Goku

My son and I watch a lot of anime.  These tend to have a very big combat component, which got me thinking about characters who love to fight.  It’s not a bad thing, but there are those that reach a point where it’s all they do.  Take Goku from Dragon Ball Z up there as an example.  He’s a father, friend, and husband, which barely matters because he just loves to battle.  Truthfully, he gets away with it because he comes from long ago when you didn’t see many battle fiends.  He might be the template now that I think about it.  Doesn’t make things any better.

So, what exactly is a battle fiend?  As stated, this is a character who loves fighting.  It’s what they crave and their main goal.  Most times, it’s their first response to issues, so don’t expect them to be big talkers.  They also cross a line where they are consciously hunting down enemies who will give them a big fight.  Their desire is the fight and everything else is extra.  In fact, the rest of the cast may need to be pushing for the real goal to allow the battle fiend to focus.  For example, the other characters will be openly concerned about saving the planet while Goku just wants to fight.  He’ll talk about saving everyone, but it kind of falls flat, especially when you read that the author wanted him to be interested only in becoming stronger.

Let’s look at some pros and cons with the understanding that this isn’t a character that everyone will want to read about or write:

Pro–  Battle fiends can help in making plots progress quickly.  They aren’t very patient and will push events into conflict.  Talking and sneaking around won’t be factors since the big battle has begun.  So, you can use these characters as a way to avoid stagnation or get out of mental pitfalls.

Con–  They will be a hindrance to any plots that require non-violent solutions.  Not that they will try to kill everyone like a psychopath.  It’s just that they want to fight, so they’re going to try to get what they want.  This is their personality and you have to keep them true to what they are.  So, a battle fiend wouldn’t work very well in a diplomatic situation unless part of the tension comes from keeping them in check.

Pro– Battle fiends come with a high degree of action.  For a story that needs an action component, these characters will always provide.  An author can just have them stir up some trouble even on a basic level.  Maybe things have been quiet for too long, so the battle fiend picks a fight in a bar.  It could seem random, but it fits the character and can lead to other subplots.

Con– People can get bored with these characters fairly quickly.  They turn into ‘one trick ponies’ after a while.  So, a lengthy series would be hurt by their presence unless you make it built entirely around them fighting.  This works best with comics because of the visual aspects.  Novels depend too much on imagination and descriptive text, which can get repetitive.

Pro–  The stronger a battle fiend, the stronger the villains.  This character can force you to put some major effort into the bad guys.  You would need them to be strong enough to be a threat and survive the encounters.  This will also give the battle fiend a powerful enemy for them to target.  This gives them more of a goal and would explain why they keep wanting to get stronger.

Con– A battle fiend can skew the power levels to obscene levels.  As I said, they force enemies to become stronger.  This can result in their allies either growing in power or fading away.  They can become so weak that it’s hard to see how they would survive the fights unless they are always kept away from them.  That makes them seem even weaker and gives more spotlight to the battle fiend, who steals the show.  If you boost everyone to higher levels, they can survive, but it can lead to a story that is focused entirely on fighting.  That’s a bad thing if it wasn’t your original intention.