Manipulative characters?

[Ireth]

One of the characters in my WIP is a real manipulative b*tch, but I'm having trouble with that with regards to the plot. As it is, this character is on the run after committing crimes against her family for which the punishment is a fate worse than death; the protagonists of the story have been sent to track her down. When they finally meet, the fugitive character will be in disguise so nobody knows who she is, and due to a promise she made to one of the protagonists in the prequel book, she will join with the protags on their quest, while never letting them know that she is their target.

I want this character to try and tweak the situation to her own advantage somehow, but I'm not sure of how. On the one hand, if she joins the protags, they will protect her as part of their group even as they unknowingly search for her. On the other hand, she can't risk telling them who she is (even though they all are her friends and they actually want to help her rather than hand her over to the antagonists), since the antags are tracking the protags' every move and word, and waiting for a chance to pounce on them as their deadline for finding the fugitive draws nearer. (Her cover will be blown eventually, but that's another issue.) Abandoning them at any point is not an option, since she's kind of essential to the climax and needs to be with the protags when it happens.

So with that in mind, what in Faerie can my fugitive Fae do to both save her own skin and help her friends (but mostly save her own skin)?

 

[Roc]

"fate worse than death"
--->I've always thought there was nothing worse than death. I would undergo the most hideous torture, because I know it couldn't last forever.

"she will join with the protags on their quest, while never letting them know that she is their target."
---->I actually really like that idea, but I have two questions. Does the audience know who she is? If the audience does know who she is, wouldn't that make most of the book worthless if they go hunting her but she's right under their noses the whole time?

The "fugitive fae" can save her own skin by revealing her identity to a most trusting character in the start-middle of the book and tell then tell the whole group at the end, or she gives her life and the "most trusting character" tells them. She could help her friends by guiding them away from danger and in the wrong directions to catch her.

I hope I helped, as always, good luck



-writing is anarchy-

 

[Claire]

Hiding under their noses is could be a smart move on her part, since they can't "find" her if she's right there in disguise (unless/until her cover is blown, of course). So her efforts to stay hidden would be important and there could be moments of almost-discovery by her friends adding tension to the story. She might risk her friends' safety because if she does something to help, her cover would be blown, so she chooses to protect herself over them. She could lead them on a "wild goose chase," claiming to have knowledge of "her" whereabouts, thereby leading the group further astray and protecting her identity longer.

Not sure if that is helpful, but those are some off-the-top thoughts .

 

[ThinkerX]

She tells the protagonists that she has a fair idea where the person they are searching for is, but doing more than that will require some 'extra's' from them which benefit her.

 

[Jess A]

Why are the protagonists after her? Why is there a deadline? Is there cash involved? Is it their job?

Did a manipulative person with their own agendas send the protagonists after the fugitive? Is it in the protagonists' best interests to continue to help her even when she is found?

Just a little context to help me help you.

 

[Ireth]

"fate worse than death"
--->I've always thought there was nothing worse than death. I would undergo the most hideous torture, because I know it couldn't last forever.

Well, as a human being, you at least have the hope of some sort of afterlife once you die (depending on your beliefs). The Fae have no soul, and thus no afterlife. Death = oblivion. The exact nature of the "fate worse than death" is thus: being bound into a human body, to live a mortal's lifespan and then die -- only to be reborn as a mortal again and live out another life, and be reborn after that death... lather, rinse, repeat ad infinitum. To a Fae, who are immortal (in the sense that they cannot die of old age or sickness, though they can still be killed by violent means), being trapped in a mortal form, able to feel your very body dying all around you, would be torturous to endure even once. Doing so over and over again for eternity would be the closest thing they have to Hell.

"she will join with the protags on their quest, while never letting them know that she is their target."
---->I actually really like that idea, but I have two questions. Does the audience know who she is? If the audience does know who she is, wouldn't that make most of the book worthless if they go hunting her but she's right under their noses the whole time?

The audience won't find out who she is until the other characters do. If the audience did know beforehand, though, I would think there might be some dramatic irony there as well. "Oh shit, she's right there and none of them know! Will they find out? What'll they do if that happens?" etc. Then again, it would increase the shock value if I hold out on revealing who she is until the climax, and only drop very small hints along the way.

The "fugitive fae" can save her own skin by revealing her identity to a most trusting character in the start-middle of the book and tell then tell the whole group at the end, or she gives her life and the "most trusting character" tells them. She could help her friends by guiding them away from danger and in the wrong directions to catch her.

