1. Boom Bach

    Boom Bach New Member

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    How strong is too strong?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Boom Bach, Aug 15, 2010.

    Okay I'm writing a book and to be short it's angels vs Men who sold their souls to the Devil.
    And There's a scene where one Angel kills 6 Devil Angels...there's only 22 of them through the entire thing. but is that too well over the top. He fights 11 and kills 6.
    The main character witnesses it but is not their and must fight him later.
    Would this be too well cliche or over done or what.
    Keep in mind this is from the Devil Angels perspective.
     
  2. HeinleinFan

    HeinleinFan Banned

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    Find a way to justify it. Some things that would allow an angel to kill 6 of 11 dark angels: Element of surprise. Access to a powerful weapon. Aid from an ally. Perhaps angels are inherently very fast and strong, and devil angels start out slower because they're former humans, and only get more powerful over time.

    The end fight between your main character and the angel will work if the angel is overconfident, or if the angel were injured / poisoned / cursed by a devil angel earlier, so it is weaker when the main character fights it.
     
  3. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    For me, it's far too much. Heroes who are so powerful that they can just mow down their enemies are really boring to me. There should be a balance - not as a 'game balance' mechanical thing, but just because challenges should be challenges. If he needs to knock down 22 enemies, that should take work and planning.

    In an ordinary fight, even defeating two would be too much for me - I could be OK with him defeating one of the two, and then escaping from the second despite his injuries. But, IMO, that should be a big deal requiring every ounce of strength and fighting ability that he had, and he should be very relieved at having survived.

    ChickenFreak
     
  4. Unit7

    Unit7 Contributor Contributor

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    The Angels in the story are the bad guys. The Good guys are the Demon Angels?(well as far as the perspective of the main character goes)

    Then I wouldn't say this is to powerful. Well yeah its powerful but its the kind of powerful that puts the odds against the Main Character and his cause.

    Now if the Angel was the Main Character then he would be to powerful. It would seem like another overpowered Hero who has no real obstacles in his way. Which is boring.

    But because he is a villian then its completely fine for him to be that bad ass. You want your Villians to feel all powerful and could squash your Hero like a little bug. It makes things more interesting.

    So.

    If I understood this correctly(Demon Angel is protagonist, Angel is antagonist) then I say keep it.

    Well no.

    It sorta depends on how he was able to kill them. It also depends on who this Angel is. If he was a lowly Angel then no. But if he is one of the more powerful angels then its fine. Especially if the Demon Angels were not among the stronger.

    It sorta depends on alot of factors I guess.

    But I don't see any real problems with it.

    Powerful Villians are great to have. :)
     
  5. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Ohhhh. I missed that. If the Angel is indeed the bad guy, then, yes, I agree that it's just fine for him to be horribly powerful.
     
  6. Annûniel

    Annûniel Contributor Contributor

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    It's as believable as it is justifiable. It depends on how the two types of angels normally size up against one another. Would virtually any other Angel have been able to do the same thing in the same situation because Angels are inherently stronger than Devil Angels? Even if they are on equal terms, perhaps this particular Angel is stronger than average, but as long as its not as if s/he is Godly, I think its believable.

    Try to parallel the fight to what you might see in our own world. Is the Angel fighting the 11 Devil Angels like a human fighting 11 badgers, tigers, or similarly-armed humans? Even if they are supposed to be of similar strength, you could potentially find a reason for the easy defeat with some of the methods HeinleinFan mentioned.
     
  7. thewordsmith

    thewordsmith Contributor Contributor

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    Yeh, it depends, to a ginormous extent, on how he does away with the other angels. And, yeh, it depends a lot on just how believable it is. And, yeh, considering that we are talking about angels and demons here, I guess anything is possible. Right?
     
  8. LaPetitePierrot

    LaPetitePierrot New Member

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    Interesting point of view...
    You know, there are different classes of angels eh? SO if you want to base if of Judeo-Christian texts, you can use those.
    Basically, Arc-angels are the scum of heaven, easily corruptible, fairly unholy, and very human like, while the Seraphim stand beside God, being unbendable, soulless zealots with no humanity. Then, in between, you've got your Thrones, Powers, etc. Keep in mind that arc-angel's are usually the ones that interact with the human world, and that they're spiritually the weakest in all of heaven. Make one of these guys indestructible and... well... story-writing's about to get a whole lot more difficult
     
  9. sereda008

    sereda008 Member

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    well, 6/22? definitely too much. Try to increase the number of demons or decrease the amount the angel has killed. I also advise that you would study religion before writing such a story.
     
  10. AnonEMoss

    AnonEMoss New Member

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    If the Devil Angels are your protagonists and the Angel that takes out six of your "good" guys is the antagonist than I think you're fine.

    However, if the Angel is the "good" guy, as in protag, then I do think that's too much power.
     
  11. LaPetitePierrot

    LaPetitePierrot New Member

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    Well, according to the bible, a single angel can kill off 600 000 (or some insane number like that) demons... I really thought it was a reasonably decent work of fiction until that point... just destroys the suspense when you know who's gonna win in the end :S
     
  12. Manav

    Manav New Member

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    I agree that it should be justifiable and hence believable. I don't like it in the movies too, but I am watching the television series "Spartagus- Blood and Sand" and there are lots of gladiator fight scenes where one man sometimes defeats 5/6 others. Somehow I don't care, and even believe it. I guess that's because I am so much into the story and loving the chars and the way the drama is directed, beautiful. May be in writing too, it'll depend to some degree on how you write it however improbable the scene might be.
     
  13. Motley

    Motley Active Member

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    I would wonder why the winner would not just go and kill off the remaining five angels and be done with it. I don't really agree that the bad guy can be over-powered and able to squash the hero like a bug. I think villains should have weaknesses too.

    But, the thing is, it's your story and it's nearly impossible to tell if it actually works or not, so it could be great. :)
     
  14. Unit7

    Unit7 Contributor Contributor

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    I wouldn't be surprised if this were possible. Infact history has shown us that men are capable of some insanely crazy things. Take Simo Hayaha aka The White Death. A single man took out like 700 people over the course of 100 days or something during WWII. The Soviets threw everything they could at this 1 guy and failed to kill him. Cracked actually did a article about real soldiers that make Rambo look like a wimp(my word, they used another...)
     

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