So, I generally hate books where the protagonist has no agency – to me the archetype is Fanny Price, in the (terrible) Austen book “Mansfield Park”.
She is the archetype because Austen is hands down one of my favourite authors and yet “Mansfield” is so unrelentingly, uncompromisingly unreadable for me. Bc of Fanny.
But while when the Fanny Effect occurs, for me it’s an unreadable/unwatchable nightmare, other people love it. And I’m curious why.
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One friend told me she likes it bc it means the hero is a blank slate and she can imagines herself as the hero, it’s very easy to “transplant” into that.
I ask because I’ve seen advice that heroes without agency are “bad” or “boring”, but I don’t think this is the case, that there must be a (significant) population who actually enjoy these heroes. Thoughts as to why you like them?
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**Where i think it is has notably occurred**
The Man of Steel (all of Henry Caville’s Superman appearances)
The Twilight Saga (Bella whatshername)
Harry Potter Series (Harry, actually. Esp the last book)
Oppenheimer (Oppenheimer in most aspects of his life tbh)
Star Wars Prequels (basically everyone who isn’t the Emperor)
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by lordbharal