Tag Archives: heroes

I am not my heroes

Posted on by under General Writing-Related Posts, Misadventures in Fiction, This Week in Misadventures, Uncategorized

Hello, Wor(l)dPress.

In typical fashion, I’ve taken an extended time between posting. In typical fashion, I have been mad at myself for doing so and wondering why, oh why, do I still maintain this. That last part is a bit exaggerated, though. I covet my domain on here like a dragon with gold.

Today, while driving home from work and alternating between the current CD in my car and NPR (Kai Ryssdal hosting Market Place and PRI’s The World make my soul happy), I had a thought. It hit me hard, square between the eyes, and with all of the abrupt unapologeticness (that is a word, damn it) of such in-transit revelations.

I am not my heroes. I will never write like Neil Gaiman. I will never be the next Terry Pratchett. My works won’t be on the same level as Douglas Adams or Christopher Moore.

…

And those aren’t the things that I should want. I’m none of those people. My writing is my own, with influences from the writers I enjoy but also years of me finding and refining my own voice. There is some humor, some dark fantasy, and a whole lot of whatever the Hell I’ve turned into in terms of narrative voice and creativity. I am way more okay with that than I ever realized. At the end of the day, what is most important to me is continuing to write, continuing to strive towards publication, and (to a lesser degree) dreaming of somehow, someday becoming a well-known writer.

And so I continue.

This post brought to you courtesy of Sia’s “The Greatest”, which I have had on repeat as some sort of anthem to fend off any stress from recent weeks (I couldn’t say why if I tried, but I enjoy that song entirely and unapologetically), and the glass of Laphraoig Quarter Cask I’ve been nursing for over an hour now.

Heroes Week Finale – Those Damn Paladins

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

It only seems appropriate to finish heroes week with one of the greatest paragons of justice and good in all of fiction. In the time it took me to start this post, I also managed to clean my living room, eat some hummus, and pour myself what I feel is a much-deserved glass of scotch (that last bit is somewhat subject to debate, of course). Interest has sufficiently waned.

Right. Paladins.

These sorts of heroes are the polar opposite of the Evil Overlord type of villain. Defining characteristics include an unprecedented need to champion justice and good, a strong moral compass, chivalrous ways, an unwavering loyalty to their cause, country, and king, and so on and so on. Honestly, they’re also the lapdogs of the heroic world, so there’s also that to consider. A fan-favorite, and very polarizing character, who also happens to become a Paladin is Final Fantasy IV’s Cecil. I’m prepared to take some grief on this one, as I know a few people who just really hate how Cecil turned into a Paladin. My opinion? It was all right. Good story arc and everything, but I’m not really a fan of the supreme goody two-shoeing of Paladins. Onward to example-explanation!

Cecil starts off as a captain of the Red Wings, but as a Dark Knight. Some of his abilities exchange HP for greater damage. This is interesting, as he sacrifices of himself to do harm while he is in this state. He is on a mission to reclaim the various crystals from around the world, which he carries out without many questions until a major crisis of conscience and so on and so on. The important part, however, is his switch to a Paladin.

Eventually Cecil faces himself. He must defend against the powerful onslaught from his former Dark Knight self, doing what Paladins do best: defending. Paladin Cecil survives, showing the error of his former ways. The truth of a Paladin is sacrificing for the protection of others and not to further one’s own personal strength, of course, as demonstrated by these two versions of one character. It’s only because of this transformation that Cecil is able to become the hero he needs to be to save the world (and the moon, I guess) from certain destruction at the hands of Golbez (and, you know, not some other dark force because that would totally be spoilers but if there were another final boss it would certainly be a real pain in the ass).

Friday Heroes – The Eternal Optimist

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

I’m never doing two themed weeks of posting in a row again, as I’m already tired as can be of these damn things. On a more cheerful note, I had a nice, relaxing day off today, which is certainly a good thing.

