The interesting thing about Final Fantasy, taken on the whole as a franchise with decades' worth of history and fandom behind it, is that you can find precedent for almost any character archetype. Bad emo haircuts? Squall et al. Boisterous, upbeat troublemakers? Zidane, Locke, Yuffie. Hypercompetent professionals? Basch, Auron, Cidolfas Orlandeau. Improbably talented children? Eiko, Relm, Rydia.
It's nothing we haven't seen before, so broody and tragic-past people just need to remember two things: have something that makes you relevant (i.e. a hook) to others, and don't overdo your "I'm so emotionally scarred and tragik hurrdurr" bit to the point that others start rolling their eyes. The most badly-written backstory I was recently subjected to involved a toon murdering their whole family by accident, whipping themselves repeatedly for it, and being raised/sold an imperial slave, and being possessed by IMMENSE UNTOLD EVUL BEING.
At some point you simply have to step back and go, "I've crammed this character with so much toxicity, maybe I should stop to check if other parts of my home life aren't making me toxic or spiteful, and affecting me as a writer and person, too." Then adjust accordingly and rebalance. There's always that fine line between catharsis and cruelty.
It's nothing we haven't seen before, so broody and tragic-past people just need to remember two things: have something that makes you relevant (i.e. a hook) to others, and don't overdo your "I'm so emotionally scarred and tragik hurrdurr" bit to the point that others start rolling their eyes. The most badly-written backstory I was recently subjected to involved a toon murdering their whole family by accident, whipping themselves repeatedly for it, and being raised/sold an imperial slave, and being possessed by IMMENSE UNTOLD EVUL BEING.
At some point you simply have to step back and go, "I've crammed this character with so much toxicity, maybe I should stop to check if other parts of my home life aren't making me toxic or spiteful, and affecting me as a writer and person, too." Then adjust accordingly and rebalance. There's always that fine line between catharsis and cruelty.
![[Image: Pi2KNMr.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/Pi2KNMr.jpg)
