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[ Player Name ] : Dees [ Personal DW ] : dees [ Age ] : I haven't been 15 for a decade. [ Timezone ] : GMT+1 [ Other Characters ] : Gamzee Makara | Homestuck [ Character's Name ] : The Once-ler [ Character's Age ] : Unknown, probably early twenties. Lets say 22. [ Series ] : The lorax (2012) [ Canon Point ] : After promising not to chop down anymore trees, while trying to sell his thneed. [ History ] : First off let me say that while time does pass in the movie, indicated by how some things happen in The Past and some things in The Present and maybe, just maybe, there will be A Future, there is not a single indication of how much time passes. There is also no indication at any point of how old the Once-ler is. Or what his home and family life was like before he set off. So let me fill in those gaps with a royal helping of headcanon and logic. First off, for the passage of time and Once-ler's age, I'm going to assume that by the time he comes across the valley, he's 22. He mentions that he had sought the globe for the perfect material for his Thneed, so he probably travelled at least one year beforehand, setting off from home when he was 20/21. Judging the time that passed from Once-ler's arrival to the valley to the cutting of the last Truffula tree is a little harder. In the movie, it is all summed up in one catchy song of barely three minutes long. But, of course, the actual events would have spanned over much longer. If we take into account that the Once-ler not only had to build and bigger his factories, but that he also build Thneedville (or turned the already existing town into Thneedville) and royally fuck up the environment, this series of events probably took years. Which makes for a far more impressive fall from grace than a whole three minutes worth. Just to make it easy, I'm gonna say that he chopped the first tree when he was 22, and the last tree fell when he was 30. Years pass and we arrive into the present. By now the Once-ler is a greying old man. Thneedville has undergone some changes too and it has even gotten to the point where nobody remembers real trees or Thneeds. For convenience, I'm going to say 40 years have passed since the last Truffula tree fell. Making the Once-ler 70 at the end of the movie. And then about the Once-ler's family. We see several of them in the movie. What we know is that he has two brothers, twins, his mother, an aunt and uncle. While it is never clearly stated, I am assuming he is the youngest child. As for his father, seeing as we never see him, I'm running on the assumption that he has passed away. He died when the Once-ler was very young, young enough that he doesn't really remember him. In personality, his dad was very similar to the Once-ler --an artist and a dreamer-- but without his drive to succeed so he never made much of himself in his life. It is for this reason his mother doesn't expect him to make much, if anything, of himself. And hey, while I am doing the assumption dance anyway, I'm totally putting his birthday as the first of April. Cause why not. I don't know how much of this will ever come up, if at all, but I figured seeing as this might underpin some of my assumptions about him/the way I'll play him, it's better to get it all in the open for you to judge. JUDGE ME --- For the actual summary of the movie, here you go. [ Personality ] : Though not the titular character of the movie, the Once-ler is the character who undergoes the most development, both positive and negative, along the course of the movie. At the start of the movie, the Once-ler is a young man with practically nothing to his name. What he does have though are dreams. Dreams and a --according to his own words even-- completely irrational sense of optimism. Because of this sense of optimism, generally he comes across as friendly (as long as things go his way) and quite chipper. He doesn't sit still much, and people meeting him for the first time might wonder where he gets all that energy from. Or that guitar. That he just casually whips out sometimes to compose musical numbers on the spot. And everybody better join in. He isn't all cheer and sunshine though. He's a very emotional person all-round. He's very reactive, and not too good at hiding it. He pretty much blubbered when first seeing the valley, and if something bugs him, he's sure to quickly fall into a snarky response. Similar his anger is not contained behind a stony mask, at all. If his temper flares, you will know it. Dreaming is the one thing that the Once-ler does well, and when he dreams, he dreams big. Helped with a liberal dose of optimism, the Once-ler dreams of one day making it big with his invention the Thneed and earning a lot of money. The Once-ler's focus on his dreams is partially the result of his upbringing. From a young age, the Once-ler has always been told he will never amount to anything, that he is destined for failure, and that nothing is ever expected out of it. His family patronized him and openly laughed at his ideas, leaving him to be the butt of many of their jokes. So, to put it short, he always was very aware of the fact that he was the unfavourite child. To this end, his dream of hitting it big with his Thneeds is a way to prove himself to everyone who ever doubted him that he can amount to something, that he is destined for greatness, and everybody was so very very wrong about him. While his upbringing wasn't roses, it did instil a great drive in him. He's not just a dreamer; he's the kind of guy that will also make his dreams come true, going to every length possible to get what he wants. He doesn't eschew some less legal actions either; in 'How Bad Can I Be' there are mentions of lying PR-people, denying lawyers, and he even turns the Lorax in his personal spokesperson for the Thneed with some clever photoshopping. He's even the kind to break promises to get where he wants and ignore the suffering of others. Throughout his rise to the top, the Lorax kept pointing out how much he's harming the environment and the creatures within it, but it always falls on deaf ears. The Once-ler's also rather perfectionist. He travelled the entire globe searching for a material for his Thneed. We can assume that he probably ran into good-but-not-quite-good enough materials before finding the Truffula trees, but he is just not someone who will settle for less when he can get the best of the best. This can also be seen when his business takes off and he becomes richer and richer. He immediately upgrades his wardrobe, upgrades his guitar several times, and he makes sure his office is the biggest of the best of the most eye catching. He