Since Ataru has been occupied, I've taken up his duties in maintaining the café for at least this month. Just like the previous ones, we're going to talk about fan-fiction (yours). The basic ground rules are the same. Please restrict this to stuff from your fan-fiction, but aside from that, no pressure. You can suggest, make observations, but no condemning other people's work and "I don't know" is a perfectly acceptable answer. Though, for this one, humor me and give it a go.
October's topic: Just in time for Halloween, we're gonna be discussing fear! What scares your characters? Why does it scare them? How do they deal with it?
Now, fear can be anything. It could be something or someone, cosmic or domestic. Perhaps your character had a childhood fear that carried over into adulthood. What triggered that fear as a child? How does it affect them now? Perhaps they have a fear of power, either gaining or losing power. Why is that? What do they fear would happen if they gained/lost power? Perhaps they fear themselves. They fear the darkness that could dwell within them. Did something happen, or they did something that clued them in to that darker side? Perhaps they are afraid of others. Perhaps they had a bad run-in with a gang of Wookiees and now Wookiees scare them. Do they fear what others may think of them?
Everyone has fears. Even the fearless have fears. Those fears may be little more than the fear that others would find out that they're not so fearless, but it is still a fear. So, what makes your characters' skin crawl? What do they hide from? What gets their heart racing? This can be in any format you choose; prose, article, short script of dialogue. But, reveal your character's fears to the galaxy! Then, give them their blankie, give them a hug, and tell them that everything will be all right. Trak Nar Ramble on 03:41, October 13, 2011 (UTC)
GySgt Tuffass[]
So, what causes Tuffass's heart to pound and sends his carapace a-quiver? He fears death. He's seen death, and spit in its face on Yavin IV, but it still haunts him because had he taken the opportunity to meditate on the battle's outcome, he could have exerted some level of control. He could have come out unscathed, but he never took the time to look to the mists for answers. He fears that his lack of preparation, his lack of foresight could hamper him in other areas. He fears that if he was caught unawares, that his recruits would be, too, so he works them hard so that they won't end up maimed in battle or killed. He knows, however, that such things are inevitable and that they signed up knowing full well that if they see combat, there's a pretty darn good chance that they'll be hurt or killed. But, Tuffass still wants them to be prepared to face it. And when he loses former recruits in battle, he feels that somehow, he may have done them a disservice. He would never voice such feelings, and he does not dwell on them for long, but the thought still crosses his mind. Perhaps he made them apathetic to death to the point that they let their guard down?
Tuffass also fears uselessness, particularly his own. When he was injured, he feared that he would be relegated to mundane tasks, and indeed he was; spent five years on desk assignments. After his promotion to gunnery sergeant, and the beginning of his drill instructor career, he had gotten over that concern for a while. However, later on in his career, when his old war injuries started to affect his mobility, he once again became concerned on how it would affect his productivity. He took great measures to hide his arthritis and steps to compensate and alleviate it as best as he could, but it still hung in his mind; he feared that he would be once again assigned to desk jobs, or even mustered out entirely. Eventually, he did retire, as his body simply could not stand up to the rigors of his work, but he maintains that it was his choice to do so, as reluctant a choice as it was. And after his retirement, he lived near the training depot and insisted that he be contacted in case he's ever needed, as he does not want to be useless.
Then, there's his PTSD... Trak Nar Ramble on 06:51, October 14, 2011 (UTC)
Discussion[]
Laera Reyolé[]
What does the formerly-deceased Laera Reyolé fear? What keeps this master of any battlefield awake at night? She's afraid of making the kinds of critical mistakes that get people killed. For a long time throughout her career as a Marine, Laera has had to deal with responsibility. Though she had embraced her leadership qualities as she progressed up the enlisted ranks and upon becoming an officer, when the Mandalorian Wars started, she felt the full impact of the burden of command. Though she won her first battle, the war was a long and bitter conflict that tested her fortitude and resolve. Though she has proven herself able to make the split-second decisions necessary of a field commander, sometimes she is haunted by mistakes she has made. This only got worse post-resurrection, when she came into her powers in the Force; with the added responsibility of being a Jedi Knight as well as a captain in the Marine Corps, the consequences of any mistakes made became increasingly larger—one in particular was the situation on T'lessia. That particular lapse in judgment dogged her for months.
Another thing Laera fears is her own potential. While she isn't particularly strong in the Force, she's only been at it for five years and is quite capable of maturing into a powerful Jedi. However, she does have some unusual powers that are ripe for abuse; if she dwells on them for too long, she begins to worry about what kinds of things she could do to people if she succumbed to her own darkness or was coerced into it—as happened to Luke Skywalker at one time.
