#character consistency

Just finished watching it and while it may not have added much to the plot i still liked it so here we go, as usual spoilers under the cut. May not be structured.

I decided to start this thread because I haven't come across anything similar yet and the issue is bugging me. I would appreciate your thoughts and opinions because I'm very curious if anyone else has had a similar impression or has any other ideas about where it might come from.

My feelings after watching The Secret of Aaravos were like, "Runaan is out of character. He's not himself anymore, not completely. Man, he's become less believable to me as a character." I started to wonder why. Here's what I've come up with so far.

1. Runaan started looking out of character for his age.

In The Secret of Aaravos, Runaan looks younger to me than in The Dragon Prince. And much younger. What's the logical point of that? Even if we assume that while trapped in the coin the aging process stopped for him (which is not confirmed in any way, as far as I know), still - Runaan should look at least the same age as in Season 1. Not younger. Sure, maybe the team just decided they preferred a slightly changed/"new" character design, but still - it makes me as a viewer confused. Because I look at Runaan and just think "why did he suddenly get a decade younger?".

And I know Ethari also seems to look a bit younger with her new hair compared to Season 3, but not enough to be confusing. It's entirely possible that a new haircut or different clothing can make you look younger (I believe that's what Ethari is going for). But Runaan hasn't changed a bit in his appearance, and he still - looks much younger.

Credits - I know, the artstyle depends on artist, but still - chrologically younger Runaan looks more like in season 1 than 7

Bloodmoon Huntress

artbook

season 1

season 7

I noticed that Runaan already looks a bit younger in season 1, when he's not serious, irritated, angry, etc., but still, not as young as in season 7. There are limits.

2. Runaan behaves inconsistently with his character.

I don't mean like all the time, but in very situations. In my opinion, it comes down to a few things:

A) in season 7, Runaan's facial expressions are often inadequate to the original character creation.

I really understand the plot situation (2 years in the coin, regaining freedom, Rayla, a chance to return to Ethari) and the fact that Runaan could have changed - become more gentle. And it's no wonder that he's often sensitive this season, after all, he's in the company of Rayla or Ethari.

But I have the impression that the creators wanted to show how much is going on emotionally in Runaan so much that they overdid it. And there's nothing left of the ''COLD AND SHARP as steel'' assassin. His face is so expressive, he constantly seems lost and sad (but like a puppy, not an elf who after 2 years of absence might not keep up with the world).

I love the scene of returning to Ethari and the subtle smiles when she looks at him after picking mushrooms or during dinner, and the fact that he's also shown when he's grumpy [ ''Runaan's expression sheet is the only one to not feature a smile. This elf exclusively broods'' (The Art of the Dragon Prince), ‘’ our favorite broody assassin’’ (https://thedragonprince.com/runaan-birthday/)] . Very interesting, after seeing him only on duty or in prison in Season 1. But most of what is in Season 7 seems to me to be out of place for a serious, composed assassin.

In my opinion, the flashback from Season 3 did a very good job of balancing Runaan's standard seriousness of his expressionless face (or just neutral) with a situation where tenderness towards someone close to him creeps in. It looked natural and very believable.

B) some gestures do not fit Runaan's previous portrayal

Runaan's body language this season is strange to me. Even if he is lost after two years, hurt, tired - ok, I understand. But while in Season 1 his movements were decisive, confident, and - I really don't want to refer to stereotypes, but I can't find a better comparison, for which I apologize - "masculine", in The Secret of Aaravos Runaan sometimes moves strangely "softly". Maybe it's the animation, maybe the choice of shots, their fluidity, I don't know. But for me, even during the mission with Callum, Runaan no longer has the confidence in his movements that he had in season 1.

Unfortunately, I will refer to stereotypes again, sorry, but these are simply the only comparisons that came to my mind.

