Gwendolyn

Appearance

Gwendolyn is an absolutely beautiful woman. Just an inch or so under 6 foot with glowing olive skin, she's a belle who's looks are cultivated not only through blessed genes, but also her electrifying confidence. Gwen's hourglass figure gives her a defined chest (C-cup), curvy hips, and lovely legs. She has a nike swoop shaped scar on her ass, which isn't really a secret to anyone and really drives home the message of "just do it". Moreover, her body is toned and well-built, betraying her strength and athleticism, and yes, she does flex. She has soft black hair, parted on her right side. Most of it is long enough to reach a bit beyond her shoulders, but she does have some baby hairs that give her an overall messy look. Her alluring green eyes poke out of her cascading bangs. She has a pointed nose and a sultry smile and its not uncommon for her to wear a blush for one reason or another. And I put a lot of emphasis on how attractive she is, not just because it is most notable, but because she's royalty. Her looks are what everyone values most about her, including herself, and it is unarguably her most important characteristic

Of course, Gwen does sometimes wear clothes. Her most common outfit is her plate armor, or you know, her "plate" ""armor."" My nerdy friend has already informed me that her armor is neither accurate nor effective, but tell she doesn't look good in it, alright? Canonically, Gwen's armor is more decorative than functional. It's fancy royal plating to display her wealth, power, and nobility as both a princess/queen and a knight and to make the girlies swoon. Were she actually to be in combat she'd probably wear something different with less skin showing, but I really like the design so it's what I draw most often. Now watch as I look up a lot of terminology to describe its appearance. There are not a lot of good examples of female armor, especially if you're looking for a specific culture, and of what exists, a lot of it is either boob armor, which is bad, or male armor, which looks uncomfortable for busty women. Gwen's breastplate is modified from this armor that I can't seem to find the origins of after a few years. The curve is adjusted to accommodate her chest and simplified to make it easier to draw. The bottom is leather with two additional plates. She wears a pair of three pauldrons with etching on the edges upon her shoulders, connected to her first rerebraces. Her second rerebraces resemble bangle bracelets and are not connected to the pauldrons. She also wears gauntlets, but really only sometimes. Gwen also wears two sets of three tassets with the same etching as her pauldrons, connected by a decorative belt. The black leather belt's buckle is a ring with an inverted triangle, from which three ribbons of silk with black and white designs are affixed. From there she wears a pretty standard cuisses, greaves, and sabatons. Her poleyns originally had a more traditional design but have become more simplified and circular.

Moreover, Gwen's standard weapons are her sword and her bow. The sword is an 3' 6" English longsword with a hexagonal cross-section, a black and white spiral grip, and a white triangle pommel. The white crossguards aren't horizontal, instead jutting out a bit at a 45 degree angle with the rain guard being a black triangle. Her bow is a simplistic, entirely black recurve bow. Gwen's insignia is a black inverted triangle with a white labrys. It's based on the lesbian pride flag by Sean Campbell, of which I'm a big fan, and wasn't meant to be any more than a joke about her sexuality. It has since become a more significant symbol. The motif that can be seen all over: her breastplate, her rerebraces, her belt, three pauldrons, three tassets, three pieces of fabric with a black and white pattern, black and white sword with two more triangles, black bow, etc. This is in contrast to the current sovereign, Gwen's mother, whose emblem is a dark green diamond.

Being a noble, Gwen is trained in all manors of elegance. She's no stranger to elaborate gowns for dinner parties, regalia for important events, tuxedos for formal affairs, and so on. But Gwen is costumed for those things really. Her servants pick the appropriate ensemble and put her together. Independently, she comes up with much different outfits. She walks the spectrum from high femme in a cocktail dress to stone butch in a masculine shirt and britches. Her fashion sense is definitely a bit out there at times, but she always sells it with confidence and opulence. She likes to lean towards more feminine things: sundresses, cute shoes, nice makeup, expensive jewelry, and so on. That being said, as much fun as Gwen has dressing up, her lifestyle tends to leave her looking a bit... trashy? Before the end of the night, before noon really, she's might smug her makeup, lose some articles of clothing, get her hair a bit messed you. You know, have some fun and come out of it a bid disheveled, not that she really minds. If Gwen is aware of how inelegant she looks, she's either used to it or never cared to begin with. She's here for a good time, not a long time and she can buy back whatever she loses

