The perfect personality for my main character

[Fogged_Creation]

So, I've got this protagonist whose name is Chaden, though his real birth name is Chad. And I need your guys' help.

Let us start with the basics.
Chaden is a human in a fantasy-esque world with a customized magic system that has an emphasis on real-life science and miracles, the comparison in the era of the world wouldn't necessarily start off to be entirely medieval or completely modern either, Chaden is going to travel the world and discover the many different cultures and regions that the world has to offer.
There's going to be unique people, art, buildings, rules, beliefs, conflicts, alliances and much much more, he's going to stumble upon metropolises that encourage high technological advancements, other places that encourage tribalistic natures, places that avoid the use of magic, kingdoms that still encourage royalty as rulers, it's like 1800 except the whole world of civilization is mixed with a bunch of different ideas and uses for their magic. I also won't forget to make it consistent and il think about what effects the ability to wield magic would cause in the world, so of course, there would be prisons that try to nullify magic, villages will have.. "medieval fire extinguishers" so that it's not so easy to burn down a village willy nilly, and specialized guards that can counter magic and subdue mage criminals easier.

(Just in case you're suffering from tl;dr syndrome, or simply because you just want to get straight to the point of who my protagonist is and what he does, you can skip the general summary of how the magic system of my world is going to work down to the next line of text that is shown in bold letters a few paragraphs ahead, like this: "Here."
Otherwise, do hear me out on my magic system, maybe there's something crucial that I've missed that you could point out to me!)

"To explain how my magic system is going to work, let's explain the 3 main different magics that will exist".
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(Mages, Scientists, Wizards, ect...) can wield the many different atoms and elements in the periodic table and be able to wield and infuse heavier elements the more powerful they are at controlling.
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(Priests, Clerics, Shamans, ect...) from many different religions and beliefs can perform miracles that would manifest from their faith, while there would be limitations, it comes more of how much they believe in it, making it stronger as a result.
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(Warlocks, Dark mages, Sorcerers, ect...) could be wielding the mysterious power of dark matter/energy, where the more they understand this dark magic, the more powerful their spells may become.

What I've done here already feels like a sci-fi explanation for a fantasy magic system, where maybe mages can control the elements using staves with concentrated magnetic fields, or maybe they use their minds to do it, maybe the use of catalysts enforces better concentration on the "magic", ect, ect...
So basically I've broken down 3 major key magic powers that can be entirely used in many different ways in many different cultures, tactics, religions, laws and whatnot.

Just in case you had trouble understanding, let us take a bard for example from D&D. They harness their love and passion upon their music and travels that makes them manifest miracles if they truly believe that it will work, like singing a song with the intention to calm and boost morale in his mind would have chances of affecting those who hear it as well with the positive effects.
Let's also take one more example and il be out your hair, haha. Take warlocks from D&D (D&D is famous and wonderful to take examples from for fantasy systems) They put their faith upon a patron, could be otherwordly, alien, mysterious entity, ect... What would happen here is when there are enough participants who believe in such a patron would actually make it so it was truly a real thing that exists, and with their faith, they could manifest powers which fit with the theme of the god that they believe in. So when enough people believe hard enough, the manifestation that is believed to be a reality of the religion can exist and depend on their intentions, it could even be used as a power to raise the dead or bring emotional fear or anger like Cthulhu. Perhaps they have it like they require sacrifice, a cost in order for their powers to work. And could also have them manifest dark matter thanks to their patron that they believe in (which could influence the science-fictional use of dark matter, like using it to manifest portals and whatnot).
(I can't even begin to imagine how I could create the cult of the flying spaghetti monster a reality here, but it's entirely possible with this magic system set in stone, makes me chuckle thinking about it.)

I'm also planning on adding the somewhat typical mythological creatures to exist in my world since I'm not sure if only a human's world would fit the deal for an epic fantasy.
I'm thinking things like goblins and trolls. Slimes and ghosts (unnatural phenomena and entities), golems, the rare giants and dragons and possibly some added variants of humanoid/intelligent races that have participated at least somewhat into building a civilisation.

And so basically, I made things more simple... I think. The only difference is how the different cultures use magic and what is done with them as a result of exposure, with it, it's like roger bacon to be known in some places for the works of science and the bible existing but it has many different versions of it nearly all around the world, and the dark magic I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly, I didn't focus much thought on that yet, but il find out what it can be (cults and outcasts most likely perhaps).
I hope I was able to explain it well enough that you'd understand, most of the time when I try to explain these sorts of things to my friends I'm having to give like 20 different examples for them to actually understand! But hey, you people are good at this sort of stuff so I think you get my point, and I'm not here to write a poem of examples here. Do ask me any questions that you are confused about though.

