How to Write “The Strongest” (& How Not)

what makes a powerful character so great there's a particular archetype that appears in many anime let's just call it the strongest you know the Gojo the alites characters that at least for some point in the series completely surpass everyone else in terms of their power and skill they can act as a goalpost for other characters or maybe as a mentor whatever it may be it's something that pops up in most series and the characters usually are relevant to the story somehow emphasis unusually because of that the way these characters are written can greatly impact parts

of the story and greatly enhance it the strongest characters act not just as foundations for other characters but the actual series they take part in let's explore some of these characters examples of strong characters done well how they can Elevate the story therein or how they could be fumbled in many ways what makes this archetype so important and impactful and what ingredients are needed for a proper example of this of course there are countless examples of this across different series I can't cover everyone here so I'll take a look at some of my favorites from

series that I know well and I feel I can analyze well if I covered everybody this video would be hours long after all the focus is more so on how to write this archetype rather than picking apart each of these individual characters in depth there would be redundancy at some point if we just went on and on we only really need a handful here since we're just looking at certain aspects of them instead of everything about their character so if your favorite isn't in this video that's probably why there are also other characters who actually

are the strongest or very close to that but it's not a huge part of who they are so characters like that won't be discussed here we're looking at characters who are blatantly framed like this with that framing actually having some impact on the story this isn't a power scaling video so to sum it up I chose a few characters that one I feel like I could do justice and covering particularly from stories I'm very familiar with two characters that each have unique aspects to them instead of characters that do things well but ultimately have a

lot of similarities and three characters that have strength as a definite character trait and not just an inference we're not power scaling and I'm not glazing my favorite characters or whatever I mean characters that actually are symbols of strength in their verse even if they've been surpassed or aren't technically the strongest if they're narratively framed to be the strongest that's what we're looking at let's start with a modern popular example one who is flat out dubbed as the strongest and is already pretty iconic actually two of them satu Gojo and sakuna both from jiujitsu Kaizen

the strongest of today and the strongest in history first Gojo a very obvious and contemporary example dub is the strongest on multiple occasions let's start with the basics for a character to actually feel like the strongest we need displays of that every fight Gojo takes part and makes him feel like a force to be reckoned with in jjk Zer his first appearance we don't get to see the full extent of his strength which makes sense it was a one shot and it wasn't focused on him but we still get a good feeling that he's the

top dog not just that but he uses his power to help cultivate the Next Generation his own experiences with power that's what he uses to help the Next Generation particularly Utah in this part as well as megamy and Yuji later on in the story among his other students but in terms of him feeling like a vessel of physical Force we get a glimpse of that through his powers the way he showcases his abilities and the types of fights he gets involved in they all make him feel nearly Unstoppable especially when we see his growth in

Hidden inventory as well as learning more about his backstory during shabuya he actually feels like a force of nature there's no doubt about his strength we're told about it we see it grow we see it used in battle multiple times he serves as a point of comparison for other characters all in all his strength feels tangible but he also feels like a real person on top of that someone with the burden of imense strength instead of just some character that is strong with no substance so besides the actual displays of that power it feels tied

to who he is as a person I made a video related to this topic and how his strength creates a sort of identity crisis if you want a more in-depth look I'd recommend that video but in short his personality and mindset feel like they're actually connected to his strength Gojo's power has consequences for him for those around him like G and for the entire story the entire world within the story literally his power shifts the balance of the world he's not just strong for the sake of it his strength has a purpose the whole reason

shabuya happened was because of it hell it's arguably one of the reasons the entire story happened in the first place considering he shifted the world as a whole when writing a strong character they should have some narrative purpose if they're just an insta wind button they're not compelling they have to be an actual human dealing with the consequences and responsib abilities of that power that they have and that's exactly how Gojo's handled he's not just there to win fights and be unstoppable he nourishes the Next Generation he shows the downsides of absolute power his existence

