If there’s one kind of question guaranteed to make me roll my eyes, it’s one about guilty pleasures. You don’t need to feel guilty about the art you enjoy. There are things in life about which a person should feel guilty—kicking puppies, making small children cry, supporting fascists—but liking a particular kind of art or story or character or movie or song is not, generally, among those things.
And yet there’s a thing I love that I’ve been feeling squirmy about. I don’t feel guilty, exactly, but I feel self-conscious and dorky and then feel guilty about feeling those ways, which maybe transforms into a feeling that’s a cousin to a guilty pleasure? It’s in the same general vicinity, at least.
See, I finally watched Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and found myself forced to admit that I love paladins. And I really feel like I’m not supposed to say that in public.
Honor Among Thieves aside, I’m not speaking about paladins in the strictest Dungeons & Dragons sense here. I’ve read the rules; I know that traditionally they have a lawful good alignment, or fealty to a chosen deity. I’m a fan in a looser sense. What I mean is do-gooders, but that doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.
Do-gooders. Champions. Stinky, annoying, rule-following (except when the rules are wrong) heroes. I could not feel more uncool for confessing to this. It feels like announcing that I’m a boring person who only likes simple, happy stories, when that is the furthest thing from the truth. (Well, I might be boring. Let someone else be the judge of that.)
Everywhere I turn, though, it’s redemption stories for troubled antiheroes and villains who didn’t mean to be bad; they just wanted all that power, you know, and no one else could be trusted with it. There is nothing wrong with these characters, obviously. I like them just fine, and sometimes even love them. There are just so many of them. And it’s easy to draw lines between the real world and the stories we tell in it—stories about troubled times and morally gray figures; stories about fighting back and using any and every resource to do so; stories that remind us that fights aren’t always won by doing the so-called right thing, by being flawless and proper and only punching the people who really, really deserve it.
But I don’t think a do-gooder has to be simple, or plain, or a stick-in-the-mud (though it’s kind of fun when they are, in some ways). Can we blame Tolstoy for this lingering idea that good, happy people are, like his famous line about families, all alike, and only the unhappy are interesting and different? Maybe a little. It’s a cultural idea that crops up everywhere, though, from the classic appeal of the “bad boy” to the simple fact that the Sith have better fashion sense than the Jedi. Being bad is sexy. Being good is boring. (Unless you have America’s ass, in which case exceptions are made.)
I can think of plenty of do-gooders in TV and movies, still: The crew of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Captains and Ms. Marvel. Buffy. Ahsoka Tano. But when I think of current books, I run into a wall. There are many reasons it’s hard to find readalikes for The Goblin Emperor: the worldbuilding, the elaborate systems and meanings of everything from clothes to names, the setting, the relationships. But it’s also Maia himself, a gentle, goodhearted fellow in a position of power that he never asked for. The whole book is about how hard that can be—how doing good, remaining yourself, in a massive system is a challenging and sometimes impossible task.
There are more of these books. Right? I’ve heard a possibly apocryphal tale about how one of the authors of The Expanse series said that it is about how annoying it is to have a paladin in your party. (I tried, and failed, to find the direct quote online.) I love this and I hate it. I love it for obvious reasons: James Holden’s entire story happens because he can’t leave a problem alone. Because he’s not shy about imposing his ideas of what’s right onto a universe that isn’t necessarily going to welcome them. But I hate it because I want to stamp my little foot and insist, Holden’s not annoying! Not any more than Naomi is, or Bobbie, or anyone else trying to do the right thing in complicated circumstances. What starts out as a simple stubborn do-gooder willfulness grows into something just as complicated as the things that drive Avasarala or Amos or even Inaros.
Goodness isn’t simple. Popular storytelling has gotten really invested in asking what makes a person bad, or what evil really is, or what drives people to do the dubious, morally dicey things they do—all good questions. Evil isn’t simple, either. Being a person isn’t simple. I just want more stories about people who keep trying to do the things they perceive as good, over and over again, trying and failing and falling and getting up and dusting themselves off and doing it all again.
Sometimes they’re trying to save the world. (I’m looking at you, hobbits.) Sometimes they’re just trying to get by on a new career path. (Sibling Dex.) Sometimes they’d rather be watching their stories. (Murderbot is totally a do-gooder.) Sometimes the only way for a person to make her own way in the world is by doing good for others—and making poor choices and horrible compromises—along the way. (The Library of Broken Worlds.) Sometimes they’re a queen trying to heal the PTSD her father inflicted on an entire country. (Bitterblue.)
