Welcome To Dragon Of The Day, Where I Give You Your Daily Dose Of Dragons. Heres Todays Dragon. My Favorite,

Welcome to Dragon of the Day, where I give you your daily dose of dragons. Here’s todays dragon. My favorite, Paarthurnax.

God I love Paarthurnax so much. I love that dulled golden color of his scales. I bet they’d be soft if I hugged him. Speaking of hugs, I bet being wrapped up by his wings would be nice…

Anyways, Paarthurnax is from the hit 2011 game, Skyrim. He does cool stuff like debate philosophy, teach you a new language, and get you to kill his brother. He is pretty epic, I give him a 10/10. Screw you Delphine for trying to make me kill him.

That’s all for today’s dragon. I would say come by tomorrow, but you probably shouldn’t.

Knives in both hands

One thing that I think is really missing from the Lirin Discourse (from all directions!) is that Kaladin absolutely did want to be a surgeon. He genuinely wanted it. There were times where he wanted to be a soldier more, but by the time the recruiters came he had decided that he wouldn't join the army after all! In fact, the tragedy of the whole thing is that Roshone's cruelty forced Kaladin into a path he didn't want anymore.

This animation without the filter because it fucked with the framerate for some reason (this isn't the intended look otherwise, but bleh)

You had had a plan, once. You figured if you acted impressive enough, got powerful enough, no one would stop you. And it worked quite well for a while. People cowed at your reputation, your grandeaur. Eventually, though, some hero had come in, convinced they could defeat you, and you realized they actually could. So you put up a good fight, whispered some cryptic final words, and vanished away, leaving nothing but dust.

You'd ended up in a small farming down, covered in dust and dirt, though with all your past equipment. The first person you talked to was kind, and you returned the gesture. This felt a lot better than them cowering in fear.

Your time there continued with that pattern. You made friends. Repaid kindness with kindness. You farmed. You wed. You had children. You truly enjoyed your time.

One day you stood outside, tending your field. You could see a dust cloud in the air, coming closer. Odd. At its head were soldiers, clad in shining metal, glowing with light. You wiped the sweat from your brow, then wiped that hand on on the coarse brown pants you wore. Well, it couldn't hurt to see what was coming.

It appeared that it could, you thought, as the tallest figure slammed you into the wall of your hut. They glared at you through the slits in their helm. You recognized those eyes. That voice.

"You will pay tribute. Understood?" Their voice was a growl. The last time you had heard it, it was desperate. Hopeful, but afraid. Now it was angry. But you did not think they recognized you.

"The tribute. The one of souls?"

"Yes! You don't seem to understand, farmer. The demon kind is still out there. They must be stopped. They must be found. And I can only do so with this tribute. Do you want to see this land be wasted, all your crops destroyed? Sacrifices must be made."

You glanced over at your spouse. Your children. This shack. Out the window to your farm.

You could not give them up. The irony alone made it useless. Give them up for this fool to find you, right where you stood? You laughed.

"Why are you laughing! Fine. I'll simply take them then." The hero let you go, and turned towards their soldiers. You stood up, wiggling your hands behind your bag. Remembering those spells agains. Summoning your armor. Your weapons. The treasures you'd amassed, though never used. Always to impress. You needed to work quickly. For your families sake, now.

Within moments, it was done. They had turned away from you, and your spouse, running, caught your eye. They gasped. You'd told them the truth, though never shown them. The soldiers turned. The hero turned, and froze.

"I don't think you're going to need that tribute, fool." You raised the dark blade, etched with pain and weaping shadow, towards the silver armored figure. "You see, I never got to try this on you last time. I've heard it strikes with the vengeance of all damned souls. Well, I thank you for making it that much more effective."

The hero gasped, stepping back, and you grinned. "I didn't have a reason to fight last time. I thought fear would get me through. But it seems as though it wasn't enough. No matter. You've gotten me to want to fight now, I'm impressed. Let's see how strong you really are."

You were once the demon king. “Defeated” by the hero, you went into hiding to pursue a simpler life. Today the “hero” has appeared, threatening you family to pay tribute, not realizing who you actually are. Today you show them what happens when you have something worth fighting to protect.

- me pulling up to Kelsier on a corpse boat

- Kelsier strolling up to Kriss and Nazh

- Vin demolishing Kredik Shaw

- Vin deleting Staff

- Dalinar "I'd never kill you Elhokar, also Im courting your mother"

what cosmere scenes would do numbers here as a gif set?

Empathy. Motivation. Progress.

The secret to making your readers care about a character lies in these 3 sliding scales, according to Brandon Sanderson.

Show throughout the story the answers to the following bullets:

Empathy (likability)

How relatable are they?

Are they kind or sympathetic to others?

How do other characters treat them?

Motivation (proactivity)

Are the character’s motivations interesting?

Can the character have what they desire? Do they initially avoid what motivates them?

How do a character’s motivations conflict with their flaws, and/or tie to the plot?

What steps is the character taking to get what they want?

People have many things that motivate them. Sometimes they can never have something they desire, sometimes they don’t want the thing they actually need at first. Motivations can conflict with each other, the plot, and a character’s morality.

Progress (competence)

What flaws does the character need to face in order to progress?

Does the character overcome their flaws, fail, step around them, etc.?

Will the character fulfill their promise(s)?

Motivation and progress often go hand-in-hand. Progression should be hard, to keep characters in check.

These sliding scales work just as well for protagonists as they do for villains, and everyone else in between.

Remember, the scales shouldn’t be maxed out. A character perfect at all three sliding scales is difficult to care about, and your characters are your story’s lifeblood.

Brandon Sanderson’s free 2020 lectures on YT