David is the novel’s 18-year-old protagonist and hero whose life changed on the day his father activated Steelheart’s weakness and died for it. Since then, David has gathered all the information he can about Epics and how to fight them—especially Steelheart. In the beginning, his primary driving force is revenge, and he evokes this feeling every time he feels discouraged or frightened. His diction also suggests that he feels ashamed of his cowardice, and killing Steelheart serves to redeem his past failure: “I did what I always did when I grew afraid. I thought of my father falling, bleeding beside that pillar in the broken bank lobby while I hid. I hadn’t helped. I would never be that coward again” (80). He builds his entire life—personality, interests, purpose—around killing Steelheart, though he realizes only later that revenge would never have been his father’s inspiration—the same person David hoped to avenge. Nevertheless, David’s vengeance motives never diminish, and he finally kills Steelheart in the end.

David’s character possesses certain qualities of the orphan archetype. These characters lose their parents at a young age, learn to grow up quickly, and become society’s underdogs.