ooc: 5 things meme
I know this meme went around aaaages ago and was meant to be short, but if I’m already late, I may as well be long-winded while I’m at it?
Spoilers for C'rizz audios ahoy, but you probably knew that already.
What are five ideas/concepts/etc you keep in mind while writing your character that you believe are essential to accurately depicting them?
1. C’rizz’s does not have a “set” personality.
As a Eutermesan, C’rizz is a mental chameleon as much as he is a physical one. He is very susceptible to new ideas (I believe the Figurehead meant that mentally), and he has some major belief shifts in his life that leave him even more open to change than usual (meeting L’da and meeting the Doctor, specifically). C’rizz the Absolver is very unlike C’rizz the fiancé or C’rizz the Doctor’s companion--and that’s only looking at major changes. Because of this, C’rizz has trust issues, and I mean that both ways. He’s too trusting of others because he’s so empathic, and he’s not trusting enough of himself. He’s highly manipulable, although he becomes somewhat less so once he’s in our universe, at least in some ways.
2. C’rizz is a pacifist at heart--but prone to violence, especially when angry.
One thing about having a malleable personality--C’rizz is pretty full of contradictions. But that’s why we love him. Anyway, I’m going to blame the Church of the Foundation for this one. The Church was supposed to be gentle and kind, and yet it has an Absolver whose job was “confession, penance, absolution” and likely involved a great deal of punishment and killing (all in the name of saving souls, of course). C’rizz’s brand of violent pacifism isn’t exactly the same as the Church’s anymore, but he does still have the idea ingrained that death “saves.” He wavers on this now and then (The Last being the best example), but overall, “All things must die.” He is especially devoted to the idea that life isn’t worth living if you can’t live it freely and as yourself--in that situation, killing is justified. He doesn’t always want to commit these violent acts, but he believes they are necessary.
On the whole, C’rizz is very gentle. He shows it at first through an aversion to guns and weapons. He is also extremely kind and concerned toward his friends--not everyone would have asked the Oroog, “How are you?” in the midst of being tortured. And we only infrequently see him make use of his highly superior strength (Tell me Terror Firma boggled your mind as much as it did mine!). He is even kind and caring toward people that he really doesn’t know, like the colony in Scaredy Cat--and that was against the Doctor’s wishes, even. He’s happier to make peace than to fight, if he can. Just don’t make him angry.
Speaking of, despite his inherent gentleness, C’rizz also has a very violent temper. Make him mad, and he will hurt you (especially if his friends aren’t around to watch him do it). Not only that, but C’rizz can also be calculatingly violent--we see this best in Other Lives. People deserve to pay for hurting him or hurting other innocents. I think this comes from his role in the Church--he’s used to dolling out punishment. But of course, death is a relief, so if he’s just out to punish, life needs to take on some unpleasantness instead.
(I strongly believe that the Doctor changed C’rizz’s views on this in Memory Lane, or, at the very least, mixed them up a bit. Unfortunately, the audios didn’t continue enough to explore the ramifications of that experience on C’rizz. I’m hoping to explore it more myself!)
3. C’rizz is a little bit of everything he’s ever experienced and everyone he’s ever met.
I love when C’rizz angrily tells Kim how she can just forget about him, but he’ll carry a bit of her personality with him forever. As a Eutermesan, he assimilates a little bit (or sometimes a lot) to everyone he meets. You see it in subtle ways--like his tendency to pick up words and speech patterns used by those around him (“We’ll be back in a...jiffy, apparently.”). And then you see it in the major mental shifts he experiences under L’da’s influence and then under the Doctor’s. But even when C’rizz leaves people, even when he disagrees with them and hates them, he can never leave them completely behind or forget about them.
This is most visible in regards to the dead--for obvious reasons, considering what C’rizz really is. He carries around a bit more than random personality traits where the dead are concerned, especially the dead that he’s killed himself. They are in his head, and they, more than anything, encourage him to keep “saving” people through death. They also add to his susceptibility and self-doubt. After all, he’s got a crowd in his head with all sorts of different motives and objectives clamoring at him. Anybody could get confused. This brings us to our next point.
4. C’rizz is crazy.
He may be intelligent and rational and caring, but he also has a host of arguing voices in his head. Who wouldn’t go crazy?
