Writing How do you go about making a protagonist "intimidating?"

[RaySizm]

I'm 90% sure I once watched a Filmento video about John Wick pulling off the "terrifying protagonist" thing, but I'm honestly not sure I managed to get much from that. You can see this effect happen in anime/LNs/manga like Berserk, Overlord, Youjo Senki, Cory in the House or just about any decent seinen with an OP protagonist. I know this sounds extremely vague, but as far as I can describe it, it's the effect generated when the protagonist does something cool and you go, "That's me boy!"

Actually, how Overlord generates this effect is a complete mystery to me (I've only ever read the light novel) because it's fundamentally just a parody of the Dark Lord trope where a random normal guy ends up with the Dark Lord job. Maybe Maruyama's worldbuilding skills enables him to Tolkien is way out of becoming the next Sword Art Online?

Same applies to a bunch of stuff in Warhammer 40k where the story's universe makes it sound like a bizarre comedy but the characters still manage to instill that "intimidation" effect all the same.

 

[Jemini]

It's actually really simple. Keep in mind though, I said "simple." I did not say "easy."

What you have to do is be really good at character building and make all your peripheral characters feel completely life-like. Then, you just have them react in a natural way to your OP protagonist when they decide to make a point of the fact that they are OP and they are not afraid to throw their weight around.

The believable characters thing is a rather essential and indispensable part of this, because every person is going to react to it differently and usually respond with some sort of denial and try to find a way out of the situation first before they go into full-on despair mode. Also, once in despair mode, they are still not all going to react to that the same. Some will actually lash out, while others will withdraw, and all of them will do so in very character specific ways.

It is the little specific character driven ways they respond to your OP protagonist that actually sells the fear, and selling the fear is how you sell the intimidating image of the protagonist.

 

[Ace_Raven]

Well it depends.

Like what kind of intimidating?

For example, "there is this existence of behemoth of a man. His body is tall and towering. His eyes is cold and his gaze alone is enough to make me freeze, unable to move. One thing that i know this man could kill me at anytime he wanted."


Or the, "his expression is gentle, in his face there is smile. But what he said next was something unexpected... 'i heard you are the one who hurt my family.' his voice is cold. The previous gentle smile is no where to be found. 'you know? I always respect those who helped my family. I gave the 'payment' for their help. But, you. Not only you threatened my family. You even tried to kill one of my son. And for that.' he paused, the time inside the room felt as if it stoped. Then he continues. 'i hope you are ready for consequences'


Or that kind of intimidating.

The thing is even though everything depends on how you tell your story.

There is 2 kind of intimidating person.
Like from example, physically intimidating or mentally intimidating (by only the present of his existence, he is intimidating) like some person who hold power. either monster (like frankenstein's monster) or mob boss (like god father).


In every rule there is exception but if you wanted to do it by the book i guess this 2 type is the most commonly associated with intimidating.

But in the end, again it is the matters of how you tell your story.


Even good movie script can be horrible movie with wrong camera, direction, and music.


Good luck though.

 

[TheTrinary]

I agree with the above. It's really a matter of how everyone around reacts to your character. They have to be a badass sure, but it has to be done in a way that resonates believable with audience stand ins. In John Wick, it's the main villian who freaks out and goes on red alert when he finds out Wick is after him.

 

[Valmond]

I'm 90% sure I once watched a Filmento video about John Wick pulling off the "terrifying protagonist" thing, but I'm honestly not sure I managed to get much from that. You can see this effect happen in anime/LNs/manga like Berserk, Overlord, Youjo Senki, Cory in the House or just about any decent seinen with an OP protagonist. I know this sounds extremely vague, but as far as I can describe it, it's the effect generated when the protagonist does something cool and you go, "That's me boy!"

Actually, how Overlord generates this effect is a complete mystery to me (I've only ever read the light novel) because it's fundamentally just a parody of the Dark Lord trope where a random normal guy ends up with the Dark Lord job. Maybe Maruyama's worldbuilding skills enables him to Tolkien is way out of becoming the next Sword Art Online?

Same applies to a bunch of stuff in Warhammer 40k where the story's universe makes it sound like a bizarre comedy but the characters still manage to instill that "intimidation" effect all the same.

This took quite a build up. In the first book I wrote. It covers the reawakening of the lead, bringing demise in the wake of their despair. As it goes along, you’ll understand them, and why they are so driven. Going so far as the drive the worlds towards ruin to achieve which they most desire. However, this does not answer nearly enough on why they are feared.

