#writersonig

Do you really? I mean I’m not gonna stop you, but sighhh.....I’m kidding, but only a little bit. I don’t dislike this trope actually I kind of enjoy it, but I definitely feel like the trope is over done and normally not well-written, If you really want to write it, then we’re gonna write it well! Chosen ones are really hard to write imo because they always feel a tiny bit, ugh, I don’t know problematic. What I mean by that is that the idea that only one person in the entirety of the world and all civilization can defeat the big bag evil and everyone else is unworthy and beneath them never really sat right with me. That’s why Chosen ones have to be extremely nuanced in order for me to like them, and some authors have chosen some incredibly interesting takes and nuances on chosen ones, so here are a few tips for writing chosen one characters!

Their Choices Change Everything 

If your character is the Chosen One and the only one who can kill the big bad, then inevitably all the choices they make will have even more of an impact on the story. If Luke Skywalker decides to just chill on Tatootine instead of going to save Leia and thus beginning his predestined quest to return balance to the force, that changes the whole plot of the story. The story actually doesn’t happen because in that scenario Darth Vader offs Leila before anyone can come rescue her. In any story, the choices your character makes matter, but when your character is basically the Savior, the choices they make matter even more. Show them struggling with that. Maybe, they don’t want to do any of this. Maybe they would rather chill at home with their family, but in doing that, they would be dooming hundreds or even thousands of people to death. Showing them actually struggling with having the fates of pretty much the whole world in the palm of their hand adds some nuance to their character, especially if they’re already a reluctant hero. 

Make Them Work For It

A lot of people seem to think that just by being the chosen one a character becomes the all powerful, all knowing, omnipotent SuperHero who is basically undefeatable. I’m not gonna gripe with my problems about that whole trope today, but if you do have an all powerful, indestructible character you need to show them actually training and learning how to wield all this power, and preferably not over the course of one measly training chapter á la training montage. They should loose and be beaten. Take Harry Potter for example. I think we can all agree that Harry is not a very good wizard, and just because he’s the chosen one he never actually becomes the best wizard. Being the Chosen One and being the best wizard are not mutually exclusive. At the beginning of the series, he’s a mediocre wizard, and at the end of the series he’s a less mediocre wizard, but he still isn’t that good. What talent and skill he does have though, he works for. He doesn’t just expect to win every battle because he’s the chosen one, he studies and he trains. Your chosen one character doesn’t have to be all powerful, in fact it sometimes makes for a better story when they aren’t. If they are though, remember to make them work for it!

Give Them A Weakness

This feels like an obvious thing, but there are so many books where the character will just have no weaknesses, and it makes any conflict in the book feel cheap and stilted. If we know that the character is going to win because they’ve been prophesied to kill the villain, then it’s a lot harder to get through the book because any of the conflict is just like eh.  To stop that from happening, give them a legitimate, dangerous weakness. Something that if they’re not careful, will kill them. Something that the antagonist can use to exploit them and kill them. Kind of like how in ATLA, the Avatar State is super powerful and helpful and awesome, but if the Avatar dies in that state, then the whole Avatar reincarnation process stops. It’s a really big reward, but a huge risk to enter that state, and we as the viewers know and recognize that. Giving your character a big weakness adds conflict back into the story, especially if the antagonist knows about the weakness and the hero doesn’t, or vice versa. Knowing that the antagonist has a feasible and not absolutely contrived way to kill the chosen one raises the stakes for the story and keeps the reader interested!

Let Them Question Their Journey 

Honestly, I’m a very spiritual and religious person, but I still don’t know if I would just instantly believe if an angel came to me and said, “Elle, you’re the Savior of the world.” I feel like even the most spiritual people would have moments of doubt and questioning. So many characters just instantly believe that they’re the chosen one and never question their destiny even after suffering a devastating loss. Especially after a devastating loss or the death of a teammate, I believe even the most confident and self-assured chosen one would start to doubt themselves and wonder if they were really meant to be the Savior of the world. Letting them have doubt that shows that they’re human even with this grand destiny. But, it can be a very interesting character choice, when written correctly, if your character never questions their destiny even after a really bad loss. Maybe they’ve always been extremely arrogant or have had an inflated sense of self way before their chosen one destiny was even revealed to them. Showing that internal dialogue of them believing wholeheartedly in themselves even if deep, deep down they know they’re wrong, especially if other characters have told them that they are wrong can be so damn interesting to read. 

