Well, one thought would be for it to unlock as a result of an act of mercy. For example, the character might be faced with an enemy who expects execution—but the characters steps back, expressly allowing them to live, and in that moment transforms.
My Games and Asset PacksDepending on the story, another opportunity to reveal her true-form might come if the character must choose whether or not to heal a fallen enemy.
Another potential problem with unlocking the true form is whether I state that the true-form has always existed within the false exterior, or whether the false exterior has been the default mode until recently.
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!Well, if it's a "true" form, then by implication either it's always been a possibility (albeit perhaps metaphorically "locked away" behind undiscovered knowledge or technology/magic), or the truth of the person has changed.
[edit] Or, perhaps, the truth of the world has changed.
(Also, it's possible that I'm oversimplifying, or missing possibilities, in the above. Sorry about that if so! ^^; )
Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on Jun 23rd 2019 at 6:27:30 PM
My Games and Asset PacksPardon, but I need a clarification of what the term "locked-away" means in terms of fantasy literature. Also the true form has some divine powers associated with its own appearance so it doesn't appear very often, only under specific circumstances.
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!I don't think that "locked away" has any additional implications in fantasy literature. I think that all that I meant is that the form is, presumably, unavailable.
Presumably something happened that made it available—that, metaphorically speaking, "unlocked" it. (This needn't be a single event, of course.) Perhaps that was the discovery of new knowledge, or the development of a new magical art, or even simply a self-realisation on the part of the person whose form it is—or whatever.
But one way or another, they didn't have access to it beforehand, and do have access to it now, so in a sense it was "locked up"—even if that's simply by virtue of not yet existing.
My Games and Asset PacksThe only other problem is that the true-form also denotes a physical change in appearance (hairstyle and clothing change) as well, which is going to be very hard to write about. Some pointers would be of definite help here.
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Jun 27th 2019 at 1:41:37 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!Well, what difficulty are you having, specifically? The transformation itself?
My Games and Asset Packs(I wish that there was an image uploading thing so that I can compare and contrast the true-form I drew with the original picture of the character, but no matter...) The transfomation was what I had trouble with. Although I also wanted to go with the strong motif of blood symbolism.
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Jun 27th 2019 at 4:53:29 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!Well, I suppose that my first question then is that of how much detail you want to show. Do you want to show every change to the reader—or might it work better to either obscure or skip over the transformation? (Or something in-between?)
There's also the question of tone, and of how unpleasant the transformation is. If the change is unpleasant, and the tone is light, then perhaps it might be preferable to not linger on it; on the other hand, if the tone is dark then showing every horrible shift and break might be desired.
If you want to show the transformation, I suggest visualising it to yourself, and then describing what you see, and hear, and what the character feels and thinks during the process. (Or what others see, hear, feel, and think, if the perspective or tone all for that.) With that done, you might read over it a few times to check that it doesn't become tediously long, or overly grisly, or something like that, and then edit as called for.
As to blood symbolism—could you be more specific, please, both in what symbolism you want and in how you intend for it to apply here?
My Games and Asset PacksThe blood-motif has more or less to do with the heart-motif that I already have, since blood
is supposed to represent vitalitiy and mortality in many cultures, and since this is a divine transformation, the transformation itself is rather pleasant as the person shows their true nature.
The thing that is most prevalent is the constant glowing that is extruded from the true-form itself.
I was wondering if the true-form should act as a secondary consciousness
while being inactive and acting as a narrator at times, retaining a semi-awareness as it were. What would the pros and cons of this be?
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Jun 28th 2019 at 2:16:08 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!The question of whether the true form has a separate consciousness seems separate from the one regarding how the transformation takes place. As a result, I'm now a little confused as to what you want help with. :/
Regarding a separate consciousness, it does raise the question of whether the form is the character's true form, or simply another being co-habiting their body. (I'm not saying that it wouldn't be the character's true form—for example, if the consciousness is separate from the soul, and the true form reflects the soul, then it might still hold. I'm just saying that it's a question that is prompted in my mind, and that might be worth thinking through.)
My Games and Asset Packs

So, along with the fantasy novel concept of True Names, I also want to discuss the concept of true-forms and how to implement that, since one of my main characters had recently unlocked her true-form, but I am currently at a loss as to how to explain it. Basically it just needs an event to trigger it, but since the true-form's default mode is being merciful...
Edited by sabrina_diamond on Jun 23rd 2019 at 12:59:10 AM
In an anime, I'll be the Tsundere Dark Magical Girl who likes purple MY own profile is actually HERE!