#despite the fact that optimism has been repeatedly proven right on a global scale | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thegodofkhaosinkarnate · 1 month ago

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Currently thinking about my character (who is technically just an au version of a public domain character but shh), who goes through the story being the designated Squishy Weak Human. A medic, a healer, constantly getting kidnapped by bad guys, being talked over and babied and patronized. "We need to protect you, you're fragile and weak, you're human- which means you can't protect yourself."

And imagining the exact scene where she finally loses it and uses ALL of her power at once. Decimating the space in a show of raw unfiltered power, screaming her lungs out as light and heat coalesce into horrid destruction. Everyone else watching in horror as she razes the earth and crushes buildings, clouds of dust exploding into debris. Destruction, fear, the most violent among them standing stock still in horror as he watches her great work unfold. And then it ends, and everyone stands up realizing that even though the space around them has been utterly destroyed, not a single person was hurt.

And the collective moment of "Oh. Oh, this was intentional. This was a choice."

Anyways all that to say I like characters who choose to be kind, gentle, and merciful. I like characters who are peaceful by choice, not nature, and who could revoke that choice at any point if they wanted to. They won't. But they could.

#the ink speaks #writing #I hate it when characters are reduced to babied weaklings for not wanting to hurt people #kindness is a choice #mercy is a choice #it's very easy to break things and to lash out at your own benifit #it takes patience and strength and a metric shit ton of self-control to never hurt anyone at all #especially if you've already been hurt yourself (as this character has been) or are in a terrible situation #violence and cruelty are not prerequisites for maturity #and cynicism is not any more intelligent just because it says the world is awful #a character choosing to be peaceful and kind out of love for the world around them is not a weakness #and i think actively showing that as something the characters have to learn could be really interesting #because in real life a lot of people do think of optimism as the inherently naiver choice that people are supposed to outgrow #despite the fact that optimism has been repeatedly proven right on a global scale #anyways placing limits on your characters is also fun #Hippocratic oaths especially #because you have to think about how a character navigates conflict without hurting anyone even when the other person wants to hurt them

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