The only other outfit of Gwen's with a specific design is her wedding dress. And yeah, I am putting this here just because I wanna talk about dresses; now watch as I look up a lot of terminology to describe its appearance. Gwen's wedding really came as a surprise to her and many others, so she wasn't able to participate in dressing shopping very much. Thankfully, her mother was there to make the decision and she picked out a modest crepe ballgown for her to wear. The dress humbly hugs her torso with a tiered, ballet veil and a chapel train. A silk shawl wraps around her shoulders to cover her chest and a silk waistband adorns her midsection, displaying a diamond shape. In fact, diamonds are a reoccurring design in this ensemble. Gwen wears a princess necklace decorated with diamond cut gemstones that seems to hang heavy from her neck. She dons her royal tiara, paired with diamond earrings and cuff bracelets with two points resembling, you guessed in, a diamond. And of course, we can't forget Gwen's wedding bouquet. The arrangement is composed of tulips, purple for royalty and yellow, which used to represent hopeless love, but now symbolizes cheerfulness and sunshine!

Voice

Gwen has a high girly voice, measuring in at a mezzo-soprano. Her voice is animated and goofy, but with enough filler words and pauses to undermine whatever she says. She certainly sounds cheery and upbeat, very happy to speak with you! But also like she's not quite there and keeping up with things. She tends to descend into giggles whether or not there is something to laugh at. And I don't just mean when she's drunk. Even when she's sober, in casual environments Gwen is just kind of bubbly ditz. That being said, she can put on her Princess Voice when she needs to. Proper diction and pronunciation with the slightly posh accent and the royal we. Gwen is almost able to fill her role when she needs to. She falls just a bit short but no one besides the high nobles know enough to really tell. It totally works on cute peasant girls though.

Personality

On first impressions, Gwen does not appear to be a very deep or interesting character and for the most part, that's because she isn't. Gwen is really a very simple person with very simple interests. She's spends her time seeking out quick immediate forms of gratification, expending her nearly infinite resources. She avoids serious situations and the burden of responsibility. Even if she promises to do something and fails, she can usually just throw money at it. She's out for cheap thrills and little more. And that's necessarily a bad thing. I've often said that if you have the luxury of living life easier in some way, then let yourself do so. A lack of ambition is considered a fault by some maybe, but Gwen can support her lifestyle and lives the way she wants to. If Gwen doesn't want to and doesn't have to work, then why should she? Sure, her choice in hobbies may be a bit hedonistic for my taste, but so long as she's safe and content with her choices, who am I to judge? Gwen lives with a kind of kind of freedom that many people will never experience and she uses to for purposes different than many claim they would use it for, but its her life; she's the one who has to live it, so let her do so however she chooses. Moreover, while Gwen may be very indulgent, she doesn't do any real harm. She's respectful of other people and their property. She never pressures anyone or pushes their boundaries. In fact, she'll defend their comfort if need be. She knowingly overpays for just about everything and often goes out of her way to help people, results notwithstanding. She is genuinely concerned for the well being of others. She's not at a point where she can take care of herself, let alone anyone else, but she does she can when she's able no matter how small.

