How Your Characters’ Choices Should Be Driving Your Story’s Plot (explored with The Lord of the Rings cast)

Engage Your Readers With Active Characters

Like any good fantasy lover, I’ve been rewatching The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) films and have been reminded of the greatness of J.R.R. Tolkien’s story. This time around, though, I began thinking about the driving forces of the story—mainly, the choices the characters make. 

A good story uses the choices of their characters to drive the plot forward. Characters who sit around waiting for the plot to move around them are not the kind of characters that become famous, like Frodo.  

When characters take action the plot is strengthened, and the engagement of readers heightened.  

Readers want characters of action, not characters who wait to be shoved into place. Characters must be active agents in the creation of their story. 

Just as in our lives, nothing will change when we sit and wait for the change we desire. To achieve something, we have to choose to act. Life is no different from a story in this respect.  

Some of the Great Decisions in Fantasy

As LOTR jumpstarted me onto this blogpost—and because its famous characters are rife with plot driving decisions—let’s explore a few of the decisions some of these great, world-changing characters made in Middle Earth. 

Some of the Choices the Cast of LOTR Made

Frodo — Chose to carry the burden of the ring to Mordor.

Sam — Chose to accompany Frodo, and followed him even after Frodo left him behind. 

Gandalf — Chose the side of light when confronted by Saruman. Even amidst fear and difficult circumstances, he chose to remain the strong figure people looked to for wisdom. 

Saruman — Chose the dark side to save himself.

Aragorn — He didn’t choose who he was born as, but he chose to claim his kingship despite his doubts concerning his abilities and inward strength. 

Legolas and Gimli — They continued to accompany Aragorn and fight even when given opportunities to go back to their homelands. 

Sauron — Chose to start a war for power. 

Merry — Chose to fight in the battle for Minas Tirith. 

Pippin — Chose to help defeat Isengard. 

Arwen — Chose to stay for Aragorn instead of leaving for the Undying Lands as her father had planned. 

Boromir — Chose to try and steal the ring, and chose to sacrifice his life for the Hobbits. 

Faramir — Chose to undertake the hopeless task of retaking Osgiliath to earn his father’s love, and chose to let Frodo and Sam go at the cost of that love. 

Éomer — Chose to be loyal to Rohan even after being banished by Gríma. 

Éowyn — Chose to fight for those she loved, and saved many by that decision. 

The Paths They Choose

All of these characters didn’t choose to stay on the sidelines, they chose to act in the face of death to defeat Sauron (or to join forces). 

Big and small, they made decisions that changed the course of the war and drove the story forward. 

Take away the decisions they made, and think about what LOTR would be like if they had waited for someone else to take action. The plot would be at a stand still, and the characters would not be famous. 

It is the choices a character makes that drives the plot forward, and defines if they are worthy of a readers love. A story without action on the part of the characters is disengaging. 

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Reactions and Tension

Taking action, however, doesn’t mean that characters cannot react to events. While one side must make a move, the other side must react. 

Character reactions are incredibly important. If characters did not react emotionally to events, then they would appear apathetic. 

There must always be tension between both sides, and not a worn-out rubber band holding the story together. Stories thrive off conflict. Tension from the choices and reactions of characters makes a recipe for an engaging story. 

Application

With this exposition of character choices fresh in your mind, it’s now time to apply these principles to your own work-in-progress (WIP). 

To start, go through the turning points in your plot, and assess what is causing the change. 

What caused the turning point? Who reacted? Who took action? Was it a passive role on behalf of your characters, or an active role? 

If you fail to see your characters making decisions, then it may be a sign you need to give your characters more active roles as the driving forces in your story. 

You can go even deeper into this exercise by examining your characters’s arcs to mark how many choices they make, or do the same scene by scene. You want to ensure you are keeping your push and pull tension taut in your story. 

Write a Strong Story

I hope this exposition helps you to apply action to your characters where they may be lacking. 

Remember: Characters help drive the plot, and readers engage when tension is ever-present and characters are active role-players. Famous characters take action, make choices, and decide their path. 

Characters stay with readers not only because of their circumstances, but what they did about their circumstances. 

Strong characters make strong choices. And by being clear on you characters decisions, you can make a story with as powerful and memorable a cast as The Lord of the Rings. 

Featured Image (ring in hand): Photo Credit: ISENGARD Flickr via Compfight cc