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Can a protagonist be negative?

Can the protagonist be the bad guy? Yes! Though not as common as traditional, heroic protagonists, or even anti-heroes with complex motivations, there are some fully malevolent villains that serve as the protagonists of their own stories.
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What is a negative protagonist called?

In storytelling, the antagonist is the opposer or combatant working against the protagonist's or leading characters' goal (“antagonizing”) and creating the main conflict. The antagonist can be one character or a group of characters. In traditional narratives, the antagonist is synonymous with “the bad guy.”
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Does the protagonist have to be good?

Protagonists are who we are following as they're trying to accomplish their goal. They are the main character… and often the main character is the “hero.” But, using the simple definition of protagonist = lead character, then your main character doesn't have to be virtuous or moral or good.
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What are the 4 types of protagonist?

Most protagonists fit into one of the following four protagonist types: heroes, antiheroes, villain protagonists, and supporting protagonists.
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Is protagonist evil or good?

A protagonist and antagonist are opposites – antonyms. The protagonists are generally the good guys (even it means that sometimes they are antiheroes) while antagonists are generally the bad guys.
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9 Negative Character Traits Often Disguised as Good Qualities

Can a protagonist be pure evil?

Pure Evils who are the main characters of the stories they are in. This may also apply to deuteragonists, tritagonists or, in extremely rare cases, overarching protagonists (e.g. Robert Baxter, Leo Kasper and Donald Love).
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Can a protagonist be unlikeable?

Your unlikable protagonist might be incredibly creative, goofy or stylish; they might have an unlikely talent or a soft spot for a particular family member. Use as much specificity as possible in their characterisation so we can't resist following them through each chapter.
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Is the protagonist always the hero?

Like hero, protagonist is a noun that can mean the leading character in a story. However, unlike hero, which historically has only referred to a male characters, a protagonist is defined as “a hero or heroine of a drama or other literary work.”
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What is the opposite of a protagonist?

In fiction, the opposite of a protagonist is an antagonist, meaning someone who opposes the protagonist. More generally, some antonyms for “protagonist” include: Adversary. Critic.
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What are 3 protagonists called?

In literature, the tritagonist (from Ancient Greek τριταγωνιστής (tritagōnistḗs) 'third actor') or tertiary main character is the third most important character of a narrative, after the protagonist and deuteragonist. In ancient Greek drama, the tritagonist was the third member of the acting troupe.
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How rare is protagonist personality?

The Protagonist personality type is relatively uncommon, making up about 2% of the population. Famous Protagonists include Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, John Cusack, and Malala Yousafzai.
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Are protagonists good guys?

They classified major characters as either protagonist ("good guy") or antagonist ("bad guy") and used a standardized tool to compile specific acts and types of violence portrayed in the films.
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Is a protagonist always morally correct?

Just to clarify: the protagonist is the main character of the story, the antagonist is the character who opposes him or her. So the protagonist doesn't always have to be the good guy — that is, morally superior to the antagonist — though of course this is often the case.
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What is a damaged protagonist?

A damaged character is someone who is not "happy go lucky." They are not the quintessential hero or heroine. You may not want to be like them -- but in fact, you might be related to them.
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What is the syndrome of protagonist?

" Main character syndrome" is a term popularized on TikTok to describe self-centered, out of touch people. Having main character energy, typically means someone sees the people in their life as supporting actors in their movie.
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What is a dark protagonist?

A dark hero might be someone who behaves like a villain, even as he works toward the greater good. He might be violent, he might not care about collateral damage, he might be a generally nasty person, but he's putting himself on the line against evil. Urban fantasy is full of this kind of figure.
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What do you call an unlikable protagonist?

Sympathy for the Anti-Hero. Now, if our protagonist is unlikeable, typically they are called anti-heroes. We're used to heroes and villains, good vs. evil, all that. Anti-heroes tend to blur the lines between good and evil.
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What are the 5 types of protagonist?

Types
  • Hero/Heroine.
  • Antihero.
  • Tragic hero.
  • Villain protagonist.
  • Supporting protagonist.
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What do you call a fake protagonist?

A false protagonist is the character readers and viewers initially believe to be the protagonist, but in fact is just another supporting character. Also known as a “decoy” protagonist, the false protagonist is a literary technique often used to create plot twists or support over-arching themes.
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What is a female protagonist called?

Heroine refers to a female protagonist. Champion is another synonym of protagonist.
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What are the kinds of protagonist?

There are three types of protagonists: heroes, anti-heroes, and villain protagonists.
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Does the protagonist need to be the main character?

So the Main Character is the central character in the Main Character Throughline while the Protagonist is the central character in the Objective Story Throughline. They can, and often are, the same character but they don't necessarily have to be. In fact, there are many stories that don't follow this pattern.
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Do protagonists need to be likeable?

If you need the reader firmly on-side with your central character to make your story work, then it really is important to make them likeable and sympathetic.
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What is it called when a protagonist turns evil?

The Protagonist's Journey to Villain is a plot in which the protagonist, who starts out well-intentioned, turns into a monster. In other words, it's the making of the Villain Protagonist.
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What is an amoral protagonist?

Sometimes there's a hero who is even darker than an anti-hero. This character is amoral or morally challenged. In fact, he or she is usually a psychopath. It is fascinating to read a book with this type of protagonist.
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