A Little Help From My Friends: The Confidante
Some rambling explorations of this very old trope...
Good morning, threes of fans!
We're moving right along with my posts about side characters, and I'm extrapolating from last week's post about Sayana Tirzah to discuss what makes a good confidante. First of all, I have to talk about spelling, because I've seen "confidant" with and without the "e" at the end. Apparently it's kind of like the word "blond"--the "e" at the end is applied when it refers to a woman, but not when it refers to a man. So I guess this post is mostly about female confidantes. Since I made my post about the Lovable Rogue largely about men, I guess that's fair.
Anyhow...
Confidantes in Literature
Whereas the memorable Lovable Rogue is ubiquitous in literature, movies, and other storytelling, the list of candidates for Confidante is much shorter. I confess--I have a hard time thinking of favorite confidantes, and when I do, they often have other roles.
It's interesting that I have such a hard time thinking of well-known confidants since the trope has been around since the beginning of storytelling itself, showing up as early as The Aeneid. I think it's a popular trope in part because it's a good way to allow for exposition or bring the audience into secret knowledge without being heavy-handed.
I do think there are a lot of confidants in Jane Austen's stories, possibly because of the conventions of the time. It makes a lot more sense to have women confide in other women or men confide in other men in a world where the gender interactions were pretty controlled. Jane Bennet is certainly a confidante to Elizabeth, and Ms. Taylor is a confidante to Emma Woodhouse (who is, in turn, sort of a confidante to Harriet Smith).
There are certain characters who are confidants because of their general roles in the world--clergy, therapists, bartenders, hairdressers. In the fantastic movie Legally Blonde, Elle Woods finds a confidante in her hairdresser, who in turn confides in Elle. Coach and Sam Malone play confidante to some of the customers at Cheers, and for all their troubles, Frasier and Niles Crane are confidants to each other and to their clients.
I think a lot of confidants are somewhat limited in their roles, so maybe that's why I like how Jane Austen used the trope in Pride and Prejudice. While Jane Bennet is Elizabeth's confidante, she's also a character in her own right. She holds her feelings closely and tries not to burden her sister, but she has her own character arc as well.
The other thing Jane does is serve as foil for Elizabeth. Where Jane is naive and innocent, Elizabeth tends to be more critical and skeptical of human nature. Jane is not stupid by any stretch of the imagination, but Elizabeth is presented as the clever and witty sister. And while Jane will only walk to Netherfield because her mother insists that it's the best way to get caught in a storm and be forced to wait it out near a handsome bachelor, Elizabeth just walks because she likes to walk.
The confidant is a little different than the Best Friend. While there is a lot of overlap, I think sometimes it's good when a confidant isn't so emotionally tied to the character who needs to confide. Think about the therapist/clergy/bartender/hairdresser confidant--there's something about being a step (or more) removed from someone that helps create better circumstances for a confider/confidant relationship. This distinction is what separates Sayana Tirzah from Letha Catspaw in The Taurin Chronicles--while Mairead and Letha become best friends and develop a deep emotional bond, Minerva and Tirzah never quite achieve that level of connection.
Creating the Confidante
As I mentioned in my Lovable Rogue post, those characters kind of create themselves, sort of leaping onto the page fully formed as Athena from the head of Zeus.
Not so the Confidante--at least, not in my experience.
Creating Tirzah to be confidante to Minerva has been (and continues to be) an interesting journey. I've known for some time that Minerva needs a confidante. Her character journey has been rather slow (intentionally, I admit), and she won't really come into her own fully until the final book of the series. Between that and the fact that she's sort of wandered around as a kind of Cassandra figure who's been warning people about bad things, taking in new prophecies and visions, and coming and going with different characters, she hasn't had a ton of opportunity to develop lasting relationships. She has a sort of tentative friendship with Nedra in the wolf tribe, and while Alfrig confided in Minerva, the reverse didn't really work, in part because of a power disparity.
And then, of course, Alfrig died, and then Braedan died, and Minerva is honestly starting to wonder if she should keep investing in friendships or people at all.
In Soultainted, the forces of good on Taura are congregating in the north under Connor's leadership, and that's where Minerva and Tirzah both end up. Thrown together because of common interests--taking care of the sick and needy, mostly--they have ample opportunity to talk, watch each other interact with others, and share their history.
Confidant Questions
Here are some things to think about in the process of writing a Confidant:
Is the trope also a job? There are a lot of jobs that make natural confidants, as mentioned above. Put into a fantasy realm, any innkeeper, barkeep, traveling performer/tinker/wizard, random servant, wench, blacksmith... It's quite a list. In Tirzah's case, she's also a priestess and religious leader, which is a natural fit for someone who listens, offers advice, and keeps secrets.
Is the person confidant to more than one character? Tirzah certainly is, though I don't know yet if that will be a factor in the story. As essentially a member of the clergy, Tirzah is often called upon to be a confidante to anyone. This could be an interesting plot device if the confidant is around for a while. Does the confidant have information that could help/hurt another character? Does the confidant have scruples about sharing secrets? If so, under what circumstances would the confidant share it?
How deep will the relationship go? I think a confidant could easily become a close friend or romantic partner, though not in Minerva and Tirzah's case. I like the idea of keeping them a little bit aloof, a little emotionally distant. That distance can help Tirzah see Minerva's struggles more clearly than she might if they were close friends.
How can you use the gifts of the confidant? Here's the thing about confidants... Their gifts can be used for good or for ill, to move the plot forward or hold it in check. While it's true that some confidants just listen and act as a sounding board, others could give advice that may or may not be in the other person's best interests. In that case, the trope gets turned on its head, but that could be interesting--especially if the confidant has a bigger picture or other interests in mind. In that case, the confidant could be performing a service ("I did it for your own good") or betraying the other character.
I'm finding this experience of intentionally creating a confidant for another character to be more challenging than I originally thought it would be. Maybe it's because this particular confidant has a very narrow purpose, or maybe it's because I'm just not used to writing anything intentionally... In any case, I feel like this post is sort of open-ended. I may revisit these ideas another time.
I'll be back next Tuesday with a Christmas post, but in the meantime, I wish you all a wonderful holiday weekend full of food, family, and joy!
(Sorry... I couldn't resist a Buddy the Elf GIF...)