The issue of Original Characters

It’s been a while since I’ve done a ‘back to basics’ post, so we’re taking a break from the usual projects-and-research content and taking a turn for the nitty-gritty. The vexing issue this week is that of the ‘OC’, or ‘Original Character’ (differentiated from a recognizable ‘Face Character’). Stick around at the end for a list of character ideas to take your OC to the next level!

After hanging around a popular SW cosplay facebook group for the last few years, I have noticed a pattern that my historical-authenticity-focused mind finds quite aggravating:

EVERYONE wants to be The Special. If folks aren’t dressing up as main characters like Han, Leia, Luke, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Vader, or Boba Fett (to say nothing of Sequel Trilogy face-characters), then they’re most often announcing, asking for advice, or showing off their OC.

Now, please don’t get me wrong: I am—at least in theory—fully in favor of people using the concept of the Original Character to inhabit the galactic setting – and it’s a big galaxy, after all! However, when it comes to the execution of this concept, most cosplayers seem to use the OC as an excuse to mash a few high-profile (and therefore galactically-Elite) labels together. As a result, this cosplay group is full of Original Sith Lords, Original (i.e. diverging from the established aesthetic) Jedi, Custom Mandalorians, Mandalorian Jedi, Smuggler Jedi Rebels, Sith Mandalorians, Rebel Commando Bounty Hunters……the list goes on and on.
(Surprisingly, rank-and-file Imperial grunts are fairly rare in these groups; while I see many folks who want to ‘armor up’, it’s usually in regard to building elite varieties of bucketheads (Mandos, ARCs, Clone Commandos, Imperial shadow scouts, Galactic Senate guards, Jedi-fighting Purge troopers, etc). Rebel soldiers are similarly uncommon; when they do show up it’s often along the lines of “So I am doing my own kind of rebel pilot character for my starwars cosplay it will be something different but awesome.”

Now, as I’ve said, the Galaxy Far, Far Away is a BIG place. Of its one hundred quadrillion sentient beings (The Essential Atlas, p8), I don’t know how many would be considered citizens of the Galactic Empire, but I can bet that most of them are regular civilians—and not Jedi, Sith, bounty hunters, assassins, supercommandos, mercenaries, or other varieties of ‘trooper’.

More perplexing than the standard OC cosplayer are those who take the next step, and saddle their OC with a personal backstory. Again, I am fully in favor of creating a detailed background for one’s impression—it’s what good historic interpreters do, after all. However, these backstories almost inevitably are of such super-specialness as to be on par with foreground heroic protagonists, and as a result, most OC personas read more like fanfic characters than inhabitants of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. For example:

“My OC is a Force-sensitive Quarren bounty hunter named Jerresk who has a run-in with Count Dooku during the Clone Wars and becomes his secret Sith apprentice. Dooku gives him two lightsabers from fallen Jedi, and some Sith artifacts from the tomb of Marka Ragnos to make him even more powerful. After Dooku is killed and the war ends, Jerresk joins Palpatine’s new Empire as an Imperial Inquisitor to add more trophy lightsabers to his belt. When he tires of hunting down surviving Jedi, he retires to Alderaan where he becomes an elite bodyguard for the royal house.”

Oftentimes, when given constructive criticism pointing out how unrealistic (and disregarding of in-universe continuity) such backstories are, the OC cosplayer will acknowledge by saying something like “I know this wouldn’t normally happen, but that makes their story more interesting!” Perhaps, but it also makes it more inauthentic! ‘Keep it common’ is the watchword of good reenacting and living history for a reason: “Heroes are exceptional in the galaxy. Most inhabitants go about their daily routine of work and home life, rarely leaving their locality; some don’t even leave their homeworlds during their entire lifetimes” (Galactic Campaign Guide, 88).

While it’s always preferable to see folks take a step in the right direction by resisting the temptation to create yet another Han Solo or Darth Vader costume…for the purposes of Star Wars reenacting and living history, if you actually want to authentically immerse yourself in the Galaxy Far, Far Away, it requires not only a fair amount of research, but also taking the ego and wish-fulfillment down a few notches, and portraying a common citizen of the Galaxy.

