busyAmong my principles of characterization are:
* Morality tends to behave as a bell curve. Most people are in the middle. Extremely good or evil people are rare, and the farther toward either end of the spectrum, the fewer there are.
* Nobody is perfect or hopeless. People are good at doing some things and bad at others. This is equally true of heroes, villains, and bystanders although the proportions vary. Movers and shakers may have a much higher levels of talent (and sometimes greater flaws) unless you're looking at an ordinary person sucked into extraordinary circumstances.
* Most people do things for reasons. Sometimes the reasons are foolish or crazy. People who do things truly for no reason, who have no behavioral filter, are rare and scary. Except kids. When they do annoying shit and you ask why and they say, "I dunno," that's often true. The idea popped into their head and they did it, because the filter hadn't grown in yet.
* Characters may be opposed without either of them being Good or Evil. They just happen to have conflicting goals.
* Sometimes the hero/villain split depends on perspective. A character might be a hero to some and a villain to others, depending which side you're on.
* Singular actions may be judged on an absolute or comparative basis. Some things (murder, theft) are considered wrong in most if not all societies. But some things that are widely considered wrong (rape) may be handled quite permissively in some societies, scolded on one hand but supported on the other. Different people will buy into different interpretations when the signals are mixed.
Some examples of my antagonists ...
Farce is a minor supervillain whose crummy life experiences make her want to share the misery. She's acting in a wholly negative way, but it's also obvious that she isn't thinking very clearly.
Mr. Pernicious is a supervillain whose internalized racism has inspired him to become the embodiment of evil. He's one of the few antagonists who truly sees himself as a black hat and revels in it.
Dr. Infanta is a world-class super. She can do tremendous harm, or tremendous good, and she applies either in her quest for survival. Consequently some people view her as a villain while others view her as a hero. Her physical development was arrested in childhood, and while her mental capacity has grown, it's still not the same as a natural adult; her eternal childhood colors her outlook.
General Fallon is an antagonist not based on his moral alignment. He's just an abusive asshole, and he's firmly attached to an organization from which other characters have divorced themselves. This combines two motifs: the everyday evil of petty tyrants, and conflict that arises from opposed goals.
Zaavan is a dragon with a selfish and vindictive nature. However, dragons in this setting have a concrete reason for seeking treasure: they have dietary requirements for differing combinations of precious elements. The fact that he meets his needs by razing an entire city is a personal choice which aligns with what there is of draconic culture, believing that might makes right.
The Kirigami Mage is another example of opposed goals. She and her rival, the Origami Mage, are frequently in conflict but neither is evil. Together they function much like yin and yang.
Gorrein is a god of war, hotheaded and given to doing a great many horrible things. Despite this, some people still have a soft spot for him. His followers admire him. His sister Gailah, along with his friends among the other deities, miss him when he's gone even though they work to thwart his more destructive plans.
Evil!Schrodinger is an alter of good!Schrodinger. Most iterations of Evil!Schrodinger really are evil. He may appear alone or with allies. Sometimes he even gets together with Good!Schrodinger.
Midge is a muckraker who keeps putting her nose into the heroes' business. She is annoying rather than evil, except when Evil!Midge arrives from an alternate dimension. Sometimes her goals are opposed to the team's goals, but more often it's just that she gets in the way and irritates the hell out of people. She's also the kind of person whose view of moral rules is, "They're more like ... guidelines."
October 17 2013, 01:42:52 UTC 7 years ago Edited: October 17 2013, 01:43:20 UTC
This makes him more of a morally neutral figure in my mind, someone trying to play the Jester in a fallen Court. That those who cannot look behind his image will refuse to hear his message is an irony that I think he intended; it is, after all, a message meant for the lost and broken who need release from their pain.
Take the (somewhat hidden) moral out of the message, and what do you have? A dark-shadowed beast who wishes to encourage depression and self-destruction.
Put that moral back, and add some light? You get an anti-hero.
Hmm...
October 17 2013, 17:48:39 UTC 7 years ago
I think there's a difference between someone who does things in the middle of the spectrum, where a given act is neither good nor evil, and who has no strong affinity either way; vs. someone who does both good and evil, with different acts at the far ends of the spectrum or a single act with separate good and evil effects. The latter may average out to gray but the impression is very different.
October 28 2013, 01:23:43 UTC 7 years ago
October 28 2013, 01:43:51 UTC 7 years ago