Plot Help

[Zen Dragon]

I have an idea for a bounty hunter type character that hunts Demons and traps them into jars with glyphs on them to keep the demons within.

My question is, what would he do with them then? He has to get paid money somehow for his service, and where would the jars go?

I am looking for something beyond a storage type place, because I do not want an Arkham Asylum thing where they can later be released. Once caught, they are done and forgotten.

Thank you all for any help or ideas. This is not going to be the plot of the novel, but this will be a hole unless I find a good way to plug it up.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Could their power be used to fuel or provide something else - so he'd get paid for providing the power?

 

[goldhawk]

He could sell them to mediums who use them to get information from the dead.

 

[Zen Dragon]

Hrm. Kind of like a Monsters Inc. Scream canister thing? That could maybe work.

 

[tinkerdan]

He could be delivering them to one specific location-monks-priests-nuns-some other sort of acolyte who passes them to a higher power who can be anything from vague to named and somewhat known to infamous. Either way there is a firm knowledge that when delivered to these people through this process these demons never come back. He gets paid and might wonder what they do with them; but never asks and is never told (leaving it open either for the reader to interpret their own way or for some future plot.)

Catching demons and holding them is his job up until delivery and from there those to whom he passes the goods have an iron clad system that keeps those demons from ever resurfacing and once again he does not need to know what they do with them or how only that they have thus far been 100 percent reliable. That gives room for creation of a mystic atmosphere around those in the final portion of the process and if it's not an important plot point it could stop right there or you could follow and reveal whatever parts of the process that you want.

 

[Zen Dragon]

He could be delivering them to one specific location-monks-priests-nuns-some other sort of acolyte who passes them to a higher power who can be anything from vague to named and somewhat known to infamous. Either way there is a firm knowledge that when delivered to these people through this process these demons never come back. He gets paid and might wonder what they do with them; but never asks and is never told (leaving it open either for the reader to interpret their own way or for some future plot.)

Catching demons and holding them is his job up until delivery and from there those to whom he passes the goods have an iron clad system that keeps those demons from ever resurfacing and once again he does not need to know what they do with them or how only that they have thus far been 100 percent reliable. That gives room for creation of a mystic atmosphere around those in the final portion of the process and if it's not an important plot point it could stop right there or you could follow and reveal whatever parts of the process that you want.

I like what you did here. This makes the religion the law, which though done before, has not been done this way to my knowledge. That makes kind of a good sense too, in that, being an unholy being, it would take the truly holy to rid it from the world. Not the same as cops and jail, but more permanent. I like this. That also, makes for some interesting ideas for subplots, and character background, because the bounty hunter now has to be a bit of a holy person themselves, and have some sort of belief, to become prolific.

This is a great idea, and I thank you for a quick and creative idea.

(Not that the power one was no good, but this gave me chills when I read it over.)

 

[Martin Gill]

People snort them like drugs. Or they help keep the dark side of sorcerers in check and if magicians don't regularly feast on them they go rogue themselves.

 

[sinister42]

If he's putting them into jars, but you don't want them to come up later, then...why the jars? Why doesn't he just destroy them? Putting them into jars necessarily means that you're storing them, doesn't it? Think about Ghostbusters. They scoop up the ghosts in traps and store them in a disposal unit in their headquarters. But that's a convenient device for someone to come along and wreak havoc later (in the hilariously Reaganesque anti-government 1980s evil character of the EPA guy), leading to the climax of the film. So if all he's doing is putting them into jars, then there necessarily has to be a "then what" for what happens to the jars. Which in my mind isn't compatible with "once caught, they are done and forgotten." Then why catch them, is my point.

If he's a bounty hunter who puts his catches in jars, then a natural consequence might be that he charges extortionate "storage fees" to his clients. Maybe he's the "big bad" of this world, and the hero of the story is a guy who comes along and releases the demons (who it turns out were just misunderstood but ultimately harmless).

 

[J Riff]

Just drop them into this town..- gone!

