Things You Hate That Good Guys Do

[Aqub]

In like everything ever the good guys are too nice sometimes like when they spare some evil jerk or risk their life to save some jerk its just like why guys I know youre supposed to be goodguys but come on gotta stop somewhere...

[Durppie]

When every single action they do is treated as gold. They are good guys, but even good people have flaws. Don't try to justify all those times Hero Shiningpillarofmorality tortures a person for info. Yes, necessary evils and all that. No, torture is an abhorrent act no matter who it's being done to.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Durppie

[Nolafus]

Not so much a flaw of the character, but it always bugs me when something happens to the main character(s), for better or for worse, and the only reason it happens is because they're the main character(s). Like if they get captured or something, and they so happen to get placed in the cell with a tiny hole they can break through, or they let the guy with the least loyalty guard the prisoners, and they so happen to convince the guard to let them out, etc. It's weak writing, and I want to see how the characters solve it using their wits, and sure they might be able to pull off some of those things, but it's hardly done right.

 

That, and I don't like it when everything turns out fine at the end. Can't there be a little sacrifice?

[m_overdone]

USE THE FORCE, LUKE!

 

Since Disney princesses are good guys (girls, actually), let me say what annoys me about them - falling in love with someone just because they are a prince and/or at least handsome. YOU CAN'T MARRY A MAN YOU JUST MET.

And on top of all that, they call it true love.

Also, in Cinderella - why did the fairy godmother wait for Cinderella's ball gown to be ruined by her evil stepsisters to come and help her out? Where was she when they, almost literally, forced her into slavery?

 

AND when a good guy is THIS CLOSE to beating/killing the bad guy, but noooooooooo, they have to say/do something to delay their victory and end up dead themselves. Kind of like how Oberyn Martell died while fighting the Mountain. Just. so. pointless.

Agreed! I find Disney's insta-love formula to be a bit creepy, actually.

 

Although, with the "hesitation before killing" thing, I find that it's usually the bad guys who end up dead if they delay killing somebody, and the good guys just, y'know... get the moral high ground (though sometimes it does get flipped, like with your Game of Thrones example). I get annoyed by "delaying killing a character for stupid reasons" tropes in general, but I particularly hate the whole "good guy is okay with all forms of violence except directly killing the bad guy" trope - because somehow killing the bad guy would make them an infinitely worse person than beating them up and then letting them go on their merry way (often allowing them to continue harming more innocents). And this "I won't kill the bad guy" thing is supposed to give them some sort of moral high ground when they've already gone around being super violent and destructive, often resulting in a lot of civilian deaths that we just don't see up close (especially in superhero movies).

 

[TANGENT WARNING]

 

That said, I don't actually mind when a good guy's strength isn't actually fighting and that's why (s)he doesn't kill. Like... there are more ways to be a hero than just stabbing/punching/shooting people. (I say this because I raised an eyebrow at the original post - part of what's great about Frodo in Lord of the Rings is that he's an example of how diverse heroes can be in their abilities. You don't have to do impressive, obviously-heroic battle feats do something great/important. That's a huge part of the reason that he was the ring bearer - he was a modest hobbit without an ego that was hopped up on "I am/want to be powerful (or a hero)." In the books, even Sam - who's about as modest/humble as they come - really struggles with the brief moments when he tries carrying the ring to temporarily relieve Frodo's burden. Besides, the journey is already pretty dangerous for Frodo, and him trying to enter battle rather than focus mostly on keeping the ring out of enemy hands would mean running a much higher risk of him getting killed - which would be a serious problem, considering that he's the ring bearer.)

Edited January 5, 2016 by m_overdone

[m_overdone]

Oh, and another big pet peeve:

 

When main characters make (what should have been) a mistake, but because they're the hero, it either turns out that they were right all along, or else things work out completely fine anyway, despite all indications that there should have been some at least semi-permanent negative consequence for the mistake. It's often pretty obvious that if it were any other character but the hero, the decision would have been a bad move/had harsh consequences. But God forbid the almighty hero be flawed and, at some point, be forced to accept the consequences of - and learn from - their own bad decisions.

Edited January 5, 2016 by m_overdone

[AroaraAngelwolf]

The thing about Frodo (and having watched the movies in extended edition every year since they were released) the whole point was the ring was evil. I don't know if it drained him but being stabbed with a Morgul blade affected him as well as carrying the ring of such dark malice and evil twisted him, much like it twisted Gollum's mind and body until he became the creature he was for he was once a hobbit too.

 

Quoted from this sight:

A victim of this blade was Frodo who was stabbed by the Witch King himself at Weathertop. A fragment of the blade remained within the wound of Frodo, working its way toward his heart and threatening to turn Frodo into a wraith. Elrond was able to remove the shard and heal the wound, but each year on the anniversary of receiving the wound from the Morgul-blade Frodo became seriously ill. Only his eventual departure to Eldamar, also known as the Undying Lands, offered a permanent cure.

