Imagine a character, that is slightly sarcastic, but has no major role.
Won’t you always remember that character?
The answer is, yes. Yes you will.
Well, what about a world that is vibrant, with vibrant characters…But one of them, is kinda boring and a complete opposite of the world they inhabit. You’d probably best remember that character over every other one, won’t you? Yes, of course. Why? Because there’s something different about that particular person.
And this is what I like to call, The Lydia Paradox when it comes to writing.
It’s when a character with a mundane role, or a bland personality actually gets remembered just for that. In a world setting, where almost everybody is animated and has some level of character, “the boring mundane character” tends to stand out the most. It’s almost like Squidward in Spongebob–yeah you know Spongebob is the main character…but you remember Squidward, for him being different.
To give a little background information, Lydia was a character that came from the Bethesda video game Skyrim. This is her description:
Lydia is a Nord housecarl obtained upon completion of the quest “Dragon Rising.” She receives the title of Housecarl from Balgruuf the Greater in Dragonsreach. Immediately after the Dragonborn is promoted to the title of Thane. As Housecarl, she is sworn to protect the Dragonborn with her life, and to carry their burdens. She is a follower, as well as a marriage candidate for the Dragonborn. (Elderscrolls.fandom)
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And that’s it! That’s her entire description in a nutshell. So basically, she’s supposed to be boring. There’s not much to her as a character, there isn’t much else we learn about her, and yet there is a MASSIVE culture built up around her as a character in the Elderscrolls games.
Why? This is why.
When you’re writing a plot, naturally a good writer will tend to make every single character have their moment to shine. The paradox comes in when you give one of your characters a mundane part or role, and it stands out over the others.
Just like the Lydia; Skyrim, and the Squidward; Spongebob examples, sometimes a character that the author can’t relate to, can turn out relatable to other readers. In fact, the struggle is when a writer relates to a character, that others on the outside looking in, might not be too fond of.
It’s actually a prevalent problem in Hollywood, and I think I discussed it plenty of times in my prior blogging posts; a person who is cool in real life is able to understand how to make cool characters in their story (unless they were secretly a nerd without realizing it).
It’s also probable, that the more a character tries too hard to be remembered, the more they start to become annoying. It’s almost like a Rule of Cool factor, where a boring character is viewed as suppish, or a character that doesn’t try too hard to be noticed, is seen as ‘more interesting than the main character’.
Sometimes a writer might also make a character they can relate to, but others might not be able to. Maybe they’ll make them rude, or arrogant, but loveable, without realizing that they just made an insufferable character in their story, and gave them the supporting role.
…Or maybe in a world that’s living through a candy coated lense, that arrogant character might be just what the audience needs to ground the plot.
In any case, mishaps involving the misuse of the Lydia Paradox will absolutely kill your novel or movie before it even gets started.
In fact a writer without realizing it, might be able to design a perfect character that is so relatable, it’s the main reason why a fandom reads or watches the story.
So I bet you’re asking, “Well uncle Greg, how the heck do I make such a character? Huh? I wanna make that Lydia character!”
Well, if we look at Lydia as a character; she’s down to earth, straight forward, and no nonsense.
Now let’s look at the world of Skyrim; it’s a game riddled with dragons, it’s an open world, and it’s nordic with vikings and a lot of chaos.
Now analyze the player as a constantly moving force in the game, changing events, and taking part in them, being whatever; elf, mage, warrior, stealth, we can now start to understand how a grounded character might be remembered more, can’t we? In this setting, Lydia reflected a sort of checkpoint for the viewers to come back to, something that isn’t attached to the everchanging world the main character inhabits.
This is the perfect formula for a memorable character, in this sense, because we can instantly recognize that this person is different, but not so much in a way that is off-putting. It might even have proved comforting for some of the players who used her as a follower. Out of all the craziness, there was one that seemed grounded.
When writing a character and trying to design one that has that same memorability as your good o’l pal, Lydia here, you have to examine the roles of each of your characters in your novel.
What characters serve what purpose?
How would you best describe the world they inhabit?
In a world that has a lot of survival horror elements, that one guy that’s always being an ass is probably going to be hated by viewers, aren’t they? While the one that’s the most helpful and trust worthy will be adored.
This is because in that example world, team work, diligence, and the ability to survive is important to the worldspace, as much as it will be for the readers and viewers as well.
And so no, in a zombie apocalypse, that whiny teen girl that’s complaining about how life sucks isn’t going to be a liked character, is she? Neither will that village idiot Steve, who keeps getting people killed. We need characters with sensible roles.
Perhaps in a world space that is vast and open, but the parents are a bit strict, that whiny young and eager teen might be relatable! But she wouldn’t be so, in a zombie filled hell hole, that requires all hands on deck, where her antics could cost you the lives of other relatable characters. XD
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How about a character that offers some comic relief in this world from time to time? Sure! That would work! But just don’t overdo it, or else you’ll run into the annoying clown syndrome (That’s where a character tries to be funny too much, and they start to seem like a fly in the room making noise)
Steve might work in a world space that needs a second look at life; Beavis and Butthead are basically just two village idiots. They work together in the plot perfectly, when the world isn’t set to lose lives, like The Walking Dead, or a serious world like Star Trek.
These are just some on the fly examples, I can definitely keep going on and on with different tropes and character concepts, but the main point that The Lydia Paradox reminds us of, is that it’s important to examine the different roles of each character, and how they fit in both the plot and story.
Anyways, that’s one uncle’s take, hopefully this might help some homies with their writing.
Happy Trails!
-Sincerenly, Everybody’s Favorite Uncle, Gregory Thomas
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