Name: 為什麼這麼多貓戰士主角都失敗了? - Sunny's 演講 - 貓戰士分析（Why So Many Warriors Protagonists Fall Flat – Sunny's Spiel | Warriors Analysis）
Uploaded: 2024-02-18T15:27:22.000Z
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I've long had a problem with characters that  fail to make choices that guide the story,  

either by creating problematic  situations that must be solved,  

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or by solving situations themselves. Part of this  comes down to how out-of-touch I can feel with  

a story that doesn't actually involve our main  characters, the eyes we see the world through,  

to any sizable degree. But it can be even more  frustrating when character choices that would  

otherwise define their identities are left  out in favor of warping the world around  

them instead to create a specific emotional  response in the reader. Now, I would argue that  

these are separate problems, but they are also  connected by their source: character-led choices.

On a structural level, there is a  reason why choices are so important,  

why it is imperative that you give the main  characters of your story agency in their  

world and over their journey. In a fictional  world, one of the top priorities is connecting  

the audience to the characters and storyline,  and making sure there is some sort of journey  

that will take place through those avenues for the  audience to follow: character arcs and plotlines.  

The main character you see the world through  is usually, and in Warriors, is always,  

the character through which the journey is  supposed to funnel. We see the journey with  

them and see the character and / or world change.  If a character doesn't make choices at all,  

or if their choices are completely obsolete to  the character or plot journeys, the character  

themselves become obsolete. We could remove them  from the story, replacing them with an omniscient  

third person perspective, and the story would  still progress as usual. We are not present to  

see the changes, why they were made, or the mighty  triumphs someone must have taken to win the day,  

and so the story, to us, either feels confusing,  disconnected, or ultimately meaningless.

On this level, I actually find the four  protagonists of Omen of the Stars to be some  

of the worst offenders. Jayfeather, Lionblaze,  Ivypool, and Dovewing all do make choices,  

and those choices allow us to see who they are as  characters. Jayfeather argues with Starclan and  

yet gets frantically determined at the prospect  of a death he might be able to prevent. Lionblaze  

pines endlessly over his rocky relationship  with Cinderheart, but has no hesitation in  

battle to the point that he kills Russetfur.  Ivypool lets her jealousy over Dovewing fester  

even in the face of counterevidence, but also  seeks out other close relationships that she  

is endlessly apologetic for like Blossomfall and  Hawkfrost. And Dovewing reaches out to and tries  

to befriend cats everywhere, but also has limits  around cats putting her on a pedestal or using  

her as a tool. As much as we come to understand  these characters though, none of them affect the  

overall plot. None of the three's powers were  used to defeat the Dark Forest, Ivypool never  

saw anything that gave intel the three didn't know  already, the entire plot with Starclan illogically  

breaking up and Jayfeather bringing them back  together was insanely short and ultimately had no  

effect on the Dark Forest or their final battle,  and their final struggle to find the fourth cat  

was completely meaningless since they only found  the fourth cat, Firestar, after he did his duty,  

and Firestar would have fought just as hard  whether or not he was in another prophecy. With  

or without the protagonists of the arc, the Dark  Forest's rise to power, battle with the clans, and  

defeat would go exactly the same way. These cats  make no impact on the plot we're supposed to be  

following, and as such we end up feeling detached  from the plot of Omen of the Stars as a whole.

However you can still walk away, and in fact I  still did walk away, enjoying Omen of the Stars  

because I got to see characters being themselves  as the plot passed them by in the background. I  

enjoyed the people I spent the time with even if  I didn't care even a bit about what the events of  

that time were. This is why I consider the second  level on which choices are necessary for your  

characters to be even more important, as it has  to do with the very identity of the characters.  

The choices I will be considering here are much  smaller and subtler, but ten times as important.

