?

What is Aeron's fate?

  1. Defeat (but life)

    1 vote(s)
    20.0%
  2. Imprisonment

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. Death

    2 vote(s)
    40.0%
  4. Other (explain below)

    2 vote(s)
    40.0%
  1. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    What should happen to my god?

    Discussion in 'Fantasy' started by Lea`Brooks, May 3, 2016.

    So I'm writing a fantasy involving three gods. They require a delicate balance of power, so if one grows too strong, the others grow weaker. For example, if there is a war, the death god will become overly powerful, strengthened by all the death, and the remaining gods will be too weak to do their own jobs.

    My story is about the death god Aeron becoming too strong and eventually losing control over his power and his mind. He turns into a mindless killing machine, his only focus on razing all life on earth. (Note: Aeron is not a bad guy, and he does not intentionally hurt anyone. He is simply a prisoner of his own power, his mind twisted and corrupted by it so much that he is not even the same person anymore. Once he weakens, he'll go back to the mindful, peaceful god he was before.) Now, I know I want the story to end with him coming under control. But there are a few options I've considered and, having never read a story like this before, I don't know what's been done, what hasn't been done, and what is probably expected. So I'm going to ask you! It essentially comes down to three things:


    Defeat: Aeron will be defeated by my MC but allowed to live. There is risk in this option though, because there is a chance he could be overcome with power again in the future. Since this is the second time he's tried to raze the earth, it's an unlikely solution to a now recurring problem.

    Imprisonment: Aeron will be defeated and imprisoned so that he cannot be influenced by war happening on earth. There is risk in this option too. Aeron was imprisoned after the first time he lost his mind and was released at the start of my story by people who fed him death until he snapped. So there's the possibility that, if imprisoned, he could be released and wreak havoc on the world again.

    Death: Whether Aeron comes to his senses or is defeated, he realizes there is no choice but to die. If he is imprisoned or allowed to live, the risk is great that it could happen again. So he passes his magic to the goddess of life (who will then have balance within herself and will not be influenced by war) then kills himself.


    I don't want to do something so off the wall, it'll throw off the readers. But I don't want to go with the likely solution either. I'm leaning towards one option but could still use some input from others. So which would you prefer to see as the ending? :) What should happen to Aeron?
     
  2. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    The option of Death could be written in a poignant manner, with the god basically sacrificing himself for the greater good, once he is in his right mind.

    This brought to mind Icarium, from Steven Erikson's Malazan books, who was seen as a god by some (though in the Malazan books you can never be sure). He did some catastrphic thing in the past and ended up being weakened and losing his memory. He was allowed to live, but was given a companion to travel with him as he wandered the earth in case he should regain his memory and resort back to his horrific, destructive self.

    On a side note, Aeron is the name of the evil lord in my RPG, who is in the process of being reawakened from a millenium of imprisonment. Imprisonment of these types never ends well :)
     
  3. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    This is what I've been leaning towards as well. But it's really hard for me to kill him. :bigfrown: It's very much in his personality to sacrifice himself. He agreed to be imprisoned the first time because he knew how dangerous he could be.. But I love Aeron! :cry:
     
  4. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    What about instead of dying outright, he still sacrifices himself. Maybe he still transfers his power, essentially rendering himself mortal. He won't die immediately, but he'll live out a mortal life instead of remaining a god. He doesn't kill himself because he's no longer a threat.
     
  5. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    Ooooo..... I could do that....

    After I finish this series, I have a sequel in mind, where my MC goes back into the past (she's a time-traveler) to stop Aeron the first time he freaks out (would that be considered a prequel then? o_O). It could be fun to bring Aeron along to defeat himself. lol He'd obviously want to stay hidden, because he couldn't allow his past self to see his future self. But who better to tell my MC of what the enemy plans to do than the enemy himself?

    That could be interesting....
     
  6. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    So he makes himself mortal?

    Since he is a god of death, is there some way you can write this whereby actually choosing to die results in him being transformed into something else better entirely? Imagine, death strengthens the god of death, so it stands to reason that by dying, or choosing to die, the god of death should now be all powerful - but in a balanced sense rather than the crazed sense. Do you get what I mean?

    Still another option - could he not choose to pass his magic to the goddess of life, and then live a peaceful, mortal life?

    The key question for yourself is: do you want Aeron to be redeemed?

    But of the options you gave, death was the best one :)
     
  7. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    I definitely want Aeron to be redeemed. I've been flirting with the idea of adding a fourth goddess, the goddess of time, who died trying to restrain Aeron the first time. He didn't kill her -- she just used all her magic to stop him when she was already weak, and the effort killed her. That is part of the reason why Aeron agreed to be trapped once he came out of his "possession." He didn't mean to bring her harm, and he felt guilty and responsible for her death, even though he wasn't of sound mind.

