Let me elaborate a bit, please. I wrote a story some time ago about two sisters going on a treasure hunt to look for some historical mystery thing. Quite inspired by Indiana Jones, of course. In the end, they discovered a time machine built by the Nazis, and decided to try it out. But something went wrong, and when one of the MCs woke up, she found her sister dead, and the whole place was in ruins. However, when she came back home, she found her sister very much alive, and I deliberately copied and pasted a part of the first chapter as part of the ending. This was to indicate that she had travelled back in time, and when she realized it, she was able to destroy the treasure map before her sister could start investigating it. This prevented the entire story from happening. However, in the second book, we learn that the time travel had changed part of the time line - even before she time jump - and the MC had spent the last five months in a mental hospital. Turns out changing the time line and watching your own sister die in your arms can be bad for your mental health. This time, the story focuses a lot on finding out what really happened to the MC, and finding a way to cure her. And that... did not go well. In the end, her sister was dead (again, but for real this time), and the MC was once again locked up in a mental hospital. Now I've started a third book, but I'm not entirely sure where to take the story. There is a lot more to the story than what I've said here, of course. But for now, what I wonder about is the MCs motivation, and if she should even be the MC this time around. In very short, there are three sisters, and one of them is dead. The third one was behind a large part of what was going on, but mostly indirectly. My idea is that the MC from the first two books was already having issues telling reality from fantasy, and she might be seeing her dead sister in the third book. Even talk to her. However, what I'm thinking about is having the third sister taking the blame for most of what happened. She partly is, but mostly indirectly, as I aid. When the MC breaks out of the mental hospital, I'm thinking she could be consumed by a thirst for revenge, and even go all psycho on her sister and her family. And considering the sister is a Nazi, she kinda has it coming. But considering the MC was a nice, friendly person in the first two books, how would you react if she's a psychopath now? Would you be mad that she's changed to much, or are you able to feel sorry for her? She has lost everything - her job, her sister, her family, her home, even her life (she's locked up in a mental instituation, after all) and she blames her living sister for it. So with nothing left to loose, the one thing she has left is a thirst for revenge. And at the same time, I want the living sister to be the nice person here. She did have something to do with everything, but that doesn't make her evil. She had the best intentions, and she still wants to help her lunatic sister. I'm just wondering if that's a good idea. Can the hero suddenly be a villain, and the villain the hero?
You can have "heel-face" turns, but I think it'll help if there's things that mitigate how sudden it is. Foreshadowing that the previously-nice sister is becoming colder and harder in outlook due to the things she's gone through, for example. If she's super nice at the same level for both the first two books it might be a bit abrupt if she's suddenly cruel and merciless, no matter how much "sense" the facts add to her being in that state. The proof is in the pudding of course. This is a complex character arc built up over multiple books and there's going to be a lot to it. I'm sure you can make it work if you're decided this has to be how the story goes. In my books I have a pair of twin sisters who eventually become antagonists to each other, but this happens over a very long period (like about 400,000 words) so there's never a sudden shift, and it's more a tragic slide into an inevitable confrontation.
Thanks. Yeah, I know it can be a bit too sudden. The second book ended with her completely loosing it. We're talking strolling around aimlessly, chewing on grass and pretending her dead sister is only sleeping. But her living sister say she is going to be fine eventually. Having her turn evil from one book to another might not make too much sense. I do have other ideas for her, though, so I think I'll stick to one of those. One idea is her going on another treasure hunt, just like the first two books. But unlike the first two books, she has already discovered two mythological things, so she has a lot more confidence in herself. Plus, she doesn't have anything left to loose, so I can raise the stakes quite a lot. She broke out of the mental hospital, so even if she survives the treasure hunt, she's looking at years behind bars. Not prison bars, but close enough. Unless she can somehow prove that she was right all along. I think that'll be a better story, to be honest. Maybe she'll be a bit villain-y, but not so much as I first intended. Again, thanks for the tip.
I agree with @Nariac. Include some foreshadowing, and make sure it isn't sudden. I don't think you should have a problem if one sister is gradually turning into a villain and the other a hero.
Thanks. I do want the sister to turn into a villain, but maybe that's what the third book should be about. We know she "lost it" in book two, and she escapes from the mental hospital in the start of book three. Maybe she's still a hero at this point, but her sanity is failing more and more through the book, dragging her further and further into insanity, and slowly turning her into a villain. That'd be quite interesting to write, to be honest. This way, she could end up as a psychopathic serial killer, and yet, we can still feel sorry for her, and think of her as a victim.
I think it will work out fine. All of us have the potential at times to be the hero or the villain. Its the journey we are on that defines us at the time. We never know how truly evil we can be unless we are in a situation that will bring this part of us out. I have never killed anyone. I don't plan on it. But if something were to happen to my wife and I was put in this situation, I would kill, I would become the villain and have no remorse over it. I would still be the same person to others once the revenge is over (I think, maybe just a little darker).
That's a good point. We all want to be the hero, but I think everyone is capable of doing a lot of things we don't want to admit, even to ourselves. Think about war, for instance. Innocent people are drafted against their will, and sent to a country they have barely heard of. And once there, a lot of strangers wants to kill them. What would you do in a situation like that? Do you fight back, and quite possibly kill someone to save yourself? Or do you run, and leave your friends to die? That's a very different situation than in my book, but the idea is the same. Everyone has a breaking point. What do you do when you reach yours?