Buy the Book
System Collapse
None of this means that characters don’t make mistakes. None of this requires perfection. Good intentions are one thing, but rarely enough. A do-gooder can and does fuck up and it is not the end of the world. Moral complexity is not the sole territory of the morally dubious. Being a mess doesn’t make you a monster.
And yet I still feel like I’m confessing something slightly forbidden just by admitting that I love the paladin-inclined. Like I need to keep insisting that no, really, my first love was rangers, and I love a troubled wizard who struggles with being good, and please, yes, give me your gloom-loving witches and extremely depressed necromancers, from Harrow to Rin Chupeco’s Bone Witch! All of which is true and not negated by the fact that sometimes I just want to be reminded that the do-gooders are busting their asses, too. Maybe part of this is a categorization and description problem: because being good isn’t cool, characters get described as messy or disasters when they’re just people who made a mistake or two. Am I really just asking for us to admit that nobody good comes by it easily? To wash away the stain of the rotten Mary Sue discourse and admit that characters can be good and good at things and still complex and troubled? Maybe that’s part of it.
Maybe I’m also just tempting fate. A favorite truth of the internet is that if you complain that there is not enough of a certain kind of book, you’re probably reading the wrong books or looking in the wrong places. Which means these books are out there, and the internet is hiding them from me. This is one of those times when I want to be wrong: Are my do-gooders out there? The complicated ones with the golden hearts and the dirty fingernails? The ones who follow the rules exactly up to the moment when they stop making sense? Starfleet officers of fantasy worlds? Let me at ‘em. I’ve got space in the TBR pile. Or I’ll make it, anyway.
Have I got a recommendation for you: T. Kingfisher’s paladin romances. Clockwork Boys, The Wonder Engine, Paladin’s Grace, Paladin’s Strength, and Paladin’s Hope. Funny, sweet, exciting, horrifying…
Victoria Goddard’s The Hands of the Emperor I think.
Probably also CL Polk’s Kinston Cycle.
Not Fantasy, but if you want to read a great series of books about a heroic do-gooder, check out C.J. Box’s Joe Pickett books. Start with OPEN RANGE and go from there.
Or if you’d like some GREAT historic fiction, check out Rosemary Sutcliffe’s books on Roman Britain. Start with EAGLE OF THE NINTH and go from there.
Rachel Neumeier’s TUYO books are exactly this: a young warrior of the winter country left as a hostage/sacrifice for a war-leader of the invading summer country…who discovers that the war-leader, complicated as he is, is intensely GOOD, and that the friendship forged between them may be the way to save both their countries.
Dale Cooper.
“For the sake of one soul. For one loved one. For one life.” I called power into my blasting rod, and its tip glowed incandescent white. “The way I see it, there’s nothing else worth fighting a war for.”
Seconding Mark S’s recommendation — Rosemary Sutcliffe’s books are superb. I particularly liked “The Mark of the HorseLord” and read and re-read it as a teen. All her stuff is great!
Seconding @Medrith’s recommendation of the Paladin books, and @noblehunter’s recommendation of The Hands of the Emperor. The latter is long and starts off slowly, but Kip (Cliopher) is a man absolutely trying to good in every direction he can, however slyly he has to do it. He’s a very wily person, that Kip, but it’s in service of greater and lesser goods.
I have the whole Kingston cycle (and not because of my last name, lol) but haven’t read it; that it gets mentioned in this discussion inclines me to bump it up in the what-to-read-next line-up.
I would also like to agree with Mark S for the Joe Pickett recommendations. He is often referred to as a Boy Scout in his demeanor and actions, particularly by his morally ambiguous friend and protector Nate Romanowski.
I just read Of Deeds Most Valiant by Sarah K.L. Wilson and found it a fascinating take on life as a paladin. Of course, Elizabeth Moon’s Paksenarrion will always be my favorite paladin! I’m a sucker for a well-written paladin, so I look forward to reading some of these other books!
It’s my turn to read an article and say “Oh! That’s me!”
Very much agree. Give me the characters who insist that good can be done, who hold on to their values and morals regardless of what the world around them is.
Consider reading The Deed of Paksennarion by Elizabeth Moon
It is a trilogy with complex world-building and a lead character who grows into a paladin. One of my favorite stories of all time.
I originated the role of James Holden in the play-by-post RPG that led to the writing of the Expanse books, and I can absolutely confirm that the original character concept behind Holden was ABSOLUTELY a D&D-style paladin in a world not designed for it. :)
You may want to check Brandon Sanderson’s “Stormlight Archive” series. And maybe “Wax & Wayne” series, too.
