The importance of personality

[gaoldart]

One day, a friend asked me "Why is Terumi liked so much if he's the bad guy?" and actually that left me thinking for a bit... why are some villians complete monsters yet are among the favorites? and came up with the answer "Personality".

If your character has a strong personality, one that is remembered easily and emulated with ease, you are in for a memorable character, in the case of Terumi he REALLY enjoys what he does, so, people start feeling some sort of synergy when they see him, but that alone is not enough, you can describe Terumi easily and try to sound like him without much effort. So in the end it was all personality.

My question is... how much importance do you give to this side of your characters?

[Chorvaqueen]

I spent almost a month conceptualizing 2 character personalities with my friend...mostly on toning down attributes and pruning sue-tendencies. and she's the one who introduced me to tvtropes


must....resist..linking...to...tvtropes

•Chewing the Scenery...check
•Large Ham...CHECK
•Ensemble Darkhorse...maybe...but my friend she found one in my cast (probably appealed to her lol)

[MiSi]

Our characters are nearly alive for us, so... developing them isn't difficult
We always think about things like: "How would characterA behave in situationA and what makes him different in behaviour from characterB or characterC..." That's how one can spend his/her freetime

[Marcelo_Orlando]

When it comes to villains, it is important to establish them strongly and put reason behind their actions. It's good to give your character foundation and make sure that they don't come off as one of those "I want to rule the world just because I'm evil" sorts. I do put extra time in figuring out who they are and why they do what they do. It makes the villain more relatable if there is a reason behind their actions instead of.."Muahahahah!" One thing that I always keep in mind is that all villains don't believe that what they are doing is wrong. That will make the character more developed and yes, there are those that like to hurt people but making them out to be different from the typical bad guy or maybe even more viscous would help them to stand out.

Also a handsome guy and or an awesome outfit and weapons can carry a character a long way.

[Omnificent]

Personality is at least 75% important for me, especially since that is the main way the readers are engaged in a medium that is mostly dialogue. Even quiet characters should have something that draws you to them aside from 'they are the quiet one' or 'they are the good-looking one' or 'they say MOE MOE KYUUUUUUUN'.

On the subject of BlazBlue, Terumi is a magnificent troll with a magnificent fedora. He is basically Izaya from Durarara!, who everyone loves. Then Ragna is a rough-around-the-edges badass, Bang is a fountain of hotblooded ninja might, and Hakumen is a cool aloof badass suit of armor. In a cast of such crazy character designs and over the top personalities there are just some that stand out more than others.

For my part I just like playing characters with chain-and-sickle type weapons and sharp taste in menswear in fighting games, so I liked Terumi even before I knew any of the story.

[Snow Blossom]

I think that it's interesting to have a villain who can't help him/herself. The type of person who can't help acting one way, even though he/she regrets it later and ends up digging his/her own grave. Also, for me, a really important factor of my attitude towards a villain is his/her motivation for being "evil." It's easier to understand and therefore like a villain whose motivation is, let's say, revenge, compared to one who wants to kill everyone just because blood looks like liquefied rubies. So yeah, personality is very important. And fashion sense. Xd

[gaoldart]

The problem is... if you put too many freudian excuses (Must... not... link...) then the villian gets annoying. So yeah, "Because my mom hated me" is a valid reason but "My mom hated me, my dad punched me and my dog bit me"... get on your nerves...

...on a second thought, that's a cool idea for a villian that you want people to hate

[LVUER]

It's not all about personality what makes a character interesting, memorable, and believe-able. There's also a background story, a goal, a motive, and so on.

[gaoldart]

Yes, you are right.

[Snow Blossom]

So yeah, "Because my mom hated me" is a valid reason but "My mom hated me, my dad punched me and my dog bit me"... get on your nerves...

That would be such a hilariously wimpy, cry-baby villain. XD

[Kura]

I'm a bit lost as to what we're comparing personality against. To me, personality is pretty much everything about a character except for what they look like: their preferences, motives, biases, choices... so when we refer to personality as "this side of a character," what do we mean by personality, or, what else defines a character aside from personality?