A fictional character is difficult to  define at first. In nearly all cases,  

you won't come out of the first chapter  being able to list off all of their traits,  

and starting a complete story by directly  telling the reader what your characters are  

like is an approach that lacks a lot of subtlety  and prevents the reader from gleaning that  

information for themselves during their own  interpretations. Putting that option aside,  

though, you as an author still need a  way to communicate who a character is  

and why they do the things they do, along with  hopefully giving an opportunity for development  

and growth over the course of a story. For  this purpose, one of the most useful tools  

a writer has to employ is choice, which in  this case is synonymous with individuality.

Choices, unlike something like backstory,  define who a character is now. With every  

choice a character makes, that choice should  be made for a reason, and ideally, over time,  

readers should come to understand what motivates  them to make each choice. With each subsequent  

choice they are given, and each response to those  choices, the reader is able to build a larger and  

richer picture of who a character is, even if  they aren't doing that process consciously.

Considering how abstract this is, I'd like to  provide an example. Say that a character, let's  

call them Bob, is our brand new protagonist. On  the first page, what do you know about Bob? Well,  

nothing, of course. But as you read, you see  that Bob's mother licks him firmly on the head  

and asks him to not leave the nursery again while  she goes out. Bob gives a heavy sigh and agrees,  

crashing limply down onto his nest while silently  crying out about his boredom. Now you know that  

Bob has a mother who cares about him but can't  be with him all of the time, that Bob is likely  

a kit, that Bob has previously left the nursery  without consent, and that he doesn't like having  

to stay in the nursery. Perhaps in a couple of  chapters, Bob is made an apprentice and he is  

the only one in this ceremony. Perhaps, at this  point, Bob immediately goes to speak with the  

older apprentices as he takes joy in the fact that  he won't be stuck alone anymore. Now we not only  

know that Bob is an only child and that he enjoys  company, but we can look back to his first moment  

and see that the reason, the motivation behind  him not enjoying the nursery or wanting to leave  

it could be about his solitude, since he didn't  enjoy being the only cat his age in one boring  

room for moons on end. Each chapter that moves  forward, we learn more about Bob in the moment,  

but can also use what we learn to look back and  inform our understanding of Bob's earlier actions,  

allowing us to build a fuller picture of who Bob  is. Without Bob being given the opportunity to  

make choices, to leave the nursery rather than  making up games for himself or asking the elders  

for stories, to immediately greet the older  apprentices rather than asking to go out on  

patrol or getting to know his mentor, we wouldn't  be able to learn who he is. If the entire world,  

regardless of previous characterization,  relentlessly praised or berated or ignored him,  

and all of Bob's own characterization  was just feeling happy or sad about how  

the world treated him, we would know nothing  about Bob except that he is in that situation.

So speaking of character choices being left  out in favor of making the situation *around*  

the characters as sad as possible, it's time  to discuss Violetshine and Shadowsight. Both  

main characters had extremely hard lives,  and the Shadowclans that surrounded each of  

them were cruel, often illogical communities  with little to no understanding or sympathy  

for them. Violetshine and Shadowsight  both faced bullying and continuous scorn  

from their clanmates even when it made no  sense at all for them to feel that way,  

in Violetshine's case because Shadowclan *chose*  and even *fought* to have her in their clan and  

then spent the rest of her life treating her like  a waste of fresh-kill, and in Shadowsight's case  

because it was plainly clear that Shadowsight was  just reporting messages as he saw them and both  

the leaders and other medicine cats agreed with  the interpretation they came to so he is in no  

way at fault for Ashfur's rise to power. Bullying,  even illogical bullying, is something that people,  

unfortunately, truly do go through, though.  So why do I dislike these characters so much?

Well, it's mainly because these characters'  status as bully victims or outcasts in their  

clans is used as a replacement for establishment  of their personalities or development of their  

characters. Violetshine acted as a camera whose  motivations were never kept consistent long  

enough to establish any trait about her. Her  bullying made her...mad about being bullied,  

but it didn't affect her future performance  in any notable way. She joined the Kin because  

she liked Needletail, not because she disliked  Shadowclan after they scorned her for her whole  