Ireth
Myth Weaver
How does one go about doing that while still keeping them a hero?
I'm thinking specifically of the protagonist of my vampire story Low Road. The protagonist, Olan, is a newly turned vampire who abhors the thought of drinking human blood. This abhorrence grows stronger when he goes to the underground vampire city ruled by the lords Conall and Luthais, and sees the depths of insanity and depravity to which vampires can fall if they drink human blood continuously and without remorse. Olan is compelled to feed from a human as the rest of the vampires (save only a few) do, and he resists temptation with help from Luthais, who is also very against human blood consumption, but nigh powerless to stop Conall imposing it on their people. That's how it goes in the first draft, at least.
For the second draft, I was thinking of taking away some of Olan's innocence and having him willingly feed from a human being. The circumstances of that are being worked out in my head still, but I want it to be so that Olan is legitimately at fault and does what he does for the wrong reasons -- no mercy-killing a dying stranger or anything like that. Depending on the situation, he might not feel remorse: if he's avenging the death or harm of a close friend, for example, he probably wouldn't bat an eyelid. My trouble is keeping him a likable, heroic character after he does something despicable, and perhaps giving him a chance for redemption. Any thoughts on this?
I'm thinking specifically of the protagonist of my vampire story Low Road. The protagonist, Olan, is a newly turned vampire who abhors the thought of drinking human blood. This abhorrence grows stronger when he goes to the underground vampire city ruled by the lords Conall and Luthais, and sees the depths of insanity and depravity to which vampires can fall if they drink human blood continuously and without remorse. Olan is compelled to feed from a human as the rest of the vampires (save only a few) do, and he resists temptation with help from Luthais, who is also very against human blood consumption, but nigh powerless to stop Conall imposing it on their people. That's how it goes in the first draft, at least.
For the second draft, I was thinking of taking away some of Olan's innocence and having him willingly feed from a human being. The circumstances of that are being worked out in my head still, but I want it to be so that Olan is legitimately at fault and does what he does for the wrong reasons -- no mercy-killing a dying stranger or anything like that. Depending on the situation, he might not feel remorse: if he's avenging the death or harm of a close friend, for example, he probably wouldn't bat an eyelid. My trouble is keeping him a likable, heroic character after he does something despicable, and perhaps giving him a chance for redemption. Any thoughts on this?