 

[Zen Dragon]

If he's putting them into jars, but you don't want them to come up later, then...why the jars? Why doesn't he just destroy them? Putting them into jars necessarily means that you're storing them, doesn't it? Think about Ghostbusters. They scoop up the ghosts in traps and store them in a disposal unit in their headquarters. But that's a convenient device for someone to come along and wreak havoc later (in the hilariously Reaganesque anti-government 1980s evil character of the EPA guy), leading to the climax of the film. So if all he's doing is putting them into jars, then there necessarily has to be a "then what" for what happens to the jars. Which in my mind isn't compatible with "once caught, they are done and forgotten." Then why catch them, is my point.

If he's a bounty hunter who puts his catches in jars, then a natural consequence might be that he charges extortionate "storage fees" to his clients. Maybe he's the "big bad" of this world, and the hero of the story is a guy who comes along and releases the demons (who it turns out were just misunderstood but ultimately harmless).

Good point - I did not think of the Ghostbusters factor. I was creating a bounty hunter type hero, but instead of criminals, I wanted Demons. So, of course, I figured capturing instead of sending them back to hell, because they can escape again. It seems that my minor plot hole has become more of a tunnel, with a bigger question as to why catch them instead of what to do with them. I will have to do more wood-shedding on this concept, or trash it all together then. Thank you though, because that is what I needed, was someone to show me why my idea wouldn't work or how to make it work.

 

[tinkerdan]

But your demon hunter knows that demons are difficult to vanquish. In fact he travels from village to village investigating claims of those who have 'vanquished' demons (in hope of finding a way to destroy them) only to find they really haven't vanquished anything. He carry's the vessel given him by his employer that contains demons for a fixed time in which he needs to return them to his employer. He doesn't know what is done to them but he knows he's never seen those demons again. He also knows that if the demons could escape and did, they would come back for vengeance against him.

He knows this because he once sold to someone else behind his employers back and that one nearly killed him much later. And his employer was neither upset nor pleased with him, but explained in a meeting that his transgression contained its own punishment and that he should watch his back; because any demon released from their container would be difficult to capture again.

 

[Zen Dragon]

But your demon hunter knows that demons are difficult to vanquish. In fact he travels from village to village investigating claims of those who have 'vanquished' demons (in hope of finding a way to destroy them) only to find they really haven't vanquished anything. He carry's the vessel given him by his employer that contains demons for a fixed time in which he needs to return them to his employer. He doesn't know what is done to them but he knows he's never seen those demons again. He also knows that if the demons could escape and did, they would come back for vengeance against him.

He knows this because he once sold to someone else behind his employers back and that one nearly killed him much later. And his employer was neither upset nor pleased with him, but explained in a meeting that his transgression contained its own punishment and that he should watch his back; because any demon released from their container would be difficult to capture again.

Tinkerdan, you are all over this one. Why am I not seeing these story-lines? Once you write it out, I read it and go, "Yeah, that is it". Though, I did have him carrying around a Demon-jar with the trapped souls of a demon and his niece, trying to find a way to keep his niece safe and yet vanquish the demon inside. So, limited time might not work for that idea, but I can lose that, because I like having an escaped demon come after him, so he would need to find a more elaborate way to re-capture and/or vanquish it.

You have given me quite a bit of food for thought on this one, but I will definitely work with your ideas on this one.

 

[tinkerdan]

The niece could still work. She could have meddled where she shouldn't and was caught up with the demon. Unsure about getting help from his employer he tries someone else. They get his niece out but the demon escapes and takes a piece of his niece with him, she hasn't been right since and he and the demon are stalking each other; him to get that piece of his niece back and the demon to get revenge. He knows some time soon he'll have to use himself as bait and if he can capture the demon again he has to find a way to get the piece of his niece back; so he's in no hurry while he rushes forward into his own self destruction. And based on his employers conversation with him he's certain he's on his own on this one.

 

[Zen Dragon]

Yeah. I think I like that. I think that this would be a better jumping off point than what I originally had. Looks like I came to the right place on this one. Thank you again Tinkerdan.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Could you do a Sci-Fi version of Burke and Hare? He's being paid to provide specimens for a scientist/physician.