This then jumps back into the prequel, that shows the bulk of the build up. Leading up to the first time they drove the worlds towards ruin. They may have lost the battle, but they eternally carved their image into the mind of everyone. I should clarify they chose a selfless action in the end, sealing themselves away with the antagonist. The true finale of that book is between the main and second main right before the sealing process is complete.

Then comes in the final book, where they are forcefully brought back to the world of the living by the main antagonist. This eventually becomes a triggering point after regaining their memories. Setting forward for them to really reach for their desires. They knew if they struck down the main antagonist, that they will eternally be the enemy. However, that is fine. After all they broke the cycle, grasping the chance for their deepest desire. They ask their old friend to seal a way their memories until they are ready to face up to the countless sins they have committed, making those events a legend. Which the story then goes into after the events of the first book to conclude. Where the lead regains their memories completely, revealing one final push from all of the worlds to try and kill the lead. They eternally carved their image into the souls of every being. Which in later spin offs, the stories indirectly mentions this, or very rarely directly so.


A clash of morals the series is, differing ideals, corruption, etc. Showing how someone can go from a person who was happy, was full of love for the worlds, only to be filled with hatred. To be so driven to reclaim those slimpler days. Going as far as to dive into the depths of despair. Along doing this, you’d see the lead has differing levels of emotions. As well as internal conflicts that really only becomes known when they lash out.

Keeping the story emotionally high really helps to set the stage for an intimidating protagonist as well.

 

[CadmarLegend]

I'm 90% sure I once watched a Filmento video about John Wick pulling off the "terrifying protagonist" thing, but I'm honestly not sure I managed to get much from that. You can see this effect happen in anime/LNs/manga like Berserk, Overlord, Youjo Senki, Cory in the House or just about any decent seinen with an OP protagonist. I know this sounds extremely vague, but as far as I can describe it, it's the effect generated when the protagonist does something cool and you go, "That's me boy!"

Actually, how Overlord generates this effect is a complete mystery to me (I've only ever read the light novel) because it's fundamentally just a parody of the Dark Lord trope where a random normal guy ends up with the Dark Lord job. Maybe Maruyama's worldbuilding skills enables him to Tolkien is way out of becoming the next Sword Art Online?

Same applies to a bunch of stuff in Warhammer 40k where the story's universe makes it sound like a bizarre comedy but the characters still manage to instill that "intimidation" effect all the same.

How?




Make all the other characters cowards xD.... that's the easy way out. Have the main plot of the novel be like,"The Protagonist is reincarnated in a world where everyone is a coward! They are so scared, they even threw Protagonist out as a baby, and killed the Protagonist's new parents for birthing them by having the two sentenced to death by intimidation! So, they were sent to be in front of the chicken and beheaded! The Protagonist's parents were so intimated that they died! Now, the Protagonist is left in the woods, and they find a bunch of turtles! How will our Protagonist save the day? They will get revenge, of course! They'll raise up their army of turtles and intimidate those pesky weaklings to death! Read on to find out how exactly they do so!" or something....

but really, just use words that look intimidating, add in some characteristics that make him/her intimidating. so, basically just use really descriptive words.

Example:

As Draco strolled through the streets, he let out an aura of death. His sharp, squinty eyes darted around the others living there, eyeing them like they were prey and he was the predator. Under his gaze, many people turned their heads towards the ground to avoid looking at that battle-hungry beast. He took out a gun and started to fiddle with it and the civilians started to shake in fear. He might shoot one in a while because he is bored! Shoot!

As Draco came by one of the guards located near the Teleportation Formation, he started to get a cigarette out and lighted it using some magic to cast a flame near it. Seeing that, the guard trembled! How can anybody control magic like that?!

With Draco approaching closer and closer, the guard started to sweat because of the intense aura surrounding the mysterious entity. He needed to quickly go towards Draco to ask him for a fee to use the Teleportation Formation, but could hardly move in his silver chainmail. After all, who would walk towards a person that had this intimidating aura around him?!

Draco blew out a puff of smoke, and loaded the gun. The guard saw that and was absolutely terrified! So, when Draco came towards the Teleportation Formation, the guard didn't speak a single word. When Draco passed by him, the guard breathed a sigh of relief, and so did the civilians, but suddenly, Draco took out his gun an shot out to the sky.

