Stories where the MC is weak

[LibraryOgre]

In the first Kushiel series (Kushiel's Dart, Kushiel's Chosen, Kushiel's Avatar), Phèdre nó Delaunay is a trained courtesan. He special power is that being in pain makes her horny. Her protector, Joscelin Verreuil, is a member of an order of monks whose fighting style is considered to be second to none, and he is the best among them (in the 2nd book, there is a final combat between him and another member of his order that is, IMO, a great example of the 1e "Monks who fight for advancement" combat). Her best friend from childhood becomes a demigod with power over the British Channel. She regularly hangs out with people of immense temporal power... kings, queens, etc.

But, time and again, she's shown to be untrained and not really interested when it comes to fighting.

(I have an essay on Tumblr about how this is KINDA messed up, especially when you get to the second series and her adopted son is almost immediately taught several fighting styles; the D'angelines pretend to have gender equality, but you seldom see it

https://libraryogre.tumblr.com/post/159699129013/dangelines-heteronormativity-and-gender-roles)

[Sinewmire]

One of my favourite Warhammer Fantasy novels starred Angelika Fleischer, a humble battlefield looter by trade. She makes a living scavenging from the battles in the borders of the empire and by living with almost no capacity for weakness. Or so she'd like to think. There is almost nobody in the stories weaker (she knows the basics of how to fight, but she is *not* a fighter) or worse equipped than her (she only carries a knife - she doesn't want to look like a threat) and has to win through quick-thinking, understanding of the realities of the situation and outside help.

She likes it when the Orks win and slaughter the humans, because they don't generally bother to loot all that much, although she acknowledges she wouldn't like it if that won overall.

Honour of the Grave was the first one, although Sacred Flesh was the best, I think.

[Floogal]

Nodwick, arguably the main character from the comic of the same name. It's finished, can be viewed online for free here:
http://comic.nodwick.com/?comic=2001-01-01

It's a comedic, fantasy parody of a D&D-type world, similar to Order of the Stick, but more episodic. The main team is a cleric, a wizard, a fighter, and Nodwick, the henchman. His role and physical capability pretty much amounts to being able carry all their loot, his "super strength" can only be used in this capacity and is just played for laughs. If any combat or danger happens, he usually accomplishes nothing more than being beaten up & patched back together afterwards by the cleric.

However, Nodwick is often the one to save the day with a winning plan. He's not particularly brilliant, just often most others are clueless or oblivious. So just asking a sensible question or being observant about an opponent's weakness is often how much it takes.

Not to say that the other three teammates don't have their day in the limelight, but Nodwick feels like the main protagonist the most.

[Psyren]

Skeeve, from Robert Aspirin's "Myth" series.

Someone else read these! Although I think I only got to read Myth-Adventures and Mything-Persons...

[TeChameleon]

Hah- I suppose Nodwick would definitely count. Tyler Marlocke, of PS238 (by the same author, and readable on the same site) is the child of two of the world's most powerful superheroes, and has the rather questionable superpower of being utterly unable to get superpowers by any means, at least that his parents could figure out, and they've been trying for his entire short life to do so, as they consider it to be the 'will of the universe' for him to join them amidst the quasi-pantheon of great supers. He's arguably the main character of the series, which revolves around the first public elementary school for superhumans. It's a fun series, made with a lot of love for the superhero genre. And Tyler is definitely the weakest of the main cast, being an entirely ordinary first(-ish?) grader, although he's got rather more common sense than many of those around him.

[Telwar]

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time has characters frequently thrust into situations that they aren't equipped for. (Especially the human characters). With predictable yet somehow satisfying consequences.

And I'll second that, also because it's a damn good series, so long as you like a touch of horror*. It's even mostly hard SF, with a little magic nanotech.

Also, Adrian Tchaikovsky is a good damn author anyway. His longest series, Shadows of the Apt, one of the main characters, Cheerwell (Che) is introduced as being not-terribly-competent as compared to literally anyone else she associates with, and of course there's a reason for it, and it does get resolved, but not for a long time. I liked the series enough that, before the latter books became available on Kindle, I literally ordered copies from England, at a ridiculous cost.

