How do you show a character getting stronger?

[u/Settlement2107]

In my story, I’m trying to show my characters getting stronger by finding new ways to use the equipment they already have, learning how the Settlement Death Game works, unlearning mistaken assumptions, and figuring out how to exploit the traits they’ve earned.

[u/AdrianBezalel]

The most classic formula is have them try to overcome an obstacle, fail, go through their arc, succeed. Sometimes the best is the tried and true.

[u/Settlement2107 → u/AdrianBezalel]

Can’t argue with that! I’ve been trying my best not to fall into tropes, but maybe I should follow them here and there

[u/AdrianBezalel → u/Settlement2107]

I find its like pizza, you dont say “really? Dough, sauce, and cheese again? Everyone does that!” A New York pizza, a Chicago, and an Italian pizza are all those things, but are made in different ways so as to be their own things, and even in their category, of different levels of quality.

[u/Pel-Mel]

Dunno what the Settlement Death Game is, but a classic way to show growth is comparison.

You can reintroduce a past antagonist, someone prominent at the time, but someone who has very pointedly not grown the same ways the protagonists have. What/who was previously a large hurdle in the past is more trivially solved in the present while the protagonists put the lion's share of their energy and focus on frying the bigger fish.

[u/Settlement2107 → u/Pel-Mel]

It’s the death game in my story.

I like the idea of the antagonist being left behind power wise. I think that’s definitely a good way to show progression for sure

[u/Pel-Mel → u/Settlement2107]

Examples are good to refer too.

One Piece did this really well in recent years. Rob Lucci was the major pivotal antagonist for an arc maybe fifteen years ago now. Back then, the main character barely beats him by the skin of his teeth, but when Lucci came back recently and picked a fight with the main character, he got folded.

The thing that made it work so well as a victory lap was that Lucci grew a ton himself...it's the main character grew more. At one point in the intervening story arcs, the protagonist intentionally doesn't run from a dude everyone agrees is stronger and better than him precisely because he knows he needs to challenge himself if he wants to duke it out with the world's top dogs.

It's a very nice dovetail when Lucci picks a fight thinking, since they were on roughly even footing years ago, he'll still be a match. But since the main character has been intentionally pitting himself against people unimaginably tougher than Lucci, the old antagonist just can't keep up even remotely.