How do you make an epic conflict personal?

[Svrtnsse]

I guess it all boils down to perspective?

There has to be some element that the reader can related to on a personal level, and that's usually more personal things. A motivation like: "I need to survive this so I can get home and help my wife raise our kids" is probably more personal than "I must vanquish all evil."

 

[Nobby]

You could always run with the classic DnD trope of tracking down and confronting the big bad what dun ya wrong only to find that s/he is only a cog in a machine of eeeevil who happily points you in the direction of the true evil-doer, who in turn...

Mind you, that could (d)evolve into a grand tour of generic fantasy locations/mindless slaughter/soapy "WHyyyyyyyyy!?" moments.

 

[psychotick]

Hi Guys,

Yes it is the movie, but doesn't it add power to the entire story. Emotional depth. As a slight aside I just watched the first Hobbit movie and found it far less enjoyable for this very reason, (and also because it seemed to be aimed at children). It simply didn't have any characters suffering and struggling that I could feel for. When I watch a movie or read a book one of the things I want to do is feel the character. To know their pain and their struggle. To tell an epic battle without this personal drama is almost to tell a history lesson (real or fake). It's the personal struggle that brings history to life, at least for me.

And back to the OP - I see another question has been added - how can you tie your MC to the cause of the conflict? And my question is why do you have to? Consider WWII. I'm fairly sure that every soldier on the allied side had it on his "to do list" to kill Hitler. But probably none of them had met him.Their hatred for the man was personal to them, but not because he had specifically harmed them. So if you write books about allies in WWII you can have great personal tales of suffering and struggle etc and if you change the ending, a final battle where your hero MC meets Hitler, without him ever being linked to the cause. And in my view, when you do link your MC directly to the cause as well as the struggle to overcome, sometimes you strain the bonds of credulity too far.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Addison]

The conflict might not be personal like Harry Potter vs. Lord Voldemort, but look at Frodo Baggins. The fate of the entire Middle Earth was in his hands. He wasn't the future king or anything, but if he failed then his friends would die and the Shire would be burned and all the Hobbits would be either enslaved or used as Orc food.

So in this epic story in the final battle the character might not care that the fate of the kingdoms is on the line. All he/she wants to do is get in the field and stop their friend, brother, cousin, room mate, room mate's cousin whatever, from betraying another friend or the king or their lover, or even losing their life in a battle that the hero doesn't believe in. Just because the scale of the climax battle is enormous doesn't mean the hero's personal stake has to include every part of it.