Whenever I would imagine the face of the enemy, it was your face…" · 3:47pm Jul 23rd, 2021
"...and character development traits that we as fanfic writers can abuse to understand how to write better, and perhaps even apply in real life.
A discussion of sorts about Mass Effect, MLP, a bit of Avatar, and a bit of RL.
Let's start this with a familiar story:
An ambitious and young filly is taken in by the ruler of her country as an apprentice. This ruler is not only wise, but also extremely powerful. Powerful enough to move the sun and the moon. She's also ancient, and although warm, understandably distanced from an adult perspective. She loves and provides for her apprentice, but that is not enough for the little filly.
She wants recognition. She wants power. She wants to be seen as equal (if not superior) by her teacher. She's been groomed to be important, maybe even a princess! But the path to that, while not impossible, is long and she doesn't have the maturity to understand this and accept it. So she lashes out.
A fight ensues and she runs away. She grows in bitterness and ambition, and eventually returns to steal away what she thinks is the gimmick that will change her into what she is supposed to be.
This, of course, doesn't work. She is pushed into a last, desperate effort to gain what she wants and becomes essentially what moments ago she had claimed she wasn't: a monster.
After trying and failing to destroy the heroine, she is not screamed at, judged or accused by the heroine; rather, a hand of friendship is extended, promising that she can change, be better, learn from her mistakes and become a better person overall.
She takes it. And she does become a better person.
As fanfic writers, when we write a character that is compelling in some way or another we have it a bit easier than starting from scratch. Unless there's zero interest in understanding your source material (in which case you suck at writing fanfic), you will know the quirks, defects, flaws, strengths, failures, successes and history of a character you're writing to as much an extent as your investment in them.
But just because they're "pre-made" doesn't mean that you can write them properly if you don't understand what makes them compelling despite everything that should make us hate them. Sunset Shimmer is one of the worst bullies in kids toons. She's not consistently one after the movie, but by the time that it takes place, she had created on her own an extremely toxic atmosphere, breaking apart friendships with lies that could have really done some permanent damage.
But she changes after she is proven wrong. She's not forced to… she'd been defeated, but it would have been simple for her to return to her old ways once Twilight was gone. We see her changes, and we see her effort and we side with her despite her previous history.
Why?
Did you know Tali was racist? And yet we all love her adorable Quarian ass. Why? Sure, it's not as blatant as Ashley's xenophobia, but if you've played all three games and ever replayed ME1 and listened to the shit she says, you'd probably have the same reaction I did: "Shit Tali, I love you, but come on!"
We love her because ultimately she's not a bad person. She has messed up ideas because of her environment and her social circles for most of her life (until ME1) were essentially echo-chambers that placed the blame of every inconvenience on the Geth, conveniently ignoring the many attempts the Geth made initially, and in the future to embrace their creators and welcome them back in peace.
The righteous sanctimonious fury of the Quarians isn't even based on reality. Just like that quote from Katara in the blog's title, it's because their enemy has a convenient face. "They are the monsters that took their home, killed their ancestors, drove them out and chased them off their world! And look, there's even a few here that have joined forces with Saren to kill us all!"
Except that later on we find out that's not the case. When Legion comes in, he's never aggressive, rude, or violent against anyone, unlike Tali. And even with the evidence, even with the fact that they work together and she comes to like and respect Legion, it takes an outside view and approach to finally break through to her that the Geth are not evil.
"Does this unit have a soul?"
If you did your legwork, you can hear Tali respond to the question that Legion asked and started hundreds of years of war, with the one answer she would never have thought she would utter:
"Legion, the answer to your question… was yes."
Even though we know she's wrong, and we know that her views are skewed, we give this character a chance that a lot of people won't for others, even if they know them personally. So what is the difference?
Why are characters that we have good reason to hate different from real people who we have reason to help become better?
It's the writing, bro. We see them at their worst, at their best, at their most desperate and most successful. We see them gloat, but we also see them realize when they are wrong. It's because the writing takes us with them for the ride.
At no point have I ever thought, for example, that Tali's hate for the Geth was reasonable. But I can see where it comes from, and I can see that my words through Shepard slowly influence her way of thinking, until at the end she is the one that embraces her former "demon" as a companion, friend, and person.
Shepard knows that his/her job, as Tali's ally, is not to enable her hate, but to help her confront it by example, arguments and patience (both Renegade or Paragon), because what started the war was fear, anger, blame, and the conscious effort to not recognize others as individuals.
Granted, Xen should be arrested for crimes against sapient species, but that's another issue.
So how does this tie to writing? Well… understanding that writing a character is more than writing only their best attributes is part of growing as a writer. Part of what makes Mary Sues insufferable is the fact that their authors are simply not aware that real people have flaws, and real people connect to characters because of both their good and bad sides.
