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Does every hero have to have a typical tragic backstory?

I'm wondering does any other heroes from the world of fictional stories need a typical story of insert race is dead,parents are killed by a criminal,getting revenge on insert villain and many more sadder backstories to be a famous hero?

or be themselves in a well-written way?
Perfection is boring.
 
Perfection is boring.
There is a pretty big difference between perfection and having drama for the sake of drama. Having a non-dysfunctional family doesn't mean perfection. I'd argue that the dark and edgy backstory is the boring part now. One expects the lazy authors to try to outdo each other, to the point we have the main character being a self-identifying attack helicopter whose species was murdered by criminals and who was themselves raped physically AND psychically and who suffers from disfigurations all over the body but ALSO lost their friends, soulmates and kitten to a terrible can opener accident.
 
What's the difference between a 'backstory and a Life,' though?
The difference is usually that a backstory focuses on a singular event which shaped the protagonist into who he/she was. A tragically written life just means that we get to watch multiple tragic events that end up defining our protagonist as a part of the story itself.

If you want to have a lone wolf and tragic protagonist, the second works better.
 
The difference is usually that a backstory focuses on a singular event which shaped the protagonist into who he/she was. A tragically written life just means that we get to watch multiple tragic events that end up defining our protagonist as a part of the story itself.

If you want to have a lone wolf and tragic protagonist, the second works better.
I write a lot of those girls. At the same time writing about social isolation and being watched feels very creepy. Definitely gonna try to write entire lives rather than one event for sure.
 
Some of my favorite tragic backgrounds are 'last scion of a dying line', 'white sheep of a shameful family' and 'accidental baby that wrecked their parents life'. I love those two because of the conflicted pathos. That last one is done well in Gilmore Girls.

I love that conflict with your family. Especially if they love that family, and their family loves them, but they're so embarrassing. Or if all their family's hopes and dreams are on their shoulders.

On the other hand my favorite characters are is 'everyman who's had enough of this shit', 'socially awkward kid who's in over their head' and 'person who thinks they're an asshole but are not'
 
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