The Eternal Optimist proved to be a tricky entry, as it’s hard to find a hero who doesn’t falter at least a little in his or her journey. Naturally, I’m allowing for some wiggle-room on this subject so as to not end this post by ripping my hair out.

Whether chosen by destiny, or simply because they’re inherently, overwhelmingly good, these heroes remain positive in even the most grim situations. They’re certain, beyond almost all doubt, that they will find victory in their quest, as they are on the path to defeating evil and doing good. Generic heroing stuff, of course.  Continue reading →

Thursday Heroes – Heroes of Destiny

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

No, I’m not talking about the Guardians people can play as in Destiny, although I suppose they’re kind of applicable in their own way. I’m talking about heroes who, come Hell or high water, will save the day because it was prophesied in some bird droppings on an old sage’s bald head over a century ago, damn it.

These sorts of heroes are, admittedly, a dime a dozen. Their narratives often begin with “In a world” and end with some happily ever after, even if there’s a struggle along the way. The beauty about Heroes of Destiny is that they aren’t always entirely thrilled with said destiny, and so they don’t really plan to go along with it. I’d happily argue, for instance, that Rincewind of the Discworld novels is a Hero of Destiny in his own haphazard, eternally lucky way. If nothing else, he certainly knows how to escape horrible situations with most of his important bits in tact.

Of course, this also covers the heroes of virtually every Final Fantasy game ever created. A great tragedy faces (world), and so the crystals called upon forces of light to save the day. And so on and so on, and many monsters died in the process of creating this adventure.

I’d like to think the comical, resistant heroes of destiny are far more fun, as they show greater conflict with their own nature before inevitably saving the day. Thoughts?

Delayed Wednesday – Villain-Turned-Hero

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

Good evening, folks. I find myself delightfully devoid of a headache, but woefully devoid of motivation. That said, I’m behind one day on Heroes Week and feel like a proper cad about it, so I shall soldier on as I should have last night.

This type of Hero is embodied by one example that I still need to read, so the details will be a bit fuzzy. That thankfully means there won’t be any major spoilers, thankfully.

Incorruptible and Irredeemable are two comics that ran around the same time, featuring a parallel story that is really fantastic. Honestly, I’m ashamed to admit I’m barely into Irredeemable and I’ve only read so much of Incorruptible.  Continue reading →

Heroes Week – The Lovable Rogue

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

I spent a whole lot of time accomplishing nothing today, and it felt surprisingly good. I mean, I [redacted until at least after Easter weekend, which is killing me because I’m so bad at keeping secrets]. That must count for something, right?

Let’s not mince words on this. The Lovable Rogue sort of hero is someone everyone knows is a complete asshole. They’re usually self-serving, narcissistic, power-and-money-hungry jackasses, and sometimes they happen to save the day. Maybe they planned to save the day, or maybe it just worked out as such, but it’s safe to say this sort of hero will most assuredly take credit for their do-gooding either way. This is the kind of hero who could try to build a printing press to counterfeit money, inadvertently uncover some evil plot while out buying parts for the homemade printing press, and then save the day because they found out the evil mastermind wants to make all paper money worthless in their planned Hellscape of a future. Someone better make a comic about that hero I just described, because I really want to read it but also have too many goddamn projects as it is.

These are heroes who blur the line between good and bad, oftentimes skipping rope with said line as it suits their needs.

The Guardians of the Galaxy pretty much exemplify this, and I’m not a particularly huge fan of Deadpool so…Dear god. I think I’ll just go ahead and apologize for the burn-out on tonight’s post, then make up for it tomorrow.

 

Heroes Week – The Last-Minute Martyr

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

Also known as the post that will undoubtedly involve some spoilers because it’s hard to talk about heroes making the ultimate sacrifice without giving away some major plot points. You’ve all been warned, so there’s that I guess.

