Hi people, I need help. Yeah, I am trying to make it sound wrong but failed. So I am looking for cowardly characters such as Clark in The Void Wolf and Lonan from The Bleak Walker. The characters can have their heroic badass moments or moments where they stop cucking, but must be: A. Identified by themselves or/ and others as a worthless coward B. Is most of the times a coward C. Can be a villain, MC, supporting or just plainass BG. D. May or may not have people to support him/ her emotionally. Though I prefer no support, just to see how the character spiral downwards out of control. Clark in The Void Wolf to me will always be a coward, even after his supposed power up and Spoiler: Because people are so darn analled by spoilers death for confronting Randolph (or whatever justice boi name is) while Lonan (aka Pre-future/ Pre-Badass Nolan) is pretty much a modern normie who got flunk into medieval times, but that does not justify his coward behaviour, his willingness to live somewhat does... yeah no, but maybe yes.
When I mean coward, I mean something along the line like freezing in action while everyone else is in danger and run away when it is his turn to suffer, real kicker if he starts to use others as human shield or bait and run away from danger. Beta MC is somewhat that category, but most of the times will display some decent level of courage, the characters I am looking for lack such courage most if not all the time. Basically I am looking for selfish pricks, an added bonus will be that said pricks got stronger and still remains a prick at true adversity.
Lol yeah, but I am more into webnovels or written works than manga, and the adversity faced cannot be too minor as getting your SO cucked. FYI, fan to NTR, because I am a heavy supporter of BBMs cucking MCs. (pun heavily intended)
I've pretty much seen this done one of two ways, you either got the wailing crybaby coward that runs away screaming his head off. Or you've got the coward that quietly sneaks away before the situation even has a chance to turn sour. One gives of the vibe of an idiot who often bites off more than he can chew, and keeps ending up in bad situations, the other seems to have a six sense and is more manipulative, always knowing when to bail out to avoid the storm altogether.
Wei Xiaobao from "the Deer and the Cauldron" is almost the prototypical example. In a time when all protagonists were big heroic figures with only positive characteristics, Xiaobao was a trailblazer in being completely different. He was cowardly, lazy, lustful, greedy, and corrupt. He proved to be such a successful character that all the Chinese anti-heroes you see out there are at least somewhat based on him. The book is also really good; probably a lot better than everything else suggested in this thread.