Day 28 of 28DCD: Relationship with Creator

So in this final entry of the 28 Days of Character Development challenge I will try to address the relationship between Grawnk and his creator: me. How do I feel about Grawnk? What do I like and dislike about him? How does Grawnk feel about me?

When I first started thinking about this blog in January 2012 I didn’t already have Grawnk thought out. I was deciding between an Orc and a Khajiit character simply because I wanted to do something different. When I decided upon an Orc, I just tried to bestow as many uncharacteristic traits on him as I could, because the idea of the anti-Orc appealed so greatly to me. Things like his bardic aspirations, cowardice, and daddy issues were all steps I took to remove Grawnk as far as I could from the typical Orc characterizations.

I feel very connected to Grawnk because in many ways, I have written myself into Grawnk’s character. This was unintentional, but I have noticed that I have made the way he thinks and reacts to situations commonly how I might react in a similar situation. I am glad for having done this challenge because it has allowed me to flesh Grawnk out and make him more of his own man/Orc.

For me, it is impossible not to like Grawnk. We are both giant nerds with questionable social skills. I like that Grawnk has persevered on his quest to become a bard even with all of his setbacks. From a writer’s standpoint, I don’t like that Grawnk avoids combat, because when I’m playing and writing Grawnk, I just want to go exploring and get in fights. Of course, this isn’t really a legitimate complaint.

I’m not too certain how Grawnk would feel about me. He had become complacent about his life in the stronghold, but if he had known I could have made it so where he could have had a better childhood, he would most certainly be angry with me. To that, I would tell him it is all about building character. By no means is Grawnk the same Orc that he was when he first stepped off the boat onto Skyrim soil. That is because I am making sure Grawnk is growing over time, and improving upon himself. If he lives to be old and gray, he will want to do nothing but thank me for the life I have given him. I know where I want him to go, but it is ultimately up to him if he wants to follow.

And with that, I finish the last day of the 28DCD challenge. It has been a fun month getting to know Grawnk and his relatives much better. I know this will help me with future posts I make. To everyone, I really appreciate all the comments, likes, follows, and views. To all my new followers, I hope you come back to check up on Grawnk whenever I make new posts. He and I would greatly appreciate that. Lastly, I want to give a shout-out to Elspeth, whose idea it was to do this challenge. Thanks again for reading, and I’ll see you soon.

Sincerely,

Kit

Other 28DCD posts can be found here.

Be sure to follow me on twitter, and here on WordPress, to stay up to date with Grawnk and this blog. Click here if you would like to find other stories like mine. Likes, comments, and follows are also greatly appreciated.

Day 27 of 28DCD: Dinner Party

If it were me having the dinner party, Sheogorath would be who I invite. And yes, I’d have a cheese dish available for him.

Grawnk on the other hand, would go a slightly more practical route. He would invite all of the inhabitants of Dead Men’s Respite to a dinner party, and then not show up so he could sneak into Dead Men’s Respite and grab King Olaf’s Verse without any hassle, possibly coming back to the party to set the building on fire.

Day 26 of 28DCD: What Would Grawnk Change About Himself

It’s a pretty easy question for Grawnk. He would want to get rid of his cowardice. I’m not saying he wouldn’t act cowardly anymore in certain situations, but at least the choice would be his to run away, and not his body just completely taking over. I can’t really expound upon this anymore because that’s really the only thing Grawnk is truly unhappy about with himself.

Day 24 of 28DCD: The Day-to-Day

Being a blog designed to live life as an NPC, it is largely focused on the ordinary goings on of Grawnk. However, since arriving in Skyrim, there’s not been a big enough chunk of time for Grawnk to really develop a daily ritual. I believe Grawnk was only in Dawnstar for three days, and all he did there was wake up, get dumped on by Skyrim, be poor, go to bed, rinse and repeat.

Day 23 of 28DCD: Alignment

So Grawnk scored “Neutral” on the Alignment test. A description of “Neutral” can be found here.This was not unexpected because I have been trying to paint him as a mostly neutral character. Of course, this isn’t entirely accurate. Grawnk has good tendencies too, so in all actuality, he would fall somewhere between “Neutral” and “Neutral-Good,” but leaning heavily on the neutral side. Grawnk cares about himself first and foremost.

Day 22 of DCD: Dear Future Me

Grawnk,

It’s me, past Grawnk. There are some things I must know. Have we found Mom? I miss her, and I hope she understands why we didn’t look for her initially. Have we succeeded in our quest to become a bard? Are we “with” anyone? Do we have any friends? What is the status of Father – did we ever do…that thing? Does anything unexpected happen that I should know about? Less importantly, have we grown our hair back out? Just curious.

Day 21 of 28DCD: Assorted Questions

Instead of addressing the broad topic of “Relationships” originally posed for this day of the challenge, I decided to answer some more specific questions instead because I was having trouble going from general to specific.

“What inspires Grawnk the most when writing music? Heroic deeds? Glorious battles? Love?”

Day 19 of 28DCD: I Can Tell That We Are Gonna Be Friends…or Not

What would someone have to do to become friends with Grawnk?  Alternatively, to become enemies?

Grawnk has never had any friends in the traditional sense. He always had his mother in the stronghold, but while living there, he was mostly ignored by everyone else. In the nontraditional sense, he has Meeko. Grawnk never cared for animals, but has found companionship with Meeko. He values Meeko’s loyalty and acceptance of him. Now, obviously, Meeko is incapable of being shallow, but some of these traits are what would make Grawnk consider someone a friend.

Day 18 of 28DCD: Wibbly-Wobbly Timey-Wimey

Grawnk is not one to get hung up in the past, and therefore wouldn’t have any real interest in visiting it. One exception would be going back to merely observe his grandparents that he never knew. That aside, Grawnk’s real interest lies in the future. Grawnk found history books boring growing up, and preferred to read other books instead.

Day 17 of 28DCD: Spirit Animal

As you may have guessed, Grawnk’s spirit animal is the owl. The owl as a spirit animal is known for intuition and wisdom. Grawnk may still be young, (for an Orc) but he is wise beyond his years. He understands people: their motives, their desires, drives, ambitions, etc. Through that wisdom, his abilities to discern and intuit are derived. He picks up on lies, and other subtle nuances that others might normally miss.