I Beg You, Please Cripple Your Characters
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Instructions unclear, accidentally crippled the actors instead.
Just to be clear, that's not (usually) what we mean when we tell somebody to "break a leg".
That's why Jared Leto had crutches in the film ever "Morbius"
@@jeremymunene5304 the most movie in ever
@@copeless1090 best film ever, that's why I didn't watch it, because it would ruin all other films for me
@@jeremymunene5304 I watched it and yes, every movie was ruined, there'll never be a movie as movie as Morbius.
One thing to clarify that makes Roy Mustang's scene even more badass. He didn't draw the transmutation circle with his blood, he *carved it into his hand.* There are multiple episodes after where he still has scars from carving it
also the fact mustang is an accessory to horrible war crimes and is spending his life trying to make up in some way for what he helped accomplish is really deep, most of the adult supporting cast in fact.
He made a terrible mistake in his past and is man enough to dedicate the rest of his life to trying to fix it.
@@zeehero7280 It's what makes the Adult Military cast so amazing. They're genuinely good people - not just because they are simply inherently that way, but that they make a point to keep working on it after facing struggles with it in the past. Seeing them face their demons in the 'present,' too, is also a lovely experience. Makes them feel really human.
AND proceeded to get blinded and have to rely on Hawkeye to direct him both physically and figuratively relying on his subordinates to a degree that actually makes him MORE accurate and deadly then he was with a literal sniper guiding your shots.
I like FMA's support characters because even the nameless ones aren't treated like they're disposable. They all give meaningful help and they don't just exist to job alone.
@@Manganization It's extremely well written. I wouldn't mention this in saner times, but consider that the best ever manga story about 2 brothers and their adventures and struggles is written by a woman.
You do NOT need to be part of X "group" to have a decent understanding of it. it can help, but it is far from required.
Hiromu Arakawa did an outstanding historic job writing FMA.
This principle stands just as well if it was a man writing a story about a pair of sisters, nothing keeps it from being as good if he writes as well.
"When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change."
-Avatar Aang
Kind of a shit quote to use here though, especially since Korra unlocks the one thing she struggled with, and then immediately gets the rest of her powers back. It would've worked far better if she were only an Airbender for a season, or even half a one, where she struggles with the spiritual side, then enter the spirit world, where none of her bending abilities are useable, and find her identity beyond being able to sling around elements, and THEN Aang appears, and restores her bending, while making it clear it's not something that's just "Here's your powers back lol!" and instead requires an incredibly deep, and powerful spiritual connection. Maybe even needing a one of a kind spirit or artifact from the spirit world as well.
@@FalonGrey a case of bad writing ✍️ on their part but the quote itself is better for stories
Guru Ligma
Yeah lol
@@narxes lol
An old high school English teacher of mine, who is a writer, once said to me on writing characters: "If you love your characters, put them through hell," which has always stuck with me and has served me well. Similar idea.
ohhh i thought i was just a sort of evil creator-author for tormenting all my characters XD good to know it comes from a place of love, even if unconsciously
I think it really depends on the story you are writing
I feel like Uncle Rick took this quote a bit too literally
@@mr.dirtydan3338 Not really. The concept essentially means: Put your characters in situations that will force them to change and grow as people, and that's sound advice regardless of what kind of story you're telling.
@@alondite215 But these situations don't have to be hell.
Do you seriously think humans or their fictional kin only change under (extreme) duress?
Everything always changes, including us.
"(Toph) didn't just give up, she uncovered a power that no one thought she had"
I mean if I'm remembering correctly, she uncovered a power that NO ONE had. She invented a new technique on the spot.
I think that fits Bolin too, but nobody has anything on Toph. Remember when old her entered the stage at the spirit gun site, she just rolled the entire floor dropping everyone like flies and no one dare stick out a finger to do anything about it. Now that is power.
Even if i love toph, she truly felt too strong Sometimes, especially for the fact that she is blind, which seemed like a Blessing than a curse
@@Exel3nce we she made her curse her blessing. It is emphasized that Toph is strong cause she is blind.
@@stargazer6510 and yet there is nothing that stops her. its cheap, sry
@@break1146 Bolin was not the first lava bender though?
Ah, once I got into the video, I realised what you meant by the title. I really admire this concept, by making the character vulnerable and seeing them struggle, that's when we see their true strengths.
Yea yeah. You got to break a foot
Duh
"Who are you? just a man or a superman?"
Hee hee. "More wheelchairs!"
Hi Trina. Love seeing you in every comment section
To quote Hirohiko Araki, creator of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: "Throw your protagonist into peril".
Also, your characters should be able to win battles through their own strength and cunning, instead of being rescued at the last second.
AY yay YAY YAAAAAY!
Joseph legit used his own strength,cuningness, and LUCK so badly that kars got launch into the outer space and if you look at kar's perspective. The last thing he will ever think(well he stopped) is that joseph planned it all out.
Sometimes you have to get them rescued in the last second. Just don't overuse it.
part 3 sucks so much tho
@@unibrowmexican9001 I disagree, part 8 is worse
Jaime losing his hand had even more consequences in the book. His entire personality up to that point had essentially been him saying "Fine, you all call me Kingslayer, the most dishonourable man alive (despite saving 500,000 people from burning to death and being the only one to object to the Mad King raping his wife) no matter how much I try to be a good man? Fuck it. I'll be the villain."
And so much of Jaime's presence as a villainous entity was through combat. With that removed, he is nowhere near as influential as before. For example, in the books he is placed in charge of the Kingsguard upon returning to King's Landing. And he is genuinely intimidated by Loras Tyrell. Loras is headstrong and only listens to a word Jaime says because he is afraid Jaime could kick his arse even with one hand. And Loras is very, very skilled. Cersei filled the Kingsguard with people like the Kettlebacks, who are average swordfighters at best. If they found out they could beat the fucking Kingslayer in a fight, Jaime would become a complete joke. Ultimately Jaime has next to no official power. It's his reputation and forceful personality that gives him power.
Another bit: before losing his sword hand he says his infamous "there's no man like me, only me" and then the handchop happens and in AFfC he sees Loras and thinks "he's me" or something like that. I really love his character!
afaik jaime never gets his skills back in the books? I know in the show he has trouble with just 1 dornish grunt. And it is wholly unsatisfying
@@texteel In the books he's still working on it. He's training with Ilyn Payne and has had limited success. But book Jaime's had a lot less time. Also, he doesn't train often because he has to hide his lack of fighting ability and do it when he and Ilyn can be somewhere no one can see. He's in the Riverlands and his generals are starting to pick up on it from his bruises. Which could be a good thing in the long run, since as soon as everyone knows, him training isn't going to lessen all the influence he'd already lose.
@@wafflingmean4477 i know that he trains with the mute executioner instead of bronn, I know he reveals some things to him. I just dont know how much he has progressed up to where the books have stopped
Your halo 4 armor wack
Another great example of this is the BBC show Merlin, where the main character is an insanely overpowered sorcerer but lives in a kingdom where magic is illegal and so a lot of episodes center around him finding ways to solve the problems without using his powers, or they explore the character by putting him in a situation where he needs to use his powers but would have very bad consequences for doing so. Great video, as always!
I really like how not only Merlin but also everyone around him suffers the consequences of the magic ban, to the point where by the end of the story he cares only about keeping arthur alive, he knows that he can't help everyone even tho he's world shattering powerful. He puts all his focus on saving this one man with no will to take the credit for the save or redeeming the villain of the week. By the end he had such an intense negative character arc that he became someone else entirely and I love it.
