Character Arcs vs Character Development & Self-Revelation
“Holy hell, what is going on. I am already overwhelmed and I haven’t even read a word.” Well, you don’t have to read. Not yet. Let me explain Character Arcs and Development to you in video, just click here, and then for more in-depth reading, you can return here, fully equipped like a Pro
1. Character Arcs: Emotional Transformation Through Story
Key Points:
Internal Struggle (Deep-Seated Issue): The character has a core emotional wound or belief shaped by a traumatic past event (the "ghost"). This issue prevents them from handling the big Problem thrown at them, triggering the main conflict for the rest of the story (That’s why this Problem is called the Inciting Incident)
Example: A hero who believes they don’t deserve to live, and because of past condemnation might sabotage relationships throughout the story, initially pushing away allies (Nami, Nico Robin from One Piece. Replace ‘live’ with ‘love’ and you have an infinite number of characters who started their story believing they don’t deserve love. Heck most of us don’t deserve love.)
Journey of Change: As the plot progresses, the character faces obstacles that force them to confront this core issue. These challenges usually parallel their internal growth.
Example: The hero is confronted by characters or situations that challenge their worldview, forcing them to reconsider their beliefs or past choices.
Moment of Choice (Climactic Change): At a critical moment, the character must choose whether to embrace personal growth or stay stuck in their old ways. This unravelling of the self is called the Self-Revelation. This can occur before the climax, or during if it doesn’t require flashbacks etc that ruin the tension. Either way, their decision to grow or not directly impacts whether they can solve the Problem.
Example: The hero finally accepts love from their allies, allowing them to fight with unity, overcoming a threat they couldn’t defeat alone.
Climax/Resolution (Growth or Fall): If the character changes, they find happiness or success by overcoming their internal demons. If they resist change, they face the negative consequences of the villain (or no one) winning: this defeat or failed arc is what we call… A TRAGEDY.
Example: The hero, by falling to cynicism and believing that they don’t deserve love, don’t deserve to live, and that people will always abandon them, they find themselves separated from their friends and they or their friends are killed. Oof. …now I wanna go write a tragedy.
I don’t mention this in the visdev half of this lesson, but Tragedy can also be foreshadowed (hinted at) in the characters’ visual design.
Showing changes and shifts: Decisions. Actions speak louder than words, so don’t have your character preaching, ever. During the inciting incident, they couldn’t do something or chose to do the wrong thing due to fear or their internal issue. In the self-revelation it is just that simple. They gather their courage and face their greatest fear by chosing to face that fear. This is why your villain is often a mirror of your hero or theme, because if they are, their actions will naturally be your MCs greatest fears.
o Example: Ussop is not as brave as Luffy’s stronger MCs. He is a regular human sniper in a world full of people with crazy in your face powers. He always wants to GTFO and run to a safer, advantageous position (rightfully). But he can’t always do this, so he wants to be a brave warrior, and when his friends are in trouble he has to face his fear and find a smart way to help. Deciding to run is what we expect. Deciding to stay and fight is what we (and he, deep down) wants. He has had this arc for like 8 straight seasons though, which is why people give him a hard time, but they don’t understand that he is a paragon of his own kind, the cowardly-comic relief type. Does that not make him a character development type character? Yes, partly. But over those 8 seasons he has not just gotten stronger, but braver too. His visual design reflects this as well, being much more confident and manly over time.
Exercise 1:
Design a character arc that sets up emotional growth (1): come up with an inciting incident, then make it devastating by making it happen to a character who can’t deal with it (think, what kind of person would this absolutely crush, the kind of person it wouldn’t just trigger it would ruin their way of life, and then jot that person down with a short description).
Design a character arc that sets up emotional growth (2): come up with a deep-seated issue a person could have, then write down a ‘ghost’ of what created that deep-seated issue. Now, think about the worst possible thing that could happen to this specific person (that will be your inciting incident). This inciting incident should be something that they cannot deal with yet.
