Silent protagonist
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A silent protagonist is a central character who does not verbally interact with other characters within a story's narrative.
In the context of the story they often simply observe events happening around them, and are usually given orders by others while not having to reply in return.
A common joke in video games is for a silent protagonist to have words put in his or her mouth (occasionally when it appears that they are finally going to say something).
Contents |
[edit] In computer and video games
Silent protagonists are prevalent in computer and video games. This practice began because of technological limitations and simplistic storylines that did not require any dialogue. As technology improved video games moved more and more away from this trend. However, in the early 90's, the silent protagonist became a bit of a trend in the RPG genre, and many of the most successful games of that era featured non-speaking heroes as their lead. While most games have abandoned the idea of the silent protagonist for added realism, several series such as The Legend of Zelda and Breath of Fire have continued the tradition. The common counterpoint to the added "realism" of a speaking protagonist is that a non-speaking hero would allow the player to provide their own voice for the character, and thus a deeper immersion in the plot.
In some games, especially those geared toward older players, silent protagonists are used as an in-joke as a reference to the old stereotype. In Ultima VII, a play about the Avatar's adventures is being rehearsed, with the lead actor explaining that most of his lines consist of the dialogue system keywords "name", "job" and "bye". In the Half-Life series, there are several occasions in which non-player characters joke about protagonist Gordon Freeman's silence: "Man of few words, aren't you?" Alyx Vance asks not long after their first meeting.
Notable games that feature silent heroes include:
- Ace Combat series (though in AC5, the player may respond to questions with "yes" or "no")
- Call of Duty series
- Chrono series (except for a special ending in Chrono Trigger)
- Crash Bandicoot series, at least in the earlier games, he is given a voice later on.
- Crusader series
- Darkwatch first person shooter
- The Doom series (However, the main reason the Marine remains silent is because there is nobody to talk to; everyone else has either been killed or zombified)
- Dragon Quest (the main hero is always silent)
- Need for Speed series
- Ninten in Mother (video game), Ness in EarthBound, and the acting protagonists in each of Mother 3's chapters, including the characters Flint, Duster, Salsa and Lucas.
- Fable. Although the player can often choose responses to questions such and "Yes" or "No", the Hero's actual dialog is neither written nor heard.
- F.E.A.R - First Encounter Assault Recon
- Final Fantasy In the first Final Fantasy, the four warriors of light (doesn't matter which jobs are chosen) don't speak.
- The Descent: FreeSpace series.
- The Golden Sun series. Isaac is silent through the entirety of the first game, but he becomes a supporting character in the second game and is given a voice (via text boxes). Felix speaks in the first game as a supporting character, but is silent throughout the second game, although his avatar often appears next to a text box with ellipses. He does speak, however, as he is being introduced to the trials by a tribal leader, as well as in the epilogue after the credits. His only word during the game is "Why?"
- The Grand Theft Auto series, up to and including Grand Theft Auto III.
- Gordon Freeman, Adrian Shephard and Barney Calhoun in the Half-Life series. (However, in Half-Life 2, Barney is an NPC and speaks frequently)
- Harry Potter in the video game Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. (Even though his voice was heard when he casted spells)
- Jak and Daxter (Jak, the silent protagonist, is given speech in the sequels Jak II and Jak 3. His first words are a slight parody; Daxter yells, "Say something, just this once!" right before Jak's first spoken line. This is parodied again later in the game, when Jak and Daxter first meet Torn. When Torn refuses to speak to them at first, Daxter quips to Jak "Maybe this guy's a mute. You know, like you used to be.")
- Legend of Legaia
- The Legend of Zelda series. Although Link does make sounds as he attacks; "Hah!" etc.
- Both male and female protagonists in Legend Of Mana. Although they actually speak one line after they get revived from death.
- Medal of Honor series
- Myst series. The character is not seen, either, excluding in Uru.
- Amaterasu in Ōkami
- Panzer Dragoon & Panzer Dragoon Zwei
- The Pokémon series (when the main character of Red and Blue Pokémon games appeared in Gold and Silver, his lines only consisted of ellipses)
- Return to Castle Wolfenstein
- Brian in Quest 64 (he says nothing even when he finds his father and is severely hurt)
- The Shining Force series (except for the remake, Resurrection of Dark Dragon, in which Max is given lines and an expanded role)
- The Shin Megami Tensei series, as well as the Megami Tensei series, and their various spin-offs (i.e. Hitoshura).
