The Color Behind a Morally Gray Character
Written By: Alaina Yan
Passion drives a plot forward. Whether that passion is good or bad, it does not matter. Passion, ambition, and desire drive a character to make the decisions they do even if they are not moral. Even we, the audience, are driven by passion everyday.
Characters are an integral part of all stories. They are the plot, face conflicts, and make the important decisions to get the story to a conclusion. As readers, we tend to empathize with the main character, as we see them as the heroes of the story. We take their side over the other characters since we get an inside view of their thoughts, circumstances, and understand the reasoning behind their decisions. However, we still have to keep in mind that the characters we cheer and root for are not entirely innocent.
The most realistic and resonating characters are flawed, trying to be good, but still making mistakes. They make bad decisions, they struggle when faced with challenges, and they fail time and time again. Sometimes, they continue to make those bad decisions, believing that it is the right thing to do. With a skewed moral compass or flawed motivation, they begin hurting and harming others to get where they want. As a reader, we may criticize the character as their actions directly conflict with our own moral compasses. However, at the end of the day, we still secretly cheer for them; while we may disagree with the character's actions, we empathize with them as we watch them develop and change. This character becomes our anti-hero: the central character that lacks those heroic, selfless characteristics.
These morally gray characters are essential to a deep, resonating plot. They add complexity to an otherwise black and white storyline. We enjoy seeing these outcasts make the hard decisions the heroic figure would not. They bend our perspective and view on society and their expectations: we must view every action in a new, unbiased light. By reevaluating our morals, another layer of depth engages us in the story. They have traits we can all relate to, built through difficult trials and tribulations. As the story progresses, these characters usually work to become a more heroic figure or continue down a dark path. We watch as they develop from a cold, unknown character to a closer, more humane person we can connect with.
These characters can be seen in the mainstream media and novels. One such example is Rin from the novel Poppy War.
R. F. Kuang’s popular novel, Poppy War, follows Rin, a young girl working at her adoptive mother’s shop. Set in mid-20th century China, Rin aggressively works towards passing the Keju, the national test that allows all the best-scoring students to attend Sinegard Academy, a prestigious war academy. Rin’s desire to get into Sinegard Academy began from her fear of her arranged marriage to an old man, set up by her adoptive mother. Terrified for her future and driven by the need to better her life, she begins working towards passing the Keju with enough points to land herself in Sinegard Academy. Despite coming from humble backgrounds, she ambitiously pulls all-nighters, burns herself with wax, and dedicates every living moment she has to study for the Keju. Surprising both herself and the readers, she does the best on the Keju out of her province, getting herself into Sinegard Academy.
Rin at the beginning of the novel
However, her journey does not get easier after her admission. Although Rin was smart and naturally gifted, she lacked the experience and training the other Sinegard students had. Coming from wealthy, highly-ranked families, the other students were trained from a young age to fight and strategize in war. Rin, still ambitious, begins teaching herself the forms, training herself to try to be the best in class.
Her unyielding ambition is further demonstrated when she gets her first menstrual period at the academy. Previously poor and malnourished, she never got her period until now. Frustrated by her cramps and pain, she immediately went to the academy’s doctor to terminate her uterus. While many other girls, when faced with the decision, immediately rejected the offer, Rin immediately agreed to stop her period forever. She saw her ability and future of having a family as something that would hold her back. Her ambition drove her to take this chance to get an advantage over the other female competitors.
Later in the book, when it is revealed she is Speerly, a race that has a more advantageous genetic makeup, she meets Altan. Altan is the legend of the academy, well-known for his extraordinary fighting and astounding achievements. Altan and Rin bond over their shared Speerly race, eventually learning they both have Shaman capabilities, blessed by the vengeful Phoenix of the Speerly. As she begins training under Altan, we see Rin become more and more greedy, wanting more power for herself.
After Altan sacrifices himself to allow Rin to get away from the Federation, an organization that wanted to experiment on the Speerly, Rin takes the opium to unlock the Phoenix's unlimited fire. With this new, granted power, Rin burns down her surroundings, bringing all her enemies down with her. Although her power killed hundreds of innocents, Rin believes it was valid and still morally just; she believed the ends justify the means.
As a reader, we were shocked by her persistent defense of such a brutal act. However, we still empathize with Rin as we watched her mourn the loss of her brother figure. Throughout the book, we watched as Rin and Altan grew closer and closer, building a strong bond built on mutual trust and respect. Therefore, the loss of Altan hurt us as well, making us naturally want to get revenge for Altan through Rin.
