This thread is going to get interesting very soon! Great idea.
My characters present some kind of fear/worry for me. There are more positive key-notes to them as well, but these are their struggles.
Susan = Loneliness.
Levi = Shame.
Nikita = ???? Will come up later when it's not so spoilery of the plot.

A majority of the characters in my first story are representative of personal issues as I went about discovering them HA HA. Though there are only two which I can think of at the top of my head that are pretty obvious as to what they present, but the others are more vague in what they represent. This stuff is more obvious when you read the character sheets themselves rather than what's expressed through the story.

Cornelius represents fear of loss, and attempts to have some semblance of control by minimizing said chances of future pain by any means necessary.

Ding is the fear of uncertainty, wherein no matter how much control one has (in his case, he's the god of time and space), things are never 100% certain to happen. Any little thing can change what happens in the future.

I guess people in my comic represent different aspects of society.

Cassie : the girl who should have everything but money is not a comfort for a mother who is too busy to show love.
Jane: the rebel, screaming at the world for attention
Roz: the unwanted who force themselves into situations
Zoe: the hardworking talented one.

Jon definitely represents rebirth, reincarnation, loyalty, and bravery. All my other characters are a mix of a lot of things, so they are pretty abstract compared to Jon, who is MC. Later in the story more defined characters surface, like pivotal characters, but mostly everyone is pretty much a combination of many things (just like real humans are).

This isn't really something I've thought about much, but now that you mention it, it's an interesting thought, and I'll have a go.

Masahiro is, well, a bundle of things and hard to condense into one concept, but he sits somewhere between power of will, desperation and recovery - and by "recovery", I mean in particular recovering from past trauma and remembering what it is to be a functional person again. Akane is definitely humanity/trust, which plays into Masahiro's theme of recovery.

Chouko is duty (and some other things that are spoiler-territory). Kazue is righteousness and justice. Dateh is care and worry.

Wen is loyalty, and Kobayashi is definitely desperation/necessary evil.

It's probably to early for me to give a good analysis of my characters since my comic basically just started.
So I'll will just try to give my thoughts on "strong" characters in general. Hope that's okey, haha.

I have a bunch of characters with whoms actions I couldn't disagree more. Murderers, cowards, annoying big mouths, stubborn idiots, naive forgiving do-gooders, traitors... But they all have a story that made them the way they are and follow strong believes. Not to justify their actions. But to make the reader think for themselves about the meaning that character has within the story.

I think a meaningful character is built through a compelling life-/background story and interesting motives. Something that makes people understand why they act the way they do. This applies likewise to good guys and bad guys. Let's take the bad guy for example. It's easy for the reader to judge the bad guy, because he's an asshole. He runs around, hurts and kills people and says bad-guy stuff. So the reader thinks: ugh, I don't like him. But then the reader gets some insight of his life and what he went through, and suddenly the bad guy becomes the representation for struggle and not giving up, because after everything he went through he's still going on with life. The reader hasn't to agree morally, but thinks: oh well, he's bad, BUT -

Moira, from my comic Amaranth, could be a representation of strength, because she went through some serious shit that hasn't been revealed yet. But she also has her weak moments and struggles that will show during the course of the story. I find it difficult to put her character in 1 or 2 words, because I see a character more of a representation of a mind set to deal with certain things in life.

I hope I didn't miss the point "too" far, but I find it interesting to think about the subject in general.

nothing really, if anything, the characters in my comics each represent my own personality trais and such but I don't know if any of that counts for anything

I think everyone in my comics just gets punished tho XD

timinabox24 timinabox24
angelfire
angelfire1m
I dont have a comic here however i do creste stories and characters often.

For me i first take an aspect, then create the character. And it could be anything. For example i have a character based on sunflowers who's trying to be like the character that is based on the sun. Because sunflowers stretch to the sun.

I try to make it as obvious as i can by looking up the etymology for each word and creating a name for the characters from it. Thats also how i choose which race/country the character will be from

"Sun" could come from Proto-German, Old English, Old Saxon, Old Norse, or High German, Middle Dutch, Dutch, German, Gothic, or Old Irish. So i look at all the origins, and pick one I like. In this case, i like "saewel" which is an Old Irish root word that literally means "personification of the sun". But i dont like the whole thing so I'll edit it to fit my perception of what a name should be and give that to the character. Of course this could result in a change of meaning but lets ignore that part for now....
The characters name is "Aywel" and her ancestery is Old Irish

Same thing with the sunflower character.
Looke up the etymology for sunflower
Theres not much so look to other words close to it too. I found the world "girasole" which is italian and means "turning towards the sun"
Change the word to fit my naming standards,
Character name: Gira
Ancestory: Italian

Of course this does sometimes end up where I have a bunch of characters from Europe instead of a diverse group, in that case, i'll change the ancestory but still keep the name.
So for example Aywel has an Irish background because of her name but since I want a Pakistani girl, I'd make her Pakistani but her name is still Aywel.

