The Maverick
The Maverick is the independent outsider who challenges authority, breaks rules, and goes their own way, while still achieving results and sometimes forcing change in the system around them.
Why It Works
In our own lives, we yearn for freedom and defiance. Feeling surrounded by incompetence, trapped under pointless bureaucracy, or forced to do things you don’t care for — haven’t we all been there? Mavericks say what others won’t, act when others hesitate, and refuse to confirm. They tap into a frustration we all recognize, which makes their rebellion feel like ours. With Mavericks, we rebel safely through a character — and we relish watching them triumph over the nay-sayers.
Key Traits
- Independent, often solitary
- Defies authority or social norms
- Guided by personal code over external rules
- Charismatic, though sometimes reckless
- Polarizing — admired by some, distrusted by others
Common Roles in Story
- Catalyst for Change: Their refusal to conform often sparks transformation in a rigid system (Erin Brockovich)
- Underdog Hero: Outsider who succeeds where the system fails (Maverick in Top Gun)
- Anti-Hero: A Maverick whose independence edges into moral gray areas. They bend or break rules not to fix systems but to survive, profit, or pursue personal agendas (Jack Sparrow). As an anti-hero, the Maverick reveals the limits of institutions by succeeding where lawful or noble characters cannot — forcing the audience to question who really gets things done.
Common in Genres
- Cop & Detective Stories: The rule-breaking cop who clashes with their chief. (”You got 24 hours before I pull you off the case.”)
- Westerns: The lone gunslinger who won’t be tied down by law or town. (The Man with No Name, played by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy)
- Action Films: The rogue agent or soldier who disobeys orders but gets results. (Die Hard, Mission: Impossible)
- Sci-Fi & Fantasy: The smuggler, mercenary, or outsider who bends rules to survive. (Han Solo)
- Rom-Coms & Dramas: The nonconformist who shakes up a rigid social world. (Patrick Verona in 10 Things I Hate About You)
Writing Tips
The Alternative Route
Mavericks widen the story’s possibility space. They show the audience — and other characters — a route that the ordinary worldview would never consider. They can introduce hidden networks, informal channels, or unorthodox solutions that expand the story’s map.
If the Maverick is the protagonist:
- Their perspective is itself the alternative route. The story revolves around discovering the hidden corners of the world, uncovering loopholes, truths, or systems that traditional characters overlook.
- Example: Lisbeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — As the best hacker in Sweden, she expands the investigation by accessing information Mikael Blomkvist could never reach through legal journalism (hacked financial records, surveillance data, encrypted files). Also, as a survivor of abuse, Lisbeth also recognizes behavioral clues Mikael misses, helping the investigation interpret the killer’s motives and the family’s dysfunction with far greater clarity.
If the Maverick is a supporting character:
- They act as the guide into spaces the protagonist can’t access or doesn’t know how to navigate.
- Example:
- Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope → — He provides Luke and Obi-Wan transport out of Tatooine and uses smuggler tactics (hidden compartments, illicit flight routes, dodging Imperial scans) that let them bypass Imperial control. These are methods Luke could never access on his own, and that he shouldn’t learn himself (it would undercut his Jedi arc).
- Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban → Order of the Phoenix — By bringing Harry into Number 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius exposes him — and us — to the darker side of wizarding society: cursed artefacts, pure-blood ideology, and the unfiltered history of the first war. Sirius acts as a safe doorway into this world, letting Harry understand its dangers without having to step into darkness himself.
Do What the Constrained Hero Cannot
Many protagonists are intentionally bound by morality, duty, reputation, status, or institutional rules. On one hand, these constraints make them interesting and create narrative tension. On the other hand, they also limit what they can believably do without breaking their arc or the logic of their world.
This is where the Maverick becomes a powerful craft tool.
A Maverick can step in and do the things the hero cannot (ethically, socially, or narratively) without damaging the hero’s integrity or the story’s internal logic. They can:
- Lie, steal, bribe, sneak, break in
- Defy authority without losing status
- Break the law without derailing the hero’s ethics
- Push confrontations that the hero isn’t allowed to initiate
- Cause conflicts or diversions that move the plot forward, while the hero stays true to their role
Examples:
- In The Avengers: Black Widow takes on the morally gray actions that Captain America, with his straightforward moral code, cannot
- In The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Merry & Pippin create diversions and join battles, while Frodo cannot, as he must stay hidden and uncorrupted for the quest to succeed.
Pitfalls for Writers
- Forgetting their code: Mavericks must have internal principles that they hold to the highest degree. Otherwise, they’re just rebels without a cause.
- One-note defiance: If they only say ‘no’ — without consistency or held principles — they risk being flat, instead of complex.
- Romanticizing rebellion: If the Maverick rebels simply to seem edgy or charismatic, their actions lose weight (think the average “bad boy” character - rebellious, but for no real reason.) A Maverick becomes compelling only when their rule-breaking serves a deeper value or worldview.
Example: Bella Swan — Twilight
Bella Swan is not a Maverick, and she isn’t intended to be one — but she is a useful illustration of how surface-level rebellion doesn’t automatically create a Maverick archetype.
Bella rejects social expectations, defies authority, and follows her own path, which on the surface resemble Maverick behavior. But actions alone don’t define the archetype.
Two key ingredients are missing:
- The root of rebellion — the personal code
- The effect of rebellion — the outcomes
A true Maverick’s defiance comes from an inner ethic: a principle or worldview they refuse to compromise.
Bella’s rejection of social norms, by contrast, is shaped primarily by emotional attachment and circumstance, not by a consistent internal philosophy. Her choices shift in response to her relationship, rather than emerging from a personal code. For example, she hates the cold in Forks but embraces the idea of Alaska if it means staying close to Edward.
In Maverick stories, rebellion usually leads to greater independence or to challenging a system.
Bella’s choices produce a different kind of narrative movement: they draw her deeper into a romantic and supernatural world, serving her emotional arc rather than a Maverick trajectory. That distinction clarifies why she isn’t a Maverick, even though some of her actions superficially resemble Maverick behavior.
Bella was never meant to be a Maverick character, but by giving her actions that look rebellious without the corresponding personal code or narrative outcomes, she illustrates how a character can appear rebellious without actually functioning as one.
The craft lesson: if a character breaks rules, their rebellion needs a consistent internal logic. Without a personal code, a "rebellious" character may come across as reactive rather than intentional, which changes the archetype entirely.
Works Mentioned
- Brian De Palma (dir.), Mission: Impossible (1996)
- Sergio Leone (dir.), A Fistful of Dollars (1964); For a Few Dollars More (1965); The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
- George Lucas (dir.), Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
- Garry Marshall (dir.), Pretty Woman (1990)
- John McTiernan (dir.), Die Hard (1988)
- Stephenie Meyer, Twilight (2005)
- Steven Soderbergh (dir.), Erin Brockovich (2000)
- Tony Scott (dir.), Top Gun (1986)
- Gore Verbinski (dir.), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
- Peter Weir (dir.), Dead Poets Society (1989)
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