Well, I sure don't, but that's up to you. Two of my beta readers hated him, and one even told me I should cut him from the team.
To me, Vik represents the Conservative ideal. He’s brave and heroic, but a bit of an ass. He’ll gladly put his life on the line to save yours, even if he doesn’t approve of your lifestyle. He's just progressive enough to think he's woke, but he constantly judges people who aren't like himself. He thinks he can't be racist because he has a non-white friend.
Everybody has an uncle like Vik, or a grandfather, or maybe just a family friend. Maybe they served in the military or had some other dangerous job. You respect this guy, and you’re thankful his service. But you try not to engage him conversation, especially if the topic is politics.
In a way, Vik represents my younger self. I grew up in a Conservative family, and the character represents the values my family tried to instill in me. Well now, that didn’t quite work out, did it?
Honestly, I almost cut Vik from the final draft. But I liked the conflict he added to the group. You can’t just have everyone get along together perfectly all the time, where’s the fun in that? I also needed someone to be wrong sometimes, to help the exposition along. Might as well make the “always wrong” guy the group’s token white guy while I’m at it.
(Spoilers for the first book)
One of my beta readers thought that Vik was the main character at first. In fact, that was what finally convinced me to keep the character. I liked the misdirection. You think you're reading a standard cheesy sci-fi story about a square-jawed Flash Gordon-esque hero, then BAM, you find you're actually reading about a transgender woman of color and her bisexual girlfriend. I even considered making Vik the final villain of volume 2, but that idea didn't get very far.
But yeah, he's not there for you to like. No judgment if you do, though.
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