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guardians_song) wrote2013-05-23 04:12 pm
guardians_song) wrote2013-05-23 04:12 pm
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As promised, a description of the Woobiefied Villain Personality.
Disclaimer: No, you are not a bad person if you've ever written this. You are not a bad person if you are still writing this. You are not a bad person if you are completely unrepentant. You are not a bad person if you start using this as a serious guide to producing such fics bi-weekly. (In the last case, I can only be in awe of your work ethic.) The snark is not about bashing you or your writing, it's about mocking the formula. And to spare everyone paragraphs of redundant disclaimer, I'll just emphasize that Your Manacles May Vex, Your Manuals May Vaporize, and Your Mambas May Vituperate. All right?
We now commence the description...
Inevitably, there is a tragic backstory, almost always with an abusive father figure. (If not, it was an abusive boyfriend. Bonus points if it was someone who was a boyfriend AND father-figure!) This will serve to explain why the character has SEKRIT SUPPRESSED insecurity, an obsession with control, and general emotional problems. Strangely enough, this only counts if the character breaks down bawling in the arms of their True Love. By the same reasoning, comic relief characters will either be turned into people ~hiding their pain behind a smile~ or shallow sociopaths, because no one can be good without a deep well of inner pain (that they reveal with convenient ease, of course, even if they've dedicated literally all their cognitive capacity to hiding it for the last decade or two).
And so we learn that all their misdeeds were either SEKRITLY JUSTIFIED or DRIVEN BY THEIR DEEP SEKRIT TRAUMA. Note that it's never an excuse when the canon heroes are driven to something by emotional strain - then they're just shallow whiners who should grow up and take some responsibility. Of course, tell the woobiefied villain that, and you're just victim-blaming!
When the SEKRIT TRAUMA is revealed, everyone must, within the next half-dozen chapters, rush to their side and start cuddling them and reassuring them that It Gets Better. The woobiefied villain always accepts the aid within the same half-dozen-chapter span of time, of course, and is more than happy to be dogpiled by compulsively-fluffy-and-wubbing control-freaks who consider themselves de facto professional therapists. No, no, dearie, you don't understand what's best for you! We do, and we're going to stalk you, pin you in a corner, and make you accept our love.
There must also be a bad guy, whether it's another canonical villain who's revealed to have ~made them who they are~ or a heroic character who's revealed to be a horrible ungrateful bastard without any empathy for the poor pitiful woobie. Often, it's both! These fics often read like weird mixtures of deranged revenge fantasies and idealized therapy sessions, anyway, so they have to have Bad People as obstacles to overcome/voodoo dolls to bash to pieces. (Strange note: the fics, in general, do not choose one or the other. This looks really bizarre when characters veer between weeping soulfully over their tragic backstories and manically laughing while reducing their enemies to bloody heaps of organ-donor material.)
The phases of the story (sometimes achieved through retrospective flashbacks) are as follows:
Stage 1: Oh, Woobie Villain is acting sympathetic rather than maniacally evil! MYSTERY!
Stage 2: Woobie Villain recalls his (or her) tragic past, often being rather vague and impressionistic about it for further MYSTERY. This recollection will cause much pain in their soulful soul... soulfully.
Stage 3: Empath McWhiteknight, who may be EITHER a canon hero or a noble villain, finds out about Woobie Villain's angst and pressures him (or her) into revealing said past. This would be where the "dogpile" starts...
Stage 4: Something happens to trigger said tragic past full-blast! There is much weeping, wailing, and Woobie Villain telling Empath McWhiteknight that he (or she) is unworthy of Empath's love. Empath promptly starts dancing around like Barney, singing, "I-love-you, you-love-me, we're-all-one-big-happy-fam-il-y~". For some reason, despite a lifetime of trauma, betrayal, and hardened cynicism, Woobie Villain instantly buys it.
Stage 5: Having instantly lost all inhibitions, Woobie Villain slowly comes out to all of Empath McWhiteknight's friends and family about all the tragedy in the past, and all of his (or her) bad points in canon are instantly explained as a result of trauma and swept under the carpet. Inevitably, someone doesn't buy it, and instantly becomes the designated puppy-eating, baby-smacking villain. We'll call him Meanie Notweasley.
Stage 6: We commence the dogpile, which... Oh, how interesting! I think I'll just copy this list, because it turns out that it perfectly describes this "cathartic", "healing" process!
