Ivonia
10-04-2005, 08:38 AM
Yeah, I know, it's only an idea, and it'll probably get used like crazy after I mention it, but anyway, I had an idea to help make the hero more interesting (I have a lot of other things like this scattered throughout my book). I was wondering if it's been done already (probably, but hear me out first hehe).
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Prior to a big battle, the hero has a dream in which a mysterious robed figure tells him that a child's life will be in danger, and it will be up to him whether the child lives or dies. He's had dreams like this before, from the same robed figure, who has given him similiar vague puzzles and messages. But he wonders why one child is going to make that big of a difference in the war at this point.
The hero is a fighter pilot, and subsequently gets shot down in that battle. But he survives the crash, and now has to make it back to a friendly base (which currently is fending itself from the enemy). Only problem right now is that he's lost. To make matters worse, his training was rushed, and consequently he doesn't know or remember all of the skills needed to make his way back to friendly forces (because of the battle going on, and he's understandably confused and somewhat scared).
On his way back, he gets lost, and runs into an enemy soldier, who has a tamed creature (which are wild on the hero's homeworld). The tamer has the creature attack the hero, but he easily dispatches it. He's then knocks down the tamer, but upon closer examination before killing the tamer, he sees that it's merely a child. He backs up, remembering what he heard in his dream.
Soon, one of the child's "supervisors" (in this story, children make great tamers because they have a special bond with creatures, and the enemy is obviously exploiting it. They also lose this ability as they grow older, which is why he's so young and in combat already) sees this failure, and screams at the child, saying he's going to take him back to camp and kill him off as an example of what they do to "failures".
The hero now has a tough choice. Does he flee, letting this child die, or does he protect him by killing off the superior (this is what the mysterious robed figure told him by the way, kind of a nice twist, isn't it hehe)? The superior isn't really interested in killing the hero, as he's more concerned with the boy's failure, having watched how easily the hero, a mere pilot, defeated the boy and his creature. But will the hero save the boy, even though he's the enemy?
Neither choice seems good, since if he protects the boy, the boy will live to fight another day (with another creature). If he lets the boy die, he will feel badly for letting it happen (the hero wants to protect those who can't protect themselves, although prior to this event, he thought it meant only the good guys).
The hero does ultimately save the boy, and then another "supervisor" is soon heard approaching. The boy warns the hero that this particular "supervisor" is very tough, and that the hero will not stand a chance against her (yes, her). The boy tells the hero where his base is, so that he can at least try to get away, and then makes up a lie to save both himself and the hero (he ends up saying that the hero killed the supervisor and his pet, and then fled in terror before he could finish off the boy when he realized that "she" was approaching, which of course, she buys and doesn't punish him, having not witnessed what happened earlier).
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To be honest, this is just one small event in my novel. I decided to add this scene in, because first of all, in the current draft, the hero has no real major issues to deal with, and is never in any real danger (hence why he gets shot down. And in an earlier draft, he just gets shot down, but still manages to make his way back to base, where he's forced to make yet another tough decision, stay and fight, or flee and let many of the good guys die).
I also thought this would be an interesting twist, because can the hero see past the hatred for the enemy to protect the child? I'm writing this because I'm tired of always seeing the enemy as "the enemy", and heroes having no second thoughts about laying waste to them (not the creatures so much, as they're not much more than wild animals for the most part, but the bad guys controlling them).
Do you think this would flesh out the hero more? By having to defend an enemy soldier, even though he's got an intense hatred for them (they're responsible for killing the hero's sister, and they've killed many good guys prior to this event, so the hero up to this point had no problems killing the bad guys). And the boy will also have something to think about as well because of this (they've both been led to believe the enemy is evil, and must be destroyed at all costs).
I'm debating whether the hero should tell anyone about this either, because what he did would obviously not go well with his superiors (and even if he told his friends, one of them may think he's close to being a traitor, not only for letting an enemy go, but protecting him), so now he's got another issue to deal with (this "minor" event will add to the main plot in the long run). And while the mysterious robed figure seems to give strange advice at times, he's never lied to the hero either, giving him advice he'll need to learn to understand the bigger picture in the long run (yes, the hero did physically meet the figure at one point, and even there, he told the hero about the tough choices he'd have to make).
I'm thinking it's better that he doesn't tell anyone though, because this will then become an internal struggle, one which he must cope with, and think about what's really right and wrong in this war.
