Does my hero have to change?

Change is hard. 

Just look at the great lengths we’ll go to in order to change ourselves. “Atomic Habits,” silent retreats, a round trip to Istanbul for hair plugs and if all else fails, there’s always hypnosis. 

But in storytelling change comes more simply… 

Change comes from pursuing one’s goal. 

As Michael Hauge teaches, the goal we set for our hero must be difficult to reach, practically and emotionally. For our characters to truly attain their goals, they must move from their identity into their essence. That’s the key to transformation. 

But is change absolutely critical in storytelling? 

How about a story of a resolute heroine who changes the world without losing herself? Or the strong, silent type who puts butts in seats by putting bad guys in their place? Can we just focus on the action, drama, and comedy, and leave the rest for the Self-Help section of Barnes & Noble? 

To examine this question, let’s take a look at a pair of heroes who seem wholly impermeable to change, starring in a movie where personal growth seems counter to the whole point. 

I’m talking about Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne of DUMB AND DUMBER. If anyone’s going to resist bettering themselves over the course of 90 minutes, it’s these two nitwits.  

So let’s begin… at the end. 

Lloyd and Harry are walking on the side of the highway. The curtain’s about to fall on their cross-country misadventure. 

“First Mary dumps us, then the cops take our nest egg, then our hog breaks down,” Harry laments. 

They didn’t get the girl.

They wasted all the money. 

And there’s no doubt about it, they still don’t have a clue. 

Harry and Lloyd seem to be the exact same dumb-dumbs we met on Page One, right? 

Not quite. 

Because this story isn’t about romance or riches. It’s about their friendship. This is evident when Lloyd first verbalizes his goal.

What do our heroes want? 

Lloyd, a limo driver, picks up Mary Swanson. She’s on her way to the airport to fly to Aspen; he falls instantly in love. Winning her love back becomes his first desire. 

After witnessing her leave a briefcase behind, Lloyd chases after her, hoping to be her hero– 

But falls just short, and off the jetway, as the plane’s already departed. 

So Lloyd takes the case back to his crummy apartment where he and his best (and only) friend Harry commiserate over their respective, no good, very bad days. 

In Michael’s words, our heroes are stuck. 

Lloyd’s had it: We’ve got no money, we’ve no jobs, our pets' heads are fallin’ off! 

Turning Point #2: Change of Plans. 

And that’s when he verbalizes the goal: travel to Aspen, return the briefcase to Mary, and win her love. 

Harry’s not convinced. He doesn’t want to abandon their current plan - open a worm farm there in Rhode Island - to go chasing some girl across the country. Then Lloyd opens up, giving voice to the emotional throughline of the story: 

“I’m sick and tired of having to eke my way through life. 

I’m sick and tired of being a nobody. But most of all… 

Most of all, I’m sick and tired of having nobody.” 

Harry is unmoved by the “what” of the goal, but he’s moved by Lloyd’s why. They agree to go to Aspen.

Visible goal: return the briefcase to Mary and win her love. 

Emotional goal: to be somebody, and to have somebody. 

If Lloyd and Harry are going to change, it’ll be through their achievement (or not) of these goals. But what’s key is deciphering who that underlined “somebody” is. 

Lloyd believes it’s Mary. The subsequent turning points tell us who it really is. 

Turning Point #3: The Point of No Return

“Huh. I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this,” Harry observes, looking out across the baked plains and tumbleweeds of Nowheresville, USA. 

Then they realize their mistake. 

“You drove almost a-sixth of the way across the country in the wrong direction! Now we don’t have enough money to get to Aspen, we don’t have enough money to get home, we don’t have enough money to eat, we don’t have enough money to sleep!”

Harry turns his back on Lloyd and begins walking the 2,000 miles home… alone. 

The first major test of their friendship is whether Harry will accompany Lloyd on this journey. He does.

The second major test is whether Lloyd’s missed turn will be their undoing. 

A few miles and hours later, Harry hears Lloyd screaming his name, approaching on a tiny motorbike with an even tinier engine. He’s traded their van for a new set of wheels. 

“Just when I thought you couldn’t get any dumber. You pull a stunt like this… and totally redeem yourself!” Harry exclaims. 

It’s one of the iconic lines of the film. 

More than being a great misdirection, it lands on a deeper level because it’s the moment that bonds these two fools so completely. It conveys that, for better or for worse, Harry and Lloyd belong together. 

Back to our North Star, the goals– this turning point brings them closer to Aspen and to Mary, while below the surface, it illustrates just how singular Harry and Lloyd’s friendship is. 

Turning Point #4: Major Setback

Lloyd’s missed turn was a practical screw-up-- he didn’t mean to hurt Harry, he was just, well, kinda dumb. The next, and biggest test of their friendship is an emotional betrayal. 

Lloyd spots Harry hanging out with Mary behind his back and begins to dry heave into the snow, absolutely gutted. Again, this turning point operates on two levels: 

• Brings Lloyd closer to (or in this case, further away from) his visible goal of winning Mary’s love

• Tests his friendship with Harry

The Third Act

In Act Three, we never really believe that either fella’s going to get the girl–

What are my chances?

Not good.

You mean… not good, like one out of a hundred?

I’d say, more like one out of a million.

So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance? …. Yeah!!! 

– Lloyd Christmas and Mary Swanson. 

Instead, it’s whether their friendship will endure now that Mary’s come between them.

Turning Point #5: The Climax

One thing leads to another. Lloyd and Harry end up cuffed to a bed at gunpoint, with Mary between them. There, they have it out once and for all: 

If one beautiful girl can rip us apart, maybe our friendship isn’t worth a damn, says Lloyd. Harry agrees, presenting Lloyd with an imaginary contract to end their union, which just so happens to be on his butt. 

Their bickering stops when the Bad Guy shoots Harry twice in the chest. 

You killed my best friend, you bastard! Cries Lloyd. Faced with the prospect of living without Harry, Lloyd’s true feelings come pouring out. 

This is his best friend. Through thick and thin. And the prospect of living without him is so grim, Lloyd becomes resigned to his fate– joining Harry in a Dumb & Dumber afterlife. 

Then Harry rises from the dead (thanks to a bulletproof vest), fires several errant shots before the FBI busts in and saves the day. 

So, did they change? 

Let’s run through their goals and find out. 

Win the love of Mary: Nope. They won her eternal gratitude, as they (unwittingly) helped save her husband, who had been taken hostage, but that doesn’t quite do it for either guy. 

Be somebody: Yup! They traveled the country, dispensed with multiple bad guys, experienced a taste of Aspen’s high society, enjoyed fleeting moments of true connection with Mary, and were central to an FBI sting.  

Now, if you were to stop Harry and Lloyd on the side of that road and ask them, did this experience change you? They’d say, heck no! Weren’t you paying attention? 

First Mary dumps us, then the cops take our nest egg, then our hog breaks down… 

Before returning to their silly little game of two-man tag. But this brings me to the last underlying goal– 

Have somebody: Yes. 

And this is the one that matters most. Though neither of them ended up with Mary, they proved that they will always have each other. Underneath all the nonsense, romantic daydreams and ransoms-gone-wrong, this is a story about friendship. 

So, have they changed? Absolutely. Could they verbalize their change? Absolutely not. They’re still Dumb & Dumber. But in their bones, they know that no matter what, they’ll always have each other. 

See, the hero doesn’t have to change who they are. But on some level, from the overt down to the atomic, they come to understand what their story's really about.