Fictional Story Characters

Commenters debate the portrayal and intent behind simplistic, flawed, or villainous characters in a specific story, distinguishing them as narrative devices or archetypes rather than realistic people.

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Comments
20
Years Active
5
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#5890
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

2007
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Keywords

TFA AI IMO GTA images.html images.ht RLHF RMS google.com gutenberg.org characters character story chapter bad guy rand fictional dimensional spy nuance

Sample Comments

rymc Aug 3, 2025 View on HN

some of these personas seem too simple.. the evil one for example sounds like a james bond villain, not quite what a real villain would actually be.

flannery Jun 7, 2019 View on HN

Authors and their characters don't believe the same things.

nicholassmith Oct 24, 2012 View on HN

You need the characters to make it a richer story, he's definitely a character.

ry4nolson Jul 7, 2023 View on HN

this could be a nuance/difference of "a character" of a story and a real person's "character"

jakupovic Aug 22, 2024 View on HN

This is much better and normal rather than the bs the original author is proposing where they are the main character and everyone caters to them

SamReidHughes Mar 8, 2023 View on HN

It was supposed to be a flawed protagonist.

master-lincoln Nov 25, 2023 View on HN

I am fed up with cute characters and similarly beautiful looking people. Give me characters with flaws, that's how most humans are

laverya Mar 27, 2022 View on HN

The character insulting the reviewer caused the extinction of humanity. I don't think they're meant to be a paragon of all that is right and good in the world. (they're also a memecoin speculator, among other things)

Zikes Feb 10, 2016 View on HN

You do realize that the AI represents the villain in this story, right? Villains aren't exactly known for being reasonable, civil, or even rational.

neolog Apr 10, 2021 View on HN

Having characters at all is probably a mistake.