C’rizz tends to show his insanity in little spurts of crazy talk and violence. His crazy side delights in the voices--and still loves his role as an Absolver. You see it most often when he’s around an enemy because he’s not worried about their opinions. Our first look at the manifestation of the voices happens when C’rizz is alone in his mind with the Kro’ka, after all. On the other hand, C’rizz does not want people he cares about to know of the “monster” he can be. So when he realizes that Charley might see the voices, he panics and makes a very rash and desperate promise to keep that from happening. Basically, he works very hard to hide that he’s crazy--unless you leave him alone with an enemy, at which point he enjoys letting the insanity show.
C’rizz’s interaction with Flood is a beautiful example of his true inner crazy. “I’m a killer, just like you.” In that sort of mood, C’rizz becomes violent and insensitive and cheerful about killing. He becomes so detached that he can even speak coldly of L’da’s death. Normally, his better judgment and the influence of friends keeps him from acting too terribly much on urges like these, but then he has moments like his Dalek destruction in Terror Firma. And sometimes even thoughts of his friends don’t stop the crazy--the ending of Terror Firma being a lovely example.
5. C’rizz is most defined by the choices that he alone makes.
In the end, I can talk all I want about outside influences and inside-outside influences (voices) and Eutermesan assimilation and C’rizz’s desire to conform first to L’da and then the Doctor, but when it comes down to it, C’rizz is real. There is a C’rizz, and he has his very own personality that belongs to no one else. He tells the Doctor and Charley that they’re the only ones he trusts to keep him as himself, and he doesn’t mean it in a “as much like the Doctor as I can be” sort of way. He seeks the Doctor’s validation and feels that he has a lot to learn from him, but he still kills Gemma, and he still tries to save that colony in Scaredy Cat, and he still gets revenge in Other Lives, and I could talk for ages about C’rizz’s many conflicting decisions in The Next Life. And, in the very end, C’rizz is what he decides to be. His decisions in Absolution belong to him alone. He may be a chameleon, and he may be susceptible to other influences, and they may put him over the crazy line at times, and he may welcome them and readily trust them at times, but when it comes down to it, no one can--and no one does--control him.
Spoilers for C'rizz audios ahoy, but you probably knew that already.
What are five ideas/concepts/etc you keep in mind while writing your character that you believe are essential to accurately depicting them?
1. C’rizz’s does not have a “set” personality.
As a Eutermesan, C’rizz is a mental chameleon as much as he is a physical one. He is very susceptible to new ideas (I believe the Figurehead meant that mentally), and he has some major belief shifts in his life that leave him even more open to change than usual (meeting L’da and meeting the Doctor, specifically). C’rizz the Absolver is very unlike C’rizz the fiancé or C’rizz the Doctor’s companion--and that’s only looking at major changes. Because of this, C’rizz has trust issues, and I mean that both ways. He’s too trusting of others because he’s so empathic, and he’s not trusting enough of himself. He’s highly manipulable, although he becomes somewhat less so once he’s in our universe, at least in some ways.
2. C’rizz is a pacifist at heart--but prone to violence, especially when angry.
One thing about having a malleable personality--C’rizz is pretty full of contradictions. But that’s why we love him. Anyway, I’m going to blame the Church of the Foundation for this one. The Church was supposed to be gentle and kind, and yet it has an Absolver whose job was “confession, penance, absolution” and likely involved a great deal of punishment and killing (all in the name of saving souls, of course). C’rizz’s brand of violent pacifism isn’t exactly the same as the Church’s anymore, but he does still have the idea ingrained that death “saves.” He wavers on this now and then (The Last being the best example), but overall, “All things must die.” He is especially devoted to the idea that life isn’t worth living if you can’t live it freely and as yourself--in that situation, killing is justified. He doesn’t always want to commit these violent acts, but he believes they are necessary.
On the whole, C’rizz is very gentle. He shows it at first through an aversion to guns and weapons. He is also extremely kind and concerned toward his friends--not everyone would have asked the Oroog, “How are you?” in the midst of being tortured. And we only infrequently see him make use of his highly superior strength (Tell me Terror Firma boggled your mind as much as it did mine!). He is even kind and caring toward people that he really doesn’t know, like the colony in Scaredy Cat--and that was against the Doctor’s wishes, even. He’s happier to make peace than to fight, if he can. Just don’t make him angry.
