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Welcome, Nikora Rhan!
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Character Notes: Concept and Direction
This is being written as a reminder and for future reference, for further development and when the time comes to reconsider possible directions, rework elements, or start anew. Given the character details present on this wikia, easy access seems to be the right choice in this case.
Guiding Direction
The guiding overall direction for each character was to each be founded upon a question. That will remain so, but up to this point, each has also been founded upon a more unifying idea: Take the founding ideas of villains and turn them into genuinely heroic figures.
For the past fifteen years I have largely written villains, anti-heroes, and monsters of various types, ranging from the amoral to the truly abominable. While there have been exceptions, even these largely fitted into people carrying out horrific acts in the name of some greater good, and barely being better than those they fought. While entertaining, this primarily served as a means to explore each and study their concepts, but I was lacking in variety and it was stunting potential creativity. It was difficult to create any truly good character who was not willing to get his hands dirty, simply due to how limiting it was, and they would all too easily morph into the same past creations. Because of this, my goal instead became a way to have the same starting point as many, but then to walk back, until they wouldn't be out of place among genuinely good people.
The effort has had its stumbling points and problems, but overall it has proven to be an engaging venture on the whole, as each has offered some facet or archetype to work with. At the very least it has helped to add a degree of exploration back toward storytelling and angles that I otherwise abandoned for a time, and explore concepts that would otherwise be rather limited. It is also why two of my characters - Tarvitz and Essik - were noted to be on borrowed time, due to both predictions of an impending end and sheer age respectively. While left relatively nebulous, this left the door open for others to pass them, allowing each to serve as an experiment in certain factors, before others might be moved onto once their tales were complete.
Ka Tarvitz
Out of all those here, Tarvitz's question was the most basic - How many villain tropes and origin elements can I create while making them on the side of the angels?
This was largely accomplished due to self-awareness of certain elements, and willingness to utilise a variety of means to offset a number of anti-hero qualities. Furthermore, much of his story can still be read as a villain's tale when a number of caveats are skimmed over:
Tarvitz was born of a dead world, his parents were killed giving him little guidance in his early life. His powers were beyond his control, causing devastation and ruin when employed. He was inducted into a cult of warriors following Sith doctrines and pressed into challenges that he was ill-suited for or had others see a distinct advantage over him. He accomplished relatively even odds by fighting dirty, stretching duelling rules to their absolute limit, and relying on sheer brute strength in several cases. He was repeatedly pushed back and actively limited in following certain goals, while at the same time haunted by frequent visions of his death from the age of seven onward. He was encouraged to treat this as a part of life, giving him an unhealthy view on death itself, while also venerating his lost home.
After being granted the ability to operate on his own, Tarvitz used it to pursue his personal goals; one of which was to recover and hoard relics of bygone eras and their knowledge. During his travels, Tarvitz left a trail of destruction in his wake, killing thousands as he travelled the Outer Rim and often profiting from their deaths. Showing little hesitation to engage in fights, and openly displayed joy in every engagement, no matter how large the massacre might be. His entire body is a massive network of scars from these battles, some so horrific that they can be disturbing to look at. Some were earned in horrific acts, such as drowning one enemy in molten lead. His hunger for knowledge and hints of the future led him to the ancient Sith worlds, discovering the Brotherhood and quickly joining them.
Fighting in several of the Brotherhood's wars and engaging those that sought to halt them, he returned to his kind only to be reprimanded for his actions and all but damned for them. Deemed to have gone too far, he gathered the knowledge forbidden by his kind, and worked with like-minded individuals to ensure their kind's future. Claiming a haunted castle in a forgotten and desolate part of one planet after paying the price for its ownership in blood, Tarvitz now seeks to expand upon his existing teachings and continue their path. Supporting this is a growing army of automata; each stolen or claimed from the dead.
It fits in nicely with a number of possible foes, enemies, and general antagonists from a number of works, and it only becomes far more clear with greater detail. The way he was made heroic was by adding a slight spin onto each one to add a different context. To cite a few examples:
- Tarvitz doesn't enjoy inflicting death, but the challenges combat brings, and gains as much euphoria from training bouts as pitch battles. He's keenly aware that he needs to avoid taking pleasure in a foe's end, as that would make him no better than those he fights.
- The majority of those that he killed in the Outer Rim were pirates and raiders, typically fighting them alone, after giving them a simple chance to walk away. Most of his scars were earned from saving lives and going out of his way to protect others, while his eye-implant was added as a reminder of his mortality.
- While he was shown visions of his death early on, he interpreted it as a means to not claw onto life, but to spend it well. As such he throws himself into battle when he deems the cause correct, so that others will not have to until he is gone.
