AstralCat
Scribe
Short question...
One of my characters has a tattoo, probably on his left shoulder, and I'm not sure what it should be, but I want it to symbolicly hint at loss, or secrets, or unrequited love, or all those things. But not too blatantly. ...Any ideas?
Longer explanation...
The story behind this is that the character is an elf, and he used to be in love with his male friend, but he never said anything because he lives in a society that believes homosexuality is bad. At some point in their friendship, the male friend wanted to get a tattoo, but started chickening out, so the elf guy decided to get a tattoo first so that he could tell his friend/crush that it didn't hurt as bad as they say. ...Then later the friend dies in a sudden and violent way. The event that killed elf-guy's friend/crush also leads to elf-guy being seen as a hero. The King offers the Princess' hand in marriage and the elf-guy feels he can't say no. This is an awkward situation since elf-guy is not attracted to women at all, the Princess is a very nice person, and elf-guy can't understand why he can't love her. ...Also, he's stuck with this tattoo as a constant reminder of his unspoken feelings.
So... yeah... I'm having a hard time choosing a tattoo design that is appropriate for this character. Technically he doesn't NEED a tattoo for the story to work, but I like the idea, and it makes it possible for other characters to question him about the tattoo and thus lead to interesting dialogues and stuff.
I don't want it to be TOO symbolic. I mean, it still has to make sense as something a teenage elf might choose to put on his arm based solely on the fact that it looks cool. Originally it was going to be a red eagle, but somehow that didn't feel appropriate, because eagles tend to symbolize freedom and strength and a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit this at all.
Thank you all for your time with my dumb question. XD;;;
One of my characters has a tattoo, probably on his left shoulder, and I'm not sure what it should be, but I want it to symbolicly hint at loss, or secrets, or unrequited love, or all those things. But not too blatantly. ...Any ideas?
Longer explanation...
The story behind this is that the character is an elf, and he used to be in love with his male friend, but he never said anything because he lives in a society that believes homosexuality is bad. At some point in their friendship, the male friend wanted to get a tattoo, but started chickening out, so the elf guy decided to get a tattoo first so that he could tell his friend/crush that it didn't hurt as bad as they say. ...Then later the friend dies in a sudden and violent way. The event that killed elf-guy's friend/crush also leads to elf-guy being seen as a hero. The King offers the Princess' hand in marriage and the elf-guy feels he can't say no. This is an awkward situation since elf-guy is not attracted to women at all, the Princess is a very nice person, and elf-guy can't understand why he can't love her. ...Also, he's stuck with this tattoo as a constant reminder of his unspoken feelings.
So... yeah... I'm having a hard time choosing a tattoo design that is appropriate for this character. Technically he doesn't NEED a tattoo for the story to work, but I like the idea, and it makes it possible for other characters to question him about the tattoo and thus lead to interesting dialogues and stuff.
I don't want it to be TOO symbolic. I mean, it still has to make sense as something a teenage elf might choose to put on his arm based solely on the fact that it looks cool. Originally it was going to be a red eagle, but somehow that didn't feel appropriate, because eagles tend to symbolize freedom and strength and a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit this at all.
Thank you all for your time with my dumb question. XD;;;