Make Them The Chosen One For a Reason

I feel selfish

Wanting more

More of the pictures

Of pouty lips and nonchalant

Flippance

Want more of your brave little fingers

Throwing me steaks

When I only required a bite, thanks

You are so generous

You make me ravenous

Consuming all of your equity in the real

Your rawness

Your appetite

Your steel

Please, gods....

Let me make it to the breaking point

Where I will tear down all the garlands

Pack my suitcase

Bring the car round

And drive through all the dark to kiss

Your raging lights

Goodnight

Profoundly

________________________________________

and walking storm.

A road to the end and a bridge to the moon.

A star tied to a lover's heart and chain stuck on love's throat.

Relief washed over a sunken face and a knife sinking deep in the soul.

How tragic one's existence can be to be a dancer of rain and singer of pain.

To be hope for all the lost hearts and to be the last heart who lost.

To be a ray that shined for years and thrown in dark for keep's sake.

A heart bound to a bleeding wrist and a child-bearer without a will.

The story written always half

and read from in between.

A woman of your home

and a whole world.

Oh, the one you talk to and talk about.

Yes the one you meet in the corners

and the one who woke you up

when you had nightmares.

The one you felt in the dark

and the one you adored in light.

Yes, the one found dead on roads and the one who was burnt in her own home.

Yeah, that one with a scar on the face

and the one with a slightly clear tone.

The one who was mauled to death

and the other one too who wore the red.

Oh to be the woman

oh to be called a woman here

oh to be here as a woman

It kills

the woman

always.

Ayana Arora

Oh, to be the woman.

I want to talk about what might be the greatest movie ever created: Barbie the Princess and the Pauper. I’ve been in love with this movie since I was three years old, aka when it came out, as you can propably tell. Beware that spoilers are below.

Barbie movies tend to get a lot of shit in the media, mostly for not being inclusive seeing as the characters generally are white and thin, and I don’t mean to invalidate those issues because I do see them. However, in this ’essay’ I want to tell the story of why they, especially the princess and the pauper, are still such amazing and nurturing stories. I’ll focus on what parts I think makes it such a story and perhaps you’ll find ways to incorporate them into your own stories, or at the very least be inspired by them.

In case there is anyone who hasn’t seen the movie I’ll summarize it;

Barbie is Princess Anneliese, only child of the Queen to a kingdom who is running out of money. Their main income has always been there gold mines but they have secretly been emptied by the Queen’s advisor, Preminger, as he wants to force the Queen to marry him (so that he will be king) to gain access to his immense wealth (the gold from the mines). The Queen choses to arrange a marriage between Anneliese and a neighbouring rich King, Dominick, instead. Erika on the other hand is a poor seamstress who dreams of being a singer but is stuck paying of a loan that her parents took from an evil dressshop owner. Both her and Anneliese are driven by their sense of duty and when they by chance meet and realize that they’re identical except for their haircolours and a birthmark they instantly become friends. Before Anneliese and Dominick can meet, Preminger kidnaps Anneliese and makes it look as if she has run away to avoid the marriage. Erika pretends to be Anneliese in order to keep the proposal available and thus save the kingdom while Julian, the man Anneliese actually wants to marry, tries to find her. As you’ve probably figured it eventually ends well with Preminger imprisoned and the arranged marriage called off. During her capture, Anneliese is held in the mines for sometime and realize that the stones in it are actaully jewels so they don’t need Dominick’s money anymore and she can marry Julian instead.

Now, as for why this is an amazing story:

• The friendship between Anneliese and Erika. When they first meet Erika is singing in the street as she tries to earn money to pay off her debt, Anneliese gives her a bit off money and they start talking. They are both shocked when they see that they’re practically identical and start talking about their lives. It quickly becomes apparent that neither is satisfied with their current lives, Erika doesnt want to work as a seamstress and Anneliese doesn’t want to marry King Dominick. What I personally love the most about this scene is that it’s Erika who points out their similarities, despite how obvious it is that Anneliese lives a much more privileged life. I think that it shows what a caring and emphatic character Erika is that she is able to see through that and still see their similarities. Later on in the movie, it is ultimately their friendship and the lenghts they go for each other as well as their senses of duty that saves the kingdom.

