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Analyzing VegasPete as a Writer, Pt 1: Vegas

Warning: This is very long. Last count in Word was 1600 words and it's definitely longer now. I don't know if this will interest anyone or not but I had to get it out of my own head so I might as well share.

As a writer I like to study my favorite stories to understand how they work, and how I can use that to make my own writing stronger. I can’t stop thinking about Vegas and Pete because they work so well for me. I’m currently working on creating characters for two projects so this has been on my mind a lot.

So the usual introductions, disclaimers. This is character analysis from a writer’s point of view, and with a specific approach. I don’t claim that this is the approach that was used by the original novel writers or tv series writers to create and develop the characters. I use an approach extremely common now in western, English-language fiction, especially genre fiction. Because I do it to help me as a writer, and accuracy isn't the most important thing in that process.

If you've read or watched writing advice you're probably familiar with the idea of a False Belief or Lie, and a character's Fear. After studying a lot of advice and doing a lot of my own writing, I have particular way of understanding these aspects of characters, along with Wants and Needs, that helps me as a writer. So that's what I"m looking at here!

Just to be clear, these things can often be interpreted in well developed, psychologically realistic characters no matter how the writers approached it. I’m also not saying that makes this universal, there’s no such thing, this is just one tool for analysis.

And, one last thing. This is all subjective. I’m bringing my own point of view and experiences to this. There are usually different ways to express similar things. Different ways to break things down. So if this doesn’t feel right to you, that’s cool. I'm basing this on the English translation so there might also nuances that don't match the original intention. If there is anything here that isn't quite right because of language issues I'm sorry for that.

Okay? Let’s get to the fun stuff. Creating characters with a False Belief, a Fear, and Want and Need, and why Vegas and Pete are such fascinating characters to analyze in this way.

First, some definitions.

False Belief

A False Belief is a lie a character believes about themselves and/or the world. This comes from something that happened in their past, or many things that happened in their past, or things they were told about themselves. They come to believe this as the absolute truth.

The false belief is harmful. It’s the thing that will hold them back from a positive character arc. It’s what makes them fail to overcome a lot of obstacles along the way.

The conflict in their story is what forces them to deal with this false belief. 

Fear

The character’s backstory and false belief creates a particular fear. This fear motivates them, it drives them to act in certain ways. Their fear and how they cope with it is why they fail to overcome obstacles.

Want

What the character wants during the story also comes from their false belief and their fear. They want something they believe will prevent what they fear from happening, even though it won’t. What they want is probably bad for them, actually.

Need

What the character actually needs is what will help them overcome their fear and false belief. It is what will give them a better life or make them a better person. It doesn’t have to make them perfect, or a hero, or have huge success. It’s something that, if a character earns it and gets it in the end, the reader will feel satisfied.  Want and Need are often in conflict with each other.

Usually, if a character doesn't overcome their fear and false belief, they don't get what they need.

How does this apply to VegasPete? What can we learn from how they're written?

Vegas

I’m going to start with Vegas because he says many of these things explicitly to Pete, which makes it a lot easier. Still, this is subjective so you might disagree on how I phrased this, or how I broke it down, any of it really, that’s fine!

False Belief

I define Vegas’s False Belief is “I will always fail to take care of the people (and pets) I love.”

You might think, isn’t his False Belief that he will always fail to beat Kinn/The main family? Or that he will never have his father’s approval? And that’s fair. I thought a lot about that. But I think those things are the result of his False Belief and his Fear, not the root of them. In looking at his full character arc, I felt that it was ultimately his lack of trust in himself to take care of others that held him back. I'll explain in some of the other sections, but this False Belief actually keeps him tied emotionally to his father, who doesn't need to be taken care of.

The choice to tell the story about the hedgehogs dying is important. We know that he's been reprimanded for failing in his mafia responsibilities. But the hedgehog story is older. It's backstory. If we're using this particular approach to create a character, we want an event that creates the False Belief in the first place. It stands in for the many events that probably also happened, the other people Vegas lost, that led to such a strong belief.

It's important that the False Belief is FALSE. It is a lie. It's like depression brain telling you you're worthless. It's like anxiety brain telling you terrible things will happen if you go outside. So it's important that the audience or reader understands that it's false. So the pet is a hedgehog, which only lives a few years so of COURSE they're going to die! It has nothing to do with how well Vegas has cared for them.

we see glimpses of the truth that Vegas is actually good at taking care of others. Once he decides to do it, he's diligent and gentle about bandaging Pete's wounds. He takes a lot of time to make Pete food that he likes. He takes pride in it. Early on, he's the one who's going to take Macau to get his head wound taken care of.

The False Belief is contrary to the Truth. In this case, that Vegas is (or can be) good at taking care of others. It's a core part of him that has been damaged through trauma.

The False Belief hurts so much because we see what the character can be when they can let go of it.

Fear

Vegas is afraid that everyone he loves will leave him. (“Everyone I love will leave me” can also be a False Belief but I think here it's best expressed as Vegas's Fear).

People always have more than one fear. But in creating a character, we're talking about the fear that is deepest, the kind that will drive someone to do almost anything to avoid facing it. Vegas’s story is very strong in my opinion because in the end, it’s easy to see how everything he does can be traced back to this fear.