Pick one of the above characters and suggest a goal for your character to try and deal with the problem at hand (How are they going to try and set things right? With their deep-seated issues, they’re probably going to try the wrong way first, by trying to solve the problem without facing their deepest fear)
Suggest 2 to 3 challenges your character can face that will make them better able to cope with that deep-seated issue, their greatest fear. Each challenge should forcing them to make a difficult decision (if they are challenges that are difficult for those with your character’s deep-seated issue, i.e. thematically relevant challenges, this will be easy to come up with - if you’re stuck, think ‘what are thematically relevant challenges my character with the deep-seated issue of ____ could face in order to grow and be able to deal with __(inciting incident)__).
Design a climactic challenge that forces the character to face their deep-seated issue head on and grow
Suggest how the Problem could resolve (or result in tragedy if your character ignores the call)
2. Character Development: Unravelling the Fully Actualized Character
Key Points:
Established Persona: Characters with development (like James Bond, Luffy, or Sherlock Holmes) start off as largely fully-formed, meaning they already know who they are and how to handle themselves. Their core beliefs or traits rarely change dramatically throughout the story.
Example: Sherlock Holmes begins as a confident, brilliant detective with quirky habits, and those quirks remain consistent throughout his adventures.
Unraveling Depth: Instead of evolving emotionally, these characters become more interesting as we learn more about their backstory, motivations, or the deeper reasons behind their behavior.
Example: As the story progresses, we learn more about Holmes’ lonely childhood or Luffy’s dedication to his crew, which formed as a child living a difficult life with his found-family brothers. This deepens our understanding of them without fundamentally changing their personalities.
Growth Through Challenge: Although these characters might not change much emotionally, they can still grow in power, skill, or experience. Their adventures often push them to new limits, but the core of who they are stays intact.
Example: Luffy grows stronger as he faces tougher enemies, but his boundless optimism and carefree nature remain consistent, driving the plot, other characters’ arcs, and engaging the audience through his resilience (like how he processed grief).
Supporting Character Influence: Fully-developed protagonists often serve as anchors for other characters, helping them through their own arcs. This dynamic creates opportunities to explore the main character’s values while showing others changing around them.
Example: Luffy’s interactions with his crew as they were assembled one by one show us more about Sherlock’s eccentricities and brilliance while he provides the nudge the crewmate in question needed to grow and embark on his journey. An MC like this can provide inspiration, insight, fix something, etc that assists the other character’s arc before or during their moment of choice.
Exercise 2:
Choose a well-known development character from known media that somewhat aligns with the themes of the story/character you made above, and suggest how the development character could plug into your character’s arc and assist them towards a successful self-revelation (no giving them a speech. Actions speak louder than words.)
Choose a well-known villain, and suggest how they could influence your character negatively, increasing the chances of them failing their self-rev.
Starting to see how an interesting character/story comes about? It’s not about some genius idea. It’s about setting up a worthy character goal—something to fear losing if the character fails—and then a villain with the power to make the character fail. T.E.N.S.I.O.N
Make a Character Development MC.
Decide on an inciting incident, and hence a theme, and describe a character who overcame that incident and came out the other side.
What’s their big life goal now that the world is their oyster?
Design a villain/organisation that, by its nature, would not allow your character (or perhaps anyone) from achieving that goal, and why. The MC’s goal must be a worthy goal, but the organisation’s goal doesn’t have to be. It can be well-meaning, but it can also be so while being too rigid, set in their ways, or corrupt. Let your theme assist with this decision. Ideally, they will also be the root cause of that inciting incident that shaped the MC (Stories are all about tie ins. Viewers will buy some coincidences/conveniences in the name of coherency)
3. Arcs and Development Together: Contrast through Interaction
Key Points:
Character Arcs Beside Development: In stories that mix arcs and development, the fully developed protagonist can help others navigate their arcs. Their interactions often highlight the contrast between a stable, developed character and someone going through personal change.
Example: James Bond might remain cool and collected, while a rookie agent undergoes a confidence-building arc. Bond’s consistency serves as a counterpoint, reinforcing the rookie’s growth (i.e, making it clearer to the viewer through natural contrast)
Mutual Influence: Although developed characters might not have drastic changes, they can still be subtly impacted by others’ arcs, making them process topics through their unique lens, giving the story depth and dynamics (simple contemplation might be speaking/thinking, but this is still not preaching to the viewer!)
