#Revenge redemption story

[so-bitya]

gonna be honest... I think the most interesting person to come back as a bizarre doll is joker. I know we're excited to see madame red again and doll kinda covers the circus arc but!

I feel like... there isn't much development that can happen with these two off the bat. After coming back to life, what kind of conclusions would they come to? they won't see themselves in the wrong or want to change. they'll look at the past and think, "I died because I was weak. because i cared for ciel too much. but I'm alive again and I'll never make the same mistake. I'll never hesistate again."

but joker? joker genuinely seemed to be on the edge of changing his ways before he died. like he knows the whole truth of what baron kelvin did. he knows about the arm prosthetics, the cult, and implicitly all the horror of what happened to ciel. He's the only one that showed so much regret for what he did and lost everything. what would happen if he came back? would he really just get mindless revenge against ciel?

[jackietaylorsghost]

abby might genuinely be one of the most poorly written sympathetic/grey characters ive ever encountered im forever thinking about how they tried to make her some sort of parallel to joel, an actual well written sympathetic/grey character, and fucked it up so badly

[kisuminight]

So lets talk about c!Sapnap and his current arc in the AU.

To start with some background--Sapnap knew c!Dream when he was younger, during Dream's previous life. He failed his perception check, and didn't register Dream as a Blade, just that he was older than Sapnap and fun to play with. They lived in the same area for about a year. During this time, Dream did not end up meeting c!Bad or c!Skeppy (during this life, Dream didn't really hide that he was a Blade, so they would've pegged it immediately if they had met).

Dream and Sapnap re-met each other about 3 years before they arrived in the DreamSMP. At this point, Dream and c!George had been in Resonance for about 1 year. Sapnap likes George, too, so they become a friend group. Sapnap introduces Dream and George to Bad, Skeppy, c!Sam, c!Ponk, c!Antfrost, and c!Velvet. Dream and George introduce the others to c!Alyssa and c!Callahan.

Sapnap, Dream, and George form the Dream Team. They wander a lot between different servers and explore a lot of different places. They do end up doing something similar, but not exactly like Manhunt (because Manhunt involves them trying to kill Dream and Dream trying to kill them back, which isn't exactly feasible with the way the Blade system works). It ends up more like an extreme tag--lots of running around, no killing, no maiming.

It is after one of these trips that they come back to find out that Velvet suffered a permanent death. While Antfrost is grieving, he starts to drift away from the group of friends.

Dream and George do still do solo explorations sometimes. On one of these times, they come across the DreamSMP server. They decide to stay permanently and build a home there, and invite the rest of their friends

~

Canon until Staged Finale

~

So Sapnap figures out that George was probably Dream's Driver during the prior canon events, and given their relationship, has been Dream's Driver for a while.

This throws him into a tailspin, because he didn't think Dream would end up acting like he did--and now Dream has turned out to be a Blade, which means there is a good chance that a large portion of how Dream was acting might have been based on George, or at least what Dream though George might have wanted.

The Dethronement makes this questionable, but Sapnap can't help but think back over every interaction he's ever had with Dream and George, separately and together, and try to figure out if there were any signs he could have seen. One notable one is that, post-Dethronement, George had a panic attack and then denied it and said it "wasn't his" with the implications that Sapnap now sees as the panic attack being something that had come through the Resonance from Dream.

And the thing is, Sapnap is stuck just having the gears turning and turning and second-guessing himself without any answers. George had made himself hard to find pre-Staged Finale, but now he's in his Depression Nap Era (plus help from XD), so Sapnap basically never gets to talk to him.

The other person in the relationship was Dream, and Dream isn't just permanently dead (if his core crystal is Awakened again, it won't be Sapnap's friend Dream) but also flat out missing. And it happened right under his nose.

The emotions and questions that Sapnap is dealing with right now are hard and ugly, and he hates thinking about them. He hates that he can't stop thinking about them because he doesn't know what the truth of the situation is, and because he's second guessing everything that's happened in the DT relationship, he doesn't even want to believe in any one possibility his mind might come up with.

And while Sapnap is having an ongoing existential crisis, his fiances aren't helping. c!Karl is losing time he would normally spend with Sapnap to the time travel, and losing the memories he shares with Sapnap to that as well. c!Quackity has off and disappeared (building Los Nevadas) and they've all abandoned Mexican L'Manberg/El Rapids.