@@juliabarros6895 And what's interesting is that, if you already know Arthurian legend, you know how the story will end. No matter how strong Merlin is, he is powerless to prevent Arthur from his fate, and in the end the secret he worked so hard to keep is revealed anyway. There isn't a beautiful heart to heart between Arthur and Merlin as Arthur is dying. There is an understanding, but that is all
the end is normapy predictable in fiction its the journey the shows literaly called the advebtures of mirlin the adventure is the point and how they overcome the chaplenge
Yooo, I love Merlin, this is the first time I've actually seen someone talk about it. Such a good show
I remember that show, me and my mum loved that
Even as a kid I recognized how cool it was to play as Altair having lost his rank for his recklessness. Still my favourite AC game. It's nice to have it put into actual words and writing analysis.
While I prefer the Ezio trilogy and AC4 overall, the first AC game will always have a special place in my heart. IMO it still has the best dialogue in the series.
@@RbkARI Finally someone else who prefers the Ezio Trilogy AND AC4.
@@Xeno574 My top 4 AC games for sure. My ranking of the others might change depending on the day, but those 4 never change.
@@Xeno574 Literally everybody prefers the Ezio trilogy and 4.
@@brunoactis1104 No, not everyone. Most people for some reason still claim that AC4 is not an AC game.
This is why in the Legend of Korra I was so excited when they took Korra's bending away at the end of S1. She had been defined as a bending prodigy, an Avatar who was bending three elements at five years old. She had mastered them by the time when she was 17. She based her identity on her bending skills.
Then the show returned her powers half an episode later and it was a huge mistake. It made everything she could do feel unearned. It was really unfortunate.
It's been forever since I watched Korra or ATLA but I have some thoughts:
I think the end of Season Three takes even more away from her with both her developing PTSD and having to recover from debilitating and lasting injuries that changed her relationship with bending and her own identity as a whole.
Losing her bending in season 1 wasn't really an option since the crew thought they were only getting one season so they "needed" a happy ending. They took a chance by giving her bending powers back at the cost of the Avatar's previous incarnations. I wish they had followed through with the idea that Korra would only be able to access Airbending but I think the events that allowed Airbenders (not of Aang's bloodline) to exist was more important when it comes to the Airbending based plotlines. Because like ~balance~.
I feel doubly disappointed since that was my favorite arc, as it centered around a question I myself had always wondered since the first avatar: how the people who cannot bend feel about being unable to bend. The entire show should've just been about that arc. It would have been so much better off for it.
Really? That sucks. I never really got into Korra because it didn’t really *feel* like Avatar, it felt more like just another show with the premise “ha, I’m all powerful! I’m gonna do random stuff with no bearing on the larger situation because I’m a rebel!” and a plot that, while there, took a backseat to making Korra look as powerful and unbeatable as possible, while Avatar regularly showed Aang and co struggling with what threat or situation they’re facing.
@@AshtonMonitor Yeah I don't think you quite understand the premise of Korra because her primary inner-struggle in S1 is about the fact she can't airbend and then it is brought up again in s4.
She may be a prodigy at bending the other three elements but with an antagonist that can take away bending completely Korra's ability to bend or not bend is the primary focus of s1.
Like the entirety of season 1 is about benders vs nonbenders and the struggles that would lead to anti-bending campaigns. Like the primary antagonist Amonn is building his army with nonbenders and called themselves the Equalizers.
Like have none of you read any of the synopses? Like Korra isn't perfect but it is pretty good (minus season 2; we don't talk abt s2).
Omg I completely agree! I thought that when they took away her bending, they took away fire, earth, and water, but not air (because she hadn't learned it yet). Then, I was like 'nice! so not only is she an avatar without 3/4 of the avatar abilities' BUT 'she's also stuck with the one ability that she struggled the most with and is not as skilled at'. And then they gave her all the powers back, ripping her of a cool character arc AND making it seem like nothing had consequences.
Characters are meant to be on their core: Human. Humans are flawed, pathetic, and yes, crippled. Despite having these qualities, we are capable of growth and persistent resilience that allowed us to survive for 10,000 years. We learn, change, and become better (or worse).
A fantastic character is our soul, our self, or our mirror, and with hard work and heart can bring a character to a living individual.
That's why I love fiction. It reflects our resilience and ability to change.
Often times, fiction is a better criticism of the real world than what human could ever try to do...
Or, to show a future that one may learn to avoid...
... Granted, one could only retry so much before options run out. Especially if one intends to lead the world through the bitter end of time.
humans are pathetic but also awesome. we are not one dimensional as a species. Check HFY for a lot of great examples.
Right. And now we are killing our own planet. Because our successes are leading to its end.
We actually survived as humans for about half a million years. And I'm not just saying it to be pedantic. We often limit our perception of humanity by what we know from written history (those 10 thousand years you talk about) but we were capable of so much even before we had a lot of the things we do now. The domestication of plants/animals, hierarchies, sedentarism, cooking and even written/spoken language were developed during that time but we lived and thrived for thousands of years before them.
I guess I'm just one of those boring ass book readers because I much prefer a really awesome character than something than mirrors my own life. For me a story doesn't gain any points for being relatable. I'm not sure why I like narratives like that
Connected to this, I love nothing more than when a hero is permanently crippled. Either they try something and fail, and in failing they develop a new weakness they need to overcome, or even better, when they succeed in a way that permanently damages them.
Or when a character dies, really raises the tension/risk in a story than when everyone has plot armor. Especially in a story with lots of action/powers
That's what really makes Darth Vader such a compelling character.
Noted
**breaks Spongebob's knees**
Guts from berserk who has one if the best powerups called the berserker armor but it costs his age to grow rapidly
@@hello-gx6oi
Guts is literally slowly dying by wearing that armor.
Another great shout in favor of this is the turn-based video game "wildermyth." If you lose a character in battle, you can choose to keep them alive at the cost of a life altering injury. This plays into the emergent story telling and Permadeath mechanics of the game, and really helps the player get invested in the struggles of the in-game party.
Another cool way Wildermyth deals with losing characters has to do with the relationships they have with each other. I once had a father-daughter Duo on my team where the daughter ended up taking lethal damage and the game automatically had the father take the injury for her. I love little storytelling moments like that games.
lmao, the same I thought but about Lisa The Painful, literally having your partners dying is so unique and sad, and having to choose between them and your literal arm (which plays a big factor in the combos system, you cannot do ADAD and throw a fireball if you don't have an A, your right arm) is a seriously hard decision, and has worse consequences, choosing to lose a partner makes it easier for the rest to leave you since they know you are willing to sacrifice them, and losing the arm not only makes you weaker but also most likely to get weak mid battle (withdrawal effect)
@@thegodforger923 this kinda reminds me of frostpunk, though not as personal a level, near the end of the game during a massive storm your told your coal mines will collapse losing 80% unless you send 10 people to what is quite literally certain death, but if the mines stop producing coal everyone could freeze to death. alittle after this event it happens again only on a smaller scale, where you only need 5 people, but a much lower loss, but if youve sent in the first group and told the second group its not necessary they will do it anyways saying "Our sons' and daughters' deaths will not be in vain. We'll keep the mines running. You see the city through the storm." frostpunk is a really good game about making sacrifices
awesome concept
I was just thinking about all those limbs i lost in Kenshi.
Altair: Loses all equipment and skills
Samus: "First time?"
Alucard: "Sucks, doesn't it?"
One of the ideas of "crippling" and while we are so fascinated from it comes from the natural aging process. When you are Young, you are faster, stronger, sexier, etc. Then you get older and thing you took for granted go away. You get better at other things. You maybe even regain some qualities of the past, but you realize life is about change and how you adapt and what it turns you into. A good life example is watching someone you have loved for years die of a sickness. You might have been their caretaker and hero for years, but when an illness happens, you are really powerless. How you handle that defines who you really are, and when someone passes that is so central to who you are, you are forever changed by that loss. You might become stronger, or self destruct, or be a person you never imagined you would be.
To this extent... The old stories of Kings reveal a similar aspect. No, not in history (to a degree), but in spirit. The duty of a true Monarch lives and dies with their people. The legends of the Eternal Kingdom marks the many generations of kings from past, present, and future. But most of its history has been erased away by the cosmos. Civilizations of that time knew the value of unity after the Primordial Awakening.
