#archetype exploration

[couldtransitionsaveher]

Archetype Exploration: Perfect Soldiers

(Hey, please look at this blog's pinned post before reading this post; it gives a lot of context for the lens I'm looking at these characters through, k thx. also, shoutout to @finalgirl-nihilbliss for guessing the archetype)

CW: Abuse, Projection, Surface-Level Media Analysis

If your comfort character exhibits any of the following symptoms:

constant brooding

face frozen in a perpetual scowl

possession of a "dark past" they don't like to talk about

frequent blank stares into the middle distance

constantly trains for something uncertain

You may have just found yourself in the presence of a Perfect Soldier.

Perfect soldiers are characters who were groomed, often from birth, for the sole purpose of inflicting harm on their fellow man. These characters are efficient, tactically-minded, and above all else, violent. Perfect soldiers will often excel at combat and strategy, but struggle with emotional sensitivity.

Note that just because these characters are violent and closed off now doesn't mean that this is their natural temperament. Often, perfect soldiers have some kind of natural compassion that was stomped out through years of abuse training. This can come in the form of a sole loved one who tragically died, but more often than not, it simply manifests as a soft side sanded away.

If the Perfect Soldier doesn't start that way, who is to blame for their transformation? In sci-fi and fantasy, this transformation is usually caused by a morally corrupt institution built to churn out perfect soldiers (the Jedi Academy, the Galalunan Military Academy, the Space Marine Legions, etc.). Other times, perfect soldiers are groomed raised by a cruel and abusive father figure (Endeavor, Bro Strider, Belos, etc.). Some settings even blend the two by having an institution with a twisted general (think Shadow Weaver from She-Ra).

Typically, if a perfect soldier has a character arc, it's usually one of healing and letting go of their anger. This almost always contains at least two of these three steps in the order of your choosing:

The perfect soldier leaves the institution of their torment, either by circumstance or by excommunication. Once on the outside, they'll typically find that their raw might is irrelevant to their survival, and they'll instead need to rely on their lacking social skills. This exit from the comfort zone will prompt the soldier to learn a lot of people skills, typically leading to a "softening up" of sorts. Note that this doesn't have to be a literal escape from a physical place. Rather, it could just be a character being outside their guardian's zone of influence.

The perfect soldier discovers some imperfection with their guardian/institution. Perhaps there's some kind of inconsistency in its moral values. Other times, the soldier finds a secret the guardian/institution has been covering up. Whatever it is, this will prompt the soldier to question their leaders' infallibility.

The perfect soldier meets a person who shows concern for them in spite of the soldier's outward hostility. This outside party will likely witness or hear about the perfect soldier's tumultuous upbringing and take pity on them. This will likely prompt an attempt to reach out to the soldier, something which may or may not be rejected. Whatever the case, this act compassion will likely stick with the soldier, and prompt them to think about their own worth.

An arc like this usually resolves with a direct confrontation with the abusive mentor(s) who turned them into a weapon of war. If the soldier is a member of the supporting cast, this may come in the form of some heroic self-sacrifice, usually to protect the aforementioned outside party. Alternatively, if the soldier is a protagonist, their confrontation will likely be much more active, and may even be a proper fight. The soldier tends to win this fight either with the power of friendship or compassion but this isn't a strict requirement. If the writers really want to get spicy with it, they might even spare their tormentor, really leaning into the idea of abandoning violence (note that this runs the risk of coming off as a "forgive your abusers" narrative).

Alternatively, the lack of a grand confrontation can be a form of narrative resolution in and of itself. Living well is the best revenge, after all, and showing that our former perfect soldier has moved on to a happier, more peaceful life can be a far stronger statement of growth than a glitzy fight to the death.

(This is the part where I tie this whole thing back into the gimmick of the account. If you just wanted a Trope Talk style summary of the archetype, you've seen all there is to see. Thanks for reading, and don't forget to do your daily clicks.)

Why do you keep submitting this?

