This is a question I’ve seen around, and one that I have to reckon with in Brother Shadow: how do you keep an arrogant character likable? How do you use this as a flaw without making the character completely infuriating? Here’s my theory on how to keep them just the right amount of infuriating.
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Bitch vs Rival vs Bully
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These aren’t the only arrogant archetypes out there, but they form a spectrum that illustrates the sweet spot wherein an arrogant character’s behavior remains acceptable to the audience. If he dips too far in one direction or the other, the flaw becomes irritating rather than interesting. Notably, these all tend to be secondary characters rather than protagonists—most of us can relate more to self-doubt than total confidence after all. That doesn’t mean you have to make your main character insecure, it just makes these three conveniently recognizable.
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Let’s look at them through the example of a swordsman. Say you’re some kind of shonen protagonist. You’re training alongside many other students, and you’re full of determination but your skills aren’t fully polished yet, and you know you have a lot to learn. In the first arc of the series, you fight each of these three guys.
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The first opponent, from day one onward, cannot shut up about how good he is at swords. He cannot shut up about how bad you are at swords. And then you finally face the smug bastard, probably in front of an audience that he was hoping to best you in front of…and he goes down like a chump. Having been soundly defeated, he either raves about how this is impossible and you must have cheated somehow, or accepts defeat, but snivels about it. Now he can’t shut up about how much he hates you. He has learned nothing from this defeat, and does not at all respect the skill it took to beat him.
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This guy is A Bitch. No one in the audience likes The Bitch. This character exists to be defeated in a humiliating way, only to further his own misfortune by being a weenie about it. Defeating him might be the first victory the plot gives you, and it feels great to put this guy in his place. He’ll probably never be more than a recurring annoyance, if he’s given more screen time at all. It’s possible to give this character more depth, but at a certain point the best he can hope for from the audience is for their contempt to turn into pity.
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The second opponent is more of a direct antagonist. The Bitch was mostly disparaging you for his own benefit and that of onlookers. So is this guy, but he makes it personal. He jabs at you and wants it to hurt. Maybe he finally challenges you, but there’s a non-zero chance you bring the fight to him, just to finally shut him up. Unfortunately, he actually is approximately as tough as he thinks he is, and you get thrashed. Even once you are clearly defeated, he isn’t done. He’s having such a good time literally kicking you while you’re down that the confrontation only ends either though some outside intervention, or when he finally gets bored. What an asshole.
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He only gets worse from here though. From that incident onward, you can’t get rid of this guy. You’re a target now. He knows he can beat you, and he thinks that gives him the right to shove you around whenever he feels like it. This is going to continue until you level up enough to finally beat him. It will be difficult, but it will also be cathartic.
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This guy is A Bully. No one in the audience likes the bully. Unlike the Bitch, he can back up his boasting. He likely does it with more brute strength than real skill, but the fact remains—he is a genuine threat. The way he abuses this power –and the other characters – generally makes this type of character pretty intolerable. He can in theory come back from it eventually and become sympathetic, but only with a lot of character development, and there will always be those who feel he didn’t suffer enough along the way to make his earlier behavior forgivable. The best thing he can do is accept that fact with newfound humility and find some way to atone that doesn’t involve pestering the people he previously mistreated for absolution.
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The third guy. The Third Guy. THIS fucker here. The first time he beats you, he gloats so hard that it fuels your next level up almost on its own. At least he stopped hitting you once the fight was clearly over, but oh, you hate his face so very much. It hurt more than just getting hit, because guy shit talks you in an accurate way. There ARE flaws in your technique, and he DID easily exploit them. How dare he be right about something? You end up fighting him about six more times. You beat him in number three, and he stomped away to sulk about it. Then, in round four, he got the upper hand again. Every time you level up, every time you think you’re finally good enough to win, this guy has the audacity to get better as well. What gives? Where’s the final catharsis?
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This guy is your Rival. And you know what? The audience adores The Rival. It’s not uncommon for the audience to end up loving The Rival more than they love you. The protagonist may be relatable, but The Rival is aspirational. Why?
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The difference between these three characters comes from variations in competence, security, conviction, restraint, and motive. I’m deeper into this topic than I planned to be today, so this is going to need a part two.
Dramatic Pause 