It depends on why he is holding to that moral principle, imo. -Is he holding it to benefit himself? That would sound selfish rather than heroic. -To benefit others, either one person or more than one person, rather than only for himself? That sounds more heroic, whether the people he is helping know or not.. - If he was the last person capable or interested in making that stand, there is no-one around to be a hero to, but he could still be considered a sort of hero, because the reader is still someone capable of making that decision. It depends on the way you paint him. A hero kind of implies someone else's opinion, doesn't it? If you have built your story so that the reader likes the 'hero', and would take his side, then he might become the reader's hero. Even the villain could be someone's hero, since we are all human and might have found reason to help someone at some point - yet the reader would still feel only contempt for them. Hence, how much the reader likes the hero in question can be painted in different ways. So how about I rephrase: he has to somehow help someone/something/others. Yes, I removed 'go out of his way to help' because he could technically end up someones hero by doing something totally selfish. As long as he helped them too, he could get the credit for it. (Which might make for an interesting character..... *throws that into her ideas folder..* )
While I haven't read your story, he does sound like a main character I'd dislike. It makes no difference that he saves the day, or the world, if he didn't care for doing it. Mind you, I'm by no means one who favours goody-two-shoe boyscout heroes like most superheroes are, nor heroes that never does anything wrong. Actually, I kinda loathe those kinds of "heroes" for their inhuman purity and saintliness. However... A character that feels no remorse once he does damage, and never learns from his mistakes, is absolutely as dislikable as the above. Bigots, bitter cynics, racists and extremists who never reflect and learn, are the kinds of people I immediately throw into the villain category. Not in the "cool villain" category, but in the "this bastard needs a smacking" category. If such a character came out of the story untouched (and even got credit for stuff!), then I'd feel extremely unsatisfied as a reader.
Well bare in mind that's an extremely simplified version of a story I plan on covering in three novels across three separate conflicts. The MC is very complex and has a lot of problems. The point being he starts off being dislikable from the start cause that's just the way society sees him. But over time the reader gets to understand his reasoning and the ways society has wronged him. Then he gets forced to play the hero role by one side of the government entity, he succeeds and then gets left in the cold and stripped of absolutely everything after he refuses to do a second mission he finds unethical. Then he voluntarily fights for the other side (this is where a civil war starts). They want him to use unethical methods to achieve victory ie destroy the people that just wronged his again, then he stops part way through and gets them to change their ways. Again he gets thrown away once victory is achieved. The MC is pardoned of his crimes and abandons his destructive ways to lives a normal life, but he gets no closure and ultimately never gets what he asked for. The entire time he sticks to his questionable and but inflexible principles while those he works keep changing their own rules to achieve victory, and in the ends he is the one to save the day. But he doesn't care because he's been stabbed in the back so many times and society fails to acknowledge that he has become a better person. It's a bittersweet ending. Again I'm really simplifying here and that's kinda hard to do. I would like to think of this MC as a hero, perhaps he is the unappreciated hero?
That does paint a different picture of him than your previous summary. Perhaps he's somewhat like the Eastwood characters in spaghetti westerns? The kind who has turned his back on society, but not to the extreme of being misanthropic. In other words, a classic anti-hero.
Yeah I guess you could say that. But nothing is black and white in this story so drawing lines between who's good and bad isn't easy. The difference between this character and the others is that he has no real agenda, he's caught in the crossfire. He also has a a lot of problems: he an alcoholic, obsessive compulsive, deceptive, and he has sudden outbursts of violent rage. He's extremely difficult to like, but my ultimate goal is to make him likable by the reader once the conclusion is reached. This is going to be hard as hell to pull off but I'm hoping the fact that since guy sticks to his morals at all costs makes him likable. He isn't misanthropic (I have characters that are), he doesn't care if he indirectly harms those who help those with immoral principles. One of his principles though, is to never directly harm those that mean him no harm, but he won't lose sleep over a bullet that ricochets and hits a bystander. His morals acknowledge the gray area.
