Samven's Writing Lectures
10-30-2012, 03:00 PM
2. Writing the Hero
Part Three - Heroic Angst
The journey from farm boy to hero isn't an easy one. A hero has to make sacrifices, leave loved ones behind, be tempted by the dark side's power and cookies... No heroic tale is complete without the hero questioning whether the path they walk is the right one. This is, in my book, the most difficult part of a hero's development to write.
Their angst.
Now, let's make one thing clear. "Angsting" does not - I repeat, does NOT - mean that our brave hero locks themselves in their room, listening to Evanescence while cutting themselves and growing a big black fringe over their eyes. That is the behaviour of what we in England like to call "a brooding git" when we're being polite.
Like "bland", the word "angst" actually has a meaning different to what we tend to associate it with these days. The informal definition is what we're all used to seeing in so-called heroes from animeland these days: "a feeling of persistent worry about something trivial". Why? Because most of the time what JRPG protagonists worry about is trivial and mostly has to do with catching the eye of that brain dead childhood friend. "Does she like me? How can I get her attention? Why don't girls like me? Nyehnyehnyeh..." Ugh... Characters like this are the reason why JRPG's are so rarely taken seriously as a storytelling medium.
So, then, what is angst if it isn't some arbitrary points for the hero to whine over? Well, it's "a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general". Right. Now that we've got the boring descriptive part over, let's cut to the narrative chase and start looking at some examples of how to do angst right versus examples of how to make your audience bored to tears: in particular, Final Fantasy VIII and the seventh Fire Emblem game.
The hero of the first story is Squall, a young military student training to be a member of an elite special forces group called SeeD. Now, Squall has received a lot of infamy over the years for his attitude. He's cold, aloof, bitter, condescending and extremely rude to just about everyone he meets. This isn't what makes him a bad example of angst, though. What makes him a bad example is his dialogue. I could spend days picking out horrible lines from the character but the one that really sums him up is "If you never get your hopes up, you'll never be disappointed." Wow. Our hero, ladies and gentleman. A man who not only goes out of his way to remind everyone else that he doesn't care at every opportunity but actually tells the people who are trying at every turn to befriend him that they shouldn't care. What a dick. Unfortunately, millions of preteen sheep seemed to mistake Squall's rudeness for signs that he's some sort of tortured soul. Come off it. Squall isn't tortured at all. The girls of his school want him while its guys want to be him, he's made the leader of the pack because he's clearly the Headmaster's favourite, he's got a shining military career ahead of him, he's mastered an extremely improbable weapon and he gains the ability to summon two powerful spirits from the moment the game begins. Oh, sure, he has some parental issues and he was all alone a a kid but if he'd just open his eyes he'd see that he's living the sort of dream school life that most of us would have killed for... and his school has hoverboards!
The point is, Squall has absolutely no reason to be a complainer but he plays the part anyway. Whatever abandonment issues he has are small potatoes next to the struggles of Fire Emblem's Hector. When Hector is first introduced to us, he looks like a reckless, boisterous, fight-happy maniac. He's a poor excuse for a lord - having no regard for the manners or customs at court - and is regarded as being thicker than two wooden planks. So it is in his best friend Eliwood's tale. Playing the game from Hector's perspective, however, reveals that his loutish behaviour is actually something of a facade. As he confides in Lyn, the third member of the game's power trio, he lost both his parents to illness when he was barely a child. Like Squall, he knows the pain of losing family. Unlike Squall, however, Hector saw that he had people to depend on in his time of need: his older brother, Uther, who took over the responsibilities of raising Hector and of maintaining their house's duty of ruling the country of Lycia, as well as his closest friend Eliwood.
Now, this is not Hector's angst. This is the setup. You see, you have to go through Eliwood's tale - which drops the odd hint here and there that Uther is not as healthy as he seems - to get to Hector's. At the end of Eli's story, it's said that Hector took over his brother's duties of ruling Lycia... Seeing where this is going?
As Uther becomes increasingly absent from the story, Hector gets more and more frustrated. Eventually, he's so desperate to know just what is happening to his brother that he threatens to turn his axe on Oswin: his brother's right-hand and, logically, the only one who should know what's going on. The awful truth comes out and, for the first time in the game, there are breaks in Hector's speech. He pauses. He stumbles. He's shocked beyond belief. This is the first time in the game that we've seen Hector angry - genuinely angry, not simply trash-talking an enemy - and sad... and it all happens in the space of a few minutes. Then he walks off. There's no crying. No screams. No "woe is me" speeches. There isn't really anything but silence and broken words trying to fill it but that's what makes the scene so effective. That's what helps us to understand the pain that Hector feels and it gets even worse when we discover why Uther tried to protect his brother from the truth. His final letter to Oswin, commanding him to do whatever he can to prevent Hector from finding out, reads...
"He is true to his own feelings. If asked to choose between his brother and the world, he would not hesitate in rushing to my side. Though he often speaks in anger, we are brothers. We are all we have. I have never doubted his affection. Yet what if the choice were between brother and friend? To choose one would mean abandoning the other. He would come to despise himself, whatever his choice. I cannot force him to make such a decision."
