Is this something that can be forgiven?

So my Main Character sort of creates a problem while trying to solve another problem. He takes a dead body and uses his magic to create a raging super powered monster. He does this to stop another raging super charge monster the only problem is that his monster becomes the bigger more immediate threat. Oh and it comes out that the body he discovered and used is the body of his girlfriend's dead ex fiance that went missing years prior.

Now he didn't know whose body it was it was random John Doe he happened across and decided to use in the heat of the moment. I'm just wondering is this action forgivable because he raises up a good man and unintentionally turns him into a raging monster?

 

Forgivable to who? The readers? The characters? To be honest, if played right I do see this as a forgivable thing. He wasn't trying to be a jerk, he was just trying to stop something bad from happening and accidentally makes it worse. But this is speaking as a reader. For the characters in the story, that's, well, another story. Are they the type to forgive and forget, or would the fact he made a even bigger mess be a serious thing?

 

I agree with MusingWordsmith. Who is to forgive the action? The Girlfriend or the audience? It would make sense the Girlfriend not forgiving the Main Character for using her dead fiance's body as a way to deal with a bigger problem, but again, who is to forgive the MC? Girlfriend, audience, or another entity? My two cents.

 

Pretty much anything (up to and of course including murder) is forgivable in literature as long as a) there are good reasons for it and b) the character who did it is likeable enough to sympathise with. Obviously this is a generalisation but sounds to me like it all fits in here.

The only thing is - it seems a pretty massive coincidence that the body he "discovers" is so closely linked to him. Of course I don't know how he finds the body or in what context but just remember that the police would have searched pretty thoroughly and if they didn't manage to find him, and your MC does without even meaning to, then that's an issue. (That is, if there are police in your story haha). I'm sure you have considered everything, just be careful it doesn't come across as entirely coincidental.

Unless, in a big plot twist at the end, it turns out your MC killed the guy in the first place...

Anyway...

 

I wonder would they still date, or is it pretty much over.

 

Maybe if he apologized with some sort of cornucopia, an extremely big teddy bear, and some vouchers for having therapy together it could work. But it would be a smarter move to keep anonymity while the incident is still 'fresh'... just saying.

 

The concept of forgiveness is, like good and evil, subjective. Ever heard the saying one man's tyrant is another man's hero? If something is forgivable or not depends on the characters in the story and how they perceive what happened. You might end up with one character who does forgive, and another who doesn't.

 

I actually think that's a pretty cool idea.

 

yes its a forgivable thing, i think

 

Only if he seeks forgiveness after finding out his mistake. Otherwise it is not
going to sit well for the lady to learn this after the fact. Though it is really
50/50 as to how she will react to finding such knowledge out. But honesty
may save an ass reaming/whooping in the long run, if he were to own up to
having done such a thing in the first place. Not that we can assume that he knew
of their relation before he happened to play puppet master with her fiance.

 

Your book sounds badass.

 

First, your book sounds pretty fun.

Second, it depends on a lot of factors. Such as when and how it was discovered, the girlfriend State of Mind and how long it took him to let her know if it is even necessary. My suggestion would be immediately, hiding the knowledge would be the worst thing he could do, especially considering he didn't know.

 

I think while it might help you decide from other people's opinions if this is a forgivable thing, but only to help you decide. In the end, it's your story, your world, and ultimately everything comes down to what you think. If you want to make it realistic, think realistically.

Anyways there are a lot of scenarios that could play out that make this action forgivable. Weighing the good and bad, there was good intention in the action yet it was a misguided one. As a person, he must take responsibility for the action he took since he was the one who pulled the trigger. It's up to the other people to forgive him, and as people vary so would the fact of whether they forgive him or not. It depends on the amount of harm done on whether people would generally forgive him or not. At face value, people probably wouldn't forgive him if his action seriously injured or killed people, but there are always two sides to a coin.

What did he do to prevent harm coming to other people? Answers to questions like that determine whether or not he would be forgivable. Also, what has he done to prevent this from happening again? If they have the answer to this question people might forgive him in the future.

Anyways, I hope that helped you somewhat. Those would be some of the things I would think about as a writer when critically analyzing this. But, in the end, I'm just an aspiring writer (maybe) and a big thinker, so the decision comes down to you.

-Macklin

 

But he was a dead man, right? Like, your character doesn't kill a person. He didn't destroy this original good person, he used a chunk of meat as a tool to try and solve a problem. He didn't know that his solution would actually work against them, and he didn't know that this other character had an emotional attachment to said chunk of meat he had never met before, so his biggest faux pas seems to be ignorance. And not like a willful ignorance, but a type of ignorance that seems reasonable under the circumstances. Is that forgivable? I would think so. Plus, dude went missing a year ago. At this point she's probably already assumed he's dead and is relieved to have closure on the situation.