Reincarnations

[Thalia]

Oooh, I love discussing character mechanics!

I think making a reborn god is a different process (it was for me, anyway) because there isn't the same expectation. Gods are open to wide interpretation, particularly the ones with scarce detail (Lethe is a river for instance). If someone else were to write Odin, they would probably end up with a totally different character - for me I focused on Odin the wanderer/manipulator. The key influence for Soren's character was the question of how it would affect someone's attitude if they knew how they were going to die. Someone else might have a completely different angle or spin they wanted to put on things. It would be a different kind of Odin, but it'd still be Odin.

Recreating old characters, on the other hand, comes with baggage and expectations and is harder to navigate because not everything translates or works in the new setting. At least if you want to write the same character rather than take the bare bones and run with it to make something new.

For Natalie I DID want to write the same character, so I did try to recreate things that would have the same or similar shaping impact on who she is. For things that didn't translate, like the institution of the White Tower, which is an enormous factor, I looked at its impact and how other events and influences might achieve the same or similar result -- or how future events might provide the catalyst. So for example Natalie doesn't have a dead brother, but Azu's death was intended to have a similar impact on her. The reason she belongs to a wealthy family this time rather than a destitute one is because of the constrictions and responsibilities it puts on her life - she needs something to rebel against, but also something to feel dutifully loyal to. In the absence of the WT her family are going to have to provide some of the same pressures. That's also why I've forced her to register; to reduce the choices she feels she is able to make about her own life.

It isn't the same story, but it has the same sorts of influences. They are both restless characters in seeming positions of privilege. They both have self-destructive tendencies in a quest to find meaning. They both have reasons to feel acutely trapped. The details don't matter, but the core conflict is the same. For me that's the point of reincarnating the character as opposed to creating someone new who has the same personality.

So I'd say a lot of the things I've used to shape Natalie beyond the core of who she is aren't genetics, childhood or soul - they are echoes of Nythadri's character arc. Without the things that shape us we're vastly different people. Nature v nurture and all that. Without those things she'd still be the same "soul" but she'd be a vastly different person, and that's not personally what I want to write for her.

I know you don't want to write the same story. But. Have you considered that Jai and Jay are simply at different points of their character arcs? Nothing changed for Jai until he was discovered as a channeler - and Jay is only just at that point.

I wonder if the "issue" is that Jai had a core conflict that Jay hasn't. Growing up Jai wanted to the join the Tower Guard, marry Jaslene and live a "normal" life - but being an Asha'man, seeing what he saw and doing what he did, made that completely incongruous with who he was forced to be. Worse, he knew he liked the killing -- or at least wielding saidin -- and that messed with his idea of being a good person (which he didn't believe he was). WORSE, generations of his family forsook duty for love, and Jai was predisposed to the same attitude - but the consequences for him if he did were so much worse, and the consequences if he didn't weren't pleasant either. He was constantly pulled in two directions. Conflict. Inescapable conflict.

Seriously, you excel at making your characters' lives sucky, and doing it in an intricate and downright heartbreaking way. So far Jay has had an easy ride, and maybe that's the problem?

So my advice would be to inject some internal conflict. Take away one of Jay's dreams. Make whatever future life he sees for himself impossible without sacrifice, and let him angst over it. Or whatever else you can think of.

This may or may not be a helpful suggestion, but have you thought about giving him PTSD? He was discharged for saving a child - now he's witnessed (and was complicit in) the murder of a whole village of children. He couldn't stop it. That's gotta mess with the brain, and it's not going to be a great combination with a channeler. When Jai couldn't control himself he had Daryen to reign him in. Jay doesn't have that safety net. What will happen when he realises how terribly destructive saidin can be? The precarious balance between crazy and sane was also pretty intrinsic to the old Jai, which I know was the taint, but I'd argue that being susceptible to instability was also part of his "soul" rather than just a reaction to the taint, and that other pressures might cause the same reaction. Partly because there were other Asha'man at that time unaffected. Partly because it was an aspect of his character I enjoyed reading

I think really though it comes down to what sort of character you want Jay to be. What was it about Jai you enjoyed writing enough to bring him back specifically, rather than a character like him? What exactly makes you feel you're struggling with Jay? I'm guessing you feel something is either missing or off if you've posed this question, because you said it yourself: Jay is Jai, just without the same experiences that specifically shaped the previous version of him.