Stop me if you’ve heard this one before;
Harry strode confidently into Dumbledore’s office, his dragonhide boots echoing ominously on the flagstones. His piercing green eyes scanned the office, missing nothing.“Harry my boy, what a surprise” Dumbldore said, his eyes twinkling, “I don’t believe we had an appointment , but perhaps I could spare a few minutes…”“Shut up you old fool!” Harry snarled as he backhanded Dumbledore to the ground “I’m on to your bullshit!” “Potter! “ Harry turned to face professor Snape . “I’ll see you expelled for this! You’re just as arrogant as….”Harry never got to learn who he was as arrogant as because he had already summoned his custom enchanted Glock 19 pistols carved with the Goblin runes for Bad Ass Mother Fucker” and shot the Slytherin in the knees. “If I wanted your opinion Snivellus, I’d beat it out of you” Harry stated as he sat in Dumbldores chair and propped his feet up on the great wooden desk. “We’re doing things my way from here on out. Anyone got a problem with that?
If you’ve read any amount of fanfiction, you’re bound to have run into a few of these. For some, they might be a guilty pleasure, because where else will we see Draco swallow a hand grenade? But there’s just no getting around the fact that these stories are bad, and there are some very good reasons not to write your hero like this.
First, and I do not want to understate the importance of this, this hero sounds like a prick. The reader is supposed to like your hero, to empathize with him and to want good things for him, but how are we supposed to do that when he acts like such an arrogant bully? The only audience who might get behind this kind of character is these guys.
Aside from the fact that these sorts of protagonist come off as jerks, they make life harder on you as a writer. Remember, that your job is to convince the reader that your hero can lose. If we’re not worried for him, we’re not invested in him, and we’ll probably move on to a story where we are invested. How do you create drama by putting your hero in jeopardy when he’s such a total badass that nothing can stand against him? The hero really has to be up against the ropes before he can make his comeback and give the reader that all important “Crowning Moment of Awesome".
The important thing here for a writer to realize, as he decides how his character will approach the world, is that aggression is not strength. Strength is strength. What does Harry have to prove in the story above? He killed a giant Basilisk at twelve, Drove off more dementors than anyone thought was possible. Saved his friends lives, faced a Dragon, ect. Does he really need to bolster his self esteem by making other people feel small? The truly accomplished, the Olympians, the Nobel winners, the great artist, don’t feel the need to throw their superiority in everyone’s faces. It doesn’t do anything for them. They know who they are and what they’re worth. What other people think about them doesn’t really matter that much. And that confidence gives them presence. Presence is what you should be going for in your hero, not bluster. The arrogant, bullying character that throws his weight around is usually the one who gets his ass kicked when the quiet, taciturn hero whose calm, even friendly exterior, hides an iron will and unlimited capacity for destruction against those who cross him.
When I think of the tough guys I grew up watching, not a one of them wasted time showing off what badasses they were, that just naturally came out in the course of doing what needed to be done. Even well past the prime of their lives they’ve got this look about them. You say, “ ehn, he’s old, what could he do? Then they turn that cold steely gaze on you, and you suddenly remember that thing you had to do across town just now. That’s presence.
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