"Fallen" Characters: Where can I go with this?

So I'm writing a story, and one of the central themes of the story is about "falling". Now, I don't mean the physical act of falling, I mean it in a metaphorical sense. Like, "Fallen from grace" or "falling out of favour" and stuff like that. Pretty much all of the main characters I have follow this theme to some degree: My main character is a fallen angel, the Lancer has fallen out of favour with his father, the Smart Guy has fallen out of the spotlight of scientific achievements, and so on. The story then goes on how they climb back up from this, like the Hero is trying to become an angel again, the Lancer is trying to get over the "Well Done, Son" Guy thing, so on and so forth.

Unfortunately, I find myself in need of another major character, and I especially need new ideas to have a character "fall". Any ideas relating to this are welcome!

edited 19th Feb '13 6:57:39 PM by TheAlbinoPrimid

Someone who's lost their family's fortune?

Someone who's lost faith in their once-incredibly-firm ideology?

Someone who once had public sympathy — a well-liked politician, for example — who suffered an image-rending scandal?

The first one, funnily enough, sort of ties into the Lancer's motivation. His father's quite rich, and I would be lying if I said that the Lancer doesn't want to inherit that.

The second one, well, I would have to think of how far gone the character was. Too far gone and I would have to have the other characters work to restore their ideology, which goes against the whole Earn Your Happy Ending route. Not far enough gone and I would have to question whether the character's really fallen enough or is just on the edge of the Despair Event Horizon.

Oooh, that's a good one for a completely different character. Thanks for the idea!

A once-famous trapeze artist who had to give up performing after he fell during an act and broke his leg, then slowly lapsed into obscurity. A literal fall brings about a metaphorical one as well.

Cop, firefighter or someone else who rescues people fails to rescue someone and blames themself for the person's death/disfigurement, self esteem and self image has taken a beating.

You could also put the "twist" that they don't succumb to the Demon Drink due to their failure so they're not having to "crawl out of a bottle" - just battle their own personal doubts and fears of failure.

Someone who's fallen in/out of love.

I think "out of love" would fit the theme better though.

edited 19th Feb '13 11:59:38 PM by TheManaThief

@Albino: Whether you realise it or not, the characters you describe could (depending on your interpretation) fall into the following themes - your angel failed his "morals"/"ideals", your Lancer failed his "blood", and your Smart Guy failed his "peers". And a lot of it has to do with each character's sense of identity.

With that in mind, what about someone who has failed his "duty"/"purpose" or someone who has failed his "humanity"? For the former, an example would be say a painter/artist who lost his hands, who thus can no longer paint and needs to find a new purpose in life? For the latter, it could be a soldier who has killed and lost so much he no longer feels anything when faced with death; either at his hands or at the hands of others?

Interesting enough, these could quite nicely round out your cast into a Five-Man Band; with the painter playing The Heart and the soldier playing The Big Guy.

edited 20th Feb '13 4:23:36 PM by peasant

@peasant This, this, oh my god this.

Thinking about this, I don't think that the painter option would be an especially good option, simply because the story gets somewhat action oriented later down the road. I think another idea could be a robot or an android (going for a somewhat Science Fantasy story) that has become outdated by something more technically advanced. In that sense, the robot in question has fallen behind in technological advancement. Or, perhaps this same robot is part of some Lost Technology, and has lost its original purpose when its creators vanished? The society around the robot has fallen into obscurity, and it becomes its mission to try to bring this society's culture back into the light. While it's not quite failing its duty or purpose, it still fits into the theme of my story.

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Thank you all for the ideas, by the way! I think I've gotten over my hump as far as creating a character has gone. I don't think I'll be able to use all of these ideas for major characters, but I'll certainly keep them in mind if I need anything in the future. You guys are great!

No problem. That's what Writer's Block is here for.