Two gestures in particular do not fit Runaan's creation so far. The first, when he looks at Silvergrove, putting his hands to his chest, and the second, when he tells Ezran "And yet with grace and strength, you have managed to lead with kindness". I know what the creators wanted to show, but I think the way they did it does not fit how Runaan was presented to us. In both situations, he looks more like the archetypal delicate and sensitive princess, not like a composed assassin who deals with many emotions and changes in mindset. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Runaan (or a man in general) can't be sensitive or delicate. I just think that it would be more consistent with Runaan's personality to show all of this in a more subtle way. For example, in the first situation Runaan might simply fall silent at the sight of Silvergrove, his gaze becoming softer and more thoughtful, camera focusing on his face (like when he saw a dragon egg or coins with Lain and Tiadrin in 1 season).

Apologetic but still self-aware worrior talks to king like that? It's hard to believe for me.

3. Runaan seems more like Rayla's brother than father

Because of his younger appearance, some indecisiveness in body language and a strange impression of "girliness" (again, sorry), as well as some plot situations, I stopped seeing Runaan as Rayla's father. At most an older brother, but it was really hard for me to convince myself that he was the same elf as in Season 1 or Bloodmoon Huntress.

And sure, I understand that maybe they wanted to show that now Rayla is taking care of him, that they are more equal, that Runaan allows her to take responsibility and prove herself. Still, the probably intentionally comical scene of Runaan resting and setting off to Ethari came across to me as if Rayla was scolding her siblings, not the adult elf who raised her. I understand that Runaan is impatient here and could have acted unwisely, but in my opinion it was a bit over the top.

In my language version, Runaan's voice actor changed - from someone with a ''typically male" voice to someone who sounds very "young". I know that this definitely affected my perception of Runaan, but then I watched all the scenes in English for comparison. It was better - now Runaan JUST LOOKED younger. But it still wasn't the Runaan from Season 1 or 3.

Summary

The more I think about it, the more I feel that Runaan's character in Season 7 is not consistent with what the creators presented in Season 1, 3 or the books (art book, Callum's Spellbook, Bloodmood Huntress).

I am deeply disappointed, because I followed this series mainly because of the Runaan, Viren and Aaravos storylines. And in each of them I see certain clashes and puzzling decisions of the writers. But nothing persecutes as much as the "new" Runaan - younger, more delicate (at times "girlish"), who says that he is Rayla's father, but somehow does not give that impression (cause he seems to be too young for that).

I do not understand these methods of the creators. I know what they wanted to show (maybe the confusion, the more delicate side of Runaan, his uncertainty, the change of previous beliefs about himself and his profession), but the way it was done does not convince me.

And although there are moments that I absolutely love and consider credible in the context of Runaan's personality (and the only problem is his younger appearance) - for me his character is no longer consistent with what we have seen and could read about him so far. In season 7 he's so often just looks like a lost, uncertain, delicate pretty princess to me.

I do not see in him that mature, determined warrior with the aura of a protector.

I feel more like I've met his twin brother - very similar in appearance, but very different overall.

season 1

My biggest issue with Maya becoming the Phoenix is, simply put, that it felt unnecessary and didn’t add anything to her story (I felt something similar with Quentin Quire).

Maya is a character who feels very out of place in that kind of storyline—there’s a reason we almost never see her in comics with cosmic plots. It’s hard to make her presence feel necessary, and not all writers can pull that off (even some of the best struggle when doing similar things).

I read her entire run as the Phoenix, and it was strange because her characterization felt out of place. Maya was created as a character meant for “street-level” adventures, so it always works to see her show up in stories like Daredevil, Kingpin, the Defenders, or Spider-Man (even just cameos, but good ones).

But my biggest struggle in accepting that this happened is that there’s always a reason why the Phoenix chooses a host (especially if it’s not Jean or Rachel). That’s something well established in the comics, but in Maya’s case, it was just “now she’s the Phoenix’s host, there’s no reason, it just happened.”

And again, that feels out of place because the Phoenix is supposed to take hosts when it has a mission (For example: Hope Summers after M-Day. The only ones who break that rule are Jean and Rachel—but Jean is the Phoenix, and Rachel is considered the Phoenix’s daughter, someone the Phoenix deeply cares for, so *shrugs*). Beyond that, I don’t have any issues with the character.