So they'll try to remedy that by adding an "oh, she's not great at cooking." Sure that's a flaw of sorts, but it's not a character trait. It doesn't help define who the character is. If we reduce a person to "he's conservative" it really doesn't tell us anything about them.
It's a statement that they're not progressive, but it doesn't explore what makes this person tick, what they think about issues, or where their flaws are, and more importantly, how they can change. It's not a real defining characteristic of a person, as much as it might define the general tendencies of an ideological entity, but just like an ideology doesn't apply entirely to a person, then a defining characteristic of a character is something that intrinsically helps shape who they are and how we perceive them.
When we apply this to a character, we need to make sure that their flaws work the same way as they do for a real person. Sunset's ambition is a defining characteristic when she's a bully, and it is also a defining characteristic when she's not… we connect with her later on because she struggles to change, and those flaws hold her back, whether she has renounced them or not.
Tali is very hateful to the Geth through all of ME1, and most of ME2. She collects pieces of them to send to The Flotilla, not even for her own understanding, but as a means to earn her own father's recognition, and wouldn't think twice about the fact that she could have been killing a sapient being. They are not just "a different kind of people", they are things and monstrosities, mechanical creations that must be eliminated because they cannot co-exist with her people. A faction that is beyond redemption because, to her, they lack the capacity for empathy and change… when in fact she's lacking in both when it comes to their species.
In fact, she doesn't really have a single reaction to killing them, but the moment an organic life form dies by her hand for the first time, it's a different matter.
Realizing that this is a character trait in her is what allows a fanfic writer to really bring her to life. Character traits and flaws reflect completely on them, from how they act to how they talk. If I may be so bold (I am) as to bring an example of my own writing that has been praised for accuracy to character, let me share with you this scene from Sunset's Isekai:
"Yes, a most interesting place," Iroh responded. "I wouldn't mind visiting again."
"So, what brings you to my bar?"
"A great many things," Iroh said, leaning back on his seat. "Curiosity. My feet. Thirst."
Sunset grinned. "You're adorable."
"Ah, I will take that as a compliment."
Rather than patting my own back at how great that might be, the point here is really about what type of person Iroh is, and what his defining traits reflect in even a bit of conversation:
Even when he has nothing to hide, Iroh will tell you the truth of things, but he will not tell you all of it. He is comfortable with himself, and that easiness and confidence are easily turned into charisma. His mind is sharp enough to roll and apply his words in ways that are endearing, putting their opposite at ease.
He is welcoming of compliments, but we know from the series that he can also ignore most insults as they are beneath him, simply by being polite about it and flummoxing those that would have attempted to use his ire against him.
We, the readers in this case, if familiar with Iroh's past, know what this humility cost him, this trait didn't just happen as just like with Aang, it blossomed from great pain and loss… but it is the characteristic that makes a reader click with the exchange above and with just a few words relate the character in the page, to the character from the series.
To conclude my ramblings, flaws and traits are part of what makes us human, and if we can see them in characters and connect with them, we should be able to see them in people and vice-versa. The best way to make our OC, MC, or villain resonate with the readers is to be consistent with these traits and flaws, and allow ourselves, them, and others to change as we and them grow.
Peace.
~WD
Some often forget that Iroh was a warmonger in his past. It's seen in the letters he wrote about his conquests. Losing his only son changed him by making him reflect on his actions and way of living, even of his own nation which was built on pride and superiority.
This is why I sometimes disagree with some authors way of "reforming" villains or antagonists, because they're more interested in the villain suffering for their crimes or being under the total control of the "good guys" than actually nurturing an environment where the villains can reflect, see that their choices were the wrong ones, or see a new way of living their lives.
Yes, as it turns out characterization is of some small importance to writing a good story. The story is the characters, and the characters are themselves made up of stories.
is this because I said Tali was best girl
5559042 Nah. Tali is just a lovable, awesome character... with flaws, and I think she's a perfect example for this.
5559079
The only reason I wouldn't date Tali every single ME game in which I played MShep is because Jack exists
actually spoiler alert i've played femshep and dated garrus more than either
5559083
I'm Femshep x Garrus for life as well, but in my recent playthrough I'm doing Femshep x Liara because why not
5559085
To be fair, that arc is also really good, though i'm not sure if anything in ME3 hit me as hard with her as her content in Lair of the Shadow Broker did.
I still really like that DLC, but when you're dating liara... holy crap, it feels like it's on another level entirely.
I'm kind of surprised that Catra didn't come up in this because She Ra does such an incredible job of showing how trauma, especially in development, leads people into endlessly repeating patterns that they know are wrong but have become a reflex or instinct that makes them feel safe, even just for a little while.
It's also why it's interesting that people said she couldn't be or shouldn't be forgiven or redeemed leading into the final season. Because forgiveness and safety without condition are the biggest things that can help trauma victims break their cycles.
5559406 Catra would have also been a good example, I just didn't want this to grow into a super long post! It's almost 2k words as it is!