That said, plot is also important. If there isn't enough with which to drive the characters, then there's a good chance you've lost me. Plus, I love to get lost in a story. As much as I love characters, it's the plot that takes me to other worlds.
Connected to both, the antagonist has to present enough of a problem for me to care, whether it's another character, an idea, or the physical setting. Depending on the story, the antagonist can be of great scale or of great personal importance... or both. The stakes must be high either way and be treated as such.
Jumping back to characters, a friend has jokingly accused me of loving "boring, lawful-good characters" ("lawful good" being a role-playing game term for a character that will always follow the rules to the letter no matter what; I gravitate toward these and the "lawful-neutral" sort (those that generally follow the rules, but may bend or break them on occasion)). I automatically give major points to realistic and well-written characters that are moral, noble, and honourable; extra points to those that build excellent relationships with other characters and/or are leaders and/or overcome a great struggle. Peter, Edmund, Caspian, Aragorn, Sam, Eomer, Faramir, Captain America, Aqualad (Kaldur'ahm, not Garth), so on. These are the characters that appeal to me the most because they (usually) live at a standard I want to see in myself.
That said, I do like a good, conflicted character from time to time. Ones that struggle, that sometimes do the right thing but other times do the wrong thing. Once Upon a Time is loaded with these guys and I like those characters' story arcs (particularly Rumpelstiltskin (who usually does wrong, but has made some efforts at right) and Regina (who believably went from good to bad and then slowly came back to good)). If done right, I like these characters because they reflect the daily struggle in our own lives.
Aaaaaaaand that's all I can think of for now. Statistics: Posted by Ariel.of.Narnia — Sat Jan 09, 2016 4:22 am
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