Drag your Protagonist through the mud...

Unknown Screenwriter

Unknown Screenwriter

The Protagonist...

Also referred to as “the Hero” of your screenplay or film... As I read a number of screenplays through the week, I keep noticing what I feel is an essential yet often lacking trait of the story's Hero.

It is, in my opinion, this lacking trait that can seriously influence the marketability of your screenplay and maybe even your film.

What the hell is it?

Your Protagonist's character flaw.

There, I said it.

A character flaw can be just about anything that has a negative impact on your Protagonist. Could be a fear, a hate, a prejudice, an anger, an obsession, an inability to express one's self... Whatever.

I keep reading screenplays where the Protagonist starts out as a fairly capable person. Sometimes, almost perfect. This happens for a number of reasons but for the most part, it almost seems to me that the screenwriter subconsciously LIKES his or her Hero way too much to put him or her through complete HELL let alone give him or her a serious character flaw.

In your screenplay or film, your Protagonist normally has a goal. Of course you throw in all kinds of physical obstacles to keep him or her from reaching this outer/tangible goal and that's definitely good to do but don't forget the 'internal barriers' that also keep your Protagonist from accomplishing their goal.

Very often, for a compelling screenplay and film, the audience wants to identify and empathize with your Protagonist. That's why they go to the theater and rent the DVD. They want to temporarily BECOME YOUR PROTAGONIST. They want to take the ride your Protagonist is taking! Let's face it... As much as we would like to... We're not able to exact revenge, save the girl, find the treasure, etc...

Instead, we watch movies.

However, when we, as screenwriters and filmmakers, make things too easy for our Hero, the audience walks... If not in person, definitely in their minds which in turn, translates to ZERO word of mouth referrals and advertising.

This inner flaw should be immediately recognizable to the audience. This inner flaw should be something general enough that the audience is readily able to identify with it... They should have experienced it themselves or it should remind them of someone they know that has or IS experiencing a similar type flaw.

When I say “general,” I'm referring to the daily life emotions that we ALL go through... Jealousy, greed, anger, love, obsession, addiction, etc. Getting TOO SPECIFIC on something not so general could confuse your audience.

So as you take (or PUSH) your Protagonist through your story, this person should, by the end of the story, overcome this flaw... It should be this flaw that keeps your Protagonist from accomplishing the physical goal of the story until the end when your Protagonist finally realizes that he or she must overcome this flaw to succeed.

This 'end of the story' event that finally enables your Protagonist to pull his or her head out of their ass should be a culminating event... Everything prior leads up this one event. This one event is what sparks your Hero's realization that they've had an inner problem all along that's totally stood in their way from accomplishing their outer or physical goal of the story.

Pick a flaw... Any flaw.

Often, picking a flaw and threading it through the story so the audience identifies with it can be difficult at best... This is where reverse engineering comes in...

Hopefully, you have a basic idea of how your story ends... You might not have the culminating event figured out but you know the outer or physical goal you want your Hero to achieve... Work backwards from this point. If your Protagonist ends up being strong and powerful in the end, maybe he should be weak and helpless in the beginning. This way we, the audience, actually see the character's ARC.

That's a pretty obvious example but I make it strictly for illustration. If your story is about jealousy and your Hero overcomes his or her jealousy at the end of the story, then it only makes sense to make this character extremely jealous in the beginning.

Working backwards or reverse engineering should easily plot out your Protagonist's arc...

So to summarize...

Take a look at the end of your story. What does your Protagonist physically achieve? It's okay if he takes out all the bad guys and wins the girl. We like that. That's what we go to the movies for but don't make it easy on him. Don't just let him kick everybody's ass and get the girl. Work backwards. If he ends up being courageous, work backwards and make him cowardly in the beginning. If she ends up being honest and forthright, make her dishonest and a cheat in the beginning. Go for a “completely opposite internal turn-around” and you'll go a long way towards us loving and identifying with your Protagonist.

filmy
 
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Hmm, one question...

On a screenplay I'm currently working on, the protagonist is an accidental one. This character is clearly displayed to the viewer as such, but the character dosen't know it and never realizes it for the entire script.

I was trying to run down a list of films in my head that are similar to this and can only come up with one: First Blood. Am I correct, or am I misidentifying Stallone's role?

Are there better examples of the "accidental protagonist"?
 
