Why We Still Need Heroes: Why People Still Crave Morality in Modern Stories

My current series is kind of dark, and my main protagonist could easily be classified as a grey character. He is, however, not truly one. The story is all about his struggle to find the balance between absolute justice and—as Thomas Aquinas said—

“Justice without mercy is cruelty.”(He also said, “mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution,” but I digress.)

While not necessarily a new concept, the antihero or sympathetic villain has clearly entrenched itself in the modern pop culture zeitgeist. This has led to a disturbing trend—people not only gravitating toward, but identifying with these morally grey protagonists.

The popularity of characters such as Walter White (Breaking Bad), Dexter Morgan (Dexter), Tony Soprano (The Sopranos), Don Draper (Mad Men), John Wick, The Punisher, Loki, The Joker and Harley Quinn, Christian Grey, and pretty much every character from Amazon’s The Boys are proof of this.

Grey has become the norm—but is that really what most people want?

Most People Claim Morally Grey Characters Are More Relatable—But Is That Really True?

Most of us genuinely believe that people desire to be good, so why the shift? Why the near idol worship of the grey character? In real life, people who act like these fictional ones would be universally despised. Vigilantes such as The Punisher or Levon Cade would either end up dead or in jail, and men like Christian Grey leave a trail of emotionally damaged people in their wake. So why do we gravitate toward them?

Most people will say it’s because they find such morally questionable characters more relatable. Sure, most of us can attest to making plenty of bad—even horrible—decisions. Our lives, no matter how hard we try, are not perfect. And stories about imperfect people are relatable.

But even so, why do we feel such a strong pull toward characters who are obviously not the kind of people anyone should be emulating?

This shift in ideology is even present in how modern storytellers handle traditionally heroic characters. Figures like Superman, He-Man, Captain America, and even Gandalf and Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings have been changed in recent works to be more morally grey—an attempt to make them “relatable.” To the absolute shock of creatives, this hasn’t worked. Go figure.

Sure, there’s a place for grey characters—I’ve written a few of them myself. Thomas Johansson in The Justice Cycle, Kaz Brekker from Six of Crows, Nesta Archeron and Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses, Baru Cormorant from The Traitor Baru Cormorant, and Arya Stark from Game of Thrones are just a few beloved ones.

But if being grey and dark is what makes a character relatable, then why are characters such as Sam Gamgee, Captain America (Steve Rogers), Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender), Carrot Ironfoundersson (Discworld), and All Might (My Hero Academia) so popular?

Strength Under Control

As a man, I gravitate toward strong male characters—the kind of men who have the strength and fortitude to do what is necessary to protect others. Stories about such men are power fantasies for us males, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

As Jordan Peterson said:

“A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very dangerous man who has that under voluntary control.”

Doctor Who is one of my favorite dangerous yet controlled characters. His motto was, “Never cowardly, never cruel.” That’s a statement all men should make the center of their lives. Sometimes violence is justified—but cruelty never is.

Grey characters, however, are generally men who are not under control. Sure, sometimes while protecting or rescuing others, violence is justified and necessary—but not at the level these characters delve to. Being cruel is never strength, no matter the end result.

Harley Quinn: A Case Study in Glorifying Cruelty

A female example is Harley Quinn—a sociopath, murderer, and monster who is the love interest of the Joker, another psychopath who gets off on hurting others.

Just to be clear, she chooses to be what she is. She knew from the start what she was getting herself into, so the claim that she’s a domestic abuse victim is absurd. She wasn’t turned into a villain through abuse—she chose to be one.

Yes, DC changed her narrative after backlash, but you can’t sugarcoat the fact that she is, at her core, a serial killer and awful person.

In real life, people like her can be redeemed through true repentance and by facing the consequences of their actions. But no one should be identifying with a character like her.

Characters like Harley Quinn don’t inspire young girls to become strong and powerful in their femininity. Heroes like Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel do. (As much as I dislike the current iteration of Captain Marvel.)

Whereas we can all identify with flawed characters, no one should ever identify with cruel or abusive people. If such traits are things to be emulated, then we’ve truly fallen far as a species.

The Need for Light

The fact that stories like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Percy Jackson are so popular is proof that people don’t only gravitate toward dark or morally grey characters. Flawed? Yes. But not cruel or hopeless.

So why are we drawn to darkness?

Many argue it’s because of the instability and chaos of the modern world—pandemics, political unrest, constant bad news, mental health struggles, and economic fear. It’s killing our collective hope.

I would also argue that the influx of morally grey and nihilistic stories is feeding this problem. Sure, people relate to imperfection—but not to moral emptiness.

I used to think my parents didn’t “get” grey characters because they preferred stories where the good guys and bad guys were clearly defined. I thought their inability to appreciate moral complexity was a flaw. But now I see they were right.

The more darkness and nihilism I put into my heart and mind, the harder it became to find hope in my life.

We all need to believe there is good in the world, and that the light will overcome the darkness eventually. We need to believe that if we keep fighting, it will work out in the end. Without that hope, we die inside.

When Everything Becomes Grey

When our education systems, media, and pop culture break down everything good into moral relativism, what did we think would happen? We tell our children that they are nothing more than accidents of the universe, that the only meaning to life is fulfilling their own desires—and then wonder why they lack purpose.

This gets worse when our stories reinforce those ideas.

Yes, evil in fiction is necessary—it makes the world feel real and the stakes meaningful. But the good guys should still be good.

If every world is nothing but moral ambiguity, readers feel the same emptiness as they do when everything is painted black and white. Believe it or not, for all its success, Game of Thrones has this problem. Many of us found the lack of any truly good characters disheartening. It’s also why DC’s New 52 failed. You can’t turn your whole world into moral sludge and expect people to care.

People want and need hope in their stories. That’s why the original Star Wars trilogy remains the most beloved. Sure, Han Solo starts morally grey—but he becomes a hero.

The rest of the good guys? They’re genuinely good, even when flawed.

The same is true of The Lord of the Rings, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Gladiator, Robin Hood, and Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere Universe. Their worlds may contain flawed people—but they still have true heroes.

Light overcomes darkness, and evil is vanquished in the end.

Yes, we all want redemption because we all need it. But we also need to know there is still good in the universe—and that’s why people still crave morality in their stories.

The Stories That Save Us

At the end of the day, we all identify with struggle. But we also need to know it’s possible to overcome that struggle without losing ourselves in the process.

We all need to believe that, despite our failures, it’s possible to change—to be better than we were yesterday. To have hope that, in the end, light will overcome darkness.

We are bombarded daily by darkness. Social media thrives on outrage. News feeds us tragedy. Leaders fail us. Science offers knowledge but not meaning.

The one place we can still find hope is in our stories. That’s what they were designed for—to inspire light in the darkness. To remind us what we’re fighting for.

As C.S. Lewis wrote:

“Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.”

After all, every brave knight and hero was first inspired by a story.

J

About the Author

Jason Kiefer is the author of The Justice Cycle, a dark urban fantasy series about the struggle between absolute justice and mercy. His work explores the space between light and darkness, good and evil, and the hope that survives between them.

You can read more from him at JWKIEFER.COM and on Medium.

 #Writing #Storytelling #Morality #Fantasy #Culture