How does a character react to Tomato Surprise?

In my story, the main character, a young Mad Scientist discovers that his great-grandfather is actually a homunculus created to replace a local aristocrat after he had been staked by an angry mob. How will this affect his psychology and motivation?

Edit: could someone please fix the title for me? I made a stupid grammatical mistake. ><

edited 4th Aug '11 2:50:23 PM by Nightwire

I think it would all depend on how his psychology and motivation was like before and how much stake he puts into his family line. It could range from "Meh, what difference does it make?" to "MY WHOLE LIFE IS A LIE!" Does he put more value into his family line, i.e., he's special because he's descendent from this great man, or does he believe it's his own accomplishments that make him great? In fact, he may even feel some pride in this revelation. I might be a bit of an oddball here, but I think being a descendent of an artificial being is kind of cool. It's unique.

What effect does his great-grandfather being a homonculus have, really? It's one of 8 great-grandparents, so genetically it can't have had that much difference. Did it accomplish notably more/less than great-grandfather? Do something especially noble/heinous? Is the main character scared, or hopeful, of having inherited certain traits?

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

That's not even really a Tomato Surprise. Finding out you're a homunculus? Pretty big deal. Finding out your great grandfather was a homunculus? "Eh, whatever." I'm not sure why this would affect him that much, although it could provide him with some inspiration to know that a homunculus was able to convincingly fit into normal society, if he's trying to create one himself (you said he was a Mad Scientist). But I'd doubt there would be a major psychological impact.

Edit: That should be "create one himself".

edited 6th Aug '11 3:12:28 AM by nrjxll

Agree.

Well, in my character's world, homunculi are classified as "the Undead"; they are created and experimented on by Mad Scientists as a way of studying life. My protagonist's dream is to create a super-intelligent homunculus (or in his word, a "organic supercomputer"), although he hasn't achieved any success so far. Oh, and he also acts as a surrogate father to a homunculus that has been abandoned by its own creator.

In short, the protagonist's attitude is that: homunculi are to be studied For Science!, but he often treats his creations and test subjects with love and dedication.

Really? Try replaing "homunculus" with another phrase, like "child molestor" or "abolitionist". Knowing that someone astoundingly good/evil is in your family tree, especially as a direct line of descent, can most definitely have an effect, even if it's just questioning "Am I like him? Could I be? Should I be?"

If the character in question knows that he is, biologically, 1/8th the same as his test subjects, is that going to make him kinder and gentler with his experiments, or is he going to go overzealous in a homophobe-in-the-closet kind of way? More importantly, how will other people in his circle of friends react when they find out he's part homunculus and yet still doing experiments on them?

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

One of my great-great-great etc uncles was John Brown, the crazed abolitionist who slaughtered dozens of otherwise innocent slave owners and then holed himself up in an armory for a while with a bunch of his buddies, having a firefight with the marines, was captured, and then hung himself before he could be tried.

I think it's hilarious, and bring it up at every opportunity.

My point is: if the guy has any kind of sense of humor, he'd just laugh it off and maybe use it as a pick-up line or something.

edited 6th Aug '11 10:40:16 AM by TheEarthSheep

Still Sheepin'

Well, my homunculi are generally patchworks from human body parts, so it's basically the same as "one of my ancestors is a zombie" anyway.

edited 6th Aug '11 10:17:08 PM by Nightwire