#CORRUPTION ARC

[princesspink5]

first time in a long long time that I'm well and truly split down the middle. they're just both too good

This question was sent to our inbox. If you’d like for us to post a This or That poll for you, send the 2 things you want to see against each other to our inbox and we’ll let the people decide which one they prefer. Everything will be anonymous.

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[shy-raccoon]

The villain successfully corrupts the hero to their side and regrets it. Maybe the hero is releasing their repressed anger and they are far more brutal, sadistic and violent then the villain anticipated. The villain has to witness their new "partner" commit atrocities they wouldn't dream of. The line of who's the true leader of evil organization eventually gets very very blurred.

[tenaciousgeckos]

Aka corruption arc, but we don't mind :)

[c-rose2081]

Withering Beauty & Fractured Reflections

Hi, I have a lot of thoughts. I was just kinda sketching and had some angsty, villain arc Briar on the mind. She’s def giving some hardcore Evanescence vibes here? But I don’t mind. I love that for her.

Honestly I don’t think she’s really evil here either, just bitter, angry and maybe a little cursed. Briar was pushed to this point, after all. She’s not inherently dark. Having the idea of destiny forced on her, and her feelings being constantly neglected by people she thought cared for her? It takes its toll. I think Thronecoming was the final straw. Something snapped. The pressure broke the mirror inside Briar’s mind and warped the way she saw herself. And because destiny is so very specific regarding fairytales, the Sleeping Beauty story became corrupted and actually changed its Princess into something…else. Something dark. Briar was changed into whatever it was she saw in the shattered fractal pattern of her mind.

And, seeing as the last things she did was experience Raven’s evil destiny, it’s safe to say the Storybook of Legends doesn’t end up going down the well after Briar finds it…

Let me know what you think of this or if you have any theories or thoughts. I just wanted to design something tbh so I’m always open to suggestions.

[whump-in-the-closet]

characters who have to redeem themselves. Except “redemption” isn’t what they expected. They begged for forgiveness and now their every action is monitored. They have to let everyone know that they messed up— they can’t go anywhere without the whispers and dark stares following them.

Once proud, they now walk with head bowed and never never make eye contact. They’ve leaned that much. They have scars where everyone can see, purposefully placed there as a reminder of what happens when they mess up. It doesn’t matter how much they swear they’ve changed, the blows come all the same. Casual now— just backhanded slaps and grabbing and quick orders to shut up—

they’ve learned their lesson. They don’t want redemption.

[naniguini]

When a character goes through a corruption arc and now they are going to hurt their cinnamon roll ally/friend/partner/etc. and you just have to deal with the feeling that can only be described as watching someone about to kick a puppy and not being able to stop it.

[atwistedandbrokentale]

Hear me out.. an inside out au where Fear takes on the role of Anxiety

While this is more specific to me personally, I believe that Anxiety can be classified as a type of fear. So the opposite can work, letting yourself being ruled by fear.

It would be really good angsty corruption au. Much like Sadness being drawn to the happy memories to make them sad, imagine Fear being drawn to take over Riley’s mind, still trying to make sure she’s safe but stressed and anxious. The angst would be immaculate.

Anyone else agree?

[thepenultimateword]

Prompt #217

Supervillain slowly circled Hero's bound figure.

"Poor little Hero. All alone and no one to turn to. Abandoned by your team, kicked out of the agency..." Supervillain leaned in, the corner of their lip curled back in a wolfish smile. Hero's eyes widened. "What's your next mo--"

Hero surged up and kissed them.

Quick. Warm. Chaste.

Supervillain stumbled back, ears burning. "W-what..." They clapped both hands over their mouth, exclaiming muffled, "What are you doing?"

Hero cocked their head. "You leaned in. Weren't we leading up to the 'join me and I'll give you unimaginable power' speech anyway? I'm just speeding it up a little."

[neongalaxiie]

Villain slumped against their bean bag, dropping their gaming controller onto their lap and reaching for their soda. A long slurp of the drink and readjustment of the mic, and another match has begun. Villain leaned forward as they earned kill after kill, shouting to their team for some sense of coordination. Some people just didn't know how to play, did they?

Villain practically carried their team, but was eliminated by the end. They left the match, having enough of ranked games, and settled for a more relaxed mode.

Suddenly, the door slammed inward, hitting the wall hard enough to leave a dent. Villain sat up, sliding their headset off and saw Hero standing in the doorway, head down, with a shadow over their eyes. Their body was tense, their expression grim, and their fists balled at their sides.

Villain's eyes widened. "H-hero? What are you doing here?"

Hero raised their head just enough to peer up at Villain from the top of their glowing eyes. Their demeanor didn't change apart from a scowl. Villain swallowed.

Nobody said anything for a few seconds.

Then Hero broke the oppressive silence with a low growl. "Don't call me that."

