One of my favorite writing tropes is the unlikely ally. When a character who was at first an enemy becomes a friend, usually by circumstance or through character development, they become an unlikely ally. One requirement is that the character must undergo a redemption arc (no matter how small) that makes it clear how and why they became an ally. It can happen relatively early in the story like the the assassin Szeth from the Stormlight series, or later on like Harry Potter’s Severus Snape. They can even turn at the very climax of the story. Darth Vader’s redemption arc only comes to completion as Luke’s hero arc ends, and it made him one of the most famous unlikely allies ever, probably because he is also one of the best villains ever. In much longer series like you might find in manga or anime, some unlikely allies will once again become villains as circumstances change, or they may reveal that they were an enemy all along, as does Walder Frey in Game of Thrones. Characters like these have a certain edge on regular allies that make them attractive, and in today’s post I want to talk about the pros and cons of using an unlikely ally in your story.

First of all, what is it that makes an ally unlikely? Of course, they must be a character that presents an obstacle to the protagonist at first, but it’s not that simple. If an antagonist is too good at being bad, then their chances of becoming an unlikely ally plummet. If forced into the role of unlikely ally without due explanation, the reader might begin to see them as an impossible kind of ally that just doesn’t make any sense. Voldemort, for example, could never make the transition from antagonist to unlikely ally, because if that happened, the story would simply end. There’s no bigger threat than the Dark Lord for him to join forces with Potter against. Snape on the other hand makes for a perfect unlikely ally. While he certainly stands in Potter and friends’ way on multiple occasions, he ultimately works for Dumbledore, and therefore Harry. His allegiance comes into question, and he’s been a thorn in their side forever, but in the end, he chooses to fight against the bigger threat, Voldemort. Moreover, it fits his character. Of course he would choose the son of the woman he has always loved over the man who killed her. It only makes sense, and it has to for the story to read correctly. To be redeemed, a character must be redeemable.

In short, an unlikely ally has an edge over a regular ally because they can combine both a redemption arc and the regular character development that an ally can go through. With a single character you can pull at the reader’s heart strings in multiple ways, and adjust the weight of ally arc to redemption arc according to how you want the character to read. Darth Vader’s redemption arc is a long slow process from when he first encounters Luke right up to the end of the story. His ally arc is tiny by comparison. Just a single moment right before his death where he looks on Luke with his own eyes for the first time, but it makes all the difference. Had he destroyed the emperor and then died immediately, it wouldn’t have felt like a complete redemption arc. He wouldn’t have had any chance at all to be an ally beyond the moment he was redeemed, and that’s just no good. Vader needed to prove he was redeemed.

So far, it seems like I’ve made unlikely allies out to be just plain superior to normal allies, but that can’t be true, otherwise every ally would be an unlikely one. They serve different, though related, roles in a story and can’t completely replace each other. An unlikely ally could never have the relationship that two characters who have been together the whole time have, like the bond between Sam and Frodo. Had Sam been an enemy at some point then it would feel completely different, though perhaps no less impactful.

The redemption arc is also double edged sword. If executed poorly, the character becomes a huge drag on the series instead of a boon, whereas a regular ally can exist in an underdeveloped state, and still be a decent character that doesn’t harm the storyline. Ginny Weasley for example has only a few lines in the movies, and other than kicking ass a few times, doesn’t really do very much. She still works as a love interest due to her long standing connections to Harry and co, and the overall story isn’t ruined by her comparatively weak development. An underdeveloped unlikely ally on the other hand will hurt more than it helps, and so the unlikely ally requires more time and effort to succeed as a character.

An unlikely ally can be a huge benefit, or a huge impairment to a story. Carefully constructing a redemption arc and proving after the fact that the character is indeed an ally are essential to creating a believable arc, and without these elements, and unlikely ally is more likely to fail than succeed. I hope this has given you some ideas to work on whether you agree or disagree about the power of an unlikely ally, and as always, thank you for reading.

Benjamin Hawley