[Valinorian]

Legolas is, obviously a side character and never much expanded on.
How can I make his character realistic and well rounded without making it OOC?
Thanks!

[NancyBrooke]

Consider all you DO know:

Where he comes from
Who is father is (and what we DO know of him)
That he has no mother (who is ever spoken of)
That he speaks of no siblings, no wife, no lover
His abilities
His character strengths - loyalty, humor, openness, a certain limited point-of-view (i.e. Elven & Sylvan)
His actions

and then what you know about Elves.

Go back to the source material - movie or book or both - and see what that tells you.

Don't try to do too much. If you put your character in situations where his responses are out of the realm of 'experience', you're more likely to stretch him too thin.

Lastly, make him true to your understanding of the character, and he will read as real.

- NB (the compulsive question answerer, even when it has to do with Elves who are not in her idiom)

[NeumeIndil]

NB (the compulsive question answerer, even when it has to do with Elves who are not in her idiom)


That's just good character writing advice period, idc if it's about an Elf or a Horse.

I'm weird in that a "new" character/OC usually comes to me as a mental personality and what I end up having to work on are the connecting points between "he meets this girl" and "they got through everything okay and lived more or less good lives after" or whatever.

But, when you have to 'invent' a character, answering those questions above (what their family's like, their education level, their hobbies/likes, etc.) are a good way to paint that mental picture of them to turn an idea into a person.