# When is the likability of a character important?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-likability-of-a-character-important/625726>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 20, 2012, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-likability-of-a-character-important/625726 "2012-06-20T06:04:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 23

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**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-the-likability-of-a-character-important/625726/23 "2012-06-20T20:49:20Z")

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> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> Often, the way fiction works is that we, the readers/viewers, identify with one or more of the main characters. If the protagonist is seriously unsympathetic, it makes it either more difficult or more disturbing to identify with him or her.

This is exactly right; the reader/audience needs a way to enter into the story–without it the reader can quickly lose interest–and a likeable character is one of the easiest routes for that.

Character likeability is less important if there is another way into the story–say, the complexity of an intriguing and multi-layered plot, or a rich, engaging conflict of style/philiosophy between two or more otherwise unlikeable characters (like an argument that’s interesting even if you aren’t invested in either side winning).

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