How do you make a character badass?

To paraphrase the internet:
"Badass is an hero and doesn't afraid of anything"

The badass gets shit done with little heed of the consequences of his chosen/available method.

 

I agree with this. It's in the attitude and willingness to take risks. I'm not impressed with superman for this very reason. He is pretty much indestructible and his actions require little to no courage.

Being able to walk into a dangerous situation where there are serious risks and not flinch is badass.

 

sit down and watch resident evil: afterlife. Then takes notes on the way Wesker moves, and all of his mannerisms, in the begining of the movie and at the ending. He moves and just has the whole badass thing down without really being a big bad ass type of guy. Its all in the attitude and way they speak (or dont) just like the others mentioned.

 

But are badasses stupid too? (sometimes) Can you be a badass without being strikingly dumb? (yes) Is a badass also paranoid? (yes)

Check out Geoff Thompson. That dude is badass. What is his number one advice to a young martial artist who wishes to learn SELF-DEFENCE? Avoidance.

To me a girl who doesn't look the leering goons in the eye -- and while doing so beg for trouble -- comes off smart and not any less of a badass. If she looks like a hard target, that's badass too.

 

That actually reminded me that imo a badass doesn't necessarily instigate trouble. You know the type: the well-worn man (or woman) of the world sitting quietly in a dark corner, alone with his drink. Then some dumbasses start yapping at him, and the scene ends with the badass leaving the place in silence while the dumbasses collect their teeth from the floor. That's badass.

Oh, and flashy outfits don't scream badass to me. Imo a female warrior in chainmail + plate armor and full helmet is far more badass than her counterpart wearing only a chainmail bikini even though the latter would likely invite far more attention from leering goons.

 

Chain mail bikini is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of. What, these fantasy Vikings are taught in pillaging school "alright, when facing amazons, stab 'em right in the boobies/poon. Those are their only points of weakness!"

Refer to old spice man, dos Equis man, and overly manly man meme, e.g. "Every zoo is a petting zoo... If you're manly enough."

 

I think a bad ass is a combination of their attitude and their actions. There are characters where right off the bat, you know they mean business. One that comes to mind (besides any Clint Eastwood character) is Han Solo. He doesn't care what anyone thinks about him, he's just going to do his thing. Sometimes the people you would not consider a "bad ass" grows into one. I think of Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter series. You think he's kind of a wimp at first, but then he stands up for what he believes in. Challenge your character, push him to his limits and show that he as weaknesses, but still show his strengths.

 

Make him Scottish. Just kidding!

Give him attitude. The type of man who won't take shit from anyone no matter who they are. Make him a man who will take a life without a flicker of remorse and make him unstoppable. The Terminator springs to mind. Robert Patrick in the Terminator 2. He was scary.

 

To me, a badass doesn't start anything, but he'll finish it. I don't see the Terminator as a badass - in human terms, he's just an asshole. Just a machine on a mission. Jason Bourne is a badass. He didn't want any trouble in The Bourne Identity, he just wanted to figure out who he was and get his life together. The bad guys came after him. They started it, he finished it. Badass.

John Rambo in First Blood is a badass. He didn't want any trouble, but the cops pushed him too far and got way more than they could handle. They started it. He finished it. Badass. (Okay, he puppied out in the end and let Col. Trautman talk him into giving himself up, but if Trautman hadn't been there, there would be no more cops in the Pacific Northwest by the time Rambo got some sleep. Badass.)

James Bond is technically not a badass, because someone else gives him his missions, but at times he rises to badasshood. In Dr. No, there's that scene where he's sitting calmly behind the door playing solitaire, waiting for the assassin to come and kill him. The assassin shows up, empties his gun into the pillows on the bed he thinks are Bond, and then Bond has him at his mercy. He levels his gun, says "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six." Then he kills him. He literally waited until the assassin's gun was empty - the assassin had essentially disarmed himself - before acting. Calm. Unbelievably cold-blooded. Badass.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you're looking for ways to convey "badass", rather than what other people think "badass" is. I won't say "give him attitude" because that's a really vague, subjective term and not really helpful. What I will say and reinforce what other people have said are:

- Show that the other characters see him as a "badass".
- Convey what you define as a "badass attitude" through actions.
- A danger is making a character too perfect or robotic. Give them something that may contradict the "badassery". Make them relatable, human, flawed, quirky, unique and interesting.

