Hero sympathizes with his Evil Counterpart

Cirdec is a swordsman, and a member of a specialised squad of heroes. They finally meet their match when the Big Bad hires a group of mercenaries to kill the specialists. The Anti-Specialists are actually a family, there's a married couple, their 12 year old son, and the husband's brother. The son is a Swordsman just like Cirdec and they end up fighting one another.

A while later, the couple is killed by the heroes. Their son gets consumed with rage and enters into a final fight with Cirdec, his anger granting him greater strength and speed. Cirdec tries to use his anger aswell, but he finds himself unable to hate the kid, his parents were just killed and he's responding in the exact way Cirdec would if his fiance were slaughtered. He knows the kid is in the wrong, he willingly became a mercenary at a really young age and even understands the risks, it's just that Cirdec was a lot like him when he was his age, and was basically a hired gun too. He physically can't get himself angry enough to muster the strength to fight back at full potential. Is this a realistic reaction?

Other than being hired to kill the specialists, did the evil counterpart actually do anything that would deserve any hatred? I assume he hasn't actually succeeded at killing any of the main characters just yet. By the sound of things, he was only following orders and he may have been brainwashed from birth into believing that his path was the correct path. Unless he actually did something that would cause him to cross the Moral Event Horizon, I think it would be impossible not to feel sorry for him. So, yes, I would say it's realistic.

Is anger really necessary to fight well? My impression from karate is the exact opposite - staying calm is essential to being able to fight at full strength. Anger makes you sloppy.

Cirdec is the king of Tranquil Fury. He never gets conventially angry all that often. He veers off into this Flash Stepping blank faced form, fuelled by anger that focuses all of his speed and skill forward like a bullet. When enraged, Cirdec is probably the strongest being in my universe barring a deity

Oh and he's basically an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy, he's a jerk, but hasn't crossed the horizon.

It all depends on the characterization, some people are like that realistically, other aren't.

Who is Cirdec as a person, and what does he value in life?

He was a cold, ruthless assassin, but after falling in love he gained a respect for life. It's still not perfect, and he basically repressed his own memories of ever being an assassin, just so he doesn't have to deal with it. He purposefully detatches himself from the people he fights, since He can slaughter faceless mooks no problem, but the second he realises that they're normal people underneath, it becomes 100 times harder for him to kill them

Sounds like he is an interesting character, and I think it would be quite realistic for him to act in such a way.

Go for it!

I will excuse myself in advance for maybe slightly going off-topic but if you wish to change your story or for a future work, you can have the evil counterpart of the protagonist be some one the hero always wanted to be. For example, while the villain may be an Evil Overlord he at least has his own empire, is obscenely ritch, well built, the epitome of manliness and his name makes his enemies scream in fear and women scream in ecstasy. While he gets all the glory, all the money and most important all the chicks, the hero starts as a late 20s permavirgin living in his parents' basement. After being humiliated by the overlord at their first encounter, the hero wants to become more like him.

edited 17th Jun '11 6:48:50 AM by AdeptusAlpharius