causes problems to occur but he still does act as a beacon of ultimate strength and he feels like a force to be reckoned with it's the perfect balance and frankly I feel like not enough people give him the credit for that by the way if you're enjoying this video so far be sure to drop a like it really does help the channel subscribe while you're at it too next up sakuna directly related to what I said about Gojo and he's a unique case on his own he sets a historical precedent not only is he a

strong character actually present in the story but we also hear of him as a legend both a fabled Powerhouse and now an existing Powerhouse which makes him a really interesting case in my eyes in terms of all the characters I'm going to cover in this video he's one of two villains and of those two he's the only one that never actually redeems himself plus he's also part of the protagonist for most of the series which gives a unique angle he's his own entity but also is part of Yuji so much of what he does is

intertwine with yuji's character we see many jjk characters interpret strength or cope with it in different ways toi yoru kosimo to name a few through them we get a sense that there's some sort of solitude that comes with power it's a theme present throughout the entire story but like Gojo sukuna is outwardly named as the strongest a few times throughout the story actually and he's a perfect representation of that archetype simmer to Gojo he personifies absolute power as well as dealing with the themes and Concepts surrounding that absolute power with his reputation and how long

he's lived sukuna knows everything about strength it's basically all he knows he uses his power to dictate his own life he knows how strong he is and because of that feels he can do whatever he wants and that satisfies him kosimo even ask him if that ever gets boring living his life like that but sakuna enjoys it living as the strongest being able to kill and eat whoever he wants it's enjoyable for him and that's why he doesn't need love in his life he understands it completely but also knows he doesn't need it I'm bringing

up this aspect of him because this is another great way to write a strong character one that understands the consequences of strength one that's come to terms with it a character falling into this archetype should know the implications of their strength they should have a reason to to use it whatever that reason may be it's important that they can come to terms with it and exemplify or articulate it it also plays into what I said about Gojo before zuna's power ties into who he is and how he acts affecting the cast the world and the

entire story around him the way he acts is because of his strength strength plays heavily into the identity of these two characters Gojo possibly not knowing who he is because of it that identity crisis that started when G asked him is he the strongest because he's Gojo or the inverse and sakuna knowing exactly who he is and knowing exactly how he wants to use his power let's move on to my next example all might he's one of my personal favorites from a series that I don't often talk about but still hold very close to me

all might from my hero Academia has been an example of this for a while I'm covering characters that are unique in their own ways and all might's really unique because he loses that strength pretty quickly too similar to what I mentioned about sakuna we get a sense that all might's always been there he's strong in the sense that he's a legend but we actually don't see much of that at least not early on but through the way the series builds him up even after he starts to lose his power without even seeing any of his

history we get a sense that it's all true he really is the greatest hero so much about him is written so well that we feel the same presence that characters in the story do we get an understanding of how great he is and not just that but we get to see him go from the greatest hero to losing that power as well as him passing the mantle on a lot of the reasons his strength is so well written is because of some of the same stuff I said about Gojo for one he has a presence

on screen he's drawn in a different style from everyone else he stands out by default he has the catchphrase I am here he's physically imposing too he's a giant man even down to his his design everything about him embodies that of a Great Hero this is something I won't talk much about throughout the video because we're focused more on the writing side but a character's design is also really important with all might you could just look at him and you could tell he's powerful his build that smile that he has across his face all the

time and while the Shadows on his face might look unnerving he wears bright colors one glance at him and you could tell that he's supposed to be a hero a good guy and one with some insane power one aspect of him that I want to focus on is how his power is written not his physical strength I mean his actual ability one for all just as important as the characters flushing out their actual ability can be really helpful here and all might perfectly exemplifies this one for all and all the context surrounding it it embodies

hope right from its origin It was supposed to embody that of course not every series can write a power like this the way quirks work and specifically how one forall works that give us the ability to look at it in this light but it still serves as a great example of how to actually display these Powers it's not just all might who has a history his power has a history this Quirk alone inspires just as much hope as all might himself does throughout the series we get a deep understand understanding of how it works how