One way or another, Gwen does livens up the places she visits. She's infectiously upbeat, her antics are amusing, and her confidence is attractive. People don't assume much of her, but it's hard to really dislike her either. And that is actually purposeful. Gwen is far from a functional person, but one of the things she can reliably do, is charm and inspire. I mean sure, she's pitiful and hopeless, but isn't she also kind of alluring? Doesn't she just captivate you in a way? Even in a stupor, she gives off this glamorous energy of someone who's lived a life you can't but is allowing you a tiny window into their world. When her smile fades and she deigns to look at you, can't you see such a deep, spiritual soul hiding in there? And when she stands in her armor and draws her sword, doesn't she look so determined, so fearless exalted in the sun? Everyone who's interacted with Gwen has had the same moment, where they wonder if underneath all the alcohol there's an intelligent, sensitive woman who's only revealing herself to you. And before you know it, you've excused anything she's done and provided her with whatever she needs. Gwen is physically attractive, yes, but what she is more than anything is a brilliant, artful manipulator. Her charisma is a powerful force. It's a developed and practiced skill that she's relied on to survive for her entire life. Persuasion, seduction, intimidation, acting, diplomacy, deception, the best way for her to handle any situation is to put on her bright eyes and talk as best she can. Often times she comes at the expense of her developing other skills, but its effective all the same.

Gwen is a goof, but she does have her assets. Those muscles aren't just for show. She's in shape and while she did skip over a lot of her classes, she is still a trained knight. She's dangerous with sword in hand and even if she's not as good while tipsy, she's not useless either. Her bigger advantage comes from less intricate forms of fighting like unarmed and archery. And say what you will, but Gwen will rush into danger for the sake of someone else. With a background like hers, she's really set up to have an ego, but Gwen doesn't think much of herself. Somethings she can do right. She knows she's pretty, but most things she's not so confident in. And without looking into the unhealthy ways in which that manifests, modesty is a good look on her. She's a selfless person who couldn't hold a grudge against someone if she tried. Beyond the occasions in which she needs something, she's a very honest. Even then, a part of her just enjoys making people feel special. She's definitely on the affectionate side. She works well in a team. She's loyal to a fault. She's energetic and creative and hopeful and merciful. She makes no effort to conceal her motivations and actions. She just is who she is. After all, too many people have seen her ass for her to feel any kind of shame of herself. She has nothing left but so be her authentic, true self.

Of course, none of that is to say that Gwen is secretly a very virtuous person. People's impression of Gwen is not completely baseless. A part of her party girl identity is a fabrication, but part of it isn't. She more often drunk than sober. She's co-dependent and attention-seeking. Her self-esteem is sitting on the ground. She's a dysfunctional maladapted person, a victim of trauma, abuse, and crushing expectations that she could never had fulfilled. And yet an equal amount of Gwen's problems are self-created. It's not as if Gwen is unaware of her problems. Being the kingdom drunk makes it hard to maintain any kind of denial, but she's just never been the type to face her problems head on. She doesn't run away so much as slowly back away uncomfortably, but either way she's not dealing with things. Gwen certainly pigeonholed into the role she now occupies, but she also decided to lean into it after a certain point. She caves to peer pressure for social acceptance. She purposefully plays into people's perceptions of her. She demeans herself for attention yet puts up barriers between herself and others. She's self-sabotaging and so on and so forth. She has her problems, but she really just not at the point where she's ready to work on any of it.

Gwen is not a misunderstood intellectual. She's not a free spirit spreading her wings. She's not an innocent golden-hearted child. She's not a tragic victim of fate nor a lost cause without hope of getting better. She's not that simple or romantic or poetic. She's just a person. And that's kind of the thing. From the day she was born, Gwen had the whole world watching her. She was a princess, next in line for the thrown, and necessary to keep the royal lineage going. She's a knight, a hero, an adventurer. She's a known drunken slut. She's famous in all the best and worst ways. She tries to be want people want from her, because she knows that's the only things anyone will ever see her as. And she's right. No one cares about Gwen as a person. They could, but they don't. They only care about her as a figure and she can't even really blame them for that because that's just what people do to celebrities. But the reality is that Gwen isn't that special. She's not not special. She has internal worth and she's an interesting person just like anyone, but she's not any of the things people make her out to be. She's just a woman who's kind of going through some stuff right now. It's not pretty, but its also nothing more than that. She'll get better in time. Or she won't. Either way, she just is who she is and she goes on living that way.