 

[Denise Tanaka]

I once saw a Japanese anime-based live action film. Not to steal from the plot, but to give you some idea of what's "out there" and maybe expand your mind to think BIG outside the box. I forget the title. So this samurai warlord dude was losing the war badly, and he made a deal with a group of demons in a temple. Instead of the usual Faust deal, he doesn't sell his own soul -- he promises his first-born son. The demons give him the power to win the war and become lord of all the land. But when his son is born, the demons swarm over the crib and each demon takes a body part from the baby. It is left as a weird looking lump of dough. Rejected as a hideous blemish, the baby (or what's left of it) is abandoned Moses-style in a basket floating down the river where it is found by a wise Zen monk hermit dude. This Zen dude has mystic skills and builds an artificial body for the boy. He "grows up" somehow and once he becomes old enough to be a cute Japanese Pop Star guy (and demons kill the Zen monk dude) he goes off on a quest to hunt down all the demons who took his body parts. One by one by one, he engages in demon fights with these really weird nightmare things. Each one is totally different, usually a person who morphs into a thing with tentacles, or dogs with glowing eyes, or what not. At the end of each fight, a body part -- such as an arm, his ears, his eyes, etc. -- pops out and rejoins to his body. He has an extreme startled reaction to re-acquiring each piece of himself. Kind of like when Highlander cuts off the head of another immortal. It's amazing when he goes from having artificial eyes to having real eyes and seeing the world for the first time!

Consider that demon hunting is dangerous. It helps to have a compelling goal.

 

[Chris Guillory]

People snort them like drugs. Or they help keep the dark side of sorcerers in check and if magicians don't regularly feast on them they go rogue themselves.

I was thinking about something like this too, but not snorting in a recreational sense. But there are beings in this realm that have given up their own souls, and must take in these collected ones. On the plus side, it gives them supernatural abilities. On the not-so-plus side, they have to receive a steady supply or there's some kind of consequence (turning into something mindless and horrible before dying).

Also, it can come as a point of conflict later as these things are generally not good. While the sales of the demon jars is very lucrative, those who purchase them are evil.

 

[Zen Dragon]

I once saw a Japanese anime-based live action film. Not to steal from the plot, but to give you some idea of what's "out there" and maybe expand your mind to think BIG outside the box. I forget the title. So this samurai warlord dude was losing the war badly, and he made a deal with a group of demons in a temple. Instead of the usual Faust deal, he doesn't sell his own soul -- he promises his first-born son. The demons give him the power to win the war and become lord of all the land. But when his son is born, the demons swarm over the crib and each demon takes a body part from the baby. It is left as a weird looking lump of dough. Rejected as a hideous blemish, the baby (or what's left of it) is abandoned Moses-style in a basket floating down the river where it is found by a wise Zen monk hermit dude. This Zen dude has mystic skills and builds an artificial body for the boy. He "grows up" somehow and once he becomes old enough to be a cute Japanese Pop Star guy (and demons kill the Zen monk dude) he goes off on a quest to hunt down all the demons who took his body parts. One by one by one, he engages in demon fights with these really weird nightmare things. Each one is totally different, usually a person who morphs into a thing with tentacles, or dogs with glowing eyes, or what not. At the end of each fight, a body part -- such as an arm, his ears, his eyes, etc. -- pops out and rejoins to his body. He has an extreme startled reaction to re-acquiring each piece of himself. Kind of like when Highlander cuts off the head of another immortal. It's amazing when he goes from having artificial eyes to having real eyes and seeing the world for the first time!

Consider that demon hunting is dangerous. It helps to have a compelling goal.

Yeah, I totally watched this movie, and I know what you are talking about. After each fight, he removed a machine part and it was replaced by his limb. That was a great film, and I had forgotten all about it until you reposted here. I guess that was where I was hitting a wall, as far as trying to come up with a reason without 'copying' someone else's idea. And though I cannot have him get his body parts back, I can have there be a purpose to tracking not just demons, but maybe more Specific demons for a Specific reason.

 

[Zen Dragon]

Could you do a Sci-Fi version of Burke and Hare? He's being paid to provide specimens for a scientist/physician.

I had never heard of this, and while it is a cool idea, it will not work on this one for me, though, it does give me a different idea ... focus!
I do think this could be possible later in writing, but not this one. But, thank you for an addition plot idea.

 

[Zen Dragon]

The film was DORORO for anyone curious. It is very Highlander meets demon hunter meets awesome!