Example: Luffy’s open interactions with his crew reveal more about his leadership qualities than anything he could say—when Nami, the navigator is shouting at him within her realm of expertise, he listens quietly and changes his destination decisions accordingly (unless the danger entices him, queue adventure!). Or when Zoro, his right hand man stops him in a moment of weakness from doing the ‘nice’ thing, holding him to the highest standard, he takes the advice and does the ‘right’ thing.
Exercise 3:
Consider your Character Dev MC from the previous exercise and determine their personality. First things that should help you craft their personality will be the elements we already have: the theme as dictated by your inciting incident, deep-seated issues, and ghost they’ve already overcome (and other possible major events due to run-ins with their antagonists). These things might mold a certain type of person, but don’t forget irony. More often the ironic personality coming out of those experiences will be more interesting (like the guy who comes out of his trauma smiling, grateful that they were able to overcome rather than being jaded like most people). Irony is a form of contrast and contrast always makes thing more interesting. Once you have this, you can consider other elements of their personality, like quirks, fun traits, interests, etc.
Suggest a moral code, or a core guiding principle that this character lives by and stands for. I don’t need to tell you what elements will help you decide this—the thematic elements. Something relatively ironic could work too, as long as it aligns with their worthy goal.
Suggest a possible ally, villain, and unlikely ally for your Character Dev MC
hint: Your character will respect people who have similar principles to them or who respect those principles (ally). Conversely, they will come into conflict with those who have opposing principles (villain). And they might struggle to work with people who have opposing principles but the same goal (unlikely ally).
There are also those who struggle to work with people who have similar principles… if this is your MC, that fact should probably be their character arc, lol. Careful of unlikable characters, unnecessarily difficult people, etc. I will talk about this in a video, but for now, stay away from unlikeable characters for your exercises. This includes anti-heroes.
4. Common Tropes and Misconceptions About Character Arcs & Development
Key Points:
Misconception: Every Main Character Needs an Arc: Many assume that all protagonists must undergo emotional transformation, but fully developed characters can be just as engaging through action, charisma, or… MYSTERY.
Example: Not every story needs an emotionally vulnerable Batman, sometimes people just want to see cool man punch crime in the face. The supporting cast and villains can bring the emotional weight to the story while the MC rocks the rule of cool.
Misconception: Fully Developed Characters Don’t Change: While their core traits remain consistent, they do grow through experience or face new challenges that reveal different facets of their character.
Example: Luffy may not change his carefree outlook, but he constantly evolves in strength and responsibility over the course of his journey, and he struggles through difficult times like grief after loss, requiring outside help and guidance. A mini arc, if you will.
Misconception: Character Arcs Are Always Positive: Not all arcs end with the character overcoming their flaw. Some stories show the character refusing to change, leading to their downfall.
Example: Othello, who fails to trust his wife, succumbing to the villain’s poisonous words and killing the innocent Desdemona.
Example: A villain who refuses to confront their jealousy self-destructs, leading to a weakness for the MC to exploit, making for a compelling, if tragic, arc. Often, the villain’s arc is just the MC’s, but the failed version of it… Poor villains.
Exercise 4:
Consider your ally, villain, and unlikely ally from the previous exercise and suggest the self-actualised characters each of them could become if they succeed in their arc (heads up, a villain arc with a successful self-rev is a villain who gets mercy at the end. An unlikely ally with a successful self-rev is going through a redemption arc; them working towards good at some point acts as foreshadowing for this, prepping the viewer for it)
Consider failed self-revs for each of them and describe how that tragedy/downfall pans out.
5. Learning outcomes
Communicate the distinction between character arcs and development
Provide clear examples of both and point out which bucket any existing character fall into.
Design Arc characters & Development characters with emotional depth
Communicate this emotional depth purely through challenges and difficult character decisions.
Play arc and development characters off each other to create a dynamic cast of characters
