Do Kris’s Friends Know The Real Kris?

You know, when I see fictional characters who repress all their emotions, they're usually aloof and very blunt about keeping people at a distance, sometimes to an edgy degree—but what I don't see nearly enough are the emotionally repressed characters who are just…mellow.

Think about it. In real life, the person that's bottling up all their emotions is not the one that's brooding in the corner and snaps at you for trying to befriend them. More often than not, it's that friendly person in your circle who makes easy conversation with you, laughs with you, and listens and gives advice whenever you're upset. But you never see them upset, in fact they seem to have endless patience for you and everything around them—and so you call them their friend, you trust them. And only after months of telling them all your secrets do you realize…

…they've never actually told you anything about themselves.

There will BE no friendship. (And yes I'm still not dead and still have intents on coming back here)

kfc stack!!!! WOOO

Far-Too-Optimistic Theory: Alphys is trying to look out for Susie.

So we know that Alphys was bullshitting us when she pretended not to know who stole the chalk in Chapter 1…

…since apparently she and Toriel have discussed this habit of hers.

In Chapter 1, Alphys seems to hope Susie will give it back on her own at first…

Then violates the Geneva Convention in an effort to get Susie to confess to save her classmates (this Did Not Work)…

…and in the end, Alphys just asks Susie to go get some more, apparently because she “came in last”.

Still, Alphys doesn’t out Susie as the one who took it. How come?

If Susie gets caught taking supplies, she might get expelled! She’s on her last chance.

So, does Alphys care about her?

Keep reading

Susie and noelle.... gay people...

tcf spoilers (ch 333+)

re-reading White Star's debut in 333 and what came after, and i am once again reminded of how terrifying he was as an antagonist before he became the fandom's silly little meme

some other bits and foreshadowing i forgot/missed and find interesting

WS is proficient enough as a mage to be able to send messages telepathically

...and he used that skill to pester Cale with one-way messages lmao

WS and Cale both felt a sense of kinship the moment they locked eyes, which they both chalked up to their similarities in abilities and appearance (but it's probably more because of KRS' soul recognizing its original body)

Eruhaben says WS looks 20 (and 200+ chapters later Cale himself says he looks to be in his early 20s. If og!Cale is older than KRS, does that mean it took KRS a few years before he got kicked out of his body by WS and settled into Earth 1? Or is it the time difference between the two worlds?)

WS just affectionately addressing Cale while spouting terrible things

6 Tips for Writing an Underdog Character

People love reading about an underdog. There’s something within all of us that relates to persevering against the odds, even when they’re crushing. Anything becomes possible—but how do you write that kind of character successfully?

Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Create Their Disempowerment

Underdogs need to lose something or have one thing less than those they fight against. It might be something they hope to gain back or something they hope to gain at all.

Let’s use The Hunger Games as an example for this post. Katniss comes from District 12, but she’s already at a disadvantage when she volunteers as tribute. Restrictions on her district kept her from food security for most of her life. Without a lifetime of basic nutrition, her body is already at a disadvantage in the physically-demanding games.

District 12 is also one of the less appreciated districts in her country. She doesn’t think anyone will care about sponsoring her in the games, which makes survival much less likely.

But we still root for her! She volunteered to save her sister, which is heroic. There’s so much potential for more heroic growth that we keep turning the page, even though she’s not the most likely person to survive.

2. Make Your Protagonist Likable

Getting excited to see a character grow might be something you feel as a creative writer, but the average reader also needs an underdog protagonist to be likable in some way. Katniss will do anything for her family, including hunting where and when she isn’t supposed to. Many people would feel the need to do the same for their families.

She also feels deep compassion for people, which she covers up with her gruff demeanor. We’ve all felt like we got hurt because our hearts opened too wide for someone. We can relate to her building defenses into her personality, which might make her likable to more readers.

Katniss also has the core value of loyalty. People always seek loyalty in new connections. It’s how we trust new friends. It’s also how readers trust characters.

This site has a few more tips on crafting likable characters. Part of that happens while you’re creating the characters during your planning process, but you can also do it while you’re writing. As your underdog becomes more of a real person in your mind, you’ll know which primary character traits make them most likable to readers.

3. Plan Their Rock-Bottom Moment

Underdogs always reach a point where they feel they’re at their lowest. Even when they feel crushed or defeated, they choose to find strength and continue with their journey. It makes readers support them even more, but it’s also the defining moment of an underdog’s arc.

