Character Theory Why the cool/edgy trend?

[kevintheradioguy]

It's a pretty simple question I don't know if I should get too deep into, but... we all know the type. This dark, edgy, brooding character who probably lost someone/everyone in their lives, and is a complete asshole to everyone while secretly having a heart of gold, and only you, fair maiden/knight, can melt the ice and make them whole again. They probably wear all black with supporting "cool" colours, like shades of red or electric blue. Absolutely have long coats, and at times - katanas. Probably have white or black hair, and gothy make-up, and like to hem and turn on their heels, and drink without getting drunk; or smoke like a train without getting cancer.



In other words, the type of hero who needs a therapist rather than a girl/boy to save them.

But why the trend? What and why made this the modern representation of The Cool? Tour thoughts?

 

[Jaredthefox92]

The problem isn't a dark character, the problem is a needlessly dark character. For instance, in a universe, (like Warhammer), where everyone wants to kill you and things always go wrong, having a character who's a cynic or one who has fallen to evil is very normal and natural. However, that's the thing. It's not dark so much as the problem of compensation for lack of good character and story. While having something in your characters past maybe a good thing, too many people try to do it to make their character special and they don't try to make anything to counter balance this. For instance, a character who would get into a car wreck, but survived and they now live every day to the fullest. Quite often they don't give traits that would be good, thus to make your character more human to balance it out.

I have several dark characters, but they always have something "good" about them to balance them out.

 

[spookie]

...i've been called out.

 

[PhoenixMire]

I like edge
... it’s a very shallow reason lol. But at the end of the day, I believe there’s a very definite line to be drawn between characters who are edgy just for the sake of being edgy, and characters who are actually well-written and are shaped by their dark pasts. Developing those types of characters can be really interesting if done well.

Tbh, one of my favorite character tropes is that type of person who seems normal but ends up totally snapping at some point and showing off their “dark side”. It sounds cringey... and it certainly is, if it isn’t written properly. But I find those types of characters to be very fascinating if they’re handled well.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that the “edgy” trend can be really fun if it’s well-written. Why do people like the edginess in the first place, though? I have no idea. I don’t even know why I like it. Maybe it’s because these types of characters are so opposite to myself that there’s something inherently fascinating about them. Or maybe it’s because some people find it easier to sympathize/pity a character who’s been through a lot of difficult things. Idk.
Also I’m just really obsessed with edgy character designs

 

[Shotagonist]

This is all just a style thing and I assure you most of these characters aren't even remotely as evil as they pretend. Especially teenagers (but not just teenagers) understand the pains of trying to fit in and not feeling like they belong anywhere. And by creating characters that are essentially demons (or something similarly evil), they can have an easy explaination of being excluded from society. Of course, being teenagers, this often overlaps with mary sues and twilight readers (which in itself is guilty of doing this "edgy dark guy with heart of gold" thing) so the stigma is born. And since teenagers dont stop existing, we will always have a good amount of this kind of characters.

 

[Idea]

"Edgy" characters have a lot of reasons to be made and typical favorites of players. While there is definitely a line connecting those reasons, in my view, I believe it would be reductive of me to just claim them as a singular reason for the popularity of this kind of character.

First though, I want to put the terms in clear plates. The "edgy character" I will be discussing here is not specifically the "overly dark backstory" or "uber tragic" type of edgy, but moreso the "brooding antihero", the "I was born a half demon and posses the power to control the flames of hell but they slowly burn me inside" or "the world should just die" types.

1.Rejection Of Traditional Morality

"Morality is subjective", "there's no good or evil, only shades of grey."

This kind of thinking has exploded in popularity in the modern world, as people grew desilusioned with religious, national, governmental and economic authorities. Movements which even today are expanding often fuel themselves in undermining past traditions and views as inherently meaningless, silly or even corrupt. Regardless of the merit of any of these movements, fact is the sheer discontent with the past was enough to give them an edge that made them more and more impactful in public culture.

The result? Well, people's way of being didn't particularly change, but the lens by which they viewed things. "Common sense" changed, but there was no greater understanding of the why for that common sense of the nature of the opposing viewpoint than before.

