Chris Parr wrote:Of course I get it. You want a perfectly normal person with no powers or mad skills. The trouble is, such a character just doesn't work, at least as a Rebel. Look at Rebels—every single character has some kind of special power or mad skill. Zeb has alien strength, Hera is an ace pilot, the Mandalorian chick is a demolitions expert and an artist, there's the Jedi and even Ezra is Force sensitive and training.
A normal character who was crazy enough to try and challenge the Empire would be squashed like a bug. Period. And a normal person who accepted his place in the Empire would fare no better. If he wasn't conscripted into the Stormtrooper corps and blown up by Rebels he would most likely lead a very dull life under Imperial protection. Unless the Imperials decide they want his stuff, in which case it's off the Kessel for him, where once again he's a dead man.
So you see, if a characteer is even going to survive in that Galaxy Far Far Away he's either going to need powers or mad skills, and since I'm going to start him off as a kid powers are the way to go. Although not infinite power. Sure he can push and strain beyond his limits to raise tremendous weights, but even then he's only trillions of times stronger—and that's when he's pushing himself to his most extreme! Compare that to the millions of Star Destroyers and quadrillions of soldiers and TIE pilots the Empire has at its disposal. Hell, even with powers my character would still most likely be squashed like a bug! After all, he couldn't survive, say, a Death Star attack!
So kindly quit harping about me writing a normal character in the Star Wars galaxy, because as I've said such a character just doesn't work.
Arguably normal characters work best in Star Wars. A normal character is much more relatable, can serve as a viewpoint character for the reader as they delve into a world of super-humans and galaxy spanning wars.
A normal character who challenges the Empire isn't squashed like a bug either. Look at the Rebellion, other then Fluke Starbucker everyone is normies. No Jedi, no super soldiers, normal people who took up the call and trained to fight the Empire. It would almost be stirring if they weren't a bunch of deluded fools fighting for rich cunts and a corrupt regime viewed through nostalgia goggles but thats neither here nor there.
Even alone a normal character can fight the powa, just won't be going after Star Destroyers. Have the person fight a guerrilla war, learn new skills, train to become a better fighter. Mad skills usually aren't inherent to a person, they must learn them. Get those skills by some old veteran or just through trial and error. That would be infinitely more interesting then a Superman analog dropped in the GFFA.
The wannabe Supes sounds boring. An overpowered guy playing around in an established sandbox doesn't sound intriguing. Sure you say he's not all powerful but then use not surviving a Death Star blast to show how weak he is. Its like saying Mike Tyson fighting a pile of preschoolers is weak because he couldn't survive a round from the main gun of an M1 Abrams.
He can do anything it sounds like including move mountains though with effort. It is hard to write any sort of suspense or drama when you know the character can do anything more or less if they put their back into it because he's always going to put his back into except when he artificially does not.
The character needs to have an established power limit, not "can do anything but only if he really tries I'm super cereal". And that limit should be on the lower scale rather then higher. And no artificial limits or handicaps. Either he can do something or he can't, there is no try. None of that all powerful but doesn't want to use his power thing either. No Mary Sue weaknesses like he's too powerful or too beautiful or anything of the sort.
And probably the best thing to do if you are dead set on creating a Superman analog is to create a universe for em rather then having him run amok in the SW galaxy. Give him a galaxy where he is not constrained by the needs of creating a Star Wars story, a galaxy where its not extremely weak beings and extremely powerful threats with nothing in between but peers to the character. Characters who can equal him in power forcing him to rely on something else beyond brute strength and power to defeat them.
Maybe try a superbeing on contemporary Earth deal but thats already been done to death in every possible way. Still if you can think of something new to this age old tale of Gulliver and the Lilliputs its could make for an interesting read.
) of Shujinko from Mortal Kombat is good example when someone without the talent needed to make it work tries to make character definied by his power, instead of the new main character as Midway intended Shujinko was hated by pretty everyone to the point he hasn't been playable since MK:armageddon and has played very little role in the story of those 3 games that have been published since Armageddon (no role in MKvsDC, cameo in MK9 intro and a minor role in the backstory of MKX) and it's not like Mortal Kombat is known for its rich and varied storytelling.
