A note from Daniel

In works of fiction, the reader is usually set up to identify with the protagonist, the character that we follow through the plot. Protagonists do not need to always be good, and readers can easily be made to sympathize with or cheer for characters whom in other circumstances they might consider bad. Protagonists stand in contrast to antagonists, the characters who are in the way of the protagonist reaching their goals. Protagonists require obstacles. These may come in the form of a specific character (a villain), a group of characters who aren't actively working to oppose the character but enforce social norms that are in the character's way, or perceived limitations within the protagonist themselves. Often, we can only understand characters by considering them as part of a web woven of their relationships with other characters.

Daniel The Great Mental Models, Volume 4, page 334 · January 10, 2025 Save to shelf
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