Wednesday, October 21, 2015

The warrior's Arc

In a story with a warrior character, whether male or female, certain rules need to be followed in order for the character's plot and character arc to leave the reader fulfilled. In a traditional arc, our warrior fights through trials, failures, challenges and emotional setbacks until he/she overcomes in a final give it all battle.  Our warrior then, either becomes a higher ranking, so to say, warrior or royalty; the next step in the arc.
In a series this must be carefully done to move the character to a more complete and developed individual. If the warrior becomes the prince, then the prince must become the king and the king the wise man. The same is true for a female character. warrior becomes princess becomes queen becomes High Priestess.
While planning and plotting your series make sure your story line leads to this arc among your protagonists. It is not necessary for the warrior to literally become prince or king but their role in the story must represent those emotional as well as plot changes toward a better, higher, more developed character.
One of the best examples of this arc being done incorrectly is in the Thor movies.
In the first movie, Thor's character is demoted to earthly warrior before he can be elevated to king. This allows the character to learn, fight, sacrifice and become the future king for the second movie. Here is where the problem occurs.
Thor must go from being 'the future king' to accepting the role of 'king'. He does not.
Instead, he reverts back to his original role as a human warrior with 'king' powers, but his character doesn't evolve or allow him to become a higher being. The reader, or viewer, feels cheated and disappointed to find their warrior is still just that...a warrior. He's already overcome the obstacles that lift him into his new role, but he does not become.
As your characters develop through the story, they must become,  or the journey and the story seem futile and a waste of your readers time.
Examine the arc of your warrior, character and plot and see if your headed toward royalty.
In the meantime keep writing!

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