it was passed down and the previous users of one for all plus how it ties into deu and this ties into one of the core themes of the series the fact that the previous generation is helping to build up the next generation of Heroes inspiring them with hope so they can Inspire others with hope all might status as a Legend and his loss of his power those all help build up other characters in the series for one there's Endeavor for a while now and currently in the story he's the number one hero so it's also

important to cover him as well because he ties directly into all might but he also does stand as that strongest hero and ever is obviously a very complex character to cover he basically requires his own analysis especially with the sensitive topics surrounding him and how that context applies to his character as I mentioned in the beginning this isn't an in-depth analysis of each character we're looking at specific things about how they're written as the strongest and yes that all does directly tie into his strength and how he mold himself into the number one spot but

I don't want this entire video essay to be about Endeavor he probably deserves his own video so apologies that it's a little bridged here but even with that we could see that his position as the strongest does come with a desire for some sort of change obviously his whole life he's molded himself around being the strongest and trying to get to that spot and he felt like he never could reach it there was just something he wasn't grasping and along the way he did terrible things to try and Achieve that as well as trying to

make the perfect child to accomplish that and the reason I'm covering him here in the context of this video it's all because of how he tries to understand all might later on he was always so focused on physical power but he realizes that there's more to being the number one hero than just physical force and it Sparks a huge change in his character he tries to figure out what his power is actually for what he wants to use it for and especially with the tainted leg behind it how to move forward and Inspire hope like

all might did bakugo sums this up pretty well in chapter 247 when telling Endeavor what he plans to do he noes that raw strength isn't all it takes to be the strongest there's other aspects that come into play rather than just your power and deor himself clearly has come to understand that the work study not only served as an opportunity to have these three students grow but also shows us what Endeavor is doing to grow as he realized what true strength entails as the number one hero he's ranked as the strongest technically and he has

to learn what it means to be number one he chased that spot of being the strongest for so long and now that he has it he realized that he doesn't fully comprehend it learning and growing with it more throughout the story just ASU has to do when he gets one for all he's always admired all might as a fanboy and to an extent he did understand what it means to be a hero especially at that level but both Endeavor and Deco were viewing this from widely different angles and they didn't see the full picture that

all might saw so each in their own ways and from their own unique perspectives they learned what it means to be the number one hero and becoming a symbol of Hope like all might it isn't just them either but these two best exemplify this within the series the title of the strongest is a mantle that can be taken in the series but these characters have to fully learn and understand what it means to be the strongest and even if they do have a flawed perception of it they eventually learned to comprehend it more and grow

from that next on to two other great examples again both from the same series and both contrasting each other Isaac netro and marim from Hunter Hunter I think it's pretty fair to classify them as two sides of the same coin for this archetype netro the head of the hunter association with massive power and marim the king of the Chimera ants born to be the greatest embodiment of power these are two characters who we actually rarely see fight really they only go all out in battles at one time in the story and they both die within

that same Arc and meam exclusively exist within this Arc yet still left a profound impact and fits this archetype at this point in the story I also did have an essay about him you should check it out sorry had to clear my throat anyways Metro was always shown to be a powerful adversary besides his position we see a glimpse of his abilities during the hunter exam despite never seeing him go all out until his death match with meam we still get a sense that he's powerful like the other characters that I've covered in this video

of course we see this to an extent when he's toying with goone during the hunter exam as he tests him but we also get a sense of this just by his presence and demeanor everyone has a great sense of respect for him and they rever him as a master in his field it isn't until the Chimera and Arc that we get to learn more about him getting a look at his past and watching him training decades prior looking at what exactly makes him so great it's a perfect example of show not tell we aren't just

told that Neo devoted a good portion of his life to having his mind spirit and body hone to Perfection we're shown it we shown the painstaking things that he went through for that and how he ultimately improved himself a master of martial arts then mastering the self perfecting the body and mind alongside it he was always built up throughout the story as being one of the strongest people around and it eventually pays off when we get to see his full power against marowan I called each of them two sides of the same coin because that's

