The more I revise my novel the more my idea of why people read fantasy adventure changes. People don’t want to see a hero with a pristine moral compass. Even though we root for the “good guy” in the story, we ultimately give a lot of lee way to a protagonist to do bad things once we’ve already decided we like them. I’ve always been interested in likeable villains and anti-heroes. People like Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid or Salieri in Amadeus. But even a hero can have a dark side. Witness Doctor Who. Remember when the Chris Eccleston Doctor Who finds the last living Dalek in prison and tries to kill him, but Rose makes him stop and take pity on the terrified, tortured little slug it turns out to be? Rose is the moral compass and our hero, Doctor Who, is actually trying to do something pretty cruel in that episode. But we know he’s trying to do the right thing and protect all the humans and Timelords throughout history by killing the Dalek, so we forgive him and still root for him.
L.A. Kuemmel 