He wasn't the same, his mind and will was broken from just mentally fighting the power of the ring.

 

Now BILBO BAGGINS, is the true weakling. He could've done serious damage and helped the dwarves out, using the ring (before the eye was truly established in mordor) to become invisible and stab orcs and such with sting.(yes he used it before on the spiders but in battle not once). But NOOOO he just had to sit there and watch as all the dwarves died around him.

Edited January 5, 2016 by AroaraAngelwolf

[Switch]

I hate when the protagonist (usually a dude) has basically 0 redeeming qualities and has the personality of a plasticine potato and is surrounded by much more interesting characters who get thrown under the bus or (usually girls) just be there as fanservice/romantic tension for the protagonist who is useless and unlikeable 99% of the time but gets All The Girls and Saves The Day anyway even tho he doesn't ever work for anything because he's just ~special~ and everyone is expected to like him just for that and it's pretty obvious he's just there as a self-insert fantasy

This happens in a lot of anime

Edited January 26, 2016 by Switch

[Moonwick]

I hate when the protagonist (usually a dude) has basically 0 redeeming qualities and has the personality of a plasticine potato and is surrounded by much more interesting characters who get thrown under the bus or (usually girls) just be there as fanservice/romantic tension for the protagonist who is useless and unlikeable 99% of the time but gets All The Girls and Saves The Day anyway even tho he doesn't ever work for anything because he's just ~special~ and everyone is expected to like him just for that and it's pretty obvious he's just there as a self-insert fantasy

This happens in a lot of anime

I agree with you on this, I hate it so much

[yamashta]

I hate that Genos took Saitama's long, soft french fry and left him with a plate of short crispy ones.

[RejectSoul]

When the protagonist wins because of "true love" or "willpower", basically something like this:

 

A and B fight

A is knocked out

A remembers his girlfriend believed in him

A wakes back up

A and B fight again

A is defeated once more

A remembers his mom said he could do it

A gets back up

A and B fight AGAIN

A is nearly dies

A remembers some mystery move from his master

A and B fight

A wins

 

What the hell.

Trix I snorted my milk out of my nose, and I wholeheartedly blame you

 

For me the only real problem I've ever had with a protagonist was... Does anyone recall Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way? Yes, the Goffik something that causes everyone to throw up in their mouth a little.

 

On a more serious note, I find it a bit irritating when the good guys pull something off that is clearly impossible to do proving that the space and time of the medium will warp just to make him succeed even though he's, well, not all that great. Also, when they're just too op and are able to do anything with zero difficulty and it becomes obvious the obstacles don't exist.

[Moonwick]

When they say something like

 

"But there's one thing you'll never understand--THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP."

 

to the villain.

 

Although I don't REALLY hate it--I just think it's corny. Sometimes I like it because it's corny and bad. lol

Edited March 14, 2016 by Silverwinter

[tardograd2]

turning on the others for no reason, like nest with detures

[Wildmoon]

I hate the way good guys always seem to win.

 

like geez...let the bad guys win for once - it might give the character/story more depth. >.>

[Moonlight_Eevee]

I hate the way good guys always seem to win.

 

like geez...let the bad guys win for once - it might give the character/story more depth.  >.>

I agree with this. I'm writing a story based off Once Upon a Time where every Villain has won and now the hero in Once along with Pinocchio ends up in our realm as children, learn how to train, etc. before going back (off topic >..>)

 

I'm going to write a prequel to it one day explaining how they got to where they were at (but that's a story for another day)

 

One thing I can't stand about heroes is they seem to make them flawless. Disney Princesses seem to have that ability to be absolutely flawless. The only one I truly liked was Mulan (who wasn't a princess to begin with). She risked her life and her family's name and honor just to save her father.

 

Also, Simba from the Lion King. How the heck did he match up to scar with no real training? Was it instinct? The only real thing his father taught him was to pounce, but other then that, he was living the Hakuna Montana life. He shouldn't have won that battle with Scar in my opinion and shouldn't Scar have died well before that fight? I mean, he was pretty old and judging by how much Simba had grown, Scar would have either been at the point where he could hardly move, or dead.

Edited August 21, 2016 by Raptor of Dragons

[Yukimura_Ai]

I read internet Chinese novels and seriously, the protagonists do lose sometimes and learn and etc. but my real problem is they always ends up with 5+ partners because they are "to awesome, one is not enough". Regardless of gender. I always want to scream when that happens, it makes no sense someone can love 5+ people altogether, and they "live happily ever after".... ha ha....

Basically I have a beef with harem/reverse harem/multiplepartners It's like sharing a tooth brush... don't do it.

