Competent man

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The competent man or competent woman is a stock character who can do anything perfectly, or at least exhibits a very wide range of abilities and knowledge, making him a form of polymath. While not the first to use such a character type, the heroes (and heroines) of Robert A. Heinlein's fiction are generally competent men/women, and one of Heinlein's characters Lazarus Long gives a good summary of requirements:

"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

— Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

The competent man, more often than not, is written as having achieved his wide range of skills and abilities through practical experience and not through books or formalized education. While not implausible with older or unusually long lived characters, when such characters are young it is often not adequately explained as to how they acquired so many skills at an early age.

[edit] Examples

• Peter Berlin (Armin Hagen Baron von-Hoyningen-Huene)
• Adam Reith, from Jack Vance's Planet of Adventure series
• Aloysius Pendergast, from the fiction of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
• Batman
• Doc Savage
• The Doctor from Doctor Who
• Derek Flint
• Samurai Jack
• James Bond
• Ryo Saeba
• Mario
• Indiana Jones
• Nicholai Hel, titular character seeking Shibumi
• Yoko Tsuno
• the protagonists of many early Alfred Hitchcock films
• the protagonists of novels by Clive Cussler, for example Dirk Pitt.
• the heroes of most Neal Stephenson novels
• MacGyver
• Forrest Taft
• Jarod
• Peter Wimsey
• Psmith
• Stile, from Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series
• Forrest Gump
• The Stainless Steel Rat, hero of Harry Harrison's series of the same name.
• Westley in The Princess Bride
• Gordon Freeman, the protagonist of most of the Half-Life series, may be considered a competent man as he is able to use a wide range of weaponry, defeat highly-trained military personnel, operate scientific, military and construction equipment, drive different types of vehicles as well as writing essays on scientific topics.
• Characters in The Matrix are not competent per se, but they may learn to master about any skill they wish in a few seconds by downloading it to their brain.

[edit] References

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