How to Play the Sarcastic Hero

[pawsplay]

Not Your Typical Wizard

His name was Brodascyn Devilhawk, a half-elf in a party of half-elves. Though garbed in a fur-lined cloak and covered in bird droppings, armed with a well worn battle-axe and accompanied by his hawk, he was wizard, through and through.

He was party the result of the luck of dice. I rolled really nice stats, except for one stinker, so the 5 went to Charisma, and the ranger-like wizard I had pictured morphed into an embittered, completely unpleasant mercenary who could barely function in society.

Merchant: You know what, worm? I don't like you very much!
Brodascyn: I don't like myself very much.

It was a running joke that while the other party members feasted, drank, and debached before each major mission, he would take a handful of copper pieces and prowl the streets looking for the cheapest possible prostitutes. The GM would relate how they taunted him and spitted at him, or demanded extra payment to endure his stench and scarred face. He was a lot of fun to play, and the other players loved him. It was a sad day when he died.

He died just as he always wanted to: battling the champion of a dark demigod, out of spells, battle-axe in hand...

 

[Doug McCrae]

I can't recall a single example of Han Solo being sarcastic. Like Hellboy he's a dour, cynical, hard-boiled, tough talking loner who longs to be part of a team. But he's not sarcastic.

Lobo is a caricature, not a serious character. He's a pastiche of dour, cynical, hard-boiled, tough talking loners such as Eastwood's Man With No Name, Wolverine and every single hero in 2000AD. If you met him in real life I don't think his sarcasm would be the first feature that you notice. Rather it would be that he's an insanely violent psychopathic killer drinking in a bar where all the other patrons have had their faces shot off.

I think the word you might be looking for is antihero. Antihero used to refer to an incompetent, weak protagonist but now it means any protagonist who isn't 1950s Superman.

 

[reveal]

I can't recall a single example of Han Solo being sarcastic. Like Hellboy he's a dour, cynical, hard-boiled, tough talking loner who longs to be part of a team. But he's not sarcastic.

I can think of plenty of examples of Han being sarcastic.

Han to C3P0: “I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Chewey, take the professor and plug him into the hyperdrive.”

Han to Luke: “Great, kid. Don’t get cocky.” (to me, that's a sarcastic way of saying 'calm down, junior.")

Han to C3P0: “Never tell me the odds!”

Han to Princess Leia: “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered!”

Han: “Wonderful girl. Either I’m going to kill her, or I’m beginning to like her.”

Han to Luke: “I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field controls my destiny.” (you can't tell me there's no sarcasm in Han telling Luke that his religion is a bunch of BS)

"Sarcastic Hero" works for me because it explains the way that the hero carried themselves. I don't like "anti-hero" because it makes me think of some dark, brooding emo-esque individual.

 

[Roger]

Han to Luke: “I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believe there's one all-powerful force controlling everything. There's no mystical energy field controls my destiny.” (you can't tell me there's no sarcasm in Han telling Luke that his religion is a bunch of BS)

It seems clear you and I have different opinions about what sarcasm is, which is fine. Prefacing your article with something like the above would help readers understand your position better, in my opinion.


Cheers,
Roger

 

[pawsplay]

1: a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain
2 a: a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual b: the use or language of sarcasm

 

[Hussar]

I think the word you might be looking for is antihero. Antihero used to refer to an incompetent, weak protagonist but now it means any protagonist who isn't 1950s Superman.

Actually, not really. Anti-heroes aren't weak or incompetent, nor are they a slightly dirty sort of hero. Anti-heroes are outright evil. Wolverine isn't an anti-hero. Nor are most portrayals of Batman. Thomas Covenant isn't an anti-hero despite being weak and incompetent.

If you want anti-heroes, look at Moorcock - Elric commits genocide against his own kind, for example. S. R. Donaldson's Angus Thermopyle from the Gap series is a multiple murderer and rapist. Judge Dread from the comic books is pathological.

Anti-heroes are protagonists that are no better than the villains they struggle against. They have few or no redeeming qualities. At best, you can say that they fight the good fight. But, if you removed the villains, THEY would be the villains in another story.

 

[pawsplay]

That's a very narrow view of an anti-hero, Hussar, and essentially the definition is your own. An anti-hero can be any protagonistic character who is not wholly heroic. Tragic heroes are still heroic, but this is more of a broken hero. Someone could be a coward, evil, petty, incompetent, etc...

 

[thundershot]

I a character in my 2E and 3E campaign that was proof that Lawful good did NOT have to mean Lawful NICE. He was a jerk, however he gave all of his treasure to the community and would always be the last one to cover the rest of the party's retreat should they need. But he was just mean in social situations...

I'm recreating him in 4E, and this time I'm infusing him with a lot of Beast Wars Dinobot's personality, only with more of a sway toward good. He'll be vicious and crude, yet honorable.



Chris

 

[Hussar]

That's a very narrow view of an anti-hero, Hussar, and essentially the definition is your own. An anti-hero can be any protagonistic character who is not wholly heroic. Tragic heroes are still heroic, but this is more of a broken hero. Someone could be a coward, evil, petty, incompetent, etc...

No, it's not.

Wiki is your friend:

In fiction, an anti-hero is a protagonist who is lacking the traditional heroic attributes and qualities, and instead possesses character traits that are antithetical to heroism.

The word anti-hero is a 20th-century construction. The 1940 edition of the Merriam-Webster New International Dictionary listed "anti-hero", but did not define it.[1] The 1992 American Heritage Dictionary of the American Language defined anti-hero as a persona characterized by a lack of "traditional" heroic qualities.

Antihero definition

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Wikihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihero

...Isn't a viable source in anywhere on planet Earth, so it doesn't back up your argument too well.