* - TBH, Children of Ruin has what's probably the single most terrifying sequence I've read this millennium.

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"We're going on an adventure!"

[DeTess]

The Malazan book of the fallen might qualify. It's an epic fantasy series with a massive cast of main characters. Some of them are pretty darn good soldiers. And some of them would make an optimized epic level dnd 3.5 wizard feel inadequate. Yet the weaker characters tend to pull as much narrative weight thanks to a combination of guile and guts.

[paddyfool]

And I'll second that, also because it's a damn good series, so long as you like a touch of horror*. It's even mostly hard SF, with a little magic nanotech.

Also, Adrian Tchaikovsky is a good damn author anyway. His longest series, Shadows of the Apt, one of the main characters, Cheerwell (Che) is introduced as being not-terribly-competent as compared to literally anyone else she associates with, and of course there's a reason for it, and it does get resolved, but not for a long time. I liked the series enough that, before the latter books became available on Kindle, I literally ordered copies from England, at a ridiculous cost.

* - TBH, Children of Ruin has what's probably the single most terrifying sequence I've read this millennium.

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"We're going on an adventure!"

My sole encounter with Adrian Tchaikovsky's writing has been Children of Time and Children of Ruin, but I've enjoyed them. Would Shadows of the Apt be the work you'd most recommend, or is there something else you'd recommend more?

[Telwar]

Shadows of the Apt is the setting he's put the most into, with 10 novels and 4 sets of short stories. It's a little weird, in that the people are humans with basically insect totems as their fantasy races (Beetlefolk are tough and industrious, wasps are raging *******s, antfolk have a hivemind, etc), and the setting is torn between races that can use technology (the Apt) and the ones that can use magic (the Inapt). Tech is basically clockwork-punk.

Start with Empire in Black and Gold and see what you think!

[Lord Torath]

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. (also the rest of the series)

Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson is a 30-ish year-old Volkswagon mechanic who can instantly turn into a 35-pound coyote. She's got good night vision, exceptional hearing and an awesome sense of smell. She's also just a hair faster than any human has a right to be. She's surrounded by a pack of werewolves who turn from humans (110 lbs - 200 lbs generally) into 250-300 lbs wolves that heal super fast (unless wounded by silver), have excellent hearing, exceptional strength (in human or wolf form), and generally look upon lowly coyotes as intruders in their territory. There are also vampires, which singly are generally a match for any two werewolves, and the Fae, many of whom are weak, but enough of whom are much stronger than Mercy, and have magical powers to boot.

The Chronicles of Elantra (Cast in Shadow, Courtlight, Secret, Fury, Silence, etc.) features 18-19 year-old Kaylin Neya, a human Private in the police force in a world where the Empire is ruled by a dragon (and his dragon court), there are Barrani everywhere (think Peter Jackson Tolkien elves, only far, far more arrogant, and assassination features very prominently in their politics, plus they love to play with magic), her Sergeant is a Leontine (humanoid lions that can rip out your throat and are generally an even match for a barrani), and the aerians, humans with feathered wings who can fly in heavy armor (well, some of them can, with training).

Someone else read these! Although I think I only got to read Myth-Adventures and Mything-Persons...

Dude, you've got to track down the rest of the books. They are a hoot! You are missing out.

[LibraryOgre]

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. (also the rest of the series)

Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson is a 30-ish year-old Volkswagon mechanic who can instantly turn into a 35-pound coyote. She's got good night vision, exceptional hearing and an awesome sense of smell. She's also just a hair faster than any human has a right to be. She's surrounded by a pack of werewolves who turn from humans (110 lbs - 200 lbs generally) into 250-300 lbs wolves that heal super fast (unless wounded by silver), have excellent hearing, exceptional strength (in human or wolf form), and generally look upon lowly coyotes as intruders in their territory. There are also vampires, which singly are generally a match for any two werewolves, and the Fae, many of whom are weak, but enough of whom are much stronger than Mercy, and have magical powers to boot.

