Considering they're the main characters, shouldn't they be the most interesting?

I bring this up because I was thinking about popular teen books that are terrible yet popular. Particularly Eragon and Twilight. Now, don't hate me if you like them. There are indeed likeable qualities about them, but they just aren't good writing. Even an amateur can notice it.

Let's start with Eragon. He's an arrogant, naive little kid. But I think the most annoying part is that no one reprimands him for it. He thinks he's always right, which would be a great character flaw, except the writing SUPPORTS him for it. He's only, what, 15? (It's been awhile) and yet he never seems to fail at anything and masters everything perfectly. Learning expert swordplay and how to read in a matter of weeks? Really? The only thing he's ever really done wrong was when he blessed that baby with a name that made her "a shield against evil" instead of "shielded against evil." That would have been great, if he was only held more responsible for it.

Another thing I'd like to mention happened at the beginning of Eldest. Which I couldn't finish, btw. Eragon is walking amongst the carnage aftermath of battle. There are dead bodies burning and destroyed stuff everywhere. He picks a tooth up off the ground AND TOSSES IT UP LIKE A COIN. REALLY? He's a KID. He was a FARM BOY less than a year ago! He's only experienced real gore two, maybe three times? And yet he picks up some poor soul's tooth off the ground and plays with it whilst 'brooding' over the battle?

Remember, people: IT'S OKAY for your character to have weakness. Even if he's "OMG, The Chosen One, So Sayeth The Prophecy". In fact, it makes them more likeable and relateable. How I would've written it? Eragon is brooding over the battle. He and Saphira just killed a bunch of people (or Urgals...whatever, killed) and a bunch of people on his side were just killed.

Here's how I would've done it. He's distraught, and picks up a stone to distract himself. Suddenly, he realizes it's a tooth and throws it down in horror and disgust! The reality of the situation comes crashing down on him, and he does one of three things.
a) throws-up
b) starts crying and runs away so no one sees his weakness
c) both

I could go on and on about Eragon, but we'll get into that later. Next is Twilight.

Now, I'm only about halfway through the first book. I've read a bunch of bad things about it, but I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't snark a book unless you've read it first. But damn, it's hard.

There's a certain charm about it. What teenage girl doesn't dream of having a hawt mysterious vampire being interested in you and you being ~*~special~*~. Unfortunately, teenage wet-dreams don't translate well into novels. The characters, particularly the main ones, are blank. Fake. They're 2-D ideas with names that get copy&pasted into situations as needed. I was AWARE I was reading a book. Which shouldn't happen. The reader should be emerged in the world, not knowing they're looking at a page with letters on it.

Bella: *stares longingly*
Edward: You shouldn't be around of me! I'm dangerous!
Bella: Um, okay...
Edward: We're still on for Saturday, right?
Bella: Yeah *-*

Yeah, no. I could understand if Edward was conflicted. He doesn't want to hurt her, but he can't stand to be away from her either. This would make sense if the book actually gave a reason he liked her that much in the first place. Okay, she smells tasty. If he wants so bad to protect his family's secret and not hurt her, wouldn't he do everything he could to stay away from her? If he wants to be as close to her as possible after that, wouldn't that just make him an ass? Normally, I could let him get away with that based on teenage hormones and lack of common sense, but isn't he like a 90-year-old vampire? He doesn't get free-passes. Speaking of, who in their right minds would willingly go to highschool repeatedly when they're powerful old vampires? And who's renewing their birth-certificates?

I might do it if I was actually a 90-year-old guy trying to get laid with a hawt highschool girl. But that just reinforces my "Edward is an ass" theory. Best yet? He's a virgin. I absolutely refuse to believe a 90-year-old teenager is a virgin. I'm sorry, you strange, Mormon author.

Also, vampires don't sparkle. I'm sorry, they just don't. Even the smexy romanticized ones by Anne Rice burst into flames or at least get sun-burn. Aversion to sunlight is a huge chunk of the vampire "persona". I realize you had to think of a way to get him to attend daylight highschool, but you may have gotten away with it by just blaming the constant clouds. I'm also not fond of the apparent lack of fangs and the ability to live off animals instead of people. Really, so they eat animals, don't have fangs, and can go outside during the day...they're kinda...JUST LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE.

MY POINT. It's actually pretty hard to write an interesting main character. I have this problem too. You could write amusing, amazing side-characters and have a dull, uninteresting main one. This is because the main character has to be so FLEXIBLE. You have to fit him/her into so many different situations to make the plot move along that it's difficult to give them a set personality.

However, you should consider editing the story itself before compromising the character. Paolini and Meyer took the short route and just made blank characters to follow a story in their head. But what makes a story interesting, imo, is the characters. Not the plot itself. The story is events happening and the characters reacting and making decisions based on them. Instead, they have a story they want to happen and just inserting the characters to fit.

I liked Eragon, because I read it when I was 15. If I tried again, I'm sure I'd hate it. I'm also sure I would've loved Twilight at 15. Now that I'm trying to write myself, and paying attention to certain things, I'm noticing how entertainment has really gone downhill...