(the former contains a paladin-type, the latter is set in “Weird West”, but Wax is still a do-gooder)
Elizabeth Moon’s Deed of Pakesenarrion series — Paks starts out as a mercenary soldier, and she ends up a Paladin! Also, I just finished Stephen King’s Fairy Tale — a boy and his dog become heroes, and pretty much anything in Lois McMaster Bujold’s Five Gods world, but especially for the hero Ista (Queen Mother become Paladin)!
Captain Carrot in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld subseries about the City Watch, starting with Guards! Guards! (Probably also Tiffany Aching, for that matter.)
Definitely have to add the group of us endorsing T. Kingfisher’s paladins.
My Goodreads review of Paladin’s Hope starts with
and I really do need to get round to reading the rest (and re-reading the idiots in love in the murder house).
Yup you need to go read The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. It’s replaced The Goblin Emperor as my comfort reread.
I like a good redemption arc, but I even better like earnest people trying to do right despite internal and external challenges.
People have already added several of the ones I came here to mention: The Kingfisher paladin books, The Hands of the Emperor, and the Tuyo series by Neumeier.
I’d also add Warden by Daniel M. Ford (first of a series, not a cliffhanger but there’s clearly lots of action still to happen) and Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher (middle grade, mostly, boy is the only mage in his village so he sets out to do what needs to be done despite his small magical talent. So not a paladin, but someone whose focus is on doing the right thing and protecting others.)
I have two good reasons to watch this: Michelle Rodriguez and the Duke (whatever the actor’s name is).
I love this character too! My absolute favorite is Kel, from Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small quartet, but the other heroines of the Tortall series fit the bill too! (Although to a lesser extent.) They’re all YA books, and Kel becomes the realm’s second lady knight, along the way fighting for the dignity of animals, women, servants, and war refugees.
Don’t have anything to add to the excellent suggestions so far (apart from maybe the David Weber’s Honor Harrington series, though she does start to grate a bit 7 or 8 books in) but I have to say that using a picture of Honor Among Thieves really threw me, because it was . . . not awful, exactly, but not really memorable either, apart from the fact that they threw a lot of really high-dollar talent at an absolutely mediocre, formulaic story. And even in Honor Among Thieves, Xenk’s goodness is so over the top it’s treated like a joke at times.
The best paladin I’ve seen recently, Xenk included, is in the Japanese novel series The Faraway Paladin (also a manga and anime).
William G. Maryblood’s spear and shield are not principally weapons for purging evil and unbelievers, they’re shields for the innocent and the helpless, and he solves most of his problems by putting faith in people’s willingness to do the right thing if given an example and some leadership, rather than through his (considerable) martial or magical prowess.
Anything by K B Wagers. They write the most exceptional Paladin types in complicated worlds
I am put in mind of my love for Bujold’s Shards of Honor, and how, much later in the series, Mark overhears Cordelia and Aral speaking about him and thinks something along the lines of, “oh, so that’s what integrity looks like.”
Oh, boy, I relate so much to that. I think (?) I like the ones who “have a hard time doing good” better, because I resonate deeply with characters that are not “naturally good” but instead “good by conscious decision and intense effort”, but the point is: they are GOOD. And I remember C. S. Lewis in his Screwtape Papers saying “make him a cynical, show him misery and hunger and say ‘this is the REAL WORLD’, as if the good things weren’t as real as the bad ones”, and I remember a bunch of discussions about Superman as a character, about how he is a good guy, who does good things, and that doesn’t have to make him boring. Anyway, I’ll come back later to read the comments in detail to see all the recommendations.
Venture outside of fantasy — read the inspiration for Honor Harrington — the Horatio Hornblower series by C.F. Forester. Also available via a free mini-series on YouTube starring Ioan Gruffydd. There’s also Sidney Carlton in Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities,” and its aftermath in bad male romance novels of the early 20th C by Rafael Sabatini (my uncle owned MANY of these) — think Errol Flynn in Captain Blood.
As someone who consistently rates as Chaotic Good, my take is that you might also be enriched by more context of the history of anti-heroes and villains (not that your love for Paladins is wrong, just that anti-hero/villian love is old, long, and deep). Start with Shakespeare’s Richard III so you can see there have been fascinating and mesmerizing bad boys since the 16th C (if not in Classical Greece — Odysseus was a bad, bad boy). My favorite film version is Lawrence Olivier’s Richard III from 1957. Off with his head – so much for Buckingham!
