Character Icons

An icon is something which is simple and distinctive which represents something larger and more complex. Company logos are, of course, and obvious example. A small, simple picture represents the company, the company's management and the company's brand. See an Apple with a bite taken out of it and you think "iPhone" and "iPod", for example. Steve Jobs, the company's charismatic showman CEO may also spring to mind if you keep up with the IT news.

Icons don't have to be pictures, though. They can use any of the senses. John Williams, a composer, brought into Hollywood movies the operatic traditions of having iconic musical cues to represent characters, places and even concepts. The Star Wars movies, for example, have instantly recognisable tunes and beats for Luke Skywaker, Princess Leia, the Force, Darth Vader and the Emperor, just to name a few. Similarly, four notes is all that's required for anyone to recognise the Indiana Jones march. (Dum de dum dum!)

There are other examples, too. The steady, mechanical breathing of Darth Vader is a powerful icon, as is the crackling breath of a Predator (from the movie of the same name). Indiana Jones' whip, his hat and his silhouette have all been used as icons in those movies. Even the way someone speaks can be a powerful icon, from the insane screeching of Doctor Who's Daleks as they scream "Exterminate!", to the typography of Death's dialogue in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (HE TALKS LIKE THIS).

Icons can be very potent. A couple of notes, a single word or a shadow on a wall can cause your mind to leap ahead, making connections and predictions that tantilise and excite. It's a massive amount of closure compressed down into a single sound, image or phrase. The effect can also be incredibly dramatic. Hear Darth Vader's slow breath or the Predator's purr and you'll tense up expectantly. It's a delicious moment of pure primal emotion brought on by a tiny cue.

Darth Vader's breathing was used to great dramatic effect in the trailers for the Star Wars prequel movies. One such teaser was silent but for that sound - the entire montage of scenes moved only to the slow beat of his breath. A similar dramatic icon was used in the second last episode of the fourth season of the new Doctor Who. With the Earth mysteriously teleported lightyears away by highly advanced technology, a fleet spaceships is then detected which transmits a signal - a message for the human race: "EXTERMINATE!"

Phrases can also work as icons - such as "exterminate" above, although they can also easily go wrong. Without a good reason why the phrase is repeated, it just sounds like a catch phrase - and catch phrases are usually corny ("This looks like a job for..."). Most iconic phrases, then, are used by technological races, machine creatures with whom it feels more natural that they would reuse the same phrase. The borg from Star Trek have "Resistance is futile" - a phrase also an icon for the cybermen from Doctor Who who also have "You will become like us" (which sounds more chilling that it looks when written down, I have to say). More recently the cybermen have picked up the god-awful but still iconic "Delete!".

Icons are a powerful and dramatic tool and, although you certainly can't use music, creating similar icons for characters in stories can be just as engaging, dramatic and memorable. It is used most frequently where such power is needed - on the villains.

Icons for Villains

Think about all of the most memorable and dramatic villains you know of and I'd be willing to bet most have an icon to represent them. It's one of the best ways to make them memorable and dramatic. The Predator, Darth Vader and the Daleks are just a few examples. Battlestar Gallactica's Cylons have their rhythmic whum-whum, the Joker from the Batman comics has his laugh and grin, and the Borg from Star Trek have the red beams of the laser designators they have mounted on their heads.

Some villains collect quite a few icons. The Predator, for example actually has three. Firstly, it has that strange rattling purr which acts as an audible cue (already mentioned). Secondly, it has a triangular laser designator for its gun, which acts almost like a logo for the Predator. And thirdly, it's unique infra-red heat-sensitive vision. Any one of these tell the audience that the alien is about and some serious maiming is about to be unleashed.

Once you have an icon for a villain, it becomes a powerful tool. The right word, image or sound in the right place will then quicken your reader's pulse and give them a pleasurable thrill as they see the edge of something to come. It holds a promise that the story is about to do a right turn and brings a new sense of threat, a shadow of a changing plot. Things are about to go very badly...

