# Brainstorm: Non-fantasy characters as a model for fantasy characters



## Fnord (Apr 24, 2011)

So, I figured I'd kickstart a list of characters from literature, TV, movies, or even history you enjoyed and think of the possibilities or examples of those characters in the context of a fantasy novel.  

Since I don't a lot of actual writing under my belt, I'll use an example from a D&D campaign I ran.  In a Planescape campaign I lifted the character of Han Solo.  I changed the character into a not-so-evil-but-still-a-scoundrel drow who owned a somewhat unreliable planes-traveling steampunk-styled ship powered by a trapped steam elemental.  His loyal comrade was a tall hammer-wielding, shaggy quaggoth (a large, white-furred humanoid for those of you non-D&D people) who served as the helmsman of the flying ship.  The characters were stuck in one of the lower planes and needed the help of this scoundrel to get out.  Of course, the scoundrel himself had a lot of enemies from old debts and the characters, thinking they were merely booking passage on a flying boat, got caught up in the drow's troubles with his debtors and ended up fighting various flying attackers while trying to avoid puncturing the steam balloon or tumbling off the deck into the abyss below.  

The drow ended up being a semi-regular character in the game and the characters started to grudgingly like the guy, especially when he went against his own nature and got the _PCs_ out of hot water for a change.  

So, what are some great non-fantasy characters or even figures from history you have been inspired by or think would be good inspiration in a fantasy context?


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## Amanita (Apr 25, 2011)

Well, at least for writing I don't try to make any character too much like one used by someone else. This is probably different for role-playing games though, but I can't tell because I've never done any of those. I thought of Han Solo right away while reading your description without having seen you mention him. This doesn't necessarily have to be a problem though. If I don't know, I'd probably not look for comparisons as long as they aren't blatantly obvious. 

I, admittedly, often let myself get inspired by historical figures or even some more or less famous people of today.
One important character of mine has gotten quite a few traits from a CEO, I've heard speak at a shareholder meeting. To put it quickly, before this event I wouldn't have believed it to be possible that someone manages to be not affected in any way by person after person calling him greedy, ruthless and a murderer. Now the person in question has his place in my story, even though there are lot's of things invented by my about him of course. I doubt he'd recognise himself in the character in question. 
The character's shareholder meeting gets blown up and one of the unimportant protestors has to safe the guests, not being so unimportant to him anymore in the future. 
Another one is inspired by various female activists standing up for women's right along with some political or environmental goal. Unlike the CEO-character this could work in other stories as well, but everyone using it should be careful not to turn her into a cliched good person. In my own story her ideas of "good" and the main character's interests collide. This doesn't make her evil or anything but she does hurt the main character with her reaction. 
This character and the other one also don't think too highly of each other.

Two historical people who've inspired two characters that really have much in common with them in my story are Fritz Haber and Clara Immerwahr. This is because her story has really touched me and I tried to find another way besides killing herself for her. Of course many things in my world of this time are different to early-Twentieth-Century Germany so it is a bit easier for her anyway.
Carl Duisberg has also served as inspiration, his traits have been spread on two different characters though, because the real Duisberg is a very ambigious personality and wouldn't really fit into either of the two countries at the center of this war. 
None of them would be very helpful as inspiration for most classical fantasy stories I'm afraid. 

I often just take some scenes or opinions from real people and include them in the story, without modelling a whole character after them, though. History is the best place to find inspiration.


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## Fnord (Apr 25, 2011)

You can definitely get away with more "character larceny" in a role-playing game than a book (especially since obvious things tend to be less obvious in a game that can span several sessions than in a summary of text), but I have way more experience crafting the former than the latter, so that was an example I went with. 