"I'm done being a hero."

[mirohtron]

The villain had never seen the hero like this. Twitchy. Vulnerable. Volatile. Wide-eyed and not quite present.

Of course, after the media outpour, after the merciless backlash, after the mess that had went down between them and their agency, the villain had expected some form of pain on the hero's face, but not...this. Some look like they'd gone through a revelation that had ruined their life.

They got the compulsion to take advantage.

"I always knew they would do something like this," they murmured pitifully. They brushed slow, careful fingers under their chin. "But not to someone like you. Never you. You were always so... good."

The hero's eyes snapped up, suddenly cognizant.

The villain flinched back from the rage they saw, and just as quickly it flickered out in the hero's face and they were back to sadly staring.

A moment passed.

The hero said nothing, so the villain continued.

"Would you like to exact revenge?" they asked, gentler this time. "I could help."

The hero looked up again, wide-eyed, but this time interested.

The villain slowly raised their hand, careful not to spook, and touched their fingers to the hero's cheek. "They hurt you," said the villain. "You. I think that warrants some retaliation." They dropped their hand and the hero didn't follow it. The villain wasn't sure if they were cognizant of anything at all.

"Do you know the details?"

"Of what happened? No."

Silently, the hero tilted their head to the side.

"I don't want to take advantage of you," the villain told them gently. "I just believe your rage has been suppressed and smothered and doused for far too long. It's unhealthy, you know—"

"They threw me away," the hero said flatly. "Like rubbish. Because I found things." They tilted their head to the other side. "They sent people to me afterwards. Tried to get me to kill myself. When that didn't work they sent a hero."

The villain buffered as they processed this information. Of course they knew the higher ups at the agency liked doing terrible things, but...

"Just them?"

"Not just them. And not just the people."

The villain opened their mouth, considered their next words. But they were not sure what would give another seething head tilt and what would give the weakness they'd prefer.

"Not just them," the villain repeated quietly. They eyed the hero's stray hairs, the blood and dirt and cuts on their face. All their time in this job they'd never seemed to fit a place like this; a gloomy room, a star-lit sky, tall, looming, spindle-shaped trees. They raised a careful hand to tuck hair behind the hero's ear. "What would you like to do?"

"A lot of things."

The villain trailed slow fingers down the line of the hero's jaw. Slightly, so slightly they could've imagined it, the hero leaned into their touch. Their chest swelled . "Bad things?"

They placed their fingers over the hero's throat to feel the inevitable swallow. "Yes."

"You'd be justified. All these years of overwork, crawling into your bed each thankless night, this constant persistence that you had to do better." The villain stepped close as the hero's expression twisted in pain. "I'd justify that. I think, anyone who isn't an idiot would justify that. Think about it." They cupped the hero's face with both hands, voice down to a whisper. "Think of what you could do to them with my help."

Something in the hero's eyes cleared. They leaned a fraction of an inch back, all the fog in their eyes disappearing.

The villain started to draw their hands back.

The hero caught their wrists in a vice-like grip. They were present. Their stare was fierce. "No. Not just revenge," they said. "I want them to feel helpless. Do you know how much I've contributed to their strategies? Their technological advancement? And yet they don't give me any weapon that's not years old. I want them wishing they could've been better, that this could've been prevented." They shook their head just slightly, and the hair the villain had carefully tucked back came loose to frame their face.

"I want them wailing for help," the hero said. They let go of the villain's wrists and touched their palms to their cheeks instead. "I want the city bending at my whims," they breathed, stepping close, "like I bent for theirs. I want them to resent me. I want them to fear me. I want them scared when night time comes, because they fear I'll pop out and steal them. Then they'll see. Then they'll see how great I am. How great I always was. How I was their fault."

For the first time the hero looked like they belonged in this gloom, like the night sky was rising behind them; a lethal backdrop. The trees behind them seemed to rise up, pitch-black silhouettes. A bloody, dirty face, angry, wide eyes, horrible words spewing out their mouth—oh, the villain didn't know how they never saw it.

They looked like they meant every word. The villain was aware of every inch of them, suddenly alight with fury, with potential, with the need to ruin and desecrate.

The hero pulled them closer, until they were breathing each other's air, and the villain wanted to see their mouth dripping with blood that didn't belong to either of them. Such wild teeth they had. Such a cruel tongue. Such eyes, such hands, such looks. "I want them," the hero said, "to forever regret me. I want to grow like festering mold in their memory. I want to be a parasite in their history."

"You're wonderful," the villain whispered dazedly.

The hero snapped out of whatever had overcome them. They let go of the villain's face and moved back.

The villain snapped out of their stupour, straightening. Back they looked, and the hero had returned to looking like a fawn, all traces of that destructive sadism gone. The villain clenched their fist to collect themselves, bit the tip of their tongue.