what they are they contrast each other netro worked his whole life for his power while marowan was born with it they serve as a dichotomy showing two different Avenues of power which is why I'm covering them in this video maram shows the Raw Talent side of it being born into it while Neo contrasts this gaining his power through painstaking work and focus as for meim he displays a different side of his power too not only is he far above everyone but he acts like it too immediately after his birth he acts at the embodiment of

power and influence his power is the result of thousands of lives being lost to fuel him and he's born only knowing strength and royalty and yet amidst his short life he comes to learn that strength has corrupted him in a way I go more in depth about this in that marim video I'm not shamelessly plugging it because I want you to watch and I'm recommending it because because it gives more context if you want a full breakdown about this in terms of how it relates to this video meam grows bored with his gift he has

so much power and intellect that he can't really do much with it he's just above everybody he only faces his first physical challenge against nro and his first mental challenge against kogi both these forms of his strength are broken down against these opponents and he goes through a rebirth metaphorically and literally realizing that with his power he really had no purpose in life and strength doesn't give someone purpose it's other things that give purpose beforehand he was the king he could have whatever he wanted whenever he wanted he was royalty and the Pinnacle of physical

Force his case is unique starting as the strongest and growing physically stronger too yet rarely displaying his physical power and becoming more human as this happens and he learns that happiness won't come from just being the strongest and being royalty it comes from the little things ironically enough the strength of smaller things is shown when he dies being killed by a disease this once powerful King being brought down by a microscopic entity power and happiness don't come from grandiose things they come from smaller things each of them shows different Avenues of how to attain power

and through meam we see how strength is broken down when writing a character with such strength this is a good way of looking at it showing the faults of it and not just the upsides everyone I've covered so far pretty much embodies that they show the upsides of power but also the downsides of it they understand the responsibilities and the consequences of their power and if they don't understand that they learn to understand it their strength affects their identity and the people around them in such amazing ways they have a presence on screen we actually

feel like they're the strongest and and because of all that now I'm going to cover an example that doesn't really show this at least not in my eyes weirdly enough it's from a character that I actually do like a lot one who's entertaining for me and kind of does embody the same archetype but has a lot of shortcomings when embodying that beerus from Dragon Ball I like beerus I really do but I don't think I'd say he's a good example of this there are some good things about him but none of what I like about

him has to do with his strength and how he's portrayed as this archetype when it comes to him fitting this archetype I think he's an example of how to not write the strongest yes I know technically he's not the strongest character in Dragon Ball but I think he is supposed to fit that archetype really well and clearly since his introduction he was meant to be this goalpost as the strongest for Universe 7 setting up a more expansive story and Multiverse that we see in super and my issue with him isn't his consistency or lack thereof

personally I think his strength is actually relatively consistent because it's so vague rather I'd say the issue for him is the fact that him being strong is never really explored we don't know how he got there we don't see him do much with that strength outside of some scenes of the manga he acts as a goalpost but up until the granola Arc it felt like he didn't do much to push people up to his level after his introduction Goku was meant to be his rival although whis is the one to teach him and beerus just

really sits there yes he at least taught Vegeta and tie to his development somehow but beerus never really feels as involved in the story as he should not that he has to always be doing something and be in every scene because he already pretty much is in every Arc as is in every Arc of super so far he was involved in it somehow some more than others but point is he's always there but we never really feel a connection with his strength we get brief glimp gles of his power but without the substance of the

other characters that I've mentioned before he's just there we're told he's strong we're never shown it and again I like his character I actually like the fact that he's a lazy guy his personality is endearing for me but we never get any insight as to what his relationship is with strength or his ideals about it outside of some vague ideas about what it takes to be a God of destruction in simplest terms for me it feels like beerus' strength isn't actually intertwined with his character he's strong but superficially it feels like his strength is separate