Speaking of, despite his inherent gentleness, C’rizz also has a very violent temper. Make him mad, and he will hurt you (especially if his friends aren’t around to watch him do it). Not only that, but C’rizz can also be calculatingly violent--we see this best in Other Lives. People deserve to pay for hurting him or hurting other innocents. I think this comes from his role in the Church--he’s used to dolling out punishment. But of course, death is a relief, so if he’s just out to punish, life needs to take on some unpleasantness instead.
(I strongly believe that the Doctor changed C’rizz’s views on this in Memory Lane, or, at the very least, mixed them up a bit. Unfortunately, the audios didn’t continue enough to explore the ramifications of that experience on C’rizz. I’m hoping to explore it more myself!)
3. C’rizz is a little bit of everything he’s ever experienced and everyone he’s ever met.
I love when C’rizz angrily tells Kim how she can just forget about him, but he’ll carry a bit of her personality with him forever. As a Eutermesan, he assimilates a little bit (or sometimes a lot) to everyone he meets. You see it in subtle ways--like his tendency to pick up words and speech patterns used by those around him (“We’ll be back in a...jiffy, apparently.”). And then you see it in the major mental shifts he experiences under L’da’s influence and then under the Doctor’s. But even when C’rizz leaves people, even when he disagrees with them and hates them, he can never leave them completely behind or forget about them.
This is most visible in regards to the dead--for obvious reasons, considering what C’rizz really is. He carries around a bit more than random personality traits where the dead are concerned, especially the dead that he’s killed himself. They are in his head, and they, more than anything, encourage him to keep “saving” people through death. They also add to his susceptibility and self-doubt. After all, he’s got a crowd in his head with all sorts of different motives and objectives clamoring at him. Anybody could get confused. This brings us to our next point.
4. C’rizz is crazy.
He may be intelligent and rational and caring, but he also has a host of arguing voices in his head. Who wouldn’t go crazy?
C’rizz tends to show his insanity in little spurts of crazy talk and violence. His crazy side delights in the voices--and still loves his role as an Absolver. You see it most often when he’s around an enemy because he’s not worried about their opinions. Our first look at the manifestation of the voices happens when C’rizz is alone in his mind with the Kro’ka, after all. On the other hand, C’rizz does not want people he cares about to know of the “monster” he can be. So when he realizes that Charley might see the voices, he panics and makes a very rash and desperate promise to keep that from happening. Basically, he works very hard to hide that he’s crazy--unless you leave him alone with an enemy, at which point he enjoys letting the insanity show.
C’rizz’s interaction with Flood is a beautiful example of his true inner crazy. “I’m a killer, just like you.” In that sort of mood, C’rizz becomes violent and insensitive and cheerful about killing. He becomes so detached that he can even speak coldly of L’da’s death. Normally, his better judgment and the influence of friends keeps him from acting too terribly much on urges like these, but then he has moments like his Dalek destruction in Terror Firma. And sometimes even thoughts of his friends don’t stop the crazy--the ending of Terror Firma being a lovely example.
5. C’rizz is most defined by the choices that he alone makes.
In the end, I can talk all I want about outside influences and inside-outside influences (voices) and Eutermesan assimilation and C’rizz’s desire to conform first to L’da and then the Doctor, but when it comes down to it, C’rizz is real. There is a C’rizz, and he has his very own personality that belongs to no one else. He tells the Doctor and Charley that they’re the only ones he trusts to keep him as himself, and he doesn’t mean it in a “as much like the Doctor as I can be” sort of way. He seeks the Doctor’s validation and feels that he has a lot to learn from him, but he still kills Gemma, and he still tries to save that colony in Scaredy Cat, and he still gets revenge in Other Lives, and I could talk for ages about C’rizz’s many conflicting decisions in The Next Life. And, in the very end, C’rizz is what he decides to be. His decisions in Absolution belong to him alone. He may be a chameleon, and he may be susceptible to other influences, and they may put him over the crazy line at times, and he may welcome them and readily trust them at times, but when it comes down to it, no one can--and no one does--control him.