Stage 7: With Woobie Villain freshly "healed", the tragic past is triggered full-blast again! (And almost certainly by Meanie Notweasley, unless Meanie Notweasley is slated for a role in the fic's sequel.) At this point, the fic acquires some semblance of a plot as our now-heroes fight back and ultimately triumph, setting off a Spontaneous Demonstration of their joy at the great victory over Eurasia... er... whoops, got confused by that brainwashing link. I mean, Woobie Villain promptly goes off alone with Empath McWhiteknight, and they have long, nuanced discussions about their feelings, often packed to the skylights with therapy-jargon. Some secondary characters may also hook up at this point, because there's no better therapy than making out on the graves of your enemies.
Final Stage: Of course, not everything is solved by all this, in that Woobie Villain and Empath McWhiteknight have to still work on resolving their issues, exploring their relationship, and overcoming their obsta- oh, let's not LIE! It's a happy ending. Woobie Villain has clearly beenlobotomized healed by the Therapy Fairies, the author obviously isn't about to dump any further shit on Woobie Villain's head (unless it's to bash Meanie Notweasley), and all ugliness will be glossed over as just minor bumps in the road on the golden-brick path through Happyland. Cue sparkly rainbow curtains with a bit of goth eyeliner and black lipstick pasteded on yey.
Write a oneshot, write a multi-chapter epic - heck, write a multi-fic saga. This outline is sacred. And I'm embarrassed to say that, because I'm noticing that some fics that I really liked fell into this pattern along the way. How awkward. How deeply awkward.
Examples:
We now commence the description...
Inevitably, there is a tragic backstory, almost always with an abusive father figure. (If not, it was an abusive boyfriend. Bonus points if it was someone who was a boyfriend AND father-figure!) This will serve to explain why the character has SEKRIT SUPPRESSED insecurity, an obsession with control, and general emotional problems. Strangely enough, this only counts if the character breaks down bawling in the arms of their True Love. By the same reasoning, comic relief characters will either be turned into people ~hiding their pain behind a smile~ or shallow sociopaths, because no one can be good without a deep well of inner pain (that they reveal with convenient ease, of course, even if they've dedicated literally all their cognitive capacity to hiding it for the last decade or two).
And so we learn that all their misdeeds were either SEKRITLY JUSTIFIED or DRIVEN BY THEIR DEEP SEKRIT TRAUMA. Note that it's never an excuse when the canon heroes are driven to something by emotional strain - then they're just shallow whiners who should grow up and take some responsibility. Of course, tell the woobiefied villain that, and you're just victim-blaming!
When the SEKRIT TRAUMA is revealed, everyone must, within the next half-dozen chapters, rush to their side and start cuddling them and reassuring them that It Gets Better. The woobiefied villain always accepts the aid within the same half-dozen-chapter span of time, of course, and is more than happy to be dogpiled by compulsively-fluffy-and-wubbing control-freaks who consider themselves de facto professional therapists. No, no, dearie, you don't understand what's best for you! We do, and we're going to stalk you, pin you in a corner, and make you accept our love.
There must also be a bad guy, whether it's another canonical villain who's revealed to have ~made them who they are~ or a heroic character who's revealed to be a horrible ungrateful bastard without any empathy for the poor pitiful woobie. Often, it's both! These fics often read like weird mixtures of deranged revenge fantasies and idealized therapy sessions, anyway, so they have to have Bad People as obstacles to overcome/voodoo dolls to bash to pieces. (Strange note: the fics, in general, do not choose one or the other. This looks really bizarre when characters veer between weeping soulfully over their tragic backstories and manically laughing while reducing their enemies to bloody heaps of organ-donor material.)
The phases of the story (sometimes achieved through retrospective flashbacks) are as follows:
Stage 1: Oh, Woobie Villain is acting sympathetic rather than maniacally evil! MYSTERY!
Stage 2: Woobie Villain recalls his (or her) tragic past, often being rather vague and impressionistic about it for further MYSTERY. This recollection will cause much pain in their soulful soul... soulfully.
Stage 3: Empath McWhiteknight, who may be EITHER a canon hero or a noble villain, finds out about Woobie Villain's angst and pressures him (or her) into revealing said past. This would be where the "dogpile" starts...
Stage 4: Something happens to trigger said tragic past full-blast! There is much weeping, wailing, and Woobie Villain telling Empath McWhiteknight that he (or she) is unworthy of Empath's love. Empath promptly starts dancing around like Barney, singing, "I-love-you, you-love-me, we're-all-one-big-happy-fam-il-y~". For some reason, despite a lifetime of trauma, betrayal, and hardened cynicism, Woobie Villain instantly buys it.
