"But even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to die, it was turned to a new strength. Sam's plain hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue."
A character — good or evil, male or female, young or old — who never gives up.
Ever. No matter what.
There is no stopping the
Determinator. They do not understand tact. They do not
Know When to Fold 'Em, and it's a waste of time to
tell them the odds. No one can reason with them. They'll
do whatever they have to without question.
No price is too great to pay for success, up to and including their own life (and others'). Do not expect them to realize they might be better off letting it go, even if
they can barely stand. If you're ever kidnapped or lost with no hope of rescue, they'll be the one
who will find you. Their adversaries will shout, in exasperated rage,
"Why Won't You Die?!". For them, there is no line between "perseverance" and "insanity."
The nobility of their goal is
not necessarily proportionate to their persistence. This is just as often an obsessive rival with a grudge as it is a hero on a chivalrous quest, and where their willpower ultimately leads them will depend both on their role and on where the work stands on the
Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism. Heroes- especially
Badass Normals with a
Screw Destiny attitude- will defeat villains by virtue of being too stubborn to stay down.
Anti Heroes will
Jump Off The Slippery Slope, forsake The Powers of
Love and
Friendship,
become like that which they fight and walk the thin line between victory and tragedy. Villains will refuse to admit defeat,
resist seemingly fatal punishment,
hunt their prey tirelessly and let the heroes know that
We Will Meet Again.
In the
shonen anime, it's comparatively rare to find a main character who
isn't one of these.
Compare
Suicidal Overconfidence, a common feature of many
Video Game genres where enemies will always, blindly, and relentlessly be at your throat with no regard for how horribly you are massacring them (though this is more due to
genre requirements than characterization). Compare and contrast
Implacable Man, who suffers no apparent damage at all. Compare
Tragic Dream, where becoming a
Determinator can only end in tears. Can be identified by their trademark
Determined Expression.
See also
Heroic Resolve,
Heroic Spirit,
Lawful Stupid, Chaotic Stupid,
Plucky Girl,
Principles Zealot,
Non-Giving-Up School Guy,
The Unfettered,
The Fettered,
Unconscious Objector, and
Stiff Upper Lip.
Examples