Icons as Villains

It's odd but the very, very best villains are those that are just an icon. That is, there is nothing else to them but the symbol. For example, the dark lord Sauron from the Lord of the Rings is represented entirely by a single burning eye - at least in the books. The movies had to have him step out for a cameo near the beginning but movies are a very visual medium so it probably couldn't be helped.

Even more potent as a villain and an icon in Tolkien's famous work is the One Ring. It is an inanimate object and yet, in both the books and the movie, it exudes a tangible malevolence and is, in a very real way, the true villain of the story. Sarah Douglass brought us the terrifying Threshold in the book of the same name - a massive green glass pyramid with a cold presence, a square shadow and as much malevolence as the one ring. Tellingly, once Threshold has done its worst and the true (and non-iconic) villain emerges, the palpable sense of threat in the novel fades noticeably. Only by executing truly terrible deeds does the new antagonist manage to remain a force in the book, something the glass pyramid did just by sitting there.

English comic fantasy author Terry Pratchett also uses inanimate objects as villains to great effect. His villainous line up includes the Glass Clock which literally broke the universe, the Great Pyramid, which did the same but over a smaller area and in a different way, and the insidious gonne, a fantasy version of a six-shot rifle which tempts and corrupts any who hold it.

It is a rule of horror that what you can't see is always more frightening than what you can. A villain which is nothing but its icon, such as Sauron, is more powerful because of it. Villains which are inanimate objects also gain extra power. It lends them an extra edge - they are implacable, uncompromising and cannot be outsmarted or out manoeuvred. They simply function.

"Good Guy" Icons

Strangely, using icons in the same ways for protagonists works less well. This is at least partially because many of them are underdogs. A hint to their presence or arrival only has dramatic power if you believe that it will turn the plot around.

However, if you do have a hero with an almost mythic quality so that his or her presence alone is significant, then an icon can have as much an effect as a similar icon for a villain. The only difference is that the plot is being turned in the opposite direction. Instead of fear, we have hope.

Tarzan is one hero with an excellent icon - audible in this case. In the Disney version of the movie, for example, with the villain victorious, with Tarzan's gorilla family terrified, netted and caged under a sky lit red with flares, the turning point is not Tarzan's arrival but rather his distinctive cry before he arrives. The gorillas look up in hope, the villains look around in fear and somewhere in the heart of all but the most jaded watcher bursts open a tiny little impulse to cheer. In theory.

The Doctor from Doctor Who also has an audible icon which inspires similar hope. More than once, the tide has turned with a brush of wind and the first groaning note of the Doctor's time/space machine (called the TARDIS) fading into existence. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones' distinctive shadow on a wall marks the turning point of a fight early in the movie. In Superman Returns, as a plane falls, burning and out of control, Clark Kent pulls his shirt open to reveal the Superman shield (rather blatant as icons go but still powerful). And, of course, there is the classic wild west bugle call of the cavalry charge, so well known even by people who have never seen a western that it has become an icon for icons.

Character Logos

Since Superman came up, I should add that you don't want to give your character a logo, not unless there's a good in-story reason he'd need it. The Riddler from Batman has a logo - a question mark - and it looks pretentious, silly and has relegated poor Mr Nigma to being considered a second string villain in the Batman rouges gallery. Zorro's sword slashes in the shape of a "Z" are similarly egotistical but scrape through by being part of a light action adventure story. Batman's symbol, however, is explicitly used to strike fear into the hearts of criminals and, having a clear and logical purpose in the story, passes muster easily.

The bat symbol is also not overused. Yes, it's visible much of the time, but people don't call attention to it on a regular basis. With Superman's shield, however, we are reminded constantly how powerful a symbol it is for Truth, Justice and All That Stuff. Even the way Superman pulls his shirt apart is designed to push the logo into our faces with all the subtlety of a speeding locomotive.

Character logos do have occasional uses but an icon which is not a logo is nearly always more powerful and effective.