Let’s Discuss Clichés: Give the Main Character Your Powers · 5:07am Feb 2nd, 2016
Today, I’d like to discuss a cliché that is very common in children’s media, and actually shows up in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic a few times. The irony is that, even as a child, I recognized and disliked this particular cliché. In particular, I remember it from both Dragonball Z and Digimon Frontier, among others. Captain Planet even built its entire premise around this cliché (well, that and being preachy, but let’s not get sidetracked).
Sadly, this cliché continues even in the most modern of fiction. If even a child with bad taste (such as my past self) can see flaws in this trope, then why does it persist? And how can we as writers avoid and improve upon this idea?
What is it? “Give the main character your powers” is when one or more secondary characters give their energies/magic/whatever to the main character. Then the main character receives a substantial power boost that they can use to defeat the particular enemy at hand.
The logistics of it are rarely explained, and vary wildly depending on the magic/technology/power source involved.
Why do people still use it? I think this persists for several reasons. One: it’s logistically easy. Having a fight scene with one character versus one character is much easier to block out and animate/describe, compared to a fight scene with one character against the entire main cast. Two: in the case of merchandise heavy shows, the main characters tend to be pushed on the audience as often as possible, and this gives another opportunity to place the spotlight on them. Third: it lets the writers lie about including friendship in the show. Rather than showing the main character working together and using each others’ abilities in tandem, they can just hand their powers over to the most important character and claim it is teamwork.
Why is it a bad idea? What makes it trite? This cliché has one major problem. As alluded to above, it removes agency and importance from a large portion of the cast. Transferring competence between characters this way is blunt and lazy in all the worst possible ways.
It relegates an entire section of the cast to a glorified combination of batteries and cheerleaders. This is even more insulting and uncomfortable in shows that emphasize the importance of teamwork and friendship. Both are built around equal relationships and emphasizing individual strengths, not handing off responsibility to your betters or making a single character take on every problem.
What could we, as writers, use instead? This cliché’s main function is to create a climactic action scene, and to give (the illusion of) equal importance to all members of the cast. It also gives the main character focus, and allows “weaker” characters to participate in combat beyond their abilities.
One common expression of this is the fusion character: rather than giving their powers to the main character, one or more characters actually merge into a single being. This trope can have its uses, but I think it skirts a lot of the issues with the idea. There still isn’t any teamwork involved, no expression of individual strengths combing to make something greater than its parts. (Though a story that deconstructs the idea of a fusion dance could certainly be interesting.)
I think one viable alternative to consider is the combination attack: where two or more characters use their abilities in rapid succession or some simultaneous way that causes them to amplify each others’ effect.
By having the characters actively work together, it better delivers the themes and ideas of teamwork and friendship, without putting undue focus/responsibility on any single character.
How might the above look? I wrote a brief excerpt to help illustrate how my suggestion above might work in practice. Since we’re on a pony fiction site, I used the conceit of reworking the season 4 finale. Notice that while it does give different characters differing levels of responsibility, but there isn’t any overt handoffs either.
“Alright, quickly, while he is distracted! Just as we practiced.” Celestia’s horn ignited, and a golden lens of pure magic solidified in front of her. Cadance and Luna did the same, and the three lenses floated in front of Twilight.
Twilight’s horn ignited. It dimmed. “I just... I don’t think I can do this Princess.”
Celestia knelt down. She raised Twilight’s chin with her hoof. “Do not be foolish, Twilight. I know you can do this, just as you have done so many incredible things in the past.”
In the distance, Shining’s shield shattered. The shards of pink magic warped and spun as Tirek sucked them in. Shining used the last of his energy to teleport away, leaving the area clear.
Twilight ignited her horn, her wings flared. She poured as much magic as she could into the blast, and she felt the laser burst out of her. It hit Celestia’s lens and the air wobbled. The lens shuddered as purple and gold sparks crackled along it. Celestia adjusted the angle slightly, just as the laser focused and shot forrward again. The purple and gold beam hit Luna’s lens, and another burst of heat rent the air around the alicorns. An electric whine filled the air, and the beam shot forward again, purple and gold and blue intermingling.