Of course, there is one huge thing that Laera doesn't fear: death. She is absolutely unafraid of it, not one bit, because she's been there and come back swinging. While she knows that she will eventually die again and not come back, she is comforted by two facts: one, that she will return to the Force and two, that her first death was suffered in the line of duty, during a mission to free a planet from an occupying army. She will not return as a Force ghost. GoodwoodDebating Society11,988 Edits 05:02, October 15, 2011 (UTC)
Discussion[]
- Heh, since Tuffass fears death and Laera is quite comfortable with death, having experienced it and lived to tell the tale (what an odd description I chose), perhaps she could counsel Tuffass on death, if they were to ever meet again...
- So, how does Laera cope with the fear of her own potential? Does she hold back, due to that fear? Is this a conscious decision, or rather subconscious, such as when a a singer who, in a choir, belts it out, but when facing an audience alone, they hold it in? Trak Nar Ramble on 08:34, October 16, 2011 (UTC)
- Her fear is manifest during downtime, when she doesn't have anything else to occupy her mind. When it's time to get things done, when the proverbial shit hits the fan, she shunts this fear aside—this ability comes from two sources: first, her Marine training, which emphasizes the need for quick decisions and the ability to back them up; second is her Jedi training and a bit of unwanted field experience. This second incident took place during the battle for Iridonia, when Acaadi attempted to use Dun Möch on her; it was only through battle another's use of meditation that she was able to step back and get a hold of herself. She only ever gave voice to this fear once, however, and that was after learning about what happened after a certain Jedi went over to the dark side to spare his friends.
GoodwoodDebating Society11,988 Edits 08:41, October 16, 2011 (UTC)
- Well, one can only hope that she doesn't end up in a position where she sees her dark potential and perhaps even uses it, but... this is fanon. To say "never" would be fooling oneself. If we say it's gonna happen, then our characters had better be prepared when we pull out the pen and paper!
- I can understand Laera's fear of bad decisions. T'lessia was a mess. However, and that is a big however, it did show the reader that Laera is not perfect. She's bound to muck up, and she certainly did so in a very spectacular fashion, and that's one of the things that keep her away from Mary Sue Land. Trak Nar Ramble on 08:48, October 16, 2011 (UTC)
Shalli[]
Let's talk about an Omwati Jedi. Jedi aren't supposed to fear, right? Well, as has violently manifested itself, Shalli fears the dark side. Trained in part by Opus Lucem member Starbuck, she was conditioned to adhere to a view of the Jedi Code that could be construed as super-ultra-orthodoxy. As a result, she became so strongly against anything that could lead to the dark side that she suppressed her emotions to the point of nearly being devoid of a soul, became unaware of her own mental state, reacted to everything rather than being proactive, and lost all external connection to other beings through the Force. In effect, she was a shell of a stereotypical Jedi. When Shalli was placed on Evening Delwynn's team, she slowly became aware of her condition. This caused her to fear the dark side even more, as she began to believe that it had begun taking hold of her life. Eventually, all her Opus Lucem training gave way to sheer impulse, emotional overflow, and the burgeoning fear. She killed three people on Eriadu in the process. As a result of the outburst and fear that she had finally fallen to the dark side, she mentally and emotionally shut down once again. Her only train of thought was to shun the dark side; she was virtually incapable of operating otherwise. — Fiolli 01:55, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
Discussion[]
- I'm curious as to why no one ever caught her gradual decline into a mere shell early on. Was she such a reclusive individual that no one knew how to read her and she was able to quite literally destroy herself without anyone noticing? Trak Nar Ramble on 07:09, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
- Partially, yes. She was highly reclusive on an emotional level. Even Jedi Master Sidian Greystone was unable to notice the magnitude of her decline initially. Shalli only seemed in the Force to be vacant to those who noticed. Before being assigned to Delwynn's team, she largely only worked with Opus Lucem members. They're all just a little off in similar ways. Seeing as it was something they believed necessary, there was no reason for them to suspect anything wrong with her. — Fiolli 00:15, October 21, 2011 (UTC)
- Do you think she's more afraid of confronting the dark side in herself, or in another individual? If there is a difference, how would she react differently to each scenario? Atarumaster88
(Talk page) 03:56, October 26, 2011 (UTC)
- She's definitely more afraid of the dark side being manifest in herself and afraid of dealing with it when the manifestation occurs. She's not as fearful of the darkside in others—unless they are Jedi. Even there, she doesn't believe it is her role to say anything. She's really too preoccupied with keeping herself "clean" to deal with anyone else. The irony is, the more she fights it, the more it wins. — Fiolli 21:42, November 3, 2011 (UTC)
Revan[]
(Roughly as seen in my story Through Glass and others that I have not written yet)
After the end of the Jedi Civil War, Revan begins traveling all over known space, seeking to retrace the steps of her pre-amnesia self and regain her full memories. It's during this journey that she becomes fully aware of her own greatest fear: failure. She has a mostly-earned reputation of being the best, she's the hero who ended the war, and she's arguably the strongest Jedi still alive. The dark legacy of her past self still remains and she is dedicated to putting an end to it. She's convinced that she's the only one who can do so, and the only one who can root out the last of the Sith and save the Republic. The way she sees it, it's all up to her, and seeing as saving the galaxy has (apparently) been up to her twice already, that's the only way it can be. She is supposed to be the best, after all.