I hope I helped, as always, good luck

You're a great help. Thanks very much.

Hiding under their noses is could be a smart move on her part, since they can't "find" her if she's right there in disguise (unless/until her cover is blown, of course). So her efforts to stay hidden would be important and there could be moments of almost-discovery by her friends adding tension to the story. She might risk her friends' safety because if she does something to help, her cover would be blown, so she chooses to protect herself over them. She could lead them on a "wild goose chase," claiming to have knowledge of "her" whereabouts, thereby leading the group further astray and protecting her identity longer.

Not sure if that is helpful, but those are some off-the-top thoughts .

That's pretty much what I have in mind.

She tells the protagonists that she has a fair idea where the person they are searching for is, but doing more than that will require some 'extra's' from them which benefit her.

I was considering something along that line, but I still need to consider what those "extras" might be. The only thing she really wants right now is her freedom. I'll have to do some thinking about that.

 

[ThinkerX]

I was considering something along that line, but I still need to consider what those "extras" might be. The only thing she really wants right now is her freedom. I'll have to do some thinking about that.

The 'extras' would involve tasks that would help her maintain her freedom *after* the quest. Assuming she's smart, she *has* to know her current situation of hiding out cannot last. When it ends, she wants to be in the best position possible. The best way to do that would be to have serious 'dirt' on the people who put her in this mess (forced her to flee).

Enter your other characters. From your fugitive fae's perspective, they make excellent cats-paws - she tells them 'Well, I think we can get a solid lead on where your fugitive went if we check here at the haunted tower' (or whatever). They only clue they find there will be the one she gives them - but she knows that a bit of 'dirt' (blackmail material) is also there. She would also be looking for things that could help her maintain her independance once all this blows up.

As to the nature of said dirt or opportunities...I would try to hint at the cross dimensional smuggling racket I've brought up before. Not lay it all out - just provide hints that something is going on (like maybe a new outfit for the gal in the bathrobe mysteriously appearing).

But it could be something else as well - something substantial enough that she'll have something to bargain with when this fiasco ends.

 

[Ireth]

The 'extras' would involve tasks that would help her maintain her freedom *after* the quest. Assuming she's smart, she *has* to know her current situation of hiding out cannot last. When it ends, she wants to be in the best position possible. The best way to do that would be to have serious 'dirt' on the people who put her in this mess (forced her to flee).

Enter your other characters. From your fugitive fae's perspective, they make excellent cats-paws - she tells them 'Well, I think we can get a solid lead on where your fugitive went if we check here at the haunted tower' (or whatever). They only clue they find there will be the one she gives them - but she knows that a bit of 'dirt' (blackmail material) is also there. She would also be looking for things that could help her maintain her independance once all this blows up.

As to the nature of said dirt or opportunities...I would try to hint at the cross dimensional smuggling racket I've brought up before. Not lay it all out - just provide hints that something is going on (like maybe a new outfit for the gal in the bathrobe mysteriously appearing).

But it could be something else as well - something substantial enough that she'll have something to bargain with when this fiasco ends.

Hmmm, that's a tricky thing to figure out. The ones responsible for her sentence are her parents, the King and Queen of the Unseelie Court (mostly her father). The one who helped her to break out of prison prior to the story's beginning is one of the protagonists; he knows her plight, but has no idea where she is, as they got separated while fleeing. The one she committed her heinous crime against is dead, since the crime she's convicted of is fratricide/regicide. (Technically it was manslaughter, but nobody's on her side about that except the protagonists.) So I suppose mostly it's her father whom she needs the "dirt" on, but it's probably not the best idea to blackmail the guy who wants to see you tortured for eternity, am I right? ^^;

I really hate to dismiss your idea again, but it just isn't working for the story at hand. The Fae Kings are both traditionalists in their pseudo-medieval world, not very appreciative of modern stuff like synthetic materials. They still do stuff like using bronze weapons instead of iron (though that's more a case of avoiding a weakness than catering to an advantage). Where smuggling them in from Earth would bypass the whole "synthetic stuff is evil and destroying the environment" issue with regards to the Fae's woods, ultimately the smuggled things are human inventions, and the Fae are all pretty much either contemptuous of humankind or dismissive of them. Exception to either viewpoint are few and far between.

