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4 Motivations of Traitors
by Guest Blogger | 6 Comments

This guest post is by Misha Burnett. Misha is the author

of Catskinner’s Book (which I’ve read personally and enjoyed). He

blogs about writing and publishing on his blog

mishaburnett.wordpress.com. You can also follow him on Twitter

(@mishaburnett).

7
Shares “Curse Your Sudden Yet

Inevitable Betrayal!”

Sometimes the characters

that we think are good guys

turn out to be bad guys. How

do you create believable

traitors?

In The Lord Of The Rings,

Saruman was Gandolf’s

friend and mentor, the

wizard that he trusted most. In The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo

turns to his old friend Lando Calrissian.

Many dramatic scenes in fiction begin when the hero realizes too

late that a trusted friend is actually working for the other side. As

writers, we create all kinds of characters, good guys, bad guys,

innocent bystanders. Creating characters that end up turning on

their friends, however, has some particular challenges.

What Motivates Traitors?

First and foremost is the question of motivation. We may want a

character to turn because it advances the plot and increases the

tension, turns what should be an easy victory into an

ignominious defeat. Why would someone do such a thing,

though?

What makes a betrayer? Here

1. Sometimes it’s bribery.

Jayne Cobb, in the series Firefly, tells his captain, “The money
was just too good.” Saruman was seduced by the promise of the

power that Sauron could grant.

2. Sometimes it’s fear.

Lando Calrissian’s city was occupied by Imperial forces, he
believed that turning Han over to Darth Vader would save himself

and his people. In 1984, O’Brien tells Winston Smith, “They got
me a long time ago”, implying that he himself had been arrested
and turned by the Party.
3. Sometimes the traitor is motivated by loyalty.
George Correll in Steinbeck’s The Moon Is Down thought of
himself as a soldier and a patriot. In the film Gangs Of New York,
Amsterdam Vallon goes to work for Bill Cutting specifically to

seek revenge for the death of his father.

4. Sometimes the betrayal seems justified.

In John Sayles’ film about the 1919 White Sox scandal, Eight Men
Out, the team’s owner Charles Comiskey is shown breaking

promises to the players and essentially driving them to throw the

series.

Why We Love to Hate Traitors

In order to make a character’s betrayal believable to the reader,

the betrayer’s motivation should make sense. That doesn’t mean

that the character has to be likable, or that the reader has to agree

with the character’s motivation. Turncoats are characters that we

all love to hate.

We can’t just make the hero’s best friend suddenly turn him over
to the villains just because the plot is more exciting that way,

though. Somehow we have to let the reader know that the best
friend has a reason, and it should be a reason that is compelling
to that character.

Have you ever had a character who became a traitor? What was his

or her motivation?
 PRACTICE
Give us a traitor. Write a character sketch of someone who is
going to turn against a friend, a colleague, an employer, a
superior o!cer.

Take fifteen minutes to explain this character’s

rationalization for her or his actions. And if you practice,
make sure to comment on some else’s practice with your

feedback.

Photo by Jospeh Bremson (Creative Commons)

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sherry hodges
2 years ago
− ⚑

I can easily write about my former husband. I consider him a traitor because he sold out
his family, his friends, and his country. His motto was "I didn't get caught." That's how
he justified his actions. He lied to get a security clearance, he threatened me several
times, he covered up the sexual assault of our daughter, he threatened other family
members who tried to expose him - I was told by a former Soviet agent, that he was an
"expletive deleted". Former CIA turned private investigator described him as "the worst
I've ever seen." I was married to him for seven years. During that time, I was
threatened, lied to, berated, suffered numerous "close calls", and almost died, I was
rescued by a professional psychiatrist who visited me in the hospital after surgery. The
surgeon was concerned because the traitor never showed up to offer any love or
support. He didn't show up when our daughter was born either. In fact, he showed up
hours later, drunk, and had to be removed by armed guards, after declaring "Anybody
want to trade a girl for a boy?" Probably the biggest jerk to ever join the Navy, even his
own shipmates visited me, saying "he's a bad guy, you should leave." Unfortunately,
when I did try to leave, he locked me in our apartment and screamed at me "I need a
wife." He needed a wife, because I was his cover, his excuse. As long as he had me,
people thought he was a "family guy." When I divorced him, he found another woman to
impersonate me. He adopted her kids, changed their surnames to his, and as far as the
NSA and FBI knew, they were his. You should have seen the look on their faces when
see more
they finally heard the truth. Did they investigate? No. They told me to shut up and stop
△ ▽ Now
talking. Replythat's a big bunch of traitors, don't you agree?