Your underdog’s rock-bottom moment will be the scene where they resist the temptation to give up, change their dream, or change who they are. It will be the choice that keeps them moving toward their end goal, instead of taking the easy road.

You could argue Katniss has a few rock-bottom moments. It might be when she hears her sister’s name called at the Reaping. It could be when Rue dies and she chooses to spearhead a revolution.

There could be multiple moments for your underdog too. It depends on the shape of your narrative arc and how many acts your story has.

4. Show Them Trying and Failing

It’s time for an important caveat—underdogs also fail. If they were perfect, they’d be god-like figures that readers couldn’t personally identify with.

Maybe your underdog achieves their ultimate goal, but they experience failure along the way. Their failure helps them grow or makes them pursue their goal with more conviction and determination.

Katniss begins her journey with a mindset of self-preservation. That makes her slightly selfish and automatically distrustful of people. She makes some choices readers would probably disagree with, but then she learns from them. By the end of the series, she’s as selfless as a human can get. 

Characters don’t grow if they don’t make mistakes. Even underdogs should fail. However, that failure shouldn’t make them quit. It should either motivate them to keep going or give them a new perspective on how they can achieve their ultimate goal.

5. Train Them Along the Way

Underdogs start out as unlikely heroes because they don’t start with everything they need to succeed. That might be a societal problem, like coming from an economically disadvantaged family or a biased society. Maybe they don’t have the skills they need, like the ability to fight in hand-to-hand combat, outsmart their antagonist, or solve mysteries.

Usually, characters learn these things during their arcs. Your underdog will likely pick up what they need to succeed through the relationships they make and experiences they have. 

Katniss already knows how to hunt when she volunteers for the games, but Haymitch mentors her to win over much-needed sponsors to survive. Peeta teaches her how to soften her heart and think outside the box. She wouldn’t have made it through the series without the people in her life. Other underdog characters can’t either.

6. Reward Them at the End

Underdogs work hard and transform themselves to achieve their goals. At the end of the story, they often gain a tangible reward, power, knowledge, a new title or a new community. Your underdog should get what they set out to achieve, plus a few extra things they didn’t expect.

Katniss wins the Hunger Games. She gets her primary objective: to continue living. She also protects her sister. In addition to surviving, she has her (albeit rocky) relationship with Peeta, a new mentor in Haymitch, a comfortable living in the Victor’s Village, and an audience of fans who are another layer of protection against President Snow’s desire to kill her.

The extra rewards propel her through the remainder of her storyline. They also set her up for more success with the new lifepath she sees for herself: aiding the revolution to end the games for good.

A new goal is sometimes a reward in itself. It depends on if you want to continue writing about your character or if you want a one-off story.

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I hope this helps gives you a new perspective on future protagonists! Adding one of these factors into your character’s growth could remove your writer’s block too. They set up a path forward for your protagonist and help shape their journey.

You can also use these resources to learn more about the underdog archetype:

Character Archetypes: The Disruptor and the Underdog

Writing the Underdog: Effort Matters Most

7 Tips to Writing Underdog Heroes

Cale is used to being without.

Whether it’s food, sleep, safety or otherwise, he’s used to the feeling of lacking something.

His past has been filled with it. Anything that could be desirable, he’s been without it before.

So it’s no wonder he wants to be a slacker. It’s no wonder he asks if people have eaten or if they’ve slept. That’s what he’s always wanted. To be content. To not be lacking something. He wants to be bored because it means he’s not worrying about something.

No one else can understand why he so adamantly exclaims that his dream is to be a slacker yet can never seem to throw himself into the next problem— because he knows more than anyone else that he’s always had to fight for his peace.

As an orphan, as a teenager, as 20 year old KRS and as the 35 year old KRS. He understands more than anyone that the slacker life isn’t going to come easily. He had to fight for the bare minimum for years, so he is determined to fight for the maximum for even longer.

It’s his determination to be content that keeps him going. His refusal to lack something. His refusal to lose something.

Lmao there was a comment on a chapter of King’s Maker that went “It’s always the redheads that cause the chaos” and someone simply replied with “Cale Henituse” and everyone was agreeing with them. No questions asked none needed

Just realised that Cale was the only "regular" human to ever notice Raon when he was invisible. Even back when Raon was first following him around.

Like, quite a few characters have noticed him throughout the novel, but Cale was able to figure out where Raon was located only using the skills he picked up as Kim Rok Soo.

Its pretty impressive and looking back on it, it could almost be considered foreshadowing.