Wow. Uther chose to die alone and in agonising pain from the same horrifying disease that killed his parents so that Hector and his retainers could go and help Eliwood save the world rather than call them back so that he could pass on surrounded by familiar faces. That's just... it's... wow. Again, though, Hector chooses to bury it deep inside. Why? Who knows? Probably because he just doesn't know how to be emotional. He's so used to solving all his problems by hitting things by now that he can't deal with loss anymore, so he tries to act like it never happened. Three guesses how well that goes down.
The point is, one of these characters suffers a genuine tragedy. One of them feels pain, suffers an irreplaceable loss. One of them has angst. The other has a perfect life and a grouchy demeanour. One of these things is not like the other. When angst hits a hero, it should be something that's visibly affecting. The reason Squall is such a bad example of an angsty character is that he always acts like a prat, so there's no way to tell what affects him and what doesn't. When Hector has angst, it changes him. It shocks this otherwise-unflappable giant to the core.
When a character loses a sibling, is betrayed by a comrade or learns they were helping the villain all along, the audience will want to see how they react. They'll want to see what this news means to the character. Why? Because it shows the audience that they're people with emotions who can be broken or beaten just like us. Human beings aren't invincible, which is why a character who has flaws, makes mistakes and undergoes suffering is appealing. They're relatable.
However, that relatable factor disappears if a character never gets over their angst. Despite anime and JRPG's being a big source of influence for many indie game makers, they're often some of the worst things to take inspiration from for this particular aspect. Why? Because the audience you'll be developing for will be primarily western and the sad truth is that our values and the Japanese ones don't always mix: particularly on the subject of angst. The Japanese don't seem to mind a hero having confidence issues for ages, for one thing. That's why so many heroes are inept, pre-teen whiners. Westerners are different. Americans like gung-ho action heroes who can mow down a whole tower of terrorists in five minutes and Brits like characters who keep a stiff upper lip, knuckle down and deal with whatever issues are going on. Neither one leaves much room for moping. Since you'll probably be writing your game for a western audience, it's crucial to keep them in mind.
Make sure that after your hero has had their angsty moment that there's someone or something to help them get over it: or else a lot of your potential audience is going to dismiss your game as "Just another broody Final Fantasy wannabe".
Part Three - Heroic Angst
The journey from farm boy to hero isn't an easy one. A hero has to make sacrifices, leave loved ones behind, be tempted by the dark side's power and cookies... No heroic tale is complete without the hero questioning whether the path they walk is the right one. This is, in my book, the most difficult part of a hero's development to write.
Their angst.
Now, let's make one thing clear. "Angsting" does not - I repeat, does NOT - mean that our brave hero locks themselves in their room, listening to Evanescence while cutting themselves and growing a big black fringe over their eyes. That is the behaviour of what we in England like to call "a brooding git" when we're being polite.
Like "bland", the word "angst" actually has a meaning different to what we tend to associate it with these days. The informal definition is what we're all used to seeing in so-called heroes from animeland these days: "a feeling of persistent worry about something trivial". Why? Because most of the time what JRPG protagonists worry about is trivial and mostly has to do with catching the eye of that brain dead childhood friend. "Does she like me? How can I get her attention? Why don't girls like me? Nyehnyehnyeh..." Ugh... Characters like this are the reason why JRPG's are so rarely taken seriously as a storytelling medium.
So, then, what is angst if it isn't some arbitrary points for the hero to whine over? Well, it's "a feeling of deep anxiety or dread, typically an unfocused one about the human condition or the state of the world in general". Right. Now that we've got the boring descriptive part over, let's cut to the narrative chase and start looking at some examples of how to do angst right versus examples of how to make your audience bored to tears: in particular, Final Fantasy VIII and the seventh Fire Emblem game.
The hero of the first story is Squall, a young military student training to be a member of an elite special forces group called SeeD. Now, Squall has received a lot of infamy over the years for his attitude. He's cold, aloof, bitter, condescending and extremely rude to just about everyone he meets. This isn't what makes him a bad example of angst, though. What makes him a bad example is his dialogue. I could spend days picking out horrible lines from the character but the one that really sums him up is "If you never get your hopes up, you'll never be disappointed." Wow. Our hero, ladies and gentleman. A man who not only goes out of his way to remind everyone else that he doesn't care at every opportunity but actually tells the people who are trying at every turn to befriend him that they shouldn't care. What a dick. Unfortunately, millions of preteen sheep seemed to mistake Squall's rudeness for signs that he's some sort of tortured soul. Come off it. Squall isn't tortured at all. The girls of his school want him while its guys want to be him, he's made the leader of the pack because he's clearly the Headmaster's favourite, he's got a shining military career ahead of him, he's mastered an extremely improbable weapon and he gains the ability to summon two powerful spirits from the moment the game begins. Oh, sure, he has some parental issues and he was all alone a a kid but if he'd just open his eyes he'd see that he's living the sort of dream school life that most of us would have killed for... and his school has hoverboards!
