Is there anything wrong with having an androgynous bad guy? Basically a very effeminate male character is what I'm going for. But I don't want him cliche. I would like to make him a soldier mage but it doesn't sound like it would be easy to mix or as popular for a villain. How could I mix mage and soldier together? Thank you.
As long as you show the androgynous part with respect and don't make them a stereotype or cliche. And I wouldn't recommend having the final showdown wind up with them beaten with the power of binary gender roles.
I'll focus on the soldier mage part. Maybe you could make is like, he mixes magic with his 'soldier' attacks? Like, if he uses martial arts, have him boost those attacks by adding in explosions or freezes or strong winds or something? Or, you could have the mage part be focused on healing, so he can take big risks with attacks and nullify the damage taken from them while leaving his opponents still weak. For example, he could break one arm as a distraction so he can maybe get a solid kick on someone's jaw, then heal his arm with magic? Or all of his attacks have the bonus of strong winds, so everything he does throws his opponents off balance? There's a lot of fun, creative things along those lines that you can do when you mix magic and martial arts.
How do I avoid a stereotype or cliche? Would would be considered stereotypical or cliche? This I like. But would it be too much if I mixed his skills with using guns or any firearms? Or would that take away from his abilities? Also would telepathy or being able to hack into others minds or to infiltrate be a good quality to have?
Nope! Easy, you've got two choices to choose from: 1) Battle Mage -- He uses his magic to fight on the front lines, along side his soldiers. This is useful when magic isn't too gamechanging--where you don't have doomsday spells reigning down on the battlefield. If you do, then using your mage to take down individual soldiers isn't such a great idea. But if you've only got some light conjure fire or force-lightning spells, then it's a great place to be. He can fireball pole-arms, freeze enemy soldier's feet so they can't move, and generally assist the most important group of soldiers. or 2) Support Caster -- Sit on the backline and channel your energy into huge area of effect magic spells like lightning storms or blizzards. Generally, their job will either be to cast big magic to disrupt a lot of troops at once, or counter mages on the enemy side trying to do the same thing. This is great if you want to show some sweet chess match playing out inside the protag's head with the villain. "Augh, if I try and cast a fireball, he's waiting for me so he can counter it with his magic, and then it'll hurt my troops, but if I wait too long he might cast a fireball and I might not be ready to counter it. Curses!" etc.
Would it be too much? I think that depends on how you handle it. I think that mixing it with guns would be a great idea. Imagine having every bullet you shoot be incendiary? Or, using the wind thing again, making bullets able to burst through much more than they'd normally be able to. Another thing you could do, if you want this villain to be creative/tenacious, you could have him shoot to the side of his enemies, then use electricity to link the bullets and shock everyone in between (Well, if the bullets can conduct electricity). Or mixing fire and wind to make explosive bullets that come out of a pistol. It might be too much if you don't give him a limit to using this magic, however. Maybe the power of the magic effects depends entirely on how large the vessel/bullet used is? I think the telepathy ability entirely depends on how powerful you want your villain to be. How strong would this be? Is there a way to defend against it? If there isn't, then how would someone stop him before he can hijack their mind?
Those are all great! What if he could harness smoke as a distraction or poison? I don't know if smoke could be useful as a weapon or not.
Smoke can be an excellent weapon. It can blind you, poison you, choke you. I mean really it's entirely up to you what the smoke can and cannot do. https://fairy-one-piece-tail-universe.fandom.com/wiki/Smoke-Smoke_Fruit
That gave me an idea. Maybe I could have a different character use smoke as a weapon. I could base on on the smoke mirror god Tezcatlipoca or make it a soldier that uses smoke, which idea sounds better?
I'm intrigued how they would differ. How do each of them use it? When you say soldier I automatically start thinking about smoke weapons, but do you mean magic?
If it was a soldier then it would most likely be smoked weapons. However if it was the Aztec character, then it would be more magic based.
I think I'll go with Aztec smoke god deity. It won't be offensive will it? Like he could have some traditional qualities of an Aztec god so you know he's from that culture but he would be made mostly of smoke with shiny white grey eyes
I don't find much offensive, so I can't really answer that for you, but someone else might be able to.
It's walking a fine line on account of the gender representation and possibly cultural appropriation. It's not really a concept that's offensive, but poor execution could definitely make it so. So, just be careful, do your research, and get a couple of second opinions before sending it out into the world. Hate mail and death threats against your family is not fun.
As I pondered my plans for the Big Fight tomorrow, I couldn't help but admire myself in the mirror, my ballroom dress fluttering in the wind that seems to have no source, highlighting my voluptuous curves, and my Sixers hat turned at just the right angle to accentuate my defined lower-third mandible. ...or something.
Is there any kind of deities, gods or mythology you know of based on smoke that wouldn't risk any kind of offense? I found one called Enenra which is like some sort of Japanese spirit in the form of elemental smoke.
Honestly? Unless you make 'em up probably not. Real world 'deities' come with likely centuries worth of stories and importance to cultures, the people that is important too probably wouldn't take kindly to a slapdash approach. (But you know, why not make them up? More creative flux that way.) But it sounds like you haven't even really started this story? My advice is for now, don't worry about it. Just write your story, see how it goes, figure out the ins and outs of the story before letting how you represent things trip you up. The advantage of drafts, ya don't have to worry about making them ready for the public eye- cause they aren't!
You can always create your own mythology. Or you can find something Greek or Roman which seem less likely to piss anyone off.
If you're not Japanese, that's still a form of cultural appropriation, which could be offensive depending on how it's presented. But in it's strictest sense, cultural appropriation is a neutral term, dealing only with cross cultural sharing. Technically pants and money are forms of cultural appropriation depending on who's using them. It's not a matter of what, it's a matter of how.
I don't know how "androgynous" you consider him, but Gary Oldman's Jean-Baptiste Emmanuel Zorg from The Fifth Element is one of the all-time great villains.
It might be risky if I don't get the history right. I'll have to do a ton of research. I just know there might be some risks with it because he would have some tribal theme with some smoke like powers/abilities. I'll see how it goes, I mean the worst can happen is it isn't well received and I can just change it. Could be another issue too I guess. I'm thinking of doing this. In fact maybe I'll just make him a mist of cloud of smoke that takes a sort of humanoid form and not be of any culture but a demon underworld or something where they worship smoke I guess.
Think maybe David Bowie from when he was younger. Or how about Sephiroth from the Final Fantasy series? Zorg from the Fifth Element could also be another good example. Is any of this a bad idea? Does this character sound like a great character between a mix of a mage and soldier?
He could be like the seventh son of a fire god. A demigod who didn't get to inherit his father's fiery gifts and instead has the gift of smoke. His six older brothers were real dicks about it, and now he has an inferiority complex.