Just in spirit... The Eternal Kingdom ruled by the original Soul King is not a real thing for now.
deep
True loss causes you to change to be the strongest
"I thought you were Thor God of thunder not Thor of God of hammers".
I see the merits of this thought process. Oftentimes, taking away a character's power seems like a bit of a crutch (especially in cases when there wasn't anything foreshadowing that losing powers was even a possibility that could happen). Another alternative to this that I like is giving a player a challenge, or even a multitude of unrelated challenges, that their powers are simply no good for.
I particularly like the "can't punch it" story beat. Despite what people often feel like, Superman isn't just his powers - he's also an empathetic and understanding person, and he's an investigative journalist that has a good idea of how crimes happen. It's not too hard to imagine a story where Superman has to get by on empathy, understanding, and investigation rather than punching something into atoms, even if there's power uses peppered in here and there to keep the readers excited.
A hero who has super strength but he is a Chef...
Customer: "Ah yes... Crushed eggs."
@@Eshenaleros
I prefer the psychological effect of extremely cosmic level entities since (like Kings) they tend to be on the high end of leadership.
"All of that power... And what... You can't even save one planet worth of humans." Not a quote.
I like your proposed alternative but it isn't as common as it probably should be, probably due to lack of imagination or experience absorption.
@@Eshenaleros The Injustice story line is possibly the most interesting Superman related story that I've ever read. I typically find him deeply uninteresting.
All this crippled comic book character talk has made me remember one of my personal favorite superheroes, Daredevil. The Man Without Fear has had his fair share of stories in the past decades. One of my favorite arcs of his is where he loses his radar sense and has to learn how to overcome his fear of mortality and losing his radar vision. Losing his radar sense brought out his true strength, his bravery. When stripped of his incredible sense he had to fight his fears before he could earn it back. Matt had to look death in the eyes and march on towards unwaivering. Now lets jump forward a few years to really prove my point on how brave Mr. Murdock is. In this arc our Man Without Fear gets doused with fear gas by budget scarecrow. Matt loses all sense of anything and starts tripping. In his fear fueled bender he sees anyone that has ever hurt him and they sow in every insecurity and fear he could ever have. Matt sees this and has to truly learn what it means to be without fear. He realizes he has to be brave but not without fear. Because to be utterly fearless you must shut yourself off from people entrirely, but what kind of man would he be if he did that? He uses his bravery to beat Mr. Fear. Bravery isn't the absence of fear. It is fear. Bravery is having the amount of fear that could destroy someone and overcoming.
TLDR; Daredevil is a brave guy.
P.S i just wanted a reason to gush about daredevil.
In fact, Roy is crippled on multiple levels, when he also gets all his loyal subordinates reassigned. Arakawa really enjoyed exploring him under duress, huh..?
It's even cooler in Mustang's case because in the end, the story asks Mustang to cripple himself. He has to put aside his personal need for revenge and chose to not employ his fire against Envy, and it's in NOT using his power that he becomes a great man worthy of leading his nation. This choice to not employ power is so important to the theme of FMA that it blows my mind how I didn't see it as a kid. Everything from Scar's arm that can only destroy and not rebuild to the taboo against return the dead to life.
I think sometimes "crippling" a character is asking them to employ mercy or sacrifice. It's why so many people tend to dislike the ending of Man of Steel so much. Superman fails to do anything but violently kill the villain, something that his character is naturally good at anyway.
*SPOILERS*
he also goes freakin blind at the end
...but he gets it back, so no biggie
@@endefire139 Did you not watch the video? That was the point I was responding to in the first place O_o
I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately in regards to what makes some strong characters awesome and others boring. It's not seeing powerful characters always win that makes them badass, What makes them fun to watch is seeing that strong character be dragged through hell and persevere no matter the disadvantage or damage they have to go through that makes them truly badass. Sure Guts is a powerhouse, but its the pain and loss that he pushes through despite it all that makes him a marvel to follow through Berserk.
I knew you where going to mention guts
He is a s+ tier character
@@restfulori212 God tier, got it
I feel alot of times that happens to superman alot of times they retcon his losses to where he hard stomps
There are a hundred things I don't like about Berserk and you can list them down for me.
But I'll always respect the storytelling of Miura. Especially with the world itself evolves through the series. From Dark Medieval Fantasy to Dark Fantasy to finally High Fantasy.
I mean Guts also gets his ass kicked all the time in the manga aswell. His actual fighting is is awesome for sure but it is his inner conflict that is at the heart of the story
Sometimes all a powerful character needs to be crippled is themselves, like a massive ego that could lead to their downfall if left unchecked, or a grand uncertainty over a great responsibility that they will have to grow to better use over time. Flaws play into limiting the power of a character in a way that can leave room for them to become better, or end in their tragic downfall depending on the story. Even in the show overlord where the main character is seemingly invincible with no weaknesses, conflict still stirs from those associated with him being manipulated and posing a real challenge that pushes him to use his wits to overcome, or his desire for conquest pitting him against those who viewed him as a hero to then choose their honor for their kingdom to face him and lose, which in turn will be a detriment to what little morality exists within him, and can likely lead to his downfall.
"Do you even understand the gravity of CHOICE? Do not come to me with morality when you, yourself have yet fully grasp the meaning of Free Will. But with the time streaming devise. We could change Fate. Do you ever think that by chance, we could be as if we're Gods and in our orchestration upon the fulcrum of our history. To shatter Fate in Defiance... We will meet again should time cross our paths." - Legacy of Kain (Paraphrase)
Also in Overlord Ainz himself doesn't have a lot of screentime compared to other characters. like a good Overlord he lurks behind the scenes, and when he DOES Come out, spectacle ensues.
@@zeehero7280 I think that's what really makes this work. We spend enough time to identify with the residents of the New World, enough time with the NPCs of Nazarick to appreciate how truly evil and loyal they can be, and just enough time with Ainz to see his slipping humanity and to know his greatest goal (being reunited with his friends) is ultimately threatened by the very NPCs who love him so much...
@@snapeinvader6208 And don't forget that Ainz kinda still has no clue what he's doing, in his own words... but damn he's doing it well xD
Logan is my second favorite movie ever behind Treasure Planet.
Logan is a heartbreaking film especially for people who wanted to grow up and be Wolverine. Watching him in his haggard, weakened, and bitter state was hard. At the end of the film though he reminded me why I looked up to him in the firs place (besides being cool amd tough). He protected people and he's brave and heroic. He has a good heart which unfortunately ended up with a tree branch through it.
I've always disliked the idea of separating a character from their powers. A lot of stories tend to treat it as the character becoming too lenient on their powers and that not being able to function that well without those powers (say for example, Peter Parker walking into traffic because he lost his Spider-Sense and didn't notice) is a flaw.
This makes me think of someone being blinded and then the narrative claiming that they've gotten too lenient on their eyesight.
Agreed. If your MC is OP, chop an arm off. It’s a bad trope
I like what Spider-Man 2 did with separating a character from their powers. Peter is powerless, but still willing and capable of saving a person's life just as Peter Parker. The issue comes from him realizing he wants to be able save more.
@@ebadhussaini7095 I like SM2 because it doesn't treat his powers as something extra. His powers don't go away because he's back to normal. It's him having emotional struggles that affecting his physical abilities. The powers are still there and they always will be a part of him.
Taking away a character's powers is a good story device; it is a way of crating a big challenge without invoking some kind of big foreign threat/obstacle. (allowing for a more personal approach and a conflict that is more internal)
It is also often used very poorly like you described; being crippled should itself not be seen as the obstacle to overcome, but rather the catalyst for personal flaws to be overcome. And even then you are taking all authority away from the character, meaning any changes they undergo is not tied to real character growth but instead is the result of necessity. (If I lose my right arm I must avoid getting into knife fights; if I learn to to be less of an asshole and de-escalate verbal conflicts in the process that does not mean I have grown as a person)
There's also the "oh no, I lost my powers... oh look they're back" thing that's far too often used; if your character "regains" their powers that removes all the impact of losing them in the first place.