- The Suikoden series (all three protagonists in the third game are not silent, and the hero of the second game speaks during flashbacks).
- The Super Mario series (although Mario has had a voice since Super Mario 64, it is often used only for interjections).
- Super Mario RPG parodies the silent-narrator concept by having Mario pantomime events to other characters, complete with sound effects and split-second costume changes. Also, similar to Chrono Cross (above), a plot point is hinted at in Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door when a fake Mario speaks.
- In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Mario and Luigi do not have any displayed dialogue of their own. They will occasionally talk to each other and other characters in a mock-Italian gibberish language, together with hand motions, but no on-screen dialogue accompanies this, with the exception of a scene in which Luigi impersonates Princess Peach. The only other words they say are "Mario!" or "Luigi!" which the other yells when one is defeated.
- Tomba! only makes weird sounds.
- Wild ARMs and Wild ARMs Alter Code: F
- Zork, particularly Zork: Grand inquisitor in which because the player/protagonist can't say anything (let alone tell the Dungeon Master his/her name) the player is referred to as AFGNCAAP or Ageless, Faceless, Gender-Neutral, Culturally Ambiguous Adventure Person for the entirety of the game.
[edit] As storytelling devices
Silent protagonists allow the player to create their own interpretation of a game character. By not being prompted by scripted character dialog, the nature of that character (and sometimes even his/her gender) and what they say is left up to the imagination of the player. The character is a blank slate, which can more easily and fully be inhabited by the player, immersing them as fully as possible into the game. In some cases, such as the Myst series, the player's avatar is given no name or defining characteristics at all, meaning that the player themselves is effectively the protagonist of the game. This is in contrast to games such as Duke Nukem 3D, where the protagonist frequently interjects comments into play, and leaves the player in little doubt as to the nature of that character, and with the impression that they are simply puppeteering a distinct and separate character, rather than inhabiting the adventure themselves.
This device is fairly close in principle to that of the "masking effect" mentioned in Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics - while the masking effect makes things such as facial features and body types in comic book and animated characters as generic as possible in order to allow for easier identification with protagonists, removing the notion of "otherness" from them, the silent protagonist is generic enough so that the player (usually silent himself while playing) feels no clash of personality or opinions during the game, or at least minimizes such a shock.
[edit] Technicalities
Although the silent protagonist doesn't have lines of text on screen, the player can still infer what the character is saying. When the character is answering questions directed at him, the prompt may sometimes give two responses that go beyond "yes" and "no". For example:
- "What should we do?"
- Sneak around the back
- Bust through the front
Occasionally, it is implied that the silent protagonist is actually verbally communicating with other characters, despite the player's lack of seeing (or hearing) this dialogue. This can be inferred when characters around the silent protagonist echo back statements or questions that are assumed to have come from the protagonist. Continuing the example, "What do you mean, sneaking around like cowards!?"
The Golden Sun series takes this a step further; in the first game, the main protagonist Isaac is silent, while Felix, a secondary character and antagonist, does speak. This is reversed in the sequel Golden Sun: The Lost Age, where Felix is the main character and thus silent, while Isaac talks as normal. Something similar happens in Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 2: Eternal Punishment
Often, the second in the party (the silent protagonist is usually the first in the party) will ask questions on behalf of the silent protagonist, as Rui does in Pokémon Colosseum, or introduce him or her to NPCs (usually after all the others introduce themselves), as with Golden Sun's Garet (original Golden Sun) and Jenna (Golden Sun: The Lost Age).
The Ultima games take a different turn: The player is allowed to pick the keywords (the most famous being "name", "job", and "bye"), which become available as the player follows the dialogue. This allows for quite complicated dialogue, even when the player has to use his or her imagination to guess what the protagonist is actually saying.
Another turn is taken by the Ys series: Adol talks, but his dialogue is not shown. Instead, a summation of his dialogue in the third person is given; for example, "Adol explains what he saw at the shrine".
[edit] In film
Although it is more common for silent protagonists to appear in video games, there have been occasional silent protagonists in film. Usually the protagonist has something that prevents him from speaking i.e. muteness or being an alien, like Joe Morton in The Brother From Another Planet. However, there are also protagonists who do actually speak but do so very seldomly, such as Silent Bob of Jay and Silent Bob, Spike from The Land Before Time films, or the protagonist Igarashi, who does not speak until the final scene, in the Japanese film Blessing Bell [1].