Hobbies

Going out is what Gwen's spends most of her time doing. She's an extrovert through and through and she gets bored staying at home. She frequents local bars, parties, queer spaces, and so on. She likes to drink, but you knew that. She's not really a connoisseur of alcohol per say, but she's a decent mixologist and great at drinking games if that counts for anything. While she may not be so disciplined to consistently practice something, she does brush up on her combat training then and again. Although, sometimes that just means firing arrow trick shots. Like most people in her time, Gwen is familiar with hunting in the summer and ice skating in the winter. She's also supposed to know how to blacksmith, which she does, but its not really her cup of tea. Aside from those, Gwen participates in a few sports including gameball (football), jousting, and shinty (hockey). She usually has to play with other nobles which leads to all sorts of weird power dynamics inside the team and out, but it keeps her active. She's also very into the entertainers frequently brought in. She's seen all kinds of stuff like musicians, plays, acrobats, animal trainers, dancers, puppeteers and so on. She thinks very highly of them and makes sure to show her appreciation. She's tried once or twice to learn things from the performers, but she usually ends up sleeping with them so it doesn't work out. At times, Gwen has to spend a lot of time by her self in her room. She's taken to keeping a journal. It helps her work out her frustrations. Lastly, bean roasting isn't a very developed hobby in the medieval era, but if she had access to it, I imagine Gwen would have a lot of Opinions on coffee.

Backstory

Princess Gwendolyn Lilian Aezalea la Victora III was the firstborn and only child of Queen Victoria and her husband, Aldrich. Her ancestry is long, with a fairly direct line of succession that has kept the throne within the first family or the second family if need be. However, it is implied that the line has come to a stand still of late as there have been less and less descendants. Whether this is because of a sickness, infertility, or this culture's practice of having less children in noble houses to maintain such a direct line of succession is unclear. In any ever, the result has left Gwen as one of, if not the only viable candidate to take the throne and produce an heir. After all, the only reason someone would pick Gwen for a position she's so very unqualified for and uninterested in would be if there weren't many other options.

Nevertheless, Gwen grew up as any heir apparent would. Most of the time she lived in the royal castle, but was often away from home in various places around the world. She was largely kept out of the public eye and reared by nurses and nannies. She was privately educated in matters befitting her future role: military tactics, political science, economics, history, geography, etiquette, etc. She was almost exclusively surrounded by either nobles or servants. And she was immediately aware of the circumstances of her birth and the expectations that came with it. Overall, it wasn't exactly a bad way to grow up. She certainly never had to worry about food or shelter, but it was perhaps not the most carefree childhood either. Initially, Gwen was a loud and energetic child, full of wonder and affection. Yet in time, she was quickly curbed to be more appropriately restrained and obedient with the expectation that it would grant her attention. Unfortunately, even with her more mild mannerisms, she wasn't often with her parents and when together, they were cold and inattentive. Alternatively, Gwen latched onto her nursery staff who, while caring and supportive, proved to be temporary. This left her without a consistent caring adult in her life, an experience in which she is always eager to try and correct one way or another. It's also been mentioned that she was sexually assaulted at some point as a child.

After some time, the pressure of her heritage had grown heavy on her. After her attempts to follow the rules and prioritize her studies failed to grant her the approval she so desperately wanted, Gwen instead grew lax and despondent. It was apparent she had no talent in academics, which didn't combine well with the strict nature of her tutors, such to the point that failure because inevitable outcomes with no hope of avoiding. Moreover, Gwen had made a habits of abandoning her keepers in favor of finding something more fun to do, usually hanging out with her friends. Gwen was extremely extroverted, even in youth. She seemed to aim to interact with as many people as possible and was well known in the places she lived. She discovered she was attracted to girls very early on and has had little reservation or subtly about her sexuality since. This wasn't a problem per say as Gwen's culture doesn't have many misgivings about sexual orientation. However, it does have some very serious ideas on childbirth, especially nobles, especially Gwen's parents, and especially since she's set to be Queen. Gwen has about zero interest in getting pregnant. No actually, she has -100 interest in it, but she still spent some time trying to push the idea that, despite her blatant interest in women, she was at least interested in men as well. She went so far as to have multiple beards, usually guards because most of the guards were gay and most of them liked her. In addition to skipping her studies and sneaking out, Gwen also started experimenting with alcohol. Her first time trying it came at the behest of a girl she was trying to impress. From there, the feeling of relaxation and, more importantly, social acceptance lead to her return to bars and parties more often in the future.

