Do You have to Like the Main Character(s)?

Very true - after all, I can't stand Frodo (Sam is the hero to me) and Tyrion makes me laugh.

For the point in the thread - I feel there does have to be some likeability somewhere, doesn't have to be from the MC though. Sometimes, wanting to watch the MC cop it is enough to keep people hooked.

 

I can hate an MC as long as they are interesting. Being interesting to your reader is what matters to me. I could care less about likeable.

 

I think an Mc has to be likeable, or at least relatable. Likeable is better. fter all, this is the person whose journey we are along for the ride with, and the outcome is going to affect them. If we don't care about them, why will we care about the ending.

If we take the serial killer example, that's the premise of Dexter, isn't it? But wait... Dexter has 'The Code'. Why? So we can relate to him, and like him. He's only killing people who deserve it. Sure, it's vigilante justice, but nevetheless we can like him and relate. He's breaking the law - but he's doing good. He's a good serial killer. Now we like him.

If the reader literally detests, despises or hates ther MC (or even finds them pathetic, or useless) what engages them to keep reading?

Sure, you can use unlikeable POV characters (such as showing us the POV of a villain), but making your MC unlikeable is a very hard sell.

Evenif you manage to pull it off, which is sometimes achieved by keeping the reader in the dark and not revealing the MC is a bad guy or monster until the end, the reader is likely to feel cheated. They might have read this book, but they might not come back for the next, because they didn't get what they were expecting.

 

I don't think you have to, but it sure as hell helps.

 

I agree with the ones claiming that a character should foremost be interesting. A dull character can be as likeable as he or she wants, they won't get the reader (or at least me) to care about them. Being interesting is what makes me turn the pages and then the character can be almost any sort of misfit or evil, because I want to know what will happen next and how the character will end up.

 

I agree with those who say that interesting is more important than likeable.

There's been huge controversy over Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorns, where the MC is - well, an evil bastard, basically, and fairly gleeful about it. Some people just hate the book because of it, but the author recently wrote this blogpost on the subject:

Mark Lawrence: Murder’s bad m’kay?

I've just finished reading Stephen Deas's The Black Mausoleum, the 4th in the Memory of Flames series, which features some of the most outrageously selfish, devious, scheming MCs around (including the dragons), but it's still a cracking read.

I don't really know what a 'relateable' character is. Characters are either interesting, believable, etc, or they're not. Whether I relate to them in some way is irrelevant, to me at least. YMMV.

 

The "Malus Darkblade" series from Dan Abnett (set in the Warhammer universe) is another fine example of a book with an evil protagonist. Even when compared to the other dark elves, Malus is one of the most loathsome, scheming, backstabbing bastards literature has ever seen. But as a reader, you still find yourself rooting for him. I wouldn't hate and detest him if he were a real person, but in fiction, you grow to like him. Even though he's pure evil, you can relate to him. He's scorned by everyone (including his parents), cursed by a daemon and he has his share of bad luck.

 

For me it look like there is a misuse/confusion of the word "likeable"...
Someone can be a likeable character but a bad/evil person...
Hannibal Lector? Almost all "Noir" MCs are somewhat grey morally [even James Bond isn't a nice person but jolly good fun to read - I have been told]...
You are given a back-story that lets you empathise with their actions - to put them in to context. You are given a reason to excuse their actions...
I think the words "detestable" or "unsympathetic" might be more appropriate. I think it would be hard to write a successful book where the MC is emotionally unsympathetic and their actions ones you could not empathise with.
I'm not saying that you couldn't write a story about a serial killer that only targets the weak and the innocent in the most despicable ways with no moral amelioration - but it might be a hard sell to the reader... but perfect for the awards circuit...

 

Main characters don't have to be nice and kind people no. There needs to be something relatable however. Something that makes us care for the character's fate. Backstory, some traits we'd few as noble, reasons for their behavior we can understand and so on. If a character has nothing like this and shows cruel behavior, there's no real reason to follow his story.
Reactions vary greatly from reader to reader as far as this concerned. Many of us have some "no go"-things that put us off right away but it's no the same for all of us. (With some exceptions I assume. I doubt many people would want to read a story with a child rapist as its protagonist.)
Personally, I have trouble to get into a book if I don't care for the characters and sometimes it's happening for much less severe reasons so it's really hard to predict.

 

I have to say that as a reader, the mc does have to have something likeable about them. They can be the meanest character possible, as long ad they have a reason for it that the reader can engage with. Otherwise, the reader is unlikely to continue

 

*I* have to like the main character. If I don't like the main character within the first two chapters I put the book down and move on to something else where I do. Life's too short to spend in the heads of unpleasant people. However that doesn't mean you can't have a serial killer MC. It just means you've got to get the reader to like him - maybe he enjoys his work so much that they can't help but enjoy his joie de vivre, or maybe he's been hurt so much they can't help but pity him, or he's got so much that's otherwise good in him that they can't help but wish he could be saved from himself, or he's just so clever that it's a joy watching him work, etc.

Equally, your character can be likeable without worrying in the slightest that he's a liar, if he's a liar it's fun or cathartic to be around.