Man vs Supernatural conflict

[Ranty-cat]

So, there are 6/7 types of known conflicts in a narrative. My question is regarding supernatural vs Man conflict. I don't know much about it and couldn’t find a lot of details about it even after googling. I want to learn more about it.

Okay, if I want to be precise, my question is that "What should be or what kind outcomes / ending should this kind of conflict entail?" and what kind of moral/ message should this kind of conflict convey? What about your own opinion regarding this?

[noenoh]

Since I can see preternatural stuff all my life

Ehr, Im not so sure about your world setting and what you want to go with it in your story. Idk what kind of supernatural characters you want to use to recommend something in specific.

My story is based on supernatural stuff (dead people, undead, angels, demons, undead, monsters, etc) and the conflict between the 2 worlds, the interacting or outcomes varies since both worlds have different rules.

First of all, you need to stablish the rules for each world (the natural and the supernatural) and the rules of how these interact (or are forbiden to interact). I assume you want to be the most loyal to certain cultures??? Then thers a lot to read tbh xD in mine I had to read a lot of history, religion, anthropology books and reduce the geographical areas where my ocs will be (so Im able to understand the culture of that region and not only copying a story/legend from taht place, etc). I even got a counselor for some of the topics I will talk about. Well thats my case.

But if you have a more free vision/idea, then you can have the premise that you know the supernatural world is a mystery (for you and most of people) so you can play with wtv your imagination takes you on and make a surprise of it for your characters (and us). You only have the control over your own natural world, and the supernatural keeps their rules you could make up with what you know so far.
From there, the moral/message thing... idk what message you want to bring to us. tbh
My personal experience is you dont play with the supernatural stuff, you have to respect it.

[therosesword]

"What should be or what kind outcomes / ending should this kind of conflict entail?"

Wow, not sure I should tackle this without my first cup of coffee yet this morning.

The "outcome/endings" when dealing with the supernatural run the full spectrum of endings: happy, sad, devastating, uplifting. I think they should be what you want them to be. I know, not a very clear answer but, assuming you're thinking of (or have started) creating such a story, what do you want? Do you want the protagonist to triumph? Do you want evil vanquished? Is the paranormal "person" actually not such a bad person and do you want them to end up buddies, maybe fighting evil together? Is the supernatural event truly evil, maybe it isn't but only seems like it?

The possibilities are pretty endless. Also are you looking toward supernatural or paranormal? (I confess, I do get them mixed up sometimes... well, okay, a lot of times.)

Not a very good answer, I apologize but this is a pretty big subject.

[Ranty-cat]

I understand. No need to apologise. actually what I am talking about is supernatural entities such as an evil god or an overpowered antagonist compared to the main character. Let's say the main character is normal human, and the world he is living in is infested with the armies of that Evil god. What sort of process the MC should go through to defeat the antagonist in this scenario or should he even be able to defeat it or justgive up.... Or lose or what?

[HippieGhost]

Well, for starters it depends on what kind of ending you want to have happen. Is the story one of tragedy or triumph? Humanity has a long-standing history of dealing with forces beyond our control, but unless your evil god is omnipotent, there is always a chance at something. Your protagonist could be or become an expert on the rituals needed for the god in question to take power. They could break the seal on a spell that contains a competing god. They could discover a path to containing the evil god themselves.

or... they could die a horrible, gruesome, agonizing death.

The opportunities are endless.

[dreamysheep.01]

Maybe your human characters could find/ceate weapons or spells that power them up enough to fight the enemy, maybe they use the enemies own abilities against them or they manage to otherwise trick or outsmart them? Maybe they create an army that vastly outnumbers the enemy and the combines strength is enough to defeat them? Does the enemy have any weaknesses in the real world lore that you can use in the story? Like could weapons made of a certain material kill them or maybe they have a weak spot that not many humans know about?

[Ranty-cat]

Thanks to all of you and for your responses, which gave me some ideas about the matter. To be perfectly honest, I was undecided about the ending because of the lack of my understanding and knowledge about this specific type of conflict. I was looking for a way for the protagonist to triumph. But,I want to know out of curiosity, what about the tragedy? what if the protagonist ends up dying a gruesome death? Will that be a satisfactory ending or a logical conclusion for the readers or the story? Also, what about the omnipotent antagonist? if the antagonist is nearly omnipotent and has no weakness against mortals?

[HippieGhost]

Going to shift into my occult perspective for a moment here.

So, generally speaking the idea of a god being omnipotent is an extremely christo-centric way of looking at gods in general. That isn't to say that its wrong to have omnipotent god that can't be won against if you want a tragedy, but if you were to take that route I would focus very heavily on the hopelessness and the MC's need to at least try despite no odds of success, because if no one is willing to even try then what is the point? You want to give meaning to the pointless struggle, meaning to the character's death. There is a lesson to be learned in such struggle.

Alternatively, you can look at your god from a broader perspective. While there are no shortage of extremely powerful gods beyond the scope of mortal power in every pantheon, almost all deities are bound by certain codes, rules, or self-imposed laws. An all-powerful being could theoretically be tricked into defeating itself if the MC plays the game right. If you wanted this route I would look to stories of trickery against the gods and fae. A bargain could be struck.

Finally, there is the denial route. If your god wants control, your MC could seek instead to destroy. An end is a far better fate than an eternity enslaved to forces beyond your control, and the god cannot conquer a world that has been destroyed.

[Ranty-cat]

Thank you. Those are very very spectacular points. Very helpful and gave me a new way of looking at it. Especially, I loved the last point about destruction of the world. Sounds badass. Might use it my story.

[HippieGhost]

By all means! I am glad to help. Remember, not every tragic ending has to be the worst ending possible. Some of the best endings are bittersweet.

[therosesword]

Okay, hmmm, my novel up here (Dead Souls Doing the Samba) is about a political assassin (retired) who is hired to take out a Horseman of the Apocalypses. Not kill him, but diminish him.

Don't know if that would qualify, Horseman isn't a god but pretty powerful...anyway, there was a big fight and that's as far as I'll go 'cause, spoilers.

[ogjuic]

OH boy here I go writing a borderline essay again.

Ok so you want to write a man vs supernatural conflict in your story and you want to know what kind of outcomes of scenes and overall ending should be like huh? Say if the supernatural conflict is caused by a person or group(sometimes even all of humanity if you want one of those types of stories) the supernatural would either obey him, not harm him but not listen to him, they don't listen to him at all, or a mixture of all three. If the supernatural is human-based I.E ghosts, superpowers( esp and stuff like that) then you would want to have the narrative focus on the more human aspect with struggles to overcome or adapt to this supernatural phenomenon though you don't have to do so entirely if it doesn't fit the rest of the narrative. You also have the option of just having the man vs supernatural being a background narrative that is always present or has it be the main narrative up until a certain point and then have it become the background narrative If you want a more in-depth analysis of how a man vs supernatural narrative can be used/written into a story don't be afraid to ask.