Exploring character/race through equipment

[Struggling Unnecessarily]

So I was reading through some of the older posts in this section and found an interesting thread about matching weaponry to your characters and I thought it would be fun/interesting to expand that into a larger conversation about how it is we equip our characters!

Fantasy in particular has lots of fascinating opportunities to explore the background and personality of our characters through what they have on their person. I'm reminded of the "gearing up" sequences of many classics such as when Galadriel gives gifts to the members of the fellowship, or when Neo arms himself for his raid on the tower. I once had a D&D character who carried a bag of about 150 human teeth, and later used that to brainstorm more information about his back-story. Why would he have such a thing?

What kinds of unique items do your characters carry, and what does it tell us about them/the setting?

 

[CupofJoe]

I try to keep any weapons and equipment fairly boring. As long as it is appropriate to the setting I'm trying to create, I don't try to get exotic.
I did spend a lot of time trying to work out the physics of a 8-9 ft Dragon killing long bow. It was a lot of fun, but unless I was going to info dump it in to the story, it was just for me... The character just had a long bow.
What I really don't like [and it is a TV thing mainly], is when a character take a weapon or tool, for no practical or obvious reason, that can only have one use. You just know they are going to need it later... but how do they know...?

 

[bob1thousand]

One of my characters is a Naga who wields a estoc and Niuweidao/oxtail Dao. It reflects her race (the dao was created in china/india where the real world legend of naga orginate) and her heritage (her father is a knight that also wields a estoc).

 

[Insolent Lad]

The MP of my current WIP carries one of those new-fangled bronze knives, rare and extremely valuable in her neolithic culture. A reflection of the fact that she is a bit of a spoiled brat and the daughter of a very powerful man.

 

[WooHooMan]

Cigarettes and mints.
It’s symbolic: cigarettes represent corruption since it makes your breath stink while mints are a materialistic and temporary type of purification.
It shows he’s more on the “anti” side of anti-hero and aware of his own faults to the point of subconsciously seeing a need for purification even if the type of purification he uses is the quick and cheap kind.
It also shows that this is a setting where you can go to a gas station and pick-up a pack of smokes and a tin of mints.

The only “unique” item he has is a custom purple leather jacket which is an extension of his ego and desire to make a good impression. He thinks people expect him to be kind of glamorous and his lower class background leads him to see leather goods as status symbols.

 

[Miles Lacey]

My protagonist carries an enchanted switchblade. It's because she operates by stealth rather than brute strength. It also ties in with the seedy underbelly of a city circa early 1930s feel I'm going for in my work in progress.

She's a mage but she never wears a robe.

Instead, I went for the flapper wardrobe of the 1920s with some refinements such as making the dress hemline shorter, giving her knee-length leather boots and having her wear an enchanted necklace whose powers I haven't quite worked out yet.

 

[Malik]

My setting is low-magic, so most equipment is mundane.

I do have one minor character who carries his great-great (-great?) grandfather's shield, which unbeknownst to him, has a charm/curse cast on it that makes an enemy attack the nearest of the bearer's allies. It's useless in single combat but of inestimable value on the field. He survives every battle in the series a la Wedge Antilles and MOUSE OVER BELOW FOR SPOILER:

When he learns about the charm, he gives the shield to his best friend, who's been fighting beside him for years, as they're arming up for the final battle. The last we see of him is charging forward in a line with his friend carrying the shield on his immediate right.

 

[Hawthorn]

This is a really interesting question and I've been thinking about it all week!

My characters don't tend to carry weapons - many of them are themselves the weapons, I suppose. My story is set in a faery kingdom, so the faery characters have things like sharp teeth and claws, and use their glamour against humans. Those that do carry weaponry, it's either something subtle like a poison-tipped hairpin or a lipstick with a drug in it, or for show - one character has lots of weapons because they're like toys to her and she likes the image they give her, and another carries a particular dagger because of who it previously belonged to and what he had to do to acquire it.

 

[WooHooMan]

I find it interesting that most answers in this thread are about weapons.
I’m starting to think that fantasy is an inherently violent genre.