Though, later in the series, she starts to realize she has powers necromancers would kill for, and she's got Coyote's Own Luck....

[Lord Torath]

Though, later in the series, she starts to realize she has powers necromancers would kill for, and she's got Coyote's Own Luck....

She's a Main Character Protagonist. All main character protagonists get Coyote's Own Luck! Except for Ned Stark. He didn't get it.

Also, her vaunted necromancer powers really just mean she can talk to and command ghosts. Any other undead are immune to her powers. She does have minor resistance to vampire and fae magic. The more powerful the magic, the more likely it is to affect her.

[LibraryOgre]

She's a Main Character Protagonist. All main character protagonists get Coyote's Own Luck! Except for Ned Stark. He didn't get it.

Also, her vaunted necromancer powers really just mean she can talk to and command ghosts. Any other undead are immune to her powers. She does have minor resistance to vampire and fae magic. The more powerful the magic, the more likely it is to affect her.

As of Storm Breaking, this is shown to be less of a limitation. Major undead (vampires)? Still immune. Lesser undead, though...

[Lord Torath]

As of Storm Breaking, this is shown to be less of a limitation. Major undead (vampires)? Still immune. Lesser undead, though...

Oh, that's right. I forgot about her growth in her powers near the end. Also:

Miniature Zombie Goats

[137beth]

I'll recommend two stories from two different mediums.

The first is the fantasy webcomic Far to the North by Allison Shaw. The main character, Kelu, has no superhuman abilities. She is significantly stronger than an average human, but she probably wouldn't seem out of place in the real-world Olympics. As a character, though, Kelu is very strong: her personality and her drive to help others in need pull the story along.
The world Kelu lives in has other creatures who clearly have superhuman strength and powers, notably goblins and dragons, who play a significant role in the plot, but Kelu remains the main character. Also, Shaw's take on both goblins and dragons is (IMO) interesting and very different from goblins or dragons in any other story I've read. Unfortunately, I can't really say how they are different without it being a massive spoiler.


The second is the musical Starship, with music and lyrics by Darren Criss, and book by Matt and Nick Lang, Brian Holden, and Joe Walker. The original production was staged in Chicago in 2011, and it was filmed live and released on Youtube for free.
Starship is a parody of the science fiction genre, and there are significant aspects of the plot that parody Alien, Star Trek, and A Bug's Life (though all the characters are original: they aren't direct analogues of characters from other franchises). The fact that the Lang Brothers managed to weave all of them into a single cohesive story is really impressive, IMO.
The main character is Bug, a bug who lives on Bugworld. As the name suggests, Bugworld is inhabited mainly by giant anthropomorphic bugs, although there are also small herd mammals (the bugs reproduce Xenomorph-style using the mammals). While most bugs are content to work as part of the hive, doing whatever the Overqueen tells them to do, Bug longs to be something more: a Starship Ranger.
18 years before the musical takes place, a starship from the distant planet of Earth crashed on Bugworld. The humans in the ship were Starship Rangers: explorers whose mission is to travel where no man has gone before. While they crashed long before Bug was born, he has visitied the wreckage of the starship and is now obsessed with humans and Starship Rangers.

Like all other musicals produced by this group, Starship mixes some serious character growth with a lot of silly and outlandish events and characters. If you don't like that kind of thing, you can safely pass on this.

As to the actual topic of the thread, Starship fits because Bug is the main character, and his motivation drives the entire plot. However, he is physically much weaker than other characters, including Pincer (another bug), Taz and Up (humans described as "supersoldiers") and Mega Girl (a sentient robot).

[Precure]

It's usual for Purikyua MCs to be weaker than their companions.

[Radar]

Sumomomo Momomo:
the MC is the only son of one of the most powerful martial artists in the whole Japan and bound to unite by marriage two martial arts factions. The thing is, the MC does not train and does not even want to - he aspires to be a lawyer. Him being weak and the importance of hiding this from everyone is one of the key points driving the plot. Later on it turns out that

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he actually has no potential to be stronger then an average human, which comes as a huge surprise given his heritage. The reason for this is explained only very near the end of the series.