I mean, I started writing Fractures back in summer of 2019 (which is insane, let me say), when I was 14.

It is now 2023, I have just turned 18, I've gone through an entire pandemic and started college, and have written over 270,000 more words for this story.

It's kinda hard to remember where it initially came from, and the best thing I have to really go off of is the author's note on Chapter 1 and notes that I wrote for myself when I first started this story.

So, from what I can gather from those and what little I remember:

Most of the idea for Fractures came from the idea I had about what ATLA would be like if Zuko hadn't been there in the first place, but had been off doing something else. The first big problem that came up for me was the fact that Aang would still need a firebending teacher, and if Zuko wasn't there, Iroh was likely off with him, and therefore not available.

So, I started trying to figure out what I could do to separate Zuko from Iroh for pretty much the entire length of the show without making it too weird. From there, I realized the easiest thing would be if Zuko had never been sent to capture Aang in the first place. I decided that the easiest thing would be to simply throw Zuko into prison since the Agni Kai, make sure that Iroh hadn't been there at the Agni Kai, and go from there.

At that point, my interest had shifted from how the Gaang's adventures changed to instead being solely Zuko-focused. I wrote and published a one-shot of the start of the AU I'd made, but I kinda left it at that. There were people who commented wanting more, but I didn't really believe in my abilities to actually write a story of a larger scale. I also didn't know if there was any interest left in ATLA in the middle of 2019. The idea of writing it interested me, but if I was going to do that, I was going to go all in on it, and I didn't know how I felt about that.

The thing that really tipped it for me, if I'm being honest, was reading Towards the Sun by @muffinlance. Seeing an ATLA author succeeding and holding an audience, specifically in the times before the ATLA Renaissance because of Netflix, inspired me a shocking amount. It was the kinda thought of "well, if Muffin can do it, then so can I!" Which, to be fair, totally ignored the fact that she was a fully grown adult at the time, while I, 3.5 years later, have just now reached 'adult' status.

[Image description: A comic panel featuring Tim as Red Robin and Harper in a non-descript black vigilante outfit, without a mask. Tim is getting onto his motorcycle and has his head turned back to her behind him, talking to her. In the upper right corner, there is a smaller panel with a close up of Tim’s face. Tim says “I thought he was being blackmailed by Hush. There’s no reason to do now...” in the first panel, and “Harper. I can’t let Batman die” in the smaller panel.]

that’s pretty much the foundation of many of your major arcs and your entire character, so

yeah

Loki’s journey through the MCU only makes any sense to me if i overanalyze all of it. For examples, what I comprehend through subtext found in the Avengers is: Loki was tortured by Thanos. Loki blatantly presented himself as an enemy to the yet-unassembled superheroes, ensured the Avengers would team up, and was relying on Erik's resistance: all to ensure that he would be defeated. Then he allowed himself to be captured so he could be protected from Thanos on Asgard. 

For some of this, this is basic, right? We’ve eagerly watched Loki for years, we’ve analyzed his actions, we know who he really is. That’s why we’re Loki’s Army. So why does Loki seem so OOC in Loki?

The TVA is not completely all-seeing, but I still maintain that Loki was never alone during the Variant. Take his escape in “Glorious Purpose:” his movements through the Time Twister seem to completely remove him from view rather than blur him (unlike when he's slowed with the time/prune-stick thingy). So the TVA couldn't see him while he is in Time Twister transit, but it certainly did not take them long to find him. 

It took them less than a minute to realize he was missing. It took Loki a few seconds to find Casey, he had two minutes with him before B-15 found him, it took him just over four minutes to watch the end of Alpha Loki's life, B-15 had already found him again, and then he had a couple minutes, tops, to decide what he would do with all this new info before Morpheus found him. That's 5-10 minutes of freedom.

