What makes a protagonist “strong”?

Next week I’m going to be leading a Topic of the Week over at The Enchanted Inkpot about “strong” heroes and heroines. While I’m gathering my thoughts on the subject, I thought it’d be interesting to do a quick poll and see what qualities you all feel makes a character “strong” (strong purposely in quotations since your definition of the word may be different from someone else’s). Feel free to comment if you think I’ve missed something or you want to clarify your answers!

What qualities make you consider a character a “strong” protagonist (pick as many as apply)?
Physical strength
Will power/perseverance
Physical skills (e.g., good at archery, runs fast, ties good knots)
Mental skills (e.g., quick thinking, creativity, lots of knowledge in a particular area)
Social skills (e.g., persuasive, charsmatic, gets people to trust them)
Passion (cares deeply about another person/a place/an ideal/etc.)
Courage (faces people/situations that scare them)
Trustworthiness (sticks to their word, doesn’t purposefully deceive allies)
Emotional awareness (in tune with feelings, at ease with them)
Physical attractiveness
Imperfection (has weaknesses, not everything comes easy)
Something else I’ll explain in the comments

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!


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