[Cikomyr2]

Anyone mentionned Willow?

[moonfly7]

Anyone mentionned Willow?

Yeah, and the sequel book series. Great movie though. I've got some fond memories of that.

[Cikomyr2]

Yeah, and the sequel book series. Great movie though. I've got some fond memories of that.

I do too.

And I have absolute nightmares about the movie. The pig turning scene still makes my skin crawl.

[Lord Torath]

Bitterblue, in the novel Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. She's a regular 16-year-old girl (okay, queen) in a land were many people are born with mismatching eyes, indicating they have some magical power, and are called Gracelings. She's surrounded by several other gracelings, and is trying to put her kingdom back together after her father (who had the grace of telling contagious lies that would be believed by anyone who heard them) darn near ruined it.

It's the third book in a series with MCs who are not weaker than everyone else around them.

River Secrets by Shannon Hale features a short, scrawny Razo, 16-17 years old, and shorter (except when he combs his hair straight up) than his 14-year-old sister. He's the worst swordsman in his unit, he's not good at wrestling, and the troops in the "friendly" foreign unit his is teamed up with all out-weigh him substantially. Plus, the girl serving the ambassador they're escorting can "bend" wind and fire.

[Spike_99]

Sorry, I'm kind of late to this party, but I wanted to respond...

A more borderline case is Alex Verus. He's an incredibly competent guy, a skilled fighter, and potentially the best in his field of magic. However, his magic is divination, seeing into the branching future, and has little to no direct effect in combat with people who can light the entire room on fire with their minds, shrug off being run over by a truck, heal or kill with a touch (or at range in some cases), or control minds. Practically speaking, he is always relying on fast thinking, forethought, and generally knowing more than his enemies, rather than brute force.

I wouldn't call Alex Verus a borderline case. He is incredibly competent at hand to hand combat, but he isn't the best in his field. I think Alaundo and Helikaon are better diviners. He is in the top 5 or 6 diviners in Britain, but I think even he would acknowledge that he's not the best one.

Alex can use his magic to counter battle mages who could wipe the floor with his ass in a fair fight. So, he does what he can to make sure it's not a fair fight. I think Jim Butcher said of Dresden one time that "fair fights are for suckers" and Alex definitely adheres to that point of view. But, all of that said, Alex isn't invulnerable. He has been hurt & nearly killed because his magic does have its limitations.

I think Alex does fit the moonfly7's request very well. He said:

I'm looking for suggestions for stories where the main character isn't just weak, but is clearly and inordinately out classed by everyone else, especially his own friends and/or love interest. I'm not asking for a whiny crybaby main character(midorya I'm looking at you) in fact I despise those. I'd prefer suggestions where the protagonist is creative and smart and makes themselves useful in spite of their inherent ability gap.

Alex fits this almost perfectly:

• He is vastly outclassed by nearly everyone else
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  His love interest in the later books vastly outclasses him & could kill him in an instant
• He is smart and makes himself very useful in spite of being vastly outclassed by most other mages

[monomer]

The Protagonist from The Magic Engineer (Book 3 of The Recluce Saga by L. E. Modessit Jr.) starts out pretty weak, where he begins as a barely trained magician who just doesn't have the knack for the magic his father is teaching him, and would rather spend his time learning about blacksmithing and dreaming about inventing machines. He is also a poor fighter and can barely ride a horse when he sets out on his adventure.

In the rest of the Recluce books that I've read, the protagonist is generally a perfect specimen of the species who can fight like a demon, learns everything immediately, and can adapt magic to their needs effortlessly. I exaggerate a bit, though this is especially true for Book 2, while for Book 1 the protagonist takes a little time to get up to speed since he wasn't even sure that magic existed before going out on his adventure.

[Radar]

I am not sure, if this example was already mentioned, but Rincewind from Discworld is a wizard by name only and even that is a self-proclaimed title as he never graduated from the Unseen University. He is a professional coward who can scream for mercy in nineteen languages and just scream in another forty-four. He has pretty solid stamina as he is used to run away all the time but not much else.

