How do you make an epic conflict personal?

[Devor]

So, what the title says.

A lot of the great stories are deeply personal for the MC. But with an epic, the scope is too global to easily make it about one person and his or her antagonist. So we also see a lot of tropes which have become somewhat gimmicky to make it personal, like "Chosen Ones" or the villain turning out to be family.

What are some ways we can create a fantasy epic, and still make the conflict personal, without resorting to gimmicks?

 

[teacup]

Have the protagonist and main antagonist face each other for reasons other than the global conflict. For example, revenge. In my wip the protagonist is very proud and somewhat arrogant in his skills as a swordsman, as he has never been beaten in single combat (and even killed a seamonster alone, amongst many other monsters back in the past.) So, when the villain easily defeats him he is broken for a while, and so a big reason for him hunting the villain is to defeat him for his own pride, to prove to himself that he can.
I suppose there are many ways to go about not making it gimmicky. Off the top of my head, mc needs answers to something, and so needs the villain alive to answer them. With this the mc can diverge from the path of trying to kill the villain, perhaps even saving his life so that he can get the answers he needs.

 

[Spider]

The protagonist and/or the antagonist can have more than one goal, or more that one motivation behind a goal. Revenge is a good example, like teacup said. In my WIP, the main character joins with a band of rebels who want to kill the man who ruined their lives. That would be the personal conflict. However, this man is also trying to set off a war between two countries. On a more epic scale, this would be another reason to kill the man. While the first reason is out of desire, the second is out of necessity.

 

[TheokinsJ]

Have the main character somehow emotionally tied to a person/persons being affected by the conflict. Revenge is also a good motive, but sometimes is not stronger than the love for another character/family member/friend who may be in danger. I think that love is the emotion that most makes a struggle personal. For example; the main character may be fighting a war because if he/she loses, all the people he/she cares about will die; friends, family. Revenge is another classic example, if the protagonist loses a friend/someone they love to an enemy, the conflict no longer becomes universal, the character no longer sees 'the bigger picture', but rather, their own goal which is to get revenge on that person.

 

[Tyrant]

one thing i like to do is to make sure the story is not always black and white. Hard choices in which the reader has to decide if they were in the same position, would they agree or disagree? Maybe choosing between one inocent life or several others. to leave someone in need to save yourself, or to face down an enemy as opposed to saving the one you care about.

 

[ThinkerX]

I became weary of the epic 'handfull of brave heroes must do X to save the world' type tales a long time ago.

Thing about epic conflicts, is well, their EPIC - big, meaning there tend to be a LOT of people involved in them, and a great many acts of herosim, brutality, cleverness, cowardance, revenge, opportunism and the like.

So...a sort of major 'background element' for my stories is a long epic war between two nations, one a sort of quasi-christian quasi romanish empire, the other ruled by sorcerers who are essentially puppets of Lovecraftian style demons. In some stories, the war is ongoing, in others it is part of the recent past. That conflict shaped many of the MC's, some of whom were right in the thick of things whilst others were on the fringes. The war, while clearly epic, is a 'crucial secondary background to the characters'.

 

[TWErvin2]

In my novel Flank Hawk, starts out as an untested soldier in a local militia attempting to fend off invading forces of the Necromancer King. He gets swept up into events greater than himself and becomes pivotal in thwarting the tide of the Necromancer King's forces.

There isn't one instance where it becomes personal, but a number, from the death of his cousin or knowing his family has fled south to the Kingdom of Keesee which he'd joined as a mercenary to continue the fight, to being assigned with another mercenary to escort an important wizard to the front lines of a major battle and then standing to help save the prince when so many others fled.

What is it, that makes it personal? His loyalty, duty, friendships made and lost to the conflict along the way?

I don't think there is one solid answer. So much depends on the individual character and the events surrounding him, both immediately and on a larger scope/scale.

 

[Ankari]

You tie an epic conflict to the psychology of your cast. As ThinkerX said, an epic battle calls for many, many people. Tell the story from one, or a handful, of vantage points. Have them consider the unfairness of life, the tragedy of loss, the denial of liberties, etc. Although they may be a regular foot soldier, the war/conflict is now personal.

 

[Ennokos]

Like what TWErvin2 said, the battle itself can be anything but personal. Some of the best stories I have read have been the "right place at the right time" sort of story. (Frodo from LOTR included.)

Even if it's a little illogical right away why they were swept up in the war, it can easily become not just personal but extremely emotional why the MC got caught up in it.

My actual advice would be just make a small way that the MC is differentiated, then make circumstances where that part of him grows and excels.

 

[C Hollis]

On my bookshelf is a non-fiction book :Johnny Reb and Billy Yank. In a nutshell, it is the journal of a regular soldier in the Confederate army during the War Between the States.

Epic situation, one man who doesn't fall into any of the tropes, yet he has personal reasons for being there that have little to do with why the war was fought. Personally, I think it's a great outline for a fantasy story about a young man in a war against what he perceives as evil, and his personal reasons for being there.

His actions don't have to save the world, or anything else, they just need to save his world. Be his world a family farm, or a town.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Yes LOTR fits the bill nicely. An epic war, but in the end the main characters did what they did for smaller personal reasons. Frodo and Samwise both went to war essentially to save the Shire. And Samwise to save Frodo. Aragorn fought because he was heir to the one who first failed to destroy the ring Isildor, Arwen because she loved Aragorn. That is one of the things that makes the work so great, that it was brought down to the personal and emotional.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Alexandra]

So, what the title says. ... What are some ways we can create a fantasy epic, and still make the conflict personal, without resorting to gimmicks?

