he finally explodes at her, and then they make up. Making up is nice. I always like that part.

[justTripn]

Ow my head hurts.

[CoffeeCat]

I dunno - I kinda agree with what HR said, but I kinda don't. Having been betrayed by someone close to me and having made up with that person, I want to add that no matter how much we profess to love each other, that one betrayal will always be there and I can never be as close to that one person again no matter how much I forgive her. The love is still there and so is the forgiveness, but the trust is gone.

[HopefulRomantic]

CoffeeCat's situation sounds like it would work for a story about a couple who ultimately can't make a relationship work--a tragedy. This writer's story, given the scenario summarized by BnB, seems to be of the Happy Ending variety.

Stories aren't necessarily about who we are and how we act in real life; sometimes they are about who we would like to be, and how we wish we would act.

Sure, the lad might feel hurt or betrayed by having been kept in the dark. His initial reaction might be messy, and put their love at risk--the girl's biggest fear. But if he doesn't consider her POV, he'd come off as callous and selfish. As Distracted points out, if he truly loves this girl, then he'll be going through an inner battle of his own, between his hurt over the situation and his love for the girl. A good, involving story will test the hero in crisis and force him to grow as a person. If, for instance, the young man finds out that he was kept in the dark for a good reason--for his protection (think Briar Rose in Sleeping Beauty), or maybe the girl didn't want to keep the secret, but went along with it because her father wanted it that way, that would help to mend the rift between them. And if the lad had some secret or fear of his own that he had to overcome in order to "slay the dragon" (defeat the evil wizard) and reach the Happily Ever After with his lady love, then all the better.

[CoffeeCat]

HR may be right - but as one who can never stick to an outline, IMO, I think the writer should just let the characters take over and let their personalities determine the ending. Character Motivation is the single most important thing to consider when writing - not some predetermined ending. I think any reader who's been betrayed by a loved one might just stop reading once they realize the ending because they can no longer relate to the protagonist.

[Asso]

It happens to me the exact contrary.
Strangely I have at first the precise image of the end, and the story is growing towards this end.
So, I have some difficulties to find a suitable answer.
Surely I would try to look for a Happy End, following my inner nature.
But, I also would try to make a little bit complicated the things: why the old man and his granddaughter must have acted in this way? Strange that the hero have turned up at their hidden home just at that time and just in that way... etc, etc, etc...
And, obviously, I would play with the feelings and the emotions of everyone.

[CoffeeCat]

Surely I would try to look for a Happy End, following my inner nature.

I think everyone wants that happy ending, Asso. But perhaps this character's "happy ending" is with a different, more noble and trustworthy lover.

[HopefulRomantic]

A scenario like this one, a hero myth, is a great arena to work the issues of trust, betrayal, redemption, forgiveness, personal feelings vs higher ideals, selfish vs selfless goals, all that stuff. This is where stories hold great power as methods of delivering, however subtly, messages about how to deal properly with other people on a moral level.

Obi-Wan Kenobi kept Luke in the dark about his father, and his sister, to protect them both from emotional hurt and physical harm. The Fairy Godmothers kept Princess Aurora in the dark about her true heritage, to try and stave off a death curse from Malificent. These secrets eventually came out, though--and in Luke's case, he found out the truth about his father in the worst possible way, and felt terribly hurt by Ben for a while, until he found out more.

A person can keep a secret from someone he or she cares about, but still be a good and noble person. It depends on the reason the secret was kept. If the secret comes out without a full explanation of those circumstances (which might be good and noble), then the person who was kept in the dark can certainly feel wronged, hurt, betrayed--and that's great for story, because that's drama. For that person to dig deeper, set aside his hurt and anger and hear out the person who "wronged" him--that can be a testament to his grace, his compassion, his ability think about more than his own perspective.

In real life, there are probably situations we've all faced in which we cannot forgive someone for a terrible wrong they've perpetrated on us. But in story, we might look to characters to be better than we are, to find that grace that we have not yet achieved. Especially in hero-myth stories.