No, this article isn't about the mythological beings. I wouldn't want to steal any single one from Andreas Helixfinger's awesome Sunday article series.

What I want to talk about is the metaphorical unicorn: a character that is too good to be true, too unlikely to be found in real life or so rare that they would, in fact, be on par with a unicorn when it comes to people.

First off, what constitutes such a character?

A ‘unicorn’ of a character would be someone that rises above and beyond normal behavioral patterns within a specific framework or context: a judge who will not be corrupted or cower before political power; a journalist who will go against censorship even with the highest of stakes; a doctor who will not bend ethics for hospital politics; a teacher who will prioritize pedagogy rather than superficial adherence to the rules; a politician that actually is in the game to serve the community and not compromise; the incorruptible cop; and so on.

So such a character is going to be by default heroic in most circumstances (though there are dark unicorns of course), and usually is either the main character or at least a very pivotal character in the story.

These characters can be tricky to write because they can easily become ‘perfect’ and fall into Mary Sue territory. It's easy for the ethical, dynamic, fervent politician to also be gorgeous, a great spouse, a wonderful parent, love puppies, rescue kittens, and spend time at the shelter knitting socks for charity.

What I mean is that ‘unicorn’ characters shouldn't have the ‘unicorn glitter’ of perfection which is a trap that makes such a character unlikeable or boring or simply predictable and uninteresting. Such characters need to be flawed, to have their own vices and drawbacks, to struggle with their own uniqueness, to have fears and worries and hangups or even big flaws in areas that may or may not clash with the one in which they are the ‘unicorn’.

But character design aside, unicorn characters are tricky and dangerous because they can (and will) derail your plot if you're not careful: the biggest element of a unicorn character is that they have drive. They are motivated to do the thing that makes them a unicorn. That means that they are unlikely to stop before they are satisfied- and that means that they will either drive the plot or ruin it as they find some way to move forward you may not have foreseen (if you let your characters breathe and evolve as you write).

A journalist that is driven to uncover corruption may manage to do it more efficiently than the plot requires, for example. So hurdles and perhaps character flaws are necessary to cut the efficiency to what the plot requires- if that is possible. For example, the character may be a novice and make mistakes as they gain experience, which cuts the efficiency and makes for a great hero's journey. Sometimes, however, the character design is such that it can't really be done without the author's hand becoming visible to the audience: you can't have a novice high ranked judge or a novice medical fellow or attending surgeon who has risen up the ranks.

That's why unicorn characters have a high death rate or at least incapacitation rate. Unless they're the main character, killing them off before they can yield full results too soon is a solution. Then, other characters will step up to do it at the pace the plot requires (especially if mourning stalls them all). If that is not an option, putting them out of commission for a while also works (like an attempt on their life). Another solution can be the ‘heel face turn’ unicorn: a character that starts off mundane and then gradually becomes the unicorn for reasons that the plot throws at them (e.g. a moderately dirty cop that gradually decides to become incorruptible and turn on corruption).

Whatever the case, unicorn characters can be fascinating and alluring if done right, and nothing around them can be boring- if written right, and handled right.

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