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Right now I am currently trying to write a script... I have great comical settings, characters, scenes... but unfortunately I don't have a plot. The reason I don't have a plot is that most of the movie is based on personal experiences between four people. I know, this sounds like a horrible approach to a movie to build scenes with no purpose, but we have no idea for direction. I don't want to make a movie that had some plot shoved into a bunch of scenes but it's so hard when most of our jokes will be sketch comedy. So, I have been watching a few comedy movies looking for inspiration. Maybe Supertroopers shouldn't be my first choice, but I knew the Broken Lizards was started by a bunch of friends. After watching that and reading what you said.... none of the characters really have this overcoming challenges theme. It was more like a goal oriented movie (getting enough publicity to beat out the local cops). Another movie that seemed to not really follow this idea was Dumb and Dumber. Obviously those two had a lot of flaws, but they never overcome them... If you could maybe give me some direction I would greatly appreciate it.
 
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As a wise old fellow once said: "Do or do not. There is no try."
Don't try to write a script....Write it!

As for "Dumb and Dumber" they did have flaws that they had to overcome.
Greed turned one friend on the other and had one living alone in a boxcar. That one had to go through hell, being cold, no food, and becoming jealous of his friend living up in the chalet with a beautiful woman and having all of these "friends".

Just because your four characters did funny things... what happened inbetween those funny bits? Run out of money because of too much pot smoking? No money for food so you eat out of a garbage can? Become sick because of the food, and drugs that you loose your job and are at your bottom...
All of those things can happen inbetween. You can even leave one of them out and at the end that person that went through hell, saves the day or makes the funniest bit, or whatever.

"Me, Myself, and Irene" is a comedy, but some serious stuff happens... A lot of funny bits, but it's not all funny.
 
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They lose...

Spatula said:
What about cases where the protagonist doesn't overcome thier flaws in the end (tragedy)?
Click to expand...
In tragedies, you pretty much do the same thing... How does your Protagonist end up? Dead? Suffering? Poor? However he or she ends up, work backwards... I hate to make it sound so simplistic, but it's simply the opposite side of the coin...

In a tragedy, your Protagonist usually starts out approximately the same but you usually have them achieve some level of happiness early on and/or a certain level of success within their community, be it work, family, organization, etc...

Then start STICKING it to him or her... That way, you still have an arc though OPPOSITE from triumphant endings...

A good tragedy should PURGE the audience of its fears, depression, and inhibition in a "Wow, my life ain't so bad after all..." kind of thinking...

In a tragedy, the Protagonist's flaw becomes his or her complete downfall and destruction...

filmy
 
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So as you take (or PUSH) your Protagonist through your story, this person should, by the end of the story, overcome this flaw... It should be this flaw that keeps your Protagonist from accomplishing the physical goal of the story until the end when your Protagonist finally realizes that he or she must overcome this flaw to succeed.
Click to expand...

This where starting the writing process using a tool like Movie Outline helps.

Sorting out forty-five sequnces that make up the three/four acts of your story and then playing with them until you're sure that your story moves along, is a much better approach than starting with a blank page and writing ninety pages and then having to unpick the structural problems.

The other thing that I've gone back to is writing a character breakdown before I write even open movie outline.

In it I make sure that I know enough about my characters before I start on the story. I use the following questions:

What is the character's name?
What are the character's strenghts?
What are the character's skills?
What are the character's flaws?
What does the character desire?
What is the character's primary motivation?
What does the character look like?

The reason I usually do this before writing the character outline is that polt is always driven by the choices that the characters make when presented by a situation.

Because different people will react in different ways ... it's the character's personality that drives the plot.

I think that as well as applying this to the protagonist, it's a good idea to look at all the key characters.

However, saying that I've always found protagonists the hardest character to write ... mine tend to be the weakest person in the script ...
 
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On my fifth feature-length script, I'm finally getting clued into the basics. What I find myself doing too often is writing passive-voice protaganists who find themselves in scenes that the audience might react to, but certainly won't engage them. This is partly because I've tended to write my own personality into the protaganist. I'm a pretty laid-back, introspective guy. What a snore for a leading man! What I'm doing with my latest script is writing a protaganist I DON'T NECESSARILY LIKE! He's vain, a ladies man, and I'm dragging his ass through the mud and enjoying every minute of it. Even his friends are pissed at him. He'll make it through (barely), but he'll be the better for it, which gives audiences the transformation they want to be a part of.