So, out of all the characters that I've seen submitted, this is easily the most prolific character archetype. At the time of writing, somewhere between 40-50 characters that have been posted roughly fit this archetype, and that's not including any of the characters I haven't posted yet.

Why do submitters connect this particular trope with trans women so damn much?

Firstly, it's important to consider that in most western fiction, the soldier is an inherently masculine archetype. From the classical epics of the Odyssey and the Iliad, to the superheroes and action stars of modern-day blockbusters, there's a very real conflation between a character's manhood and a character's capacity to do violence. A lot of mainstream military propaganda does the same, suggesting that men who enlist are more "authentically masculine" than those who do. This archetype serves as a critique of that idea; it shows us that this masculine ideal can be, and often is, a soul-crushing experience. In a sense, the idea of transitioning serves as an escape from this image.

Furthermore, it's important to consider what this character arc is actually about: a miserable character discovering that a better life is possible, and making steps to achieve personal peace. Often, these characters are fiercely loyal to the institutions that take advantage of them. These characters are often fine with it because they can't conceive of a better world. Once that's presented to them, that's when they start to leave. Frankly, given that a lot of people still don't end up knowing about trans folks until they're adults, I'm surprised more trans people don't connect to characters like this.

Finally, this arc gets back to the core question at the center of this blog: could transition have saved her? The archetype, in its construction necessitates a level of misery, ergo it implies that the character needs saving. It's no wonder these characters tend to garner a lot of Hurt/Comfort fanfic (Anakin Skywalker alone has more Hurt/Comfort fic than some of my favorite fandoms period). There's an inherent desire for these characters have better lives, and maybe some estrogen could do it.

This is my best guess, anyway. If you have thoughts, feel free to share them.

#archetype exploration #trope analysis #cw abuse #cw projection #cw surface level media analysis #transgender #sorry for taking so long to finish this post #i've been trying to phrase it as delicately as possible

[qhorinhalfhand]

archetypes of a knight as seen commonly in fantasy, and their representations in a song of ice and fire by george r.r. martin.

#tumblr killed the quality begging you to click #grrm's explorations of knighthood are one of the most interesting parts of asoiaf to me #these were the common archetypes i found represented in the series #summerhallsolstice #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #a song of ice and fire

[thefiresofpompeii]

just gotta wait 16 years, hang in there 🤞🤞

#incredible just HOW meta this story is. in a bitter cynical pissed-off ‘just cancel the show already let it die’ sort of way #the giggle said … bet👀 #nothing i love more than media about media. tv about how evil tv is. theatre where the characters look up into the audience and say #you’re keeping us dancing against our will for your own entertainment. let us go. it’s cinematic sado-masochism #love all the side characters. captain cook with his ‘specimen’ as an obvious doctor foil (the pith hat and RP and general #demeanour of an imperialist ‘explorer’ is a surprisingly lucid deconstruction of the #colonialist underpinnings of the explorer archetype in british media; the doctor included. he’s not a #god of ragnarok or a creepy clown; he’s a perfectly amiable english gentleman with stories to tell of his travels and tea to sip; but he’s #arguably more evil than any other side character in this serial) #jamie catches up #dw #doctor who #the greatest show in the galaxy #doctor who meta #seven #seventh doctor #sylvester mccoy #ace mcshane #sophie aldred #jamie.txt

[murdrdocs]

I don't get why people felt robbed of like something was missing in venus fly because the smut was missing bc I thought it was perfect?

like I think it flowed way better that way maybe it's just me but I think sometimes smut can't get a bit repetitive and feels kinda out of place even if the plot calls for it, bc of the change of tone in the story yk but the way you did it seemed way more natural imo (still love your smut a lot lmao)

first of all thank u sm.

i’m gonna be so real i’m tireddd of writing luke smut. i did the math and (excluding venus fly) i’ve written 19k words of full fics for luke. that’s all excluding the long drabble list that i’ve written for him too. i’m also not the best smut writer so i completely agree w the repetition bc like i rly don’t know what else to say.

all this to say i loveee alluding to smut (being able to allude to smut was actually my goal after reading some of the mooties ffc) more than i like writing it.

