Alright, so I'm in a bit of a pickle. In my current WIP, I have a girl (primary antagonist, sort of) constantly being plagued by an evil god that latched onto her soul at birth. She's immensely powerful and this god is forcing her, through internal torture, to do his bidding. I've been toying with the idea to change this evil god into a split personality that's trying to take control of her conscious body. Because she's so powerful, her alter ego can warp her view of reality as well as communicate with her. Also, because she's been consuming others' souls, at the direction of her other personality, her mental state is deteriorating, as the souls of her victims lash out at her, screaming in her brain and slowly driving her insane. This last aspect happens in either version of the story, however. Just a bit of background. My issue is this: I feel as though I'm playing right into the "person with mental illness is evil" stereotype. The character herself isn't evil. In fact, she's the main love interest of the protagonist. Thoughts? Warnings?
It does seem like it plays into that cliche on the surface. I'd do a lot of research and consider pretty heavily what would've caused the dissociation, so it doesn't just seem like a plot thread that exists for the sake of having a ~spooky scary crazy person~ in the mix -- let there be ramifications and relevance to her condition and backstory other than the former-evil-god stuff. Flesh it out, don't use it as just a plot device, basically. And I'd always urge that the character in question is treated with compassion by the narrative and not as a monster, but it sounds like you've got that already.
My general idea for Addison's backstory was going to be that she was orphaned at the age of 10. Her mother died during childbirth, due to her immense power (though they don't know that then), and her father always blamed her for it. Her father, on one particularly drunken night, started beating her. This is when she learned she had powers, as, when she retaliated against him, she accidentally killed him. She was afraid (irrationally, of course) that she'd get the death penalty if she stayed, so she ran away and lived on the streets. During her time on the streets, her mind developed a second personality, Addy, that was tougher, and better for them survival-wise. As the years progressed, Addy started to grow increasingly frustrated at playing second fiddle to Addision, so she's somewhat recently started Addison on a path that will drive her insane, as well as make her more powerful, so that Addy can take the reigns with nearly unlimited power, all while condemning Addison to a hellish existence of being trapped with the hundreds (or maybe even thousands) of souls she's taken.
A bit of an update on this. I'm now toying with the idea that there's another antagonist who would be the main antagonist. He would be "working with" Addy and manipulating Addison into following along with Addy's plans subtly, all to further his own agenda. He'd probably be someone close to the protagonist in one way or another, who has gained the protagonist's trust. Still fleshing the idea out mentally, but I think it'd work. ETA: Fixed a typo that completely changed the meaning of the post... Damn me and my stupid fingers!