I wrote a comedy with a lot of good scenes but no plot myself. Very frustrating! I created a believeable plot-line by finding something everyone in the story wanted (the family fortune) and had them clash over it, even bringing in an outsider for a suprise escalation of the conflict at the end. The whole thing needs a re-write, but I managed to hang the comedy on a storyline that could bring the audience in.

Sometimes the best solution to a writing puzzle is to put it down and walk away for as long as you can afford to. Read a book, take a trip. It's amazing how much more clearly you can see your work when it's been purged from your brain for a while.
 
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FilmJumper said:
A good tragedy should PURGE the audience of its fears, depression, and inhibition in a "Wow, my life ain't so bad after all..." kind of thinking...

In a tragedy, the Protagonist's flaw becomes his or her complete downfall and destruction...
Click to expand...


That's the perfect description I was looking for- thanks. It's been hard to put myself in the tragic mindset to write this without falling into the character's own flaws myself. This might be a safer way for me to write it.
 
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He's definitely the Protagonist...

mrde50 said:
Hmm, one question...

On a screenplay I'm currently working on, the protagonist is an accidental one. This character is clearly displayed to the viewer as such, but the character dosen't know it and never realizes it for the entire script.

I was trying to run down a list of films in my head that are similar to this and can only come up with one: First Blood. Am I correct, or am I misidentifying Stallone's role?

Are there better examples of the "accidental protagonist"?
Click to expand...
As an audience member, I guess you could call Rambo an accidental Protagonist... As a writer of course, I doubt it was that accidental but I'm sure you know that...

If I understand you correctly, it seems that you're putting your Protagonist into a situation where he or she too, will have to react and it will be these reactions and actions that identify him or her as the Hero...

Of course your character will simply think he or she was simply "having a bad day..."

We need to know... Fairly early on... WHO your Protagonist is. We, the audience, might see him as an accidental Protagonist and that's okay because we are the audience... You're the writer... Plot it out and sure, make it seem accidental to us but be the puppet master pulling the strings every step of the way...

Other examples although NOT necessarily better:

C. Thomas Howell in THE HITCHER
Franka Potente in RUN LOLA RUN
Dustin Hoffman in MARATHON MAN
James Stewart in REAR WINDOW
Carey Grant in NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Chris Evans in CELLULAR
Nicolas Cage in RED ROCK WEST
Linda Hamilton in THE TERMINATOR
Joaquin Phoenix in CLAY PIGEONS


filmy
 
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Other examples although NOT necessarily better:

C. Thomas Howell in THE HITCHER
Franka Potente in RUN LOLA RUN
Dustin Hoffman in MARATHON MAN
James Stewart in REAR WINDOW
Carey Grant in NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Chris Evans in CELLULAR
Nicolas Cage in RED ROCK WEST
Linda Hamilton in THE TERMINATOR
Joaquin Phoenix in CLAY PIGEONS
Click to expand...

Dennis Weaver in DUEL
Robert Redford in THE DAY OF THE CONDOR
Jim Carrey in THE MASK (well, maybe a bit of a stretch)
 
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That's exactly how I started out...

Nutz said:
Right now I am currently trying to write a script... I have great comical settings, characters, scenes... but unfortunately I don't have a plot. The reason I don't have a plot is that most of the movie is based on personal experiences between four people. I know, this sounds like a horrible approach to a movie to build scenes with no purpose, but we have no idea for direction. I don't want to make a movie that had some plot shoved into a bunch of scenes but it's so hard when most of our jokes will be sketch comedy. So, I have been watching a few comedy movies looking for inspiration. Maybe Supertroopers shouldn't be my first choice, but I knew the Broken Lizards was started by a bunch of friends. After watching that and reading what you said.... none of the characters really have this overcoming challenges theme. It was more like a goal oriented movie (getting enough publicity to beat out the local cops). Another movie that seemed to not really follow this idea was Dumb and Dumber. Obviously those two had a lot of flaws, but they never overcome them... If you could maybe give me some direction I would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...
PART 1 REPLY:

Don't feel bad... I think just about everyone starts out this way! From an idea... A character. An idea for a scene... Just about ANYTHING can germinate into an idea for a film...