I don't have a lot of television or movies under my belt, but I'm a lover of history and historical figures.  Real-life modern figures give us some glimpses too.  It's interesting you mention a CEO at a shareholder meeting; I go to the Berkshire-Hathaway meeting every year and I love listening to Warren Buffett talk, for instance.  I'm pretty well-versed in his life ("The Snowball" was a really great book) and always thought he was an interesting character.  He's ridiculously wealthy, but he lives a stone's throw away from my house in a very modest home.  As opposed to being miserly in the Ebenezer Scrooge way, however, his motivations seem to be more that money is just a way he keeps score.  He raised his children with a relatively small amount of privilege (i.e., he didn't lavish them with wealth) and he has willed most of his money away to charity.  He has a stoic demeanor in that he's not overly concerned with personal affairs or popular culture; his time is spent reading, researching, and working with online bridge games seeming to be his only leisure.  

I could certainly envision him as the head of a fabulously successful merchant house whose influence reaches into markets across many kingdoms.  A noble, hard-working sort who may amass great wealth through simply being shrewd but honest, but with no interest in lavishing his wealth upon himself or others.  He keeps his nose out of the business of local politics in the places he does business and his low profile keeps him out of such political entanglements.  Such a person could have his hands in many pies, investing in others commercial pursuits and bringing improved quality of life to small cities or fiefdoms that were otherwise poorly managed.  Such a man could also have powerful enemies who are far less scrupulous and jealous of his success achieved honestly, and these enemies might seek to ply their unscrupulousness in ways to try and undermine or outright take from him.  

So I suppose that's less derivative example of using a character (or actual person) as inspiration for something that might work in a fantasy setting.  Character development is definitely my weakest point because so much of my energy--being a game referee--has been spent developing worlds, plots, and letting *other* people be the characters in the story.  I haven't had to spend nearly as much time developing elaborate backstories or complex motivational drives for characters because those things wouldn't generally be something the characters in the game would exactly be privy to (unless, of course, I had a James Bond moment where the characters were in a harrowing near-death plight and the villain went into a long diatribe about such matters before dunking them in the shark tank), so it's not something I've developed well as a skill.


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## Ophiucha (Apr 26, 2011)

Mostly, my characters are a result of the story I want to tell and the world I want to tell it in, so this isn't too common for me. But as everything else is, at least in part, inspired by my other interests, I think some characters have formed to fit a couple of archetypes, if rather strangely. Theodore, my protagonist, has some heavy influences from The Man With No Name (from the _Dollars_ trilogy) and other gunslingers, and my character Sebastian takes a good deal of influence from the Wandering Jew figure, particularly Melmoth of _Melmoth the Wanderer_ (indeed, in a convoluted way, that is his namesake).


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## Helbrecht (May 15, 2011)

I try and avoid purposefully drawing from the characters of other authors, although I did end up writing a short story for an English project at college last year which basically starred a Victorian English, non-magical version of Harry Dresden and the Marquis de Carabas from _Neverwhere_. Go figure. (I should note that this happened _before I actually read Neverwhere_. Reading it later on was an experience, put lightly.)

However, as far as I'm concerned, historical figures are fair game. The autocratic ruler of an empire of forcefully-confederated tribes and city-states in a work-in-progress fantasy world of mine is essentially what you get when you create an entirely new person out of the practices and tactics of Genghis Khan, the personality and mind of Napoleon Bonaparte and the principles and ethics of Salah ah-Din. 

I'm currently doing a bit of idle research into the life and times of both Leonardo da Vinci and Lord Byron for inspiration for a protagonist in an upcoming work, as well.


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## Digital_Fey (May 15, 2011)

Helbrecht said:
			
		

> (I should note that this happened before I actually read Neverwhere. Reading it later on was an experience, put lightly.)



Heh, I'm sure the Marquis wouldn't mind being somewhat replicated, even if it is in a non-magical form... Might be a kind of immortality even better than hollow duck eggs 

I do try not to borrow from fictional characters, although I think historical and mythological figures are fair game so long as you're subtle about it. Quite often I see people in day-to-day life that I think should be put in a story, but somehow I never write a word about them...Hm. One of my current favorite characters was partly inspired by Rory O'Shea in the move _Inside I'm Dancing_, but I make a point of stamping out any similarities that are too blatant. Not because I think it's an issue, it's just my writerly finicky-ness


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## Smaug (May 23, 2011)

It's sometime easier to borrow a particular trait from a historical, mythological or real-life person and accentuate it. For example, destructive ambition, narcissism or anger can be a great character flaw for a hero that can be observed in the real world. If you know someone who you think has a touch of these traits, they can be used to help you predict what a character would do in a given circumstance.

