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N7CombatWombat2025-12-31 19:00
It's when a character takes in new experiences and information that causes them to change their outlook/thinking. Think of it like this; you aren't the same person you were as a child because you've learned more and experienced more since then. That's character growth.
alotmorealots2026-01-01 02:43
> That's character growth.
Yes, but that's not the same thing as character *development*, which is when you find out more and more about a character. It can be their back story, more about their moral lives (what they believe in, their values) or more about their emotional and psychological lives (how they feel about events, layering of their reactions and feelings, uncovering nuances from past events the viewer saw earlier).
All of those things happen without the character themselves changing, rather it's the audience's understanding of the character which changes.
N7CombatWombat2026-01-01 02:48
I suppose it depends on how the OP defined "development".
Killershadow9992025-12-31 19:01
It’s like when a certain character goes through something that builds character
Ashteron2025-12-31 19:05
Character development is used to refer to two things:
* characterisation,
* character going through changes throughout the story.
Endroium2025-12-31 19:08
when a character has a fundamental flaw they must overcome and they do in order to become a better version of themselves
Defrath2025-12-31 19:11
Pretty simple. Early on, character A has not or has refused to talk to his family. Character A attends a funeral, which causes them to reflect on mortality and the time they spent away from potential loved ones.
Later on, when character A has an opportunity to see a family member, they decide to do so after their previous reflections.
That's development. The character starts one way, and the environment, story, or plot change the behavior we expect from them.
I didn't mean to do it, but what I described above is essentially the initial character conflict for Freiren within its initial opening.
Ok-Chest-79322025-12-31 22:13
Although that one's setup, not development. Frieren becoming aware of human mortality is the inciting incident that makes her want to do something, which results in her then accepting an opportunity to do so, and only after that does she begin to develop.
Defrath2025-12-31 23:00
This is exactly what I stated. Both the setup and the subsequent development that occurs.
abandoned_idol2025-12-31 19:12
This one is pretty straightforward.
I'll tell you what ISN'T character development. When a character changes completely. e.g. A coward turns into a stoic and infallible god.
Ok, so what IS character development?
It is when a character learns a constructive habit, while still retaining their personality. A personality being a collection of mannerisms, opinions, and preferences that lets the audience easily distinguish between two characters.
Maybe a character is a picky eater, but learns to eat icky food for the sake of her goal. But still makes a scene every time she is forced to eat icky food (heh). Same personality, but is now able to do something she was previously unable to do.
Maybe a character is obsessed with revenge, but later learns to be a pacifist and an altruist. This SEEMS like a complete transformation, but his obsession was originally fueled by his love for family (so the core of his character was "love/family" from the beginning).
Maybe a character loves earthworms and feels like a failure. But then she gains skill/achievements in a sport, gains confidence, and still loves earthworms.
In summary. If a character can't do X, but is later able to do X, that's character development.
If a character gets kidnapped and replaced with a skinwalker that doesn't resemble them in any way, that's not character development, it's character replacement.
A really good example of character development (constant and gradual character development) is "The Dangers in my Heart". This one has a male lead character constantly learning about his personal shortcomings and working/aiming to improve himself.
Kadmos12025-12-31 19:26
Character development can also be when the leading lady gets bigger boobs in a time skip.
Jujube00552025-12-31 19:13
I know for a fact this type of thing is taught to you in school…did you not pay attention?
Ok-Chest-79322025-12-31 22:14
School is often very bad at teaching concepts like this even to people who do pay attention. Which is honestly strange because like any media critic could answer this one, and media critics aren't even well-educated.
DataUserOne2025-12-31 21:24
The journey of a character and it's changes
Ok-Chest-79322025-12-31 22:09
It's when a character is one way and then later on they're a different way.
There are a lot of kinds, but the starting point is generally this:
- A character begins with something that they don't know.
- The fact they don't know it causes a problem.
- They struggle against learning the thing they don't know.
- They eventually accept learning the thing they don't know.
- Having now learned the thing, they're able to overcome the problem.
You'd want the thing they don't know to be a character flaw. Something about their personality that hinders them - an easy starting point here would be to pick one of the seven deadly sins, but there are lots of other things characters can be wrong about too. A character who is already right about everything can't grow and will be hated.
So here's an example from the Railgun series:
- The protagonist, Misaka Mikoto, is a very powerful lightning mage. She believes that she can solve all her problems by herself. The thing she doesn't know is that she's can't.
