Poll of the Day > Which of these is most tragic sounding?

(+) Yeah! (+)

So say you have a story about a young man who takes it upon himself to protect a young woman, as her knight of sorts because she saved his life by nursing him back to health after a mercenary band he was with raided her village and he was backstabbed for trying to stop it. From there...

Scenario A: The guy falls in love with the girl but doesn't make a move for a long time because of his supposed chivalrousness only to learn the girl actually hated him for his role in destroying her home and only helped him because she wasn't aware who he was (she was out in the forest when the raid happened and the guy was dressed more like a knight than a raider because of his fixation on them so she assumed he was just an unlucky traveler or something while she helped him) and she only stayed with him after learning the truth because she had nowhere else to go and eventually wanted to kill him herself when she got the chance.

Scenario B: The guy assumes the girl must secretly hate him since (in this version) she was there to witness the raid herself and he assumes she only helped him because of the tenets of the religion she's devoted to preaching forgiveness so he keeps his distance from her emotionally and romantically as they travel together but in reality she actually does like him because she got to see his bravery in trying to defend her home in person but his insecurity and inferiority about his status causes him to start mistreating her after her declaration of love to "prove" he's right and she must hate him to avoid cognitive dissonance.

Scenario C: Both the guy and the girl like each other but because they belong to two different cultural groups who are currently at war (which is why the guy's mercenary band didn't mind killing everyone in the village instead of stealing from them since it was technically enemy territory) and with the guy considered a deserter by his own people and the girl considered "unclean" by her people for traveling with an enemy man no matter where they go they're hunted down and persecuted and beyond that whichever side wins the war they both lose.

Scenario D: Both the guy and girl hate each other from the get go but they team up to get revenge on the mercenary band leader who nearly killed the guy and ordered the attack on the girl's village, with both of them falling deeper into darkness, the guy forgetting his dream of one day becoming a noble knight and the girl losing her religion and faith in humanity over the course of their petty and ultimately meaningless quest, both of them sowing the seeds of hatred and revenge in the hearts of others that they wrong.

Scenario E: Both the guy and girl grow to like each other with ups and downs along the way to the culmination of the guy being knighted for protecting the girl as it turns out she was a long lost princess raised in secret away from the capitol but who takes the throne after the two effectively end the war by showing the bond the two people can forge (and many in the royal family were killed so she is also the legitimate queen by succession), except at the end this is all revealed to be a wild fever dream by the guy back when the girl (who he falls in love with instantly) was trying to nurse him back to health at the start of the story only for him to die shortly afterwards.

You posting topics is the biggest tragedy of all

---

---

I dont want to read all of this

---

Far-Queue posted...

You posting topics is the biggest tragedy of all

Your mom's face.

DirtBasedSoap posted...

Your sig.

Mead posted...

I dont want to read all of this

Then don't. Begone with you.

Tragedy is the other side of the mask of comedy... Scenario A is the only one where that MIGHT apply

---

Reigning_King posted...

Your sig.

what about it


---

Mead posted...

I dont want to read all of this

Me neither

And I like stories. I just spent like 20 minutes reading a post/comment replies on Reddit where some DM described his campaign/worldbuilding

---

tl:dr

---

it's hard for me to tell without knowing what his sword looks like.

---

Reigning_King posted...

Then don't. Begone with you.

---

Damn parrots are such pretty birds

---

PunishedOni posted...

it's hard for me to tell without knowing what his sword looks like.

It's a high quality blade stolen off the corpse of a knight on the battlefield (which is where the guy got his armor from as well, but since you have to be fitted for armor he's had to take pieces from multiple different suits which gives him a patchwork sort of look). He could sell it for a large amount of money and buy a much cheaper sword just as good for fighting but he refuses to do so. That kind of thing made him unpopular in the mercenary band to begin with which is one of the reasons they didn't mind leaving him for dead after a beating and stabbing.

E is the best then bc this asshole who stole stuff off a corpse dies

---

Scenario C sounds a lot like that play with Romeo and Juliet.
---

EclairReturns posted...

Scenario C sounds a lot like that play with Romeo and Juliet.

Scenario B is kinda close to Othello too. Seems great minds think alike.

Far-Queue posted...

You posting topics is the biggest tragedy of all

---

First, if he was attacked for trying to stop it, technically he was the one backstabbing his group >_>

Beyond that:

A) just sounds kinda meh. There's a plot and conflict there, but you don't have an ending and it's hard to judge without knowing the ending. And you'd also have to explain why she was left unharmed, why she'd prioritize a stranger when there would likely be villagers who needed her help, and how she'd have the resources to care for somebody if her village was raided. And if she knew he'd been hurt trying to save her people, I'm not sure how much venom she could have.

B) sounds like a confusing mess. And what is this, just a romance novel?

C) has opportunities, and could wind up being a travelogue, but I imagine it might be hard to hide that they're from opposing sides when interacting with other people. But you're looking for tragic, and that's not really tragic. And honestly, none of these are necessarily tragic depending on the ending.