"It'll be a pleasure to help you exact your revenge," said the villain. They thought of new ways to take advantage of the hero. Thought, distantly, how they could amplify their terrible side. "But you have to trust me."

"That'll be work."

"I will have to trust you, too," they said. "And—don't wear these colours." They traced the collar of the hero's ruined shirt. "I've always thought black looked much better on you."

The hero looked at the villain. "Your colour."

The villain tugged lightly on their collar. Looked back at them. "My colour." They righted it and brushed off lint that wasn't there from their shoulder. "Now, to work."

The hero followed.

In ten months they brought despair to the city.

In twelve the hero had made the villain theirs.

[i-looove-dillydallying]

I love fictional relationships where they make eachother so much worse yes I am talking about 12 and Clara

[the-modern-typewriter]

How would you recommend writing a corruption arc? Like when you watch the protagonist get eviler what happens to the plot? Bc if the protagonist joins the antagonist then there’s no more opposition right?

It depends what you want the ending to be/what the story is about. AKA, what IS the plot? What is the larger point of your story? What does your protagonist want?/what is their driving motivation?

Plot = goal + conflict

Plot = goal; conflict; climax; resolution

Your protagonist should have a good reason driving their corruption arc. People don't change just because.

The protagonist could join the antagonist at the end as a final mark of their absolute corruption. If the story was about how a person can become corrupted, then that would be the end because you have told the story you set out to tell.

However, the arc can also be part of a larger story, in which case that is not the end. A character arc is not the same as a plot. They often line up because that's a satisying story structure, with the character arc completing right before the climax of the story, but they don't have to.

if you wanted the story to continue, then the opposition would simply switch. E.g, it might be the protagonist's previous allies who now provide the obstacle to the protagonist’s goals. It might be that being on the antagonist's side resolves one conflict but leads to others. For example, the protagonist might ultimately decide that they don't want to share power with anyone, so they try a dark side coup. Whatever. This will be specific to the story.

What if joining the dark side doesn't give them what they want, though they thought it would? How would a darker protagonist strive to achieve their goal then? They've already sacrificed their morals and so much, they can't turn back now, right?

What if the protagonist got everything they wanted through succumbing to their flaws/corruption, but it is those same flaws that now threaten what they most want?

In many cases, a corruption arc/negative arc directly leads to the character's death/downfall. That's the tragedy. Or they get what they want...at massive cost/sacrifice of something else and must contend with that.

Either way, the key point here is that character arc and plot arc are not the same thing. Figure out what your protagonist wants. Everything else, including the arc, stems from that.

[fumifooms]

Monsters and Ghosts

Monsters & Ghosts, the monstrous siblings

The Toudens Dungeon Meshi Ryoko Kui

Red song lyrics (both fonts & shades): Animal by The Living Tombstone // Black background song lyrics: This is Home by Cavetown // The two dialogue bubbles, flighted birds & swallowing: Shut Hell by Yu Ito // Blue quote: Susan Ee // White background quote: Numbers 13:32, the Bible // “Burning shadows of human hands” song lyrics: Uncanny by GHOST // Brown-gold song lyrics: My Ordinary Life by The Living Tombstone // Orange quote: Mira Grant Last quote below: Stephen King // Last song lyrics below: Monster from Adventure Time.

[c-rose2081]

You know, I don’t think the events of Legacies Undone ever leaves Apple’s mind. In her head, where destiny used to be this thing to look forward too, it’s now taken everything from her. Her best friend, her future true love, the respect and adoration of her peers, and (by the time Dragon Games rolls around), the approval of Snow White. Apple loses everything as her life spirals completely out of control.

I don’t think she releases the Evil Queen on accident or in a fit of rage. It’s purposeful. She does it with the goal of destroying destiny itself, pulling a complete 180 in a direction no one could expect. A piece of black magic from the false world has completely corrupted her mindset. Apple doesn’t want to hurt anyone, just like Briar never meant to, but she’s too far gone to stop her crusade. Apple takes up Briar’s mantle against happily ever after, convincing EQ to help her on her quest, but with plans to betray not just her, but everyone else to finish what Briar started.

Might do a fallen angel/corrupted version of Apple from Dragon Games as it’s tickling the mind just so. Hm.

[shy-raccoon]

A villain so powerful and brutal they drive the hero into villainy out of sheer desperation. A hero who's plans to stop the villain once and for all start resembling and then surpassing the villain's plans. A hero who dosen't want to hurt anyone except for the villain but who starts to justify more and more collateral damage as the years drag on.

For example, after years of the villain committing to many war crimes to count the hero is legitimately considering just nuking the Villains's capital city to get it over with. They can even justify it to themselves after all a lot of the capital cities population are the villain's rich supporters and henchmen (but far more are starving in the slums). Maybe the villain even finds out about this plan and is horrifed, They may be evil but even they are not foolish enough to resort to nukes.