The very idea of a character being pure good became scornful. As such, a character needed to have some flawed element to them. But if they had too many flaws, then they could become unrelatable or worse, pure evil, and as such become equally bad. The better solution was to make a good balance of the two that worked off each other and the nature of the character. The other, simpler solution (in addition to other reasons I will bring up in my other points) was to simply disassociate the character's inner psyche from the needed darkness. The edgy character, in essence, is simply that: When a character becomes dark without sense because they distance the character's own nature from the darkness and evil surrounding the character. For the antihero badass all that mayhem is not an evil act, it's "grey morality". For the half-demon kind the character tends to be a shining paragon of virtue, with the creator confusing an external threat or handicap for character flaws, and the last kind just thinking having a negative worldview makes one flawed.

While the reasons for it aren't as elaborate nowadays (while this is the fundamental root in my eyes, today's is mostly about poor immitation of these early prototypes) there are plenty of vestiges. Using demons and fallen angels as imagery pratically spits in the face of traditional christian values, very iconic of old culture in western countries, for instance. It seems like this is far from western-only though: One thing I heard is that in Japan some gangs used the pronounciation of words for "nice to meet you" in a way that sounded like a threat "I'll kill you", or something else related to death, which is about equivalent to someone going around trying to insert the number 13 into as many things as they could. It's a mockery of old ideas that gives a sense of rebellion to edginess.

2."Cool" in media is often portrayed as edgy

Badass implies edgy. While this isn't factual, it is a pattern that is present in media. The more "badass" or "cool" a character is meant to be, the more edgy they tend to be as well, be through snarkiness or through some hidden inner demons. The more skilled a character is, or powerful, the more edgy they tend to be.

One concept I was told about was the idea of "character likeability" levers. A character being "relatable", "competent" or "proactive" are the three levers, and how much you rise each impact how likeable the character is. A character with a good balance is often likeable, is a character with all three low is often outright hated, and a character with them too high becomes a Mary Sue. Well, this is a gross oversimplifcation, but the point is, edginess lowers the relatability lever, not because we don't relate to the character but because that character is often showed to be this way by what they do to the main character the audiece is supposed to be identifying themselves with. As such, it becomes important to raise the other levers.

It is not just power or competence that reaches this "cool" factor though (and keep in mind, wisdom is often also included in competence, snarky masters and skater grannies of the world). It's also that some of the bigger twists in the story tend to take place around more dubious characters, read, the edgier ones.

Edginess comes, mostly, from the attempt to immitate these characters. New players tend to come first into fandom, because it's their love for the fandom that attracts them to the roleplay. But in the back of their head, many new players aren't looking to do their own thing: I want something to do something as great as whatever they got from that fandom, as badass as that one character, but they end up trying and failing to capture what made that character work, often seeing only their idealized elements of the character and forgetting the surrounding context that made them work in the first place.

3.Darker is Easier

It takes a lot more work and skill to make a reader care about a lost doll than it does for them to care about the potential end of the world, or so one's instincts would tell you. AFter all, the stakes are much higher if someone may die than if some random personal item is lost, right? In roleplay especially, when you're probably the only one who cares about your character, you have to make something about them stand out, right?

This is an easy pitfall for players to fall into. Edgy stuff is just easy filler or easier to work with at first glance. And since many players hardly think about it beyond the first glance as opposed to thinking long-term edginess just becomes a much more attractive option. Why go through all the work of showing a gradual process of becoming enamored with fighting or a slow descent into arrogance when I can just shove a parent getting killed by a sadistic assassin and press the big red button of instant personality switch?

This goes so far that players sometimes don't even question it. A good example is the "parents died" type backstory, where people just shove that in just because. They don't consider why they'd want the character's parents dead or anything like that, to the point where one has to be explained why this is a wasteful decision. Sometimes they add in it just because the other people have something, they dont' want to feel like they'll be left out by not having somethign extraordinary happen in their backstory, almost as if there is some competition for who suffers the most.

This idea of being easier also ties in to another type of edgy character, the brooding, emotionless or just (overly) antisocial types. It's easier to be passive or to not have to deal with the character's emotional process and potential mistakes there derived.

Anything that SEEMS easier becomes a more attractive option.

4.Self-image and Self-pity

There's a reason why a lot of self-insert characers also tend to be extremely edgy, and this has to do with the self-image that is often at the source of some kinds of edginess. While to some level all characters are related to the player, if nothing else by virtue of being created by their effort, the edgy character often takes directly from how a player envisions their own troubles and the player's own stance on the evils of the world. The "grey morals" of the antihero are often defined by being just to the side of where the maker feels comfortable them going, they struggle with the dilemas the maker feels they would struggle with. This is just one example of course.