unabashedly enjoys the riches and status he has earned and is not afraid to show them off either. Even before his fall to greed, Once-ler has always been a very self-focused/self-centered character. Though while this is not yet as dangerous or destructive at this point as it is later in the movie, it does show in a lot of his actions. For example, when he first arrives to the valley, and starts to dance and sing with the animals there, he invites them to help make his dreams come true. There is not a mention of them dreaming big together, no, it is all about the Once-ler's dreams. Similarly he is entirely focused on his own comfort and needs, immediately starting to set up camp and toss around his things, nearly injuring several of the animals. He's also so focused on making his Thneed and making his dreams come true he doesn't stop to think about the animals already in the valley, instead immediately choosing to start hacking down the trees. And true to form for someone who lives in a world where he only truly considers himself, after he's cut down the tree, he's actually surprised to find the animals haven't stuck around to watch. And as a result of this behaviour, he also sometimes doesn't quite realize just how badly he has hurt others. When the animals have to leave the valley after he has completely ruined the environment, he tries to hopefully turn them back to his side with the offer of some marshmallows, only to be rejected. It isn't until then that he truly comprehends just how badly he has fucked it up for these little creatures. Apart from his greed, The Once-ler's critical flaw seems to be his inability to see his own flaws. He is very quick to dismiss flaws that are levelled at him, to minimize them or to blame them on someone else or to twist the argument around to make him seem the good guy. For example, say someone accuses him of destroying the environment. His response, in one breath could very well be 'what do you mean destroying the environment, it's just a few trees. Besides, everybody is doing it; if it wouldn't be me chopping them down, then someone else would. And another thing, if I stop chopping down the trees, my factories go bankrupt, and I'll have to fire all my employees. Hundreds of people would be out of a job and home and all that for a few trees.' Of course, he only truly cares about himself and his own riches, but he'd be quick to appropriate the pain and suffering of others if it would bolster his argument. The Once-ler is a capitalist (no shit) and a very literal person. He lives in a world of numbers and figures. And while he certainly dreams, these are all the kind of dreams you can touch, calculate and make come true. He's not the type of guy to put much stock in spirituality or thought-provoking questions. He's quick to dismiss these kinds of things unless served with evidence. He never quite seemed to believe in the Lorax' powers due to his inability to show them off at the Once-ler's command, and he isn't afraid to mock this fact either. Similarly when the Lorax asks him 'Which way does a tree fall', his quick answer is 'down'. This isn't as a result of stupidity. The Once-ler is not a stupid man. He's simply one that resides and thrives in a very material world, and everything that goes beyond that is met with a healthy dose of scepticism. What it comes down to is that the Once-ler as portrayed in the 2012 movie is a very morally grey character. He's the character that causes both the initial downfall, but at the same time creates the one chance to repair the damage, though he is quick to realize that being the actual hero is not his part to play. The regret he feels at the end of the movie is genuine and not played for pity. He's not a 100% evil person, but rather a young man with decent ideas (if not rather self-centered) that lost sight of his own morals. If we take the tv-special into account too, The Once-ler did occasional regret his actions even while rising to the top ("Why are you a once-ler, Mr Once-ler?") but was always quick to shove these more painful thoughts away for the ease of satisfying his own greed. [ Strengths/Weaknesses ] : ++ The Once-ler is very driven. He dreams big, but he doesn't just let these dreams be dreams or expects anyone to hand anything to him. He puts in a criminal amount of effort into obtaining what he wants. ++ Though he might look like a dweeb, the Once-ler actually has a pretty varied skill set. He's a very capable knitter and engineer, designing not only the first Thneed but also his factories. He's also a not half bad musician, though it is clearly not his primary focus. ++ He is pretty much a business genius. In fact, he is a generally clever guy who is very good at twisting arguments around to suit his needs. -- He's defined by his greed. He's never satisfied with his wealth, regardless of how much he has. Everything always needs to be biggered and biggered. His greed also easily sweeps him along, any even if he has good intentions, those will quickly become twisted to gain more money. -- He's not incapable of regret, however at this canon point regret or rethinking his actions haven't occurred to him as valid actions yet. And while he is capable of regret, because of his tendency to smooth over his own mistakes or present them as smaller than they really are, he doesn't learn to regret until he is at his lowest point. -- He's very, very bad at seeing his own flaws. He's quick to reason any flaws he or his product do have into something where society or other people are really at fault and not him. He's the kind of character that might say sorry for something, but in the same breath he'll add that it was really society's fault for letting him get to that point. -- As stated before he's very self-centered. Even if he doesn't mean to be cruel, overall, he only thinks of himself and his own goals first. That doesn't mean he isn't capable of genuine acts of kindness but most of the time the things he does will come from seeing what can serve him the best first. Similar while he can be reasoned with to consider others and make promises to this extent, these are the kind of promises he will also be quick to break. [ Other Important Facts ] : He is a tea drinker. I dunno, I just thought that was really important to mention. [ Sample ] : Dear-mun sample 01 Dear-mun sample 02 Dear-mun sample 03 Musebox sample 01 [ Questions? Comments? Concerns? ] : I am not one of the crazy tumblrs so this is okay, right? Also, I will be combining some things from the book and the tv-special to round him out a little more. Also, can there be a couple of Truffula trees up on the island. Not to many. Just a few in the forest somewhere.