I meant to write the author post, like a month ago. But here it is.
When I started writing this, it was intended to be a joke. A goofy, pacifist character who detonated a nuke while yelling, "Behold the power of my Stand!" As you can tell, almost nothing of that idea remains. Instead, it became both a hate letter and a lamentation for SCP-076. As you can probably tell, I really dislike Able. It's a waste of a cool concept. An immortal, regenerating warrior who can make weapons. But because he stands for nothing, fights for nothing, believes in nothing, he is nothing. I tried to follow those same ideas and make something better out of that.
Enter my bizarre mishmash of Greek mythos and imagery. When I started writing Androcles as a character, I wanted to take that beautiful Greek Hero Archetype and twist it with a dash of realism. If you spend your life fighting, even for good causes, it will invariably affect you. Now that he finds himself out of time, he has a fresh start. The main character is a broken man looking to fix himself, to heal his wounds. But Hargraves is the Hera to his Hercules, forcing him from a life of peace until he becomes Perseus, winding his way through the labyrinth to fight his Minotaur. To fight the X06s, which represent the crueler and more war-like parts of himself.
As you can probably guess, Hargraves draws on Icarus. He flew too close to the sun. Simple. While Fitz-Patrick and Shore served as Athena, Holly was also representative of Aphrodite, being his closest friend and love interest.
To circle around to the idea I presented in the beginning, that conflict for moral reasons still damages you, I put Androcles against the X06-3, who as I said before is the personification of his own more warlike and cruel spirit. While the arc about Androcles' morals came to a close with his sparing of Hargraves, this isn't where his identity arc ends. I tried to hint at it through the emails, specifically the duel, or when he called himself "an immortal being," but Androcles is a version of Ares. (Think Dog and God from Fallout New Vegas: Dead Money)
Behind The Myth:
The Greek Gods are defined by their humanity. They make mistakes. They question themselves. They change throughout the tales and myths they occupy. This is reflective of both mankind and the tradition of verbal storytelling. In my story, I decide to play Ares as a warlike being who represents war but does not control it. While the first email translation is very loose, it's meant to be interpreted as Ares struggling with his own ideas of war and morality. Who else but the God of War could have battled the God of War for ten straight days?
During this, Ares emerged victorious until he met Arabel, an avatar of a Celtic goddess, who was able to bring Androcles to the surface. Together, they planned to bring peace to the world, which stood in contrast to what Ares wanted. During a battle against another Deity of War, Ares emerged and killed both Arabel and the other deity. Traumatized by what he had done and the fact he was unable to control himself, he sealed himself away.
The End:
During the breach, especially the final fight, he comes to terms with who he is and what he has done.
There are three ways to think about what happened next, all of which are valid.
- He removed Ares from himself.
- He lost himself to Ares.
- He reconciled both sides of himself to become greater than the sum of his parts.
If you like one of these, that's great. If you like the idea that he's a human capable of great things, that's also great. Both views are equally valid and since I will not likely return to write more about Androcles, it doesn't really change anything.
This 16,000-word monstrosity wouldn't be possible with help, so here's a shortlist of everyone who read this at some point. There's more, I just have to find my notebook <3
Calibri Bold
IronDruid
Kybard
cybersqyd
MirageTD
Navimaster
Simartar
gee0765
DrAkimoto
TheMightyMcB