I’m not having any luck tracking down either of the James S. A. Coreys saying that specifically, but, since Tom commented above, I did find a longer comment from him on the same topic:
“In the original d20 Future game that birthed the novels, I created and played the character of Jim Holden (a Charismatic/Fast Hero with levels of Field Officer.) One thing that I absolutely love about Ty’s writing is that he’s preserved — even in the show — what I considered the core of that character: that Holden is a righteous dick mainly because he tries very hard to genuinely righteous, and sincerely believes that everyone not only has a moral duty to do the right thing but can generally be trusted to do the right thing if they have enough information about what’s going on. He always acts as if he’s the most important person in the room because he believes his life is his story; he’s never thought about it that way, but if confronted about it would be unashamed to admit it (as he thinks it’s practically human nature to think of yourself as the hero of your own story and would be truly concerned on someone else’s behalf if he learned that they thought of themselves as being part of HIS story). I tried to play him as someone who grew up believing he was a paladin and a universal protagonist but generally never wound up in a scenario where either of those two mindsets were helpful — and, where there isn’t a “right” thing to do, can become paralyzed or lash out, which is what originally destroyed his military career.
It’s been very amusing to me to see people come down strong on either side of the “love Holden/hate Holden” divide, because the things people respond to were largely deliberate from the very beginning — but are also, to some extent, exaggerated instances of what I believe are some of my OWN character flaws.”
Diane Duane’s books have a lot of good examples! Her Star Trek books (especially Doctor’s Orders in this context) are great. The Young Wizards series can’t go without mention, seriously; also, The Door Into Fire and the rest of the Tales of the Five deal with people redefining their goals and what saving the world looks like. (Such as asking the Dragons to help.)
Also, I’m a sucker for do-gooders. I always played the paladin, or the righteous, Gandalf-esque wizard, set out to set the world a-right.
After agreeing with the recommendations for Kingfisher, Goddard (not just Hands of the Emperor, the rest of the books in the Nine Worlds too, except Til Human Voices Wake Us and Warrior of the Blue Veil, which are good but not what this post is asking for), Pratchett and Pierce, I’ll add most of Bujold’s Five Gods books (arguably all of them, but Ingrey kin Wolfcliff is pretty dark n’ brooding), especially the Penric and Desdemona series, and Olivia Atwater’s Regency Fairy Tales. Temeraire (of the series of the same name) is a good-hearted soul with a penchant for mathematics and a passion for justice who is also a dragon the size of a blimp more-or-less conscripted into the British side of the Napoleonic Wars.
Hadrian from the Riyria books by Michael J. Sullivan.
The Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour and it’s protaganist Minalan are a great example of a do-gooder who gets thrust into a situation he didn’t ask for and is given serious amounts of power, but all he wants to do is make the world a better place. He messes up A LOT, but he is a good wizard through and through. The best part is that there are currently 15 books in the series with 15 more planned and Mancour puts out at least two books a year. I’ve read a lot of fantasy and Mancour is my current favorite author and he just churns out the goodness. I highly recommend checking out Spellmonger, they are great Audible listens as well.
If you’re uncool, then I’m downright embarrassing. Me and my weird desires for heroes to actually be heroic. /shrug
I just finished Kingfisher’s trilogy myself. Good times.
Mirasol from Chalice by Robin McKinley. “I do not know if there is nothing to be done, but there are still seven days in which to do it. And if my choice is to sit graciously in my best robes and accept the inevitable or to bail a sea with a bucket, give me the bucket.”
#6 @Steve Yes, Harry definitely qualifies.
I agree with the comment on Pratchett as an author of many novels centered on Paladins. But the commenter picked the wrong watchman.
Sam Vimes is a consummate Paladin. He does what it takes to achieve good, even if it involves creative interpretation of a few laws, if the situation demands it. He is driven by his love for the people of Ankh-Morpork.
Vetinari is a Paladin who has found himself in an ultimate position of power but he is constantly constrained by the demands on him. He is driven by his love for the city of Ankh-Morpork.
Pratchett also is awash with humor of all sorts, making it the perfect comfort read.
Have you tried Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, or Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series?
Currently playing a paladin based off of my mother (we’re all working through something right?) but next time I get to create one I’m basing it off of Gideon the Ninth from Locked Tomb Series. The perfect Oathbreaker Paladin in my mind.
Cazaril from Bujold’s “Curse of Chalion”
Antryg from Hambly’s Silent Tower / Silicon Mage series
One Esk 19 (aka Breq) from Leckie’s “Ancillary” series
Digger from Vernon’s “Digger” webcomic / graphic novel, and seconding her paladins. In fact, just about any of her fantasy heroes are basically good folks.
Also seconding “Hands of the Emperor” and “Tuyo”, both of which I immediately re-read when I finished them, to savor after first having torn through them so fast.
Check out Volke, the protagonist of Knightmare Arcanist by Shami Stovall. He’s so focused on doing the right thing that when he’s presented with a situation where there is no clear right and moral path (like how to respond when a lady is flirting with him), he freezes up.
