Discussion Character themes! How and why?

[Elias Burgendy]

Mine is pretty simple. I picked the song "Out Of Time Man" for Elias because it pretty much describes what his character's story is. He is a man, running out of time, out of places to run to, out of avenues for escape. What I have planned for the end of his story is (spoilers ahead, don't read if you care)



he's going to be killed in a shootout, most likely trying to escape CorpSec officers or some other authority.
"Now it's half past two
Long gone the rendez-vous
Now it's half past three
Time made a fool out of me
Now it's half past four
Baby cant you see
No use in waiting no more
It's timing tragedy
I think it's nine
When the clock says ten
This girl wouldn't wait
For the out of time
Out of time man"

 

[Vren Rook]

Vren, being the typical lone wolf cowboy/gunslinging Mando with a mercenary past, was recruited by Siv Dragr of the Enclave. Becoming a Karjr within the Enclave did not quell old habits and personality for Vren, however.

So when I heard Smash Into Pieces' All Eyes on You, which can be heard in the Theme trailer in the sig, I knew that summed him up perfectly. Being Mando and an Enclave Karjr, Vren finds himself outnumbered and outgunned 8 out 10 times, but somehow manages to make that last bullet count. (we don't speak about the spoopy fish on Kestri)

 

[Elle Mors]

Music, especially lyrics, are a big part of how I get into writing (although I can write without music, and sometimes have to), because it makes it easier for me to get into a mood or feel a certain way I need for a given post. Elle, tho, is just constantly a wistful mess. All about consequence and forgiveness, and moving on with life, and she's totes a hopeless romantic, and What's Done is Done by Seven Lions and HALIENE sort of lets me tap into that.

 

[Zaavik Perl]

If you mean narrative themes, I just shamelessly steal thematic archetypes from other fiction.

Musically it really just depends on the character as to how they're chosen. Sometimes it's just what gets me into the headspace for the character, other times it's based on whether or not I can use the intended interpretation, or skew my own interpretation of the lyrics to fit the character and their current arc. I also tend to change 'their theme' based on whatever their story entails at any given time.

Zaavik is probably the most frequent subject to this. Tesseract's Smile was the first. It switched to Zeal and Ardor's In Ashes as everything started going downhill. Then changed to Type O Negative's I Don't Wanna Be Me after the rock bottom assassination play and AWOL from the NJO shortly afteward. Though I've been too lazy to update the bio, really been feeling Protest The Hero's Heretics and Killers now that the arc is inching ever closer to a full send into Dark Jedi.

But honestly most of the time I don't think that hard about it, and they're usually a cop-out for the sake of memes or something like that. A good example, Avernus has had the same theme since day one.

 

[Elias Burgendy]

If you mean narrative themes, I just shamelessly steal thematic archetypes from other fiction.

Same

(LULW better emote than KEKW, btw)

 

[000]

Hmm, well guess have to say had quite a few thru which kinda changes depending on what mindset or mood am in at the time...with maybe one use the most is.
Animal I Have Become Three Days Grace
But for the most part sort of an eclectic mishmash of tune kinda fits and the anti-hero/troubled persona character that makes up the char story at the core. Someone who all but wants to do right and good but eventually can't help at times have the darkness shows.

Playlist tunes...

 

[Darth Petrichor]

For me, the first thing I go for is the vibe. Is my character sinister? Whimsical? Devoted to a cause? Whatever it is, I look for a sound that resonates with that first and foremost. After that, if a song has lyrics, they have to feel thematic. Whether it's my pirate Mondo Ohnaka using shanties and pirate themes, or my former-Sith assassin Amadeus using songs about redemption and hunting individuals down, I always look to keep it in theme. But like I said, it all starts with the vibe. Navras by Juno Reactor is kinda the ultimate vibe for Petrichor, for example. Super epic and intense, with just a touch of mysticism. I honestly go way too deep into it tbh. I have three themes per character. Furthermore, the longest part of my PvP posts is deciding on which song to use haha.

 

[Kiera Sifdin-Skell]

Was gonna make a post about this topic but then I saw this thread... pretty late buuuut....

Kiera originally was conceived as a joke, my literal thought process was "what if a human followed the True Way/Yuuzhan-Vong?" When I write I do play music and I try and play music that I feel relates to the character I am writing- either it speaks to their emotions, their past, their goals, whatever it is. As I sat down to actually write her backstory I put on my general soundtrack playlist, which consists of various tracks from my favorite game and movie soundtracks.

By happenstance the first song that played when I hit shuffle was the theme from the 2016 adaption of Warcraft, a song that I very much enjoy as it captures the spirit of Warcraft very well. Naturally this put me straight into a mood and before I could finish typing her backstory I had a clear idea and picture of where I wanted to take the character.

After her backstory was written and I had a more clear picture of the character I was now writing, I assigned her a proper theme song in the form of Howling at the Moon by Phantogram. I chose it for a few reasons. Number one being that it was used in an incredible animation featuring Absolute Batman, my favorite DC character and possibly my new favorite comic-run (tied with Absolute WW, that story and character is badass). I also chose it for the lyrics however. Kiera is a stone cold killer with very little humanity. She is, on the surface and outside, a cold, calculating, ruthless, and determined to do nothing but enact her will on the galaxy. That doesn't mean she has no feelings or self-doubt and despite doing all she can to keep her facade afloat, the song reflects her primal desires and her emotional turmoil.

Yes she isn't a good person and she won't ever redeem herself. However she herself has a certain awareness of this, and the awareness that her ultimate goal may not be achievable in her lifetime, if at all. She knows ultimately the only thing she truly has going for her is her rage and hatred and that in the end she will likely die either knowing she failed or knowing she won't see a proper end. Thus, howling at the moon.