# Looking for a mythical or historical character **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931 "2017-07-10T16:05:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/1 "2017-07-10T16:05:01Z")
Trying a new twist in my book. No one believes in the main character and even his sanity is in question. I am looking for an imaginary friend/ advocate of some historical importance who might represent thinking outside the box and believing in ones self even when no one else does. Even a team from different areas of history and backgrounds could work. Kind of a schizophrenic aspect to the main character. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/2 "2017-07-10T16:12:09Z")
I assume you’re looking for an original approach, but Merlin has played that role in popular accounts of the Arthurian legend. There’s Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life, ghosts and angels have been used that way a lot. It’s common in coming of age stories. Obi Wan Kenobe? But you are looking for something new right? ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/3 "2017-07-10T16:13:09Z")
Einstein, or Tony Robbins ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/4 "2017-07-10T16:16:43Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I assume you’re looking for an original approach, but Merlin has played that role in popular accounts of the Arthurian legend. There’s Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life, ghosts and angels have been used that way a lot. It’s common in coming of age stories. Obi Wan Kenobe? But you are looking for something new right? Not necessarily new in using dead characters as friends, I was thinking a bit like field of dreams. The story is unique enough in it’s self. I think some dead characters could work well her. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/5 "2017-07-10T16:18:53Z")
Would a trickster fit the bill? [Take your pick.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TricksterMentor) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/6 "2017-07-10T16:19:42Z")
The story is dealing with an eccentric elderly man who believes the ordinary man really has all the power if he can figure out a way to link them all up in a Collaborative culture. No one has any idea what he is even talking about and that’s why he needs these great thinkers from the past to collaborate with. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/7 "2017-07-10T16:22:59Z")
Daedalus or Odysseus, then? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/8 "2017-07-10T16:25:42Z")
Charles Manson. Except a _good_ Charles Manson. As half of a good cop/bad cop team with a jerkass Fred Rodgers. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/9 "2017-07-10T16:29:03Z")
Maybe this will help, it unfolds something like this. The elderly man has a decade long obsession with finding the formula that creates an atmosphere for mass collaborating. As he meets with more rejection he sinks deeper and deeper into isolation and avoidance of people. It might appear to the readers that he is sinking into a depression but he really just wants less interruptions as he ferrets out the final details he feels he needs. being a social creature he doesn’t recognize his own loneliness and this is where the dead character start appearing and becoming his associates. This is just a rough description ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/10 "2017-07-10T16:30:33Z")
King Solomon, perhaps? Threatening to cut the baby in half was pretty good out-of-the-box thinking. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/11 "2017-07-10T16:33:03Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Not necessarily new in using dead characters as friends, I was thinking a bit like field of dreams. The story is unique enough in it’s self. I think some dead characters could work well her. Yeah, I meant to say _someone_ new. You could dredge up Merlin again, **Trancephalic** may be on the right track. Maybe actual philosophers instead of mythical characters, Aristotle for instance. Or try a woman, [Theodora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_(6th_century))perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/12 "2017-07-10T16:37:31Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Yeah, I meant to say _someone_ new. You could dredge up Merlin again, **Trancephalic** may be on the right track. Maybe actual philosophers instead of mythical characters, Aristotle for instance. Or try a woman, [Theodora](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodora_(6th_century))perhaps. Good suggestions, I like the idea of using at least one philosopher, a business tycoon I am thinking of also Steve Jobs might fit here, some of his final statements were very human and kind in retrospect looking back at his life. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/13 "2017-07-10T16:55:17Z")
Given that you mentioned > [@](#): > > The story is dealing with an eccentric elderly man who believes the ordinary man really has all the power if he can figure out a way to link them all up in a Collaborative culture. You could conciser Corey Doctorow, Linus Torvolds, or Richard Stallman. Steve Jobs is to collaborative culture what Lot’s Wife is to a low-sodium diet. (Okay, I’m not sure if that actually makes sense. Steve Jobs was an authoritarian asshole who wanted complete control of all the hardware and software on _his_ devices.) (BTW, what happened to your plan to torture test the collaborative culture idea here on the dope, as you threaded about earlier?) ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/14 "2017-07-10T17:03:53Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Given that you mentioned > > You could conciser Corey Doctorow, Linus Torvolds, or Richard Stallman. Steve Jobs is to collaborative culture what Lot’s Wife is to a low-sodium diet. (Okay, I’m not sure if that actually makes sense. Steve Jobs was an authoritarian asshole who wanted complete control of all the hardware and software on _his_ devices.) > > (BTW, what happened to your plan to torture test the collaborative culture idea here on the dope, as you threaded about earlier?) Steve Jobs could be portrayed as a bad guy turned good. He also has the right background. ``` I do hope to torture test parts of it here if I ever get them completed. ``` ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/15 "2017-07-10T18:18:50Z")
Joan of Arc? She was pretty badass about believing in herself when no one else did, and it would be interesting to get away from rut of the mentor always being an older man. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/16 "2017-07-10T18:50:18Z")
> [@mischievous](#): > > Joan of Arc? She was pretty badass about believing in herself when no one else did, and it would be interesting to get away from rut of the mentor always being an older man. That’s an interesting thought, I will read up on her. Was she a real person or fictional? I know dumb question! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/17 "2017-07-10T18:56:46Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > That’s an interesting thought, I will read up on her. Was she a real person or fictional? I know dumb question! AFAICT, she was almost undoubtedly a [real person](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc) (and a Catholic saint), though there’s also a lot of legend attached to her. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/18 "2017-07-11T18:56:39Z")
Alcibiades. He was cunning. Adventurous. Seems like he’d be fun, if you want some comic relief. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/19 "2017-07-11T18:58:23Z")
I would nominate Descartes as the philosopher. Cogito Ergo Sum required some pretty incredible thinking. Not Schrodinger, though. His thinking was totally in-the-box. Or was it? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931/20 "2017-07-11T19:13:14Z")
Of course, you do want your potential audience to know who the person is. If you want mainstream readers, you probably pick one Cardasian, (sp?) one Duck Dynasty person, and one BooBoo. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-a-mythical-or-historical-character/790931.md?page=2)