Cadance leveled her lens. She could feel her horn and magic strain just to move it. She pointed it at Tirek. He had already noticed their plan, begun charging his own magic. She let the magic build. The lens floating in front of her shifted colors, whined and hummed and sparked and crackled. It felt like holding fireworks, only hundreds of thousands of times more dangerous and volatile.
Tirek opened his mouth and a laser screeched towards them.
Cadance released her hold on the magic, let it flood out of the lens.
The beams collided, and a flash lit the entire prairie.
[then continues as per the episode with contrived self-sacrifice etc., except all the alicorns make the decision together.]
Conclusion: Followers of my stories and blogs may know that I have a very specific view when it comes to the execution and story role of action scenes and combat. I think that combat should be violent and abrupt, a last resort with dire consequences—just like in real life.
That doesn’t mean, however, that I can’t appreciate different approaches in the writing of others. If anything, the sort of stylized violence we see in entertainment should be subject to that much more examination and critique, because it is so abstracted and fantastical.
One of my biggest pet peeves about action scenes is this cliché. Hopefully, this discussion helped illustrate why it doesn’t work, and one potential way its goals could be addressed better.
Thanks for reading. As always, comments, counterpoints, and criticism are welcome.
Yea, I can agree with that. It's not really teamwork if only one person's doing the work, even if they are using your power/equipment/knowledge. I hate the memory sharing I've read in some stories even more so. A character gives a few memories that are important to the MC, because they cant go with on the grand adventure. The memories are only what the MC needs, with no problems attached. Bowsheet! Memories are never that clean. That's why my MC had so many issues after he ended up with memories that weren't his own.
I don't think you're reasoning for 'why it's bad' stands up to scrutiny, but I find it way more interesting that your example of something better falls back on 'everyone has something to contribute' trope, which is as tired, if not vastly more so. Tropes aren't inherently bad; it's always about how you manage their conflicts.
The thing is, I think that cliché may have been used intentionally in the case of Tirek. Operation: Four Eggs, One Basket failed to stop him, and on a metanarrative level, it failed because all of the agency was given to one character rather than a group of equals banding together. It took a plan that embraced the lessons of the show to vanquish Tirek.
Of course, that leads to a different problem of Celestia coming up with a plan diametrically opposed to the virtues she tried to teach Twilight in the first place. My point is that every overused plot device can still be used well. It may not be easy to do so, but it's possible.
3728313 I agree that tropes are tools. If a particular situation runs counter to the entire message of the work, however, then we as writers need to ask if we can't do better.
If "Friendship is Magic", then why shouldn't everyone have something to contribute? I'd rather see a cliche that matches the tone of the work than one that does not.
There are many stories where having a single main character overshadow their allies is a naturalistic development, and/or where certain characters do only use their allies as batteries and cheerleaders. The difference isn't a question of the ideas being used, but the context of the story they are used in.
3728369 We could discuss all day about the many (many) writing missteps in the season 4 finale. I think you got at the heart of the problem already, though. The entire subplot about Twilight being given the other alicorn's powers didn't mean anything. Twilight still made the climactic decision that led to the protagonists winning, and being given a bunch of powers didn't impact the plotline in any significant way (except to make Celestia look like a bad planner and to undermine the themes of the show).
I don't have any problem with cliches if they are used well. I wrote an entire blog post about this particular cliche, however, because it often conflicts greatly with the themes and tone of the fiction it is used in.
This is a great point. I see a lot of blog posts on this site about how fanfic could improve by avoiding common literary pitfalls, but I notice that FiM, like many other shows, seems to fall into the same overused tropes almost as much as the fanfiction I usually read does. It bugs me when people hold fanfiction to a higher standard than the original work.