Yes you certainly have a point there. Admittedly my comments on heroes were a little colored by my own preferences and some particular bad experiences I've had. It's important that the main character not be so unmotivated or withdrawn that the plot drags when it struggles to motivate him. This isn't to say that such characters can't be interesting, but the Narrative Requirement is important to bear in mind. I suppose a better way to approach the problem would be to say that the main character should not be someone stuck wallowing in self-loathing and depression. Dark Stranger, mysterious past, blah blah blah. Largely uninteresting tropes, frequently used to try to artificially elevate the intrigue around a character without actually doing the legwork to make them interesting. But that's for another topic, back to the Narrative Requirement!
The Narrative Requirement being the knowledge that because this is a story, certain things -must- happen. This means that certain things need to happen rather quickly. For example, consider the recent film: The Hobbit. Bilbo is a meek character, particularly early on. The dwarves drop in and try to recruit him. Consider that VERY little of this entire sequence actually focused on recruiting Bilbo. There was a lot of history given and just enough taste of adventure to wet his appetite. The
basic structure of the scene is as follows:
Bilbo begins an average evening with a nicely cooked meal.
Dwarves show up unannounced, throwing Bilbo's evening into turmoil.
Dwarves make plans to retake their home.
Gandalf asks Bilbo to join, Bilbo declines
The next morning the dwarves are gone, Bilbo goes after them.
Thinking back to this ~10 minute sequence you should realize that probably less than a full minute of screen time was devoted to actually attempting to persuade Bilbo to come along and that minute, at first, ended in failure. Why is this?
We already
know that Bilbo is going to go with the dwarves. I mean yes, yes, sure, we've read the book, seen the previews, maybe watched the old VHS movie, but the narrative requirement dictates that this happen. Why? Well because there's a movie playing! It wouldn't be much of a movie if Bilbo said "No, no thank you, good evening," shut the door on that first dwarf and continued to eat his supper. Cue an additional two hours of him doing the dishes, watering the garden, weeding, and trimming his little hobbit feet-hairs e.e But that would be ridiculous so we assume, by virtue of it being a story, that Bilbo is going to go, even if in a real life situation almost everyone wouldn't go. It is for this reason that stories are often about exceptions, but the exception must still be believable.
A moment ago I discussed the basic structure of events of the shire scene. It only covered what happened on a functional level. People coming and going and people making decisions, but there was a lot more going on here story-wise.
First off, the dwarves arrive. Nothing hugely special there, though we do get our first glimpses at most of them and a basic introduction. Again, no real writing magic in that, or is there? There is, and it is very subtle. Most of the dwarves begin to disrupt the peacefulness of Bilbo's home. Nearly every item they move around has some sort of history to it. Bilbo can, and often does, explain what the item is, which of his ancestors procured it, and how long it has been in the family. At first this should seem like the trite complaints of an uppity hobbit, well-set in his ways, and if you think so, you're correct! But there's some 'writing magic' going on here.
At last, Thorin Oakenshield arrives and planning begins. Now, there are two things happening here. First off, the audience is being given an up-to-date look on what the dwarves think of reclaiming the kingdom under the mountain. Despite Thorin's efforts, he has only the support of these eleven gathered. Surface stuff, again, largely for the audience, but we are not the only audience! Bilbo is also watching the plight of the dwarves unfold and in showing him the hopelessness of their situation, he can see the conviction they must all feel to be driven to undertake such a desperate quest.
Soon after, Gandalf sits down with Bilbo and attempts to persuade him to join up. How does he do this? He provides Bilbo with an amusing tale of one of his ancestors defeating a goblin king. Bilbo accuses him of making the story up and Gandalf admits that there were some embellishments made, but promises that if Bilbo comes along, he'll have a tale or two of his own when he comes back.
"Can you promise that I will come back?"
"No. And if you do, you will not be the same."
Bilbo declines. This is so important that he does this. The scene would not have been nearly as good if he had accepted.
Morning comes, the dwarves are gone. Bilbo is alone in his house, the excitement gone. He starts to clean up. Remember earlier, when he named off all those old things? It's coming back to haunt him right here. He's just another name in the long line of Baggins. He's living in a hobbit hole built by others, filled by others. Sure he'll add a thing or two of his own before he passes it on to dear Frodo, but he finds that already, he's changed. Those mangy dwarves. They were living for something, willing to die for something. What did he have? A nice, comfortable, safe home where nothing exciting (or important) ever happened.
Only now that the dwarves have come and gone can Bilbo really see the void in his life, and it prompts him out the door that he would NOT walk out of the previous evening. This change in character came from within. He altered a fundamental aspect of his character. Gandalf didn't talk him into it on his own, because it is so rare that fundamental change comes from a wholly outside force. It is so important to keep this in mind when a character is going to make a momentous decision.
So in conclusion, the question of "will you go with us" is asked, and only discussed for about 80 seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_wTMDqGoFMBut it is actually being addressed by the narrative for a solid 10 minutes while history and character traits are established to the audience. This is good writing. If Gandalf had simply walked in, told Bilbo this story and asked him to go and Bilbo had said "yes, ok, sure, I'll go," it would not have been believable.
So yes, meek characters are fine, but they need to be interesting enough that people want to read about them. The thing to avoid, in the end, is a whiny, beat-down character struggling with depression. Simply not flattering traits for a main character.