Since you are more or less starting out this way, I highly recommend doing the following...

Figure out what the backdrop of your screenplay is... Then, research the hell out of it.

RESEARCH = AUTHENTICITY

During the research phase, you undoubtedly have some character ideas... Time to start developing them so these characters become real to you... I find (for me) that getting as much background information on my characters as possible starts to paint a picture of them for me... In fact, I go so far as to search through Google images to see if I can find someone that really reminds me of a specific character in my screenplay...

Feel free to use my character development forms here:

Character Development Form 1
Character Development Form 2

*NOTE: The above forms are simply a starting point on character development... These are just to make them a little more real to you... You've got to know your main characters as well as you know family members and friends...

Now take some 3 X 5 cards and jot down each scene idea you already have. You have got to PLOW through this exercise and don't stop until you've purged all the ideas for the film onto these 3 X 5 cards... You don't have to be super descriptive here... Just basic information that will TRIGGER your memory each time you look at them so YOU know exactly what that scene is about. William Goldman uses ONE WORD per scene... I'm not that good so I use a couple of sentences and usually try to include the location and whether or not it's an INT. or EXT.

Since you're just starting out... I would also recommend jotting down the conflict AND tension of that scene idea. What characters in that scene idea card is the conflict and or tension between? Write that down. Rate the conflict on a scale from 1 to 10. Rate the tension on a scale from 1 to 10. You'll probably come back to these later on but for now, just give it a conflict and tension rating... Ultimately, you want the scenes to reflect RISING CONFLICT and TENSION...

DEFINITIONS:

CONFLICT = Protagonist’s SUCCESS vs. FAILURE of attaining his/her goal. Remember, your Protagonist experiences SUCCESS when he/she advances toward or experiences any SUCCESS toward his/her goal. Alternately, your Protagonist experiences FAILURE when he/she is pushed farther away from, or experiences any FAILURE to reach his/her goal.

TENSION = Audience’s HOPE vs. FEAR of Protagonist’s achievement of goal. Remember, the audience experiences PLEASURE each time your story RELEASES their TENSION. Create TENSION and RELEASE it.

Fully EXHAUST all the scene ideas you have for your screenplay... Maybe there's a scene in some other film that you really like and want to use as a model for a scene in your screenplay/film... Write it down. Don't even worry about copying the scene at this point because you're just starting out...

Let's say that you have in fact exhausted all your scene ideas. Now it's time to lay out the cards... Either on a bulletin board, table, floor, or your bed... Whatever works.

Take a hard look at them... Try to figure out the best order for them. See what makes sense to YOU. Once you've got the order laid out, go back to your conflict ratings real quick to see if the numbers keep rising or at least stay consistently in the same number...

*NOTE: It's okay to go down a number or two every once in a while especially when you're releasing a little tension... But overall, you want RISING CONFLICT.

Now it's time to start SEWING.

Huh?

Let's say at this point, you've managed to come up with say... 24 scene idea cards laid out in the best order you can come up with at this time. Cool. Now you've got to fill in the gaps in between each scene idea card.

To get from one card to the next may require 3 to 5 more scene idea cards in between... This is where you have to try to be creative... You may have to set up an event that, when played out between the characters involved, ends up at an already created scene idea card... i.e., threading the needle between the scenes...

Since this is just an outline, don't worry too much about the in between scene ideas being poor ideas... Just come up with them... Now is the time to BRAINSTORM the in between scenes while everything is fresh... Don't sit there because you HATE the in between scene idea you just came up with... Don't just sit there because the scene idea you just came up with is one you copied from DIE HARD... Just go with it for now...

IT'S ALL GOOD... Just thread the friggin' needle!

End of PART 1 REPLY.

filmy
 
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That's exactly how I started out... (2)

Nutz said:
Right now I am currently trying to write a script... I have great comical settings, characters, scenes... but unfortunately I don't have a plot. The reason I don't have a plot is that most of the movie is based on personal experiences between four people. I know, this sounds like a horrible approach to a movie to build scenes with no purpose, but we have no idea for direction. I don't want to make a movie that had some plot shoved into a bunch of scenes but it's so hard when most of our jokes will be sketch comedy. So, I have been watching a few comedy movies looking for inspiration. Maybe Supertroopers shouldn't be my first choice, but I knew the Broken Lizards was started by a bunch of friends. After watching that and reading what you said.... none of the characters really have this overcoming challenges theme. It was more like a goal oriented movie (getting enough publicity to beat out the local cops). Another movie that seemed to not really follow this idea was Dumb and Dumber. Obviously those two had a lot of flaws, but they never overcome them... If you could maybe give me some direction I would greatly appreciate it.
Click to expand...
PART 2 REPLY:

Once you've threaded all the scene ideas together, CONGRATULATIONS! Now the HARD WORK BEGINS.