@@captainnyet9855I'd say that the right arm example you gave is actually a good demonstration of this story device. A character learning to approach things in a new way because they can no longer do things the way they used to still counts as growth.
Unless getting their power back makes them immediately forget what they learned, which is annoying
I would add "The Owl House" where Eda and Lilith have to relearn magic from Luz without their natural abilities and the curse (basically chronic illness) weighing them down
Gosh I love their arcs! I especially love the episode where Eda learns to adapt and work alongside her curse, instead of trying to fight it.
People love watching characters suffer and overcome alot of writers don't get that
We love powerful characters because we want to be them
We relate to flawed characters because we are them
A lot of writers these days seem to make characters suffer just to "subvert expectations" and show how much they can undo character growth.
Ever see/read Re: Creators? its a story about story characters appearing in our world and confronting their writers for making them suffer, lol!
@@zeehero7280 neat
Actually, enduring suffering and changing as a result is one of the common story structures of a monomyth or hero's journey.
I feel like an important point to Mustang's character is that he is crippled by his own rage and wrath towards those who killed his friend. An emotional crippling can be as effective as a physical one
My favorite version of crippling the character would be Ben 10, especially the original classic. Although the omnitrix grants him immense power and makes him the strongest being in the universe(it does require some skill to reach that level and it is arguable that he is omnipotent) but the omnitrix has a fatal flaw in that it powers out in 10 minutes(give or take, sometimes it feels endless and sometimes it seems to end instantly) thereby stripping away all power from the protagonist. In those "moments of weakness Ben proves that even without his source of power he is not completely helpless and that he too needs help from others and isn't afraid to ask; humanizing him. It adds such a unique and beautiful duality to his character. It is a shame they mostly removed this aspect with sequels.
One of my favorite moments in Ben 10 comes from not the crippling but his morality.
When Max was injured Ben was ready to kill the hooligans.
Or when Gewn was taken away and he lost his shit.
Or when he found out that Aggregor absorbed all five Alines.
I always loved to him lost his cool and go psyco.
I think the moment when I really began to like Captain America as a character was in a scene where he lost his powers and didn't care and just kept fighting anyway. It really showed the core of who he is as a person.
wait, when did Captain America lose his powers? is this a non-MCU reference?
@@specialknees6798 cap had his will power and ideas of justice way before he got the super soilder serum getting his power didnt change anything about him other then he could bench more then he used too and could fight better but to him that never mattered, he has had to fight other super soilders that were stronger then him to the point it was like he was the skinny weak kid all over again...but that didnt matter to cap cause he has ALWAYS been that weak skinny kid,getting put back to where he used to be didnt effect his ideals or goals and he would stick through it. It's why he doesnt back down fighting thor, spiderman, iron man, or hulk even tho they make him look weak in comparison he doesnt care cause he fought for his ideals of freedom and liberty againt neighborhood bullys and never stopped to be afraid or let him being weaker stop him. But that's what's great about cap. Iron man changed tony, hulk changed banner, the hammer changed thor, but cap never changed he just got more athletic but he never let it get to his head or change his ideals
he didn't lose his powers in the mcu so you might be refering to another source, right?
@@gageunruh3574 yes, this is true, but I just asked when he lost his powers, since that's what the other guy's comment mentioned. We're not talking about willpower or ideals here
My favorite example of this is from Yugioh 5Ds, where Yusei got thrown into prison and was stripped of his iconic deck. Usually, a duelist is defined by the deck they played, but Yusei was able to defeat the prison warden and escape using a bunch of random cards thrown together. It reinforced Yusei's character as someone who's resourceful, and a good duelist, regardless of deck. Although it didn't really make him grow as a person, but by stripping away all the excess we got to see Yusei for who he really is.
I actually love yugioh 5ds so much. I wish it had gotten the sort of Manga adaptation or even just a shoe writer who could have taken the raw material we get in season 1 and continued it. I wish they had gone deep. There's so much quality writing just kind of left lying there or dropped entirely.... Basically I wish it wasn't just a 'yugioh spinoff'. I got legit chills so many times that first season and then it felt like that intensity just faded away....
I'm basically stuck with fanfiction.
I remember that duel till this day because as a kid i thought that it was badass that even though the odds were against yusei he still won by being a great duelist.
I just realized that Dalinar in the Stormlight Archive fits this trope. He's not physically crippled, but having his reputation as a merciless and unbeatable warrior weakened helped make him into a good person.
Just finished those books! Excellent example. Almost all characters go through both types of development, character growth via the oaths they must say, and then limitations, just through the hard magic system in it. Nice thinking!
*spoilers* he's the greatest General, but his weaknesses is his honor which is constantly exploited by his enemies and allies. He wins battles but keeps losing outside of them. His true allies beg him to compromise his values but he doesn't. Even in the face of crushing defeat or betrayel, again and again he refuses. believing its better to die then compromise your integrity. And because of the strength of this conviction, the unquestionable honor, he is able to achieve the near impossible.
If you think about it, all the main characters from stormlight has this concept behind them. The Radiants being bonded by their ideals, which can be seen as an extension of who they are. It’s been seen before with Kaladin where he loses his belief/honor and his powers with it.
Finally a comment about SA.
I would say that many of the characters fit this, especially Kaladin.
(Spoilers to Words of Radiance) after all, at the last third of the book he loses his powers completely. He saw too much of himself as the powers he had, and with that gone he felt almost useless. He began going into deep depression and all his demons from beforehand began crawling back again, and to top that off - the most hated time of the year for Kaladin began with non-stop soft rain.
He just falls quickly into his worst here. And yet, you see him struggle, fight his demons and depression, and rise to save the king from the most powerful weapons around. Even without his powers, he stood his ground against Moash and his shardblade.
In the end, he got his powers back in this fight due to him realising his true ideals and what's the right thing to do, even if it means fighting his friend to defend a man he heavily disliked if not hated.
Legend of Korra both screws up and succeeds at this trope on three separate occasions. In Season 1, Korra loses her bending but almost immediately gets it back. In Season 2, she loses access to the Avatar State and her past lives, but it doesn't really have much of an impact. Seasons 3 and 4 is where they do this well. At the end of Season 4, Korra is poisoned and loses most of her bending skill and her physical independence for literal years, because of the poison and PTSD. How she struggles in the interim and then how she overcomes it is fantastic.
Heath Ledger Joker: *looks at title* "Very poor choice of words."
Yeah but for real, really good ideas. Limitations breed creativity. That Full Metal Alchemist scenario is raw AF.
Every good Story: "cripple your character and let them grow."
Dragon ball: "GO FURTHER AND BEYOND!!!!!"
Roy Mustang is really a perfect example for way more than one reason (HEAVY SPOILERS FRO FMA:B!)
Not only is he powerful as all hell with his alchemy, he is also in a quite a high up position in the military, with a group of talented and loyal individuals and connections all around. And at different points, the show take all of it away in different ways, often multiple times.
There is his innate weakness for water and too high humidity, and while his fight with Lust shows this weakness and Roys solution off really well, Roy loses something else in that fight too. He loses his anonimity, the enemy now knows exactly who they should keep an eye on. He also loses Havoc, his "man in the action" after Lust cripples him. This is of course not the first time Roy loses a valuable asset and friend, as Hughes was also murdered beforehand, stripping Roy not only of his best informant and someone who has been an integral part of his rise, but also his best friend.
And then, only a while after, he loses his squad as they are all intentionally transferred away from him, taken as hostages of sort. He loses his biggest assets in the world of politics, where his flames won't solve everything. And yet he overcomes this, too, setting up a secret communication network with Grumman and Armstrong. He keeps his wits and slowly builds a counteroffensive.
