How to Write Horror Protagonists Readers Truly Care About

Horror as a genre thrives on fear, but fear alone does not make a story unforgettable. What truly sticks with readers and film goers alike is having a character to root for. It is true that sometimes there is no true protagonist, or that the villain is the characters we gravitate towards, but there is also something to be said about having a character to believe in.

Someone whose pain, hope, and dread matches our own.

Without this emotional investment, the scariest monster or most gruesome scene can sometimes ring hollow.

Here is how to build horror characters that readers really care about.

What Makes a Horror Protagonist Believable?

The thing that makes a horror character believable is the very thing that makes us human. They should have vulnerabilities, flaws, and motivations that ground them even before the nightmare begins.

How many times have you yelled at the screen, “No! don’t run that way” or thought, why on earth is this character going down into the darkness?

Because that’s what many of us would do. When we are faced with a life-or-death situation, we only react. But, before we get to the dramatic turn of fight versus fight, the characters must be first fully fleshed out.

For example, Laurie Strode in the first Halloween (1978) is just an ordinary teen who later becomes resourceful because of the duress she is under. Eleanor Vancie in the book The Haunting of Hill House is a lonely fragile woman who wants nothing more than to belong. This makes her both sympathetic to the readers, but also tragically susceptible of the house’s influence.

Ultimately, we know these characters because they are reflections of us.

Building Emotional Investment Early

As mentioned, the relationship between the audience and your character must be established before the first scary scene. To feel some sort of attachment, there must be a connection, and this can happen in small, subtle ways.

Think of everyday moments that make us human: having a hot cup of coffee, sharing a secret about a boy, failing to get the remote to work, etc.

In Jaws (1975) Chief Brody is just trying to do the right think despite the town’s indifference and the mayor’s insistence that the fourth of July holiday weekend should be celebrated regardless. In addition, his character is equally elevated because he, ironically, has a fear of the open water.

Laying this out earlier on not only helps establish this connection between the protagonist and those who will follow their journey, but it also lays the groundwork for character motivations. Now we know why the character will react in a specific way.

The Role of Fear in Shaping Protagonists

If you give each character a unique perspective, then characters are no longer faceless victims, but anchors for the reader’s empathy.

When fear does come, however, it should never be just a reaction. The fear should shape a horror protagonist’s reaction and expose who they truly are. For instance, in the classic Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Victor Frankenstein is consumed by the fear of his own creation, and it is his terror that drive his avoidance, denial, and eventually his own destruction. Not just because he faces a monster, but because he cannot face himself.

In the more recent Bring Her Back (2025) it is the love for his sister that causes every action of Andy and what brings about his specific fate. We know why he does not save himself even though he can choose to run away and never look back.

A character’s internal fears paired with external threats is what makes phenomenal horror storytelling. Monsters and killers might force action, but guilt, grief, and shame reveal what kind of person your protagonist really is.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

I will likely go over specific horror character tropes in a future article, but I think there is something to be said of what makes characters forgettable and flat. In short, think of characters whose sole purpose is just to scream, die, or deliver some type of exposition or backstory.

Boring.

It may be good for gore without story (looking at you Terrifier series), and while that does serve a purpose in horror, if you want to elevate your writing, you want to fully realize your characters.

Another misstep to avoid is to rely too heavily on clichés. I think Cabin in the Woods framed it best when the film pointed out that most teenager horror has the virgin, the scholar, the athlete, the whore, and the fool.

The tropes can work if you breath life into them, but again, it goes back to creating character depth. If you leave them bare, well then, they just collapse into stereotype and we, as the audience, do not care about their journey.

Horror Character Exercise

Want to try your hand at creating memorable horror protagonists? Write a scene of your character before the horror.

It should be a basic, run-of-the-mill scene that shows what their normal life is like. For example, what is their morning routine? What do they do for work? What do they do for fun?

Then place that character in an impossible situation: save themselves or save someone else.

This decision will reveal who they truly are.

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