Another interesting pattern is that often characters who are edgy due to their extremely explicit of graphic use of abuse or some mental condition (in the CS) tend to be created by people who suffer or believe themselves to suffer from it, to the point where this seems to become an obsession for the character and player alike.

In the end of the day, the enemies of the character are the enemies of the player. While I wouldn't go so far as to call them self-inserts, an edgy character is certainly closer to the player than many other's identity-wise, and this is sometimes kind of the point. Some roleplayers specifically roleplay to resolve or explore their own inner emotional issues. And sometimes, they are rewarded. I myself have played edgy characters in the past, and I remember some of the warmest emotions I felt in RP back then was when said edgy character was comforted and accepted. It felt like I was being comforted, pitied, accepted.


In the end of the day, the primary reason I believe edgy characters are made are an attempt to create a character that establishes one's own identiy, one's own "special snowflake" is you will, but ironically done through a process that is essentially unixamined immitation and unawareness of boundaries, immitation in turn from media which is fundamented by principles of rejection of the old standards.

Anyways, I hope this is useful as a read, or at least fun to.

I wish you all the best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[kevintheradioguy]

I will be discussing here is not specifically the "overly dark backstory" or "uber tragic" type of edgy, but moreso the "brooding antihero"

Aaand this is already going into not-the-point I was making XDDD

 

[Jaredthefox92]

Aaand this is already going into not-the-point I was making XDDD

Oh, well I don't know then.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

Oh, well I don't know then.

That was to Idea tho..? o.0

 

[Idea]

Aaand this is already going into not-the-point I was making XDDD

In what way? I mean the elements you mentioned were hardly specifically only having a dark backstory. Some of the characters I talked about are specifially edgy because of their backstory, just moreso incidentally rather than that being the sole driving factor for the edgy classification. IN what way is this not what you were referring to? Just so we're clear.

 

[Jaredthefox92]

That was to Idea tho..? o.0

I normally make my characters who are like that be the bad guys. In fact, one of my worst villains with a horrible backstory, is a tiny pink kitty cat lady with an Aussie accent. I played that for laughs. Her name is also cute, Sherly Periwinkle.

 

[rae2nerdy]

So there are two ways this comes up.

GENERAL
It's bad writing. It isn't a trend so much as it's just lack of experience with writing well rounded characters. Most people eventually grow beyond the writing style with practice and exposure to more indepth story telling.

ROMANCE
For women writing romance this trope allows them to explore "forbidden" and "dangerous" elements in men they might be attracted to without putting themselves in real life danger. It's like the PG13 version of Christian Grey. Basically the idea is they can fantasy about a "bad boy" while still remaining in control of his actions and the narrative.

I wouldn't say either of these are recent trends btw. They've been in romance at least pretty much since the genre's inception.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

In what way? I mean the elements you mentioned were hardly specifically only having a dark backstory. Some of the characters I talked about are specifially edgy because of their backstory, just moreso incidentally rather than that being the sole driving factor for the edgy classification. IN what way is this not what you were referring to? Just so we're clear.

Semantics more than anything, I guess. Antiheroes are a... well, thing that exists, and they are hardly the cool and edgy characters I was describing. There isn't "edge to be edgy", antiheroes are a more balanced, compelling, humane trope. They are similar in a way that neither are goody-two-shoes, but antiheroes are Wolverines, and the trending thing nowadays are... idk, DMC's Virgil? (admittedly, I only played the third installment, so I am not sure if my image is correct) Over the top, bland, and, well, edgy to be edgy most of the time.
I guess that this edgy trend to antiheroism is like those #niceguys in fedoras and trench coats to action film heroes if this makes any sense.

 

[kevintheradioguy]

Addition: that being said, "failed attempt on antiheroes" sounds like a possible root for a trend too!

 

[Melpomene]

Well, from what I see here, you are talking about the badly written: *teleports behind you* "psh, nothin' personal, kid." edgelords. Correct me if I am wrong, but I am going to continue on that assumption haha.

Honestly I think you already said it, failed attempt at making a compelling anti-hero. There really can be a thin line between the two sometimes, especially if someone doesn't understand what makes a certain character so compelling.

As an example, I've heard someone call Geralt of Rivia an edgelord, but the good kind. But I could not necessarily agree because, well... I always associate edgelord with bad connotations and I rather liked Geralt in The Witcher books. What I did think was that he was a good character that did not always choose the path that made him look like a hero. For those of you who know the story of how he became the Butcher of Blaviken, you can probably see how his attempts at heroics and applying his own beliefs turned out for him.

