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Writing godlike characters (without making everything Kryptonite)

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FishStampede:
Or, how to let them have their fun and still preserve the drama. The story I'm writing could be called "high fantasy," "My Little Pony played in the Exalted system," or  "Game of Thrones if it was published in Shonen Jump." Seriously. It works better than it sounds. Be prepared for weirdness ahead.

Anyway, my two main characters have nearly godlike power and a major theme I wish to explore is how sometimes their power can't solve every problem. In fact, aggressively using such power can make situations much worse. On the flip side, not using such power can make people resent you and think they could have done better. To this end I have one who tends towards inaction and letting situations handle themselves, while the other tends towards action. It's the latter one that is problematic.

So how do you handle extremely powerful characters, without it seeming like everything is made of kryptonite? I'll let you give me some ideas, then explain the specifics of the situation she's currently in.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: FishStampede on September 06, 2012, 11:19:43 PM ---So how do you handle extremely powerful characters, without it seeming like everything is made of kryptonite? I'll let you give me some ideas, then explain the specifics of the situation she's currently in.

--- End quote ---

By far my favourite example of this is how Mike Carey writes Lucifer in the Vertigo series of the same name; which is a combination of focusing on the other characters' issues, and a core element of Lucifer's pride being that he will play your game on your rules and win anyway.

OZ:
I guess my first question would be whether the characters have regular human motives. For example if one could make anyone fall in love with them, would they at some point feel cheated (possible human emotion) or would they not really care because that's the way things are supposed to be. Do they care enough about anyone to grieve if they die? Can they resurrect the dead. How many characters are there with this level of power? Do they ever find themselves in conflict with each other?

o_O:

--- Quote from: FishStampede on September 06, 2012, 11:19:43 PM ---Anyway, my two main characters have nearly godlike power and a major theme I wish to explore is how sometimes their power can't solve every problem. In fact, aggressively using such power can make situations much worse. On the flip side, not using such power can make people resent you and think they could have done better. To this end I have one who tends towards inaction and letting situations handle themselves, while the other tends towards action. It's the latter one that is problematic.

So how do you handle extremely powerful characters, without it seeming like everything is made of kryptonite? I'll let you give me some ideas, then explain the specifics of the situation she's currently in.

--- End quote ---

I would be strongly tempted to use apathy, in both a "I can have whatever I want so why should I want any one specific thing or event or goal?" sense, and in a "I am so distracted by the possibilities of this NEW chain of events/scenario that I cannot possibly remember caring about the old one" direction.   

Depressed King Log and ADHD King Stork.

(Then I'd probably crumple and burn the whole thing as being too indolently insensitive).

Serack:
I'm not sure how well it might apply to your question, but Brandon Sanderson has gods in his book "Warbreaker."  There are a couple places in that book that I scratched my head because of small breaks in how the story flowed, but the way he handled the gods was very interesting.

It's been a couple years, but they didn't exactly volunteer for the job, but rather they mysteriously resurrected after dying, and gained godly powers, and were worshiped.  There was some turnover, because a god could chose one person to save that was dying but only by giving up his/her 2nd life.  However, over a long span of time, the gods that were left were rather apathetic and self centered.  Indulging in the luxury given to them by the worshipers, and doing nothing else really.

Also, the head god who had like 10x more power than the lesser gods, couldn't speak due to not having a tongue.  The priesthood had some interesting interaction with the whole dynamic, and during the course of the book a couple external factors came to play. 

Possibly the most interesting part is that the god that appeared the most apathetic, was also the one that put the most effort into going through the motions of doing what was expected of him by the worshipers (albeit while forcing himself past his disinterest).  (click to show/hide)And eventually he ended up saving everybody by healing just the right person.  An unusual messianic story. 
There was also a really odd magic system interwoven through the whole thing, this being Sanderson and all.

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