A few comments bring up characters from Lois McMaster Bujold books but so far no one states the obvious that Miles Vorkosigan is a great example of a do-gooder.
I’m with you too. Certainly Paksenarrion; Gird in the related series is a nice example too. Not only the Vorkosigan series, but Bujold’s Sharing Knife as well. The Young Wizards, absolutely.
On a less grandiose scale, Becky Chambers’ books are full of decent people modestly trying to do the right things.
You can find some good examples at the movies, too. Ever seen Tomorrowland?
Rick
So glad I came upon this post ! It’s a real balm for the soul to know that yes, I’m not the only one wanting to follow the adventures of people doing good things on purpose, because they want to.
Very grateful for all the suggestions.
So glad I came upon this post ! It’s a real balm for the soul to know that yes, I’m not the only one wanting to follow the adventures of people doing good things on purpose, because they want to.
Very grateful for all the suggestions.
Rachel Aaron’s Nice Dragons Finish Last is an excellent example as well – and the entire series is on Kindle Unlimited!
Nevil Shute’s No Highway has the most unlikely Paladin ever in Mr Honey – but when he retracts the undercarriage I just want to get up and cheer for the little man doing what he knows is right even though he knows what it may cost him.
Everything by Tamora Pierce is about people with hearts of gold(ish) who came by them the hard way, who have to follow them when everyone else is saying it’s wrong or not to bother or looks at them askance.
Not to get too “Appendix N” about it, but it’s a quick read and surprisingly satisfying: Poul Anderson’s “Three Hearts and Three Lions”, featuring Holger the Dane, who earns his bonafides by not only being one of Charlemagne’s historical peers, but also by being a World War 2 Danish resistance fighter. (It’ll make sense in retrospect.) This book answers the questions “why are Paladins cool’, but more importantly, “why are Paladins?” I hope you enjoy it!
I came to add Cazaril from Bujold’s The Curse of Chalion, and am so happy to see Kylinn already named him!! Absolutely a comfort reread for me, over and over.
Though horror, T Kingfisher’s The Twisted Ones and The Hollow Places. Kingfisher has been mentioned a lot in the comments and for good reason – she’s so good at centering characters who want to Do Good and stick with that through psychological and physical rough goings.
His Secret Illuminations and His Sacred Incantations by Scarlett Gale – back to the fantasy, some incredible found family and blossoming of self in these marvelous paladin-like characters. Some very spicy scenes for you to enjoy or skip, as you choose.
I am LOVING all the suggestions – you’re all going to make my literal TBR shelf groan with the books I have to add now!
And @13 – what a delight to have this confirmed from someone who certainly knows the origins! Thanks so much for chiming in.
The playwright, Robert Bolt, in “A Man for All Seasons”, writes of “That happy land that needs no heroes”, without specifying which land(s) might actually be that happy.
With regard to fantasy, I can recommend “Land of Unreason”, by L Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, in which our hero, Fred Barber, undergoes a series of magical experiences, and ends up discovering that he is actually a legendary hero.
The same authors wrote “The Incomplete Enchanter” series, in which the principal character, bored and frustrated by his mundane job, starts experimenting with magic – which, of course, goes wrong, sending on a series of adventures, everywhere from the land of Norse myths, to Edgar Rice Burrough’s “Barsoom”, gaining in confidence and experience as he goes.
Towards the end of the series, another character suggests that our hero, having been transported to a new “setting” cannot leave it until he has effected some significant change – improvement – in that setting, which would certainly be one definition of “hero”.
I’d say Aerin in Robin McKinley’s “The Hero & the Crown” can definitely fit this trope!
Loving all the suggestions; I’m making a reading list of the ones I haven’t gotten to myself. Tor articles are always dangerous for my TBR ha.
Would confirm the recommendations for Lois McMaster Bujold – Curse of Chalion, The Sharing Knife, and pretty much the entire Vorkosigan saga.
I also suggest Guy Gavriel Kay’s A Song for Arbonne. Blaise is the occasionally reluctant lead but if he’s going to do something it is going to be because its the right thing to do.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Tea Princess Chronicles. The overall story involved good people trying to do good things, had unusual subject matter in an interesting setting, and didn’t read like typical fantasy.
Harry Dresden. (and many of his friends. Karin, Michael, Butters….)
Also, though they have been mentioned above, all the Vorkosigans (plus several Vorpatrils and a Vorbarra) and their friends, and (with the possible exception of Ingrey) all Bujold’s other leading men and women as well.
Speaking of Kingfisher, Swordheart has only a token appearance by actual paladins, but introduces Zale, Holy Lawyer of the White Rat, Public Defender of the Oppressed (who later shows up in the first Saint of Steel book), whom I love so much I have literally got the symbol of their faith tattooed on my arm.