 

[Yora]

I am not even sure if fantasy can really be counted as a genre. It seems much too broad a field to apply any clear structures, conventions, and narratives to it.
Heroic Fantasy and Epic Fantasy certainly are inherently violent. Fighting is what they are all about. But I don't feel like this covers all of fantasy.
I would say the Zamonia books by Walter Moers are certainly fantasy books and have a depth and complexity that is clearly aimed at adults. I have only completed The City of Dreaming Books and a read a good part of Enzel and Kretel, and they were almost entirely free of violence. The only short violent scene I seem to remember in The City has the protagonist non participating and only observe it from a distance. And I don't remember any violence in the early parts of Enzel and Kretel.
Going with another great German writer, Michael Ende may have written his books aimed at children, but they are the heaviest and deepest children books I've ever come across. And I think they are also pretty much free of violence. Though they do feature plenty of low-intensity horror. Nothing too scary for children, but stuff that could essily be made pants pooping horror while still being 100% accurate to the source text.
I think writing a fairly typical high fantasy novel that is completely bloodless should be perfectly doable, it's just that nobody really has any interest to try it.

 

[WooHooMan]

There’s subgenres. I don’t think fantasy is any broader than sci-fi or thrillers.
Anyways, that’s not really relevant.

I’m assuming the tendency of iconic weapons is probably a holdover from mythology, which tend to be pretty violent.

 

[Struggling Unnecessarily]

The weaponry is certainly interesting, but I think even the most mundane gear can inform us a lot about a character. Like how in real life, some of us carry a wallet to put our money in, but also we all know that one person who keeps it in a plastic bag or a rubber band. That tells us a lot about what kind of person they are.
Does this character have flint and tinder? Or are they from a city and would never think to have such a thing? Do they have a notepad? If they do that implies they can both read and write. Do they have sentimental objects? Pictures, trinkets, etc. My character Corin once kept a tavern, so he usually has a spice-box on his person. This ties him to his roots and gives him something to help forge bonds with his current party, since he can make whatever they hunt down palatable. Do they carry a needle and thread? Maybe they like to whittle and have half finished wood sculptures in their pack.
Whenever you say your characters have mundane gear, I feel you are doing yourself a disservice.

 

[Miles Lacey]

I have no problems with viewing my protagonist''s wardrobe and weapon as mundane as that is pretty much what I am going for. I want my protagonist to wear a wardrobe and carry a weapon that allows her to blend into the background because she breaks into homes, steals information and spies on people as part of her part time job working for a private investigator. It''s a bit hard doing that with a robe, staff or sword.

Then again, my story is set in a world that resembles our world between the two world wars.

 

[SirenSon117]

I personally don't really like the idea of character carrying battle gear on their person 24/7. Maybe a small blade or two or self-defense but that's really it. My MC uses Darkness Magic so he likes to put random things, mostly food and swords, inside his shadow in case he needs them. That kind of utility is fine. Then again the world is industrial, but more mid-2000's than some of you guy's worlds. I also don't like mundane equipment in the sense that it's common. In my mind's eye I see my characters wearing stuff that looks like something Tetsuya Nomura designed.

 

[Orc Knight]

Let's see, I will use Adriel, my most common MC and Nadya, one of my new one's for this. Can tell quite a bit about both of them from appearances alone.

Adriel is an elven scout, though as she's from the royal line her leathers, armor and cape and hood are of a far finer make. Same for all her equipment and weapons, though she only carries a bow, short sword and a couple daggers that tend to be peace tied more often then not. The most common thing in her hand is a bottle of Pink's Finest Beer, even when gallivanting about in the forests. There is almost always one in one hand. Everything is otherwise fairly mundane because she's a soldier at heart and therefore it need not be flashy. If one see's red on her, it's her Captain's mark that she doesn't like wearing, even on parades, because red doesn't fit in with the otherwise brown, green and grey uniforms and standard clothing.

Nadya, on the other hand, is flashy as all get out. A member of The Hats, a mages guild, she usually wears a bowler hat, though top and sun hats aren't out of the question. Shiny black boots and three piece suits that are quite expensive. She carries an amber topped cane and wears a vest full of little devices and magical trinkets and mechanicals she's created herself as a Tinker Witch. Her own leather armor is master made and tooled, when she bothers wearing it and she also has some very nice regular reading glasses and sun glasses she bought from the drow. She tends to wear bright colors mixed with black and can step about Val Royale's upper crust without raising a fuss.

 

[Son of the Roman]

My stories are based in Ancient North America, so the majority of the characters carry spears, bows, and war clubs. The construction and material of the bow can tell a lot about the character’s origins and homelands. One of my characters carries a copper dagger, which was unusual for the Precolumbians, but not unheard of. The Tlingit of the Northwest actually forged copper and made weapons from it, as well as armor of wood and bone. In my world the weapons are not so different, but the subtle details bring it together to tell a story.