There are cameras everywhere in the TVA. And agents, Minute Men, administrative employees with various states of awareness of their surroundings, and even Miss Minutes herself. If i were Loki, i would assume that my every movement is being watched while I’m in the TVA and out of it.

In fact, Loki’s not even alone when he finds out about the destruction of Asgard!

So what would you do if you were being watched 24/7, would be caught inside ten minutes even if you were able to escape, and resisting and/or not cooperating is going to certainly end with death? Loki's solution seems to be acting as if he's cooperating for as long as it is expedient. Stalling for time, trying to seem harmless, etc.

Yes, it's not the Loki we want to see. Give me Avengers or TDW Loki any day of the week, i'm begging you, just let him use his full capabilities of magic and physical strength. But some of us are finding parallels to his actions that match all of the films he's been in (bless you guys). For instance, when have we known him to overact and be purposefully annoying in the past?

Loki's current behavior is typical of when he's grieving, trying to appear as if he's earning someone's trust, etc. I'm sorry, i know that the overacting is jarring, but surely this is a choice on Tom's part. No, it's not believable that possessed humans can throw him, but equally so, it's not believable that B-15 could, either. 

Loki's interactions with Mobius even echo his conversation with Thor in Ragnarok just before "Get Help." Annoy, appear to be cooperating, do not be assertive or threatening. Yes, even charm his way to the top, but no, it's not about overthrowing the Time-Keepers to rule. Yes, when Thor and Loki are talking in the elevator, Thor assumes that Loki wants to rule Sakaar (Loki merely assumes that Thor doesn't want him to come along back to Asgard). This misconception is one of those things that gets repeated over and over again: “Loki only wants to rule,” they're constantly shoving it into our faces, and I have never bought it. 

In Thor, he wasn't expecting to rule. In the Dark World, he tried to convince Thor to take the throne. In Ragnarok, he immediately ceded the throne to Thor when his brother finally decided to take it. In “the Variant,” the Variant tells Loki that she has no interest in ruling the TVA, once again assuming that Loki means to rule (which is one of the reasons I don't feel like she's Lady Loki, but i digress). 

The only reason Loki wanted to rule is because his mind was twisted by Thanos, that's the only time that ruling was his glorious purpose. And this version of Loki has already shaken that off, decided that purpose was hollow, not in the least bit glorious. Loki is perfectly capable of ruling well, that's not what his heart's desire is.

Loki wants to get to the top so he can save himself, plain and simple. He doesn't want to die. His strategy is consistent again (per Ragnarok, both with the GM and Thor), to prove himself useful to the people who are actually in power. And he doesn't stick his neck out unless he's forced to. If he is caught out being selfless, he plays it off as if it's for glory rather than because he's actually a decent person.

Now, ultimately, Loki probably does have it in mind to overthrow the TVA, but because he does not like their control over him and it would be fun to take vengeance. But, from what I am seeing set up here (and i may be 100% wrong), TPTB are setting us up to be distracted by the superficial Loki--that version of Loki that the people who don't overanalyze everything they watch are used to seeing (because they still do not properly understand what is obvious to us)--just so they can subvert that and give us the Loki that we know and love, as he truly is. 

Someone who wants you to think that he doesn't care, or only cares about himself, but deep down is quite noble and selfless. Who manipulates things behind the scenes for the good of his brother and the good of Asgard. Who is tragically misunderstood and would never wear his heart on his sleeve in public. Who has been literally tortured, and lied to, and told what his intentions were rather than listened to or believed in.

What time is it? It’s guide time. Again.

So, I know a lot of people don’t have a single care for keeping canon characters accurate to their original portrayal. Maybe you’d prefer to portray the secret soft side to that notoriously ruthless villain or turn a previously sweet and innocent character into a yandere. And that’s totally cool.

But some of you may be actively trying to keep the canon characters that appear in your fics as in-character as possible, but either feel as though you’re failing or have received criticism on this aspect of your writing. 

Not to portray myself as some sort of expert in these matters, but I definitely have a method for writing canon characters that I feel may be helpful to some folks.