Look at Arya Stark in the Song of Ice and Fire series. The epic unfolds around her but individual acts and events affect her only on a personal level. Her response to said events is equally personal.

 

[Devor]

Thanks everybody.

It looks everybody is saying to kind of personalize the events as you go, but I think there's something to be said for making it deeper than that. Maybe what I'm asking about is closer to agency, or at least a personal connection to the cause of the conflict.

How can you tie your heroic MC to the cause of an epic conflict?

 

[Ankari]

How can you tie your heroic MC to the cause of an epic conflict?

There are things you can do.

Have a noble walk the streets for some reason, then get mugged and killed. Your MC, a common peasant, arrives at the scene to help, but is accused of the crime as nobles can't differentiate between commoners, especially one bent over a killed nobleman. This nobleman is visiting from another nation. He arrived to initiate a marriage, but the implication of what he's about to do overwhelms him. He bolts. The nation of the dead nobleman hold the commoner's nation in responsibility. They demand blood money and justice. Things get crazy.

A scholar is investigating the fabled ruins of a once demonic power. The treasures have long since been carted off, but he isn't looking for material gain. He wants has a fascination with ebb and flow of the powerful. He accidentally stumbles upon something, a sarcophagus of a lich//demon/foul spirit, a book, a coin. The evil power is resurrected. Now the scholar, a man who has devoted his life to the rise and fall of power, just bring down what he has risen.


The point is, you can, and probably will, introduce so many other PoV characters because of the epic scope of the conflict. You have main characters that are caught in the eye of the storm, no matter if they can do anything about their lot or not.

 

[Ireth]

How can you tie your heroic MC to the cause of an epic conflict?

I did something like this in my latest WIP. The villain initially has no knowledge of the MC or his world (Faerie), and she sends a spy to Faerie to find out more. The spy brings the MC back as his captive, and the villain has the MC tortured and questioned about himself, his kind and his home. The MC refuses to yield, and later escapes. The villain soon decides she wants to take Faerie for herself, seeing it as a vast resource-rich area for her people to take advantage of: plenty of trees to use as fuel for smiths' fires, and the likelihood of metal deposits and other useful things in the earth. At first she sends an army to conquer one of Faerie's strongholds, but later decides she wants to go there herself and spread chaos from the inside out. Among the first people she ends up targeting is the MC, when he sees her and realizes who she is. This pisses off the friends the MC has made within the stronghold, and they join in the attempt to stop the villain personally.

 

[Penpilot]

How can you tie your heroic MC to the cause of an epic conflict?

Just look at the first Star Wars film as a self contained story, ignoring everything that came after, because everything that came after wasn't really thought out or planned.

A simple choice of buying some droids ties Luke into the conflict. He struggles with whether he wants to get involved and save the princess because really he doesn't have anything personal at stake but then he learns that Vader killed his father and the Empire shows up and kills his uncle and aunt. Now he's personally involved.

If you want to tie your MC to the epic conflict, ask how does the epic conflict affect your MC? Do they have family involved? Is there something the bad guys wants from the MC? How does the conflict stand in the way of the MC getting what they want?

 

[ThinkerX]

How can you tie your heroic MC to the cause of an epic conflict?

In my world, most of the characters got themselves drafted. Epic Conflict = Epic War = Full Military Mobilization = Recruiting anybody with applicable skills, be it sword swinging, spell slinging, engineering, sneaking about, or any of about a thousand other things. As the fighting went on (the war lasted for over twenty years) entire generations of kids grew up KNOWING they were going into the military (the situation with some of the younger characters). Others were already in the military, or screwing around with stuff the military found real interesting once the war went from 'minor border conflict' to 'all out invasion'.

Again: Epic Conflicts tend to involve a LOT of people.

I've realized something lately, though, which I'll have to give some thought too: My tales are all told from POV characters on the same side (the Solarians, the quasi christian quasi roman bunch). Yet, there is a considerable range of peoples on the other side, fighting for a number of different motivations. I might have to look into a tale or five told from that side of the conflict.

 

[Feo Takahari]

Ghost Trick isn't what you'd normally call an epic, but I think it does the same sort of intertwining of small goals and large conflicts. All Sissel wants to do is to figure out who he is, but in order to do that, he needs to keep Lynne alive. In order to help Lynne, he has to help Jowd, and in order to help Jowd, he has to help the justice minister, and on it goes until he's running headlong into three related plans that have all been in place for years.

For a more personal example, everything that happens in one of my stories traces back to one military bungle. Some of my main characters survived the resultant slaughter, one lost her sister to it, and one invented the weapons used in it. The villains, too, were all affected by it, and one directly references the losses she suffered.

 

[Mythopoet]

Aragorn fought because he was heir to the one who first failed to destroy the ring Isildor, Arwen because she loved Aragorn.

Sigh. That's the movie, not the book.

 

[Ireth]

Sigh. That's the movie, not the book.

*nods* Arwen never really had much impact on the plot of the book beyond being half of Aragorn's motivation for becoming King. There was none of this "Arwen will die unless the Ring is destroyed" bull going on. (One of the many changes the movie made that I hate.)

/derail

Ahem. Carry on. ^^;