Joker

What is this joker's purpose in the story?

What single sentence sums up why they exist here?

What flavor of humor do they wield?

Which characters laugh, and which do not? Outline a 5-bit stand-up set they might perform in-world.

How might they break traditional 'joker' tropes?

For instance, try rewriting a classic “prank” as an act of mercy.

What wound fuels their mischief?

Write a 120-word backstory beat that births their first “joke.”

How do they force the protagonist to change?

Write a dialogue duel between the protagonist vs. the joker, 20 lines, no action beats.

What is the joker's physical appearance?

Write a physical description as if it were a police sketch.

How does their face communicate their nature?

Think smiles, frowns, laughs, etc.?

How do they dress?

And do they have a signature outfit?

What is their physical presence like?

How might they use their body to punctuate jokes or convey mischief?

What physical habits or tics define them?

How do these habits amuse others?

What private code of ethics do they live by?

How do they justify their pranks within this personal moral framework?

Who is the joker most loyal to, if anyone?

What action would prove that loyalty beyond words? Write a scene where they quietly protect someone without taking credit.

Who is their greatest friend?

Write out the scene where they first met.

Who is their greatest rival?

How does this rivalry sharpen the joker’s own skills?

How do they choose their closest allies?

How do shared values (or shared chaos) guide their friendships?

What family ties shape their outlook?

How does their family history feed their trickster persona?

How do their bonds change over the course of the story?

Outline three key turning points in the joker’s most important friendship.

How does the joker shape the protagonist's journey?

What would the hero’s story look like without them?

What values or beliefs do they challenge in the story’s world?

How do they question the society’s moral or political norms?

In what ways do they drive the stakes in the story?

E.g., how might their pranks or schemes raise the hero’s risks or rewards?

If the joker had a tombstone, what would the engraving say?

Write it out here.

What rumor about the joker will children still whisper a hundred years later?

What about the rumor might actually be true? And what’s pure invention?