I wish more authors would write characters like that. They work in whatever world you put them in because they have good traits and bad traits, they are strong in some aspects but can’t stomach others. Like the rest of us.
As for flaws and baggage, as a reader I believe the jurney is more interesting than any past of the character, be it happy or dark. Their past as presented to the reader is too impersonal, as tragic as it may be. I’m more interested in how the present happenings influence a character and creates him/her, and what they become in the end of their story.

As for Nathan, he had insecurities regarding his job, and sometimes felt he could do nothing right. And indeed, sometimes he messed up. But in the end of the series, the final action, he was finally convinced that he had done something right. And he did, too. And it’s great that his story ended there for us, because we had closure. He came full circle.

Havent read the books but I’ve seen the first film. You’ve got a real point there.

Thanks for this. I have many favorite characters, one of the most enduring is fairly obscure – Gulley Jimson in “The Horses Mouth”. He is dishonest, incorrigible, and about half-mad, but nevertheless somehow endearing and admirable. dylan