Character development: Back to the basics
 

The thread about Fighter's apparent increase in intelligence branched out into a discussion of the various characters' development in general. A lot of people seemed to think that aside from Fighter and WM, the characters were stagnating, or had even lost depth from earlier in the series. I feel there is some truth to this, but I also agree with many people that this is a transition period for 8BT and that we must not judge too harshly.

Around the same time, I was going through the archives looking for a particular strip and happened upon some strips from relatively early in the series that I think shed a lot of light on the issue of the characters' development. Basically, they serve as the first real break from the jokes and wackiness that we know and love to give us a serious look into each character's soul. They show us their motivations, what makes them tick.

Black Mage's is #62. Fighter's are #49 and #83, Thief's is #84, and Red Mage's is #85. White Mage gets her's a LOT later: #127. I haven't found a similar one for BB yet, though I'm sure there is one and I'm still looking through the archives (if anyone has a suggestion, let me know).

There are certainly many other strips that develop the characters (I feel #185-#187 are especially important for BM because they expose a kind of inner conflict) but I think this group really lays the foundations for who each one is.

-Black Mage isn't evil, per se. He's amoral, not immoral. However, as established later in #s 185, 186, and 187, he has an internal conflict that could someday bring him around to something like the "light side" or turn him into a total monster.

-Fighter is, basically, in way over his head. He's a warrior because he thinks swords are cool, and doesn't understand the greater implications and responsibilites his profession (?) entails.

-Thief...well, it would be a strech to say he has a heart of gold, but he's a kind of Robin Hood. The cause of saving his father wasn't entirely responsible for him taking up crime (we've seen that the elves are all pretty corrupt), but it was a big factor in taking him down the road he's on now. The question is whether he'll go so far down the road in pursuit of his goal that he won't be able to turn back once the goal is accomplished. (It has, and some would say he can't or at least hasn't.)

To get out of order for a second...

-White Mage's life is based on what we would call her religion. She has a concrete set of beliefs that define her perspective on everything and dictate what action she should take in any given situation. However, she finds it difficult to abide by the tenets of her beliefs and do the right thing when confronted with an annoying jerk like BM, and tough situations like the the group's apparent impending doom at Garland's and her later inability to heal Black Belt rock her faith deeply.

-Red Mage's life is also based on a religion, or something like one. As we see in #85, being a twink isn't just a hobby to him: It's a way of life. It would seem that the order of Red mages have made it their goal to totally understand the rules system and make it work to their advantage in the hopes of becoming like the Gods.

I'd be interested to hear what all the rest of you think are really important character development strips for each character. For my part, I need to do some more research. Off the top of my head, I'll say that important events for Fighter include his later conversations with Dr. Swordopolis, his memories of his training in Zodiac kenshido, and the deaths of BM and BB.

I actually think Fighter is the deepest of the group. Yes, he is dumb on the outside, but every so often we see a sparkle of creativity and even intelligence come out of him at times. Not that I think he'll be relieved of his position as comedy relief any time soon, but I just think he is more of a complex character than we all assume.

And I like your analysis. It all makes a lot of sense, especially the part about Thief.

I see Fighter as the genius that doesn't function well (at all) in society. Unfortunately his genius is generally only applied to Swords and Sword like things.

I like Stabbing--EvilE

Well I think with Fighter is he's been called dumb since the comic begain and probably for a long time before hand, so he probably has goten to belive that he is dumb. The intellegance is ther he just dosen't know it.

We do see a flicker of Black Mages good side. But it dies almost instantly. He begins thinking about what the whole point of being evil is, and finds none. But then he snaps back to reality and they end the episode with a joke line from him. I personally think it was a sidejoke to distract us. And no, he is not just amoral. Yes, he is evil. Seriously. Think about it. Something gets in his way... he kills it. And, whatmore is that he shows no respect or thought for others. Except white mage that is. I've seen some write that he's showing "affection" towards her. But really... he's just trying to get in her robes.
:bmage: HADOKEN!
:bmage: BOATDOKEN!
:bmage: FIGHTERDOKEN!!
:rmage: Damn he's creative...

I'll be the first to anal-retentively point out it's BOATdoken.

But yes, you make some excellent points, RA. However, I get the impression this is like those essays on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (like how Splinter and Shredder represent Yin and Yang): You take something whimsical a little too seriously. The characters will probably be what Brian needs them to be at a given moment; development will happen either for dramatic awesomeness or for humor's sake. That's it.

Incidentally, how can you miss episode #471? Black Belt's development! Duh!

Well, I was looking at the relatively early strips - I would think there has to be one for BB before the four hundredth and freakin seventy-first strip. If not, it's kinda sad: The only character development he ever got was when he died.

Well, episode #95 then. Try that on for size, or put it in your pipe and smoke it, or something. Granted, we don't get into his soul, but it's some kind of development.

Meh. Yeah, it's something alright. :o :D

Can I point out, like Sarda said, you're reading into them waaaaaaaay too much