He can't really turn to anyone else, either. Assuming we keep Mexican Dream and Mamcita, he hasn't seen them since before Doomsday. Bad and Skeppy have gone off and started a cult, and they haven't kept in contact. Antfrost has joined them (Antfrost has been distant since Velvet). Sam is obsessed with what happened with Dream Pandora's Vault and Sapnap cannot keep re-hashing that. Ponk is fighting with Sam too, except Sapnap and Ponk were never the closest of the friend group. Alyssa has switched servers. Callhan is never around anymore.

George is George, and now all of Sapnap's interactions with him are steeped in guilt and suspicion. Even the few times George wakes up, they never seem to have the important conversation.

At this point, his closest friend is c!Punz, who is vaguely affiliated with the Eggpire. The one time he thinks Bad and Skeppy (his parents) might want him around, they send Punz to tell him that actually, nevermind (Sapnap has heard things about the Eggpire, so he's not entirely sure if he does want to join, but at least if Bad and Skeppy asked he'd know they wanted him around).

And then Punz is dead. Because he was also secretly a Blade and the mess involving the Eggpire's Red Banquet got his Driver killed.

It's pretty obvious, in the aftermath, that c!Purpled was Punz's Driver. Sapnap is caught between wanting to keep a friend (just one, even if the newly Awakened version of Punz will not be the same friend who just died), and what he knows is the right thing.

And even though I'd put Sapnap more as a Chaotic Neutral on the alignment chart (all those Pet Wars), he was raised by a Blade and a Driver. Since he could understand the world, he's been taught about the differences between a Player's situation and a Blade's situation. Even if Bad and Skeppy aren't acting like it anymore, they taught Sapnap some very specific morals growing up. So Sapnap decides he needs to give Punz's core crystal back to Purpled.

Except he needs to find Purpled first. And Purpled hasn't really made that easy. His most-known build, and home, is the UFO. Which is in pieces. His friends? As far as Sapnap knows, he didn't really spend much time with the other kids on the server. c!Ranboo pretty much doesn't even know he exists. Hannah was theoretically a friend he knew from Bedwars. Hannah was Eggpire and had killed Purpled. Ponk had mentioned him once on a friendly way. Ponk is now also Eggpire.

So it takes Sapnap a solid month before he even hears the word Los Nevadas in connection with Purpled, and it's as good a lead as any. So he goes to Los Nevadas, except the person running it is Quackity?

Quackity abandoned El Rapids first. Quackity hadn't come when Karl gave the invitation to Kinoko Kingdom.

So we've got Sapnap running headfirst into what Quackity is trying to build and the resulting tension over the question of who abandoned who. We have Purpled on his revenge arc, who wants to make Quackity suffer and doesn't want anything to do with Sapnap (Quackity's fiance) and isn't willing to speak to him even in a group setting, and avoids him when they could theoretically be alone. We have Sapnap trying to talk to Purpled, except he's not stupid enough to outright say "I have Punz's core crystal, we need to talk" around other people because he was raised by a Blade and Driver and knows that is stupidly unsafe for the Blade in question.

Inter-personally, Quackity is jealous because he finally has Sapnap, but Sapnap seems more interested in talking to Purpled. Sapnap is having weird feelings about c!Slime, because Q is now a Driver to a Blade, and since the mess with Dream, Sapnap is getting paranoid about people's intentions about Blades (and now he has to protect Punz's core crystal, too). It doesn't help that Slime is really weird for a Blade (because of the original Memory Patch experiments with Aegis!Dream) and he's a spy? Who can maybe sense Punz's core crystal, even when it's in Sapnap's Ender Chest?

So this is like a month of them bouncing off each other, and then Karl shows up.

See, Karl woke up in a weird place he doesn't recognize (without Sapnap around, he lost touch of the memories of creating Kinoko Kingdom), without his fiances. So he decided to go find them.

Now, this is August/September-ish? I think the original fight with Q, when Karl forgot who he was, was in November (prison break). So Karl knows who Q is, and he knows who Sapnap is. But he's really confused about why they're all off in Los Nevadas and not in El Rapids. And why El Rapids is destroyed, and not re-built.

This starts the fight that's been building for a while. Q and Sapnap mutually accuse each other of the abandonment. Sapnap says that Karl said he told Q, but Karl doesn't remember that (Karl doesn't remember a lot) and his poor mental condition is really obvious when he can't even remember that he, Sapnap, and George built a Kingdom together.

They manage to makeup a bit, but things are still a little fraught. It's on the mend, though. Even is Karl can't say what's going on (where is he disappearing to, why is he losing his memories) and Sapnap hasn't exactly come clean about why he came to Los Nevadas in the first place. Still, it's a better place for them to go forward, given that they are all finally on the same page.