Perhaps others would disagree with me and say Geralt IS an edgelord, but I think the trend legitimately started in attempts to emulate characters like Geralt. Especially since he DOES possess a lot of the traits you described haha. He rocks that white hair though.

 

[Idea]

Semantics more than anything, I guess. Antiheroes are a... well, thing that exists, and they are hardly the cool and edgy characters I was describing. There isn't "edge to be edgy", antiheroes are a more balanced, compelling, humane trope. They are similar in a way that neither are goody-two-shoes, but antiheroes are Wolverines, and the trending thing nowadays are... idk, DMC's Virgil? (admittedly, I only played the third installment, so I am not sure if my image is correct) Over the top, bland, and, well, edgy to be edgy most of the time.
I guess that this edgy trend to antiheroism is like those #niceguys in fedoras and trench coats to action film heroes if this makes any sense.

Well, once again, I think you misinterpreted what I meant. I did not, nor did I mean to, imply that all antiheroes or antiheroes in general were edgy characters. No, I was rather explaining that some edgy characters follow an antihero type in fact I referred to it as the "brooding antihero" rather than just antihero, save for in cases where I may have cut one of the words in order to avoid repetition and grammatically clunky sentences.

 

[SCSaya06]

As someone who used to write edgy characters in my teenage years, I think Idea's 4th point sums it up well.

It's an age and environment thing. As a younger teenager, everything felt like a big deal. It feels like a competition of sorts. You feel the need to be cool or to stand out. So it leaks into daydreams and imaginations. What if you have cool powers? What if people idolized you because of it? "Well, they used to cast me out before but when they need me, I can get some satisfaction by acting like a dick to them haha!" Something like that. Some people I know manifest these things in real life by being seemingly angry or mad at everything. On my end, this manifested in my writing. If I can't wear black because people will laugh and say it's too "emo" then my character will. And if they laugh then, my character has katana that breathe fire so they should think twice about messing with them.

Then as time passes, you become more normal. Perspective changes. You finally start making friends. You finally start achieving something, even if it's just little things. As time goes by, you start seeing what healthy interpersonal relationships look like. In that case, the way you make characters change as well.

But that's just me. I also know some otherwise, happy people who make edgy characters simply because they like the look and aesthetic. Like, they already created a katana wielding, black-wearing character because they think it's cool so why not take it all the way? People who do not like that aesthetic are going to laugh at it anyway. It's like when you think you don't look too good when smiling in pictures so you start exaggerating and acting all goofy instead. That way, when people laugh at your picture, you feel a sense of ease since in your mind, you think, "Well, I deliberately decided to look stupid anyway so haha!" Likewise, when someone says your character is too "edgy", you can easily claim "well, It's intentional".

Just my two cents on the matter.

 

[Fable]

I'm with PhoenixMire in that I do have what others might consider an edgy character, but there is a line between what is 'edgy' and what is 'tragic.' I adore tragic characters and because they are tragic characters that means there are elements of them that others might consider edgy. A well written character is tragic, a badly written character is edgy is the way I view it.

As far as the aesthetics of an edgy character... I don't hate them, lol. I have nothing against the design of what generally on first look is 'edgy'.

 

[Darkmaster006]

It's funny that the design you chose is practically Rin from Blue Exorcist yet he's like the anti-edgy character XD. I guess as for the edgy phenomenon... too much shonen anime? idek

 

[Jannah]

Having tragic backstories can add an interesting dynamic to a character if done well, but admittedly it's done a lot of the time simply for the sake of edginess. I couldn't say why, though. Maybe somebody who is new to writing and RP just really wants their character to stand out.

To go back to my first point, though, I once wrote a character who had been kidnapped, trafficked, and forced to become a sex slave essentially. On the surface it sounds super edgy, but it all worked out because she was meant to be sort of a refugee simply seeking safety. She was also severely messed up mentally from her experiences and part of her growth was getting over her innate fears. When I first started writing her she was agoraphobic and rarely even left the house.

 

[PhoenixMire]

I'm with PhoenixMire in that I do have what others might consider an edgy character, but there is a line between what is 'edgy' and what is 'tragic.' I adore tragic characters and because they are tragic characters that means there are elements of them that others might consider edgy. A well written character is tragic, a badly written character is edgy is the way I view it.

As far as the aesthetics of an edgy character... I don't hate them, lol. I have nothing against the design of what generally on first look is 'edgy'.