Trinity
− ⚑
5 years ago

I've got to do this. I've got to save her. They say it's the only way, turn against my best
friend to save the love of my life, simple right? Not really. Olivia is my best friend, and
the love of my life, so it's either lose her forever or watch her die. But I have to do this, I
will not let her die. Even if she hates me, I will save her. They could be lying about her
being safe, but its her best chance. I will not let her die, and if anyone even thinks about
hurting her then they will know exactly how hell feels.
△ ▽ Reply
Bob DeSpy
− ⚑
7 years ago
Tarik bit his upper lip and with a scant lower lip, his mouth was a fine cut through his
face. Mario recognized that expression. Suddenly it was as all his past life poured back
into his memory. Way back at that time in the slave camp. Now he knew whom this
Tarik was.

‘Of course! You are Tayyib!’ Said Mario astonished. Tayyib has changed so much he had
not recognized him. It passed through his mind how the body proclaims the type of life
someone has led; as an accident that leaves scars in the human body by changing the
original features emotional scars too, leave visible signs on the body beyond
recognition.

‘So, you see, it didn't take long for you to figure out whom I was.’ Said Tayyib.

‘Man! I am glad to see you. To know you are alive!’ Despite the situation in which Mario
was in he felt great relief. Even the comfort of knowing that Si loved him without limits
was as reassuring as knowing that Tayyib was alive. It was as if a large rock would have
been taken off him. He believed he had overcome all that guilt produced by the killing of
Tayyib. He thought so because of the ease with which he could kill a person, almost
without remorse. Eventually, he got so used to that he hasn't even had to philosophize
over right or wrong. It much resembled see his more
earlier love life: use it, discard it. Always
leaving behind a piece of his soul. Crumbling apart, piece-by-piece until he had, to redo
△ ▽ Reply life, go through extraordinary lengths. Now, Tayyib was alive, and he
his emotional
could collect all the crumbs
Dreamwriter X of that guilt, of his first kill and so redeem the subsequent.
All vanished as smoke
7 years ago edited from an extinguished fire.
− ⚑
I think the best books use a combination of two or three factors : )
My character I had in mind turns because of fear (of a loved one dying) and loyalty (to
the cause of preventing other people from getting sick) - P.s. He uses bad methods to
reach that end...
Just my two penceworth : )
△ ▽ Reply
Marianne Lock
7 years ago
− ⚑

Hi!, maybe some structural mistakes or vocab errors (english is not my first language) I
don't agree with all of my sentences, please tell me if I wrote something odd.

“See you soon… I love you” The clicking sound of the ending record made him angrier
and angrier every time. He found the voice recorder yesterday, together with a prepaid
phone on his kitchen table. Only one number should be called by it, and only when he
had finished the job. He didn’t sleep that night, listened to her voice over and over until
the words had no more meaning, until no more hope was in his head. He would finish
the job today, call them and get his love back. The clock in his office was ticking so loud,
he couldn’t hear anyone of his colleagues talking. They all probably wished him a good
morning, but he knew better; there was nothing good about this morning. His lab-
partner, Jenny was suddenly walking beside him, holding a cup of coffee in front of him.
His hands were shaking as he took it. “I said, how was dinner yesterday?” She smiled as
if nothing had happened, he despised her for that even if she couldn’t know what had
happened. He slid his security card through the machine, typed in the code with weary
hands and paused before he pressed Enter. He didn’t want to do it, but he did it and it
made him feel sick. Small cold drops of sweat accumulated on his forehead and he felt
as if everyone was going to see, what he was planning. “Mark? Are you all right? You
don’t look good at all, maybe you should go-““No”, he interrupted her, louder and more
see more
aggressive than intended, and shivered at whom they had made him. He just wanted it
to
△ be▽ over; he wanted everything to be normal again, just like yesterday morning when
Reply
he kissed her and his junior goodbye.
Victoria
7 years ago
− ⚑
My latest story was going to have a friend that turned traitor (not in an extreme, going-
to-the-darkside way, but just some tension for the main character.) Then I decided that
I didn't need that. However, reading this post is making me rethink my decision. I might
just stick this in after all. Jotted this down from the traitor's pov ...

Shana slammed the door behind her. All natural, blah, blah, blah. It shouldn’t bother
her – she and Justine had been friends for five years – but the high and mighty way
Justine made her arguments for nature’s medicine vs. the medical field set something
off inside of her, and it certainly wasn’t friendly.
They had become close friends quickly, their careers pushing them together. The
differences came slowly. At first they had been manageable. But one by one they had
built up until now it was this huge whirlwind that knocked into one of them or both of
them almost every time they were together. Shana couldn’t remember the last time they
had talked and not disagreed on something.

Justine might be able to overlook the disagreements in order to keep their friendship,
but it was getting harder for Shana. A friendship shouldn’t consist of having to smile
through gritted teeth. A true friendship shouldn’t mean keeping quiet when you wanted
to spill your feelings. see more

What
2 △ it▽boiled
Replydown to: friends had to have something that drew them together; that
made them friends. And she wasn’t sure she and Justine had anything left.
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