(Here.)

Alright, so we didn't forget about Chaden, right? Haha, of course, you didn't. Now let me explain the research I've made about Chaden's prime personality, I did a Myers Briggs test using 16personalities.com and answered the questions on Chaden's behalf and behaved how I believe Chaden would have reacted and done, and at the end of that, I'd see that he was an ENFP personality type, meaning that he likes big ideas and is very energetic, and while extraverted he is quite independent, craving freedom and creativity and preferring to rely mostly on himself than with others too much.
While I know that this is a really important first step into finding a character's personality, I can't seem to find anything interesting to add on top of that. And by explaining a bit about what Chaden is in this story, perhaps you'll have the better eagle eye of seeing how Chaden's personality could fit better into my story, since so far his personality is not very interesting, he's like your typical... businessman. What I mean is that I want more depth in how he acts, but also at least somewhat relatable.

So to perhaps help in weeding out what wouldn't make sense and find at least a conclusive personality trait about him, I'm gonna talk a little bit about him.
Me from the future here: funnily enough, this is my third time typing this part down as I couldn't help but get off track and I just ended up talking about every single little detail about him and other things that brought little to no importance into bringing light to my primary question, anyway here goes again xD:

From the start to the end, these are Chaden's skills that he develops along his journey:
Chaden is an observant and tactful fighter who first learned how to survive in the wilds of nature. Learns first-aid as his profession, to then become an expert physician, then much later he becomes a trauma surgeon with an actual doctor's honor diploma. And finally a spiritual passion in woodcarving. With the coloring of paintings and looming of tapestries with the help of Chit (his friend)

So first and foremost, let's talk about how he progresses.
From the day that he was born, he had always been naturally perceptive, social and such a free and jolly spirit. And after the tragic event, he's been most naturally morose and depressed along his far and lonely travels, that is until he had met an unlikely friend who was an unnaturally intelligent spider, one he named "Chit" and one who wanted to learn about the world around her and become a full-fledged mage, unlike Chaden who was more of a fighter than anything. Using swords and axes, bows and crossbows and fists with brawn. He'd rather not spend his time being lectured about something he really isn't interested about, only is he ever interested in gathering knowledge as long as he gets to experience it for himself. For as he travels the many different regions, he tries to get friendly with many different people in hopes of finding people who can teach and offer knowledge that he finds interest in. Meeting old warriors who were more than happy to physically teach Chaden a few tricks, and even meeting famous physicians to learn how to handle wounded patience under the stress of time. He also prefers to handle things himself most of the time, not wanting to rely too much on anyone other than himself unless when it is necessary.
Just for Chit though, Chaden would go to libraries and read some books aloud for Chit to listen to, teaching her the basics of the common language until she could understand most of it. Then with a bit of convincing on Chit's part, he'd oblige to going into a college of magic so that she may learn how to use magic, Chaden spent most of his time sleeping in the middle of sessions while Chit, hidden somewhere in Chaden's hair, was able to gather and understand a great deal of the lectures, for she was truly passionate to learn magic that she quickly learned much, even learning how to psychically talk in someone's mind and also how to counter nullify magic nullifications. Chit would then secretly help Chaden in the tests in order to proceed to a higher level of magic learning. Often surprising most of the teachers, as it looked like this dude slept throughout the whole week of class and he almost got a perfect grade in the tests somehow.
(Oops, getting off track again)
Any sort of warmth brings him comfort, from the crackling embers of a campfire in the night. To the torch that lights the way in dark places. Even booze. His favorite being rum, which does make him feel woozy and warm inside; often not minding the consumption of alcohol.
He's the sort of person who won't take a risk if he thinks he'll lose, being more careful than a gambler.
The many many warriors that he's met along his travels teach and show many valuable things to Chaden, from bravery, strength, vigilance and understanding. He had started out somewhat cowardly and fearful about losing his life. And having not much skill in any important knowledge or fighting manoeuvres or any sort of smart moves. Though In time and with the help of the many warriors and physicists who he had met along his journey has proven to have been of tremendous help to Chaden's overall development to become braver, more skilled, more knowledgable, more moves, better trained. and most importantly, the love that he gives for his pet chicken. (Yup, he has a pet chicken that he befriended from the egg along his travels.)

