: Re: Introduce a character and forget about them until the last chapter? In my story, the main character gets help from / saved by two complete strangers. They don't tell the mc who they are or

@Jessie137

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They might represent the villain's fate, but in that case they shouldn't come from nowhere they should be almost ever-present like vultures waiting for him to show weakness. This might be why they help your protagonist in the first place.

In Peter Pan, the villain is Captain Hook who is pursued by an alligator that swallowed his hand and wants to eat the rest of him. The alligator is mostly low-key and happy to wait for Hook to get into another compromising situation where he will be easy prey. There is no depth, it has only this "lizard mind" ambition. It's a spoof of Captain Ahab and Moby Dick, but also a nod to Captain Cook who was killed by Hawaiian natives. There is a sense of "justice" that the pirate's wicked lifestyle has caught up to him, or his evil has been corrected by a natural force (exotic natives being another feature of "wild nature" like a whale or alligator). Yes, it is very close to deus ex machina, but the method of death is symbolical payback for the villain's defiance of law and order.

Through the alligator we know that Hook is living on borrowed time. His fate was sealed that day he lost his hand, and eventually his destiny will catch up to him. To emphasize the metaphor the alligator has also swallowed a clock that Hook hears ticking when it gets close (a clock that continues to tick years later). The alligator could eat Wendy or a mermaid, but it is only interested in Hook. It is his fate, and his alone.

As an aside, it would be a different story if Hook had abused the alligator and that led directly to his death – then the alligator would become almost another character with a revenge arc and a decision-making process and a call to action – that's all a bit much for an alligator. In 18th Century thinking, a pirate represent a man who defies the natural world order, and so it is "justice" that the natural world becomes their undoing. This is more heady and symbolic, but it might keep your mystery people in an "other" realm.

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