MAKING THE UNLIKABLE LIKABLE

Have you ever noticed that some of our favorite fictional characters are… kind of awful?

They’re arrogant. Self-centered, stubborn, prideful, cowardly, and vain. They interrupt people, brag constantly, and somehow manage to create half the problems they later have to solve. They have so many traits we despise in people, and yet we absolutely adore them.

Meanwhile, another character with those same traits leaves us rolling our eyes and hoping they disappear from the story. And every time they show up, we go, "No! Come on, someone stop them, please."

So what’s the difference?

Why do we cheer for one narcissist while wishing another would be spirited out of the story? Why do we accept one character, faults and all, while hating another character with those same faults?

Let’s look at two fantastic examples: Tony Stark from the Iron Man films and Toothless from the original How to Train Your Dragon books, to find out.

TONY STARK: TEXTBOOK NARCISSISM

Let’s be honest. Tony Stark is wildly arrogant and self-centered. He's convinced he’s the smartest person in every room, and perfectly willing to tell everyone else that fact. He unashamedly doesn't show up to receive awards, messes around, and lives his "best" life. When he responds with lines like:

"I’ve successfully privatized world peace.

-Iron Man 2

We know that, objectively speaking, that’s an incredibly narcissistic thing to say. Everything he says is, everything he does is. And yet we laugh. We usually laugh at all his quips. So, is that it? Are we fine with all his flaws because he's funny?

Could that be the answer? Well, partly.

After all, one of the greatest strengths of the original Iron Man script is that it rarely asks us to admire Tony because of his ego. Instead, it invites us to laugh at it. His banter is quick and his confidence borders on ridiculous. He delivers outrageous one-liners with complete sincerity, and the people around him often react exactly the way we would. The script constantly acknowledges his flaws rather than pretending they don’t exist. Even during the opening missile demonstration in the first Iron Man, Tony oozes confidence without feeling untouchable. He’s charismatic enough that we enjoy watching him, even if we’d probably find him exhausting in real life.

So that's it, then. Charisma and humor. After all, we like villains with charisma and humor. Take Loki for example. But there is something else specifically for heroes that makes those unlikable, laughable traits likeable.

And that's when everything changes. When Tony goes into that cave at the beginning of Iron Man, the money, fame, luxury, and the illusion of control are all stripped away. For perhaps the first time, Tony is forced to confront the consequences of his own choices. And the most important part? Instead of remaining static, he grows. He learns and sacrifices.

By the end of his journey, not only in the first film, but the entire time he's in the MCU, the arrogance never fully goes away. He still fires off sarcastic remarks. He still occasionally speaks before thinking and talks down to others. He still thinks his plans are the best.

But now those same personality traits are attached to someone genuinely trying to protect those he cares about and those he's never met.

His humor becomes charming because it’s supported by change and courage. A desire to do right by the world. His confidence becomes inspiring because it’s backed by sacrifice. His ego becomes entertaining because we’ve watched him earn the right to stand where he does.

He learns to lie across that wire, to let the other man crawl across him.

So at the end of the day, the flaws do stay, but the heart of the matter changed.

TOOTHLESS: WORLD'S MOST SELFISH DRAGON

Now let’s jump to a very different character.

If you’ve only seen the How to Train Your Dragon movies, the book version of Toothless may come as a bit of a shock. Instead of a sleek, nearly silent Night Fury, he’s a tiny Common (or Garden) Dragon with an enormous opinion of himself. And yes, he talks enough to make it clear exactly what that opinion is. Hilariously enough, for how grand he thinks he is, he's lazy, cowardly, greedy, vain, and ridiculously stubborn. He complains constantly. If food is involved, heaven forbid you need to be stealthy or urgent because he'll be off eating and talking to himself.

Unfortunately for Hiccup, Toothless almost always chooses saving himself over helping someone else. His favorite phrase is essentially variations of:

“I am a very rare and important dragon!”

And he’ll remind everyone of that fact… repeatedly. On paper, he sounds insufferable. So why do readers love him? Why do we find all this greedy, vain talk funny instead of annoying?

Well, he's basically a child. In real life, when kids do and say things like this, we laugh (and try to hide it so we don't encourage the behavior). Unlike Tony Stark, whose humor comes from razor-sharp wit, Toothless’ comedy comes from his childlike immaturity. He's basically a toddler who is absolutely convinced he’s the center of the universe. Everything is dramatic, unfair, and someone else’s fault. He puffs himself up only to panic the moment something genuinely dangerous appears. We don’t laugh because he’s a greedy, stubborn, vain little dragon. We laugh because he’s an innocent and earnest greedy, stubborn, vain little dragon. For, just like a toddler, he's just as cute and honest as he is stubborn and greedy.

Readers instinctively recognize that beneath all the bluster is someone who still has a lot of growing up to do.

But, just like Tony, the true reason we love this character isn't just the humor. It's because, when Toothless is truly needed? He comes through. He stands before monsters, taking the blow with his tiny body to protect Hiccup. He tosses his fear and selfishness aside to save his friends. In the small heroics, he may grumble constantly and insist he never wanted to help in the first place.

But he helps. And, little by little, he grows.

Those glimpses of bravery and loyalty reveal who he really is underneath all the whining and boasting. And, just like Tony Stark, Toothless’ flaws aren’t erased by the end of the series. Instead, they are balanced by moments of heroism and heart.

CONCLUSION

When writers accidentally (or sometimes intentionally) create unlikeable characters, it’s often because the flaws are all we ever see. The arrogant character is never humbled, the selfish character never sacrifices, the sarcastic character is simply mean, and the coward never finds courage. The reader begins asking an unfortunate question: “Why am I spending time with this person?”

Because, at the end of the day, we as readers want to see growth. Not an erasure of flaws, growth.

Tony Stark and Toothless avoid that trap because their flaws are always paired with that growth as well as humanity (yes, even in the tiny dragon).

Tony ends up giving it all to save a universe. Toothless repeatedly protects his friends despite his selfishness and childish nature. Both characters make us laugh, reveal vulnerability, and slowly become better versions of themselves.

At the end of the day, making an unlikeable character likable isn’t about removing their flaws. It’s about giving readers a reason to root for them despite those flaws. Humor often can soften rough edges, vulnerability builds empathy, and character growth creates the ultimate investment that will carry us with them to the end.

And hidden beneath the pride, stubbornness, vanity, or selfishness should be something worth discovering—a spark of courage, kindness, loyalty, or love that slowly shines brighter as the story unfolds. After all, perfectly good people are admirable. But imperfect people struggling to become better?

Those are often the characters we remember for years after we’ve closed the book.