What I'll do sometimes is find the language equivelent. So sky in urdu is Asman, i'll call her Asma (even though asma is an actual name that doesnt mean sky it means "loftier" or "more eminent" and is an arabic word. I know that because asma is a popular name. But im not going to do that for every name that comes up)

And thats what my characters represent. Anything at all ^^

Really good topic!

I haven't ascribed an overlying concept to any of my characters but if I had to boil them down I think it would go like this:

Jed = Compassion and humanity

I was really torn here because Jed could just as easily come under 'duty and justice' because of his motivations throughout the story, however I feel it's more accurate to say that the reason Jed maintains those core values so strongly is because of his compassion and humanity. Jed feels very intensely for other people and their situations. He also trusts people he meets on his journey to the point of naivety. He is raw and honest, like a child in many ways, and gentle in the way of a child as well despite his dark history. His major flaw is his hubris.

Serge = Vengeance and loyalty

Serge is most certainly Jed's foil. At his worst he is everything Jed is not-- ruthless, cunning, hateful, cynical, desperate-- all under a mask of complete indifference, and at his best he is a pure representation of unshakable loyalty. His dedication to those he respects is inspiring to those he meets, including Jed, and his unusual tendency to put his faith in odd or unexpected characters is also confusing to those who witness it.

Morris = Wisdom

Despite appearances Morris is most certainly the wisest of all my characters. He is the first to question what he sees and those he meets in an attempt to better understand the world around him and is impartial to any form of justice. He takes the notion 'what will be will be' to a whole new level and quickly sees through the actions of most other characters, interpreting their intentions from a place of curiousity rather than judging them by what they do. Where as Jed and Serge are general representations of good and evil, Morris is neither, and seems content to go along with Serge's plans out of nothing more than boredom and fondness.

There are other characters as well but I won't include them.

my comic is long running and it's called Talesfromswipecity

some story lines have been finished with the different characters but it's like one big story. I was posting daily but i have now had to slow that down to posting when a page is finished.

Cassie and Jane Jones have some big story's it's got loads in the comic but it's mainly based around the girls

I guess the nameless character from Garden Of Mold represents isolation, running from your problems and neurosis.

It's a short comic, so i'm not spoiling much. They go from isolating themselves to extremes to finally the comic ending with them going outside.

I guess my characters altogether represent disrupted normality or people's natural ability to adapt to change... if that makes sense 😅
Dakotas chief trait is loyalty but I don't think she represents it. She won't always put others before herself and she wouldn't blindly follow orders, even if they come from her best friend.
And Ai is positive and trusting but they're not her whole character. So I'm not sure if one character represents one thing well/completely.

I know for me, after years of working with Kamiko as a character, I've come to see her as someone who represents willfulness, risk, recklessness, hubris, and arrogance. Those are the qualities I want to explore more in her character.

Well thinking about it that way, in my comic I have 2 characters, the first, Raon is my curiosity; she's always looking around. While Alex is the one who is afraid of Raon finding something she'll regret, he believes that ignorance truly is bliss because he thinks the more you know the more you fear, but overall he's the part of me that thinks ahead and makes sure to keep emotions in check. It's called Silence if anyone's interested.

I really like this question because I have really put a lot of thought into my main character and what she presents.

My only webcomic called 'Coffee, Blood' Rust, Sweat, and don't forget the Violence' has a man character named Augustine. For her, her ultimate ability and personality trait is clarity and peace. The only reason why she is good at anything is because I made her to be someone who has a small social disability, but in a way that had allowed her to tap into complete peace. So she seems normal, and a little weird, but can remain completely chill and calm during really intense battles! For the most part, she is not void of emotion she just accepts her emotions, deals with them, and moves on at a much quicker rate than most people.

Ha, I feel like a doof saying so much about my character. I feel like I am just bragging.

hm. im not really sure what alec represents, so maybe he represents that really uncertain phase we go through as teens

interesting thing to think about.

My protagonist Zack Wandaz1 represents a thirst for vengeance

I my comic: https://tapastic.com/series/magicadvisor The main character Lizzy does represent a need for control in the weird supernatural world she lives in ^^

Her enemy (frenemy?) Prim does sort of represent chaos and disorder:

You can kind of see it in the way they dress. Lizzy (main character) is dressed more strict then Prim ^^ Prim has more fun with her clothes. ^^

I never really thought about it but it is really interesting. Thank you @vongcw for a great thread! ^_^

friendship and different aspect of family life in a society that is a little different.

