# 'Death's End' - Are We Supposed to Hate the Protagonist?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-end-are-we-supposed-to-hate-the-protagonist/927031>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [December 2, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-end-are-we-supposed-to-hate-the-protagonist/927031 "2020-12-02T18:03:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-end-are-we-supposed-to-hate-the-protagonist/927031/1 "2020-12-02T18:03:40Z")

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I loved books 1 & 2 of the ‘Three Body Problem’ series but book 3 was a challenge for me. Mainly because of the incredibly stupid choices made by the main character. By the end of the book I wanted to punch the stupid bitch in the face.

Did the author intend for us to hate her?

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [December 2, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deaths-end-are-we-supposed-to-hate-the-protagonist/927031/2 "2020-12-02T21:12:17Z")

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I don’t know… I kind of think the whole series just sort of went off the wall after “The Dark Forest”. I mean, the first two were less… fantastic than the third one.

I didn’t so much hate her as felt sorry for her, but I did feel a lot like the author deliberately wrote her as essentially incompetent.