Stage 5: Having instantly lost all inhibitions, Woobie Villain slowly comes out to all of Empath McWhiteknight's friends and family about all the tragedy in the past, and all of his (or her) bad points in canon are instantly explained as a result of trauma and swept under the carpet. Inevitably, someone doesn't buy it, and instantly becomes the designated puppy-eating, baby-smacking villain. We'll call him Meanie Notweasley.
Stage 6: We commence the dogpile, which... Oh, how interesting! I think I'll just copy this list, because it turns out that it perfectly describes this "cathartic", "healing" process!
- Assault on identity
- Guilt
- Self-betrayal
- Breaking point
- Leniency
- Compulsion to confess
- Channeling of guilt
- Releasing of guilt
- Progress and harmony
- Final confession and rebirth
Stage 7: With Woobie Villain freshly "healed", the tragic past is triggered full-blast again! (And almost certainly by Meanie Notweasley, unless Meanie Notweasley is slated for a role in the fic's sequel.) At this point, the fic acquires some semblance of a plot as our now-heroes fight back and ultimately triumph, setting off a Spontaneous Demonstration of their joy at the great victory over Eurasia... er... whoops, got confused by that brainwashing link. I mean, Woobie Villain promptly goes off alone with Empath McWhiteknight, and they have long, nuanced discussions about their feelings, often packed to the skylights with therapy-jargon. Some secondary characters may also hook up at this point, because there's no better therapy than making out on the graves of your enemies.
Final Stage: Of course, not everything is solved by all this, in that Woobie Villain and Empath McWhiteknight have to still work on resolving their issues, exploring their relationship, and overcoming their obsta- oh, let's not LIE! It's a happy ending. Woobie Villain has clearly been
Write a oneshot, write a multi-chapter epic - heck, write a multi-fic saga. This outline is sacred. And I'm embarrassed to say that, because I'm noticing that some fics that I really liked fell into this pattern along the way. How awkward. How deeply awkward.
Examples:
- Cori Falls is notorious for repeating all of these stages in every single Team Rocket oneshot she wrote. Do you have any idea how ridiculous this looks AFTER SEVERAL REPETITIONS?! Screw the healing process, these people are the Fisher Kings of emotional trauma!
- And the Anita Blake books are basically what Cori Falls's fics would look like if expanded to novel length, mixed with poorly-written repetitive PWP, and dumped in a vat of half-assed grimdark.
- There is a certain pair of villainous (and heavily-implied-to-be-incestuous) fraternal twins, NOT going by the name of Jamie and Cersei, in which the female one was the domineering, callous Evil Overlord (who showed one moment of humanity in canon) and the male one was her whiny, dependent servant (who had a literal psychotic break without his sister to support him). Now. Just guess which one a couple of fics assigned the role of Woobie Villain and which one got to be Empath McWhiteknight. Guess.
- The vast majority of 'bad-boy' plots. For that authentic ****ed-up romance-novel flavor, just toss in a hefty helping of Woobie Villain treating Empath McWhiteknight like crap.
- For instance, Twilight has Bella being Empath McWhiteknight to Edward's Woobie Villain.
- And Gethsemane Butler's stories have [Mary Sue of the Week] being Empath McWhiteknight to [Johnny Depp Character of the Week]'s Woobie Villain.
- And [if I understand correctly] the Hush, Hush series has Nora being Empath McWhiteknight to Patch's Woobie Villain.
- And City of Bones has Clary being Empath McWhiteknight to Jace's Woobie Villain.
- And the Draco Trilogy has Harry being Empath McWhiteknight to Draco's Woobie Villain.
- And Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has Harry being Empath McWhiteknight to Dumbledore's Woobie Villain!
- *buries face in hands* Some of... my favorite... fics... *groans*
- ...Can we not point out the similarities to N's backstory? It... doesn't completely fit the formula...
- Let's just say that I think I may have accidentally hit upon the formula to make a story on AO3 rack up several hundred kudos and leave it at that.
I'm wondering if I should test that...
Re: some 2 months later
...Azula/Severa. XD
Yeah, he was canonically born in the slums and basically raised himself up. But I can't see him being wangsty over dead parents...hell, I doubt he even gave a shit.
(Yeah, Nergal's past is actually alluded to beforehand...albeit in a super hard to get Gaiden chapter, but still not quite the ass pull of Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi. :P And yeah, there's more to tragedy than "waaaah s/he's so broken", Nergal displays it very well.)
Re: some 2 months later
He didn't get quite N's level of development. :P (Yes, he did develop, but he wasn't quite as plot-crucial as N.)
"...Azula/Severa. XD"
'Why would I like a peasant like YOU?'
'Well, why would I like a peasant like YOU?'
