Consider this sentiment. A short paragraph outlining a tragic loss, an implied threat, and a character's deliberate walk into darkness. It's a familiar song for a lot of us, but because of that familiarity we sometimes forget that even if we are striving for a grim and dark tone in our stories, you need some kind of contrast in order for the edges of that darkness to have an impact.
Because if it's been all dark, all the time, then your readers are just stumbling around in an unlit room wondering what the hell the point of any of this is.
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| And we're going to start with a pretty popular cultural touchstone... |
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Why It Matters That Frank Castle Had A Family
The Punisher is perhaps one of the most infamous antiheroes in comic books. He's a brutal killer waging a one-man-war on criminals, and he's a dark counternote to a lot of the costumed heroes out there who have catch phrases, weird powers, and codes of honor. Frank Castle doesn't have weird gadgets (most of the time), or supernatural powers (again, most of the time). He has military training, an iron will, and a grim determination to cross however many lines are necessary to get the job done.
But it's his past that truly throws what he's become into focus, and while we sometimes forget that past, it's central to who and what he is now.
Because the hollowed-out harbinger of doom that is the Punisher was once a husband. There was a day he wore his uniform and said, "I do," to a woman he genuinely loveld, and wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He had two children with that woman. He may not have been a perfect father, but he loved those children, and he wanted to do his best for them. He was a marine, and he served his country with distinction, performing acts of heroism that had been recognized by his commanding officers. When his family was killed, and those killers walked free, something inside of him broke, and he started his long war.
That tragedy, and the darkness that Frank Castle has steeped himself in ever since, is why his fall into the Punisher was so hard. Seeing everything he had, and the kind of man he could have been, is what makes his character so chilling. And without that backstory, and those glimpses of the family man and father he once was, it would lessen the impact of who and what he is now. If Frank Castle had just lived a terrible life since his youth, and he grew up to be nothing more than a killer who lashed out against others like himself, then he might still be interesting... but his darkness would have so much less impact if it was never contrasted with the light of a better life, a better future, etc.
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| Speaking of those who've lived entirely awful lives... |
For characters whose lives have been nothing but one, unending horror, consider Frankenstein's monster. He was brought into the world by a fearful and uncaring creator who abandoned him, he was mistreated by all who met him, and he's known nothing but rejection, terror, and violence his entire life. But even the monster has had moments of light where we catch glimpses of what might have been for him.
Consider the family the monster spies on through the wall. We see him form bonds with them, begin to love them, and to learn about human dynamics and speech. We see him put his prodigious strength to work in a good cause, helping them when they struggle. We see him meet the blind father, who treats him with kindness, and for a brief moment we think maybe this will be the end of the monster's struggles... but no. He is rejected, wounded, and cast out by the other members of the family. We see him find his creator once more, we see the construction of the bride, and we begin to wonder if it is possible he might get something like a happy ending... and then we see him once again betrayed by Victor.
With the monster, we still see glimpses of the life he could have led, and the other paths that could have been taken. He might have been adopted into the farm family, living out his life surrounded by those who grew to love him. He might have reconciled with Victor, somehow, the two of them finding some common understanding. It was possible that his bride may have learned to love him, and the two of them could have shared an existence. But we watch as every, single one of those futures is ripped away from him, and so his bitterness and rage become far more understandable. More than that, it's so much more terrible because we've seen the monster is capable of love, care, and nobility. To see what he could have been, and to compare that with what he becomes is what defines his darkness, and makes the impact of the story so much more terrible.
So if you're going to write a dark, gritty, edgy, or even a bleak story, remember, darkness and horror are meaningless without light to contrast them... especially if you want us to see the humanity in your monsters.
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