Crawford started out as a shy, timid kid with a big heart who got bullied by the older kids, despite being on the bigger side. Then [spoilers] happened, and he's just this:
You do have a point my friend. I should've specified it.
In my story, Kanties suffers through a house/forest fire that takes her home and her dad on her 13th birthday. A few other things happen but I'm unsure if anyone was interested in reading it so I don't want to get into spoiler territory.
Thanks a ton friend! I'll keep all that in mind. What is your comic called? I'd love to take a look at it.
Pretty much all of my characters have been through trauma, even if it seems pretty minor.
I'll start with my characters from Whispers of the Past1:
Izrekiel
- (Semi-Spoilery) His father was very harsh and distant when he was a child, so now he has horrible self-esteem.
- (EXTRA SPOILERY) Someone very close to him (whose name and identity I won't reveal) tried to kill him, and now he has trust issues. He used to be such a friendly sort of person too. T^T
- He has been poisoned more than once and now has a strong phobia. Sometimes, he just won't eat food someone else cooks for him.
Agatha
- Her mother died when she was a child, and now she constantly fears the loss of her loved ones. This has resulted in her becoming a worrywart about pretty much everything.
Maret (Agatha's younger sister)
- She was really young when her mother died. All she remembers is one day, her mother was gone. Because of this she has separation anxiety and follows her father and older sister around.
Kelan (Agatha's father)
- After the loss of his wife, he started to avoid talking about any emotional topics. His daughters thought he was becoming distant, but really, his coping mechanism was repression of his emotions.
Now for some other characters...
David from Silent Nocturne (which is a novel of mine that I will eventually turn into a comic), has severe depression and suicidal tendencies, which are the result of many key elements in his life:
- His mother left home when he was nine years old, and he has never seen her again. His father works constantly and hardly ever pays attention to David. Both of these things have made him feel like he is unloveable like maybe he is the reason for his mother's abandonment.
- His mother and father both pushed him to learn to play piano and violin as a child, and now he uses music as a way to seek approval from others.
- His self-esteem has suffered because he attributes praise for his actions as caring for him. If nobody seems to notice or like his deeds, such as playing violin really well, he feels worthless.
Daolin from my novel Patience in the Dark:
- Daolin was essentially sold by his parents to a warrior clan when he was a toddler, and now, he has completely blocked out his past and his real name. He now doesn't express emotion to pretty much anyone and spends a lot of effort to hide his true feelings. In general, he doesn't talk much.
- Racism and derogatory-name-calling against him for having Demali (the people from the eastern country in the story) heritage has caused him to hate most people because he's convinced they all hold prejudice against him.
And finally, Micaraún from The Lost Dancer1. I'm not gonna lie, he probably has the most severe trauma out of all of these people. He's seen it all, and basically his entire existence has been pain and suffering. If you know anything about Drow society in DnD, you wouldn't be surprised at all.
- Firstly, Drow society is so cut-throat that he basically always fears someone is out to kill him. He has been poisoned several times, stabbed, beaten up by strangers and his brothers and mother alike. So paranoia and distrust are definitely understandable in this case.
- He was also sold to a noblewoman as her consort (matriarchal society and all). In this relationship, he has been raped, beaten, nearly killed, magically psychologically tampered with, tortured, and so on. This has resulted in PTSD and anxiety disorder.
- SPOILERS: Due to the murder of his [too spoilery to reveal] when trying to [spoiler] with him, he now blames himself for anyone around him dying.
- He has attempted suicide before, thinking death was better than living in constant fear and pain.
Wow... That's a lot of awful. This story comes with several trigger warnings, so read at your own discretion.
My comic is all about how I personally dealt with childhood, teen, adult trauma. I don't know if reading it would help in any way... Eh, I can't really say how I was before, since I was pretty young when all the shit went down.
I love your art style my friend! I'll definitely look into your stories when I have the time. All your characters are so unique!
It's Splitting Image! Just starting out so I didn't link it since a lot of these things aren't apparent yet.
Oh yes. Both my characters (Ira and Tristan) have had trauma in their lives and Tristan especially will go through more trauma that will change him. Ira would be impacted as well but the biggest transformation is Tristan. Will he change for better, or for worse? Let's see...
Does academic trauma count? The backstory of one of my characters is that he was a perfectionist student but became super easygoing after he stressed a lot with his notes/thesis and realised that wasting energy on small stuff isn't worth it. Idk if I'll even show it on my comic but I like this one bc it feels personal to me lol