- Because she thinks she can solve everything by herself, she gets way in over her head fighting three battles at once, and also damages her relationships with her friends by keeping them out of the loop.
- Mikoto fails to solve some problems and gets injured, but she struggles against accepting that she can't do everything by herself because she doesn't want to endanger her friends by asking for help.
- Mikoto eventually decides she must ask for help.
- With the assistance of the many people she has helped over previous series, Mikoto is able to solve all the problems and repair her relationships because now her friends know she trusts them.
Very simple character development arc there and a super common one in anime.
soulofundead2026-01-01 12:44
Got it 😁
machopsychologist2026-01-01 02:38
Just imagine you're describing one of your favourite person to someone else.
How much can you share about that person? How they think? What experiences they've had? What they hate and what they love?
The more you're able to share, the more developed your understanding of that person.
Do that again with someone you've met for a couple of hours.
Then do that again with a fictional character.
The more you know about a character, the more developed it is.
Commentaires
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Yes, but that's not the same thing as character *development*, which is when you find out more and more about a character. It can be their back story, more about their moral lives (what they believe in, their values) or more about their emotional and psychological lives (how they feel about events, layering of their reactions and feelings, uncovering nuances from past events the viewer saw earlier).
All of those things happen without the character themselves changing, rather it's the audience's understanding of the character which changes.
* characterisation,
* character going through changes throughout the story.
Later on, when character A has an opportunity to see a family member, they decide to do so after their previous reflections.
That's development. The character starts one way, and the environment, story, or plot change the behavior we expect from them.
I didn't mean to do it, but what I described above is essentially the initial character conflict for Freiren within its initial opening.
I'll tell you what ISN'T character development. When a character changes completely. e.g. A coward turns into a stoic and infallible god.
Ok, so what IS character development?
It is when a character learns a constructive habit, while still retaining their personality. A personality being a collection of mannerisms, opinions, and preferences that lets the audience easily distinguish between two characters.
Maybe a character is a picky eater, but learns to eat icky food for the sake of her goal. But still makes a scene every time she is forced to eat icky food (heh). Same personality, but is now able to do something she was previously unable to do.
Maybe a character is obsessed with revenge, but later learns to be a pacifist and an altruist. This SEEMS like a complete transformation, but his obsession was originally fueled by his love for family (so the core of his character was "love/family" from the beginning).
Maybe a character loves earthworms and feels like a failure. But then she gains skill/achievements in a sport, gains confidence, and still loves earthworms.
In summary. If a character can't do X, but is later able to do X, that's character development.
If a character gets kidnapped and replaced with a skinwalker that doesn't resemble them in any way, that's not character development, it's character replacement.
A really good example of character development (constant and gradual character development) is "The Dangers in my Heart". This one has a male lead character constantly learning about his personal shortcomings and working/aiming to improve himself.
There are a lot of kinds, but the starting point is generally this:
- A character begins with something that they don't know.
- The fact they don't know it causes a problem.
- They struggle against learning the thing they don't know.
- They eventually accept learning the thing they don't know.
- Having now learned the thing, they're able to overcome the problem.
You'd want the thing they don't know to be a character flaw. Something about their personality that hinders them - an easy starting point here would be to pick one of the seven deadly sins, but there are lots of other things characters can be wrong about too. A character who is already right about everything can't grow and will be hated.
So here's an example from the Railgun series:
- The protagonist, Misaka Mikoto, is a very powerful lightning mage. She believes that she can solve all her problems by herself. The thing she doesn't know is that she's can't.
- Because she thinks she can solve everything by herself, she gets way in over her head fighting three battles at once, and also damages her relationships with her friends by keeping them out of the loop.
- Mikoto fails to solve some problems and gets injured, but she struggles against accepting that she can't do everything by herself because she doesn't want to endanger her friends by asking for help.
- Mikoto eventually decides she must ask for help.
- With the assistance of the many people she has helped over previous series, Mikoto is able to solve all the problems and repair her relationships because now her friends know she trusts them.
Very simple character development arc there and a super common one in anime.
How much can you share about that person? How they think? What experiences they've had? What they hate and what they love?
The more you're able to share, the more developed your understanding of that person.
Do that again with someone you've met for a couple of hours.
Then do that again with a fictional character.
The more you know about a character, the more developed it is.