And then Purpled starts his plan.

[drinkthemlock]

alright now azevedo (fake álvares) is not just a bit of a cunt he is straight up the villain of this novel.

[trbotunnel]

i am so anxious. i dont like dutch anymore.

[foulfirerebel]

Heh. It's a reason why there's room for all kinds of stories, even those that say revenge is good or otherwise gives closure. I like that, frankly.

Never watched Princess Bride myself, but I'll give it a go when I have the time. Sounds brilliant if that's the case.

Anti-revenge narrative this, anti-revenge narrative that, I personally think that Inigo Montoya had the right idea when he stabbed Count Rugen in the gut and said "I want my father back, you son of a bitch"

[lanihaluki]

rom infinity train au!

[mymangamemes]

Me starting my career as a scathing food critic

From Lady Baby is a Revenge Maker by Leaf, Budd1e, and yunbaekrim

[lbeth1950]

Make a Joyful Noise!

Daddy was always right.  Custom and rules were for us, the underlings and nobodies of the family, and we’d best not forget it. He broke the news that some Church in the Wildwood was having a revival and we were going tonight.  I never liked going to church much anyway, so this ruined my day, but wait, there was a bonus.  In case that was’t bad enough, Phyliis and I were going to sing a special.…

[ofyorkshire]

mannnnnn. au where everything is more or less the same but literally anyone except jobson saves bj from laws at the end.

[luna-azzurra]

The Villain Checklist!

Creating a villain is a delicate art, much like crafting a masterpiece. To ensure your antagonist leaps off the page with depth, consider these essential elements for your villain checklist:

Motivation: Every great villain is driven by a potent motivation, one that fuels their actions and sets them on their dark path. Explore their backstory and unearth the core reason behind their villainy. Are they seeking power, revenge, redemption, or something more sinister?

Complexity: Gone are the days of one-dimensional villains twirling mustaches and cackling maniacally. Infuse your antagonist with layers of complexity and nuance. Perhaps they possess redeeming qualities or wrestle with inner conflicts that humanize their actions.

Flaws and Vulnerabilities: Despite their nefarious intentions, villains should be flawed beings with vulnerabilities. These weaknesses not only add depth to their character but also create opportunities for conflict and growth throughout your story.

Backstory: Delve into your villain's past to uncover formative experiences that shaped their present disposition. Trauma, betrayal, or societal pressures can all contribute to their descent into villainy, providing rich narrative fodder for exploration.

Goals and Ambitions: Just as heroes strive for noble objectives, villains pursue their own twisted goals with fervor and determination. Define what your antagonist hopes to achieve and the lengths they're willing to go to attain it, even if it means sacrificing everything in their path.

Antagonistic Traits: From cunning intellect to ruthless brutality, equip your villain with traits that make them a formidable adversary for your protagonist. Consider how their strengths and weaknesses complement each other, creating dynamic conflicts that propel your story forward.

Relationships and Alliances: Villains don't operate in isolation; they forge alliances, manipulate allies, and cultivate relationships to further their agendas. Develop the connections your antagonist shares with other characters, be they loyal minions or reluctant collaborators, to add depth to their character dynamics.

Moral Justification (from their perspective): While their actions may be abhorrent to society, villains often believe they're justified in their pursuits. Explore your antagonist's moral code and the twisted logic that rationalizes their behavior, offering readers insight into their twisted worldview.

Arc of Transformation: Just as protagonists undergo arcs of growth and change, villains should experience their own journey of transformation. Whether it's redemption, downfall, or something altogether unexpected, chart the evolution of your antagonist throughout the narrative.

Memorable Traits: Give your villain distinctive traits or quirks that leave a lasting impression on readers. Whether it's a chilling catchphrase, a distinctive appearance, or a haunting backstory, give your antagonist elements that linger in the minds of your audience long after they've closed the book.

[imastoryteller]

How to Craft a Compelling Morally Grey Character: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Define the Character’s Core Traits

Identify Strengths and Virtues: List positive traits that make the character likable or admirable. These could include bravery, intelligence, loyalty, or compassion.

Identify Flaws and Vices: List negative traits that add complexity and realism. These could include arrogance, selfishness, impatience, or a propensity for violence.

Step 2: Establish Motivations and Backstory

Create a Detailed Backstory: Develop a background that explains why the character has their particular mix of virtues and flaws. Consider their upbringing, significant life events, and personal experiences.

Determine Core Motivations: Identify what drives the character. Is it revenge, love, ambition, survival, or something else? Motivations should be realistic and relatable.