@55: My wife and I have been reading the Tea Princess Chronicles together; we are currently halfway through the third book. The story does largely involve good people trying to do good things, and the main character’s ability to bring people together. (And there are some passages about the central romantic relationship that reminded my wife and I of our own marriage.) The cozy fantasy Legends and Lattes is another good example.
I have read quite a few of the works cited above, including The Goblin Emperor, The Hero and the Crown, the first two of Bujold’s Chalion books, and a number of works by Diane Duane and Ursula Vernon; I will soon be starting The Hands of the Emperor, and have now added Witchmark and Tuyo to my TBR list.
John Buchan wrote “The pathological is too easy.” Richard Hannay is good & brave, tho’ he calls himself a cunning coward. His wife Mary is too. But there are many Buchan heroes, like the young minister in Witchwood who discovers his congregation is involved in black magic.
Every novel by Naomi Novik.
My favorite Neil Gaiman book has always been Neverwhere, because everything that happens to Richard happens because he sees someone that is hurt and tries to help. He’s far from a perfect character, but his innate decency made me love him from the beginning. I know other readers think Richard is a boring character, but he’ll always be a favorite for me.
I have so much to say about this topic, because I also love heroic heroes.
First, recommendations: Another vote for Bujold, especially (of course) Paladin of Souls.
Melissa McShane’s Books of the Dark Goddess, in which a literal paladin with an interesting twist discovers that someone she had put in the “monster” box actually belongs under “person,” and has to deal with that.
Books that have what I call the Glorious Ending, in which everything looks like it’s going to inevitably drain down a tragic plughole, and then someone does something so generous and good-hearted that tragedy is thoroughly averted. Examples include Middlemarch, A Tale of Two Cities, Naomi Hughes’ Mercurial, Naomi Novik’s Spinning Silver, Ferrett Steinmetz’s The Sol Majestic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Gods of Jade and Shadow and The Beautiful Ones (though not most of her other books), Tim Pratt’s Heirs of Grace, and Patricia McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld.
Noblebright fantasy, a movement I was peripherally involved in founding, is also about exactly what you’re talking about. (If you’ve read the 2019 article about it in Vox, that article significantly misunderstands what noblebright is all about. Check out noblebright.org for more details and recommendations – full disclosure: includes some of my work).
And speaking of my own work, I wrote a blog post last year about a closely related issue, the Reliable Hero and how it’s possible to make that person interesting. It discusses the Kingfisher books, among others. Not sure if I’m allowed to link to it, but if you Google “Nuffin’s Tougher than a Hufflepuffer” you’ll find it.
@62
Speaking of this trope and Bujold, special mention for Ethan of Athos, book and character:
Brandon Sanderson’s Elantris. It’s his earliest published work, I think, and a good standalone. The protagonists are definitely decent, good people.
Thornfruit by Felicia Davin has Ev. In her mind, she’s scared and confused and does the right thing because it seems like the only option. In her girlfriend’s mind, she’s heroic and knightly and sweetly straightforward.
The protagonist of Heaven Official’s Blessing, a prince turned god, always wants to do the right thing and help the common people. Initially this leads to disaster. After many tragedies and hundreds of years of character development, he becomes a true hero. The story is written out of order, so we first meet him after he’s already fallen. When we first meet him, he’s a kind person but so self-abnegating that it’s a problem to himself and others. He’s also a badass, which everyone keeps forgetting. The book shows the complexities of trying to do the right thing, especially from a position of privilege.
To Shape A Dragon’s Breath is about Anequs, a young indigenous woman who finds a dragon’s egg. She has to go to a colonizer-run dragon academy to learn to care for her dragon. Unlike many books about colonialism, she’s never tempted by the colonizer’s society and unwavering in her conviction about what’s right. She’s also brave, clever and kind.
Spear by Nicola Griffith is about a lady knight who embodies the chivalric ideal. She’s badass and noble and uses her sword in pursuit of good.
All these books are published in the last 5 years. There are still some do gooder books out there!
The Aeneid. No joke. The Illiad and the Odyssey are about people with heroic, passionate, noble, but rarely selfless motives. Aeneas, on the other hand, is always trying to do the right thing for its own sake — which, when fate and the fickle gods are involved, isn’t always clear. His urge to do right and never offend does lead him into big flaws. It makes for a fabulous character arc. The Rolfe Humphries translation is great if you can find it.
M.C.A. Hogarth’s Peltedverse, especially the Dreamhealers, Her Instruments, & Alysha Forrest series for spacefaring races living and working together, epic heroic knights and pantry paladins, the quiet heroism and courage of kindness.