•The pets. While the humans fight against Preminger, Anneliese’s cat Serafina and Erika’s cat Wolfie both go above and beyond to help them as well as get their own character arcs. The most obvious of them being how Wolfie comes to terms with the fact that he barks instead of meowing like normal cats. Serafina’s arc is more subtle, she is very strong and confident throughout the entire movie but if you pay attention it becomes apparent that she becomes less vain throughout due to the rough situations she goes through to save Anneliese. The two of them even get their own enemy in the shape of Preminger’s arrogant dog. Oh, and Wolfie and Serafina also fall in love and have a litter with super cute kittens!

•King Dominick. When he is first introduced, he has disguised himself as a servant because he wants to see what it’s like when they don’t know that he is king. This speaks to the fact that he doesn’t want to marry just anyone, he actually cares about the person and not the title. His first meeting with ’Anneliese’ is actually Erika and it is clear that be becomes smitten. Shortly after he hears her sing to Wolfie in her quarters when she thinks that she’s alone and that only strenghtens his feelings for her. Later on in the movie when it is revelead by Preminger that Erika is an imposter, Dominick refuses to believe the lies he spews about her and Julian and even goes so far as to assist Erika when she flees from the dungeon. Even after he knows that Erika isn’t the princess he thought that she was he still wants to marry her regardless, showing again that it isn’t the crown or power he loves. That creates a powerful opposition to Preminger btw who does everything out of deisre for power and status. Erika originally turns down his proposal as she wishes to travel the world and try her chance at singing now that she is finally free from her debt to the shopowner, still Dominick continues to love and support her. He waits patiently for months until she returns and only then do they live happily ever after together.

•Now that I’ve talked about Dominick I simply have to gush about Julian as well. He’s the servant who fell maddly in love with the princess despite knowing that they couldn’t be together. He knows Anneliese so well that he realizes she is kidnapped based on the SCENT of the letter ’Anneliese’ aka Preminger left claiming that she had run away. I mean, anyone who recognizes the fricking scent of your letters is instantly marriage material. He then goes out of his way to bring Erika to the castle and teach her how to act like Anneliese so that the marriage arrangement doesn’t fall through, a marriage that would have no doubt broken his heart but he still fights for it because he knows that Anneliese would never want to see their kingdom fall apart even if it means that she will have to sacrifice herself. He is selfless and supports Anneliese constantly, his love for her is complete and incredibly beautiful. When Anneliese confeses her love to him in the mines he still can’t believe it despite that he is such a wonderful person and that makes him very human to me.

•Preminger. I hate the man, but I love the character. His only motivation is power and that is something I find incredibly realistic now that I’ve grown up. He doesn’t care for either Anneliese or the Queen despite trying to get them both to marry him, which becomes extremly clear when he tries to murder Anneliese and Julian out of his own convinience. Preminger is actually quite smart and strategical and if not for the fact that his two goons are complete morons [Noun: loving] he might have actually succeeded. Don’t get me started on those two, they are so ridicolously comedic that I can’t handle it.

•The soundtrack. I’m a sucker for music in general, especially in children’s movies but the songs in this one are my favorite. They’re emotional and raw and play in extremly well with Erika’s ambitions to become a singer once she is free to live her life as she wishes. She, for example, uses a song to lull her prisonguard to sleep in order to escape which is not only clever but also teaches kids that words are powerful.

•I could continue ranting about this movie forever but I’m going to conclude by talking about how strong both Anneliese and Erika are. I’ve mentioned previously how responsible they are because of their duties but I want to evolve further on why they are such amazing role models. Anneliese doesn’t just do the right thing when she thinks that she has to, when mistaken for Erika and locked in by the shopowner Erika works for she helps the other seamstress with the dresses because Anneliese simply refuses to let her do them all by herself. And Erika, she shows that you can follow your dreams even if you fall in love and that sometimes taking risks is worth it. Erika stepped in as Anneliese despite knowing that if caught she would be tried for treason and possibly executed, but she did it for her friend and for her kingdom. Back to Anneliese, when she was stuck and left to die in a mine she kept calm, found a way to save her kingdom, confessed her love to her best friend (Julian) and came up with a genius idea that saved their lives. If those things don’t scream bad ass female role models to you I don’t know what to tell you.