Complex Characters Quotes

“The Lord Steward summoned Lord James to his study. Joining
them were Lord Nimrod, the Consort, and Judith, who stood beside
the Consort and stared out the window. A winter sunrise streaked the
sky with pink-and-gold light. Judith wrestled with her anguish. This is
probably Helen’s last sunrise, and she’s no doubt in some stinking hole and
cannot even see it.
Lord James paid little heed to anyone else. All he saw was Miriam’s
face, her green eyes harsh with accusation. All he heard were her pleas.
Do something, James. Save her. Don’t let her die.
Thinking he had everyone’s attention, Shinar got to the point. “It
seems you have a daughter, James.”
― Candace L. Talmadge, Stoneslayer: Book One Scandal

“The septons preach about the seven hells. What do they know? Only a man who's been burned knows what hell is truly like"
...She was sad for him, she realized. Somehow, the fear had gone away.
The silence went on and on, so long that she began to grow afraid once more, but she was afraid for him now, not for herself. She found his massive shoulder with her hand. "He was no true knight," she whispered to him.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

“Over the years, our society has become fascinated with characters who are not fully evil or fully good, but instead lie somewhere in the middle. Our obsession with antiheroes and antivillains is a result of social ideals being rewritten. We are unmaking the concept of wickedness. As the popularity of the 'heroes' in Batman, The Punisher, and Suicide Squad shows, the lines between heroes and villains have become blurred.”
― Samantha Lane, Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

“Villains' backstories are all about opportunities and choices. Throughout, we are shown the various crossroads where they could have turned back and continued to live a life of good. We, the audience, are torn between wanting them to cross over to the dark side and hoping that maybe this time they won't. Characters with agency are more complex, which is why I love them so much. Villains do horrible things, and we still root for them in spite of that. We are drawn to people who make mistakes, like us. Very few of us are stalwart and true 100 percent of the time. Villains represent what we cannot and will not do in real life.”
― Samantha Lane, Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

“A brilliant sunset of pink and orange painted the sky to his right as they escaped from the castle grounds. He noticed the absence of the deep red of blood in the lovely sky’s scenery. His familiarity with the color was unnatural. It was found nowhere else in nature, almost as if it had never been meant for humans to see.
To his left, the impending dusk loomed, and Satya found comfort in its familiar embrace.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“He was wild with panic. That familiar, friendly darkness kissed the edges of his periphery, soothing, urging him to come into it and feel peace.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Hero is the name others give a man when they have a need to mask his flaws.”
― Larissa N.N. Davila, Cael's Shadow

“The one he loved wasn't the angel—it was the real Mahiru, the side of her she only let him see. He loved the Mahiru who could be infuriatingly stubborn and sarcastic but was also tenderhearted and shy, the one who tended to indulge him, who had a penchant for feeling lonely, and who sometimes looked so fragile he worried she might break into a million pieces.”
― Saekisan, The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten, Vol. 3

“It sometimes seemed as though there was no place for a reserved woman in the world. One was either maternal or harsh. Warm or cold. Mirai wore her chilly nature as a badge of shame, though she knew herself to be deeper and more complex than such a label. If the rest of the world was unable to see her, so be it. Mirai knew that she was more than just one thing. More than just one box. She was a myriad.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Why was it that everyone she met looked so much worse up close?”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Why was it that she’d never been able to find kinship with someone her age? Why was it that the few ties she fashioned always ended up coming undone by her own doing?”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“But she knew herself. Her body longed to feel pain, to exact it, but her mind feared it too much to allow herself the freedom to. Besides, her knuckles were already blistering from the beating they’d been taking for the better part of an hour. Without the gloves she’d have shattered a hand by now.
Wouldn’t that be just like her. To fear pain so and yet stumble into it at every opportunity.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Though he was still young, the burden of succession weighed heavy on his shoulders—the lonely existence of a brilliant mind among the foolish.
And in that moment, in a carefully calculated show of blatant insubordination, Isla Palik brought hope to the Tactician.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“One more death would make no difference. He was already damned.
It was for his queen.
It was for his queen.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Doha wasn’t a very good friend.
But he was a good person.
And he was a great engineer.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“What they think doesn’t matter.”
“But it does,” Ghara moaned. “It matters to me. They’re our friends, Isla. Friends. Have you had those before?”
“I have you,” Isla replied simply. “You are the only friend I need.”
Ghara shook her head sadly. “Not me.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“These people couldn’t possibly doubt or worry or sulk. These people couldn’t possibly feel insecurity and shame and pain. These people liked to have fun, and so they did.
Was it really that simple? Could she too reduce herself to such shallow waters and escape the depths that plagued her active mind?
She was so intoxicated by the thought, that she’d convinced herself she could be like them.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“In any friendship or partnership, there is always one that shines just a little bit brighter than the other. He doesn’t mean to, that’s just who he is. And I love him for it. I’ve learned this the hard way, that you can either resent a star for shining brighter, or sit back and enjoy the show.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“And yet, in all of his efforts to understand the Mirror, his great mystery, his attempts to prove logic had failed again and again.
Tests and theories and science—these things were his bread and butter—and they were meaningless now, in the face of mystery.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“There was no state of being “fixed,” Doha had learned. There was just the period between bouts of this requires attention immediately. There were certainly wrong ways to do things, but there was no one right way. If functionality was the goal, well, there were multiple routes to it, and Doha relished the freedom in that.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“Just last week all was calm. I was no one and nothing and I think that’s how things were meant to be. And now . . . I don’t know how to do this.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon

“She’d have liked to say that she hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, but that wouldn’t have been quite truthful. She’d wanted to hurt everyone, to make them feel what she felt, or even just not to be alone in it. In the wake of her loss, she’d longed to throw away everything she’d worked for, just to undo the agonizing truth that she could not accept.”
― Molly Collier, The Paragon