If you want my personal examples of badass characters:
- Bricktop from "Snatch"
- The Joker from "The Dark Knight"
- Chopper from "Chopper"
- Anton Chigurh from "No Country For Old Men"
- Marla Singer & Tyler Durden from "Fight Club"
- Jimmy Conway from "Goodfellas"
- Nicky Santoro from "Casino"
- Nickolai from "Eastern Promises"
- Rorschach from "Watchmen"
- John Doe from "Se7en"
- Al Pacino in "Scarface", "Scent Of A Woman", "Heat"... ok fuck it, Al Pacino's a badass in anything. Clint Eastwood also.

 

Perhaps research and reading would help......Plenty of evil in the world. Pretty soon your bad-ass will begin to take form. Think of it this way.....bad-asses aren't made, they're born. I command you! Go forth and procreate! Or the fleas of a thousand camels will find haven upon your scrotum!https://www.writingforums.org/images/skins/cloudskin/smilies/smile.gif

 

I actually disagree with a lot of this.

People say Devil May Cry, I say Tomb Raider. The fact that she was real did it for me. Characters designed from the bottom up to fit a "badass" roll are pretty lame.

 

Sounds very similar to Trigun :3

But hey... there really isn't much original to be thought of.

 

Can a badass male character behave like a metrosexual who behaves like a witty girl, but becomes very serious in combat? Think of a blond bimbo barbarian.

 

I've got one exactly like this. Way I see it, badassery is how you carry yourself rather than how you perform. You can carry yourself like a badass and still wear guyliner.

Totally agree. You see it in real life: people who try the hardest to come across as badass are the ones that no-one takes seriously.

 

By making them do badass things.

 

Christina Yang is badass. She assists a fellow surgeon through a difficult surgery, lying to her with a straight face so she doesnt find out her husband diesd during surgery that Yang performed. Lies to her so she can stauy focused and save the patient.

The moment the surgery is done, she pulls her aside and tells her the truth, without flinching.

That is badass. No one gets shot or attacked, but Christina shows true fortitude ad keeps her personal feelings out of it.

This is my point. Badass isn't Chuck Norris swaggering about, breaking bones without a twitch on his stony face. Badass is boldly doing what is necessary, regardless of personal risk or feelings.

 

my reply

Like what was said earlier "make them do badass things". For example he could come back with a really smart alecky comment when people try to put him down or doubt him. Then there are the clichee badass things like ripped jeans, motorcyle riding and smoking cigarettes (sorry im a amatuer writer and it shows). Hope this helped!

 

Things are definitely hitting Stephen Hawking territory in explaining this. Basically it's the personality of the character. Either they are or there not. I've got an Admiral in charge of Intelligence in my novels who is perfectly willing the send an agent out to die if need be...yet becomes weak and frightened when exposed to true combat. His 'bad ass' image as the cold-hearted spook is killed by reality. That's an example of personality. It's easy for Claudio to send people out but when it comes to himself...not so much.

Bad ass is just something they have or they don't-it's a personality item.

Hopefully I didn't confuse anyone.

 

This is actually pretty well put. To me, a widow working three jobs to support her/his kids year in, year out, is far more badass than some biker/skinhead/whomever who dresses up to look scary, gets wasted, and then starts a shoving match with some nerd half his size at a hotdog stand.
It's also probably true what they say: the scariest people are usually the most scared themselves. True badasses don't need to project their badassery outwards to get confirmation of it from the outside world (be it by fashion or antics such as bullying/heckling/fighting); they know what they are and what they're capable of, and often even want to blend in one way or another.

 

Wow, can somebody define badass?

It sounds like there are ten different interpretations of the word flying around here.

 

Like with many concepts, "badass" is difficult to define clearly, but people can always express the ideas and notions that help define the concept to them, personally, giving examples of what defines the idea to them. Reading about what others think about a concept often gives you new perspectives (since often different people understand different things in different ways) and sometimes even deepens your understanding of the subject. I believe this applies in the case of defining "badass."

 

If a character inflicts so much violence to solve problems, should that be consider as a bad ass character? If so, then that can be a good example to understand about being a bad ass.

 

I call them a psychopath.