And then the show even takes that away from him, he loses his mind, consumed by hatred after finally finding the person responsible for his best friends death. He is barely saved from being perhaps forever consumed by his hatred by Hawkeye, Ed and Scar. With everything that happens to him though, he manages to overcome, alone or with help, Mustang keeps his eyes on the future...
But that would be too nice, wouldn't it? He loses his sight! They really go and keep crippling the guy, and he keeps overcoming! He overcame this too, not gaining his sight back (at least immediately) and rather adapting to it with Hawkeyes support. 10/10 example of how to keep doing these kinds of characters, I dare say.
Mustang really was my favourite character in the entire show.
Arakawa seemed to be lightly poking fun of how Mustang could easily assume main character duties because of how brilliant a character he is as early as his first appearance.
In the volume format, he fries that train terrorist guy and states that he's the Flame Alchemist. And then, on the next page on the end-of-volume joke panel, it shows Mustang proclaiming that the series would be retitled "Flame Alchemist," with Arakawa herself in the background quietly stating that that wasn't true. She had a vision for the character, and it's incredible how his story is so intertwined with the Elric brothers and yet does not accidentally eclipse them. FMA is crazy well-written, and I really want people to give it the repect it deserves for that, as people more focus on the entertaining aspects, which I certainly don't blame them for.
"forever consumed by hatred" fukcoff. Killing envy is the thing that should have released all of his hatred.
And him losing his sight is BS. It completely fucks over the rules the show has set.
@@texteel I think the show heavily implied that mustang killing Envy would start him on a path similar to Scar’s where he is consumed by hate. What do you mean by him losing his sight breaks the show’s rules? Which rules do you refer to? Whenever someone opens the portal, they lose something in their body, and he lost some nerves in his eyes or something
@@protecterofkatz I really hate, and heavily disagree with that implication. Envy was a fukcing monster. Killing monsters does not make you a monster. It comes across as a very generic "killing bad".
Mustang says it perfectly: killing Envy should have been totally fine, but seeing envy kill himself is not only unsatisfying to the audiance, but it should not be enough to make mustangs hatred disappear.
If I remember right, mustang does not open the gate. He is threatened with Hawkeye's life, he is ready and willing to do it, but he gets interrupted, by the friendly chimera squap I think? I remember that it is someone else who ends up doing it, but mustang is the one who gets punished for opening the gate.
In a story I've been working on for quite some time (I am a procrastinator, otherwise it would be finished by now!), I actually "cripple" my protagonist by GIVING her powers. She is discovered to have abilities that are important to her society and religion, but with that comes special treatment that she never sought, and the ability to produce fire, which she has always been deathly afraid of since a child. So the "crippling" comes from her wanting to shirk away from this new responsibility, and fearing her power of fire to the point where to restricts herself. So as the story goes on, she has to overcome her fears and insecurities, and comes to accept her role on her own terms as she finds reasons to stand up and fight for what she believes in and cares about.
How's it coming along?
@@runefaustblack I actually have been in a creative slump for many months, now, sadly. I keep thinking about the story (and other unfinished projects), so I haven't given up, I just have been stressed from work and kinda depressed and that tends to worsen motivation/writer's block. But thanks for asking!
@@blitzgirl6522 Try to write _something_ for ten minutes every day, even if it doesn't lead anywhere, even if it doesn't have to do with any ongoing projects (if possible, something non-stressful). I've heard from a writer friend that it's a good way to get past blocks.
If you ever start advancing it again, and if you haven't forgotten about me, please send me a link! I'm very interested on that story now 👀
@@blitzgirl6522 I can only give my deepest sympathies then :(
@@runefaustblack Hey, I appreciate it! Different strokes for different folks. :)
Not to make another plug or anything, but I have a deviantART account where I've drawn a few of the characters from this story, if you're interested. Username there is "Winds-Blade". It'll be art related to "Fire Heart".
Detective Conan is a pretty great example of this, I may also add that having your crippled character as the main form makes the uncrippled form raise to mythical status, when you see Conan all the time do things a certain way due to the limitations of being a child you get so fucking hype when he can just be Shinichi Kudo for a while and utilize his privileges as a famous detective, stop the criminals and make the accusations himself in total freedom
I have some characters that after a bad fight, they get those "pops" on their shoulders or knees after hitting them really hard. Those will be permanent, its a nice characterization how before a fight they warmup their arms or legs, making sure it doesn´t happen again. It makes them feel vulnerable, relatable, and even show a little of their personality in how they handle their knees that sting when it´s about to rain or the ancient technique use so their left shoulder is no sored.
That's really cool!
Have had permanent combat injuries since I was like 20 (also a writer) here's a few more details - some days i literally struggle to get out of bed because it hurts to move. Also arthritis in fingers is a common combat one, you just randomly lose control of your hand and drop shit.
But yeah thanks for actually realising that shit is permanent lol
as a crippled guy, seeing badass heroes getting a limp o having to deal with a drawback (dunno, a healing bone) even temporarily, gives me such a appreciation. even more if they were a bit prickly before and found a sense of humility and kindness while in that position
My favorite crippling of a character is John McClain from Die Hard not having shoes for most of the movie. We take for granted the comfort and protection shoes give us. So simple and human.
Yeah, but that´s actually his super power: the more he bleeds, the stronger he becomes ;)
'Ascendance of a Bookworm' is a great example of this, take a functional introvert book obsessed librarian then kill them and have them reincarnate into a sick child in a world without books. Although there is another book series called 'The Eminence in Shadow' where the main character is deliberately making themselves appear crippled but is such a balls to the wall departure of common sense it legitimately both makes fun of common tropes as well as presents them as epic moments to be enjoyed.
Fave new anime
I agree this is a great narrative tool for character exploration, however I believe it works far better in longer works. Because you are able to actually give the character things, that can then be taken away, and you can sit with it for a while rather than undoing the crippling prematurely
it's really weird that this video conflates characters with actual permanent disabilities and characters who are momentarily inconvenienced
I'm not too surprised, the flippant usage of the "crippled" slur just to get peoples attention shows clearly that he's probably an able-bodied person and it seems most able-bodied people see disability as a relatively minor "inconvenience."
Some feel that "cripple" is no longer a slur. Some do not. I am disabled. So long as it is not used in hatred, I am okay with this... And I am indeed physically disabled.
The word has a lot of history meaning things as simple as robbed of movement or as deep and painful meanings. I can understand why some still feel hurt and why some are okay. But the thing is... do not manufacture your hurt on my behalf, please. That is what I ask at the end of the day. I take no offense. Some will not be okay with it. The word has a history that goes further than offense so I'm perfectly okay with it being used in this context.
But should someone call me "cripple" to my face because I move slowly and haltingly because of my ailment, they'll get a cane to the face and a wheelchair to the midsection. Do not weep for me. I can defend myself. I will ask if I need help.
@@jamie1602 I'm just as disabled as you are, I am not debating weather or not a slur has been reclaimed, I would never stop a disabled person from using it for themselves or people they know feel the same. It cannot, how ever be reclaimed by people it does not effect and I do not think the person who made this video understands disability and I do think he uses the word in an ableist context.
I am not defending you, I am defending MY comunity.
It's like how a long distance relationship forces you to find a deeper connection with your partner and makes the moment you actually are together all the more special.
That's a good comparison.
Yes! Such a cool concept and it can really make characters (especially op ones) seem way more interesting and just fun seeing them navigate the narrative with some sort of a crutch.
Sometimes actual crutches.
Genius character gets crippled so invents a pair of awesome robot crutches with LASERS on them! this makes them even more awesome and powerful but it's a problem when they are stolen by the CRUTCH SNATCHER!
Spiderman 2 is my favorite use of the crippled character. At the start of the movie, Peters life is miserable, because his Spiderman persona always interferes with his personal life. When he looses his powers, he suddenly becomes happier than he has ever been. His grades are excellent, he has a better relationship with his loved ones - in short, his life is better. And yet, he still chooses to pick up the mask again.