Now... From what you could gather from Chaden's actions, what would you place/imagine Chaden's personality to be?
At that, I'd be glad to hear out your thoughts, also Chit is an INTJ, the architect in her Myers Briggs test. I believe she is the sort of creature who doesn't want to spend time shedding tears when you can just move on, plan, and strategise what comes in the future.

If you want more details, I'd be more than happy to oblige and help answer some questions that might help better understand my main character's unique personality
Thank you for reading, and thank you for your time. and at that, I happily await any sort of help that you can give me!

 

[Brian G Turner]

I don't think your character's personality is that important compared to their struggles. Personality is just about how the character reacts, but the internal struggles determine why.

If you want to learn more about that, try reading Save the Cat by Blake Synder.

 

[.matthew.]

I'm interested so I'm going to ask, for the heavy element magic does that mean that more powerful mages can affect the heavier elements or that they can manipulate a larger total mass? So could a really basic mage still control something like lead but in a much smaller quantity OR would a basic mage be limited to lighter elements controlling the same number of particles as a stronger one who could play with the heavier stuff?

 

[Fogged_Creation]

I'm interested so I'm going to ask, for the heavy element magic does that mean that more powerful mages can affect the heavier elements or that they can manipulate a larger total mass? So could a really basic mage still control something like lead but in a much smaller quantity OR would a basic mage be limited to lighter elements controlling the same number of particles as a stronger one who could play with the heavier stuff?

Oh I'm glad that you asked!
Well, you could say that it's a bit of both, mostly the first part you said though.
Hydrogen would become the high tale basics for magic as it is the lightest of the elements, and you would have to learn how to compress a few atoms of hydrogen as a start in order to learn how to control power.
And I'd say a really basic mage would first learn how to manipulate hydrogen and helium, then after a bit of motivation and practice, you can spend the time to then learn the second horizontal row of elements, from the important parts like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and neon.
And rather, I'd say that lead would be far too heavy to manipulate. As you need a certain threshold of electro magnetic power that is equal or over the weight of the elemental atom in order to even move it, and considering gravity is a thing that exists, you can add that in the mathematical equation as well.

But just as an example I can tell you that:

Let's say a wizard has enough power to manipulate silicon. Means that his power is now able to manipulate an atomic weight of at least 28.0855g.
And after reaching that threshold of possibility, his power can manipulate and compress multiple series of silicon atom particles, easier done when it is in the form of gas, but harder as a solid. But he would also have to train into compressing the atoms together and being able to hold them all without dropping, as instead it wouldn't be a problem on whether he can control those silicon atoms, but it is about how long he can keep up his power until he tires out.
Which is also why mana is going to mainly be water "H2O". And the mages harness the hydrogen out of their water to manifest Hydrogen missiles for example, that will look like those pinkish purple arcane missles.

Hope I answered your question!

 

[ginny]

Hi.
I skipped the magic system.
Went straight to the question.
You lost me at ENFP .

Not that I don't know what it is as much as I don't care as a reader.
What matters is that you know and that you are consistent and that when they deviate from that label--that you know why.
And they should in most cases deviate--but I'll let you find that out when you really start writing.

That gets me to the best advice for this question.

Start writing and find out.

 

[The Big Peat]

Do you have an ending in mind for his story? Or a planned arc?

 

[Richard-Allen]

hi,
You have a lot of details here. Your magic system seems to be a might confusing. The clerics and people who use religion as their source. The wizards and sorceress have their based on their dealing with the dark arts. Your main character you should simply try and put him on the page. His mental make up can he further explained as you introduce us to him, Your interest in the story is good. You have to heighten the interest in him.

 

[Margaret Note Spelling]

One thing I'm noticing is the sheer scope of things that Chaden will be dealing with as he goes on his journey. That's kind of a problem I ran into as well, in planning a large series with a single main character. Everyone is going to be a slightly different person depending on what situation they're dealing with at the time. People adapt constantly. And since so many different situations require so much adapting, it might be helpful to look for one thing in the character to keep constant throughout all of it. Some uniting principle. A goal, a belief, a character flaw, or just a psychological issue they continually manifest. A story as complex and wide-ranging as that will probably need some kind of grounding to keep readers caring as well as fascinated. It doesn't have to be in the main character, it could be in main theme, or main villain--but the focus seems to be heavily on Chaden, so I would go with that.

