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Author: MeganPhntmGrl

Dec 16th 2010 at 1:06:09 PM

Okay, here's a potential better write-up, if I'm getting this right:

->''The only person with whom I felt any kinship with died three hundred years before the birth of Christ. Alexander of Macedonia, or Alexander the Great, as you know him. His vision of a united world... well, it was unprecedented. I wanted...'' needed ''to match his accomplishments, and so I resolved to apply antiquity's teaching to our world,'' today. ''And so began my path to conquest. Conquest not of men, but of the evils that beset them.''
-->-- '''Adrian Veidt, {{Film/Watchmen}}'''

[[WideEyedIdealist Youthful idealism]] can be a beautiful thing. There are few things audiences love more than the idea of a gifted [[TeenGenius teenager]] (or sometimes simply a young adult) who can see what's wrong with the world and, after initially feeling [[SamaritanSyndrome overwhelmed and powerless]] in the face of a CrapsackWorld, deciding that they need to do something about it.

However, some characters just go ahead and prove that if trying to TakeOverTheWorld out of a belief that UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans is already a quick way for ''adult'' characters to go merrily JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope, being a young, frustrated rebel, complete with the standard [[YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb emotional immaturity and sometimes flat-out childish fantasies]] you'd expect out of someone this age only makes things worse. Meet the Alexander, a troubled, gifted kid who just wants to change the world for the better, but is almost certainly poised to become a WellIntentionedExtremist.

The Alexander will often have an unhappy home life and a strong dose of IntelligenceEqualsIsolation. If they're targeted by bullies, expect them to later gloat [[WhosLaughingNow Who's Laughing Now?]], though when they realize the extent of the damage they've caused, they're especially prone to wondering MyGodWhatHaveIDone and going through a HeroicBSOD and/or HeelRealization, assuming their {{Ubermensch}} morality fails enough to let them see it. These characters often [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption die young]], seemingly "burned out" by their own genius (often as AnAesop against MaryTzu types), though an Alexander who lives to adulthood can either continue down their path to AntiVillain status (or sometimes simply become TheBigBad, deluded by their own idealism), or they can become [[TheDumbledore a mentor]] who issues {{Jacob Marley Warning}}s to other youngsters in their former position.

Named for AlexanderTheGreat, who began his conquest of the world as it was then known to his culture as a teenager and died emotionally and physically burned out at age 32 with his plans completely unfinished.