Because Peter looses his powers, Spiderman 2 was able to explore, what it means to be Spiderman, in a much deeper and thorough way than any other live action Spiderman.
HiTop Films talks about this way better and in more Detail and has in general a great Essay series about the Raimi Trilogy
Something I feel like would have been good to touch on would have been father removing the ability to use alchemy in full metal alchemist. He controlled the entirety of Amestris’ alchemy.
Alchemy is a core mechanic to Ed’s identity. It is the entire basis of the show. His ability to do alchemy without a circle and his fundamental understanding of it even as a child led to it being the thing he has always relied on and swore by.
But in the end, Ed couldn’t use his alchemy to win the day. Then on top of that he has his auto mail arm blown off. The other core part of his identity. And he was fighting against a Fledgling GOD, so what does he do? Gets into a FIST FIGHT WITH IT.
8:54 I got a friend who almost lost one of his legs and when he saw this part of the movie just went poker face, not making any comment just ocassionaly laughing. When Hiccus at the end loses his leg, he started crying. Not only this makes characters real, it makes them relatable
Idk why, but the ending where the guy finally finds his Irish culture and dances to it at his school always stuck with me
Dark Tower book 2: Drawing of the Three is a great example. Roland loses his thumb and index finger to some lobster monsters. Not only does this incapacitate his ability to shoot two handed, but causes infection that nearly kills. You getto see just how far hes willing to go for the Tower and how goddamned tough he is. Another character marvels at just how powerful he is despite being wracked with fever and nearly dead.
To all the people getting mad about crippled supposedly being a bad word.
Understand that it has multiple meanings.
Cripple can also mean to handicap, or partially disable, or dysfunctional limbs.
Or a damaged object.
It's not a "slur". It can be used as an insult, but that doesn't make it a slur.
Heck, there are certain words that can be considered "slurs" but are not for some reason, such as the word lame, which was once used to refer to the physically disabled.
I remember when i first watched «how to train your dragon». It completely shocked me when i saw what happened with hicup after the battle. But i actually loved the fact it happened, as it then matched with what happened with toothless.
One of my favorites examples of this technique happens in Dishonored, there is this mission where Daud takes all of your equipment (guns, weapons, elixirs etc) and you have the choice to go get your gear back, or try finishing the game without it, it's really smart.
Gotta admit. I shy away from stories where the main character "flaw" of the protagonist(s) is "I'm too perfect". Unless it's supposed to be satire or something.
No, I don't care if they're a loner because of it. That issue generally gets solved within one or two episodes anyway. Usually with harem or something.
Ahh yes isekai
That's why I Love re:zero the main character is hated by many people for being flawed and weak and has to start from zero and learn to be a better person, not that perfect op harem protagonist they were hoping to project themselves into
What about a MC incapable of jealousy or such (aging, whatever), and his marriage slowly dissolving because he’s removed from the human condition? I think Dr Manhattan is a tragic figure.
@@tarod3 Can't say I'm familliar enough with Dr. Manhattan's background to know if he was a "perfect" figure before he was turned into a walking wasteland.
I meant more like...
"My name is Bob. I'm just an Ordinary High School Student (tm). I easily get straight As and know more about these subjects than most university professors do. I'm also the captain of every club my school offers while also moonlighting as a supermodel. Finally I'm the heir of a billion-dollar company. But due to my superiority, I have almost no actual friends."
"Anyway, tune next episode when I start getting my True Friends/harem/whatever."
This kind of character just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Even when being played for comedy. lol
@@SunsetJam totally agree. Just trying to think of times it was actually good.
@@hello-gx6oi
Except for weebs.
Weebs prefer Re:Zero over Evangelion because of the protagonist, Shinji Ikari, being not hot-blooded and depressed.
3:53 and on
And this is why the first Thor is my favorite Thor movie! His inner journey was so compelling and very personal to the character. All the Marvel movies are trying to outdo themselves, but bigger doesn't always mean better. I love the very intimate, "small" feel of the first Thor, that's what actually makes it one of the most absorbing Marvel movies for me.
As for the video itself, YES, I have always said this! When I write characters, I very often take away their greatest skill during a major segment in the story and say, "Now what?". Gets my mind working, the challenge is quite thrilling! One of my favorite parts of brainstorming stories. Character is not tested in times of ease.
A character can also be weakened by various different means. The strength itself can be removed, but so can the source of the strength; and often there are various sources. The interesting thing is that it's sometimes not obvious what a character draws from. It's like with friends - you realize how much you truly value them when they're not available, but you might take them for granted if they're always there for you.
Ah the old Superman complex, That best way to destroy your characters and rebuild them, kind of. I never realized that Thor had the same situation, especially in the films. Love that.
In the end, It's worth it to test if this style works for you. It probably will. Works for me so how and I can't help but keep it in mind a lot of the time.
Awesome video!!
It seems like it’s underutilized, I remember some moments in Dororo and legend of Korra that really had a great opportunity for representation for people with chronic illnesses or disabilities and they could really explore more how the hero manages their life after losing their power or their health but didn’t go far enough imo.
Also in my hero academia there was a great opportunity for someone to be a hero without superpowers as a “what if” for what Deku would be like but I don’t think they utilized him in any stories so far in the anime.
Doing it for the sake of representation is not the same as using it as a narrative tool to develop yoou character.
*Spoiler alert for MHA*
One of my favorite scenes is actually of Mirio losing his quirk and still kicking ass
I don't think that scenario would have worked in My Hero Academia. The story doesn't seem to ever decide whether a quirkless hero could work - it kind of goes back and forth in a weird way. If they'd kept the threat level lower, maybe, but in the current story you have too many people, including villains, running around with destructive powers, so that would be a hard pill to swallow. Even the particular character you're referencing, when he held out against a villain with highly destructive powers after losing his quirk...it didn't make any sense how he did it. It's really hard to write a powerless character in a world filled with super-powered people in a believable way.
@@eldritchbeauty There are way more things that are less believable than a guy with no powers beating up people with powers so that's kind of a weird place to choose to end your suspension of disbelief
@@eldritchbeauty MHA stance on whether a quirkless person can be a hero differs depending on what your definition of "hero" is. If your definition of hero is the "superhero" or "pro hero" that dresses up in a costume and beats up bad guys for a living, the show says "no", you can't be one without a quirk.
If your definition of hero is "someone who saves and inspires people" then yes, the show definitively says that someone without a quirk can do this from episode 2, where Deku "saves" All Might by making him realizes just how cynical he had become when he refuses to help Bakugo simply because he's used up the amount of time he can stay transformed. Shigaraki is an example of what happens when society sees the responsibility of helping and aiding others as something solely the gifted and talented must carry out. It's why everyone refused to help Tomura on the basis that "a hero would eventually help him". If anyone had reached out to help him, even to do something small like taking him to the nearest police station, Shigaraki wouldn't have turned into a villain and been picked up by AFO.
A pretty amazing example of this is with Johnny Joestar from JJBA part 7. On top of being literally crippled at the start of the story and learning to become a better person as well as regaining confidence in his ability to race horses, he also loses pieces of tusk (the name of his Stand, which can be considered his powers) in order to learn how to better utilize the lesser parts of his own abilities and improve his own skills
One of my favorite things in video games is when your character gets imprisoned, loses all of their stuff (temporarily), and has to save themselves. Almost always feels awesome!
Or the squad mates trying to save them. Easily one of the best moments in Dragon Age Origins.
Fire Emblem Thracia 776 nailed that aspect, Leif more than once has to struggle to get out of jail, get weapons and make ends meet, he gets kicked low and has to save himself a lot of the time
I've actually got that plot point at the end of one of my story chapters! There's two characters of mine in this post-apocalyptic story and they're named Viktor and Koya.