Take all your completed scene idea cards and go to the following IndieTalk thread:

filmy's 4 Act Structure and read through it a few times... Let it sink in.

Now download all the forms... *NOTE: I'm currently migrating from one server to another so if you have problems downloading, just PM me with your email address and I'll email them to you as an attachment.

After downloading all the forms, get familiar with them... Print them out. Take the graph and tape it to a wall... Keep it in front of you.

By now, you should be able to come up with a logline for your screenplay/film... Write that down on a 3 X 5 card and keep it with you... Take it out and look at it several times a day. Read it before you go to bed at night. Run your movie from start to finish in your head right before you go to sleep. Your brain is the projector.

Take the 4 Act Structure MEAT .pdf file and compare it to your fully laid out scene idea cards. Does most of it compare? A lot of it probably does.

Take a new stack of 3 X 5 cards and start from the beginning... You are now going to create a PLOT POINT CARD that corresponds to both your scene idea card as well as the 4 Act Structure MEAT file. For every scene idea card that DOES correspond to the MEAT file, write it out and lay it down. If, when comparing your cards to the MEAT file, you see that you've left something out... CREATE IT. At this point, don't worry about conflict ratings... Just get the order (the structure) of your scenes laid out according to the 4 Act Structure. You're going to find that you'll have to create some new cards and possibly throw out a few... No problem. Just do it. *NOTE: Don't actually throw them away... Just get a rubber band and stick them all together... You might use them later on.

Keep working on the new PP cards... Describe each plot point on a card that corresponds to each step of the 4 Act Structure in the MEAT file but FOLLOW your scene idea cards... Like I said, a lot of your current cards are going to fit right into the structure...

Some won't.

Keep going... Keep creating.

FINISH.

This could take a day to several weeks... So don't get discouraged...

Once you've got your entire screenplay mapped out (structured) on all the new 3 X 5 PP cards, CONGRATULATIONS again!

Take a week off from the PP cards and go back to do some more research and character development because by now, all the newly completed PP cards have triggered and sparked even more new ideas for your story/screenplay...

*NOTE: I highly recommend keeping a small digital recorder with you with at least 2 hours or more of recording time. This way, as you perform your research, develop your characters, thread the needle with your scene idea cards and later, map out your screenplay according to the 4 Act Structure, you'll be able to IMMEDIATELY record all the new ideas that literally will POP into your head. Please don't try to remember these ideas... Instead, record them and transcribe them onto new cards later on... Some of these ideas could be simple backstory ideas, location ideas, prop ideas... Whatever... Once you transcribe these ideas onto 3 x 5 cards, simply stick these next to the existing scene idea cards they correspond with.

Okay... A week has passed by and it's time to lay out the completed cards once again... Do you still like the order? If not, time to brainstorm and rearrange keeping the 4 Act Structure in mind.

Again, this could take less than an hour or you might find the entire order out of whack. Work on it.

Congratulations... You've finally got the "working order" or "STRUCTURE" of your screenplay complete.

Now what?

Now go through each PP card IN ORDER and rate the conflict... Does it escalate (preferable)? Now rate the tension. Does that escalate? If not, try to figure out ways to increase the conflict and tension of that particular plot point card and write a new card to replace it.

If you've kept the conflict and tension IN MIND as you completed all the above, this may go quickly... On the other hand, it might not. Don't worry about it... Just get it done.

Keep reworking the PP cards until you're happy with the final structure of your screenplay. Once you are in fact happy, it's time to type a couple of words...

FADE IN:

filmy
 
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I realize that It has been a long time since the last post and I apologize.

I have a question. I have completed a supernatural thriller set on an American Army base in vietnam era Germany.

My main character is the youngest of two kids, his role in the family is the young kid who doesn't know what he is talking about, regardless of what he has to say.