Rin’s actions, although somewhat understandable, are unjustifiable. We understand that while her actions were blinded by rage and overwhelming hatred, she still killed hundreds of innocents. This shapes Rin as a morally gray character.
Another example of a morally gray character is Azula from the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Known for its humorous but action-filled plot, the TV show was extremely popular during the peak of the COVID pandemic.
Despite having a childish touch in each episode, filled with jokes and memes, the characters have extremely realistic character arcs and depth.
Throughout the TV show, Azula is the enemy of the main group of heroic characters made up of the avatar, Aang, and his friends. Azula is the younger sister of Zuko, one of the Avatar’s enemy-turned-friend. She chases and tries to kill the Avatar, the young boy trying to save the world from the fire nation’s grasp. Being the princess of the fire nation, she is determined to make her father, the fire lord, proud of her.
As revealed in a flashback episode, Azula was starved of maternal love from her mother; Zuko was her favorite, and Azula was seen as a monster for being her cruel father’s favorite. Therefore, growing up, Azula believed love was only conditional. If she could prove herself with her talent or achievements, others would flock to her and love her.
Young Azula in her flashback episode
The Gaang, or the group of Avatar Aang's friends, had only seen Azula as some sort of monster that would get in their way. Viewers shared this sentiment as they sided with the main character, Aang. However, the flashback episode changed this black-and-white view of Azula: now, we see her as a child, something precious and innocent that was treated unfairly during her childhood. We finally understand why Azula is the way she is. She was not born as a monster, but a young girl who just wants to please her parents and get the love she never received as a child.
Azula’s mental downfall was demonstrated in the last episode when she lost to Zuko in an Agni Kai (a 1v1 fight with their elemental powers). To many, this breakdown was a surprise as Azula seemed to be unbreakable and unbendable. Previously, she had always gotten right back up when she fell. However, if we study the few events before the Agni Kai, we can see that her mental breakdown was inevitable.
Although she was a favorite of her father, she did not have many friends. Her only friends were Ty Lee, a circus performer, and Mai, the daughter of a rich family. However, Mai, in love with Zuko, retaliates against Azula for hurting Zuko. After Zuko and the Gaang escape from Azula’s clutches through Mai’s interference, Ty Lee and Mai leave Azula. In Mai’s iconic line, she even tells Azula, “I love Zuko more than I fear you.”
Mai (left) and Ty Lee (right) fighting against Azula
Azula was especially hurt from their abandonment, as she had always felt Zuko was always chosen by her mother over her. Mai, making the decision to choose Zuko vs Azula, rubbed salt in Azula’s still exposed wounds. Her isolation from others began to intensify her desperation to do anything to appease the last person she thought she had left in her corner: her father.
Despite being extremely close to killing Aang on multiple occasions, her father left her, a fifteen-year-old teenager, in charge of the fire nation on the day he went to fight Aang. Although her father entrusted her with the nation, Azula saw this act as him also abandoning her for somebody else. The very person who she thought always favored her left her along with all her other friends.
Completely isolated and with nobody to support her, she began hallucinating her mother. Cutting her hair erratically and beginning to make irrational decisions, she was confronted with her greatest enemy, her brother Zuko. Challenging him to an Agni Kai, it was inevitable she would lose.
In the end, Azula was imprisoned and sent to an asylum. Never fully healing mentally, she is the epitome of a misunderstood character. Despite many ATLA fans praying for her downfall from the beginning, many eventually came to empathize with her. Rather than see her just as a “bad guy,” we sympathize with her hard childhood. By witnessing a snippet of the daily treatment she received, we understand where Azula’s ambition to appease her father came from.
Throughout media and literature, morally gray characters play an important role in intensifying and deepening a story’s message and meaning. Their lack of black and white morals creates another layer fans and readers alike can pick apart and resonate with. Making the plot more interesting, morally gray characters reflect a larger part of us, the audience, and society as a whole. They force us to rethink what we think is right and why we think it’s right. These characters push us to be more nuanced in situations and see both sides in a story rather than zone in on one scenario from a biased point of view. They allow us to understand that everybody, both in fiction and real life, is just driven by passion. We do the things we think are right to get the things we want.
In my opinion, I think morally gray characters are much more important to a story than heroic characters ever will be.
Citations:
For more information about…
Avatar: The Last Airbender:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417299/plotsummary/
Poppy War Book 1:
