Focal Character: Difference between revisions
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* The protagonist of ''[[Aimee]]'' by Mary Beth Miller is not the eponymous Aimee, in fact the protagonist is not given a name until the last few pages {{spoiler|It's Zoe}}. She is the girl who was accused of killing Aimee (when in fact Aimee killed herself). The book is all about the protagonist trying to detach herself from the shadow of Aimee's death.
* [[Action Girl|Vin]] from ''[[Mistborn]]''- she's the main POV character, but the story itself centers more on her mentor [[Rebel Leader|Kelsier]]. {{spoiler|Subverted when Kelsier is killed near the end of the first book, after which Vin shoulders the role of both protagonist and [[The Hero|heroine]] for the remainder of the trilogy}}.
* At the end of ''[[
** Sam Vimes is an interesting example. He ''became'' [[The Hero]] of the Watch novels, but when [[Terry Pratchett]] wrote ''[[
* The Dickens novel ''[[Our Mutual Friend]]'' is presented partly through the viewpoint of Mortimer Lightwood. As the family's lawyer Lightwood has a linking position between the hero and heroine, and is also connected to Eugene Wrayburn, but he has little direct impact on the action until fairly late in the story. In the 1990s BBC adaptation, he also functioned as the narrator.
* In ''SkyClan's Destiny'', one of the novels in [[Warrior Cats]], Leafstar is the perspective character, however Stick is the main character and the story centers around his struggles with the [[Offscreen Villainy|evil]] Dodge.
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* In ''[[Dragon Quest V]]'' the protagonist cannot equip the Zenithian Equipment like he can in ''[[Dragon Quest IV|IV]]'' and ''[[Dragon Quest VI|VI]]''; the one who can is actually {{spoiler|his son}}.
* Monkey in ''[[Enslaved: Odyssey to the West]]''. ''Enslaved'' is loosely based on the Chinese novel ''[[Journey to the West]]'', and the narrative actually revolves around Trip as Monkey supports Trip on her journey home and her quest for revenge of the one responsible for the annihilation of her village. {{spoiler|It's Trip that kills the main antagonist, Pyramid.}}
* Locke for most of the World of Balance in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', while the story revolves around Terra, Locke is in the hero role. This changes when Celes becomes the acting protagonist in the World of Ruin. She is less of a Focal Character, however, until the ending.
* Allegretto of ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'', in the same vein as Vaan of ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'', is most definitely this to not one, but two possible protagonists - Polka, a girl from a remote village who is actually the {{spoiler|[[Messianic Archetype]] catalyst for the [[Groundhog Day Loop]] that the world is trapped in}}, and Chopin, who claims that everything and everyone around him is merely one of his dreams. The latter's appearance in their world {{spoiler|is actually destined to end the loop of Polka repeatedly dying/reliving the same seven years over and over}}. Other than being the player avatar (and even then, that role is switched between him, Polka, and Beat) and acting as Polka's love interest, Allegretto doesn't even do much in the main story itself.
* Tidus in ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' is an interesting case. The whole point of the game, initially, is that the characters are playing supporting roles in Yuna's quest. They, including Tidus, are merely her guardians to protect her, while ''she'' is destined to actually defeat the [[Big Bad]]. However, Tidus is the game's narrator, and often points out how, "[[Arc Words|This is my story]]." Indeed, the very first line of the game is, "Listen to my story." We eventually learn that {{spoiler|Yuna defeating the [[Big Bad]] would get her killed while it would just come back later, and it's Tidus's destiny to truly kill the thing}}. Thus, Tidus and Yuna ''swap'' being [[The Hero]] and Focal Character multiple times throughout the game: starting with Tidus as the hero, then switching to Yuna, then back to Tidus, and finally ending with Yuna.
** In [[Final Fantasy X-2|the sequel]], Yuna gets full control of the protagonist's role. Even when other characters look like they're going to usurp her role as [[The Hero]], Yuna slaps them back down and says "No. [[Meaningful Echo|This is my story]]."
