Subtle Traits

I'm toying with the idea that my protagonist ends up killing one of the story's villains and devouring the man's brain. This gives him access to said villain's memories, as well as a significant increase in power.

What I also want to portray is that he begins picking up subtle mannerisms and traits of the dead villain. I don't want to be too heavy-handed about it, nor do I want to create a "fighting for control over the body" scenario.

What sort of mannerisms and other aspects could give the impression of him absorbing the villain's traits while not being taken over?

edited 21st Dec '15 10:54:11 PM by Swordofknowledge

Using said villain's Verbal Tics or Character Tics infrequently, every once in a while but not too often could be one of them.

You could also try doing it through the narration. If there were certain words or phrases that tended to crop up around the villain character — certain ways of the narrator describing the villain's actions or conveying their thoughts, for example — you could start applying them to the protagonist as well. It could be a good way of getting across the idea of the villain's presence without tying it to anything concrete.

I don't want to gloss over the fact that something like that happens — but on the other hand, I totally do.

Anyway, you might want to think about having your protagonist going out of his way to do things he'd never do otherwise. Phrases and tics are a good start, but depending on what you've got in your story — i.e. how much you want to characterize the villain, posthumously or otherwise — you can do more. Maybe the protag feels compelled to visit places that had importance and meaning to the villain, like a park he used to visit when he was a kid. Or maybe he could start hungering for some of the villain's favorite foods. He wouldn't be able to explain why (and you could gear it so that he doesn't even notice he's acting out of the ordinary), but he'd want to do it anyway, just because.

Maybe the character will begin to see things from the villain's perspective from eating that person's memories. So the character will be able to understand people that are like the villain he ate, not necessarily emphasize with the people, but he would know why they act like that in the first place. Since eating that person's brain would somehow grant you the ability to access a portion of the villain's thoughts and feelings, this might be a consequence of devouring that person's brain.

Does the villain have any friends, loved ones, or enemies that are still alive? Maybe the hero could start to share the villain's feelings about them, even if they've never met before.

Wow, the responses on this are amazing! Thanks, I didn't think I'd really get anywhere with this.

@ Iron Commando: One of the ideas I originally had was similar to yours. My protagonist already has a Character Tic—he scratches the right side of his face when agitated or stressed, to the point that he has a multitude of tiny scars from years of doing this. My thought was that when he ate the villain, this habit just STOPS. No tapering off, just a complete cessation. He doesn't even notice the change in his behavior, which adds to the creepiness.

@ Voltech44: Don't worry, he's not a zombie . You know, mentioning the part about visiting a park the villain did as a child made me sad for a moment. But yes, I like the thought of feeling emotions that are foreign in places from the past, especially since this bad guy's childhood is expanded upon greatly—it's his Freudian Excuse after all.

@ Nothing Unusual Here: The villain's family and friends are mostly dead but he has several acquaintances and co-workers very much alive, some of them important to the plot, so I might put this idea in that the protagonist "knows" them from seeing the memories.

edited 23rd Dec '15 8:30:29 PM by Swordofknowledge

Your question has opened up a part of my mind. I'm generally pretty heavy-handed if not vague when it comes to characterization (to the point where it's one of the things I'm currently working to improve). Subtle attributes seem like a new category of traits to use when building my characters. I wish I could help you but you've helped me

edited 29th Feb '16 10:36:54 PM by nekomoon14

@OP:

Interesting, in the story I am writing, the scenario you described is so common(except the brain-eating is optional, and the process is often unwilling on the "receiver"'s part) I was about to start a thread about that very fact. Depending on how developed the villain is, I think the best way to do so is for the character to start acting in ways he normally wouldn't or do something wrong in some way, and rationalize his actions in a similar way as the villain.

Not too extreme at first, but opening the way for a fall or conflict. If you instead want your character to borrow trais from the villain that do not have such an deep effect on their psyche, I will second the suggestion of him wishing to visit places significant to the villain, as it has a certain deep spiritual feeling, however macabre it is.

If I may, I also have a similar question: I have a character that passively absorbs memories from places and people he meets, specially negative memories left as "imprints" by people who died, and I wish to portray this wearing down on said character's fragile psyche. How can I do it without just pulling cliche generic insanity? If possible, I'd want something that does not involve obvious hallucinations, as those appear latter for more complicated reasons.

edited 3rd Mar '16 4:15:39 PM by EternaMemoria