- The forbidden knowledge he claimed were largely those of Jedi origin, and the few scraps that could be found following the purge. Those of Dark Side origin are sealed away so they might be used, or destroyed if found to be too dangerous. These were forbidden due to the self-censorship the Jensaarai were undergoing, as Tarvitz felt that this harmed them.
There are many others besides, but it has been an entertaining means to find an interpretation of each that might be pushed into a more heroic light one way or the other. Or at the very least a means to better justify some acts that would be used to otherwise cement a character's villainous nature. While certainly worse off than a large number of Jedi due to these acts, it was a means to rework this sort of story without turning him into the Star Wars version of the Punisher or something similar.
Admittedly, as was pointed out at a later date, this did make him a mirror image of Darth Sion in many ways. I'll likely have to think on that more at some point.
Essik Lyccane
Essik's question was quite simple - What happens when someone gives everything to a government they serve, and it dies?
This might not seem villainous in of itself, but it is the starting point to a number of villain tales that come to mind, and even motivations. After all, the fall of a central government can easily lead to warlords rising, especially among experienced military leaders. We've seen this in history and media alike, either from those hungry for power or even those trying to stymie the chaos through necessary tyranny. Atop of this is how many times Essik was betrayed by those he served, pushing him into bitter resentment, and the massacres he inflicted in the name of restoring order during previous years. Even then, it is made clear that he predicts possible threats and betrayal from all of those about him, and makes plans to fight or oppose even his closest allies should the worst come to the worst. Cap that off with how his more amiable elements are something of a show, and he has actively deadened connections to those under his command, and it isn't hard to see how certain elements would easily push him into a villain role.
Many qualities make him into a pragmatic and ruthless planner, either those that become villains or those who are that way at the start of a story. One - his relationship with those who serve him - was directly influenced by one character quality in Berserk's antagonist, and more than a few others have been repeated by certain foes in various media. While I couldn't give him a direct army to command, he fits very neatly into the aspect of criminal mastermind and villainous chessmaster. Someone who can keep coming back over and over again, keep rebuilding, and is dangerous if given any group to command, especially when paired with his willingness to use open threats and kill thousands if it brings a far greater conflict to a standstill.
His primary redeeming feature is extreme loyalty to those he serves, even those now long gone. However, even that could be interpreted as a villainous quality in certain stories, and with extremely little effort. As such, I worked to offset this in two areas, one that was planned and the other that gradually arose as his character developed.
The first was to work that loyalty with one other aspect: He considers violence to be a means to an end, and something to be avoided if given the chance at all. While the opportunities to do so are few and far between, he will study a foe, will test and make sure if they can be talked down or a weakness exploited, and drive them into retreat. Essik typically responds with appropriate force, but is more than willing to use absolutely every asset on hand to accomplish this. As such, in wider battles, he is more than willing to completely break or annihilate an enemy, especially if they refuse a chance to surrender when the situation is turned against them, or keep resisting once others have stood down. He doesn't believe in fair play, but that doesn't mean he believes that extremes are the only option.
The other was quite simple: He considered his role to be one needed to save lives and prevent things getting worse. He's good at it, and I have even had him enjoy elements of the lifestyle in stories. But I have never had him lose sight of that one fact above all others. His failure to do so is a major part of what haunts him about the New Republic's loss, and why he feels as if so many years were wasted, because it effectively set the galaxy back forty years to the point where the Rebellion might as well not have happened at all.
These two elements are enough to keep him grounded and focused, even when he's at his most bitterly ruthless. In fact, they have been worked into a major strength in some ways, as it's resulted in stories where he's talked a squad sent to abduct their target into switching sides mid-revolution, and another where he privately convinced a leading figure in an uprising into serving as House Sunrider's informant. This is admittedly also helped by how he found another cause to dedicate himself toward - that of Clan Odan-Urr and even Tarvitz's private project - but I think that he would still be acting in that way even had he not joined them. Part of why is the second reason: His interpretation of those values into new goals.
As you might expect of story competitions, there are few needs for tactical and strategic figures or even major military leaders in them. Because of this, many came to instead focus upon his other talents and adapting them in a new way: As a detective. A number of stories have turned into murder mysteries thanks to his involvement, or even just his efforts to oppose actions through investigation and enough choice words. While unintended and existing largely thanks to a few story opportunities, it did help to shape him as someone reworking their existing talents into a new role. One that allows him to preserve the same values he had as before, but applying them on a much smaller scale. It's also something that's going to influence and rework his mindset in the coming years, and shape a good chunk of the lessons he will likely pass on.
Plus, he's a Gand. Humanoid insects tend to be made into villainous or evil figures more often than not, no matter their depiction.