Needless to say, this didn't exactly thrill her parents. Her handlers tried their best to get control over her but the harder they tried, the better she got at evading. After a while, her parents had to interfere directly and Gwen had a harder time trying to defy them. The solution the three of them arrived at was to send Gwen away for her studies. Gwen insisted on joining a knight's academy. She thought this would impress them and hadn't many other things to do. Her parents were apathetic towards the idea. It was obvious that Gwen had no intrinsic interest in becoming a knight nor was she likely to succeed in such a setting. But by this point, the two of them had already lowered their expectations for Gwendolyn a great deal. They didn't really care what she did and seemed like it would at least keep her out of site for a while. Gwen was ecstatic to have their permission. She entered the academy with the high hope of proving herself capable and gifted in this new environment. This idea did not last.

Everyone of Gwen's tendencies worsen in colleg-I mean Knight's Academy. It was really just more of the same, but with two new changes. Now that she was away from home without supervision, Gwen discovered the interesting lack of consequences she seemed to face. Despite her clear disrespect for rules and regulations, everyone was hesitant to punish her for wrong doing. They really just let her get away with anything. Of course, Gwen's parents had no qualms about throwing the book at Gwen, but who wanted to test the integrity of the King and Queen? Not to mention, Gwen certainly did her part to threaten having "mommy and daddy" coming down to discuss things. Gwen's other uncovering was the ease in which she could influence people to get what she wanted. All the time she spent with nobles and servants gifted her some excellent interpersonal skills. Whether it was leading her classmates to go on beer raids, convincing administrators she was doing them a favor but getting off scot free, or putting on her puppy dog eyes to lie to her parents, Gwen opened up a whole new world. And it was by these two forces, her privilege and her manipulation that Gwen not only avoiding flunking out of school, but flourished, at least in a way. She may not have learned much of anything or earned her graduation in the traditional sense, but she did develop an effective way for her to succeed.

After being knighted, Gwen found home uninviting. It was well established that Gwen was not the kind of person her parents wanted her to be and there was no hope of fixing her. They're disapproval was unambiguous, even if it wasn't explicit. By this point, they resigned to trying to keep her locked up as long as she would stay put just to keep her out of the way. But Gwen always got out and made a mess of herself. Eventually, she just wandered away from home before they could get her back. Her parents didn't notice for a while, until things had been quiet for a suspicious amount of time. They didn't end up caring anyways. From then on, Gwendolyn traveled the lands of her kingdom searching for adventure, alcohol, and women! She was joined by her frequently missing steed, Commander Sugar cube Blackberry Buttercup la Peppers the One and Only, as well as varying other party members that she usually will sleep with. She stumbled drunkenly around the world, getting up to whatever antics she could fine. Before long, her reputation began to proceed her and all knew her name. T'was a glorious crusade indeed!

