What is your character plot's theme/motif?

[Leanne]

Inspired after writing in Warren's movie thread.

 

The question is quite simple: If there is a word, theme or motif that shadows/rules over your character's personal plot, what it would be?

 

Using Leanne as example, her current central theme is about Mortality. Despite the overall happy tones that I like to run with her, she's an Adventurer. A highly hazardous profession, where your chances of dying young are terrifyingly high. Throughout her adventures, Leanne witnessed and heard of the demise of quite a number of fellow adventurers. Given her tenets about the preciousness of life, each death can be quite a sting to her.

 

Also, as time passes, Leanne's number of brushes with death gets steadily higher, as so does the number of bigger and riskier adventures, perhaps exploits that are way over her head. In spite of all chances, Leanne is still alive, still kicking, and still dashing forth towards danger. But for how long? Will her luck someday run out?

[Kurt S.]

DIRECTION

 

Kurt has none. He also has too many and it pulls him apart following each little flight of fancy. He's here, there, almost everywhere. There's a tug that needs answering in this area but then some knowledge would be found in this place. 

 

'I have to get better at thaumaturgy. I can't just let everything lose its edge. There's good gil here in the North. There're more things in the south.' 

 

He finds it hard to commit to any one thing and tries to piece it all together. A cobbled work that pulls himself everywhere and nowhere.

[Valence]

That's a good thread idea.

 

Liking to experiment many things, I tried this time to play a character a bit on the funny/silly side of things. The difficulty is to do it in a non-goofy way at all. It has to remain light, good hearted and subtle enough. 

 

That is to say, it's actually the sugarcoat of the character concept. The crux of the matter and the overall theme I would say, is the redemption trope: it is the ability (or not) of a character to cope and deal with something rather creepy or horrible that happened in her past that she just can't face properly. It gives a character that actually spends her time fleeing rather than facing any problem (and thus hiding behind that silly side, among other things).

 

In the case of Suen then, it's also about doing the usual journey for atonment. It might probably happen at some point when she will mature, since she starts very, very green right now. However, she has yet to reach the point where she actually have to face the idea of redemption rather than just shying instinctively away from it.

[Mavis]

If I were to comprimate my Demadaras theme in a single word, it´d be: Control. 

With her old tribe erased and having left the one who took her in she doesn't have the training and upbringing to deal with the over-ambition from her youth as well as her anger issues. She sees herself as the chief of her tribe since she is the left, yet nobody acknowledges her. She wants to be seen as a terrifying warrior, and with enough training she may, however she is hilariously short. 

Her emotions dictate her plans, and her pride prevents her from genuinely seeking help. So she ends as one who wants to control everything around her, but in truth has no control over anything in her life.

[Parth Makeo]

Arala: protection

Xyla: belonging

P'rita: Revenge

[GloryRhodes]

Spahro's is Rebellion.

 

 

Whatever the system of power is, she's against it.  She doesn't know why, or what she can do, but she feels in her gut that whoever is in charge shouldn't be.  The world is a messed up, painful place, and it has to be somebody's fault.  Who else could be responsible but the people with the responsibility?

[Warren Castille]

I rolled this one around in my head for a while and I think the summary of Warren's arc is Refusal.

 

A lot of Warren's choices and actions are a direct result of something happening that he doesn't want to happen. He learned to fight because someone got hurt. He stands on a rock because no one else was doing it. For all of his achievements he doesn't think he stands apart from anyone else, and often agrees to disagree when people try to tell him otherwise. Warren doesn't do a great job of accepting the world as it is.

[Luzia Dawn]

I  LOVE :love: this thread idea and am sooo glad that their are other's out there who us motives and character goals to drive their characters actions as I do. If I personally never did this, I would end up with the disaster that was my first RP character ever back many years ago when I started on an anime forum back in like, grade 8. I personally don't have a theme though. What I learned in creative writing was that a theme was the idea or moral that drove a story plot, and what drives a character to fulfilling the stories themes and interacting in it was the characters motives and/or over goals in the story as usually, many characters in a story drive a story plot even though the protagonist is the main driver of the wheel. But that is just me.

 

Anyway, so for Elza, I would say her overall goal is to become STRONGER if summed in one word. But there are a couple different ways in which she plans to achieve this. Below is the 3 specific ways she plans to achieve this or is being driven to. but I would mainly use the word DETERMINATION for her main attribute that gives her the ability to try and achieve her goals. 

