Narratives

Character

Narratives contain main characters, called protagonists, around whom the story revolves, who encounter a central conflict, or who gain knowledge or grow significantly across the story. (Some narratives performed by actors contain a collection of equally showcased protagonists, known as an ensemble cast.) Certain stories may also have antagonists: characters who oppose, hinder, or fight against the protagonist(s). In many traditional narratives, the protagonist is specifically a hero: a sympathetic person who battles (often literally) for morally good causes. The hero may face a villain: an antagonist who fights against morally good causes and actively perpetrates evil. Many other ways of classifying broad types of characters exist too, which are known as stock characters or character archetypes.