Plot Armor, how to use it

[saintofm]

Currently working on a second story Idea I have been doing on and off while my main is going through some Beta Reading. While I do this in the main, the second story will focus more on how far I can push the MC's plot armor before the reader's drop their suspension of disbelief. 

To quote TV Tropes: 

Sometimes referred to as "Script Immunity" or a "Character Shield", Plot Armor is when a main character's life and health are safeguarded by the fact that he's the one person (or one of several) who can't be removed from the story. Therefore, whenever Bob is in a situation where he could be killed (or at the least very seriously injured), he comes out unharmed with no logical, In-Universe explanation.

IF there is an explanation in universe for it, its one thing (Superman's invulnerability, Wolverine's healing factor, Kratos being a God and they need to take a hell of a beating before they keelover). However if we get something like Indiana Jones surviving a Nuclear explosion in an old timey refrigerator, that's when we start poking fun of things. 

Made worse when they seem to survive impossible odds before but the script says they need to die now. A good example of this is how Kat dies in Halo: Reach. Minor spoilers, but she survives several incursions against the Covenant, a bridge being blown out as she is trying to get over it, your driving if you take the wheel of a warthog; her driving in a warthog, and even a nearby super heated death ray from a capital ship fireing near her. But she dies mid gripe to a needle riffle to the dome, despite the SPartain Armor and sheild should have kept her from getting killed that way. 


So how do we handle this without dropping he suspension of disbelief like its hot?





In my cases I have a few ways of dealing with this.

1. The hero does not come off unscathed. They are tricksy, they are tough, but they are not impossible to defeat. They can be worn, bloody, just moving along because they are fueled by Adrenalin and once that is done they pass out.

2. The enemy Underestimates them. Its a kid, so they don't put treat him like they would an adult. The ones that do take him seriously tend to lay down the hurt right then and there.

3. Have some humor. IN my Warhounds Series, one of the teachers tests the resilience of the armor the Main Character can generate out of thin air (common ability) with a tommy gun he conjures out of thin air (also common ability) and lets loose. The armor survives and the MC doesn't flinch as he grew up in a war zone and is used to this. So the teacher says: Phase 2, and proceeds to hit him with a conjured maul and imbeds the main character in a wall with one swing. 

How about 

[ScintillaMyntan]

I'm thinking we could see it as the character's life defining the plot instead of the other way around. If a character survives three life-threatening events, does meaningful stuff, and then dies in the fourth, that's a complete plot. If the same character survives all four life-threatening events, accomplishes a bit more, and then dies in the fifth, that's also a complete plot.

So when the character survives, I wouldn't treat it like it was a miraculous outcome so that they could fulfill the requirements of the plot. I would treat it like it happened that they survived, and the plot went on to unfold a certain way due to their survival, but they could well die in the next of their trials and wouldn't be able to continue their role.

[RAVENEYE]

I love this term, "plot armor." Never encountered it before.

Brings to mind the twin protags of my fantasy series. These twins are faced with horrible odds and go into battle soooo many times against an overwhelming enemy horde. One is nearly killed at the end of book 4, but (spoiler) his daughter is gifted with healing abilities. She is able to save several lives that otherwise would've ended earlier (until she's elsewhere and unavailable to keep people alive). The other brother (major spoiler) IS killed at the end of the last book, last battle. (LOTS of characters die during this battle actually).

This other brother (the one who dies) has probably enjoyed plot armor the most throughout the series. By the end, he's become a living legend, one that people dread, and so I found it very ironically appropriate that despite all his powerful abilities, he is slain by a single arrow at a time when he's weakened from earlier happenstance and when his healer niece is not available.

Jeez, I love re-reading that final book.

How do we handle this without dropping suspension of disbelief?

Good question. Most likely, there will always be overcritical readers who are able to see through the armor and pick it apart (my mother ruined lots of movies for me because of this overcritical trait). BUT if flaws/weaknesses/drawbacks/etc. are planted earlier in the plot, then the character's inability to overcome that final challenge will have a reason waiting in the wings. The way has been paved for less critical readers to believe the situation.

I don't go in for much outlining when it comes to plotting a story, BUT this is one of those things that, IMO, can't be purposefully accomplished by seat-of-the-pants writing. Unless one stumbles into it by a happy accident, some kind of planning has to have gone on behind the curtain.