You Are Not the Hero: Living Life as a Side Character
How a good story can answer some of life’s biggest questions.
Usually, I use this newsletter to analyze something, be it a song or a script. I break down what works and what doesn’t, and I offer advice on how to use the lessons in your own art.
But to what end? Why bother with all the work that goes into tailoring a perfect story? What’s the point?
This post will be slightly different. Rather than learning how to write good stories, we’ll explore why to write them. We’ll look at three examples, find where they intersect, and bear witness to the power of fiction.
Strap in, reader. This week, we get existential.
“But that is another story, and shall be told another time.”
Michael Ende, The Neverending Story
A good story has a theme or message that sticks with you. You might not remember the exact plot details, or the characters’ names, but you remember the theme for years.
I read The Neverending Stories years ago, and while I don’t remember much, I can clearly recall the theme. It is, needless to say, that a story never really ends. Throughout the book, our main character Bastian Balthazar Bux (an all-time name for sure) encounters numerous side characters of varying importance. They interact for a few chapters or so, and then carry on their way.
Most books let their stories end there. But Ende chooses to tell us more about their stories. After Bastian encounters a knight, and the knight rides away never to be seen again, Ende gives us a quick run-down of what that knight went on to do: some of the adventures he had and goals he accomplished. And then Ende hits us with: “But that is another story and shall be told another time.”
In this way, the story is truly never-ending. Even after Bastian has completed his mission, ie the plot of the novel, there are thousands of other threads that have been pulled loose. They are all other stories, and will all be told another time. Every character, decision, or action leads to another story. It’s a dizzying array of narrative bliss, wherein the author can create a more realistic, lived-in world in which the side characters have just as rich a backstory as the protagonist.
“The world as it is is enough.”
Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land
Cloud Cuckoo Land. Now here’s a book that I didn’t think I liked until I finished it.
It’s a very ambitious novel. For nearly the entire book, it’s telling three utterly distinct stories. There’s Anna, a twelve-year-old girl living in Constantinople just as it’s about to be conquered (that puts her in the 1400s). There’s Zeno, who is in a library with some kids rehearsing a play based on an old Greek book (this is in the present). And there’s Konstance, who is soaring through interstellar space on a spacecraft occupied by the last of humanity (this is in the future).
(I’m going to spoil this book really heavily. Just so you know.)
The theme of the book could be understood as the quote above: “The world as it is is enough.” We shouldn’t waste our time searching for Cloud Cuckoo Land, a fantastical world in the sky. Instead, we should set our sights on the earth and make the most of what we have.
But there’s another theme, tangentially related, that interests me more. You see, the way these three distinct stories connect is through a single piece of literature: an old Greek manuscript called Cloud Cuckoo Land. Written in Ancient Greece and then forgotten, the tattered manuscript was eventually recovered by Anna in a cove near Constantinople in the 1400s. She rewrites it and fills in some parts of the story that had been lost to centuries of corrosion. Then Zeno in the present learns about some ancient manuscripts found in a cave; they have been dilapidated and no one can understand them. So he translates them, and similarly fills in the blanks with his own interpretations of the story. And then Konstance, aboard her spacecraft, once again finds the remnants of Cloud Cuckoo Land and reconstructs the story in her own way.
And so, the story persists. Centuries after its inception, Cloud Cuckoo Land still exists through the efforts of these three characters. They did not know what they were contributing to; they did not understand the full ramifications of their actions. All they knew was that in their present moment, they were drawn to this story.
“It can’t all be for nothing.”
Ellie, The Last of Us
And then there’s HBO’s The Last of Us, based on the video game by the same name. It takes place during what basically amounts to a zombie apocalypse, and follows Joel, a man who’s lost his daughter, and Ellie, a fourteen-year-old who is immune to the zombie-creating infection. A group of rebels believe Ellie may be the key to discovering a cure for the infection (and thus saving humanity). Joel is reluctantly tasked with transporting her across the United States and delivering her to the hospital where the cure could be developed.
Side characters abound in The Last of Us. Sometimes, they are supplemental to an episode (like Tess, ep. 2) and sometimes they account for the entire episode (Bill and Frank, ep. 3). Sometimes they survive (Tommy, ep. 6) and sometimes they don’t (Sam and Henry, ep. 5; Riley, ep. 7). But they are all treated with the same reverence and importance.
All these side characters have something in common: in one way or another, they help Ellie and Joel cross the US. Episode 3 is, at first, confusing. We are introduced to Bill and Frank, and we watch as they live an entire life together, falling in love and making the most of life in this weird zombie apocalypse. And then, tragically, we watch them die. In a single episode, these characters are introduced and killed off.
At the end of the episode, Joel and Ellie reach their house, where they are able to find supplies and a badly-needed truck. Bill and Frank will never know how essential they were to Ellie’s journey.
In the final episode of season one, Joel suggests that he and Ellie turn back before completing their quest. Ellie refuses, saying, “After all we’ve been through, and everything I’ve done, it can’t all be for nothing.” It’s a relatable sentiment, one that I’m sure we’ve all felt at some point. It’s something I bet many of our side characters experienced during the season. Sam and Henry succeed in escaping Kansas City, only to fall victims to the Infection. They must have felt that it was all for nothing.
And yet, while none of these side characters can fully understand their contributions to the story, they all serve essential purposes. They all help get Ellie to where she needs to go.
“In time you will come to believe that there is nobility in being part of an enterprise that will outlast you.”
Anthony Doerr, Cloud Cuckoo Land
So what’s the point? You may spot the common thread in these stories: the importance of side characters.
These stories argue that the side characters are as important as the protagonist. Ellie and Joel would have died in Kansas City if not for Sam and Henry. The manuscript of Cloud Cuckoo Land would never have survived if not for the work of three characters who never met and will never know of each other.
There’s something beautiful in watching these side characters live their life unaware of the tremendous impact they are making on the world.
You’ve probably heard that everyone is the main character of their own story…but maybe we should think more about being side characters in someone else’s. How many small actions have impacted someone else’s life? How much good has come into the world because of something you did, whether you know it or not?
There is a quote in Cloud Cuckoo Land: “In time you will come to believe that there is nobility in being part of an enterprise that will outlast you.” Of course, we can seek out such enterprises. But we don’t have to. If these stories tell us anything, it’s that just by living your life, you are taking part in hundreds of stories other than your own. You are affecting change in ways you may never understand and contributing to the neverending story of humanity.
It's a strange and comforting fact that you will never be able to know the full impact of your life.
And that, dear reader, is why we need good stories in the world.