    I'm just not sure what the best redemption for him would be. Retaining his powers after he sacrifices himself? Becoming mortal and living a normal life among the people? Dying in general, free from his suffering? I'm not sure which would be most effective or have the most impact.

    I'm starting to really love the idea of him passing off his magic and becoming mortal though, because it could play into a lot of storylines. Since the spirit god controls who comes back to life, he could prevent Aeron from dying. This would be a huge moment for Aeron, because the spirit god (husband of the time goddess) partly holds Aeron accountable for her death. So by returning him to life, it's a reconciliation moment for them. Then Aeron could join my MC in her task and redeem himself by helping her.

    I can't see any flaws in it really... I may go with it. Thanks guys! :p
     
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  8. halisme

    halisme Contributor Contributor

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    I can, though this is from all that you've in this thread. Surely by taking a gods power from them, its just another way of ruining the balance. If two gods weaken when one gains strength, I imagine the two that are left would be supercharged when one of them quits. What balances them out now? Surely if it was consequence free he would have done it the first time round.

    There are only four ways I (meaning you can ignore me as much or as little as you like) would end the book. Ending 1, things go back to normal. Aeron goes back to jail, forever afraid of his own power and unable to do anything about it less he disrupt the balance. Ending 2, all the gods decided to be mortal. No more balance needed, though this seems like a cop out. Ending 3, a new deity pops up and replaces, though this seems like a delay to the problem and it all start over again eventually. Ending 4, he becomes mortal, but a big blob of energy is left behind to act as a counterweight.
     
  9. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    Well, Aeron would give his power to the life goddess. And my logic was that since they're two opposing forces, life and death, they'd balance out inside her. But that may be flawed logic. lol
     
  10. halisme

    halisme Contributor Contributor

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    If they're opposing and they balance out, surely she'd be left with no power? And that's ignoring the excess of death power. Though I might be providing sequel plots by accident here.
     
  11. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    They'd balance out, not cancel each other. She'd still have access to both. And the excess death power from Aeron would be minimized before transferring to her.
     
  12. Feo Takahari

    Feo Takahari Senior Member

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    You mentioned a third god, though. If she now has the power of death and life, she's twice as powerful as that god, which may cause his power to diminish . . .

    Yeah, this is definitely a sequel hook. Sealing Aeron won't solve anything, so they make a choice that will at least change something, and then they deal with the consequences of the change.
     
  13. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    Yeah, I don't really see it that way.

    It's not so much a balance of magic inside the gods as it is a balance of elements. Too many deaths make the one who controls death too strong. Too much life makes the one who controls life too strong. So as long as the living world is balanced and in order, the gods will be too, no matter how many of the elements they control. So having control over two different types of magic doesn't make her stronger than the other god. And since she has the ability to immediately bring life after a death, she'll never be overcome like Aeron.
     
  14. IHaveNoName

    IHaveNoName Senior Member Community Volunteer

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    I'd go with the mortality option. I was going to say that handing off his power to the Life goddess would be weird (not because she'd be too powerful, but because she'd have two portfolios where every other god has only one), but if you handle it right, it could work. Giving up power is redemption through atonement, which would suit him perfectly - he's giving up the portfolio that caused all those deaths and chaos and disaster, handing it over to someone more capable of controlling it, and in return he gets to live a mortal life.
     
  15. Seraph751

    Seraph751 If I fell down the rabbit hole... Contributor

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    The system delegating the balance between the gods will be rewritten (by the mc) and a maddened Aeron who spouts bits of prudent advice amongst his ramblings saved. If Aeron is a good guy then he, knowing the consequences of losing control, will have fought every step of the way to prevent only to be overtaken. If the mc can rewrite the system and help the gods figure out a more stable form of balance.
     
  16. Mouthwash

    Mouthwash Senior Member

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    Dear god people, don't call your characters Aeron. Or Amon. Even a random name generator would be better.
     
  17. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    Uhh... Why?
     
  18. Mouthwash

    Mouthwash Senior Member

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    It's almost the platonic form of a cliche fantasy name.
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2017
  19. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    This just seems like the strangest thing to say, for some reason. o_O
     
  20. Mouthwash

    Mouthwash Senior Member

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    Are you able to elaborate?
     
  21. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    There are certainly those names that are genres cliche specific,
    but platonic?

    How can a name be platonic or involved, when it comes to
    it being portrayed in a story that is of a specific genre?

    I don't think it matters so much, considering that there are
    many names that are cliches to their genres. It kinda comes
    with the territory. It is a little like saying that using common
    names in reg-fiction are a cliche, because we hear them all
    the time.
     
  22. Phil Mitchell

    Phil Mitchell Banned Contributor

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    Don't imprison if imprisonment is what someone already tried before. Madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. It would be like if Gandalf really did take the ring and become the next Sauron. Makes the story seem pointless.
     
  23. Lea`Brooks

    Lea`Brooks Contributor Contributor

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    I have no idea what's going on.
     
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  24. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    That makes two of us.
     

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