Tweet of the Day: 10 Reasons You Hero Needs Flaws
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Ah science, the realm of the boring, repetitive, by the book way of doing things. Well, that is in the REAL world, but in fiction, science is full of geeky mavericks, contemptuous corporate executives, and power hungry generals just waiting to unleash their latest (and greatest) creation upon an unsuspecting country, world, universe.
When they do we either have someone say it has all Gone Horribly Wrong or worse (yes it can get worse) Gone Horribly Right!
The first variation of this double trope is easy enough:
- Research or experiment into something man was never meant to know,
- Mess up your experiments into that thing we were not meant to know,
- Profit! And by profit I mean trying to sell, manufacture or otherwise monetize whatever created the horrible mutilation, carnage and/or mind twisting mind control of those foolish enough to follow step 1 & 2.
You would think that if they didn’t cut corners, followed all protocols, and were fueled not by greed but a desire to do go then everything would turn out all right?
You would think that, wouldn’t you.
Nope, you can still mess up things royally even if you did everything right. I mean that super weapon than can vaporize a planet, neat stuff right? Not if everybody comes after you to get it, replicated it, or destroy it. Or worse, it gets used on your home planet.
These tropes are useful plot devices, either as setup for the story, or to end a story in a cliff hanger. It is also a good way to set up the antagonist of your story as either the result of these tropes or the cause behind them.
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Neither Here nor There.... 