Totally agree with this. There's a difference between 'edgy' and 'tragic but well written'. Admittedly I've kinda come to associate the term 'edgy' with not always being bad, but that's just because I use that word so much that I feel like it's become slightly distorted in my eyes. Dunno if that makes any sense. But yeah, edgy is usually a bad thing.

I have this... "guilty pleasure" I guess you could call it, in which I love edgy designs for some inexplicable reason. Weird hair and eye colors (especially black scleras)? Horns? Sharp teeth? Black clothes? Belts and chains and collars? Lots of piercings? Yes to all of it. I have no idea why, but I love it lol

 

[Madruga]

I'll preface this by stating that I don't speak for anyone else, but I tend to write somewhat "edgy" characters as a reflection of myself. I don't necessarily mean in the sense of teenage angst (though I still have plenty of that in spite of being twenty-one), but in the sense that I had a bit of a rough early life. I did not have loving parents and I still have some scars today as a result. "Abusive" might be putting it lightly, but I won't bore anyone with the details. Because I didn't really have parental figures in my life until I was about nineteen, I often strayed away from writing characters having parents (ex: abandoned, killed) or they simply had unloving/abusive ones. Writing orphans, characters with tragic backgrounds, and mental illness (also common in my universes as I have GAD, ADD/ADHD Inattentive, and PTSD) tend to teeter very close to the line of "edgy". Some of this has changed in recent years, but I still use writing as a way to cope with some of the stuff that I went through.

I also occasionally have someone who aligns themselves with the dark side or has an edgy blade that can shoot shadows and whatnot, but that is much less common than what I described above.

 

[Onmyoji]

I have a feeling that many people just find edgy characters relatable. A lot of popular media edgy characters are teenagers/young adults and/or aimed for that audience.
The age when you're alone vs the world because the whole world is against you and doesn't understand you. When you feel the need to affirm your identity. Plus the desire to be cool and better than your peers. So such people find comfort in edgy characters and they keep staying popular in media. Also there are so many cases of people who are are really misunderstood and bullied, regardless of age, so they want to associate themselves with cool characters that went through hell and came back.

tldr, I don't see anything wrong with this. I feel there are reasons for such characters popularity and people shouldn't be judged for liking them, whatever reasons they might have.

 

[rae2nerdy]

I'll preface this by stating that I don't speak for anyone else, but I tend to write somewhat "edgy" characters as a reflection of myself. I don't necessarily mean in the sense of teenage angst (though I still have plenty of that in spite of being twenty-one), but in the sense that I had a bit of a rough early life. I did not have loving parents and I still have some scars today as a result. "Abusive" might be putting it lightly, but I won't bore anyone with the details. Because I didn't really have parental figures in my life until I was about nineteen, I often strayed away from writing characters having parents (ex: abandoned, killed) or they simply had unloving/abusive ones. Writing orphans, characters with tragic backgrounds, and mental illness (also common in my universes as I have GAD, ADD/ADHD Inattentive, and PTSD) tend to teeter very close to the line of "edgy". Some of this has changed in recent years, but I still use writing as a way to cope with some of the stuff that I went through.

I also occasionally have someone who aligns themselves with the dark side or has an edgy blade that can shoot shadows and whatnot, but that is much less common than what I described above.

And I think the general consensus is that what the OP was talking about was more in line with Mary Sues. Characters given essentially surface level traits to seem more noticeable.

Ex. Susie is raped a lot because she’s secretly a demon but it’s okay because rape is no big deal and it just means that Susie can be a nasty bitch without being held accountable for her actions.


Like that is sort of what the OP meant if I am reading their replies correctly.

Not : Susie was abused by her father and this caused her to develop a very antagonistic relationship with everyone. She is also hyper sensitive to being touched and obsessed with weaponry as a means of defending herself from her inner demon (who might manifest as actual demons if the roleplay is fantasy)

 

[kevintheradioguy]

Well, once again, I think you misinterpreted what I meant. I did not, nor did I mean to, imply that all antiheroes or antiheroes in general were edgy characters. No, I was rather explaining that some edgy characters follow an antihero type in fact I referred to it as the "brooding antihero" rather than just antihero, save for in cases where I may have cut one of the words in order to avoid repetition and grammatically clunky sentences.

That maybe true. Thing is, you write "antihero", and I immediately apply everything said to antiheroes instead of the current edgy trend... no matter what adjectives are used to describe them. From where I stand, "brooding antihero" is just the way to make a sentence nicer, and does not imply that "brooding antihero" is something different than just "antihero".