Lee Ashworth, Greg House, And Doctor Strange Are Triplets And You Cannot Change My Mind

GWAH GWAH GWAH

GWAH! by lokitheraven

Do you have any tips on how to write a character who’s being manipulated?

Your blog has been very helpful to me! :) thanks a lot

Quick Tips for Writing Manipulative Characters

To convincingly write a character who is being manipulated, you must first understand how to write a believable manipulator. Often hidden in plain sight, manipulators pull the strings, guiding the actions of those who are often unaware that they're dancing to someone else's tune.

Let’s look at manipulators as puppet masters, exploring how they function and how their actions echo throughout your story. By understanding the manipulator, you'll better equip yourself to create realistic characters who are unwittingly under their sway.

How do they behave?

Play the victim to garner sympathy

Charming and persuasive

Twist and distort the truth to suit their agenda

Play mind games

Are silver-tongued

Passive-aggressive when confronted

Use guilt to control others

Don’t hesitate to lie or deceive

Demonstrate a sense of entitlement.

Project their feelings onto others

How do they interact?

Play different roles with different people

Prefer indirect communication to direct confrontation

Gaslight others, making them doubt their own perceptions

Shift the blame onto others

Exploit others' vulnerabilities

Use people’s secrets against them

Make others feel obligated or in debt to them

Use flattery to get their way

Create conflict between other characters

Deliberately create confusion and chaos

Describe their body language

Maintain intense eye contact

Use touch to seem friendly and intimate

Facial expressions often don't match their words

Use large, expressive gestures to dramatise

Have a confident and exaggerated posture

Soften expression to look more trustworthy

Smile artificially or excessively

Lean in close, invading personal space

Mirror others’ behaviours to seem more likeable

Mimic emotions they may not feel

Describe their attitudes

Believe they are always right

Feel entitled and superior

Lack empathy

Highly competitive

Often impatient and intolerant

Controlling and like to be in charge

Rarely apologize sincerely

Often play the martyr, acting self-sacrificing

Can be sceptical of others’ intentions

Kindness is often an act

Positive narrative effects

Paradoxically, manipulative characters can have a positive narrative effect on those they manipulate. These characters can act as a catalyst for change, pushing others to unlock hidden potential and indirectly teaching them to be more cautious. In the face of manipulation, characters can mature and grow resilience.

Manipulative characters can also reveal people’s true natures by tricking them into revelations or by fostering unity as others band together against them. Furthermore, their actions can create dramatic plot twists, make people question their own perceptions and realities, and add intrigue.

Negative narrative effects

Manipulators can cause emotional and psychological distress, breed distrust and insecurity, and disrupt relationships and friendships. These characters often lead others to make damaging decisions, creating a toxic environment.

By exploiting and exposing others' vulnerabilities, manipulators make individuals question their self-worth. The extent of their manipulation can even cause physical harm and lead to the downfall of other characters. Their lasting legacy? Emotional scars that define their victims long after the manipulator has exited the narrative.

Ha they can try

Elrond: Okay, so, Glorfindel can't join the Fellowship because he literally glows in the dark and would alert Sauron to everyone's location. Elves with such awesome power must stay behind. Legolas, you shall go.

Legolas: :)

Legolas: ...

Legolas: Wait >:(

Banned by Łukasz Frączek

This scene pulls at my heart. Below, Smaug just told Bilbo that Thorin Oakenshield weighed the value of his life and found it worth nothing. His response to that? Laughing with a huge grin on his face and eyes turned down, almost like he's remembering all the times' Thorin proved that statement false.

Smaug is a VERY intelagent dragon. He immediately picked up on that sure little laugh, which brings me to the below. Smaug doesn't say corrupt his mind. No, he says, corrupt his heart and drive him mad. He knows that is what will shake him. Look at Bilbo's face in the first gif. His look is defiant and unbelieving, but in the second gif, he starts rapidly blinking and losing his composure. That is terror, worry, and fear. Not for himself but because he doesn't want to lose the dwarf he loves.

Just in case you were feeling happy today.

GROWWWWWWW I PUT THE FEAR OF CROWLEY INTO THEE GROOOOOOOWWW

Leaf it up to you to give perfect pictures