Character of the Year 2022 Nominations

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t18558-kagayaku-no-murasaki-approved-1-3

Related Thread: https://www.platinumhearts.net/t22637-footsteps-of-fate-abalia-murasaki

With her becoming Head Captain in the beginning of 2022, I found her contributions to the site and Gotei as a whole hard to ignore. Bringing multiple older characters into the Gotei, including my own, and trying to make the most active and strongest Gotei that she can, Murasaki has been putting in the work for the Gotei to be more prolific in the wake of recent events in-universe. Her succession to the Head Captain position also gave a very nice, fitting end to Abalia's story and completely retiring her. I feel that, with all this considered, she is a good candidate for COTY.

I will be nominating Ninsianna Kishar for Character of the Year, I nominate this not for the great impact that this character has had on the site like someone that has moved mountains and created big waves in the setting of the site but as a character I think that her actual character growth is, much to Rawk's chagrin, vast. While her actual interactions were narrow I think that her small group of characters impact on her are pretty emblematic.

Cyrus' actions with others negatively impacted her, souring her opinion of him where she was once his loyal right-hand woman despite being made as what was essentially an NPC accessory to Cyrus in the first place. The timechamber thread of "Arcadia" and Ninsianna expands her backstory and provides an insight to her lifestyle and history while creating new motivations and attachments to her. Through a brief plotline of travelling to Africa and then to the place of her origin, Ninsianna reconciles the person that she was and the person that she has become. Leading to her becoming more her own character and less of an accessory to the people around her.

On the side, her interactions with her daughter show a person that struggles to deal with someone who is conceptually antithetical to her own origin and is yet her own daughter. There's compromise and genuine attempts to bridge a gap between them which otherwise alienates them on the basic level. Her growing friendship with Helle after the events which left her soured towards Cyrus is a great addition for her motivations which is further cultivated with her changing to become the Director of the Albedochiffren.

So with all that in mind I believe she is deserving of COTY for this growth.

Easy as it is to talk about the many protagonists that we find on-site, I believe we also cannot forget the role of the antagonist. It is never an easy path to walk, and one that requires a certain degree of finesse to pull off admirably. All that being said, I nominate our fallen hero, Ichigo. In every thread, Rawk captures the essence of this broken man trying to find some semblance of himself and achieve these goals with such a single-minded drive that he would see worlds burn.

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t22251-kurosaki-ichigo-oty-wish-1-1-hazard-rank-a

Refs: https://www.platinumhearts.net/t22400-flamediver-ichigo-ignacio

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t23035-to-drown-a-strawberry-tier-ichigo

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t23179-if-you-want-to-see-some-action-open

I'll be giving my nomination to Alastair Eisfluch. I think he's undeniably been a big name in the Vandenreich, and I think his development even across just this year, as he's dealt with pretty grave issues that blur the line between business and personal, has been really interesting to follow.

A curation of threads:

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t22527-broken-bones-can-t-break-my-heart-liltotto-alastair

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t22777-dost-thou-be-noble-cyrus-alastair

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t22807-noble-red-in-golden-light-alastair-arcadia

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t23395-look-who-s-burnin-alex-alastair

https://www.platinumhearts.net/t23488-two-birds-one-stone-alastair-antonetta