After all, “…there’s an important role to be played in the galaxy far, far away by regular folks who get by without the help of mysterious powers. Not just because those characters bring their own set of skills to the table, but because they are the characters it’s often easier for us to relate to. … It’s fun to imagine oneself having Force powers and being a Jedi Knight (or a Sith), but odds are that we’d be more like one of these folks, just doing our best to survive and fight for what we believe is right.” (Jennifer Heddle, Nov 1 2013)

Author Drew Karpyshyn “enjoyed the chance to step away from the Sith when writing The Old Republic: Annihilation, which features Theron Shan, a spy protagonist with no Force sensitivity. Karpyshyn noted that what’s great about the Star Wars universe is there are so many different kinds of characters to play with”… and yet so many cosplayers and costumers choose to walk the same old worn-out ruts.

Since there’s more to life than fighting, and the GFFA is not populated solely by beings from the unrealistically-over-represented-in-cosplay ‘player classes’ mentioned earlier, to better inform your original characters and impressions, consider something from this list, which I’ve compiled from various RPG materials. I’ve also tried to include a few ‘interpretation’ seeds to get you thinking about what you can really ‘do’ with such a persona.

-arms merchant (what would be their view on selling blasters to rebel cells under Imperial rule?—good business, or too risky?)

-big game hunter (teach and practice some tracking skills, translate real-world hunting stories into the GFFA setting, or show off some of your exotic trophies)

-demolitions expert—teach new rebel ‘recruits’ how to make improvised explosives! (Kidding, I think 😉 There’s basic chemistry or physics lessons in there, at the least.

-diplomat/consular – foreign relations and treaty-writing

-Holonet journalist (travel with a camera droid and interview folks about hotbutton issues: “destruction of Alderaan – mining disaster or genocide?”
“Sun Crusher: superweapon or useful tool for clearing hyperlanes?”, etc.

-Information broker—play both sides against each other for profit!

-ISB Investigator (the ISB is somewhat akin to the FBI; interpret something like The Infiltrator about taking down a organized spice-smuggling ring?)

-Mechanic—Earlier this year I saw an F-100 jet engine on display at an airshow, and realized it was essentially the same thing that propels an LAAT gunship. Real world interpretation seed! After all, the frontline soldier or pilot everyone thinks of first is useless without the real army of behind-the-lines technicians and support staff to maintain equipment. Alternatively, consider an outlaw tech in an Outer Rim ‘chop shop’.

-professional speeder bike or swoop racer

-propagandist or demagogue—a persona which could be for Imperial or Rebel control!

-generic Spacer or pilot – use some details from the X-Wing flight sims and books, or study up on historic dogfighting narratives, and translate to GFFA.

-scrapper/shipbreaker (Fallen Order’s introductory level got me thinking about this occupation)

-slicer—personal data security

-‘Spirit adept’—local, primitive, and feral Force sensitives; perfect for interpreting animistic traditions on a backwater world away from the hyperlanes, by avoiding a high-profile Jedi persona.

-spy/agent/operative—there’s a good ‘behind enemy lines’ story to be told here.

-vagabond—the GFFA equivalent of the Appalachian Trail has to exist… what would a galactic leather tramp or professional backpacker look like? What about an Instagram-style ‘influencer’ on the Holonet?

Hopefully these suggestions have given you a better idea of the diversity of possible personas that exist in the Galaxy, which you can use to integrate into a more-authentic Original Character. Is there something I should’ve included in my list? Share your ideas in the comments below, or join the conversation on the SWLH facebook group. If you already have an OC, and need some ideas to make your ‘outer persona’ better reflect the GFFA ‘look’, take a look at the Galactic Style Guide series!

Researching, compiling, and writing this site takes a lot of time and energy. If you’ve enjoyed reading, have learned something from this post, or will use it as inspiration for a future OC, please consider supporting my work with a small donation below! Thank you!