#HOWEVER: if you *genuinely* defend william's actions and then retroactively try to make him a 'bad but sad boy' or something

[dimonds456]

Hey, y'all?

Making a character's motivs understandable is not the same as making them sympathetic.

Making a character's motivs sympathetic is not the same thing as making them redeemable.

Making a character's motivations redeemable is not the same thing as making them understandable.

From a writing perspective, you want to strive to make your characters understandable, yes, but that does not mean they have to be sympathetic, redeemable, or even nuanced at all. It might be good to have those things, but ultimately you just want your character to be understandable. The audience should be able to explain why your character does what they do in your work once they've seen/read/listened to it. That's it.

It depends on what your story needs and the tone you're going for, of course, but people seemingly have been confusing these things a lot. A character can have a sympathetic backstory and we can go "aw that's sad :(" but. Rachel, he still killed people. A lot of people. For no good reason. Sympathetic, not redeemable.

And even then, some people have been assuming that understandable = sympathetic, when this simply isn't true either. You should want your character to be understandable! You should be able to follow their train of thought, no matter how rocky or unstable it is, to see how and why they came to the conclusions they did about the world and thus why they took the actions they did. Doesn't mean they have to be #relatable or sympathetic in any way. It just means they are a consistent character with their own wants and desires.

And from an audience's perspective, this also means that RACHEL, HE KILLED PEOPLE FOR NO GOOD REASON, HE'S NOT REDEEMABLE-

#i like the jokes about it the jokes are fine this isn't about the jokes #this is actually about the people who try to justify and 'redeem' william afton's actions specifically #but this was written in a way that it doesnt have to be about fnaf which is why i didnt bring him up #i love a redemption story as much as the next but even though it's possible to understand afton that doesnt make him sympathetic #like straight-up he's NOT a sympathetic antagonist and *that's the point* #if you wanna write fiction about william getting a redemption arc you can. it's possible. i also love springtrap and deliah #(i think. it's been a few years since i've read it so i'd need to reread it now as an adult to really judge it if you asked me.) #HOWEVER: if you *genuinely* defend william's actions and then retroactively try to make him a 'bad but sad boy' or something #um. no. #please think for 2 seconds #feel free to rb this btw i made it vague on purpose #and yes you can blorbotag it #dimond speaks