What do you think? Have you seen something similiar in another book (I'll be honest, I haven't read too many stories, so I could very well have "copied" this from another author without realizing it) before? Or did I somehow manage to come up with an interesting, relatively original concept?
---------
Prior to a big battle, the hero has a dream in which a mysterious robed figure tells him that a child's life will be in danger, and it will be up to him whether the child lives or dies. He's had dreams like this before, from the same robed figure, who has given him similiar vague puzzles and messages. But he wonders why one child is going to make that big of a difference in the war at this point.
The hero is a fighter pilot, and subsequently gets shot down in that battle. But he survives the crash, and now has to make it back to a friendly base (which currently is fending itself from the enemy). Only problem right now is that he's lost. To make matters worse, his training was rushed, and consequently he doesn't know or remember all of the skills needed to make his way back to friendly forces (because of the battle going on, and he's understandably confused and somewhat scared).
On his way back, he gets lost, and runs into an enemy soldier, who has a tamed creature (which are wild on the hero's homeworld). The tamer has the creature attack the hero, but he easily dispatches it. He's then knocks down the tamer, but upon closer examination before killing the tamer, he sees that it's merely a child. He backs up, remembering what he heard in his dream.
Soon, one of the child's "supervisors" (in this story, children make great tamers because they have a special bond with creatures, and the enemy is obviously exploiting it. They also lose this ability as they grow older, which is why he's so young and in combat already) sees this failure, and screams at the child, saying he's going to take him back to camp and kill him off as an example of what they do to "failures".
The hero now has a tough choice. Does he flee, letting this child die, or does he protect him by killing off the superior (this is what the mysterious robed figure told him by the way, kind of a nice twist, isn't it hehe)? The superior isn't really interested in killing the hero, as he's more concerned with the boy's failure, having watched how easily the hero, a mere pilot, defeated the boy and his creature. But will the hero save the boy, even though he's the enemy?
Neither choice seems good, since if he protects the boy, the boy will live to fight another day (with another creature). If he lets the boy die, he will feel badly for letting it happen (the hero wants to protect those who can't protect themselves, although prior to this event, he thought it meant only the good guys).
The hero does ultimately save the boy, and then another "supervisor" is soon heard approaching. The boy warns the hero that this particular "supervisor" is very tough, and that the hero will not stand a chance against her (yes, her). The boy tells the hero where his base is, so that he can at least try to get away, and then makes up a lie to save both himself and the hero (he ends up saying that the hero killed the supervisor and his pet, and then fled in terror before he could finish off the boy when he realized that "she" was approaching, which of course, she buys and doesn't punish him, having not witnessed what happened earlier).
---------------------
To be honest, this is just one small event in my novel. I decided to add this scene in, because first of all, in the current draft, the hero has no real major issues to deal with, and is never in any real danger (hence why he gets shot down. And in an earlier draft, he just gets shot down, but still manages to make his way back to base, where he's forced to make yet another tough decision, stay and fight, or flee and let many of the good guys die).
I also thought this would be an interesting twist, because can the hero see past the hatred for the enemy to protect the child? I'm writing this because I'm tired of always seeing the enemy as "the enemy", and heroes having no second thoughts about laying waste to them (not the creatures so much, as they're not much more than wild animals for the most part, but the bad guys controlling them).
Do you think this would flesh out the hero more? By having to defend an enemy soldier, even though he's got an intense hatred for them (they're responsible for killing the hero's sister, and they've killed many good guys prior to this event, so the hero up to this point had no problems killing the bad guys). And the boy will also have something to think about as well because of this (they've both been led to believe the enemy is evil, and must be destroyed at all costs).
I'm debating whether the hero should tell anyone about this either, because what he did would obviously not go well with his superiors (and even if he told his friends, one of them may think he's close to being a traitor, not only for letting an enemy go, but protecting him), so now he's got another issue to deal with (this "minor" event will add to the main plot in the long run). And while the mysterious robed figure seems to give strange advice at times, he's never lied to the hero either, giving him advice he'll need to learn to understand the bigger picture in the long run (yes, the hero did physically meet the figure at one point, and even there, he told the hero about the tough choices he'd have to make).
I'm thinking it's better that he doesn't tell anyone though, because this will then become an internal struggle, one which he must cope with, and think about what's really right and wrong in this war.
What do you think? Have you seen something similiar in another book (I'll be honest, I haven't read too many stories, so I could very well have "copied" this from another author without realizing it) before? Or did I somehow manage to come up with an interesting, relatively original concept?