Step 3: Develop Moral Ambiguity

Set Up Moral Dilemmas: Place your character in situations where they must make difficult choices with no clear right or wrong answer. These dilemmas should challenge their morals and reveal their complexity.

Showcase Contradictions: Allow the character to make decisions that might seem contradictory. For example, they might commit a crime to protect someone they love, revealing both a moral and an immoral side.

Step 4: Create Dynamic Relationships

Construct Meaningful Relationships: Develop relationships with other characters that highlight different aspects of your morally grey character. These relationships can help explore their multifaceted personality.

Use Relationships to Drive Conflict: Relationships can be a source of moral conflict and development. Conflicts with friends, family, or rivals can push your character to reveal their grey areas.

Step 5: Show Consequences and Growth

Illustrate the Impact of Actions: Show the real-world consequences of the character’s morally ambiguous decisions. This adds realism and stakes to the story.

Allow for Character Growth: Let your character evolve. They might become more virtuous or more corrupt over time. This evolution keeps the character dynamic and interesting.

Step 6: Balance Sympathetic and Unsympathetic Traits

Make Them Relatable: Ensure the character has traits or experiences that the audience can relate to or sympathize with, even if they do questionable things.

Maintain Complexity: Avoid making the character too sympathetic or too unsympathetic. The balance between good and bad traits should make the audience feel conflicted about the character.

Step 7: Use Subtlety and Nuance

Avoid Clear Labels: Do not overtly label the character as good or evil. Allow their actions and motivations to speak for themselves.

Employ Subtlety: Use nuanced behavior and dialogue to reveal the character’s moral complexity. Avoid heavy-handed exposition.

Step 8: Test and Refine

Seek Feedback: Share your character with others and seek feedback on their complexity and believability. Adjust based on constructive criticism.

Refine Motivations and Actions: Continuously refine the character’s motivations and actions to ensure they remain compelling and consistent throughout the story.

Example: Crafting a Morally Grey Character

Core Traits:

Strengths: Intelligent, determined, loyal.

Flaws: Arrogant, manipulative, vengeful.

Backstory:

Grew up in a tough neighborhood, witnessing crime and corruption.

Lost a loved one to a gang, fueling a desire for revenge.

Motivations:

Driven by a need to protect their remaining family and seek revenge.

Moral Dilemmas:

Joins a criminal organization to infiltrate it and bring it down from within.

Struggles with the ethical implications of committing crimes for a greater good.

Relationships:

Has a strained relationship with a sibling who disapproves of their methods.

Forms a complicated friendship with a morally upright police officer.

Consequences and Growth:

Faces the legal and emotional consequences of their actions.

Gradually questions their own morality and seeks redemption.

Balance:

Helps the community but uses unethical means.

Shows moments of kindness and ruthlessness.

Subtlety:

Reveals their inner conflict through small actions and dialogue.

Avoids overt explanations of their morality, letting the audience interpret.

By following these steps, you can create a compelling morally grey character that adds depth and intrigue to your story.

---

+ If you find my content valuable, consider Support This Blog on Patreon!

[demilypyro]

Surge? Basically some asshole kidnapped her and another character off the street, shoved a ton of cybernetics in her, wiped her memories, and brainwashed her to really fucking hate Sonic. This was all part of some misguided plan to break the stalemate between Sonic and Eggman. Surge found out, but her abuser ended up dying before she could really exact her revenge.

Since then she's kinda been this aimless, sorta neutral force. She doesn't know who she was before her kidnapping, doesn't know what to do with herself. She still doesn't like Sonic and partially blames him for what happened to her. Had a few altercations with him, she lost each encounter. She's currently trying to be a hero in her own right, but that's probably gonna work out bad. This character is carrying around a TON of trauma, and she's not handling it very well.

She's got a ton of potential for a redemption arc, or she could slide deeper into villainy. I'm really enjoying her story.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: "For our fans who want to learn more about our companions, we have an exciting announcement: #/DragonAge: Vows & Vengeance is an 8-episode narrative podcast featuring characters from Dragon Age: The Veilguard! Coming August 29 wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe now: [link] [Discord launch version of link]"

[source]

More info:

"Set in the vast world of Thedas, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance was created in collaboration with BioWare and based on their award-winning video game franchise, Dragon Age. This 8-episode immersive fantasy series features a pair of heroes brought together by fate as they embark on a journey of revenge, redemption, and love. The series stars Mae Whitman as Nadia, Brigette Lundy-Paine as Drayden, and Armen Taylor as Elio. Nadia, a retired cat burglar, is lured back into action for the thrill of one last score. Unknowingly employed by the Dread Wolf, Nadia tracks down a powerful ancient artifact and both she and her lover, Elio, find themselves caught in a web of lies that threaten the entire world. When Elio is seemingly banished to the Fade - a mystical magical plane - Nadia desperately searches for answers on a rescue mission across Thedas."

