Poll of the Day > A question about main characters...

(+) Yeah! (+)

I was watching some videos and was reminded of some debates which used to rage about the Final Fantasy games, especially about who is/are the main characters of each game in the franchise.

Mind you, some games the main character is clearly established like in Final Fantasy tactics although some people still scream to this day Delita was the main character, sigh... Hell, some people even claimed the main character was Orran, because he was technically the silent narrator who told the real story, not fabricated by the church, despite being in the game for like, what, 1 fight and a few cutscenes? FF IV is also a good example of a game where the main character is quite clear.In other games, it's not so clearly established and people still fight tooth and nails, to this very day, about who the main character is. Such an example being Final Fantasy X and XII, XII probably being the worst of the bunch.

As far as X is concerned, the first character you play as is Tidus, he's the narrator, he's basically in your party for most of the game (despite switching mechanics), he has the most screen time, but nearly the entire game is about Yuna's pilgrimage, her difficulty to live up to her father's rep, and coming to terms with what ending her pilgrimage entitles. Also, pretty much the majority of interactions with other characters in your party (other than Yuna) ends up being about Yuna in one way or another. Oh sure, we got the issues with grand wizard Wakka, but pretty much everything comes back to Yuna.

On the other hand, you have XII, where the game tries to shovel Vaan and Penelo down your throat, but past maybe 20% of the game, they're basically spectators who's sole purpose is to make you cringe (Vaan) every now and then. So even if people are misguided enough to claim Vaan is the main character, it mostly comes down to Ashe and/or Balthier (IMHO, Ashe is the main character).

Also, FF VI is also arguable, since Terra is pretty much the poster girl for the game, but a lot of the characters, especially Celes (WoR), get a lot of representation and development.

What's your opinion?

Whoever gets the most porn manga made of them

The_tall_midget posted...

your opinion

The character around whom the plot revolves, so the third option. Additionally, there can be more than one main character in a given work of fiction.

PK_Spam posted...

Whoever gets the most porn manga made of them

That's usually the one with the biggest knockers.

EclairReturns posted...

Additionally, there can be more than one main character in a given work of fiction.

Oh, absolutely, I'd argue that FFVI is pretty close to that. Game of Thrones is also another good example, although in the case of GRRM, that would be basically anyone who survives.

Both Locke and Terra.

You just want to twist the terms we have. The main character is the character who the main focus is on.

So in the case of a game, that tends to be who we (mostly) play as.

This usually overlaps with the protagonist (the person the story is most about), but they can be separate characters.

Same with narrator.

In the case of a FF, 12 in this case.

Main Character: Vaan.
Protagonist: Basch/Ashe.
Narrator: Duke Ondore.

Edit: also, you listed "character who claims the story is about them". In FF12 someone does happen to do that, Balthier. I would say he could count as a Deuteragonist in FF12 (or perhaps even Tritagonist, if you want to split up Basch and Ashe)

EclairReturns posted...

The character around whom the plot revolves, so the third option. Additionally, there can be more than one main character in a given work of fiction.

Pretty much this exactly. It's usually the character we plays as, in the case of games, but exceptions exist where the player character basically just exists to observe a third-person story that unfolds around other characters.

3 or 7.

1 - Weirdly, not this. Sometimes, games let you switch between main and side character often. And some people like the side characters more. Or if the main characters are very strong, they might be trying to strengthen the weaker characters

2 - Sometimes, the person who narrates isnt even part of the story

4 - They could just be the strong guy

5 - This is usually just the character people like the most or something. If a character is entertaining, then they usually get more screen time

6 - There have been many side characters who claim its their story

For 3, normally the story follows the main characters. But like 7 also says, its usually based on game/context

And thats before you get into games with multiple main characters

FF6 is interesting because the "main character" changes constantly. for a good chunk of the first half it's Terra, for a smaller chunk of the second half it's Celes, and everyone is the main character of their own stories, but ultimately the "main character" is everyone in the party as a whole, representing the people of that world.

I always thought of Locke as the main character

Sahuagin posted...

FF6 is interesting because the "main character" changes constantly. for a good chunk of the first half it's Terra, for a smaller chunk of the second half it's Celes, and everyone is the main character of their own stories, but ultimately the "main character" is everyone in the party as a whole, representing the people of that world.

How did you forget Locke?

Nichtcrawler X posted...

You just want to twist the terms we have. The main character is the character who the main focus is on.

So in the case of a game, that tends to be who we (mostly) play as.

This usually overlaps with the protagonist (the person the story is most about), but they can be separate characters.

Same with narrator.

In the case of a FF, 12 in this case.

Main Character: Vaan.
Protagonist: Basch/Ashe.
Narrator: Duke Ondore.

Edit: also, you listed "character who claims the story is about them". In FF12 someone does happen to do that, Balthier. I would say he could count as a Deuteragonist in FF12 (or perhaps even Tritagonist, if you want to split up Basch and Ashe)

Tidus claimed it was his story too when the plot mostly focused on Yunas journey and he just happened to be important to it.

What you said about 12 makes sense though I've never viewed vaan as the MC just the story being told from his perspective or through his eyes so to speak. But separating it by MC and protagonist makes sense

Depends. Trying to fit all games into the mold of having one main character just doesn't make sense with every story.

I think what people who are confused by this forget or don't realize is that the protagonist and narrator can be two different characters, like with FFX. FFX is the story of Yuna's pilgrimage told from the perspective of Tidus, who is the story's deuteragonist (secondary protagonist).

FF6 is more similar to a novel with multiple viewpoints split up by chapters. Biggs and wedge are the prologue viewpoints, than we get a short chapter with Terra, than locke, than its Terra for awhile until the party gets separated, than later in the game Celes takes over.

FF12 (I haven't played all the way through, so basing this off discussions i've read on the game) is probably a case of Vaan is the viewpoint character, but not the protagonist.

Ramza is definitely the protagonist of FFT. Delita is just the overall winner of the story's major conflict. You could argue him as the game's deuteragonist, but Ramza is the more important character in the game's narrative. The game being a recounting by Olan is just a framing device. He's the narrator, not the primary driving character.

Revelation34 posted...

How did you forget Locke?

I didn't forget him, I don't really see him as a "main character" I guess. he drives the plot, at first, but it's not really "about" him. he's just there to guide Terra through the world despite not having her memories.

the point though was that everyone has their moments of being center-stage, but no one is ultimately the main character by the end. (even if some are more important than others).

It's hard to say. I think these two aspects would describe the main character:

• The character(s) we play the most as.
• The character(s) which the game's main quest we follow.

However, it also depends on the game and context.

I think a game or story can have more than 1 main character. Since you mentioned FFVI in the first post, I thought the main character was Terra when I first started playing because many FFVI books kept mentioning her as the main character, and we start the game with her. However, as I approached the end, I thought Celes could also be the main character. I finally decided that all the playable characters (those who join and stay to the end of the game) were the main characters.

For FFX, I first thought Tidus was the main character, especially since he narrates the story and we start with him. Then for FFX-2, I thought Yuna was the main character. Eventually, I felt both Tidus and Yuna could be the main character for FFX, and later, I thought they and the rest of the guardians were main characters. For FFX-2, I later thought that Yuna, Rikku, and Paine could all be main characters.

The first answer seems simple, but I can't think of a counter example to it, so I'll stick with that first answer.

faramir77 posted...

The first answer seems simple, but I can't think of a counter example to it, so I'll stick with that first answer.

The one you play as the most? Really?

All depends the context.

The character who gets the most focus in the story.