#i’ve basically explored most luke archetypes before too #like loser!luke is already on the drabble list #/chats

[mobi-gg]

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon spoilers under the cut

Has anyone thought about the fact that Marcille could very well live long enough to see her friends become figures of legend rather than real people in the eyes of most?

#dungeon meshi #delicious in dungeon #marcille donato #late night thought #she'd live long enough to see her friends be turned into symbols or archetypes in stories for the shorter lived races #idk how elves view history but even for them past 500 years theres a whole new generation of elves that are geeatly seperated by the canon #events by an actual whole ass lifetime. #idk this could make a good fic or character exploration

[roobylavender]

i really do feel like one of my biggest divides with bruce or bat fandom at large is simply not ascribing to the notion that bruce doesn’t invest in permanent romance bc of his own principles like historically this could not be farther from the truth my friends. and i personally really do think what makes bruce way more interesting as a character is that even though he is devoted to his cause there are times where he falters and wants to lay down and rest and give in to a beloved bc he is so, so tired. i don’t know what we really gain from acting like bruce cruises on autopilot willingly. that may be how it was very initially bc it was easier for him to do so without many attachments but once people entered his life and he came to love them dearly i think it was more of a resignation than an outright willingness. like there will always be bruce’s principles at the root of everything and he will always do good when push comes to shove but the point is sometimes people do have to push him to care again bc the burden is exhausting to bear. i don’t think it means anything less of his core idealism to say he is by now resigned to his fate. if anything it humanizes him more and if we want to be really radical it provides the perfect avenue for bruce to explore why vigilantism is ultimately non-viable in the long term and how there may be other avenues along which he can explore idealism that would not be so sacrificial of his own self

#to be deleted #like idk i think being like bruce is immune to permanent romance bc he prioritizes the mask is a bit of an outdated concept #i understand it was a core denny trait but as i have voiced previously denny is an archetypal writer #he wasn’t interested in developing characters long term so much as he was interested in exploring their own status quo #and personally i like that writers both before and after denny recognized that bruce is incredibly human #and were he not so extensively trained in self control he absolutely would be someone to give into his whims #he’s over emotional he always has been he wears his heart on his sleeve no matter how much it costs him. that’s what i love about him

[paintedlepard]

Been playing a lot of Wynncraft lately, especially after the 2.0 update, so I decided to make actual Characters out of my different profiles!

This is Zephyr (she/her), a half-enderman Mage with a specialization into the Light Bender archetype <3

Her palette is heavily inspired by the Warped Forest biome in the nether, and the eye motif on her cloak is one that’s shared by all of my Wynn characters for Fun Backstory Reasons that I won’t bore yall with here :p

#Wynncraft #minecraft oc #zephyr (oc) #my oc #Fun fact! she only recently got an update to be Warped Forest themed! #originally she was very red and also fully human #but I realized I really wanted an enderman character and what better class for that then mage? #i also will confess here in the tags that i absolutely do not play her profile ever #i almost exclusively fuck around on an assassin profile with the trickster archetype #leone my beloved #i also have a warrior profile that i havent played since 2.0 came out that i used to use just for exploring

[clannfearrunt]

im so sorry but i have to ask are Rill and Thresher supposed to make me think season 0 kaiba and yugi I think it's the green hair that does it

the primary inspiration for Rill is absolutely S0 Kaiba and I'm not exactly being subtle about it! However, Thresher is not Yugi in any way whatsoever.

Thresher is based on a character concept I wanted to follow through on since 2019 before I ever watched Yugioh and doesn't really have an existing character in other media I can really point to as a comparison point or specific point of inspiration. I actually almost scrapped their concept entirely because when Splat 3 came by and had Shiver be a shark themed Octoling I was like FUCK they got to it first!!! People are gonna think I'm immediately ripping off a canon character!! But I got over it because who gives a shit, I was here first, and it's not actually very similar to what I was wanting to do anyways

Then about a year after I actually made Thresher into a proper character I caved to my dark desires of "I want to play with that cabbage freak in this other setting and see what he mutates into" and the only character I had lying around to throw him at happened to be Thresher.

