So, I was thinking about what “subject” one of my characters (Aisen) should be. Subject as in if Aisen is a STEM dude or history dude or art dude. I originally wanted to make him a STEM dude but that wouldn’t work as he’s only 18. How would he be able to create/invent anything at that age, and why would he be a chosen hero when he has no work to “show”? I could either embrace hand wave and have the CHOSEN heroes be mostly teens and the viewers hopefully don’t question why they were chosen without good merits. Or I could rewrite the entire story with different adult characters who’ve done some heroic acts and earned their status.
This leads me to my next thought, which is the TV Tropes articles Kid Hero and Child Soldiers. Aisen could become like a kid hero with hand wave, or more realistically and/or logically, a child soldier.
What’s so different between the child heroes and soldiers? Are most or all child heroes in kid friendly fictional stories (think of the cartoons you watched when you were 7 for example) just child soldiers with more freedom?
Should the main characters of my story (Aisen(?), Nira(?), Shira, Kai) suffer from mental shit because Nar Hati (chooser of the chosen) made them heroes at such a young age? Should the main characters hate/rebel because it (Nar Hati’s pronouns are it/its) “created” child soldiers? Take note Aisen is 18, Nira is 18, Shira is 15, and Kai is 16 at the start of the story.
“FUCK YOU NAR HATI!!! WHY WOULD YOU CHOOSE US, MAKE US SUFFER AS CHILD SOLDIERS!!! FUCK THIS GOD WHO INDIRECTLY INFLICTS MENTAL TRAUMA TO CHILDREN!!!”
“I can’t believe this… Why would a god want me to suffer?”
“Cultural evolution. Nar Hati is stuck in the past of old time ideals.”
(there is a 5th chosen legend named Yacharok Saganasi but hes a villain) (firstname lastname)
How should the story play out with the character ages?
Same as before (teen main characters, hand wave logic with how they were worthy for being a chosen hero)
Adult main characters (a bit boring but logical)
Exploitation Realization (the 2nd half of the story is about the characters coping over the trauma of working in the International Anti Spirit Council and rebelling either against Nar Hati or the council for forcing them to work)
0voters
How different do you think child heroes and child soldiers are?
aw fuck i totally forgot that the exploitation realization wouldnt solve the hand wave issue, there still needs to be a hand wave as to why the people were chosen… but theres still hope to counter the hand wave(?)
I’ve seen child geniuses (yes I know he’s 18 but he probably would’ve been really smart and stuff even before turning 18) in fiction before. Sure, maybe people don’t know about his inventions, but he could be really smart but people haven’t really noticed. Although, that may be a bit generic.
This is the first time I’m hearing of your story, so I’m not exactly sure about what they’re supposed to have done to become heroes. I can say, though, there are reasons why a younger person might be favored over an adult. For example, a teenager, is significantly better at learning new languages than someone who already finished college at the normal age for that. In addition, for espionage purposes, a teenager may be less suspicious in certain contexts. But let’s say that these people failed to be heroes, and died. There may still be some unique propaganda value in that, creating a martyr that other teenagers could relate to and identify with, and I also feel that if one of them is 15, it could be more shocking/disturbing than if a grown man died
if that was it then most superheroes would also just count as average soldiers (which they’re really not)
not even captain america (a super soldier) is really “just a plain soldier who just carries out orders” at his core
Also, Nar Hati could probably choose them if it what they would do as the chosen didn’t involve trauma and morally objectionable stuff. Teenage brains also are still very fast and developing compared to adult brains, so they’d be a lot smarter and faster in general.
I think what you mean to say is teenagers have more fluid intelligence. It should be clarified, though that fluid intelligence peaks around age 20, so only the 18 year olds are near their peak
It’s actually pretty simple. If you want to know when fluid intelligence peaks, find research that measures fluid intelligence. If you want to know when maturation is over, then look for that
some groups want them to work (even while underage) BECAUSE of the chosen status. if the people were chosen at like another time period and/or place, then they might not be drafted to whatever work because of different morality from that place or era