How does this fear come from Vegas's False Belief? If he believes he will always fail to take care of the people (or pets) he loves, then he will always be losing them, whether that means someone leaves him or dies as a result of Vegas's failure.

This is where Vegas’s need for his father’s love and approval and his need to beat Kinn and the main family come in. These are how he copes with his fear. He is terrified that his father, one of the maybe two people he actually loves (until Pete), will leave him (either literally or emotionally). He is motivated to do anything to keep his father from leaving, which is what ultimately drives him to want to beat Kinn and the main family. Because this is the price his father has placed on his approval and love. He has some other coping mechanisms as well that stem from his false belief and fear, and this is part of what starts to make a character unique. False Beliefs and Fears can be pretty generic before all these other layers are added.

For example, not only do we not see Vegas develop any meaningful relationships, he goes out of his way to actively hurt people he doesn't love. Acceptable targets that the mafia life gives him. This could feel very freeing in the moment because it releases him from the responsibility to take care of that person at all.

There should be multiple times a character is given the chance to overcome their fear, and they fail. They're not ready. One of the big moments for Vegas in his relationship with Pete is when he is willing to let him go from the cuffs, but he still begs Pete to promise not to leave him. It is a slight step forward, but his demands aren't fair. There's no reason Pete can trust Vegas yet. (Pete similarly has a moment of failure here while also doing the right thing, i love it when shit's complicated). It's partly because Vegas is NOT ready to overcome his fear that Pete needs to leave, which causes what Vegas fears to happen. It's all so beautifully tragic.

Want

Vegas wants his father’s love and approval. It is something that is unattainable. He never had it because his father was incapable of giving it to him in any way that is good for Vegas. In the end, he will never achieve it because his father is dead.

It's really great when what the character wants is

what they think will make them feel safe from their fear AND

does not challenge their false belief. It’s definitely the case with Vegas. I think it makes for a cohesive character.

As a writer, it helps to identify this because it will keep a character active in a story. Withholding this thing the character wants from them can help drive them to act. We see this 100% in Vegas. All of his schemes, all his actions (until Pete) are motivated by Vegas trying to get what he wants: his father’s approval. And it all goes back to how he copes with his Fear. The story keeps preventing Vegas from getting what he wants and so he keeps acting in ways that are absolutely TERRIBLE for him and fantastic for the story.

Some of his schemes weren’t approved by his father, but they were attempts to beat the main family and that was entirely motivated by trying to earn his father’s love and approval. (As a writer, this reminds me that sometimes what people do isn’t a logical A to B step, people are complicated. The obvious thing to do for a character who wants to win their parent’s approval is for them to obey their parent in everything. There are other things going on with Vegas that lead him to take more initiative and that makes him more interesting).

Going back to the False Belief, Vegas can want his father's love without challenging his false belief. Vegas's father doesn't need to be taken care of. This makes it feel safer than wanting love from anyone else.

Need

What Vegas actually needs isn’t his father’s love. It’s Pete’s love, because Pete loves Vegas for Vegas. Vegas doesn’t have to jump through hoops to earn it. It’s freely given. Narratively, Vegas earns Pete’s love just by accepting it (though there's nothing simple about that acceptance).

It feels satisfying and earned to readers when a character gets what they need by overcoming their False Belief and their Fear, and often by giving up the thing they wanted. In the end, Vegas thinks he has nothing.  His false belief, that he will fail to take care of people he loves, is compounded by the fact that now, he has nothing to offer, no power, no protection. He has nothing but himself. If he can’t take care of Pete, Pete will leave, just like everyone else he loves (possibly even through death).

And when he turns around to face Pete, when he starts to accept that he, himself, is enough, he is overcoming his Fear and his False Belief. (He is, in turn, Pete’s need as well and that’s what makes this especially good food for the audience).

He believes that he will always fail to take care of people he loves and now he has none of his crutches like power or authority. His own fate is in the hands of the person he holds responsible for making his life a misery in the first place. How could he take care of anyone else?

Remember when I said that Gun feels safe because he's not someone Vegas has to take care of? Well that person he thought he didn't have to take care of has just, actually, died because of his failure to win this battle. It's all proof to him that his False Belief is true! But here is Pete, asking to be taken care of. That only Vegas can take care of him the way he needs.

That's why Pete asking to be taken care of finally breaks through to Vegas.

Vegas is confronting all of that and facing his deepest fear to accept Pete's love here. The brilliance of the writing is that this makes us want to root for him because we understand how hard that is even if we don’t share the same fears.

This is why the climax of Vegas’s story is this scene with Pete, not a confrontation with his father. This is why Vegas doesn’t need to be the one who kills his father, in a narrative sense. His big moment to decide whether he will succeed in overcoming his Fear is whether he will accept Pete’s love and trust that Pete won’t leave him. And finally, he accepts the risk that he might lose Pete someday because what he gets (PETE’S LOVE) is worth it.

This simple act kills the old Vegas, allowing him to be reborn as someone who has learned this particular lesson, a common trope in heroic arcs.

So that's it for Vegas (for now). If anyone reads this far, thank you lol. If people like this I'll continue with Pete. Otherwise it will stay locked away in my story journal for eternity.