As far as ideas go...the main theme I'm picking up from what you wrote is learning. And that seems to be integral to your magic system as well, considering that the more dark mages understand about the magic, the more powerful they are, and that strong belief equals strong power.

With that in mind, maybe you could include a driving insatiable curiosity as part of Chaden's character. An absolute need to know things, to an extent that even frightens himself sometimes. To the point that it becomes an obsession, or even a character flaw. Perhaps he plunged into learning as a stimulation and method of coping with his past. Perhaps it's the old fear/helplessness vs. knowledge/control issue, made manifest in a very literal way in your world, and in order to fight his own feelings of fear and helplesness after the tragedy, Chaden becomes obsessed with becoming the most knowledgeable person he around.

And it still fits with his dislike of being "lectured" since he would simply prefer to learn things from experience, or on his own. A disdain for "book-learning" and theory, as opposed to practice, could be another aspect of him you could make stronger.

Basically, I suspect you have already have all the seeds you need for more and deeper character embedded within what you know about Chaden and his situation. Often all you need to do with a character (it's happened to me several times) is to pick a few of those details, examine it, and take it even farther, weaving in other details you find as you go. It's all there. Just look a little deeper. Ask why he does what he does, or is the way he is.

 

[Fogged_Creation]

Do you have an ending in mind for his story? Or a planned arc?

I believe I do have an imagined ending to his story!
"It's where Chad and Chitt are now living peacefully in their favourite forest inside of a cabin, and while someone is knocking at the door, Chaden opens carefully to see a truly willing warrior who wants to learn Chaden's ways, smiling as it would remind him of his young self in the past."
And then the story ends there, perhaps It can be different but it's one I feel is a perfect ending for his story anyway.

And as for the others, you are right! I have to place my ideas on paper and see how he turns out to be rather than thinking of every variable that there is. And I must also deeply thank Margaret for his ideas, having a thirst of knowledge does sound like my character perhaps! He does prefer to know his enemy before he engages so that he may survive and live anew. But not just for M. I thank the rest of you as well! I shall instead of fearing of my page showing a ridiculous Character, I shall re-do it again, find unique ideas and try and put them into play and all that. Really nice!

 

[JNG01]

Wow. That's an impressive amount of thought you've put into your system and character.

I have some training in the MBTI (the preference assessment you used). One thing of note is that ENFP is an atypical for a "hero" type, and, if I recall correctly, is underrepresented among C-suite level business leaders. The preference combination of N-F-P can lend itself to a fair degree of emotional impusive-ism. The E/N-P, if strongly expressed, can lead to a tendency for procrastination and discomfort with making important decisions alone. Of course, that assessment analyzes your character's preferences, and not their characteristics. Chaden can always act against his preferences and be decisive, prompt, rationalistic, etc., if he needs or wants to. But, and it may add some depth to your story, acting against preference would cause him some stress. Under stress, an ENFP may display some interesting patterns, like thinking out loud more than usual and, possibly, in a clumsy or immature way (Te tertiary function) or clinging irrationally to routines, habits, or traditions (Si inferior function). The stress tendency to cling to the past could form an interesting conflict with your desire for Chaden to be an insatiable learner.

The character you're describing would be a unique fit for a "quest" type story. I can see a character like that being perfect for a "discovery" tale like the one you are describing.

 

[The Big Peat]

I believe I do have an imagined ending to his story!
"It's where Chad and Chitt are now living peacefully in their favourite forest inside of a cabin, and while someone is knocking at the door, Chaden opens carefully to see a truly willing warrior who wants to learn Chaden's ways, smiling as it would remind him of his young self in the past."
And then the story ends there, perhaps It can be different but it's one I feel is a perfect ending for his story anyway.

And as for the others, you are right! I have to place my ideas on paper and see how he turns out to be rather than thinking of every variable that there is. And I must also deeply thank Margaret for his ideas, having a thirst of knowledge does sound like my character perhaps! He does prefer to know his enemy before he engages so that he may survive and live anew. But not just for M. I thank the rest of you as well! I shall instead of fearing of my page showing a ridiculous Character, I shall re-do it again, find unique ideas and try and put them into play and all that. Really nice!

I think if you've got an ending in mind, then maybe ask yourself what traits does beginning-Chaden and ending-Chaden have in common, and where they are different? I think that might help you.