Both of them are taking part in an operation to break through a Ukrainian checkpoint and push through the country, but it ends up failing miserably and sees everyone in their unit but them get wiped out. Koya manages to escape but leaves Viktor for dead. Viktor tries to run but is taken as a prisoner of war by Ukrainian Special Forces and is subsequently sent to a gulag in the mountains, where he'd spend 8 grueling months in a cold, dark cell, only to be let out for physical labor or for roll call. Meanwhile Koya is out and free but dealing with the weight of leaving his closest friend to a (seemingly) certain death. Viktor also believes Koya to be dead, which only furthers his anguish as Koya had been his only friend and now it was gone. Both characters become mentally broken (Viktor is also physically broken due to routine beatings and backbreaking menial labor) and practically turn into different people. There's so much more to explain about them but I wanted to share this small bit here because it's a story thing I'm so happy to be working on.
it feels awesome sometimes but many stories that attempt it fail pretty hard
Great video. I'm writing a book about a character who has been brought low.
I wanted to hit home the point that it's our limitations that make us human. So to deny our limitations (in the ultimate sense) is to deny our very humanity itself.
Your point about how we are not defined by our limitations, but by how we choose to adapt and grow from them, helped me to thread that needle.
I look forward to more of your content.
A more interesting version of this might be in making the character's most obvious strengths orthogonal to the conflict at hand. This is a possibly even more effective kryptonite for Superman than kryptonite is. Sure, Superman could pretty easily cave Lex Luthor's face in, but Luthor's money and connections give him a social power that Superman can't simply punch.
I honestly never bought into Lex Luthor. Superman is an alien from a more advanced civilization with remnants of it in his fortress of solitude and they expect me to believe a man with earthly tech is outsmarting him
@@notproductiveproductions3504 all that advanced tech might as well be magic to Superman, though. He can use it, sure, but he didn’t build it. He doesn’t know it. It’s like most people’s relationship with their iPad. Lex, on the other hand, does know his tech and has the means to build it.
@@pjlusk7774 but Superman canonically has a metahuman brain in the current comics
@@notproductiveproductions3504 lex is bald, let him have his big brain power lol
The core value of this seems to be putting characters in a different position than they are used to which should also be achievable by giving previously weak characters more power
I think this basically touches on a core concept in stories. We want to see the main character struggle, either struggle to obtain new power, struggle to keep it or struggle to get it back. Basically struggle makes a story interesting. Make an OP character that never struggles, or remove any notion of struggle from, even a weak character, and story becomes uninteresting.
In a way, this is part of the reason I like the Artemis Fowl series. The fact that Artemis is a pretty morally lacking child prodigy who manages to outthink most of his opponents never changes the fact that, at the end of the day, he's a scrawny child in places far too dangerous for that to happen. The amount of times he ends up being burden and needing rescue is great-it actually makes the characters vulnerable: without Artemis, they don't have a solution to the larger problems, but Artemis can very rarely handle upfront confrontations.
In addition, there's Butler. The amount of times this man gets injured and taken out of commission is incredible for the sheer badassery that the character has. It's partially due to how effective he is when he's healthy that him taking that near fatal hit adds so much tension to the scenario.
Furthermore, the villains are clever enough that most of their plans revolve around taking the main cast of characters out of commission first and foremost.
Honorable mentions include Mulch Diggums, who, while being incredibly capable, is technically disabled due to not being able to do magic. Of course, this isn't cut and dry, since having magic means following the rules, and in a stealth espionage setting, "No breaking and entering human buildings" is a pretty big handicap.
There's a lot of good stuff there.
Jaime is up there for the best character in Ice and Fire, and losing his sword hand is a big part of that. I think what makes this particularly effective is that it's permanent. Yeah Superman gets effected by kryptonite, but he, and the audience, are just waiting for that to wear off. Jaime not only has to cope with the practical difficulties of losing his hand, but the mental effects of knowing that he can never recover it.
That’s true, but on the other hand, most of Superman’s enemies are as strong as he is. Darkseid, Doomsday, Mongul, Cyborg Superman, General Zod, even Lex Luthor’s powered armor can match Supes. Really, the only Superman villains who are undeniably outright weaker than Superman are Toyman, Livewire, and the Atomic Skull, plus the Ultra-Humanite if he even still counts as a Superman villain instead of a general DC one.
I know it's not live action or animation, nor cinema in general but for me Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, represents this crippling method very well too, the character truly goes into a journey to try to become a better a person once he learns about his tuberculosis. Even though he becomes physically less capable (and it also translate in gameplay), his condition allows him to be much more lucid about not only his entourage, but also his life choices and what really matters along with what should be protected and fought for.
There's something especially satisfying about a protagonist turning a handicap into an advantage. The hobbits are small, so people underestimate them. It creates a great "I'm not as weak as you think moment", usually at the climax. Like sacrificing a piece in chess and getting to say "It was all a part of my plan".
When you have much less power, how you decide to apply it reveals a lot about you.
It depends... Given what's at stake.
Sometimes the hero dies in the end.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 sometimes in real life the hero dies at the beginning
@@notproductiveproductions3504
Maybe no one is the true hero. Just parodies of what heroism is...
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 firefighters are false heroes?
@@notproductiveproductions3504
It's all in the details. No one would call the Government as "heroes", or at least, most will not.
Always loved Metroid's use of in-game lore to both strip and then empower Samus throughout her journey(s).
A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re nothing without it, you’ll never be anything with it.
finally I'm not the only one doing it, thank you! I've always felt crazy for being the only one guy in screenwriting class who tries to make all my characters have unfixable flaws aka crippling them. Either physical like deafness or mental like autism.
All I'm going to say the literally perfect example Johnny joestar.
In the thumbnail you show mustang and i really wish you brought him up. Hes a good example of becoming enotionally crippled when his friend gets murdered, and brotherhood shows how far he lets his rage go when he finds the culprit.
MAJOR FMAB FINALE SPOILERS AHEAD
He did bring up Mustang during the video, but he didn't bring up the thing I was expecting either: when, during the last few episodes, he was permanently blinded when saving Riza's life. I think that little bit is what affirmed Roy's place as my favorite character in the series. How that destroyed him and how he was able to continue on while also deepening his bond with his closest confidante. I think that does way more for him than the scene mentioned in the video.
Honestly that series does a lot of physically handicapping characters. Something was taken from each of those final characters through their alchemy and hubris, but they all found a way to cope and move forward.
He brings up Col Mustang at 5:55 though…?
@@wyzasukitan my bad. But my main point still stands. He was prety sadistic in one fight. He toyed with his enemy, burning parts of the creature to inflict pain and doing just enough damage that the enemy can recover from, only to do it again. I totally get it. I think i would be the same way if i had searched for my friends murderer, didnt find them, and then they walk right up to me and not only admit they did it, but start bragging about their joy in doing it too. Thats why its so good. It shows his humanity.
He did bring him up lol
"At least they were paid!"
That got a laugh out of me.
you showed Todoroki, but the themes you discuss are truly what makes Deku such an interesting character, and what makes watching him get and learn his powers so engaging: every time he uses his powers, he hurts himself so badly that he has to postpone his training to recover from it, when having and using powers is basically the only thing he's wanted in life.
The best example I can think of this in a video game is probably Metroid Fusion, not only do you get all your power skills taken from you they get turned against you in the form of the SA-X not only are you weaker, but you have to confront what is essentially you at your peak something the game will always use to humble you no matter how many big bad monsters you beat.
This is something that Sanderson's cosmere books do incredibly well! They regularly find situations where the character's magic or innate abilities either cannot solve a situation or where those abilities are taken away, forcing the characters to be far more resourceful in solving the problems.
I'm not the deepest into the narrative essay side of youtube, but out of the channels I've seen, I get most excited for yours. Wonderful work.
I love that you used both Luck of the Irish and Superman Returns. For some reason I LOVE those movies. I think the crippling of the protagonist is a part of why they are so great. Wonderful video as always. Thank you for doing what you do
In Superman Returns, he had been stabbed with kryptonite, had shards of kryptonite in his body, and then lifted an island MADE of kryptonite into space. That wasn't him persevering; that was him breaking the universe. That wasn't him being crippled; that was him shrugging off his only weakness and becoming an actual God.