I do usually think about these things when writing, but even if you dont mean to its still always there somewhere. Its really cool breaking things down in this fashion for Two Kings' characters its something like

The Frozen King - Conquest/obsession
Unseelie King - vice/reason
Unseelie Queen - loyalty/revenge
Prince Estoc - penance/forgiveness
Cytherea - love/vanity

For Gatf it would be
Ceres - death of innocence/mercy
Galdranorn - death and rebirth

I think some of those are a lot clearer in the original stories than the comics but there's mine!

Mine are really basic...

Crow Worth: Finding one's worth
Miss: Too miss someone/ femininity
Brad Bail: To run away from responsibility
Shoo-Fly: To be clingy (like a weed) and not going away, like a fly
Blake Blossom: or black blossom...which is a flower which is burnt.
Nono: constant rejection...like being told "no" repetitively

To name some...

I've only had 2 characters that are really prominent in Don't Be A Hero1 so far, so I'll talk about them:

Gemini = Vanity - Even though I haven't touched upon my main character much yet, I will say that her character is representative of the populace who has an easy run through life, gaining everything and not focusing on the people who have less. Losing a key part of her life who was integral to the development of herself and successes as a person, leads her on a quest to rectify what was broken. She believes that she's worth more, and deserves more, and she can't come to terms with the first real crippling loss she has had. Granted, her successes are rightfully earned. She's damn smart, determined, strong, and with a charming personality. But she has a tendency to hold grudges, and has a need to feel that she's in first place. She wants to bring about change to the world as a scientist, but is reluctant to change within her own life. Really, she doesn't like not feeling in control of her own life and the things around her. That scares her the most. She represents what we want the people ahead of us to feel sometimes. Loss, and the ability to learn and change through it. However, sometimes we should be careful of what we wish for. Sometimes, the loss is too great, and we wonder if the ability to recover from such a blow is irreverse-able once events are put into motion.

Johnny = Ego - Johnny is a great parallel to Gemini to start the comic off with. He's extremely egotistical, and believes he's the face of a millennia. Nothing can convince him that he isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread. His ego is a little more over-the-top than Gemini. Gemini is confident in herself, and has realized what she's achieved, and she does actually have the smarts to back it up. But while she can be stubborn, she can learn to change, even though she hates it. Johnny can't learn to change. He can't admit that he's wrong or is in 2nd place. And not just to someone else, but the entire world. He's an over-inflated representation of an egotistical person. Truth be told, he's partly based off of a real life musician who is the exact same way. And harming his poor ego brings out the worst in his temper, which is also over-inflated. Like a spoiled child he has to get what he wants, but unfortunately, the poor man doesn't have the intelligence to back up his claims. While his talents have earned him some stellar achievements, he tends to believe that he's bigger than he really is. He represents the masses of people with big dreams, who think they can achieve anything, but unfortunately, get relegated to at least second place. He represents that desire that our egos carry us towards. He represents overconfidence. And in the moment where we need to shine the most, sometimes our ego and passion can't take us all the way there.

In Rooftop Bookshop:
Rory- represents warmth, honesty and kindness
Laurent- Cool, mysterious, strange
Z- A persona; wearing a mask to hide true feelings, as well as cockiness
Quinn- Innocence and a pure heart
Blaize- Energy, tenacity, carelessness

In (Semi) Super, I've really only introduced one main character in the series so I'll just list her;
Nova- Untouchable, a force of nature, willful, witty

So many brilliant concepts wrapped up in your characters, you guys! Thank you so much for sharing but it's doubly awesome that we've got creators thinking deeper about their casts' significance. Honestly, it's one of the things that makes a pitch all the more delectable for audiences (and you'd be shocked at how often fresh creators overlook this topic!)

There's No Such Thing as Jason1's characters all began as chemical imbalance personifiers. I'd been fascinated with G. S. Hall's "Storm and Stress" of adolescence, a psychology study in the early 20th century. There are 3 focal factors:

￭ Parental conflict -- challenging, defending, and boundaries exploration
￭ Risk taking -- impulsive behaviours, recklessness, and experimentation with moral areas
￭ Fluctuating mood -- sensitivity toward and heightened experiences with emotional stimuli

So... the three main characters have a foundation in this. I grabbed the main issues one deals with during adolescence and shoved them into each character, revving up the properties of each a bit while injecting experiences with chemical imbalance issues (both artificial and genetic) into them. It's ultimately an examination on how ridiculous being a teenager in the 21st century can be.