 

She wants to become stronger and more powerful as a Healer (Conjurer), and her love for others and the earth are her motives for this. As well, she wants to mentally and emotionally become stronger, and her love interests/attractions/ and close friends help is what has be the drive for this. And lastly, physically stronger as she knows in her line of work she won't last to long not being able to defend herself or fight when needed, so basically survival is her motive here.

 

So since that was very wordy I will sum it up here basically. Elza's main goal is to become STRONGER as a Healer, mentally, and physically, and the biggest thing that is driving her is her DETERMINATION.

 

 :love:

[Lady Whiteraven]

Benedict is easy, Sacrifice.

 

In his mind he tied his sense of purpose to what he can do for others. The more he gives the more he makes a difference in the world. Even if that means he gives himself completely.

[Jana]

Jana's story is about Decay. Her relationships, morals, mental state, even the effects of her attacks as an ACN... I haven't quite decided if she's at the point of no return yet though; there's still RP I'd like to do with her!

[Capheira]

Odette's theme is Freedom.

 

Easy, one might think and surely on the surface it is - the encouragement of personal freedoms, free thinking and considerate exploration of that theme and an appreciation of life and present. But what about when the freedom to choose leads to needed consequence? Such a choice does not make one immune to it's ripples, after all. What happens when the freedoms of others are challenged? When a child is unable to live untainted? When your friends are all bound by the ways of the world, their pasts and the state of their lives? When the government is corrupt and unyielding? The opportunities created are borne from a sense of duty to do, to be and to provide better without being blinded to the world itself. With duty, comes action... and it isn't always pretty.

 

It is not uncommon for Odette to challenge ideals and lifestyles with the query; "When was the last time you were truly content?" Ironically in her desires and drive to see others live free, she herself becomes subtly bound.

[Sig]

Sigurd's theme is Enterprise ("a project or undertaking that is especially difficult, complicated, or risky").  

 

His background amounts to a parade of miserables.  He overcame this by rejecting his immediate surroundings and pursuing new opportunities at different turns, despite the risks associated with doing so.  Sigurd has re-invented himself three times over his life, and gladly takes on extremely burdensome undertakings when it will benefit himself or someone he cares about.  The stress and uncertainty associated with these undertakings lends to his hedonistic disposition, as he tries to milk as much enjoyment out of life as context will allow. 

[Telluride]

I think no one would expect this of Nathan at first, but the answer hit me with sudden clarity:

 

Preservation.

 

At the core of everything he does - traveling, making music, trying to spread joy, giving others a place and excuse to express themselves, and now possibly building a true future - is a young man who, in one night, lost everyone he cherished most in the world and the one voice who gave him direction. That voice he keeps inside urges him not to grieve, but to bring to others a touch of that sublime contentment that was his younger life, and thus best honor and preserve what might otherwise be completely lost.

 

He simply struggles to decide how he might best do so, torn between the Wanderer's urge to find random souls in need, or to perhaps embrace another of the Twelve - Byregot - and build a new troupe and a new family, more truly preserving what would otherwise be lost.

 

There's a particular line of Basho's that is, in essence, what has become his driving impetus:

 

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought."

[Aya]

For Aya's story:  Freedom.

 

For Aya herself, it may be: Beauty.  In its many forms, but most essentially in the art of performance.

[Sylastair]

Flynt's plot has two themes overall: Morality and Legacy.

 

 

For Morality, Flynt's journey can really be summed up by the quote "What is better? To be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?” Flynt's formative years were unforgiving, and he learned early on that to survive in a ruthless world one needed to be equally ruthless. While the people who surround him now have softened him quite a bit and keep him in line, his biggest worry isn't that he'll do something 'wrong', it's that what he sees as necessary often times horrifies the people he cares about. He tries hard to hold himself to a very specific code, but he hates to admit that more often than not he tends to relate and understand better those that are deemed 'evil' than those that people deemed 'good'.

 

 

For Legacy, Flynt just feels like he is hidden in the shadow of a man who was much greater than him, and one he doesn't feel he can ever live up to. His mentor was everything he wished to be, and the areas Flynt feels inadequate Dalinat excelled at. Instead of being his successor, Flynt feels like a kid wearing his dad's clothes. He worries that he'll never live up to the standard which Dalinat set, and that he will fail at keeping the promises he's made because of it.

[AekiraSwyfte]

Aekira's theme is definitely letting go. Specifically, of the past, and learning that things will never be the same again. He's starting to understand this, but he's still hanging on to what he's lost by a few threads. It may take him some time yet to truly come to terms with it.