But Revan fears that for all of her power and skills, at some point it might not be enough. Almost everyone who lives seems to think that it's impossible for her to fail at anything, and she believes it part of the time. But that makes it all the more jarring for her on the occasions when she starts to slip, when circumstances become uncontrollable, and when she loses her calm. She likes to think that she'll never fall to the dark side again, but in the back of her head she wonders if she thought the exact same thing during the Mandalorian Wars. She likes to think that she'll eventually find the end of her journey, but that makes every dead end and cold trail sting all the more.
As a consequence of her fear of not being good enough, Revan will dedicate herself all the more to growing and strengthening and training herself, but that is not likely to provide a solution to her fear. -MPK, Free Man 18:58, October 20, 2011 (UTC)
Discussion[]
- Does she worry more about failure, or about letting other people down? Does she perceive a difference between failing in, say, a quest or a mission, versus letting other people down? Atarumaster88 (Talk page) 04:00, October 26, 2011 (UTC)
- I don't think Revan sees much of a difference between the two. She's pretty solidly attached to her friends and draws on them for most of her motivation and morale, so by default she views failing at anything of importance as letting them down, in a way. -MPK, Free Man 02:22, November 4, 2011 (UTC)
Michael Lars[]
Michael Lars is a character in the upcoming Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One. He is based on the canon Anakin Skywalker and will ultimately come to adopt the name Annikin Skywalker, as he is the Alternative Star Wars Saga version of Anakin Skywalker.
This may sound cliche without the story and the details that it brings with it, since I’m not giving out too much information, but the biggest thing that scares Michael is the future. Fear of the future defines who he is. It essentially puts his entire life into, for lack of a better term, a state of paralysis. Time moves forward, but he resists moving forward with it because of that fear.
Michael’s fear of the future is routed in guilt over his past. There was a tragic event in his recent past that is a major part of his life when we first meet him in The Chosen One, an event that has a major influence on his decisions and actions, as well as how he interacts with other people. It also has a major influence on how other people, particularly those he used to call his friends, interact with him.
One of the biggest things that it prevents him from doing, beyond being able to move into a future where he’s comfortable and confident with himself and his own past actions, is taking bold action in the future. He blames himself for the tragic event, and so he doesn’t want to do anything where he feels like he’s going to hurt someone or cause someone any pain or suffering. He hates the Hutt Cartel that controls Tatooine (and a large portion of the Outer Rim Territories) and he often dreams of what it would be like to rebel against them and save the people of Tatooine, but he’s paralyzed by fear.
He simply won’t bring himself to do anything large scale, even though he has the means and the people whom he could help in order to do it. He lets guilt over an unrelated event and the fear which that it brings dictate whether he chooses to live on his knees or die on his feet. Essentially that’s how he handles it: he does nothing. He keeps to himself, stays only with his family, and is withdrawn to the point that he has so few social interactions he can actually go weeks without talking to anyone other than his family, despite being around other people. Putting it another way, he’s not dealing with it at all. He’s burying it.
What it basically comes down to is a fear of himself and what he sees as carelessness can do to other people. His past haunts his present, wracking him with so much guilt that he can’t let go and move into the future—a future foretold in the heavens many, many eons ago. - Brandon Rhea(talk) 05:01, October 26, 2011 (UTC)
Discussion[]
- Well, we know that for a story to progress and for the protagonist grow and develop, there will need to be something that pulls him out of his comfort zone. As much as Lars will hate it, he will need to go on the hero's journey, which will shape him and change him into a whole new person with a new outlook. However, what that journey and conflict will be is no doubt spoiler material, so I doubt you'll tell us. :P So, do any of his acquaintances call him on his fear? Does anyone draw attention to it? If so, how does he react? Trak Nar Ramble on
- Most of his acquaintances that we see early in the story are far too self-absorbed to notice anything like fear. They despise him because of the event in his past, so really they hold that over him more so than anything else. One character, Sara Jade, calls him on it though. He resists what she says, but deep down he knows she's right. About the hero's journey, he'll definitely go on that, and he really starts to be brought out of his comfort zone when he meets the Ophuchi, particularly Padmé and Ray'kele. - Brandon Rhea(talk) 06:15, October 26, 2011 (UTC)
Anakin Kenobi[]
Anakin Kenobi(I know there's nothing on his article) is a character in the upcoming Tales of the Amplifier trilogy. He fears that everything he does may result in disaster and death. He has done many things he regrets, and thinks that his his brother's fall to the dark side to be his fault. His childhood constantly torments him, and eventually, he believes his Padawan Jason's fall to be his fault, and that it was his fault that Jason's mother was killed. He thinks that if he had treated his brother a bit better, taught his Padawan a bit better, or negotiated a bit better, many lives would have been saved. In other words, his main fear is the fear of his own failure. --VideoGamePower (Talk) 03:49, November 5, 2011 (UTC)