After some fierce campaigning, Gwen eventually received word that her mother is dead and is summoned to the castle. This turns out to be a trick and she is immediately swept back up to her tower and prepared to be married off so her parents can finally get some use out of her. Gwen is kind of in a daze for a while and manages some feeble attempts at escape. From here, her story kind of diverges. In the original arc, Gwen is rescued by some weird characters and there's a chase to capture her before she crosses the border and assumedly disappears. But in just about ever other telling, Gwen goes a little bit crazy with stress and kills her mother. Or more vividly, after spending so much time considering the reality that she was about to take the thrown, Gwen realizes can just, not do what her mother says. High off the realization that she can take control of her life and solve her problems without avoiding them, she kills her mom publicly in order to take the thrown. At that point, no one is going to argue with her. Firstly, because Gwen is the only royal heir. If she doesn't take the thrown for whatever reason, there is no one to succeed her, royal or elsewise. The monocracy would either end completely or would cause a widely disputed power vacuum. Secondly, its Gwen. Everyone knows Gwen. Everyone likes her, even if its reluctantly. Gwen certainly didn't aim to gain the population's approval while she was hitchhiking around towns, but that is what she unintentionally succeeded in doing. Even in the face of something kind of morbid (although probably not so morbid for the time period and culture), it would for anyone to hold it against her. After all, the world was pretty intimately aware of Gwen's problems and probably felt for her tragic fate at least a little bit. And so Gwen's wedding was canceled in favor of a coronation.

Gwen actually took to the position surprisingly well. While she wasn't particularly wise or scholarly, from that moment on, she held responsibility confidently. Most of her problems were solved when she decided she didn't need her mom's approval anymore. Her decisions revolved around the idea of just helping out people now that she was better able to do so. Sometimes that came at the expense of other things like say military crusades or the wealth of nobles, but she wasn't terribly concerned. She also opened the castle to be more accessibly and grew some wild parties in there. She had a string of notable lovers, but never married and never had children. Although, both facts are heavy disputed by future generations and historians. Even as Gwen grew in power and prestige, the public never really lost it's initial impression of her as a goof. Just like before, part of that was deliberate. Image is important, but part of it was just the truth. Her reign was remembered as unorthodox, generous, and high in morale. It's also remembered as being full of lesbians, so much so that Gwen's name and iconography became symbols of the community. The next ruler after her didn't follow in her footsteps, but the path the thrown took after her is really none of her business.

Culture

The most notable part of Gwen's fantasy culture is that it doesn't really have gender roles so much as they have expectations based around the sexes. What I mean by that is that there almost no focus put on men and women. They're understood to be different, but pretty much equal. They can both own property, be head of the household, receive inheritance, and so on. There's some disparity between certain jobs, fashions, and other trends, but nothing is exclusive to one gender or the other. Even sexual orientation and gender identity are considered normal and common. However, society does put a big emphasis on childbirth. So its less about "men and women" possibly getting marries and definitely having kids and more about "those with a uterus and those with a penis". The rest of the details of the culture are pretty insignificant or change pasted on the setting

As far as Gwen's real culture goes, she's European. I draw the most influence from England and I do try to be specific in regards to the swords, sports, castles, and so on. However, she has some hints of roman thrown into details of her appearance. Her original design had her in roman-looking armor with the straps and the skirt and all that. Not to mention some french and possibly some more modern Italian details as well. She's kind of an amalgamation, just like most fantasy. Mainly English though.

Psychology

Gwen doesn't have any diagnosis besides alcoholism. While she technically fits the criteria for depression, PTSD, and other ailments, none of them represent her issues very well. Gwen's problems revolve around seeking approval from others, low self-esteem, risk-seeking behavior, and most importantly, avoiding her problems. A lot of that can be attributed to her upbringing and sexual trauma. She was always seeking her parent's attention but never got it. She was underestimated by others, unable to meet high expectations, and considered a failure. Behaviors like drinking and flirting gave attention. And she her helplessness is partially learned. That being said, like I described in her personality section, a portion of Gwen's problems can also be attributed to her own actions and choices. Gwen seeks out validation from others even abusive individuals, showing herself to be dependent. She feeds her inhibitions and accepts and plays into people's views of her. She could probably find healthier ways to get attention or just chose not to do stupid stuff. And of course, Gwen is able to improve herself and her problems, but chooses not to. Instead, she uses her lack of agency to excuse her actions and sit in dysfunction. Gwen ultimately works through these problems by rejecting her mom and taking on a position of authority that she finds fulfilling. The alcohol however, takes her a bit more time to handle. While I stress very often that Gwen drinks by choice for enjoyment and not out of fear of withdrawal or coping, its still a hard habit to break once you're body is used to it. Withdrawing from alcohol was pretty severe for her: nauseousness, insomnia, fever, hallucinations. Thankfully she didn't get any seizures but she was sick as a dog and every time she chose to drink, even a little in isolation, she's have to go through it again at scale.