To say that I went into watching the D&J movie a bit clueless would not be overstating the case. At 69 now, I was already a working adult when the game hit big in the mainstream, though I recall hearing vague whispers of it in college. Naturally, as the terminology began to seep into general social media I absorbed some of them. Many of the concepts became more concrete as I read the Thieves’ World series, but IIRC TW had lots of scoundrels, minstrels and thieves but was a bit shy on Paladins.
A few years ago, almost by accident – I got together with some acquaintances on Super Bowl Sunday to ignore the game, watch the ads, and play D&J. Only about half of those present were regular gamers, half of the rest had played once or twice, and the rest were totally clueless like me. One of the regulars walked me through creating a character and gave me a basic understanding of how the game worked, enough to get through this clearly haphazard gathering. As it turned out I picked it up fairly quickly – was a natural, much to my own surprise! I have no recollection if there was a Paladin among our small troupe, however.
So after seeing the sneak preview in the theater I was curious – not enough to pay cinema prices, but enough that when it started streaming on a service my BFF (70f) has, we decided to give it a watch. On the whole we enjoyed it – we both enjoyed the owlbear in particular – but I was quite taken with Xenk (though I had to look up the name on IMDB because even with subtitles there were some things that went by too fast to register, smh – getting older sucks sometimes). That includes his being defined as a Paladin. I’m sure it was mentioned, if only in passing, but I definitely missed it.
What I did not miss, however, was his cool elegance, fine manners, brilliance, sense of honor and strength of character. I vaguely thought he looked familiar, then when I looked him up on IMDB I realized I had seen his face in the previews for Bridgerton, which I have yet to watch. I would consider watching it again just to pay closer attention to the details, and to better enjoy the minutia of the different characters, his in particular. Even played somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as they all were, he made a favorable impression on this disillusioned old gal! I don’t expect heroes in real life anymore, but in my fiction – more more more! I am enjoying following this thread for stories to add to my TBR pile ;-)
Galadriel Higgins is not your typical do-gooder. Especially given her fate to do good by threatened destructio–or actually destruction–of almost all existing enclaves.
Owen in the Kingfountain Series by Jeff Wheeler
I think it’s really important to say it loud, say it proud, that being good is in fact a good thing to be. The world needs all the good it can get right now, and spec fic has an important role to play in helping us hold up the kinds of characters we aspire to emulate. I’ve spent my life baffled by this myth that goodness is boring. Like others who have commented, I’ve written blog posts about it, and like others who have commented, my own books are firmly about protagonists who are essentially decent people trying to do what’s right, and being thoughtful, brave, creative, and moral in the face of difficulty. So thank you for lifting this up, and please keep pushing it!
The first book I thought of when I started reading your article was The Goblin Emperor. If I had to sum up in a sentence what I love about it, I think it’s the theme that doing the right thing is not always rewarded but it is also never in vain. I appreciate moral complexity and bittersweet outcomes, but at the end of the day, stories where characters persist in trying to the right thing, repeatedly, even though it’s hard, are my favorite.
I will second (third, fourth, tenth?) the Bujold recommendation, especially Cazaril from The Curse of Chalion, loyal, amazing Caz who just wants to recover from his PTSD in peace but who is too good a man to abandon his liege lady. I particularly love this story because 1) it’s an example of a character who doesn’t have any obvious personality flaws and yet is still compelling to read about, 2) Caz accomplishes great deeds that will go down in the history books, but his motivation isn’t to cause sweeping change. He’s just protecting someone he loves, and it happens to involve dramatic international journeys and treaties and other heroic acts. Also Cordelia from the Vorkosigan Saga who is essentially an ordinary citizen who gets caught up in intergalactic affairs and changes worlds by being a decent (and indomitable) person.
I also will add another vote for Temeraire, though my favorite paladin of that series isn’t so much Temeraire (as fantastic and endearing as he is) but his human captain, Will Laurence, who consistently chooses to do the right thing even when it will quite literally cost him everything (do be prepared for emotional destruction; I promise you, though, the resolution is worth the pain). I find his character arc fascinating because he starts the series as a mature adult and an honorable, decent man, so you’d think there isn’t room for development, unless the arc was him becoming cynical and jaded. And yet Novik manages to take this good and complex man and refine him into an even better man by the end of the series. Also, similarly to Caz and Cordelia, he and Temeraire make history simply by caring about individuals.
My first love actually was rangers due to early exposure to Aragorn (and the fact that every iteration whether real life forest rangers, long-lost kings in exile that also protect the peace, snarky British dudes in space that fight with spring-loaded staffs even though they have access to ray guns, or the standard D&D class are just so cool), but if I had encountered Xenk when I was younger, it would have been a toss up between rangers and paladins.
