Character Profiles

Character Profile – Sadrin Reloro

Kris Takahashi Character Profiles 3 Comments

Sadrin Being a Creeper

At times, I hesitate to write about my motivations because I worry about what sort of influence it has on how the NPCs are perceived.  I hate watching movies with well known celebrities because it’s impossible for me to divorce the person from the role they are portraying.  And when I describe said movie to others, I will invariably refer to the protagonist as “Celebrity X’s character” as opposed to the character’s name, because I can’t for the life of me remember what it is.

Similarly, when writers craft things that are personal or related to their own history, or in my case, often motivated by things that are completely unrelated to anything, it’s difficult as a reader to distance one from the other. Jadro’Ra, for instance, is a character that was inspired by adolescence, cliques and the social hierarchy.  You know, mean girls, popularity contests, and sitting at the cool kids table. Nerds and jocks, beggars and mages, and everyone in between.

Now what if I told you Jadro’Ra’s story was inspired by more than some common experience, but rather a deeply personal and hilariously embarrassing event.  Suppose I said I wrote Jadro’Ra because I was a male cheerleader who was constantly beat up by the captain of the football team.  Later on, I took up ping pong, earned a scholarship to some esteemed Ping Pong university and subsequently shunned all my former male cheerleader friends.  Immediately, your perception of Jadro’Ra would be ruined by this cringe worthy revelation.  I might have ruined it just now.  It would be impossible to take his story seriously knowing its ridiculously comical provenance.

This is why I typically choose character profiles that enhance the reader’s understanding of the NPC rather than twist your perception of them.  However, in some cases, inspiration and understanding are not mutually exclusive, which brings us to the origin of one Sadrin Reloro. You see, Sadrin’s inspiration mirrors his character.  To put it simply, he was born out of my frustration for not being able to bed Haelga.

The funny part is, I don’t find Haelga all that attractive.  She’s a bit manly.  She has a jaw and a frame that would make her an excellent starting linebacker for the Chicago Bears.  Yet as a sworn pervert, I am not the sort of person to let looks, personality, or an assortment of diseases come between me and sexy time.  So when Haelga, who was by all indications a loose woman, not only refused to bed the Dragonborn, but appeared downright hostile toward him, I was rather disappointed.  Clearly, such behavior was not lore friendly.

Obviously, when creating a video game, there’s a difference between what’s lore friendly and what’s consumer friendly.  In the mod, every time I want to make a reference to genitalia, I have to divine exactly what four letter words Bethesda left out in order to offend less people.  Whether it’s movie stars or pixelated sex acts, the outside world is always influencing and altering the world within.  So if you want to know who it was that really made Sadrin, you need only look to your government laws on censorship.

As for me, I am reminded of that very first day in Riften, and the subsequent frustration that followed.  When I look at that NPC, what I see is my very first character, so much so that I often forget his name.

Character Profile – Raynes

Kris Takahashi Character Profiles 2 Comments

I’ll burn off their ears.  I’ll scoop out their eyes.  But the one thing I’ll never take…is their tongues.
–Raynes

There are companion characters and there are marriage characters.  Raynes isn’t really one or the other.  Raynes is a sexualized character.  And by that, I don’t mean his homosexuality, although I do find that breaking away from stereotypes is fun.  When I say sexualized, I’m referring to his aggression, his fever, and his angst – all of which ooze from his pores and drip down his daggers.

You might even accuse him of being too hard, too sweaty, to be considered for a mod that prides itself on the three dimensional NPC.  Still, I find Raynes’ character to be fairly unique in that the majority of his personality remains hidden behind his impenetrable scowl.  After all, despite every indication that he is a dominant, alpha male lawman, the secret about Raynes is that he hates himself.  Or more specifically, he hates the part of him that’s Khajiit.  So much so that he keeps his head clean shaven, paranoid that somewhere in that shock of black hair he might find a single strand of fur.

Unlike most characters in the mod, Raynes doesn’t have a story to tell, and this too is as deliberate as his shaved head.  Raynes himself isn’t aware of the origins of his distaste for lawbreakers, or why he is so obsessed about bringing them to justice.  For the outside onlooker, the answer is painfully obvious.  Khajiit are known to be thieves.  As such, when Raynes hunts those that break the law, he really hunts himself.

The secret about Raynes is that he hates himself, and he’s the only who doesn’t know it.

Raynes is about the subconscious, and how it influences our pattern of behavior.  He’s a character
about bald spots and blind spots, and never being absolutely sure what’s going on in the back of your head, no matter how clean you keep it shaved.

Character Profile – Iris the Elder

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I was probably about seven or eight years old when my uncle told me my mother ran track.  It was an oddly seminal moment for a child.  You see, mom is not swift.  She’s a tiny little Japanese woman and that comes with a certain spunk, but I wouldn’t characterize her as a runner.  Yet, there was a time in her life that she was actually considered fast.  A time before I was born.  For any child, the first time you realize space and time exist independent of you is a mind blowing experience.  Mom wasn’t just the mom I knew.   My teacher wasn’t just the wrinkled old crone all the kids insisted she was.  In fact, every adult I ever met had been in my shoes, dreamed my stupid kid dreams, and had lived an entirely separate existence from the one I used to define them.

In video games, characters are often viewed through a similar lens.  The myopia of the present.  Old women are always old women.  Sweet old ladies.  Miserable old hags.  They always act their age.  Old.  Rarely do we ever get to find out who they were, and how that shapes who they are.

Ostensibly, Iris is the same.  She begins with a monologue about death, how in the twilight of her life, she can see the sky fading to black.  Yet just as the nickname Iris the Elder was never meant to imply old age, so does Iris’ appearance belie what she’s really about.  The concerns about her mortality are revealed to be her children’s.  Iris herself just wants to relax, have a drink, and enjoy a hot bath.  In her old age, her courier legs have finally slowed down.  Yet at heart, Iris remains the same person she always was.  Brave.  Kind.  Swift.

I sometimes get asked about the Windhelm courier story.  When I wrote it, I knew the narrative was good, but it was Lila Paws‘ acting that truly brought it to life.  She does more than hit every note.  She takes you there, to that cold, wintry night, and as she sets the scene you can feel the chill frisk your bones.

To this day, that story is one of my favorites, because it isn’t a traditional warrior story, and yet it fits the theme of TESV so perfectly.  It’s a winter story, a Skyrim story, but more importantly, it’s a Nord story.  It’s about courage, duty, and sacrifice, from the most unlikeliest of sources.

After all, Iris may be old, and she may be feeble, but those aren’t the traits that define her.