: What do you call someone who is neither/both an antagonist and a protagonist? In the story I'm writing, I want to include a character who is a free radical. At some points she helps the main

Vote Up Vote Down

Anybody who’s “poly-tagonistic” in a sense, in my opinion, is simply human. We all battle our whole lives attempting to discern right from wrong. And if you aren’t, then you’re most likely a nihilist. It’s the Tony Stark method. Anti-hero!
An individual who desires to be a savior, unknowingly creates all his worst fears that he manages to physically manifest, forcing him to become,”the hero”
A lot like our government.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

I would consider them somewhat of a contagonist as described in Dramatica. The contagonist doesn't necessarily help the contagonist but they do hinder and interact with protagonist.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

I think this would count as Deuteragonist. Not the main character, but not a complete antagonist. The biggest example for these are sidekicks and allies, but they don’t have to be helping the protagonist always.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

I think that the answer depends on whether this is a, or the, main character in the story.

The main character or main plot-driving character is the protagonist. Someone who opposes their goals is an antagonist--and often there is a "the antagonist" vibe, where the primary character opposing the protagonist is "the" antagonist.

Now, it's not always this neat. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, for example, arguably has two protagonists. In the 1993 The Fugitive, Tommy Lee Jones' character is arguably the antagonist, except toward the end he turns around and he's helpful. In The Great Gatsby, the main plot-driving character, Gatsby, is separate from the character that we identify with, Nick Carraway. And so on.

Nevertheless, I think that the designation of protagonist/antagonist depends on who the main plot-driving character is, whether the character you're trying to classify tends to champion or sabotage their goals, and how important that character is.

(0)

Vote Up Vote Down

This is best described as a Supporting Character, because they are neither good, nor bad. They simply quote "support the story line"

(0)