The Surprising Truth About Falling in Love With Fictional Characters: Are You Guilty?

THE RECKLESS WRITER

I recently read a story that claimed people were falling in love with AI Chatbots. That surprised me since my experience with this kind of technology mainly entails frustration with the ineffective tools you find on the help page of various businesses.

Most often, the response I get is some form of, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand your query. Please try again.”

Love? I don’t think so.

But then I recalled how often individuals succumb to various scams involving emails from a person in distress. Perhaps a large part of the appeal is simply sending off a reply with the hope of actually getting a response.

It’s sad when you consider how lonely the people in our communities actually are.

When I thought about it further, I began to recall the strong feelings I’ve developed for various characters in film and in literature. There is a longing for connection that exists deep within the human soul. If we can’t get the real thing, I suppose we look to fulfill that need in whatever way we can.

The characters I’ve loved

We become attached to the stories we read. The characters become real to us. Growing up, I read a lot of fantasy. My favorite parts were not the magic or the dragons or the battles. I preferred how the main character ventured off on a quest and found a group of people he could rely on along the way.

I read fantasy for the friendships.

These stories were always about a journey. The hero would meet various people and they would gain each other’s trust, or lose it. They would reward the faith they showed in each other, or betray it. The mystery came in seeing how it all played out.

I admired watching the relationships develop. It was comforting to see the hero transition from being alone and hopeless to being surrounded by reliable friends and determined. There were characters that were fun-loving, or intellectual, or loyal or duplicitous. Oddly, all of them seemed to have a…