[Leggerless]

War and Peace. Sounds like a Tolstoy novel, but whatever.

 

Constant fighting between her own identity, others, and even higher beings as well, while trying to come to terms with the world and herself.

[Luzia Dawn]

I am really enjoying reading everyone's posts about their characters on here :3 :love:

[azahana]

Shenanigans of life.

 

Having drink, warm bed, and a good fight now and then with plenty of gil left to carry into the next day is good. A'zahana lacks a solid purpose in life aside from the day to day and that's fine by her. The past (specifically) her own is in the past and she doesn't really care for it unless people are just sharing stories around a campfire.

[Caspar]

This was hard. I think that it's probably on account of the fact that so many of my planned NPCs haven't really come about yet.

 

To see them emerge would be a great boon to my ability to tie down a specific theme to each character. Each one is related but most have their own basic concept that drives their leg of the plot. In effect Virara is more like a catalyst than a central character, or so I'd like it.

 

Probably the most important theme is Determinism. Most of the characters in my story line for one reason or for another came to feel that they were always meant to be what they are. In a sense they are actors given roles by the world itself. That might or might not be a lie. More important than the distinction of whether it's true or not is whether they should allow it to determine the path of life they chose or whether they should struggle against it even if it's futile. If a person is born with an innate brilliance, a unique talent that shines above everyone else, is it the duty of others to polish that aptitude regardless of that individual's will? And if a talent is innately inimical to the happiness of others, is the world itself twisted for giving birth to a person who only possesses that talent?

 

Other themes I like a lot and would love to pursue are self deception and denial. People who lost their purpose in life trying to pretend they're still needed. Or people who want to rework the world around them so they can remain relevant.

[Aaron]

Aaron's theme would be motivation. & courage. He's getting to the point you could nearly kill him and he still will not defend himself like one should because he's a wimp and afraid of killing people.

 

His theme when he snaps would probably be Had Enough by Breaking Benjamin. If we're adding music for dramatic effect lol

 

Actually that's perfect.

[Fen]

Right now, Eunoia's overarching theme is Expression. Namely, in figuring out how to express herself at all.

 

Euny's very rough and tumble, a bit gritty, a little violent. She has a lot of difficulty in speaking for herself, especially regarding emotions, and so instead of airing her thoughts and feelings, she gets frustrated and lets them out via punches or shouting or just sulking or avoiding the subject altogether. She doesn't have her temper just because she has a temper, the main source of her temper is a lack of other ways to express herself or let things out.

 

Likewise, she has recently moved to Ul'dah, a fresh start. She has a number of interests that she could feasibly follow, now, any number of niches are hers to occupy, it comes down to who she meets, and what she chooses, what fits her best, how she can best express herself.

 

In the end, Eunoia is a Miqo'te whose inner identity is different from her outward one. Much of what the character struggles with based upon that dichotomy, struggling to make that inward identity outward (and failing).

[Dat Oni]

Kokoporo's tale is a case of idealistic expectations and naivety clashing with reality. Kokoporo goes into things expecting it to turn out a certain way, and when it doesn't, he becomes distressed and bitter. He left his home in the desert searching for his sister and opportunity. He joined the Gallantry believing them to be wholly pure, just, and the most influential in Ul'dah. He defied the Monetarists hoping to set an example. 

 

His idealism has since then come to clash with the realities of being a Sultansworn, to such an extent that he could no longer bear the title, and leaving him isolated from the rest of the knights and departing to Ishgard. 

 

Kopo could be a great Paladin, one day, he just needs a little direction.

[Steel Wolf]

Overall, Steel's theme is purpose. Much as she may bluster and shrug things off, she deep down wants to live up to the example her late husband set...and she's been all over the realm trying to find a cause.

 

As for my alt, Thundering Castle? Her theme that I've sort of focused on is one of belonging. Of normalcy. Her world has been turned inside out, and she wants to get back to the life she had before.

[Erik Mynhier]

[align=center]Honor - Duty - Redemption - Legacy[/align]

 

Erik was raised with certain expectations and because of events he never followed through on them. His life has lead him to dark places that he followed his duty in and carried out his orders, no matter for what. He finds himself now with his life restored (ie his family has and friends are filling so he now has things to lose) and because of that has felt the pull of that old legacy from a place and/or event he feels coming. So now he seeks to right what he can of his past so that he will be worthy when his fate takes him.