Character Arcs

The negative arc is the inverse of the positive arc, as it represents a character’s downfall. This arc has a greater degree of complexity than the positive arc, as there are several ways in which a hero can fall. K.M. Weiland refers to these three subtypes as the Disillusionment Arc, the Fall Arc, and the Corruption Arc.² The way the arcs differ depends both on the nature of their central belief—whether it is the truth or a lie—and whether their arc ends with rejection or acceptance.

The first of the three subtypes is the Disillusionment Arc. This arc features a character who begins with a lie, then has it challenged, and must accept a tragic truth as a result. One prominent example of the Disillusionment Arc is Naked Snake’s character arc in Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. When Snake Eater begins, the American soldier codenamed Naked Snake believes that he can always trust his government. This belief is shaken when his government asks him to hunt down his mentor, who has been branded an enemy of the state. In the end, Snake completes his mission, but his faith in his government has been forever tarnished. He has dispensed with his original lie and seen the truth, but the truth has left him disillusioned.

The second subtype is called the Fall Arc. In this arc, the character still begins the story by believing a lie, but they hold onto this lie when challenged and end the story more convinced of it than ever. The Fall Arc is exemplified by Azala the Reptite in Square-Enix’s Chrono Trigger. At the beginning of Azala’s arc, she presides over a race of sentient reptiles and believes they are fated to be superior. This belief is challenged when Ayla, ruler of the ‘apes’, defeats her in combat and then extends a hand of friendship, as a greater threat is coming for both of them. Rather than accept help from an human, Azala doubles down on her initial belief in fate and asserts that her people should die for their failure, and insists that Ayla and the apes will fail in their attempt to change the future. 

The final subtype is referred to as the Corruption Arc. Unlike the Disillusionment Arc and the Fall arc, this begins with a character who believes a positive truth, but challenges to that truth force them to embrace a lie. One example of a character that follows this arc is Prince Arthas Menethil from Activision-Blizzard’s Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. At the beginning of the game, Arthas is a paladin with a sworn code to uphold justice and defend the innocent without unnecessary bloodshed. This belief is challenged when the necromancer Kel’Thuzad inflicts a plague on the town of Stratholme, dooming its people to become mindless undead. To spare them from eternal enslavement, Arthas slaughters them first, thus violating his paladin’s code to avoid bloodshed at all costs. He continues making similar moral compromises as he seeks vengeance on the demons that plagued his people, and by the story’s end, he has given up on the truth of the paladins and embraced a dark lie: might makes right. He has been corrupted, both physically and spiritually.