He gets cut off, talked over and doesn't get heard very often. This has informed the very core of his being, he is easily pushed aside by nearly everyone he meets. As the story progresses he is put in a situation where he must step up call the shots and save the day. For that kind of a character arc what type of mud dragging should I do? Since he is an army man with no "power", would having him being berated and made to feel worthless be "dragging him through the mud"? A supernatural thriller/horror is not typically known for intense character development but It is my goal to make the best screenplay possible, regardless of genre.

I understand that my question may be vague and difficult but If anyone has any advise for me I would appreciate it. I would get further into the plot so a better level of understanding could be attained if necessary.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Dragging him through the mud...

caseyhein said:
I realize that It has been a long time since the last post and I apologize.

I have a question. I have completed a supernatural thriller set on an American Army base in vietnam era Germany.

My main character is the youngest of two kids, his role in the family is the young kid who doesn't know what he is talking about, regardless of what he has to say.

He gets cut off, talked over and doesn't get heard very often. This has informed the very core of his being, he is easily pushed aside by nearly everyone he meets. As the story progresses he is put in a situation where he must step up call the shots and save the day. For that kind of a character arc what type of mud dragging should I do? Since he is an army man with no "power", would having him being berated and made to feel worthless be "dragging him through the mud"? A supernatural thriller/horror is not typically known for intense character development but It is my goal to make the best screenplay possible, regardless of genre.

I understand that my question may be vague and difficult but If anyone has any advise for me I would appreciate it. I would get further into the plot so a better level of understanding could be attained if necessary.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

caseyhein,

Without knowing more about your story, it is difficult to speculate on this particular Protagonist but it SOUNDS as if you're painting this character's ORDINARY WORLD as one where he's been talked over and shoved aside his entire life.

So maybe joining the Army is somehow his way of giving himself some kind of level playing field... After all, the military is a team, right? As a member of a team, you would THINK you'd have more of a chance to be heard but obviously your character isn't finding this to be true.

Why? Because it IS the Army...

Now the problem I have at this point is I don't know WHY your character is in the Army but I'm going to take a STAB and assume it has something to do with this entire "always getting shoved aside" problem and if that does not have anything to do with the reason, you MAY consider making it at least somewhat part of the reason. And when I say part of the reason, I'm talking INTERNALLY as in driven by a personal theme to be heard -- to have respect.

And if that is true enough... Then dragging him through the mud in the Army should be a piece of cake... Sure, he's a member of the team SO TO SPEAK but you've gotta EARN YOUR PLACE in the team and maybe that's what he needs to be figuring out along the way...

In other words... He's still getting shoved aside and talked over because he's not yet earned his place.

Once he does earn his place, he discovers that he now has a FOOTHOLD of respect but a foothold that needs to be kept being built upon in order to maintain it.

As with anything in life -- it's never ending.

I can see this slow progression of maintaining the foothold eventually lead him to quit taking shit from his family as well if you work it that way.

Make sense?

Good luck with it...

filmy
 
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Actually he is in the army because he was drafted. Its the vietnam era, he isn't the military type, and frankly is a fish out of water. Now this isn't a military screenplay, thats just the catalyst that brings him to Germany.

The story is man vs. supernatural. He is put in a situation where he must stand up and fight or they will all die.
 
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Hum, just read this thread (new Premiere member!)
So fresh eyes, and if you don't mind a noobs ideas..

I would challenge your assumption of a military man of no power.

I think the military training fits the character arc model very well. In fact, as these concepts are universal, It makes sense that it would. Do some basic research into the psychology of military training if you like.


Seems a new recruit in basic training is broken down, the lowest of the low, worthless etc. As he progresses through his training he earns respect, and is given more power. First over his own life, then over the lives of others.. its not just a personal thing, but contracted within the military culture. It is expected for the recruit to rise in the ranks, and as he does so more respect and more power is granted.

That said, you character may be blocked in his personal, as well as military career, development at the stage where he has power over self (a step up from being a kid)but has not yet transitioned to power over others.. in other words he is NO leader.. yet..

your conflict takes place at this time in his life... His military advancement, or lack their of, becomes the manifestation of this blockage, or obsticle that he must overcome. Stepping up, taking charge, becoming the leader is required for his career advancement as well as the ultimate victory of thwarting the forces of evil... which if we work backwards, is the REASON he is in he military in the first place, to battle evil..
 
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