The point is, Squall has absolutely no reason to be a complainer but he plays the part anyway. Whatever abandonment issues he has are small potatoes next to the struggles of Fire Emblem's Hector. When Hector is first introduced to us, he looks like a reckless, boisterous, fight-happy maniac. He's a poor excuse for a lord - having no regard for the manners or customs at court - and is regarded as being thicker than two wooden planks. So it is in his best friend Eliwood's tale. Playing the game from Hector's perspective, however, reveals that his loutish behaviour is actually something of a facade. As he confides in Lyn, the third member of the game's power trio, he lost both his parents to illness when he was barely a child. Like Squall, he knows the pain of losing family. Unlike Squall, however, Hector saw that he had people to depend on in his time of need: his older brother, Uther, who took over the responsibilities of raising Hector and of maintaining their house's duty of ruling the country of Lycia, as well as his closest friend Eliwood.
Now, this is not Hector's angst. This is the setup. You see, you have to go through Eliwood's tale - which drops the odd hint here and there that Uther is not as healthy as he seems - to get to Hector's. At the end of Eli's story, it's said that Hector took over his brother's duties of ruling Lycia... Seeing where this is going?
As Uther becomes increasingly absent from the story, Hector gets more and more frustrated. Eventually, he's so desperate to know just what is happening to his brother that he threatens to turn his axe on Oswin: his brother's right-hand and, logically, the only one who should know what's going on. The awful truth comes out and, for the first time in the game, there are breaks in Hector's speech. He pauses. He stumbles. He's shocked beyond belief. This is the first time in the game that we've seen Hector angry - genuinely angry, not simply trash-talking an enemy - and sad... and it all happens in the space of a few minutes. Then he walks off. There's no crying. No screams. No "woe is me" speeches. There isn't really anything but silence and broken words trying to fill it but that's what makes the scene so effective. That's what helps us to understand the pain that Hector feels and it gets even worse when we discover why Uther tried to protect his brother from the truth. His final letter to Oswin, commanding him to do whatever he can to prevent Hector from finding out, reads...
"He is true to his own feelings. If asked to choose between his brother and the world, he would not hesitate in rushing to my side. Though he often speaks in anger, we are brothers. We are all we have. I have never doubted his affection. Yet what if the choice were between brother and friend? To choose one would mean abandoning the other. He would come to despise himself, whatever his choice. I cannot force him to make such a decision."
Wow. Uther chose to die alone and in agonising pain from the same horrifying disease that killed his parents so that Hector and his retainers could go and help Eliwood save the world rather than call them back so that he could pass on surrounded by familiar faces. That's just... it's... wow. Again, though, Hector chooses to bury it deep inside. Why? Who knows? Probably because he just doesn't know how to be emotional. He's so used to solving all his problems by hitting things by now that he can't deal with loss anymore, so he tries to act like it never happened. Three guesses how well that goes down.
The point is, one of these characters suffers a genuine tragedy. One of them feels pain, suffers an irreplaceable loss. One of them has angst. The other has a perfect life and a grouchy demeanour. One of these things is not like the other. When angst hits a hero, it should be something that's visibly affecting. The reason Squall is such a bad example of an angsty character is that he always acts like a prat, so there's no way to tell what affects him and what doesn't. When Hector has angst, it changes him. It shocks this otherwise-unflappable giant to the core.
When a character loses a sibling, is betrayed by a comrade or learns they were helping the villain all along, the audience will want to see how they react. They'll want to see what this news means to the character. Why? Because it shows the audience that they're people with emotions who can be broken or beaten just like us. Human beings aren't invincible, which is why a character who has flaws, makes mistakes and undergoes suffering is appealing. They're relatable.
However, that relatable factor disappears if a character never gets over their angst. Despite anime and JRPG's being a big source of influence for many indie game makers, they're often some of the worst things to take inspiration from for this particular aspect. Why? Because the audience you'll be developing for will be primarily western and the sad truth is that our values and the Japanese ones don't always mix: particularly on the subject of angst. The Japanese don't seem to mind a hero having confidence issues for ages, for one thing. That's why so many heroes are inept, pre-teen whiners. Westerners are different. Americans like gung-ho action heroes who can mow down a whole tower of terrorists in five minutes and Brits like characters who keep a stiff upper lip, knuckle down and deal with whatever issues are going on. Neither one leaves much room for moping. Since you'll probably be writing your game for a western audience, it's crucial to keep them in mind.
Make sure that after your hero has had their angsty moment that there's someone or something to help them get over it: or else a lot of your potential audience is going to dismiss your game as "Just another broody Final Fantasy wannabe".
Sam Rowett
Pywritechnics
Pywritechnics
3DS Friend Code: 3411-1039-9335
(Add me for teh pokeymanz and barvely deefalt!)
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Click for the latest update - and vote for someone to die! >8D
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