However, the comic I'm working on now is a spin-off, an alternate ending to the actual story. All but one of the characters are young adults. So it's more a "coming off that high" tale about trying to recover yourself after the storm, memory being a crucial aspect involving trust (or mistrust!) of the self. It's a little bit-o-philosophy and psychology, my other loves~

I think every cartoon character is an extension of his/her creator. As a human, I have much of the same thoughts and feelings as anybody else, and so I'm working on a character who often sees the world through the eyes of, well, me, and hopefully by extension most other people. She's not a super heroine who beats up (and gets beat up by) the bad guys. She's, as I like to think of it, one of us!

Oh this is a good topic :Dc

I actually think about this a lot, so here goes~

Basically, factions in my comic, Cosmic Fish1 are ghosts and guardians. And from there on there are sub-factions but that's getting ahead of myself (and the comic)

Ghosts are entities that are told they're not supposed to exist or affect a certain "order" of things. In many cases, all the ghosts have a form of representation that is often erased or treated as "wrong". They, however, struggle to exist although they feel as if they don't belong, which is common for young adults so it's also a reason why the majority of the cast is so young.

The concept of monster, which is brought up later on, is a physical manifestation of the mental state the 'ghosts' find themselves in as they succumb to self-hatred or even negative traits that take over. Which is what the guardians are constantly fighting against...ironically with negative reinforcement.

Guardians are what are deemed "right". Planetary guardians are basically the earth-like deities in many cultures and religions as kind but also ruthless when needed to be, in a way like strict parents. "I'm hurting you because I love you" or even pick favorites in what they think is considered "right" instead of helping those who actually need it.

From then on, you have the characters:

Schnell is the physical representation of depression

(ironically)
and other things that are spoilers.

Acantha represents anger and frustration. And although she uses female pronouns, she is considered NB. (non-binary)

Gallo tends to consider themselves the hero of the story despite the fact he's often told he can't "fly" but rather glide and often does more damage by chasing ghosts away from his town instead of helping...but he helps sometimes, just...after proving you're not "a problem". He also lacks the use of hands which makes him handicapped but it has never honestly stopped him unless he recognizes he needs help, but that is not his persona nor is he someone that needs to "be saved".

(He just carries things with his mouth)

Bells, as one of the guardians, is the "martyr" or the self-abuser who takes responsibility for everything and constantly needs to "fix" things.

Krazzle is meant to be reassurance and acceptance. He's neither a guardian nor a ghost (just a giant cat dragon but w/e) so he comes from a different place. He's supposed to be the one that can help the current protagonist, Acantha, self-acceptance.

Can't say more because the other ghosts haven't been introduced, but there are a few other ones like Hessa being an overly-optimistic intersex, Bavel an atrsy-type dealing with autism, and Ramus being a bookworm pessimist with anxiety. As well as characters that basically represent utilitarianism, entropy, regret, so on and so forth.

Tl;Dr, my comic is 90% symbolism hidden in antics of monster kids figuring out their lives and how they can change and grow for better despite everything stacked against their favor.

The other 10% is a huge conspiracy.

Oh absolutely! What your character represents is one of the very first steps to making a character for me, so I always keep it in mind when I'm writing characters.

For Tales from the Well!
Prince Deryn= Reckless bravery
Poppy= Innocence and naivety
Esther= Coming of age and irresponsibility

For Manna Magi Wilbur and Amira are a tongue and cheek take on Good vs Evil

Characters can also represent different virtues depending on the "episode" or comic issue. Like how Batman can represent Justice in one series, or recovery from tragedy (maybe resilience) in another story. Batgirl represents youthful intelligence, but sometimes she represent recklessness, or survivor's guilt. That way I can mix it up depending on the episode X)

I haven't started working on it yet. It's called Mystical Tales and Whimsical Adventures - The Creation Chronicles.

Each Act stars a different set of characters. One of the set of characters I worked on is based on the Major Arcana cards, either upright or reversed. I chose to base them on the Arcana cards because of what they represent, and how it reflects the character. There is like 22 of them and I wanted to keep 14, so I decided to kill off 8 of them for the sake of the plot.

On another set, I based them off of what the elements of the universe represents. I also based them off me and my friends. Like fire can pertain to the burning passion of beings, darkness can pertain to the blankness of the soul (or something), etc.

I have, like, four sets of characters. I don't know the motif of the other two.

My characters always have a meaning because each character I introduce is vital to how I tell the story.

For Me and My Friend
Mary Ann: She actually represents me and my wishes when I was a kid. She also represents when we have to grow up.
Friend: He is actually my imaginary friend when I was younger but he also represents all the things that I have forgotten growing up.