demagoguery
Your character? Excellent singer. Or has some latent musical talent. But your character is very shy about it, and his/her beloved will have to stumble upon her
accidentally while singing.
Now, many realize that angst is getting a little played out. Hard as it is to believe, it is happening. So you authors will have to try to make your character seem stoic, but just break down. Here are a few ways:
1. Crying in your sleep. Eventually your main character's companions will ask why your hero keeps crying, or screaming in the night.
2. Hypnotism.
3. Someone (maybe the techno geek, or just some accident of a side character) stumbles upon an article about some horrible fire/murder/toaster attack/etc, and the picture of the only surviving victim seems rather familiar...
4. Someone on the street recognizes the hero and starts talking to the hero, much to the main character's dismay, before getting hurried away.
5. Accidental discovery of scars or bruises.
6. And the mysterious locket/amulet/ring/leech etc.
I just know I've forgotten something...
Dude, PLEASE. Your hero is ALWAYS way too mentally strong to fall for mind tricks like hypnotism. ALWAYS. Unless he lets himself be hypnotized by someone he trusts and will probably have TWOO WUV with. That's different.
That said, your hero must have mental strength that allows him to do impossible things! Torture? HA! Your hero won't crack even if he is violated by a rusty crowbar! Furthermore, your hero will never be able to fall prey to any sort of mind-control spell. If he does, it will only be temporary. He will escape at the last second.
Spells that make your hero forget everything, making it easier for the villian to brainwash him? The memories will leak through, because your hero has SUCH AMAZIN WILLPOWER that he fights the spell. LE GASP. Also, he will be the only one in existence who can do this. No one else will have ever survived the kind of horrible trauma he has, or resisted the same spells he has.
Finally, if your character has a broken limb or horrible maiming injury, he will be able to walk/fight/whatever despite it, because he has WILLPOWER! Does your character have a broken leg? It's ok, he can walk anyway! Because when people need wheelchairs, it's not because having an intact bone is REQUIRED for walking without assistance, it's just because they lack the willpower that your hero has.
Is your hero in a fight against someone who is bigger, stronger, and smarter than they are? Does this person have the advantage of better weapons? It's all good. Your character will win because of willpower.
