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[crippled]

PLAYER INFORMATION

Player Name: Cris
Are you 18+?: Yes!
Preferred Contact: boned
Current Characters: N/A

CHARACTER INFORMATION

Character Name: Ivar Ragnarsson
Canon: Vikings
Canonpoint: End of episode 9 of season 5A. (Before engaging Lagertha's troops in the final battle for Kattegat.)
Character Age: 18

Appearance: Ivar will appear as he does in canon as he is already human! Like this.

Background/History: Here!

Strengths: Ivar's most notable strength is his intelligence, which in the show mostly manifests as an impressive mastery of (medieval) battle strategy and tactics, as well as an innate understanding of and knack for interpersonal power-plays. Growing up in a society that he was physically incapable of integrating into trained him to be observant of human behavior, and of the ways it can be purposefully manipulated in order to ensure his survival where physically he might not be able to. He became even better at manipulation after his father made him promise to use being underestimated for his disability to his advantage, something he had previously mostly balked at on account of his pride and desire to be seen as an equal by the people around him.

Ivar is an incredibly determined individual. He is highly motivated and ambitious, and while he will have occasional teenage-appropriate slips of self-pity, he puts most of his not-inconsiderable energy into succeeding despite the way his own society assumes he can't. He learned how to handle weapons and fight (to the point of actively being a good fighter despite his inability to walk) and hunt and do all manner of other things expected of viking men alongside his brothers who can all use their legs, and inserts himself into plenty of physically dangerous situations (including full-scale battles) instead of hanging back if he wants to get something done. He speaks up over people in positions of authority if he's got better ideas than they're bringing to the table, and in general spends most of his screentime clawing his way into power one way or the other.

Ivar is unpredictable. His unique position as one of viking society's very few (to his knowledge, only) cripples allowed to live past infancy (due to his mother's intervention and his family's general affluence so that his condition wasn't an impossible strain on their resources) gives him a perspective that almost no one else can match or has ever considered. He tends to come at problems from an odd angle that gives him an advantage over everyone who thinks more conventionally around him, which he uses to his to gain both social and military advantages over the course of the show.

Weaknesses: For all of his intelligence, Ivar is incredibly mentally and emotionally unstable. When he was growing up, Ivar's mother literally (literally!!!) let him get away with murder, and as a result of both that and of the way he was isolated due to his inability to move around on his own/interact with anyone else in his formative years he basically never developed any social/moral boundaries. He actively lacks empathy and also has some deep, intense anger issues, suffering from something close to rage blackouts when pushed far enough, which is something about himself he once admitted to being troubled by and wanting to change. Unfortunately for literally everyone else, his father's advice on the matter (without anger, you would be nothing) drove him to embrace that flaw rather than work on overcoming or controlling it, even when it began to absolutely consume his life... even when it caused him to snap and murder his own brother Sigurd over an insult to their dead mother, driving a huge wedge between himself and his remaining family.

He is also manipulative to a point that goes far beyond the need to survive and actively impedes his ability to form meaningful bonds with people, even family. In general, he has difficulty treating other people as fellow humans deserving of respect and consideration, because in his experience, no one treats him that way either. To him, nearly everybody is just a plaything, to be maneuvered about on the slightest whim so Ivar can have whatever he wants. Surely, it's only fair!

He has a very real issue with bloodlust, and fascination with pain and death that goes above and beyond even the scope of the notoriously violent Viking culture. When out on the battlefield or put in a situation where there is a lot of blood and death that gets his adrenaline pumping, he has a history of snapping into psychotic frenzies where he claims to be unkillable and doesn't seem to feel either fear or pain. He loves watching people die and becomes unhealthily obsessed with people who are particularly good at killing, to the point that he held an enemy warrior captive and occasionally let him loose around his own men partially because he loved watching him fight so much.

Last but most glaring is Ivar's intense insecurity. Due to the way he grew up and how he was treated by the society around him, Ivar has a bad habit of flying completely and utterly off the handle when his insecurities (generally related to his masculinity or perceived lack thereof due to his disabilities) are brought up and prodded in any way. He is very, very easy to manipulate through his insecurities, whether to drive him to do something stupid in anger/an effort to prove himself or to baffle him with acts of kindness and/or treating him like a person who has things to contribute in general.

Fatal Flaw: Ivar's fatal flaw is his terrible anger. Once he forms a grudge it is almost impossible for him to drop it, even for his own health or safety. He burns with so much hatred all the time that he drives himself mad with it and makes himself miserable, as well as driving away everyone else in his life who is even a smidgen more level-headed than he is.
Driving Force: Ivar is driven by his need to prove himself. In a culture like the Vikings had, this manifests in an ambition to make a name for himself and become famous (famous meaning to become a part of the Sagas, viking legends passed on verbally about great warriors, heroes, villains and gods.) Being born crippled into a society where fierce strength, independence and bravery are valued above all else, Ivar has wanted nothing more all his life to be remembered by history, especially for some reason other than being crippled.

Patron: Jupiter/Zeus. Ivar fits all of the negatives of the Jupiter house (he is impulsive, easily jealous, hypocritical and viciously moody), as well as a positive or two (he's unpredictable, confident in his own abilities and plans, and law-abiding in the sense that Viking law is terribly accepting of his particular brand of violent lashing out.)

GAME INFORMATION

Setting Suitability: Warring is just about the only thing Ivar actively seeks out and enjoys, and even if these gods aren't the ones he knows and trusts... well, a good time is a good time, right? The polytheistic nature of the game will be familiar enough to him as to make him feel right at home, and I'd like to be able to get him to the point of contributing to the efforts tactically and not just physically. While his older brothers still treat him as a kid occasionally, Ivar has been his society's age of majority for years now and generally thinks and acts as an adult in his society. He has participated in war before, as well as sexual situations, so there won't be anything in the game that he hasn't already dealt with in his canon.
Sample: TDM Sample!