Themes

Gwen's initial pitch as a character is that she's a princess, but she's gay. It's a contradiction that makes her unable to fulfill the singular function her role has. It establishes her sexuality has having a big impact on her life without making it a sad coming out story, since I've never been a fan of those. The other thing Gwen has going for her is that she's a paladin with all her points in charisma. Aside from being strong, she can only has that one skill. She gets nat 20s in charisma and has a negative modifier in everything else. Story-wise I could say she incorporates themes of abuse, fame, hedonism, and isolation. Lastly, Gwen's symbol is of course the lesbian labrys flag and her colors are lavender, black, and white.

Influences and References

Mom - What, me? Projecting??? Psh, I don't know what you're talking about. I mean sure, my own mom, also named Victoria, was kind of abusive and didn't approve of my sexuality or anything. Perhaps sometimes, she made me feel trapped in a metaphorical tower which I coped with by running away in one way or another. And ok maybe, her favorite color just to happens to be dark green. She could possibly have had a preference for jewelry and yeah, her favorite flower was tulips, but that doesn't mean anything. I don't know what you're talking about. It's fine. There's nothing Freudian going on here. It's fine. It's totally fine.

Kesha - The obvious first comparison for party girl Gwen, princess of the party girls, is party girl Kesha, Queen of the party girls, and I won't deny her influence. I don't think there's anything specific that's based on her, but just the vibe is there. You can feel it. Gwen has Big Kesha Energy, BKE for short

Possible Ideas

I go back and forth on a lot of details of Gwen's story. I try very hard to assert that Gwen is not secretly a smart or capable person underneath her problems, because I feel like it erases her character. On the other hand, I try not to go too far when joking about Gwen as a dumbass. She's definitely not a scholar, but she's also not an idiot. I just want her to be a normal person who doesn't become a completely different person. It's important that she keeps her personality, because Gwen can be successful as the person she is. Like yeah, I have as much fun ragging on her as anyone else, but there isn't anything fundamentally wrong with her. She's just making bad choices and going through some stuff, but besides that she's still just Gwen. That's why I never feel completely right about her story. Having her kill her mom and take the throne is pretty badass but its also a very drastic change in a short amount of time. I try to maintain her character after that but it's never quite the same to have her just wake up as a capable leader one day. On the other hand, Gwen's story drags on without some sort of interesting change. I like slice of life stories more than the next person, but to just have her wonder around drunkenly, eventually take the thrown, and I guess slowly work on things is just boring. Something interesting needs to happen to Gwen but I don't want her to just suddenly have a change of motivation. I don't want someone she cares about to get hurt and have her go rage mode or just throw off the shackles of abuse in one fell swoop. Gwen is clearly never going to do that. So I don't know what's gonna happen to her yet, but I know that she eventually becomes a ruler, she's kind of unprecedented, and she never has children. Those are set in stone. That's how her story ends. I just don't know how she gets there. But that being said this is already vastly more thought I've put into Gwen that I ever have before. Gwen isn't a bad character. She's really funny. She's kind of tragic and she's fun to play. But she's never really interested me as like a 3 dimensional character. I never had many ideas about her personality or backstory or whatever. Most of the time when she's around, she's a secondary character for world-building. I kind of like her as just 2D drunk white girl. I don't want her to develop, but no one does her quite right so I feel like I have to defend her. Everyone just pegs her as a drunken idiot and they laugh at her, not with her. It's like calling yourself stupid verses having someone else call you stupid. One is a an exaggerated joke and the other is an insult. And I don't like that. Don't insult Gwen. She's not smart but she's not stupid >:p