#i dunno if i'll ever be able to capture its horror in writing when the time comes

[weekend-whip]

*slams hands on table* what was the inspiration behind Olivia’s character and how did you develop her/how has she changed over time

Once upon a time there was this seemingly unnamed yet intricately designed character in The Lego Ninjago Movie that I had always felt could’ve used a little extra polish, especially when it came to making the Shark Army much more of a threat. Upon doing a little research for Book 1 of Legacyverse (as I wanted to incorporate as much movie!DNA as possible, which is also why Jesse is now a whole thing come Book 2) and then learning she had a name, I knew I immediately wanted to use her. 

She would be perfect—a way to have an inside man on the opposite team even with Garmadon’s absence, a middle man to showcase the other side of the story, someone to actually give some heft to the Shark Army’s existence as a whole...

But how? For starters, how do you create a character out of someone who only has scraps of a personality made from about six lines of movie dialogue, one lil’ boss battle in a licensed video game, a love for smoothies/slushies, a penchant for being kinda lazy at a job you’re otherwise pretty passionate about, being somewhat sympathetic, yet still scarily dangerous, sinister, and borderline psychopathic when pushed too close to edge? 

...you turn her into Nya’s best friend, I guess. 

When I was first trying to incorporate Olivia into the world, there was the dilemma of how old to make her. She originally started as an adult (roughly around Tox’s age), but then I couldn’t come up with a non-generic, not necessarily Garmadon-ordered (and not-creepy) reason for why she would’ve been so focused on Nya in the first place, and it would’ve made it harder to make her sympathetic later on. 

So I bumped down her age to 16, put her in the high school with everyone else to allow for more opportunities to actually have her be a character, and turned her into Nya’s friend to establish that initial emotional connection and the eventual tragedy of their fallout *-*)9  

She...was originally going to be a lot colder and distant than she is now (and you can kind of still tell from Chapter 2 of Book 1 and bits of The First Day of School chapters in Book 2), but then her crazier, wilder, louder side started leaking out and her dynamic/rivalry with Kai turned out to be so much fun that I knew I wanted to build on that more, and it wouldn’t have been possible if she was entirely on “the dark side”. So now she is extremely morally gray and we’re vibing with it! Wild Card, baby! Chaotic Neutral!

...and that’s also partially why Bridget became an unintentional Ascended Extra, because someone had to fill the hole Olivia’s original plot line left behind :V

I also made her father the previous General #1 to ground her roots in the army more, and to provide a strong reason for why she’s so dedicated to Garmadon’s cause in the first place (and...why she would stick with it even after things happen). It’s not just what’s she grown up to be able to do; it’s what her father truly believed in, and things certainly haven’t gotten better with Wu hiding the truth of everything...so, what’s really wrong with letting Garmadon destroy the lies of society and starting anew? If she stops following Garmadon...the alternative’s not really much better, is it?

Anyway somehow she’s maneuvered herself into a secondary main character, which I love...but it’s also important not to forget that she’s still an antagonist, even despite having bigger fish to fry at the moment (ha). Like, have you SEEN her slasher smiles?! Nightmare Fuel. I’m not even kidding. Every time I dare to look at the worst ones where’s she attacking Lloyd there’s chills up my arms and I break into a cold sweat my god—

...Ahem. So, for now, let’s just say she’s aboooout 1/3 of the way through her arc. Maybe 1/4 if I wanna be kind. 

@shark-general-1 @asher-hyperfixation-hell I know you guys are Olivia fanatics so this one’s for you too snksnksnk