Why [DELTARUNE CHAPTER 4 SPOILERS] is an effective villain: a premature analysis
Yâall Iâm literally posting this and then disappearing from the Internet for however long to avoid the spoiler brigade. I havenât even finished Chapter 4 yet, there could be more I donât even know. I just cannot sleep and am so wracked with autistic mania that I HAVE to get my thoughts in order or I will explode
Character creation and analysis have always been some of my greatest passions. I still have my Ceroba Ketsukane analysis sitting on the backburner, 24 pages and counting, that exists purely for my own enjoyment. Storytelling fundamentals are things I keep in mind for everything I consume, especially in the context of characters. That being said, known character development strategies can be attributed to Carol Holiday, and why she works SO WELL as a villain imo
Back when J.K. Rowling wasnât a piece of shit, I watched an interesting video commenting on how Voldemort could have been made more effective as a villain. Which essentially compared him to Umbridge who usually provokes more vitriol within the community and pitched the idea of him casting some sort of life-altering spell on Hermione. I canât remember the exact details, but it was something to the effect of memory alteration or brain function suppression, to take away the one thing that mattered most to her in life, which was her academic success and pursuit of knowledge, which we see her strive so passionately for throughout the whole series. And then the reader would have to watch her slog through life with no sense of purpose, a husk of her former self, and allow that rage to fester. He then tied this back to why Umbridge is remembered (ironically, less) fondly, because the slights she commits are targeted specifically on known flaws and vulnerabilities of the main characters
Itâs something that Iâve carried with me since because it really does make sense if you stop and think about it. Being like 13 at the time I initially clicked on that video with more curiosity than anything because I thought he worked pretty effectively. But by the end I was like holy shit yeah that wouldâve worked SO much better. And the more I think about it, the more itâs really on full display here
The reveal that Carol is a central antagonist made me feel things, sure, but the thing that REALLY got me was seeing her for the first time, even before we knew just how connected she was. When Susie commented on the temperature seeming to fall when she entered, I FELT that. Because the previous chapters made SUCH a big deal about NEVER letting us see her. She was always cooped up in her office with hordes of cronies blocking any entrances commenting on how busy she is, even when confronted with our teenaged protagonist wishing to report a serious danger that not even the police is taking seriously. Within our centralized view, that paints a cold, scheming picture right off the bat
We were given ample time to create a caricature in our minds, shaping itself to whatever bounds it would allow itself to stretch. This is a common practice seen in comic book theory, with the idea that a scene that takes place in a gutter (the space between panels, or in other words, not shown) is infinitely more shocking, gruesome, terrifying, whatever you want it to be than anything that could be shown. Because it allows the viewer to fill in the blanks for themselves, and the human mind has the tendency to jump to the very worst. So seeing her pale fur, sunken eyes, stony glare, frigid colour palette, just HIT because it reinforced EVERYTHING that had been festering in our minds for the past however long. For me, itâs barely even been a year. I canât even begin to imagine those who have been holding it for upwards of six
Weâre already starting off with a bang, but the fact sheâs so mysterious is then just used to make the small things we DO learn about her even MORE effective. Noelle is scared to tell her sheâs locked out of the house. She doesnât keep keys of important documents anywhere but home. Rudy is spending what could be his last moments terrified of what will happen to Noelle after he isnât there to âbalance Carol outâ, in his words. Noelle explains the feeling of seeking out things that scare her just so she can feel comforted. Speaking as someone else with a poor emotional relationship with her parents, the portrayal of Carol as such is not only harrowing, but very REAL. Itâs severe enough to push all the right buttons, but not SO much so that she becomes harder to take seriously because a sense of immersion is lost. THAT is just as important, and itâs what really sells the effectiveness
The fact she wants to bring calamity upon the world is awful, sure. But thatâs not why I hate her. I hate her because sheâs a shitty mother. I hate her because Noelle has gone through so much because of her. And most of all, I hate her because of the implication that sheâs using Dess to get her way, if Iâm not going batshit crazy and Dess is the Roaring Knight like is seeming to be implied. Hell, she may have even staged her disappearance to be rid of her, as we know Dess wanted to leave home as soon as possible and take Noelle with her, and also that she was a contrarian to her motherâs strict beliefs and did things she never would have approved of. The reveal that, in her words, âI am always welcome in her homeâ would only have ever intrigued me if I didnât know what I do about her. Perhaps she has more sympathetic motives than are being shown to me presently! But because these careful steps were taken to establish her not only as an antagonist, but as a VILLAIN, I felt pure unadulterated disgust. And the desire to be anywhere else and do anything else and listen to anyone else and never do what she wants me to do ever
What truly makes a good villain is the combination between narrative stakes and personal investment. And, more importantly than that, the effort to make it believably, groundely REAL, as opposed to overly blunt or performative. Iâve hated Carol from literally Chapter 1, assuming that she was gonna be an invisible driving force for Noelleâs character development and not much more, and now I just have a vessel to fuel all that rage into because the careful work behind the curtain is being unveiled masterfully. The fact thereâs even more to know upcoming has my head spinning because Iâm already reeling from just how much I HATE Carol, and just how GOOD that is for the story
If youâve somehow survived my word salad the size of Mars, please please please leave tour thoughts or whatever else. Iâll see it when I eventually finish everything
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