Everyone was startled and jumped back a bit, while terrifiedly looking at Draco who stood in a position with his right hand holding the gun, pointed at the sky, and his left hand loosely hanging at his side. The civilians couldn't see his face, because his back was towards them, not to mention the black bandana he had been wearing as a mask.

"If anyone asks about me, tell them that I was not here," came the voice from the figure of Draco, "and be warned, 'cause if you do, the bullet I shot.... it'll come down and wipe out this little town here off of the map. I have warned you, so you should pay heed. Also, get on your knees and pretend you are dead. Do it."

After saying that, Draco stepped into the pitch-black darkness of the Teleportation Formation and disappeared.

After a minute, the guard started to shout,"Call the Royal Family! Tell them about this mysterious brute! Quickly!"

When someone asked if they should heed Draco's warning, the guard sneered.

"He isn't here anymore, you dumb piece of sh*t! Get going! We need to inform them!"

Just as everybody started to think that Draco should be punished for doing this and that he couldn't do anything to them, a woman screamed!

"Eeek! What's happening to the Teleportation Formation?! Why is the frame around it breaking!?"

As everyone's attention went towards the slowly crumbling Teleportation Formation, a blood-chilling whisper came through the wind.

"I told you to get on your knees and play dead.... poor you, for not doing that. Now, you will be on your hands and knees, but won't be 'playing' dead, because you will really be dead. Goodbye."

A thing came shooting down from the sky, and on a closer look, you could see that it was in the shape of a tiny projectile, a bullet!

It went faster and faster and faster, and all of the civilians' eyes were fascinated by it.

Then, the bullet hit the ground. Nothing seemed to happen for a minute of two, and the people started questioning what they had seen... but then a white light came from where the bullet had landed and started covering up everything. It swallowed the entire city and the pedestrians, children, women, men, animals, and buildings at a frightening speed. And not a single sound had been made in the process.

That day, 2.5 million lives were lost and a city mysteriously disappeared.



END





Now, can you see how it worked? I added many adjectives, I added a personality to the character, and I had a lot of interaction with the other characters in the scene.

 

[Jamminrabbit]

I have nothing to offer.

I will say that the 3 most "terrifying" fictional characters I enjoyed happen to be on screen and embodied different types of "indimidating".

Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds is a genius detective, so you and the characters he searches for are in constant fear of being discovered by him.

Marvel's Punisher. There's no compromising with him if you're a villain. You will get brutalized . In the comics, during an iteration of Civil War, supervillains offered their support to one superhero faction only to be shot in the head as they entered the meeting room. They were there to have a talk, and got headbanged.

Jeoffrey Baratheon. Put aside that he's an insufferable brat. He's just so unstable, you worry whether a character you like is going to be killed at any moment just because he feels like it.

 

[D.Dimitrov]

What I like is the innocent mask with deadly fangs underneath. It's just intimidating when the character is with an innocent look, but at the same time their action is the opposite.




The man was spellbound, as he watched the girl in front of him. She was charming, with white dress and innocent smile. Her eyes were pure, and her motions like flowing water. What she did, however, made him feel chills run down through his spine.

"Oh, hey there!"

She greeted, pulling her dagger out of the corpse. The man trembled, but the girl kept her smile, as nothing had happened.

"Do you need something from me?"

She blinked innocently, tilting her head to the side. Honestly, he would never believe that she is dangerous if he didn't see her kill someone in front of him.

"Or are you here to join the party?"

She asked, as she licked the blood from the dagger. The man shivered, meeting her pure eyes. How could there be such a contradiction in the world?

"Well?"

She grinned at the man, who had frozen like a statue.

 

[Deleted member 53101]

Make all the other characters cowards xD.... that's the easy way out. Have the main plot of the novel be like,"The Protagonist is reincarnated in a world where everyone is a coward! They are so scared, they even threw Protagonist out as a baby, and killed the Protagonist's new parents for birthing them by having the two sentenced to death by intimidation! So, they were sent to be in front of the chicken and beheaded! The Protagonist's parents were so intimated that they died! Now, the Protagonist is left in the woods, and they find a bunch of turtles! How will our Protagonist save the day? They will get revenge, of course! They'll raise up their army of turtles and intimidate those pesky weaklings to death! Read on to find out how exactly they do so!" or something....

