The Least Likely To

Remember that classification in your high school yearbook? The one titled "The One Most Likely To?" Someone in the graduating class would be designated the one most likely to be a beauty queen, or the one most likely to become president, or the one most likely to be a millionare.

There's another classification that I like to think about in terms of my cast of characters. The Least Likely To.

Sometimes, just for kicks and grins, and for more serious purposes, I like to look at my characters and ask which one is the least likely to do something in the story and then, lo and behold, they do it. Here are some examples from a few of my favorite movies.

Frodo Baggins. I think it's fair to say that if anyone was the least likely person to carry the Ring of Power all the way to Mordor, to the very heart of darkness and evil on Middle Earth, in order to cast it into the fire from which it had been made, it was Frodo Baggins.

Not only because he is about the size of a child, being a hobbit and all, and not only because he comes from a race of people who, on average, were more interested in drinking and eating and tilling the soil of their pastoral paradise, the Shire, and had no interest in doing great deeds or caring about anything outside their borders, but because Frodo is a dreamy, bookish, introverted fellow who, although he dreams of adventures, really has no desire to be involved in one. And yet it is Frodo, with the help of Sam, of course, and in his own twisted way, Gollum, who accomplishes what no great king of men, or elf or even a wizard could have accomplished

Michael Corleone. The youngest son of a powerful Mafia Don. At the beginning of the Godfather saga, Michael makes it very clear that he wants nothing to do with his family's underworld activities. Michael is not only a college graduate but a decorated war hero and when he looks at his future he sees himself marrying his non-Italian, WASPish girlfriend and, presumably, getting a job in some corporation or perhaps even becoming a judge or a senator just as his father, Don Corleone, had planned.

But over the course of the story, it is Michael, and not his older brothers, Sonny and Fredo, who, when the Corleone family is threatened, must take up the reins of power and, by the end of the first movie, as his hand is being kissed reverently by his Mafia lieutenants, becomes Don Corleone.

Ellen Ripley. Okay, I know that in 2007 Ellen Ripely, after four Alien movies, doesn't seem like the one least likely to have survived the attack of the first Alien creature in the first Alien movie. But, lest we forget, the first Alien movie came out in 1979. Nearly thirty years ago. That was pre-Buffy, pre-Xena, pre-Alias, pre-all of the ass-kicking heroines that we are so accustomed to today.

I saw the first Alien movie in the theaters and, at least back then, most of us saw Ellen Ripley as the least likey of the crew to survive. Why?

Well, forgive me for being politically incorrect, but she was a woman. There were four other men on that crew and one other woman.

Now, it's not that we didn't think at least one of the women would survive, but back then, in those less politically correct days, and, in our oh-so-unenlightened eyes, we figured that at least one of the other men would make it too. The fact that Ripley was the only one to survive is what blew us away.

It could be argued that Lambert, the ship's Navigator, and the other female member of the crew, was the one least likely to survive. She was kind of whinny and nervous and, physically, she was even smaller than Ripley.

Ah, but here's where we come to an important point. When thinking about choosing the character least likely to do something, that character also has to have some inkling, subtle or obvious, that, given the right circumstances, they could achieve whatever goal is placed before them: to destroy the Ring of Power, to become a powerful Mafia Don, to survive the attack of a vicious, dangerous Alien.

Frodo Baggins isn't like the other hobbits. Not only does he read and speak Elvish, but he has an interest in events outside The Shire. He knows that if the Ring of Power is not destoryed, all of Middle Earth, including The Shire, will be cast into unending darkness. Also, because of who he is, Frodo has earned the nearly supernatural loyalty of Sam, without whom, as Frodo himself admits, he wouldn't have gotten very far.

In addition, Frodo has compassion, something his more xenophobic neighbors in the Shire may have had a hard time showing to someone like Gollum. It is Frodo's expression of compassion and empathy towards Gollum that motivates the pathetic creature to help Frodo reach Mordor, before his lust for the Ring consumes him and forces him to betray Frodo at the end.

Michael Corleone isn't like his two older brothers. Sonny, the eldest, is passionate, impulsive, vengeful. He can not control the power he has and it ultimately destroys him. Fredo, the middle brother, is passive, indecisive, weak. Only Michael possess the cunning, the strength and the ruthlessness needed to save his family from the forces that threaten it.

Ellen Ripley isn't like the rest of the crew of the Nostromo. Early on she come across as thoughtful, intelligent and level-headed. The others, from the captain all the way down to the engineers who dwell in the bowels of the ship, appear to be driven by whatever individual passions exist within them: the desire to make money, to explore the alien ship, to just get the hell out of there. Only Ripley seems able to calmly and, one could say, dispassionately look at the situation around her and try to understand just what the hell is really going on.

So, in summary, creating a character who is least likely to do something can be a fun exercise. For example, in my pervious post on Characters and Their Actions, I listed three characters and the actions they would take when faced with an armed robber. One would beg, the other fight, the other try to reason with the robber.

What kind of person would be the least likely to beg? A six foot, 10 inch ex-Navy Seal? But what if he were the one to beg for his life, falling to his knees, his hands clapsed in front of him.

What kind of person would be the least likely to attack? A 95-pound, 95 year old woman? But what if she were the one to try and wrest the gun away from the robber.

I'd venture to say that neither of these scenarios is totally beyond the realm of possibility. The trick would be making it believable.

And that's where the fun of being a writer comes in. *grin*