Designated Heroes

[Adon]

Hey all.  In the effort to stir up some conversation here, I'm gonna bring up something that's been on my mind lately.

The concept of the "Designated Hero" isn't mine... I ran into it at http://www.jabootu.com/default.asp, which is a site dedicated to reviewing bad movies.

A Designated Hero is, in brief, a character in a piece of fiction who the audience is supposed to support and cheer for, mostly because the script has decided that they're the hero.  What makes a Designated Hero distinct is that this is the only reason to cheer them -- their actions and personalities are pretty far from heroic.

So what I ask is for people to share examples of Designated Heroes they've come across, and what makes them such.  This can be from anything -- movies, tv, books, comics, anime, and especially fanfiction (keeping to the forum's roots here).

I'll start with what might be considered a controversial example: the main characters in Carrot's fics Insertion and Gaijin.  Here we have people who are amazingly cold-blooded, ruthless, and often needlessly cruel.  But they are very much the protagonists.  More, the fans of these stories seem to concur with the idea that these are guys to admire, to a point that I honestly find hard to comprehend.  Maybe my brain is wired incorrectly, but I can't bring myself to like either because I find the heroes so unlikeable and unsympathetic.

[Dracos]

You have touched upon the reason I don't read Carrot's works in general anymore.  He goes out of his way to strip any likable characteristics from his characters.  I find the presence of some likable characteristics essential to any character.  Let's face it, rooting for the villains is fine but most of those villains are likable when you do it.  Antiheroes usually are given some saving grace...  Anything.  I don't read on if I can't find some hint of this.

I was going to use Raistlin here as a potential Designated Heroes...  but he isn't... he's an antagonist and a villain... but when he is a protagonist you see into his mind and heart and you empathize with him... you see purpose there and reason... and feeling.  You get understanding of his cruelity.  Therefore he really doesn't qualify.

I'll think on this and try to recall one...  it would likely be in movies as that's the only place one finds oneself unable to really escape the 'designated hero'.  Hmm... Actually wait...  Squall from Final fantasy 8 might qualify.  Every snapsnot of his 'thought' shows a despicable human being.  I find myself though lacking in explaining it further.

Alas... ^_^;

Fearless Leader
Cheers on initative

[Adon]

I actually don't mind Squall... this is mostly because as I see it, FF8 is about his growth from a waste of oxygen to an actual hero.  Yeah, he starts of being very difficult to like, but in my eyes he grows over time to the point where Squall at the end is not much like Squall at the beginning.  I know not everyone agrees here, but there you go.  Heero in Gundam Wing is the same way... a lot of people dislike him based on how he's depicted at the beginning, and not as the person he becomes over time.

This does raise the issue that a lot of this is a matter of taste.  If Delphi is any indication, Dracos and I are in a definite minority in our dislike of Insertion and Gaijin.  Obviously somebody out there has found something to like in the 'heroes' of those stories.  Damned if I can, though.

Okay, here's another one.  D.J. Croft in Neon Exodus Evangelion.  Now, part of this is based on the fact that I have no use for Aerie Productions fics in the first place.  But D.J. truly stands out to me as a guy whose negative qualities trump the hero status he's supposed to have.  Here's a guy who amply fills the role of ANC... he's better than everyone at everything, the narrative speaks glowingly about how wonderful he is, he constantly one-ups all the canon characters the author doesn't like, and so on.  Worse, he is the sort of insufferably smug, smarmy and arrogant jackass who makes Ranma Saotome look humble.  The only way I can handle him these days is in an MST.  But in his story, everything he does is right and correct because he's the Designated Hero and by definition can do no wrong.

[RangerShade]

Nah, you're not that alone. I don't like Carrot's fics either. They just don't work for me...

[Kaneda]

The only ones I even remotely liked were Rain,and some of Insertion. I otherwise his fics aren't my cup of tea.