from him what little Nuance is there for him isn't tied to his strength at all and when it comes to others in the series he commentates and observes but rarely from his own perspective for example whenever Goku does something impressive beerus's input is just oh no he's going to surpass me or wow great job there's no Insight beyond the surface level the closest we get is in the granola arc when he has some sort of relationship with his power while teaching Vegeta he has an actual investment in Vegeta's growth and that's great if he was

like this for the entirety of super and not just Battle of Gods in the granola Arc it would be so much better you ever notice how people always call beerus moving goalpost it's an interesting thing to call him I think his power is actually consistent but the notion that he's a goalpost actually feels fitting like he's just a goalpost and a far one of that maybe people feel that way because he's never displaying this power and the series never delves into it he showcases what it's like when a strong character is just a goalpost exactly

what I was saying not to do before and remember with Gojo I said he doesn't just feel like an instawin button beerus literally does that in the moral Arc and by the way the mo Arc is my favorite Arc in super it's actually one of my favorite Dragon Ball arcs in general but beerus does nothing but watch give some unhelpful commentary and then when things actually get bad and thankfully he doesn't do that but what's the point of him being there the entire time and just watching is it really interesting to just have him commentate

everything I don't want him to be involved in the fight that would obviously ruin the tension but he's handled so haphazardly here he acts as that insta win button that I mentioned before it definitely feel like he's intended to fit this archetype and that's what his role feels like but the execution feels so lacking we're totally strong and we kind of see it sometimes but never really in depth the most he does is act as a safety net insurance for the others and undeserved insurance at that Dragon Ball does have a good example of the

strongest archetype though Goku and you could argue that he does serve as that archetype as the strongest of the series but more so for the Z era of Dragon Ball and obviously out of everyone I covered in this video he's the only one who's actually the MC as well besides that brief bit about deu and I know I'm repeating myself a lot but I actually made a video on this topic too I'll also link that above so I won't cover too much about him in depth here because well it's the whole point of that video

that's exactly what I'm trying to convey here H weirdly enough now that I think about it I didn't intend for those videos I mentioned to be connected to this one it just so happens that they are anyways even jiren stands as a good symbol of this in a way which is obviously saying a lot because as you know jiren isn't necessarily the deepest character which I feel does work in his favor and I actually do like how he's written he's kind of a foil of Goku and we get to see the actual relationship with his

strength so even though to some people it might feel like the bare minimum it feels like more than beerus side note I actually really do like jiren as a character as flat as he feels I think he portrays the idea of the strongest better than beerus does because everything I said about beerus jiren actually accomplishes better but back on topic point being in modern Dragon Ball beerus is supposed to be the symbol of that strength and he's a definite constantly present standing for that archetype strength shouldn't be a personality trait that exists in a vacuum

it can be a trait of their personality and sometimes that's amazing but only when it coexists with other aspects of the character as well as the story itself not just an idea that stands on its own without any weight behind it I think that pretty much sums up my thoughts on everything there are so many unique ways to write a strong character and there's so many different angles you could look at it from strength can introduce identity crisis like through Gojo or a character could completely come to terms with their strength understanding exactly what they

want to do with it and having that influence their entire personality like sukuna the strongest archetype could act as a symbol for all other characters inspiring them or even literally passing the strength on as all might does or a character could try and comprehend what it means to be the strongest like Endeavor or deu it's always beneficial to see how a character gets their strength like netro or how there's some negative aspects with it and it's not really too fulfilling like with maroin and at the end of the day it shouldn't just be a trait

that exists without any sort of nuance if a character is just the strongest for no reason and never displays that strength or has no relationship with it in general what's the point of that power in the first place as we saw with beerus I know there were a lot more characters I could have covered like a lot of people suggested benimaru from fire force which I just started so I can't cover that here but now I want to hear from you which character do you think serves this archetype really well and it doesn't have to

be an anime character either it could be anybody someone from a video game a movie a TV show anything and what do you think about the examples I outlined in this video I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts as always thank you all for watching watching and I'll see you on my next video