Editing Part 2: Huge Problems––Striker's Redundancy

       I've been having a miserable time editing/rewriting. I run into problems every way I turn. I've been frustrated. I should be able to do this! I know and love my story, I love writing it, so I sit down and expect it to come out the way I want it to. It doesn't.

       I finally zeroed in on the problem (or, at least, one of them).
       Striker is completely redundant. He's a slightly less Aramis.

       At this point you should definitely be wondering how I wrote an entire book and did not realize that my two characters are exactly the same. I have no answer for you. I have no idea what is wrong with me.
       I don't understand how I missed it, but I do understand why it happened.
It began with my decision not to kill Aramis off before the story started. In my original plotlines (as you can read in my previous post), Aramis was killed long before the "main" story even began. This novel began as backstory, showing Aramis and Tigress together, then slowly merged back into the original.
     Striker's purpose, in the original, was to be the good influence on Tigress. The mentor, the wholesome one, the wise-guy, if you will. He pushed Tigress by showing her that there could be goodness and happiness in her world. He was the mediator between Tigress and Trooper and their contradicting (yet so similar) convictions.
       When I pulled Aramis back into the picture, he usurped that position. He is the ultimate wise guy, mentor, the Sun and goodness made manifest. He's untouchable. He is the only person Tigress trusts completely……except for Striker. He is the only person Tigress knows that is actually good……except for Striker.
       Striker is everything Aramis is, only slightly less. He's not as powerful, not as good, not as wise, not as mature, not as secure…but he's close.
       When I merged the two together I nudged Striker a little, making him more eccentric. I amplified his obliviousness, stretched out his funny side, and made him a genius. Unfortunately, this is proving to not be enough. Particularly because––since I wrote the story––I've slightly nudged Aramis a little too, in my mind, making him a much more lighthearted guy.

       What do I do with this flaming mess?!

       Should I just outright cut Striker from the book? That would break my heart. Should I change his character completely?
       What Striker needs is a new role. He needs to be something more than Aramis' back-up, his shadow. He needs to be a new character with a purpose. The question is, what role is there to give him? If I simply slap a new role on him, it will jilt the entire purpose of the story on a new angle.

       Now, I suppose, it is time to reevaluate what I want this story to mean. What is the motion being propelled forward, and who is propelling it? Who is trying to stop it? How do the different characters affect that?

       More thinking, more rereading, more reevaluating. More questions. Always more questions.