The biggest inspiration for how Thresher deals with Rill has been a hawk I saw once sitting on a house roof ignoring a tiny ass songbird that was repeatedly dive-bombing it and bouncing off of it without doing any visible damage. I'm being completely serious this was the funniest thing I've ever seen

Anyways point is I think the biggest trap people fall into with these 2 is that they see a Kaiba and assume that there's going to be a Yugi somewhere to match when in reality I made these two completely independently of each other whoops

#asks #introverted-trashcan #the only other character i can think of rn that is like The Archetype that Thresher is is one of my Skyrim ocs #Kjul 2!!!!! #wait fuck that was supposed to be a joke did I make my dovahkiin again. fuck. Kjul 2 #Squid 2 the evolution of the squid #Rill Nykur #Thresher Lagan #anyways Kaiba is the character ever and Toei's version in particular is SUCH A GUY EVER and while i do enjoy his relationship with the Yugi #im not interested in that enough to want to explore it outside of Actual Yugi/s vs Actual Kaiba #i wanted to use s0 kaiba as a chargen seed and toss him around in a new environment and see what happens #ok listen i ship yugi with several people none of which are kaiba do u think im going to start now with proxy characters

[sincerely-sofie]

But now that you have showed us the original outline in your art piece… you must tell us the original outline.

I’m gonna level with you anon… it ain’t very pretty.

(Referencing this post)

#haven’t been able to outline much at all thanks to writing TPiaG #it would definitely feature a new hero + partner pair tho! #I was thinking of recycling an old pair; a treecko named Fern and a shinx named Sparks #Fern definitely fits a more stoic archetype #which I think would be very interesting to play with #especially in this sort of scenario! #Dugtrio Day AU #stuff by sofie #sofie answers asks #pmd2 #pmd eos #pmd explorers #pmd sky #pmd #pokémon mystery dungeon #pmd au

[fallensapphires]

Aesthetics: The Explorer's Kit

All explorers are seeking something they have lost. It is seldom that they find it, and more seldom still that the attainment brings them greater happiness than the quest.

#Explorers #urban explorers #Adventurer #Explorer aesthetic #Explorer moodboard #Adventurer aesthetic #Adventurer moodboard #character inspiration #character aesthetics #character moodboard #character inspo #character concept #characters #character #character archetypes #character aesthetic #adventure #explore #Explorer #aesthetic #moodboard #arthur c clarke

[mutantenfisch]

The other day i had a dream that i am remembering just now as i am trying to fall asleep and i am already turning it into something that could be a novella of sorts and it even has a plot.

The dream was set somewhere in the Old West and Main Guy was a gunslinger/bounty hunter who was also no perfectly law abiding man and he caught and beat up two targets to haul them to the next sherriff's office but there was also a Main Gal who was on his tracks for unknown reasons and - the dream's details are foggy here - she semi-partnered up with him to safely drag the other two guys to where they would be paid and in the time it took them to get to the destination he saved her life so ultimately when she had cashed *him* in, she did a Blondie-and-Tuco-style "rescue" by sniping the rope he was about to be hanged with and then they rode off into the sunset (after splitting the money 50/50, which is Not very Blondie-And-Tuco style)

So now as my falling-asleep entertainment, I have borrowed from all my beloved tropes and spaghetti Western movies (and the Jeff Bridges version of True Grit because Fuck John Wayne)

Main Girl is now the daughter of some shady asshole who abandoned her family and thus to a life of poverty but himself got rich by murder and theft somewhere in the gold mines of either California or Alaska (i still need to decide). And Main Girl, now that her brothers have moved on and her ma has died of grief and poverty-induced-illness (tuberculosis maybe. Or any other infection, gonna be vague on the details), MGirl has found out about a hefty bounty on daddy dear's head. She gets on her way to find him and cash him in (and get her sweet sweet revenge) but knows she can't do it alone so she teams up True-Grit style with The Guy, who is still a bounty hunter in this scenario, bringing the useful fact that she knows how daddy must look. It's been 10 - 15 years, but she also knows his voice, so useful to have aye?