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* Interestingly, the character you make in ''[[White Knight Chronicles]]'' is almost a non-entity: although you can use any weapon, armor and magic, unlike any other character in the game, your character is entirely incidental to the plot and can, in fact, be left out ''entirely''. The real hero of the story is Leonard.
* While the plot of ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'' certainly incorporates Mario, Peach, Bowser, and Luigi, the main story focuses on the romance of Blumiere and Timpani {{spoiler|and in the end they're the ones who save the [[Multiverse]].}}
** In ''[[Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story]]'', the game is really about Bowser forced to become a hero and saving the Mushroom Kingdom while Mario and Luigi secretly help him on the (in)side and saving him due to Bowser being both [[The Chew Toy]] and [[Too Dumb to Live]].
** A non-RPG ''Mario'' example would be in ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'', where Mario is just there to fly through space as an attempt to save Peach again from Bowser, who wants to take over the galaxy, but this is actually just a subplot. The game is really about a young woman's [[Tear Jerker]] tale of her constant wandering through the cosmos with several little star-people as her only friends while lamenting about the loss of her family since her departure.
* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'' has its central epic quest line, in which you follow along with the characters in the story and run errands for them. So far, every epic "Book" ends with your watching NPCs finish the fight.
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* Tact Mayers of ''[[Galaxy Angel (video game)|Galaxy Angel]]''. Although he's the captain of the Elsior which is a capital ship all the work is done by the angels.
* Leo from ''[[Zone of the Enders]]'' has a personal journey, but the focus moves more towards the larger conflict and he's ultimately an insect to the villain. He gets the focus on his journey but the true hero is already dead at game start and his journey is just a small part of the much larger story he was sucked into.
* One can get this impression from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks]]''. While other titles in the series focus on
* The various [[Featureless Protagonist]] player characters of ''[[Ace Combat]]'' have been this ever since the series steered away from [[Excuse Plot]]s (around the time of ''[[Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere]]''). Nowhere is this more obvious than in ''[[Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War]]'', where the entire game is told from the perspective of the enemy aces you shot down and your ex-[[Wing Man]] {{spoiler|whom you also shoot down}}. [[The Narrator]] even admits in the end that despite telling the whole story, he still has no idea just what kind of person the Demon Lord of the Round Table was.
** The only exception to the above thus far is ''[[Ace Combat: Assault Horizon]]'', which at least attempts to give the player character (who actually has a personality this time) some [[Character Development]].
* In ''[[Gundam Breaker]] 3'' has the [[Featureless Protagonist]] do nothing but pilot Gunpla in fights and follow around Misa, the girl who recruited them as a team member, and look at the back of her head as she talks. The previous games in the series only avoided this by ''[[Excuse Plot|not having]]'' a real plot.
=== [[Visual Novels]] ===
* Most romantic [[Visual Novel]]s are more about the romanceable characters (and one 'true path' character in particular) than they are about the player character. In the Bishoujo setup, the male lead is often either a nonentity, a [[This Loser Is You|loser]], or a jerk, and one of the female leads is the real hero. This tends to carry over into their anime adaptations. ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' is both a literal and figurative example: in the ''Fate'' route, Shirou is no match for Saber in combat, and instead supports her with projection and, later, mana. Emotionally, it's his job to break through her stoic exterior and make her happy. Either way, Saber ends up the primary focus, and the driving force of that route.
* ''[[Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors]]'': {{spoiler|The point of view that the player takes is actually June/Akane of 9 years ago, seeing things through Junpei's eyes. This is a very important plot device and technically makes her the protagonist. Junpei still fills the conventional role of the hero though and once their connection is split at the very end, the perspective of the remaining story alternates between the both of them.}}
* In ''[[Loren the Amazon Princess]]'', Soren or Eleanor (whichever character you pick) fills this role. The titular Princess is [[The Chosen One]] and the game is about ''her'' quest, while [[The Hero]] is along as Loren's personal slave and sidekick.
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