I'm tempted to try to set up something of a sequel hook wherein Loegaire, a Fae who has spent some time among the human protagonists and experienced some modern conveniences firsthand, might try to convince the other Fae that maybe smuggling or even outright trading between Faerie and Earth might not be such a bad idea... but then, I'm not entirely sure he'll actually live to see the end of the novel, so that might not be the best plan. And I do not expect either of the Kings or any other Fae to listen to the humans' views on the issue, should it arise. The "something else" is really what I had in mind and am trying to figure out. So, thank you sincerely, but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

[ThinkerX]

So then, your runaway fae needs leverage over her parents.

Her parents almost certainly did not get where they are and remain there for so long without at least a few nasty deeds and dirty deals along the way - that is pretty much the nature of any royal court. So if it was not earth they were dealing with, maybe it was someplace else, neither earth nor faerie - and your renegade has an inkling as to what it might be, and thinks that what worked for them might work for her - or maybe she could threaten to provide solid evidence of said past dark dealings to maintain her independance.

Might be darker than you want to go, but are there not olde legends about pacts between Faeries and Hell?

 

[Ireth]

Well, bear in mind that these are the Unseelie we're dealing with -- doing things that their "good" cousins the Seelie Court, not to mention us humans, would consider "bad" is par for the course for these guys. Blackmail might not be wrong in their eyes at all; they might just scoff and say "yeah, I did this and that, so what?" Any Fae you come across is going to have a morality that's more blue-and-orange than black-and-white.

As for how the King and Queen got where they are and stayed there, they defeated the previous rulers in a battle against their people sometime in the pre-Christ era, and have ruled their court successfully ever since, even until the present day. The only real threat to their position they've had to face so far, as far as this story's canon goes, is basically the whole plot of the previous book -- and even then the villain is an arrogant jerkass who (spoiler!) fails epically in the end.

 

[ThinkerX]

Well, bear in mind that these are the Unseelie we're dealing with -- doing things that their "good" cousins the Seelie Court, not to mention us humans, would consider "bad" is par for the course for these guys. Blackmail might not be wrong in their eyes at all; they might just scoff and say "yeah, I did this and that, so what?" Any Fae you come across is going to have a morality that's more blue-and-orange than black-and-white.

Hmmm...so if political dirt doesn't work, then how about occult dirt?

Your runaway fae knows her parents have some sort of magical 'Ace in the Hole' - something that helped put them on the throne way back when, and has played a significant, if hidden role in keeping them on it ever since. This is something her parents keep strictly to themselves - some talisman, some pact with demons or angels, something wild and risky even for fae. Your fae figures that if she can cut a similiar deal, then that will give her a degree of leverage against her parents.

Heck, maybe its a piece of the true cross, the holy grail, or the keys to eden. Whatever it is, it is associated with something that makes even fae think real long and hard before tangling with whoever stands behind it. But - your runaway fae has an edge, or thinks she does - maybe she thinks that the steps required for her to obtain said item or make such pact are a lot less risky for humans than they are for fae. The places she directs them to go to find their quarry all contain some clue or element needed for her to make that deal or obtain said item.

This would also explain why she came back to her parents in the first place - somewhere along the line she found the whatever it was or completed the deal with the devil or angel or whatever and she *knows* she can successfully dictate her own terms.

 

[Ireth]

That's an interesting idea, though I'm not sure why a Fae would want anything to do with an artifact or mystical pact that is so blatantly Christian, and which as a result would go against everything the Fae are, being creatures of very pagan Celtic origin. For all I know, the Fae would be repulsed or even harmed by a piece of the Cross or the Holy Grail, so why would one want it for any reason? It also seems like a pretty complicated idea to add to the second half of a two-book series, which thus far has had nothing to do with anything of that ilk.

 

[ThinkerX]

That's an interesting idea, though I'm not sure why a Fae would want anything to do with an artifact or mystical pact that is so blatantly Christian, and which as a result would go against everything the Fae are, being creatures of very pagan Celtic origin. For all I know, the Fae would be repulsed or even harmed by a piece of the Cross or the Holy Grail, so why would one want it for any reason? It also seems like a pretty complicated idea to add to the second half of a two-book series, which thus far has had nothing to do with anything of that ilk.

Which is *exactly* why it would be the deep dark secret of your runaway fae's parents. *Nobody* but them knows this artifact or pact is how they came out on top and stayed there.

Your runaway would be about the only other fae with a clue. It would also explain why she would ally herself with humans - because humans could handle these things with a lot less risk than she could. Not that she is going to tell the humans any of this, of course.

 

[Jess A]

ThinkerX really lives up to his (or her?) name - a lot of thinking going on here!

