characters with a 'past'

[Guernsey]

I have thought about the pasts of most characters in some certain anime or games and to be honest, they have it pretty rough especially if their families had either been killed, had betrayed by “friends”, done something horrible in the past or just have low self esteem. These characters have often become better people overtime but what about the normal characters who never had it rough? I know that it is fiction and not everyone with a ‘past’ behaves this way but still I cannot say the same for normal characters who had it ‘easy’ and have no ‘right’ to complain. How can a normal character respond to this? How can a normal character even compare to this? I guess I myself can be characterize as the ‘rich kid who gets everything’ but does a character need to be in a rough environment to be melacholic, stoic or dare I say it ‘emo’? Can there be a character who simply desires to be a ‘hero’? Man, it just seems like ‘normal’ characters can even compare to those who are ‘special’ and real life is lot more complex than fiction but I am wrong in this assumption?

 

[eternaloblivion]

Actually i know a character dat wants to be a hero (Zack Fair)
i also wander bout there past 2
Cloud was adicted 2 mako nearly killed his friend dyed in front of him and hes an enemy of the ppl who own his town aka shinra
do you think he has it rough yet cause he also has to save the world from a meteor kill jenova and still worry about sephiroth

 

[Dirges for Damcyan]

Well it depends on your motivation of the terms. Sure a normal person can be a hero if you (as many people do) define rushing into a burning building to save someone as heroism. That happens with some degree of frequency. Also, laying down your life to save others happens, with less frequency, and I am sure that a good deal of the people who do it are average Joes. However, if you mean heroic in the Final Fantasy sense, then no, I don't think that you can be normal and pull it off. These characters are at odds with supernatural evils, ancient curses, and cataclysmic environments. I believe that, in order to have the sort of drive to see a task with such gravity through to the end, i.e. to have motivation enough to travel continents and give up everything in order to force a climactic confrontation, you have to have some deep scars where they hurt the most.

 

[Davey Gaga]

Can there be a character who simply desires to be a ‘hero’?

Saying that reminds me of Zack, straight away - he had no dark past. He came from a bit of a poor village but was motivated by nothing but his dreams. Sora, from Kingdom Hearts, basically wants to broaden his horizons and manages to do so by saving his friends; the only past we know of is a strange day when he finds a door in a cave. Nothing note-worthy there (at least to his character; it's invaluable to the plot xD).

That said, I think the list stops there...you're right, that every character seems to have a deep and meaningful past but what's wrong with that? A story surrounding one person who gets up one morning and tries to fight a massive monster probably wouldn't sell as well as past titles have.

 

[strifehart]

i think FFX brings about a semi-example. in it, they say that several summoners and their teams had succeeded in putting sin at bay, but not permanently. i'm sure these could all be considered heroes. and FFX could have told their stories. but instead, it told the story of the one group that managed to put it away for good. this group was special, and it's leader/hero, Tidus, happened to be very special (plot plot plot). so, in the final fantasy sense, i'd say yeah, there are heroes in the story that are not special, but the story focuses on those who are.

 

[mason22]

Well i'd say Garnet was pretty damn spoiled if you look at the story of everybody there.

Spoiler

Zidane didnt know who the hell he was for most of his life and never had parents unless you count that old man he killed as his dad. He killed his brother, oh yea and he has a tail.

Amarant is a loner who begged for death TWICE.

Freya spent most of the game trying to find her love who doesnt even remember her when she does and has her home completely destroyed.

Quina is a transexual who treats food as if it was heroin.

Vivi had to marry her, had one of her kind as a grandpa who died and was the nicest guy in the entire game yet he was treated like shit by just about everybody.

Need I go on?

All Garnet pretty much had going for her was that

Spoiler

her mom died and didnt know where she was from

. She was great and all but besides that, she was rich and pretty much a pain in the ass for everybody else.

 

[Vladislak]

In the RPG world, it's hard to be a hero without a compelling backstory that involves enduring a hardship.

But there are some games that pull it off. In the original Legend of Zelda Link was just an ordinary guy. And yes it was an RPG, there's more to RPG's than leveling and giving everything numerical values.

Crono from Chrono Trigger didn't really have any special backstory to him, he was just a dude that chanced to stumble upon a disaster.

Cage from Zone of Enders: Fist of Mars was an ordinary employee on a ship.

Stahn from the original Tales of Destiny didn't have anything special to him either, he just happened to be "chosen" by the Swordian Dymlos. I could be wrong though, it's been ages since I played the game so he could have a little more to him.

Those are just to name a few.

 

[One-winged Demon]

Marche from FFTA was just an ordinary child that found a mysterious book.