Miseo
Minstrel
Yep. I'm doing one of those protagonist journey to villainy stories. Sort of. Starts like this, protagonist is innocent, his journey brings him to the side of villainy, major plot point occurs and he tries to rectify his mistakes and redeem himself although he never quite stops being a villain.
So I'm wondering... anyone have any tips on developing a protagonist's character into that of a villain protagonist?
If it would help, I'll give some info on my character. He was chosen by Bel (God) to become a Saint (mortal incarnation of Bel). And has a mark on his body as proof. But before he can fully grow into a Saint he is killed by a powerful dark being and brought back to life as an undead creature. Normally such a curse would corrupt a person's soul and spirit entirely turning them into total demons, but because of the mark most of his humanity is left in tact. So there is the internal struggle of his innocent human nature and his darker, monstrous nature that desires to kill and feed.
As the months turn into years and centuries, he gets pulled more and more into events against his will and always ends up losing the people he's supposed to protect. So his humanity becomes sullied by bitterness.
But it needs more than this. People don't have to turn bad because bad things happen to them. And I don't want to rely on the whole "there's an evil curse on him making him evil" thing (although there is evil in him) because that's just lazy. It needs an extra kick. Loss of loved ones doesn't turn one evil. Loss of meaning doesn't turn one evil. These turn people bitter. And bitterness dulls people, immobilizes them.
What pushes a character to abandon all that is good?
So I'm wondering... anyone have any tips on developing a protagonist's character into that of a villain protagonist?
If it would help, I'll give some info on my character. He was chosen by Bel (God) to become a Saint (mortal incarnation of Bel). And has a mark on his body as proof. But before he can fully grow into a Saint he is killed by a powerful dark being and brought back to life as an undead creature. Normally such a curse would corrupt a person's soul and spirit entirely turning them into total demons, but because of the mark most of his humanity is left in tact. So there is the internal struggle of his innocent human nature and his darker, monstrous nature that desires to kill and feed.
As the months turn into years and centuries, he gets pulled more and more into events against his will and always ends up losing the people he's supposed to protect. So his humanity becomes sullied by bitterness.
But it needs more than this. People don't have to turn bad because bad things happen to them. And I don't want to rely on the whole "there's an evil curse on him making him evil" thing (although there is evil in him) because that's just lazy. It needs an extra kick. Loss of loved ones doesn't turn one evil. Loss of meaning doesn't turn one evil. These turn people bitter. And bitterness dulls people, immobilizes them.
What pushes a character to abandon all that is good?
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