11-03-2017, 09:44 PM
Let's talk reincarnations for a bit.
So I think everyone knows that Jay is a reborn version of my character Jai from an old forums RP board set in the 3rd Age before the last battle. For one thing, Jai was hell of fun to write, and while Arikan was interesting, he was pretty dark while Jai was just plain old fun. I didn't want to lose that character so decided to rebirth him here as Jay.
With all this posting of Jay's past life as Jai (3rd Age Asha'man) i've been doing lately, it's made me re-read all that he was in his past life. While I have worked hard (about as hard as I work anyway) to make Jay fit as a reincarnated Jai, there is a lot I am struggling to figure out.
For one thing I don't want to repeat the same story that took Jai to where he ended up and force that upon Jay, because while they're the same soul, they're two different people.
That led me to ask what factors go into making a character. To me I figured 3 things: genetics, childhood, and the soul. The soul remains the same between reincarnations while the other two vary drastically.
Jai had OCD and was a math genius (genetics). He had a good family that came from wealth and prestige, but not exactly affectionate. He loved his family, but their relationships were twisted and bizarre. But those were the factors that went into who Jai was in that life specifically.
Soulfully, he is loyal, tunnel-visioned, able to sacrifice one thing to gain an ends he truly felt were justified, is a good soldier in battle, and loves the thrill and power of saidin perhaps too much, enough that he'll kill with it and feel little remorse, especially if he deemed it "necessary" or "for the cause." He's self-sacrificing for those to whom he is loyal. He enjoys flirting with women and gets a thrill out of charming them and making them smile. He's also bisexual, but is only particularly romantic with women. Specifically, his soul is also tethered to Natalie (Past life: Nythadri) and he loves her fiercely, passionately, and probably dangerously.
So that's my analysis of Jai.
My struggle is to take all the attributes of Jai's soul and strip them away from his past life, and implant them into the current life. In the current life he was raised by good old fashioned close family in rural Iowa. He was a sports star and not particularly intellectual. He joined the marines and eventually the Legion. So there's not much genetically or from childhood that has some huge impact on his current life. In fact, the current Jay is probably what past Jai should have been if 1) his family weren't crazy, 2) he didn't have to murder damane for a job, and 3) there was no such thing as the taint screwing with his sanity.
To all of who that have characters who were reborn versions of someone else (either a mythological figure or an old RP char or whatever), how do you meld those two people? What in their souls do you connect life to life and how do you strip away the genetics and childhood impacts?
I'm thinking reading all of your thoughts could help me organize my own.
So I think everyone knows that Jay is a reborn version of my character Jai from an old forums RP board set in the 3rd Age before the last battle. For one thing, Jai was hell of fun to write, and while Arikan was interesting, he was pretty dark while Jai was just plain old fun. I didn't want to lose that character so decided to rebirth him here as Jay.
With all this posting of Jay's past life as Jai (3rd Age Asha'man) i've been doing lately, it's made me re-read all that he was in his past life. While I have worked hard (about as hard as I work anyway) to make Jay fit as a reincarnated Jai, there is a lot I am struggling to figure out.
For one thing I don't want to repeat the same story that took Jai to where he ended up and force that upon Jay, because while they're the same soul, they're two different people.
That led me to ask what factors go into making a character. To me I figured 3 things: genetics, childhood, and the soul. The soul remains the same between reincarnations while the other two vary drastically.
Jai had OCD and was a math genius (genetics). He had a good family that came from wealth and prestige, but not exactly affectionate. He loved his family, but their relationships were twisted and bizarre. But those were the factors that went into who Jai was in that life specifically.
Soulfully, he is loyal, tunnel-visioned, able to sacrifice one thing to gain an ends he truly felt were justified, is a good soldier in battle, and loves the thrill and power of saidin perhaps too much, enough that he'll kill with it and feel little remorse, especially if he deemed it "necessary" or "for the cause." He's self-sacrificing for those to whom he is loyal. He enjoys flirting with women and gets a thrill out of charming them and making them smile. He's also bisexual, but is only particularly romantic with women. Specifically, his soul is also tethered to Natalie (Past life: Nythadri) and he loves her fiercely, passionately, and probably dangerously.
So that's my analysis of Jai.
My struggle is to take all the attributes of Jai's soul and strip them away from his past life, and implant them into the current life. In the current life he was raised by good old fashioned close family in rural Iowa. He was a sports star and not particularly intellectual. He joined the marines and eventually the Legion. So there's not much genetically or from childhood that has some huge impact on his current life. In fact, the current Jay is probably what past Jai should have been if 1) his family weren't crazy, 2) he didn't have to murder damane for a job, and 3) there was no such thing as the taint screwing with his sanity.
To all of who that have characters who were reborn versions of someone else (either a mythological figure or an old RP char or whatever), how do you meld those two people? What in their souls do you connect life to life and how do you strip away the genetics and childhood impacts?
I'm thinking reading all of your thoughts could help me organize my own.
Only darkness shows you the light.