They set out to track across the continent up north/to the west, start to bond, and become one helluva team with their complementing skills.

Needless to say, I already have a few drawings in mind because I *exactly* know what they look like :D

#mutantenfisch dreams #the setting in my dream and thus the novella is purely for the aesthetic #but then again sergio leone's movies are an integral part of my teenage years and what shaped #my taste in character archetypes and tropes #also this is gonna be so self-indulgent 😤 #main girl's gonna explore her gender and carve a path out for her own #main guy is gonna overcome his alcohol addiction and learn to express his emotions #these two are gonna be the family for each other that was denied to them/they denied themselves #also they're very gay for each other in ways that can't be put into boxes with labels kn them😇

[couldtransitionsaveher]

A tribute for the all the kind folks who didn't want to be credited:

Anyway, did you do your daily clicks?

#mod post #fuck no #btw archetype exploration 1 is almost finished

[baalzebufo]

playing one dnd session was a mistake because now im in one single campaign the desire to make 500 player characters overtook my soul. ive got like five current character sheets filled out for ‘just in case i need them’ characters and every day i think of a new potential guy i want to play... tabletop roleplaying is a slippery slope to terminal oc creation

#every time i look at class/archetype combinations im like oooh that'd be fun to play let me make a concept- #my current favourites are the frog bard of creation who is convinced the frogsong of the swamp is its own holy song of creation #the aberrant mind sorcerer who is a conspiracy theorist/alien truther who thinks they have a slaad parasite embedded in their chest #the silly jester kobold warlock with the archfey patron I drew a short while ago- #this isnt even mentioning my current actual PC. archibald faustus whitelocke the giff fighter #a posh upperclass british-explorer type giant hippo man with a gun #i LOVE MAKING CHARACTERS ARRG!! [eats my desk]

[taylorswiftdebut]

#7: So it Goes… is objectively the best song on reputation and could have easily been beloved if it was on Midnights :/

#it’s where she explores the most with production and sounds the most unlike her typical style #as opposed to getaway car which very much folllwed the taylor swift archetype which is why #people tended to take to it more #had it been released after taylor explored with folklore and evermore and midnights people would look at it with reverence #eris: text #text: unpopular opinions

[whataboutfractions]

between the opening of ep 26, his insistence on shout staying out of any genuine conflicts, and his previous descriptions of mighty ("no matter the enemy, he would never throw a bomb that thorny and sharp"), it's fascinating to see how birdy designates himself almost as a "heart of the team" antithesis - he assigns himself responsibility for the actions and emotions that, while they might get the job done, are not necessarily the choices of a good person, but in doing so he places the others on a pedestal that denies their potential for "ugly" emotions and causes him to view even his more self-motivated bitter actions as ultimately necessary, e.g. his attempt to perform a "taking you with me" kill on max that, judging from this exchange, he was already planning on long in advance

#bmj birdy #genuinely really like him as a character because it's such a fascinating exploration of the ''silent edgy teammate'' archetype in anime #especially how it's emphasized that in truth he's a very emotionally-motivated and passionate person in spite of his stoic demeanor #fractions thoughts

[wisteriagoesvroom]

f1 rpf is so deliciously fun because you basically get a doll’s house of 20 drivers and you get to shake them up in however many dozens of combinations that you want 😤

#f1 rpf #f1blr #wisteria talks #for the record i mean the doll’s house in the sense that rpf is a free for all #where the drivers become archetypes for characters #and vehicles for story exploration #and not to be confused with the actual drivers who should not be seeing this