You know what, there's actually a better way to do that. Make your character a hideous man-eating monster reincarnated individual. That will surely frighten your fellow neighbor Johny.

but really, just use words that look intimidating, add in some characteristics that make him/her intimidating. so, basically just use really descriptive words.

Can't agree more than that, you just describe what the intimidating MC did, and what's the effect it caused to the observer in that scene/world. It is that simple.

Jeoffrey Baratheon. Put aside that he's an insufferable brat. He's just so unstable, you worry whether a character you like is going to be killed at any moment just because he feels like it.

I love this character, he's not that intimidating ..., he's just crazy. Yeah, if I have a king that was crazy with sadistic tendency maybe is kinda intimidating. But not that intimidating when you have a crazy woman mounting a fire-spewing dragon and razed the city to the ash as your contemporary!

What I like is the innocent mask with deadly fangs underneath. It's just intimidating when the character is with an innocent look, but at the same time their action is the opposite.

Yeah, cruel innocent is intimidating. And so do cruel indifference. Do you know Zoe from LoL? She's cute and innocent and all, but it's crazy what she could do with that kind of power at her disposal. And I found it's kinda frightening.

Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds is a genius detective, so you and the characters he searches for are in constant fear of being discovered by him.

If you've read Kingdom Bloodline, then the author there put some outstanding work on making Morat Hansen, the head of the Intelligence Department look intimidating. It's probably pretty similar to this detective, he's someone who you won't get messed up with, or you don't want to get involved in any way.

But there's also a lot of characters there who were innately intimidating because of their sheer power in Kingdom Bloodline. I'm talking about the Mystic, they are the magician in this world who magician was too afraid to show themselves to the world. While the ordinary human hunts them because of fear of their power, they are immortal and can decimate a city with the power they have. The first encounter of Thales with the air-controlling mystic Asda Sakern was a goosebump-inducing chapter.

. .. ...

In conclusion, make your MC imbalanced, or have something that triggers other characters' crisis sense.

Why did Jirciv the young Emperor of the Baharuth Empire fearful of Ainz that he shitted his own pant? It is because of the difference of power that Ainz showcased to him.

Why Tanya Degurechaff perceived as a menacing and frightening persona by others? Because her strategies, effectiveness, and ruthlessness in achieving her goal and mission doesn't match with her physical appearance as a little girl

Why Rimuru is not as intimidating as them despite being a Demon Lord and pretty much hold the power to rule the world? Because it's a good slime!

 

[DJWilde]

What makes mine intimidating fall into a number of factors. Mostly it's what they are willing to do when pushed to their limits. I also build background for characters including how well known they are to the world they are in. Reputation is everything after all. Then you have other characters react accordingly. For example, take Batman. Would he be near as intimidating in writing form if the criminals he appeared to didn't go "oh NO, it's Batman!"? Of course not. Then there is what he's willing to do to criminal scum to back up that reputation. Aside from the cocky stupid henchmen who become living examples, most know full well what is coming when Batman shows up.

John Wick is the same way. His reputation speaks for him. There are stories and folk legends about him in the underworld. He once killed a man with a pencil. A pencil! See? He didn't get the moniker of Baba Yaga because he was cute and cuddly. He got it because he was terrifying to the worst of the worst. "So who is he? The boogeyman?" "No son, he is who you send to kill the fing boogeyman."

 

[someguysomeone]

Just make him unhinged. Apologizes a lot and for everything. Then when he feels he has been wronged he just goes American psycho.

 

[Varstark]

Off the top of my head without any form of research, in no particular order:
- Establish a prodigious and/or outlandish and disturbing feat beyond the capabilities of ordinary people that the protagonist is capable of pulling off without breaking a sweat.
- The people around the protagonist must be rational, competent people capable of sound judgement, particularly the people the protagonist inflicts his feats upon, if his specialties require it.
- An intimidating, striking or handsome appearance.
- Kinda basic for any good character, but your protagonist must suffer from a form of irrationality that presents an instability. It can be anything from love, despair, phobia, apathy, greed, megalomania, etc. Perfection is boring. In contrast to their abilities of a paragon-like character, it's better if they're not quite there in the head.

Examples: Hans Landa, John Wick, Agent Smith, Joker, Doomsday, Pain, Davy Jones, Tai Lung, Darth Vader, Johan Liebert, etc.