[Razade]

Has anyone mentioned Ichigo from Bleach at all? Because he's a contender in all the wrong ways and is easily the least effective and useful shonen hero I can think of. At no point does he take on any serious threat after the Saving Rukia arc, the enemies he fights from then on are are mid-tier compared to the rest of the villains running around. None of the Arrancar he fights rank in the top slots, he doesn't actually beat Aizen, he just weakens him so another character's previous attacks can seal the deal and he doesn't beat the final villain in the absolutely gods awful final arc. His kid does. For all the pomp they give Ichigo throughout the series, the entire story would probably be better if he never interfered. From denying Aizen the very tool he needed to pretty much every other major event.

[Vinyadan]

Has anyone mentioned Ichigo from Bleach at all? Because he's a contender in all the wrong ways and is easily the least effective and useful shonen hero I can think of. At no point does he take on any serious threat after the Saving Rukia arc, the enemies he fights from then on are are mid-tier compared to the rest of the villains running around. None of the Arrancar he fights rank in the top slots, he doesn't actually beat Aizen, he just weakens him so another character's previous attacks can seal the deal and he doesn't beat the final villain in the absolutely gods awful final arc. His kid does. For all the pomp they give Ichigo throughout the series, the entire story would probably be better if he never interfered. From denying Aizen the very tool he needed to pretty much every other major event.

Ichigo felt weird. He started off with something like "unusually oversized sword = unusually oversized power", but then it didn't feel like it mattered.

[Celestia]

Has anyone mentioned Re:Zero? It is a deliberate deconstruction of the standard isekai fantasy, so the main protagonist is, in fact, the weakest character in the entire show. His only superpower is being forced to confront his own failure as a human so that he can learn to be a better person.

I'll also mention Konosuba which is similar to Re:Zero in a lot of ways but chooses to comment on the genre as comedic parody. Still, the main protagonist is remarkably weak and has to get by with his wits and luck. Though, his companions are only technically stronger than him as they are all quite useless.

[Xyril]

She's a Main Character Protagonist. All main character protagonists get Coyote's Own Luck! Except for Ned Stark. He didn't get it.

I would argue that Ned Stark wasn't really a main character protagonist. Especially if you take the series as a whole, he seems to fit more of the Mentor/Death by Original Story trope (somewhere in between Uncle Ben and Obi-wan) where his lasting impact is how his death spurred the main characters into their narrative journeys, while his life and example shaped what those journeys would look like.

I remember the first time I read an interview where GRRM described the decision to kill him off, he talked about how it was deliberately meant to subvert expectations. I don't think he explicitly articulated it this way way, but my general impression was choosing to make him a POV character, and spending so much the first book on him, was a deliberate fake out meant to evoke all of the trappings of the Hero Protagonist, and all of the plot armor that normally implies.

[CharonsHelper]

Skeeve, from Robert Aspirin's "Myth" series.

Someone else read these! Although I think I only got to read Myth-Adventures and Mything-Persons...

The first 5 or so were awesome. After (I think) Myth Inc. I lost interest, as what I enjoyed was seeing everything from Skeeve's flawed perspective, not bouncing around and seeing 8 different viewpoints in a 120 page book.

And yes, especially in the first two Skeeve wasn't that strong. (though by late in the 2nd he wasn't a pushover) Even after that he was a low level mage in a world where high tier magic existed, but not everyone had any magic at all.

[Kitten Champion]

I don't recall where I stopped in Aspirins' work, but after a few books I found the humour to be kind of bland and repetitive. There's a lot of "it's funny because these fantasy characters are acting like Italian mafia stereotypes" that can be charming to a point but he uses it rather ubiquitously.

Also, once Skeeve reached a certain level of personal development he loses a lot of his relatability. He begins as a mild-natured every-man dragged by a somewhat amoral dimension-hopping quick-talking con-artist into increasingly dangerous situations, which supplies much of the humour for the first books. Once he loses his naivete and gets into the game, it's just not as funny. Which, yes, it's entirely reasonable that he would grow into the role over the events of books, but there's also something to be said for ending your story when you reach a natural conclusion to your main character's arc.