I agree. I initially thought it was meant to be the inverse of the Knight in Sour Armor in that the Pragmatic Hero can be a straight up Nice Guy, but consistently supports Shoot the Dog options. Whereas an Unscrupulous Hero will Kick the Dog. However, many times the Unscrupulous Hero does the same thing the Pragmatic Hero does.
In fact I don't think the Pragmatic Hero should be on the Anti-Hero scale because too many times I've seen a Pragmatic Hero, like Qui Gon Jinn from Star Wars, not be an Anti-Hero.
Ultimately I think the difference depends on how the author portrays the character. If the character's pragmatism/morally ambiguous actions are supported, it's Pragmatic Hero which ironically makes the series more cynical. Whereas the Unscrupulous Hero, while sympathetic, is portrayed as having the wrong mindset. At least that's how I see it.
What was I saying again?
Please see the following for more discussion on this page:
- Original discussion that launched this page
- First Draft YKTTW
- Crowner to determine what to do with the YKTTW
- Final YKTTW
I still don't quite understand the difference between a pragmatic hero vs an unscrupulous hero..... Thoughts?
Hide / Show Replies