This topic was brought up to me by a friend who's really into action! But I think it can be applied to any kind of story where people have special powers!
Now I won't lie. Writing godlike characters is hard. Like... really really hard. So many places will say it's a bad idea to give any character super godlike abilities, because it's boring. And that's very true to an extent. But there are ways that you can write godlike characters so that they aren't boring and don't cross into Mary Sue territory.
Give them a weakness
This is a very simple idea. Everyone has a weakness right? Well sometimes. A weakness can be physical or mental. Many writers want to rush to the idea of having something like superman's kryptonite or a weak spot. (Or in some cases, just saying the chosen one is the only one who can beat them because of "reasons".) but other weaknesses may include loved ones or items that hold value to the OP . They could even have their personalities be a weakness.
For example: if you have a supremely godlike character who underestimates their opponent because they're cocky, they can easily be caught off guard by something they didn't think the other was capable of. Or if one of their loved ones is taken hostage, they may do anything to ensure that loved one isn't harmed.
Weakness can be extremely tiny and seem insignificant. But a weakness is still a weakness. There's always a way to beat someone, no matter how strong they are. But you just have to think about what methods to use. Powers have drawbacks and delays. Even godlike powers can have small limits.
For example: say your character can stop time. Maybe they can't keep time stopped? Perhaps there's a limit of only a few seconds that they can move around freely before time starts again. And what if someone else has a similar power? They could just as easily get caught in another persons time loop if they aren't careful. Another idea is if they can heal all their wounds. Chances are it isn't instantaneous. Maybe they need to absorb essence from others to heal? Or perhaps they can only heal if they're conscious? There are many possibilities.
But nonetheless, if they're exploited the right way, any powerful foe can be defeated. Ironically, the most overpowered characters can often be defeated by an average joe. Not every enemy can be defeated through brute strength, but they can be defeated by cunning.
(great examples of this are the animes jojo's bizarre adventure and hunter x hunter.)
Have someone even more powerful
This is the usual go to method when dealing with op characters. Just make your opposing force be more powerful. Easy right? Well the only problem with this is destroying your power ceiling if you're not careful.
A power ceiling is the set limit of all abilities in your universe. If you don't have one, then powers and abilities will feel like they're added and random and any newly presented powers will hold no weight. If you simply let every character that's an obstacle be defeated by a stronger character showing up each time, then readers will expect it.
This is the same with characters pulling random powers out of nowhere just because the plot demands it. When this happens, the author is basically telling the reader that anything goes. This is a problem because it means the plot is irrelevant. If anything goes then there's nothing to look forward to in of power gap.
Power gap is the difference between the weakest relevant character and the strongest relevant character in your story. If you got rid of all other characters, could you realistically see the two existing in the same world? If not, your power limit may need some adjusting. So if you present someone stronger, don't have them be so much stronger that they one shot all the other powerful characters. Unless of course you've already established your power ceiling being that high earlier on.
The next issue is power crawl. Power crawl is basically the starting point and stopping point of a characters abilities. They're most likely going to be stronger at the end of the story then at the beginning. So power crawl should be what powers they obtain and how close together they get them.
For example: if your character has telekinesis and is just learning how to lift a paper cup with their mind, they aren't realistically going to be able to lift a truck the next day on their own. If they can, they better be taking some brain steroids or have something super mentally traumatic happen in the next 24 hours.
It's not that readers want your character to be weak the entire story. But if you have two people throwing galaxies at each other at the end of a story, when at the beginning they were fighting hand to hand, the story is virtually unrecognizable. It's not the same world anymore and readers can only hold their suspension of disbelief for so long until parts of a story escalate from interesting, to just flat out ridiculous. (I'm looking at you dragon ball z)
Make their desires unattainable
Even the most powerful beings in the universe can be unfulfilled. If your overpowered characters are human, then they'll undoubtedly have wants and desires. But there are some things even the most powerful can't have.
You can have a guy who's strong enough to destroy solar systems. Can he ever make that girl he loves truly love him back?
Nope.
Can the girl who has recreated an entire world as a reflection of her greatest dreams ever bring her dead mother back to life?
Nah, can't do that either.
Even someone who CAN resurrect the dead. Will their loved ones eventually get tired of being brought back and one day beg to stay dead? Leaving the resurrector all alone for the rest of their possibly immortal life?
Most likely.
One way to really add characterization to these types of characters is giving them everything except what they actually want. It can really drive the point home that even with all the power someone has, there are some things they just can't accomplish.
Now if your OP character isn't human or doesn't have emotions then they're going to act off of pure logic. They'll never do more then necessary and don't care for anything not relevant to their goal. But this can also be their downfall to their goals as well.
For example: say a powerful monster wants to harvest humans for energy for its realm. Defeating it isn't an option because none of your powers or weapons work on it. You could evacuate everyone? But you may not have enough time. You could destroy the monsters realm instead of the monster itself, rendering its mission useless? Or the humans could offer up a better source that wouldn't involve destroying humanity? In a lot of cases, humans just resist so hard and cause so much trouble that the godlike character decides finding another source would be less hassle and just leaves.
Either way, no matter how powerful the enemy, there's a way to manipulate their goals to the protagonists benefit. Any story with an overpowered addition to its cast will have to think a little outside the box for it to work in a story. But the extra thought and effort is worth it in the end. Keeping these things in mind can make your godlike character your most loved or most hated part in your book. Just always : an over powered character is more than just their powers.
And that's the writing godlike characters post! This one was hard to do research on because of how many authors say to just avoid this idea altogether. But I assure you that it is possible! I hope this post was helpful to you! If you have questions or anything you'd like to add leave a comment below!
And if your interested in ing the fantasy committee, be sure to check out the application wiki listed!
Comments (3)
Ouuu~ I've never tree writing a god-like character before *^*