Why 'Good Guy' need not mean 'Boring Guy'

"You speak of him as if he was a friend," said Gimli. "I thought he was dangerous."
"Dangerous!" cried Gandalf. "And so am I, very dangerous; more dangerous than anything you will ever meet, unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous. You are beset by dangers, Gimli son of Gloin; for you yourself are dangerous, in your own fashion."  ---The Two Towers

There is, in popular culture, the notion that 'good' means 'safe'--and therefore boring. And this idea is nowhere more prevalent than in those stories aimed at young women. The 'good guy' is the safe, boring one; the 'bad boy' is dangerous, strong, and therefore exciting. Now, I'm hardly one to say I don't find dangerous characters appealing; I do. Especially dangerous male characters. But I don't like the bad boy. He's usually a jerk--and I don't like jerks.
Plus, in real life, the bad boy is probably going to seriously hurt the girl who falls for him, whether in her body or her heart. He's not dangerous because he's strong, like a trained war-horse or a loyal mastiff. He's more like a rotten bridge or an unstable cliff. He's dangerous because he's not stable enough to give her the relationship she needs--because he's weak.
What literature needs is romantic leads who are dangerous--and good. You do not need to make your character a brooding 'bad boy' with a short fuse to make him romantically attractive. A strong man with pure morals who can kick butt seven ways from sundown is just as cool.

Tell me this was not cool. 

And if he is doing it all for his girl--yowza. 

Seriously, this guy is awesome. 

Now, I know the chances of finding the equivalent of Aragorn or John Carter in real life are virtually nil; but the chances of finding a bad boy with a heart of gold are smaller. And teaching girls to chase after jerks results in a painful real-life backlash, as several of my aunts can attest. 

So there is a real need for stories that star the good-but-dangerous romantic lead. How do you make a character good but not boring? I have some tips. 

First, show the internal conflict. Being good is not easy, despite prevalent opinion. It takes real strength to take the harder, better path as opposed to the easy, dishonorable one. It's especially dramatic to make your hero chaste, especially when he is really, really attracted to the heroine. Maybe it's gratifying to have the pair of them tumble before he puts a ring on her finger...but it's nowhere near as dramatic as letting them wait until it's cemented. Especially if they mean it when they say 'until death do us part'. That's hard. And it's very impressive.

Second, don't be afraid to make your good guy strong. Being good doesn't mean being weak--and it shouldn't. He can be a paragon of virtue, gentle of speech, willing to help out just about anyone, and still be able to trash any number of attackers. In fact, that's a more exciting thing. You expect the tough, mean, trash-talker to be a butt-buster. You don't necessarily expect it of the refined gentleman--so when the refined one turns around and annihilates the attacking enemies, there's a lot more drama, and the interest in him is heightened. 

Third...don't make things easy. He has to fight. He has to struggle. Whether he is struggling with temptation or with external enemies, with his place in society or just to survive, it cannot be easy for him. He must fight to get the girl. Do not, for heaven's sake, make her just fall for him. Don't make your heroine a spineless dishrag who falls for the first beautiful face she sees. He must pursue her, even if she is interested in him right off. He must struggle to win her heart and her hand. 

He must also struggle for his place. The old fairy tales are actually a great thing to look at for examples of this: while they may end, "They lived happily ever after", the prince and princess never have an easy path to get to where they are. They have to fight. They have to struggle. Sometimes, they nearly die--and in several stories I've read, they do die and have to be brought back to life! 

And finally, don't be afraid to make your character truly good, for fear he won't be popular. Yes, the brooding bad-boys have large fan bases. But so do the stalwart gentlemen. And they're usually the ones worth having.

I rest my case.