I loved every aspect of Xenk, his cool entrance, how he showed kindness to a dying stranger, his unwavering sincerity and literal-mindedness, but especially his willingness to believe the best in people. For example, when he gives Edgin the magic helm, only asking him to swear that he’ll share the profits with the people even though he has no guarantee that Edgin will keep his word. Or when he goes risks his life to save Edgin from the dragon and says in apparent whole-hearted belief that Edgin would have done the same for him. Yes, I know that things could have gone very differently, that trusting someone who deceives for a living is risky and sometimes there’s too much at stake. But I appreciate Xenk’s understanding that expecting the worst of someone is a self-fulfilling prophecy while believing in someone even when they don’t believe in themselves is sometimes the catalyst they need to try to be better.
Marcus Didius Falco in Lindsey Davis’s mystery series set in Ancient Rome. (And also now Falco’s daughter)
Falco is not perfect and struggles but he’s smart and there is a lovely dynamic with his love Helena, who is also very smart. The historical fiction part is cool, as well with the authors knowledge of Roman history. Falco upholds honor and right action, but also has a wry sense of humor, sometimes self-deprecating. Very enjoyable read. And he’s definitely not a pensive “anti-hero.”
Was also thinking about Wolfen Von Eschembrach (sp?) version of The Parzival tale. I’m not sure if Parzival would qualify as a Paladin? Parzival is earnest but he keeps making mistakes. He comes to Arthur’s court with high ideals in his mind but only to find the court corrupted. And power is abused.
He works hard though to be a good knight and by quirks of luck passes several tests. But in the process, Parzival also has to conform to the society where he finds himself.
And when it comes time to find The Fisher King, the wounded Grail King, Parzival is told that he must not ask the Grail king any questions. And he takes this to mind as a kind of code.
Except Parzival is immediately drawn to want to ask the question “What ails thee?” But he reminds himself again and again not to do it. Even though he almost feels compelled by his heart.
So he technically “does the right thing.” But is it really? The young woman who lives in the castle curses him. And Parzival spends years wandering the waste land. (Yes there are several different versions of this tale.)
But finally, Parzival is allowed a second chance and asks the question “What ails thee?” And the land is healed.
This telling really makes one stop and ponder. It shows that “good” is not just a “simple thing” as Molly Templeton said. Nor is it just what the court happens to value at the time. Nor is it even this particular knightly code, though in other stories the knightly code is a harmonic fit.
But at the same time, the above story shows the challenge of the situation is not paying attention to ones own inner nature.
Parzival had lost some of that once he worked so hard to become a knight, but he had to start over again and listen to that inner call. And even if the answer was something strange and simple as a question, he had to work to find it, to regain it. His natural compassion and empathy had been put on hold to follow the code of the court. He had been made fun of and felt like a fool. He tried to prove himself by “doing the right thing” and following those instructions given, but in so doing failed because the inner wisdom in his heart was being ignored. This leaves a lot of interesting questions. And think it’s unique, because when Parzival finally listens to his heart, he’s not doing it for attention or fame or to lord it over others. He is doing it simply from compassion. And I might add spontaneous compassion, as he is compelled to ask the question. He really does intend good, but he struggles against all kinds of obstacles and even sells himself awhile to “fit in as a knight.” But he has to wander the wasteland, where as Joe Campbell says: “the rules are different” to find his path again and be a true knight.
He does not think himself better than anyone else. He is not an “egocentric” hero doing it “his way,” a current idea that does make it harder to find celebrations for those who wish to do good.
But Parzival manages after many hardships to be a catalyst to bring good and help the healing of the land.
I really love this take. And I suppose it’s like what Tolkien coined a “Eucatastrophe.” I suppose some of us still long for that, rather than having cynicism reflected back to us simply for something to be “relative” or “relatable.”
The value to reach up or look out and in to dream!
And then there is Sam, one of those brave hobbits, who simply did good. Perhaps we too need see above the clouds of Mordor once in awhile and gaze upon a star or two. (To move a little closer to amdir if not Estel.)
There is much beautiful here and now and it’s nice to lift the head from shadows when we allow. Not all is lost.
@74
Yes, Parzifal is one of the archetypal paladins from whom the term acquired its modern meaning. (Originally the word meant roughly “someone who works for the monarch”, and it is etymologically connected with the word palace). The Twelve Peers of Charlemagne and to a lesser extent the Knights of the Round Table (lesser because they’re often called knights, while the Peers are almost always referred to as paladins when people are writing on the Matter of France) and the various stories of their noble character and good deeds gave us the D&D variety