Other possible sources for subtle inspiration: Roman Senators, Generals (Napoleon was a good call) and wartime leaders.


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## James Chandler (May 24, 2011)

As much as I hate today's political climate (I want to do an op-ed article on that some day), it provides a wealth of material for developing characters. For example, if you want to develop a bad guy, pick a political figure, then look at how his/her opponents describe him/her. Then, use those comments to develop your character. Many of Obama's critics call him an ideologue. If you need a character who is an ideologue, use comments from his critics to create that character. Your best results would probably be from using a combination of people.


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## Donny Bruso (May 24, 2011)

I personally have used real people as the inspiration for my characters. I don't know them personally, so I doubt my representation is accurate. The king in my WIP is based on a previous president of the US who I (and most of the intelligent, thinking world) passionately hate, and will readily believe all the worst rumors and stereotypes about. Intellectually, I realize they are not all true. Realistically I don't give a crap. Makes my king a much darker shade of grey and truly shows what level of political expediency he is willing to stoop to in order to achieve his goals.

Point is, take a person as inspiration, not as a carbon copy. Use them as a starting point and build on it. Always, always, always, change the name, and add something distinct to yourself. Plagiarism isn't something you want to get branded with in the event you end up publishing that work. People get a whiff of that and you're pretty much done as an author.


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## Fnord (May 24, 2011)

Donny Bruso said:


> The king in my WIP is based on a previous president of the US who I (and most of the intelligent, thinking world) passionately hate, and will readily believe all the worst rumors and stereotypes about. Intellectually, I realize they are not all true. Realistically I don't give a crap. Makes my king a much darker shade of grey and truly shows what level of political expediency he is willing to stoop to in order to achieve his goals.


 

Oooo, good idea, I never thought to use FDR as inspiration (  ).

But in all seriousness, I hear ya.  Character development, as I mentioned earlier, is kind of my weak point (outside of the gaming world anyway) and I can't seem to shake the non-inspiration I have with it.  Of course, I'm only writing for my own pleasure and have no intention of ever pursuing publishing but I still want to write something (and someone) interesting and original, but can't seem to get that particular juice flowing for some reason.


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## Le Pistolet (May 25, 2011)

I base a few of my characters off historical figures too, Emperor Nero, Charlemagne and various Saxon/English/British Kings influence a lot of the world leaders, in name and in attributes.


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## X Equestris (Jun 19, 2015)

I hate to commit thread necromancy, especially on such an ancient thread, but the topic is an interesting one, and I think furthering this discussion would be more useful than opening a brand new thread.  

The backstory of the main protagonist in my current work is based in part on the backstory of Booker DeWitt from Bioshock Infinite.  Like Booker, she was involved in a battle that ended up a horrific massacre, and her regret led her down some very self destructive paths.  

A monarch for a short story idea I'm toying with is based on King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, in that he had considerable military success in his early life, and has leprosy.


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## Feo Takahari (Jun 19, 2015)

I've argued before that the four authors profiled in The Captive Mind would make a great group of evil minions. Alpha is the self-righteous one, insistent that his cause is just and prone to speechifying if you let him. Delta is the playful one, clownish and wicked, always in for a joke as long as it's not on him. Gamma is the villain-in-waiting, wanting power for its own sake, but not smart enough or talented enough to usurp the central villain. And Beta is the fallen hero, haunted by past horrors, who will stoop to any level to prevent them from ever being repeated.

(Just please give Beta a happy ending. Please. He deserves some answer, even a fictional one, to the riddle he could never solve in life: how could a country prevent the rise of neo-Nazism without becoming like the Nazis?)


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