D) sounds meh as presented; it could be a workable idea, but the lack of detail makes it sound unimpressive. Also that's not really tragic in any way, unless they find love and one of them dies in order to get that revenge, only to realize afterward that it wasn't worth it and they would happily traded their revenge to still be together or something.

E) at least has an ending to it. And it's a downer ending, but I'm not sure if I'd consider it "tragic."

Granted, if you want a really tragic story, you could have the guy tricked into attacking the village, only to realize his wife and son were among the victims, and then he's coated with the ashes of his dead family as a constant reminder of his folly... although I think somebody beat you to it.


---

A - Seem normal. And she might learn what happened eventually. About him trying to stop the others

B - She may eventually prove her love, maybe with an act of sacrifice

C - Seems like they win since they have each other

D - Seems like they might fall in love with each other given enough time. Maybe an evil couple Idk

E - So, for regular people, its like he just got hurt and died. For viewers, it was a fake story that wasnt real. Those suck, but not really because theyre tragic But sad, I guess

In the end, Idk All seem pretty normal or whatever. Most could end happily
---

Reigning_King posted...

Your mom's face.

Fuckin' got 'em.

Zeus posted...

However, as it stands, none of these seem really tragic, but part of that is you're only discussing a set-up where the tragedy would really come at the end. For example, Othello isn't a tragedy because of the set-up and the troubled relationship, Othello is a tragedy because of the outcome resulting from those suspicions and misunderstandings. And without that outcome -- you don't have a tragedy.

LinkPizza posted...

In the end, Idk All seem pretty normal or whatever. Most could end happily

I appreciate the detailed responses but I have to say that I'm not necessarily looking for the absolute most tragic tragedy, just which of these opinions is the most tragic in this groups. The reason the endings aren't really mentioned except in D and E (and somewhat vaguely at that) is because the endings might not be tragic at all. I have to disagree with Zeus that a tragedy is made by the ending though, like a miserable story that ends happily would still count in my book just like a happy story with a downer ending wouldn't, but that's whatever. I guess we could think of it like "Upper case Tragedy" and "lower case tragedy" or something.

Lokarin posted...

Tragedy is the other side of the mask of comedy...

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open manhole and die.
---

ParanoidObsessive posted...

Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open manhole and die.

Theatre is when because you cut your finger you ended up falling down an open manhole and dying.

---

Reigning_King posted...

I appreciate the detailed responses but I have to say that I'm not necessarily looking for the absolute most tragic tragedy, just which of these opinions is the most tragic in this groups. The reason the endings aren't really mentioned except in D and E (and somewhat vaguely at that) is because the endings might not be tragic at all. I have to disagree with Zeus that a tragedy is made by the ending though, like a miserable story that ends happily would still count in my book just like a happy story with a downer ending wouldn't, but that's whatever. I guess we could think of it like "Upper case Tragedy" and "lower case tragedy" or something.

Then you're not really looking for a tragedy. You just want a sad or dark story, possibly a drama of some description set in a fantasy world so you don't have to bother doing any research for a real-world setting. Granted, a few of those just read out like almost unremarkable romance stories so maybe that's what you're actually going for.


---

Zeus posted...

Then you're not really looking for a tragedy. You just want a sad or dark story, possibly a drama of some description set in a fantasy world so you don't have to bother doing any research for a real-world setting. Granted, a few of those just read out like almost unremarkable romance stories so maybe that's what you're actually going for.

Yeah it is a romance at the heart of it, but who says a romance can't have some tragedy in the mix? I mean if "Uppercase Tragedies" can include romance no reason Romance can't include "lowercase tragedy". Also I'm not trying to be rude but I never once said this hypothetical story was a Tragedy, I was using tragic in the title as a synonym for sad from the get go, people just started assuming the whole thing was a Tragedy. Actually maybe Action-Romance is more accurate since there are magiteck guns, dragons, and a dark king involved too. I'm not sure how yet cause the meat of the story needs to be pinned down first thus this topic.

Tragedy is when you buy Mamba fruit chews and the flavors inside are all lemon and orange

---

Mead posted...

Tragedy is when you buy Mamba fruit chews and the flavors inside are all lemon and orange

lol

---

A and B could be ok depending on how well the story is woven/told/narrative.

C is the best, probably because it's not too contrived and open-ended to do whatever you want with it.

D is a bit stupid. If they hated each other, why the girl nurse the guy? No miso, but what value is there in the woman to help the guy carry out his revenge plot?

E is a bit contrived, and plot twists aren't interesting when explained instead of shown.

---

eating4fun posted...

but what value is there in the woman to help the guy carry out his revenge plot?

Didnt she was revenge, too?
---

Mead posted...

Tragedy is when you buy Mamba fruit chews and the flavors inside are all lemon and orange.

Those would be the only ones I wouldn't throw out.
---

LinkPizza posted...

Didnt she was revenge, too?

Yeah, they both want revenge on the same guy in that Scenario. As for why she would help him in the first place I could use the same reason and have her witness him being attacked first hand like in B, plus he would have information like where the group was going next, what the name of the leader was, etc. Basically saving him to use as a tool.