I always sigh when I see this question come up again. To me, the main problem with it is that the questioner seems to be confusing history, where we may legitimately ask why somebody did or did not do this or that, with fiction, where we may not. Well, I suppose we may ask, but there is no value in it. Fictional characters have no free will of their own, because they are not real people. Pretty obvious, but apparently it still needs to be said. They cannot "decide" to do this or that, then second-guess themselves and alter their course. The author might do so, during the creative process, but in the finished work all other courses are circumscribed by *the* course of the narrative. Anything else is fan fiction.
Fiction ≠History
Date: 2008-06-16 02:54 pm (UTC)