It seems oddly appropriate that tonight’s post is about heroes who save the day by dying, as I feel like I’m dying. Related: I’m expanding this to include heroes who made the last-minute saving play knowing they would probably die (even if they didn’t), as that makes life a little easier for me and that’s what these posts are(n’t) all about. From here further, you are risking spoilers of various sorts. You were warned, damn it!

Continue reading →

A Celebration of Characters: Heroes Week

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

Now that we’ve thoroughly wrecked things with the worst of the worst, I think it only makes sense to put most of the broken bits back together, extinguish some of those fires, and get things back to normal. Naturally, the only reasonable way to go about this is with a week long celebration of types of heroes. To help further balance this out, I will do a week of minor, entirely-forgettable characters, such as the Crucial to the Book, but Left Out of the Movie (a criminally under-represented character if I’ve ever seen one).

…The real crime is that I didn’t think to make that joke closer to April Fool’s Day, now that I think about it. Oh well.

In light of some serious slacking in terms of notebook synopses of the intended posts, here’s what next week will probably look like. Unless, you know, I suddenly change my mind. And then, after all of this, we’ll be back to the regularly-ish scheduled suffering that is the Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0, followed by a now-serious, once-joking month-long hiatus from blogging in favor of novel-writing, possibly going outside, and mostly letting my brain recover.

Sunday (that’s today) – Introduction; a.k.a. the same thing as last week, but replace “villains” with “heroes” and “evil” with “good”

Monday: The Last-Minute Martyr

Tuesday: The Lovable Rogue

Wednesday: Error-of-His/Her-Ways Villain

Thursday: Heroes of Destiny

Friday: The Eternal Optimist

Saturday: Those Damn Paladins

…

I’ve run out of things to say now, as I’ve been binge-watching CinemaSins’ Everything Wrong With videos this morning instead of being productive. Womp womp.

 

A Celebration of Characters: Villains Week

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

It’s week one of that idea I mentioned yesterday! Surprise, it’s all about villains. Fret not, lovers of do-gooders and champions of justice, as the Heroes Week will follow with just as much attention and love as this one. I’m aware that’s shocking stuff, so don’t let that cause too much stress.

However, enough about heroes. This week is all about villains, and I’ve picked specific villainous types for each day from Monday through Saturday. I could explain it, but I took a picture of my notes earlier as a teaser and, really, that’s the easiest way to handle this. If we’ve not yet established my capacity for being supremely lazy, this is a great time to do so.

It's official because I wrote in a notebook.

It’s official because I wrote in a notebook.

The plan for each day is to define each type of villain mentioned above, giving specific examples in popular culture, and then discussing the pros and cons of their use. I’ll also be focusing on how they can, in their own way, be the heroes of their own narratives (even when they are causing chaos and destruction all around them). There are some exceptions to that last bit, as Friday and Saturday’s options don’t really leave a whole lot of room for arguing that they’re just misguided and trying to do what’s best. Old Gods and Liches are usually just forces of pure, ancient evil, after all, and so they’re typically convinced the best possible plan of action is laying waste to everything.

I’m especially excited for the Lich entry, but I’ve saved the best for last.

Brace yourselves, folks. This week’s about to get awfully evil.

Heroes: Plot Devices with Moral Compasses

Posted on by under One Hundred Days of Blogging 2.0

A great villain is the source of tremendous conflict. They bring about havoc, sewing the seeds of destruction and chaos everywhere they go. Naturally, there exist such people who only desire to thwart such nefarious folks in their plotting and scheming. Such scoundrels range from the ignoble bound for redemption to nobles who must first fall from grace before finding their true purpose.

I’m talking about heroes in their many forms, and how they tend to ruin everything.

Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and though they may be little more than plot devices bolstered by a strong need to do good and right…I have to admit they are an essential part of storytelling. Without them, who would give help give villains better reasons to make use of their laser death rays? My disdain for the heroic aside, I must say that a good hero makes for a good story. That was painful to type, so I’ll just jump into some of the most beloved varieties of daring do-gooders before I start to really regret this post.

Continue reading →