Character Theme Music

 I solve this puzzle, but tumble through Hell

These words are fractions when I needed primes

Curses, these verses are my prison cell

I try to pick a theme song for every character. A lot of people do this, apparently, some even putting together entire playlists.  It isn't always easy. Music conveys emotion, tone and feel in a way nothing else can. I don't consider this a vital part of creating a character, but you can get a ton of information across in a very short amount of time with music. It's not as though you're making a permanent choice, either: If the song no longer fits...just pick a new one. Do a new theme for every era of your character. That's the beauty of a purely aesthetic choice. 

There's something to be said of picking a direct analogy in lyrics or song meaning. Being blunt is especially fun for characters who are supposed to be direct, blunt, or easy to read. You can choose a song for a lot of other reasons, though. Maybe you want the song to hint at their true nature, something they hide from everyone else. Maybe you have a feel for the genre of the character and want to pick the best candidate for conveying that. 

Really, the only solid advice I can give you is that this is a powerful tool. You can use this to convey your character's tone, or some kind of aesthetic. Or, you can reverse this and just pick off vibes then think about the exact reasons of why you think it fits. Maybe you'll learn something about your character. I know it's helped me. 

This whole post was probably just a preface to going over my own characters and talking about their themes. It's fine, it's my blog and I really wanted to do that. I should note that some of these characters have had different themes in the past, and that's okay. Characters change over time, just like people do. 

Oh, and in the spirit of keeping this post from being a dead link nightmare, I'm relying on you to just search the songs I'm talking about. It can't be that hard. 

Inkless

They Might be Giants - Road Movie to Berlin

Time won't find the lost, it'll sweep up our skeleton bones

Inkless had an entire soundtrack at one point, full of 80s pop and punk music. That music still definitely fits her: it's in her nature to be anti-establishment, even rowdy. Since the soundtrack is gone, I thought I'd be extra unhelpful and choose a song that wasn't even on it to convey something a bit different about her. 

So this song is explicitly about the Berlin wall, written during a time that it was "obvious" that the wall would be there forever. It's also sort of about the cold war and the looming threat of nuclear destruction, at least in feel. That's not how I always saw the song, though. 

It's a bar song that never really starts or ends. It's always felt to me like yet another stop on an endless road trip: a long, solemn drive home that never really ends. In a way, that matches Inkless's life. Never literally alone, but neither having anyone she can relate to. Leaving "home", but not feeling like she found a new one yet. Spiritually (and sometimes literally), always on the road.

Pink Annis

The Crane Wives - Tongues and Teeth

I've grown a mouth so sharp and cruel, it's all that I can give to you, my dear

Tongues and Teeth is a song about resenting your partner for staying with you and wanting to help(or 'fix') you. It has themes of feeling that you're is too toxic, mean or even broken to help. They're telling their lover to quit before it escalates: because it will escalate. For Pink, the song is about her and humanity: the unshakeable notion that she's too strange and monstrous to fit in, even if she has no problem looking the part. She doesn't think human society is something meant for her, or even something she could fit into if she tried. 

Pink would probably tell you she's a punk. However, the Crane Wives playing with acoustic instruments and even a banjo on this track probably fits her better than she'd admit. She's not (exactly) an anachronism, but definitely something older than she appears, or even older than she thinks she is. The song's mixture of anger and passion with smooth, acoustic music fits her well.

Shivani Sedana

Ghost - Spillways

You keep a casket, deep within

You try to mask it, but fall back in sin

Spillways is about bottling up your pain ultimately just making your problems worse. The song presents the idea that the only way you're going to feel(or be) better is pulling your darkness up to the surface and embracing it. 

A gothic sound that isn't especially sad or gloomy is perfect for Shivani, so Ghost's cool, smooth goth metal fits particularly well. In addition to that, the song's message about true nature might be something she needs to hear. In a lot of ways, Shivani is hanging on to the past and even an identity that no longer fits her. She'll probably always struggle with cyberpsychosis, but pushing her feelings aside and trying to ignore the problem is never going to help.

Aikiyo the Mockery

Wagakki Band - Ikusa

I never lost a beat

since that windswept day

Wagakki Band mixes traditional Japanese instruments with modern ones, so immediately I knew that's what I wanted for Aikiyo. What stands out to me is the music combining the sounds of electric guitar and heavy metal drums with shakuhashi (bamboo flute) and koto (plucked zither). This perfectly describes Aikiyo, because she's a mechanical martial artist, a construct who studies swordplay exclusively. She lives in two different worlds simply by existing.

I'm not gonna go on and on about the lyrics or the meaning, because I could be pretty far off from what it actually means. Real Japanese to English lyric translations are very hard to find. I will say the lyrics I did find reminded me strongly of a duel, of two people meeting on a battlefield. They remind me of the kind of battlefield honor that Aikiyo feels is important, but tries to hide. 

[~=~=~]

I could be wrong on what all these songs mean, so cut me some slack. Of course, it doesn't even matter that much if I am. We're doing this to convey vibes, ultimately. I'm sure I've made it inside the ballpark, and nitpicking specific meanings or themes would probably be disingenuous. I might do another one of these where I pick themes for characters who never had them, or even themes for other people's characters. That might be nice, and even slightly less indulgent than this was.