'HOW DARE-'
*brawl
and tsundere hatesexensues*"hell, I doubt he even gave a shit."
That's our Gangrel...
"(Yeah, Nergal's past is actually alluded to beforehand...albeit in a super hard to get Gaiden chapter, but still not quite the ass pull of Nakago from Fushigi Yuugi. :P"
'Beforehand'? *tilts head* Can't get 19xx until you unlock Hector Mode (i.e. have beaten the game once), and I don't think Genesis really hints at who Nergal used to be.
The only thing of which I can think that hints at Nergal's backstory pre-19xx is when Nils says Nergal had "the voice of an old friend" when he called across the gate - and it's easy to interpret that as "he spoke LIKE an old friend" rather than "he WAS an old friend". In order to guess the rest, you'd have to use the FE6 knowledge that only HALF-dragons have non-pointy ears and oracular powers, the Florina/Ninian Support knowledge that Ninian's mother was a dragon (so the father had to be the human), and then make a massive leap of faith. And then it only really makes sense if you learn the Hector-Mode-only knowledge that Nergal's deterioration is caused not just by going MAD WITH POWER MWAHAHA, but also actual mental degeneration from losing himself to the dark.
" And yeah, there's more to tragedy than "waaaah s/he's so broken", Nergal displays it very well.)"
*nods* And the serious tragedy is that, even if he regained his memory, you have to wonder if he'd actually repent or if he would be too far gone to alter his course. (I've contemplated doing an AU where he retains/regains his memory, and is actually more dangerous because he's clearer-headed, knows what he's doing, and doesn't come off as quite such a smirking lunatic when he's manipulating people. [In case you're wondering, his characterization would be along the lines of how he behaves when talking to Athos in canon... before he rips off his turban and starts ranting about how Athos never loved him, I mean.])
Re: some 2 months later
Hawt. :3
And that's what I meant by the albeit part, pretty much. XD; That there ARE no hints of what Nergal used to be without that chapter. His death quote in the final part changes based on whether or not you got the chapter. Otherwise everything is just left ambiguous and can be interpreted in another way ("the voice of an old friend" could mean Nergal simply tricked the siblings because he wanted to use them). Basically I meant "there are no hints at who Nergal really is without the chapter, but if you get the chapter the backstory is very well executed". Sorry if that was confusing!
Ohhh my. @_@ That could make things a lot scarier for all involved.
Re: some 2 months later
"Basically I meant "there are no hints at who Nergal really is without the chapter, but if you get the chapter the backstory is very well executed". Sorry if that was confusing!"
Ah, no, sorry! I just misunderstood you. :D (I have to say, it is really impressive how much Nergal's implied motivations, etc., change when you get that chapter... goes from a generic CORRUPTED BY POWAA!!!! to a tragic figure.)
"Ohhh my. @_@ That could make things a lot scarier for all involved."
Yeah, I basically haven't written it because I either can't figure out enough changes to make the AU worthwhile or, if I can figure out changes, I can't figure a way for everyone to get out in one piece. :\
(Still evil, but more of a The Unfettered/Well-Intentioned Extremist than a stereotypical Complete Monster. And it doesn't help that his first reaction to Ninian and Nils is basically to love-bomb them and THEN to start trying to drag them around to his POV. Actually opening the Dragon's Gate is only the THIRD stage of the plan, unfortunately. D:
My excuse for having them try to flee would be that they notice from the existence of the Morphs alone that he's mucking about with some rather nasty magic, and that, under questioning, he occasionally destabilizes and throws a canon!Nergal-esque raging tantrum before coming back to himself...Still, this AU's Ninian and Nils would be deeply conflicted and/or screwed-up by the time they met up with the main cast. On the one hand, Daddy genuinely loves them and would do anything for them if they just went along with him. On the other hand, he's a genocidal nihilist who's fixated on breaking the laws of nature and attaining unequaled power. Oh dear...)
Re: some 2 months later
That sounds interesting...poor Ninian and Nils, really. D:
Re: some 2 months later
It's amazing how easy it is to make Ninian and Nils even more woobie-like than they already are. They are enormous punching bags of fate. D: (FE woobies have the amazing properties that, no matter how woobierific they are in canon, most small changes would make them even bigger woobies. Try it out! For instance, if Lucina had seen Mommy!Avatar kill Chrom in front of her... Or if you take just about ANY Awakening parent character's life in the implied horrors of the Bad Future...
Re: some 2 months later
And people claim characters need to be raped for maximum trauma when stuff like THIS is so readily available.Re: some 2 months later
Or kill convenient female relatives or love interests. D:< THAT'S frequent enough.