And that was the worst moment of the film to me, because if he could do that, it meant it wasn't really a weakness in the first place.
If the solution to something crippling your power is just "be even more powerful", that's pointless. It's not thinking outside the box or finding new solutions, it's being stuck in your own position.
You are right, it elevates Superman to God status. And that is _not_ a good thing.
yeah that wasn't the *best* example.
@@diersteinjulien6773 Eh not really Superman IS a God but he'd also a man and a man can struggle but with enough willpower men can push past thier struggles.
@@l0sts0ul89 no, there are some hardships that cannot be overcome with willpower alone. That's a terrible lesson actualy. "You failed, well I guess you didn't try hard enough". Tell that to someone in a wheelchair.
The whole point of kryptonite is to force superman to find other solutions, not just brute force his way through
@@diersteinjulien6773
Yeah SOME Hardships, if you are capable of overcoming something then do it. The whole guy in a wheel chair thing is stupid because of course he can't do shit like run but that doesn't mean he has to live in misery.
Mike from Monsters Inc was crippled, he couldn't live up to his dreams but that didn't stop him from being happy. He wasn't able to achieve his dreams but that doesn't mean he can't help others achieve theirs.
If you are capable of doing something find the drive and willpower accomplish it.
I approve, I use this on a regular basis and it always improved my stories. It can also work very well at the end of a character arc to humble a character and create surprise and tension.
This was extremely helpful! I've always written in this type of way I realized while watching this, but to it's full extent as you continued to describe it and it's benefits in storytelling. This will advance my filmmaking abilities so much further. Thanks again!
JoJo's bizarre Adventure can't really do this based on how it's power system works. It did though try this method of story telling in very minor ways like the protagonist can't use a previous ability. Part 7 was the closest by literally crippling the main Joestar Johnny so he has to go on a journey to find an alternative the Spin.
As a fledgling writer, you have given me some perspective I rarely get. Not a lot of suggestions I feel are worthwhile but this definitely is. Thank you!
This is one of the final pieces I’ve need for a story I’ve been writing for years…
Thank you
Please, keep up the awesome work!!
❤️
Good luck with your story
@@travisbishop782 thanks :)
@@a199719971997 you're welcome!
I appreciate that you discussed this topic without bringing up several of the recent prominent examples of stories that failed to do this to their protagonists, and as a result, make all the characters achievements feel empty and hollow.
"Well at least they got paid" 😂🤣😂🤣😂 I'm done put that quote on a Tshirt 👕🤣🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Not gonna lie, I didn't realize I needed this video lmao
Everyone brings up Superman and Kryptonite, but Superman under the influence of a Red Sun is just as crippling, but in a different way. Kryptonite is extremely painful to come into contact with and ultimately deadly, but a Red Sun merely depowers him, making him akin to a normal human. This presents Superman with a different kind of challenge as it can show his resourcefulness and strength of character over a longer period of time as his life is not always in immediate danger under a Red Sun's effects-- but this time with a clearer point of reference as we, being humans of the same power level, can more easily gauge the scope of whatever challenge he is facing. I guess this is to say you can 'cripple' a character in more ways than one, to different effects and results, and you should consider this when thinking about how you want your character to be seen and related to.
Followed instructions. Characters caught in ceiling fan.
Really good video. It's true that usually the best arcs in a story is when we see a character overcome a hardship that they haven't been seen in before. Well done.
4:12 His powers were always in him. The hammer just helps him channel it, but I guess while he didn't realize that in the first film, he "technically", lost his powers in that sense.
The plot of that movie literally revolves around Odin taking Thor's inherent powers away and tying them to the hammer.
Already did this in my D&D campaign, fighter has several internal injuries after fighting a swamp dragon that mess him up in the middle of the combat, the cleric is missing a hand after getting flattened under a church, and I’m planning on giving the monk a broken leg in the next session. It’s great, adds tension to encounter and forces the characters to work together when one of them can’t handle a given challenge.
As someone DM’ing a group at level 15, crippling the party is pretty much a necessity at this point. Nothing encourages a party of spellcasters to use creative solutions like an anti magic field!
You sound like a dope dungeon master!
@@Bri_Merriman Spellcasters are usually also nerds. inb4 they build a mechanized robot suit which runs on steam power to beat up the monster.
ah yes, "lets make the players character permanently unusable to stroke my own ego"
@@texteel Until he replaces it with an awesome robot prosthetic with LASERS on it!
This is exactly why the Fullbringer Arc is my favourite in Bleach. Subverts the expectation that we'd assumed where Ichigo loses a fight, goes away to train, learns about himself and then comes back stronger to win. Instead we see his life without his powers for the first time since episode 1 but we also get to see how his struggle to return the powers taken from him influences his character. It allows the audience to feel his vulnerability in a way much more relatable and human than in any other instance throughout the story. By the end of it, Ichigo's powers are retunred to him not through his own new-found determination to get stronger to keep fighting but instead through the fostered relationships attained through his journey to protect his friends, the main and initial ideology of the protagonist.
Crippling a character is fun! Physical maiming can also add some grit and realism to a story where characters have to fight a lot. If they always come away unscathed, I feel that there's less tension. Characters should have battle scars and receive injuries that aren't so easy to come back from.
I have one character sever his own achilles tendon to get out of being sent to war, because that would separate him from the crown princess (he's her bodyguard and they're in hiding). This results in permanent damage that physically hinders him, and he has to overcome that to continue to do his job.
Baki part 4 takes it to its grimmest extreme (let’s just say a certain failure can’t be bounced back from)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night literally does this. You start off the game playing as a nearly fully kitted out Alucard destroying things in an ingenious tutorial and then Death comes and strips Alucard of his power. Suddenly, you have to play the game fighting with bare basics and it's absolutely enjoyable to recollect shards of your power, and you even get more power throughout the game that Alucard didn't start off with.
Prefer to call this "depowered," especially in that it relates to superhero comics (but works in other genres as well). Hmm, I guess this is kind of the entire premise of Schitt's Creek?
Worth noting, though often forgotten nowadays Thor originally had a civilian identity in the early comics named Donald Blake, where he was literally a disabled man who required a walking stick. Of course this stick was actually Mjolnir in disguise, and by striking it he could transform into Thor. But his origin story focused on a Blake who didn't remember his true identity -- he wasn't just pretending to have a disability, he actually did have a disability.
But yeah, highly highly prevalent in superhero narratives to the point of near-oversaturation. In the MCU alone, we have: Iron Man (twice -- first in Afghanistan and then again when Stane steals the arc reactor), The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man 3, arguably Captain America: Civil War (I'd consider Steve's national identity part of his power), Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming (you talk about trees but I'm looking more at when Tony takes the suit away), Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther (again twice -- for his ceremonial fight with M'Baku and then by way of Killmonger), Avengers: Infinity War (looking mostly at Vision and Bruce), Captain Marvel, WandaVision, Loki, Hawkeye, Eternals (Sprite at the end), Spider-Man: No Way Home (loses his suit and also the ending), and now Moon Knight. That's seventeen of their thirty-two properties, just over half. Superhero stories love depowered stories, it's a time-honored tradition and part of their DNA.
Yeah crippling them is just literally an incorrect word to use for what he’s describing, and it’s often not a word looked at fondly even if he was using it correctly. I got kinda excited seeing the video title because I assumed it would be about disability as a narrative arc and how interesting it can be.
Yeah I'm surprised that they used that term. I thought it was wildly known it's offensive.
@@Jamesssssssssssssss a lot of people don’t really know that it is, oddly enough. I don’t think a lot of folks engage with disabled communities, they more just know some disabled people and assume that’s that.
Love the concept, thanks as always! Looking forward to your next books too!!
Awesome video, man! Sometimes setbacks in our lives are not only setbacks but chances to learn/grow or show off our character.