 

@Raptor of Dragons I agree with the Simba thing, I still did not like how that story played out at all.... I also hated Aladin, the guy was a thief, a liar, the Sultan wasn't a good king either considering the poverty problem, and then poof Magic----->beat the evil guy-->get the throne....? country will not ber well cared for for sure

 

I also hate the "The Chosen One" theme, like hey you get a special "Sword/power/demon" sealed inside of you, control your power and yay you da best So tired....

 

[Moonlight_Eevee]

The Pokemon anime is also a show that greatly suffers from it.

Prepare for Trouble

And make it a Mcdouble. ( couldn't resist)

 

But I agree. They should let Ash win a stupid league for once and get rid of Team Rocket. They been following one stupid Pikachu for 20 years now and they've gotten no where with that.

[samiov84]

Irrational Gryffindorish behaviours like running off straight into danger rather than sitting still for two seconds to get a proper plan together and call for more competent backup. And then even worse when the plot repeatedly rewards them for that kind of nonsense - no one's luck is that good!

 

Unfortunately a difficult trope to avoid in protagonists (especially teenage boy protagonists) - you don't get a plot by using the common sense approach.

hah totally agree, everytime I feel like omh turn on your brains ***

[SuperfluousBear]

I think mercy is a good quality. That's not something I hate. But sometimes the romantic subplot feels really forced, like it didn't need to be there. Or like there's romance only because that's what people expect, but the story could do very well without it. I hate when a main character goes to get advice from some wise so-and-so, and the wise character is just like, "I don't know, ask somebody else," or tells them something they already heard from somebody else.

 

For example: Secret of NIMH. The owl tells the mouse to move, the same thing the shrew has been telling her all that time. Or in Neverending Story, after losing his horse slogging through a bog, Atreyu just gets to hear Morla go like, "I dunno, go ask the Southern Oracle."

[Whirlaway]

When heroes never die. Show some stakes people.

[DragonArchaeologist]

I'm actually just fine with heroes showing mercy, it's kind of what they're supposed to do as heroes, and killing everyone they consider a villain will quickly make a hero an anti-hero or villain protagonist. Not that that isn't an interesting plot in and of itself, they're just no longer the hero.

 

However I hate miscommunication. The scenarios where the protagonist thinks that their friends have turned on them or are keeping some dark secret but it's really something mundane and it would have taken two honest sentences to clear everything up but they dance around it for most of an episode or part of a movie or book. It feels unnatural and forced, but maybe everyone else does live their lives in a state of perpetual confusion. Villains don't seem to have this problem, which I think is ironic. Aren't heroes supposed to be the honest and straightforward ones?

[SheridanCharon]

However I hate miscommunication. The scenarios where the protagonist thinks that their friends have turned on them or are keeping some dark secret but it's really something mundane and it would have taken two honest sentences to clear everything up but they dance around it for most of an episode or part of a movie or book.

I think if this is used right, one example being as a villain or 3rd party's way of causing tension in a group as part of a "divide and conquer" plan or is just written well enough, then it can be an interesting device to use. But yeah, if it's not or is just one of those "Happened and is never brought up again" things, it is extremely annoying.

 

While I don't mind heroes who show mercy, since that is kinda what they do, what I hate is when they're surprised the villain goes/remains bad and STILL show them mercy EVERY TIME the villain tries to harm. Worse, when the hero learns NOTHING from it and still continues with that same dumb naivety, no growth or learning at all. It's not cute, it's not endearing. It's annoying.

 

And my biggest pet peeve is a hero who is ALWAYS right or ALWAYS wins without taking any real damage. Just no. What's the point? If they take beating after beating and actually LEARN from it before winning, then fine. That's character development. But one who wins first try every time? Yaaaaaaawn.

Edited March 13, 2017 by CharonDusk

[Articray]

We just met 2 days ago and we've hated each other the majority of that time but we're gonna do this because we're REAL FRIENDS and real friends don't leave anyone behind.

Or anyone winning because of the power of friendship or love rather than hard work and real skills.

 

This one is more general, not just good guys, but justifying things with "I hacked it" followed by an explanation full of either made up or wrongly used words. I'm looking at you, Visual Basic GUI that traces IPs to locate criminals.

[padfoot]

Win. Just Win in general.

 

I know it's the point and all but some heroes are just so cringe I find myself rooting for the villain.

 

I guess I hate that the hero is the villain's villain? I love it when the bad guy wins, like, really wins.

[Fortune86]

Villains who suffer bad decay. Or who 'die' but come back stronger.

 

Miscommunication is another peeve.

 

Annoying team members who never get called out on bad behaviour.

 

Characters who make the same mistakes over and over.

[Phony]

In so many anime, the protagonist is always really impulsive and acts on feelings then jumps straight into some random fight with a pro, but ends up getting out alive because of the "power of  determination" or whatnot. It's cool, just a bit cliche now.