[source]

More info on the podcast story:

"In this immersive fantasy series, a pair of heroes brought together by fate embark on a journey of revenge, redemption, and love. Set in the vast world of Thedas, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance was created in collaboration with BioWare and based on their award-winning video game franchise, Dragon Age. Nadia, a retired cat burglar, finds herself back on the prowl after scoring the job of a lifetime. Unknowingly employed by the Dread Wolf, Nadia hunts down a powerful ancient artifact and both she and her lover, Elio, find themselves caught in a web of lies that threaten the entire world. When Elio is seemingly banished to the Fade - a mystical magical plane - Nadia desperately searches for answers on a rescue mission across Thedas. On her journey, Nadia finds an unlikely ally in Drayden, a bookish historian and writer with a troubled past and a mysterious connection to the Fade. Their journey to save Elio is arduous, dangerous, and at times, downright foolish. But with the help of some friends, our heroes find some of the answers they are looking for and a few they wish they hadn’t. Starring Mae Whitman, Brigette Lundy-Paine, and Armen Taylor, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance was created in collaboration with BioWare and based on their video game franchise, Dragon Age. Since 2009, the award-winning RPG video game franchise has invited players into worlds of adventure, conflict, and companionship that inspire players to become the heroes of their own story."

[source]

In the official BioWare Discord BioWare added:

"Every week when there's a new episode we'll open a watch party discussion thread in ⁠vows-and-vengeance!" [source: the official BioWare Discord]

Info on the podcast from the latest BioWare Blog Post:

"Journal #5 Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance A New Weekly Narrative Podcast Starting August 29th Hey everyone, We’re back with more Dragon Age: The Veilguard news! We know that you’re excited to get to know more about our companions and embark on your own adventure to save Thedas. Starting August 26th, we’ll be hosting Companions Week on our social media to give you a deeper dive on our seven allies. In addition to that, how about another little side quest? We’re happy to announce our upcoming immersive fantasy podcast series, Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance, where you’ll meet a new pair of heroes, along with the 7 Veilguard Companions, brought together by fate as they embark on a journey of revenge, redemption, and love - all set in Thedas.  Beginning on August 29th, this eight part weekly narrative series stars podcast-exclusive characters voiced by Mae Whitman, Bridgette Lundy-Paine, and Armen Taylor, and also features all of our companions from Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Harding (Ali Hillis), Davrin (Ike Amadi), Bellara (Jee Young Han), Neve (Jessica Clark), Taash (Jin Maley), Emmrich (Nick Boraine) alongside Manfred (Matt Mercer), and Lucanis (Zach Mendez). Throughout the series, you’ll be able to learn more about each of their extraordinary backstories. This podcast is written by Will Melton and Jeremy Novick, with BioWare narrative support from Mary De Marle and John Epler. Check out the teaser for it here. When the first episode airs, you’ll meet Nadia, a retired thief unknowingly working for the Dread Wolf. Nadia and her lover, Elio, find themselves in the midst of something much greater than them - a threat to the entire world - until Elio is seemingly banished to the Fade. Enter: Drayden, a writer with an interesting connection to the Fade. Drayden and Nadia team up on an arduous adventure to rescue Elio from the Fade with a little help from some familiar friendly faces. Don’t miss a single episode - mark your calendars with the full podcast release schedule below: - 8/29 - Episode 1: Featuring Nadia, Elio, and Drayden - 9/5 - Episode 2: Featuring Harding - 9/12 - Episode 3: Featuring Davrin - 9/19 - Episode 4: Featuring Bellara - 9/26 - Episode 5: Featuring Taash - 10/3 - Episode 6: Featuring Lucanis - 10/10 - Episode 7: Featuring Emmrich - 10/17 - Episode 8: Featuring Neve Join us in the BioWare Discord Server for weekly “listening parties” in #Vows-and-Vengeance, where we’ll set up a discussion thread for each episode to listen and speculate together. Subscribe to Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance on your favorite platform so you don’t miss a single episode.  Apple Podcasts Spotify Overcast Castbox Pocket Casts Podchaser Player FM See you for Episode 1 on August 29th; chat soon.  -The Dragon Age Team"

[source]