Ireth: Your character wants her freedom. Perhaps you could make a list of the things that will grant her permanent freedom. The idea so far seems to be blackmail. What else might make the King and Queen grant her freedom? Could they think that she is dead? Who are these 'protagonists' and why were they sent after her? Do you want her to escape in the end or do you want her to die or be captured (etc)? Could she convince the King and Queen that it was manslaughter, or convince them that she is more useful alive than dead, and more useful in a position of power than in a mortal's body somewhere?

What about a life debt:

She cannot abandon the protagonists, but she could disappear for a short time. Someone could discover her (one of the protagonists), and she runs. But the protagonists, who are supposedly her friends, are placed in danger somehow. The faerie returns to save their lives and they are now indebted to her. She could use this debt to her later advantage. A debt such as a life debt could be a binding, magical contract. It might not have been her intention to create the debt - or it might have been! This way the protagonists are now bound to saving her life.

 

[Ireth]

ThinkerX: Good points there about the artifact. But it still seems a bit like it comes out of nowhere in relation to the previous book.

Your character wants her freedom. Perhaps you could make a list of the things that will grant her permanent freedom. The idea so far seems to be blackmail. What else might make the King and Queen grant her freedom? Could they think that she is dead? Who are these 'protagonists' and why were they sent after her? Do you want her to escape in the end or do you want her to die or be captured (etc)? Could she convince the King and Queen that it was manslaughter, or convince them that she is more useful alive than dead, and more useful in a position of power than in a mortal's body somewhere?

One of the first ideas I came up with was the fake-death scenario: the King explicitly says that if his daughter is found to be dead, he will let the mortals go free. I'm just not sure whether I want it to be a fake death just to get her off the King's radar, or an actual death to avoid the worse fate.

The "protagonists" are a family of humans and their frenemy, a Fae whom one of the humans met while in Faerie during the previous book. They are sent after her because they are arrested by the Fae for harboring their frenemy Fae, who is also a fugitive since he helped the princess escape. Their sentence is to go out and find the princess, and bring her back to the Kings to be tried for her crimes.

What about a life debt:

She cannot abandon the protagonists, but she could disappear for a short time. Someone could discover her (one of the protagonists), and she runs. But the protagonists, who are supposedly her friends, are placed in danger somehow. The faerie returns to save their lives and they are now indebted to her. She could use this debt to her later advantage. A debt such as a life debt could be a binding, magical contract. It might not have been her intention to create the debt - or it might have been! This way the protagonists are now bound to saving her life.

Oooh, good idea! Though they'd already be inclined to protect her anyway, since she's the mortals' friend and helped them all in various ways during the previous book, up to and including saving their lives. All it'll take is finding out who she really is, however that plays out.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

My thought would be that your MC needs to do two things while she'd running with her persuers. The first is to lay down a false trail, so that their chances of finding her fade with every day that passess. The second is, assuming she has as her goal the hope of returning to her home one day, leaving clues about the actual crime. Clues / evidence that will be brought back to her home.

As for the bad guys chasing them all, I assume that they are chasing the good guys because the good guys are chasing her and they want her. I doubt they would pounce until they had her. After all what would be the point? Better to leave them out hunting and wait for them to find her.

So maybe that's the way to write it. The good guys somehow find her. Start to bring her home. And then the bad guys pounce.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Ireth]

My thought would be that your MC needs to do two things while she'd running with her persuers. The first is to lay down a false trail, so that their chances of finding her fade with every day that passess. The second is, assuming she has as her goal the hope of returning to her home one day, leaving clues about the actual crime. Clues / evidence that will be brought back to her home.

The false trail is a good idea. I'm not sure what sort of clues she might be able to leave behind, as all four of the protagonists and one of the villains were eyewitnesses to the crime -- they know what happened and why, even though the villains think differently about it than the protagonists do. (The fugitive is not a "main" character, though she has a crucial role.)

As for the bad guys chasing them all, I assume that they are chasing the good guys because the good guys are chasing her and they want her. I doubt they would pounce until they had her. After all what would be the point? Better to leave them out hunting and wait for them to find her.

So maybe that's the way to write it. The good guys somehow find her. Start to bring her home. And then the bad guys pounce.

The bad guys are following the good guys to make sure they do their job right and don't try to weasel out of it. They're going to pounce once the deadline to bring back the fugitive is up -- only after that is the fugitive's identity going to be revealed, whether by accident or on purpose. Leading her home would be leading her into her father's dominion, which is what they're working against.

Thanks very much for your help, Greg.