The Protect ARC
The Protect ARC is where the PROT has built up a life (a store of wealth, power, a tight network), and paid a lot, scrapping and hustling and possibly even making deals with the devil to get what they have today. There is joy in their possessions and accumulated power, but there is also paranoia and fear that it could be all taken away. And then it gets tested. A threat, warning, or incoming, imminent attack, or new enemy looking to dismantle stuff arrives.
The PROG is mostly NTW, where the PROT in power is defending themselves, their family, their power. It can be politics, an actual battle, legal fight, whatever. It’s defending what you own. The EMOTIONAL ARC of a Protect ARC, however, is a genuine test of how far the PROT would go to defend what they own. Would they break laws, sacrifice loved ones, commit murder?
This can be a FLAT or NEGATIVE ARC. Flat in the sense that it just reveals who they really are. NEGATIVE in the sense they could lose it all and they go nuclear, crossing the line.
The Emotional Arc
- STS: I live in a well-maintained, stable fiction I’ve built. I must wear masks.
- DSR: [threat/warning/attack] I have defenses, resources, a plan, and I WILL stop you.
- BWO: First contact. Yeah, come at me, bro! What else you got?
- PNR: Uh oh. There might be a possibility I can’t stop you. And also, why am I defending this so hard?
- AIL: I admit, I was too confident. I’m about to lose it all, aren’t I? Oh no…
- CMX: NO! ENOUGH! I’m willing to do ANYTHING to STOP YOU and defend my place in the world. This is MINE!!! Lean into mask and rules.
alt. CMX: Destroyed. Loses everything. Drops masks. Possibly a good thing. Or just devastation and misery.
The Stakes
- I spent years, decades, I gave up so much for this.
- I invested my life savings and lost relationships for this.
- I built this over decades, climbing the ladder.
- I gave up my youth, all the things my friends did but I didn’t.
The Triangle(s)
- PROT: The Defender
- The relationship/thing/place thing that they built/own
- A web of allies, enemies, and traitors
- ANTG: The threat/invader who’s here to take it or destroy it out of malice
Media
Film & TV
- Panic Room (2002)
Novels & Literature
Short Stories
- Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™ (2017) by Rebecca Roanhorse
- Midnight Hour (2012) by Mary Robinette Kowal