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Evil To Good



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Sun Jul 12, 2015 1:39 am
ShadowPrincess16 says...



Hey all!

So, in the Mage Chronicles series I have a character who starts out as evil and slowly, over the space of a couple books, turns good. His name is Stryker Ambrosius and he's Merlin's twin brother. His backstory is that he was kidnapped by a necromancer named Blaze Longfire. Blaze told him that his twin brother and parents sold him to Blaze. Which is why he hates his brother. Eventually, something will happen that will change him back to the side he's supposed to be on but I'm not sure how to do that without screwing up his character. Any tips?

ShadowPrincess16
“wanting what you could not have led to misery and madness”
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Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:38 am
Chaser says...



You could always show him the error of his ways, but that's an obvious option. Dispelling the lie, I'm sure you've thought of as well. The most meaningful way I can think of is to have him still believe the lie, but overcome the will for vengeance through sheer willpower. Letting go of the past is a huge issue for many people, and seeing Stryker able to do that would surely stryke a chord with them. His sale as a child being a lie (if you choose to reveal it) might affect that, however.
As for preserving his character, it really depends if the audience wants him to change. Of course, you affect that indirectly with how you portray him. To see a character embark on a meaningful personal journey creates a very relatable situation, since many people secretly want to change themselves.
Still, he shouldn't go through a complete shift in personality. It should be a more gradual change, and it would be good to retain character traits in order to keep a basis of familiarity with the character. Angry enemies, once converted, will get angry at your enemies. But in the end, the reaction depends on the character's original personality, and the reasons for it being that way.

I won't call myself an expert on writing or people, but I hope this helps.

Sincere regards,
Chaser
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Sun Jul 12, 2015 8:00 pm
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Carlito says...



Can you think of any books you've read where a character does through this type of transformation? For me, Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series comes to mind.

Here's how he transformed, if you're not familiar with the series:

Spoiler! :
Snape became friends with Lily Evans before entering Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At Hogwarts they were placed in different houses but still managed to be friends. Snape also became friends with a bunch of people that later became Death Eaters (bad guys) and they practiced dark magic at school. Lily wasn't a fan of this. Lily started dating James Potter which Snape hated because he and James had a long history of not liking one another.

They leave school and Snape joins Voldemort (the leader of the bad guys) and becomes a Death Eater. He's a bad dude. Meanwhile, Lily and James get married and join the Order of the Phoenix (the good guys, led by Dumbledore) and work to stop the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

Lily and James are killed and suddenly Snape is on the good side. Many people question his intentions (once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater), but Dumbledore is convinced that Snape has truly joined the side of righteousness as a spy. Dumbledore is pretty darn smart, so Snape is accepted although not always the most trusted.


How and why does Snape turn from the dark side to the good side?

In this case, it's for love.

Spoiler! :
We find out at the end that Snape was in love with Lily Evans ever since they first met as children. He overheard a prophesy made about someone that has the power to vanquish Voldemort back when he was still operating as a Death Eater. Naturally, he had to tell Voldemort. The prophesy didn't name anyone specific, but Voldemort took it to mean a boy named Harry Potter. Harry was the son of James and Lily.

Snape finds out that Voldemort intends on killing Harry and his family (including Lily). Snape doesn't want this to happen because he's still in love with Lily. Pleading with Voldemort to spare Lily isn't going to work, so he turns to Dumbledore. Dumbledore helps James and Lily cast a protective spell - Snape thinks Lily will be safe.

Well, the individual James and Lily put their trust in to guard the spell (a man named Peter Pettigrew) ended up betraying them to Voldemort. Voldemort killed James and Lily and failed to kill Harry, and he was left without a body.

Snape was devastated with the loss of Lily. He went back to Dumbledore and they made a deal. Snape would help Dumbledore protect Harry (out of love for Lily) and would join the Order of the Phoenix as a spy against the Death Eaters, and he played his part perfectly.


The evil person he had been serving did something that Snape simply couldn't forgive and forget - killed someone Snape loved. That was his motivation for turning.

Now throughout all of this, Snape is still Snape. Just because he joins the side of good doesn't mean he's suddenly full of sunshine and rainbows. His personality stays the same. The people he's disliked his entire life are still people he dislikes. He still does some questionable things. He still has the same interests, he just has different goals. (If that makes sense.)

I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, so I think his character transformation and the way JK Rowling executed his bad-guy-to-good-guy situation is nothing sort of brilliant perfection. If you haven't read the Harry Potter series, I cannot recommend it enough.

I would also recommend looking at books/movies/TV shows that you really like and looking for characters that make the sort of transformation you described. Ask yourself how and why that transformation happened and how the character was maintained throughout the transformation.

Let me know if you have any questions or if you'd like me to elaborate any more :)
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Sun Jul 12, 2015 10:01 pm
ShadowPrincess16 says...



Hey guys! Thanks for the responses. :)

Originally, I was going to have Stryker kill his twin brother and, as Merlin is slowly dying, he tells Stryker the truth. The guilt eventually changes Stryker from evil to good and he joins the right side. However, I've recently decided that Merlin kind of can't die. Arthur (yes, as in King Arthur, comes back in the second book of the series and without Merlin there's no reason for Arthur to really be there. Besides, Merlin has a huge role in the books and killing him off would be pointless. So I can't do what I originally planned. Still, Stryker is the character that will eventually decide who wins the war because it is his power that balances the war. If he were to choose Helena's side, the war would continue until someone got what they wanted. If he were to choose Ryder and Styxx's side, they would win the war because they already have Merlin whose power is equal to Stryker's.

I have read Harry Potter (huge Potterhead right here) and Severus Snape is actually my favorite character. I really loved how JK transformed him from an evil asshole (language, sorry) into a relatively good asshole. Which is kind of what I want to do with Stryker. I don't want to change his character because he's kind of a sarcastic asshole and I just...he's just my favorite of most of my characters. (My readers are going to hate him at first, though) He's based off of my brother-in-law, actually.

What I need is a catalyst because Stryker isn't going to change on his own. He's stubborn and he's pretty stuck in his ways. Something major has to happen that changes his mind. But I'm not sure what that catalyst is. I kind of want him to fall in love with Ryder's twin brother Ryan...but I'm not sure if even that would be a good catalyst. I know love is something that can change a person but do you guys think that would be enough?
“wanting what you could not have led to misery and madness”
― Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Prince
  





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Mon Jul 13, 2015 1:03 am
Carlito says...



Can love be a good enough catalyst? It worked for Severus, didn't it? ;)

Remember that he doesn't have to go from stubborn and stuck in his ways to suddenly open minded and sweet. He can have those same personality traits while playing for a different team.

If I were you, I would go with your gut. The worst that happens, you find out it doesn't work and you have to try something different. After all, you're the one that knows these characters and what drives and motivates them the best :)
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.

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