Decoy Protagonist: Difference between revisions

[[File:kamina thumb.jpg|link=Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|frame|Guess which of these two is the main character! <ref>It's the kid.</ref>]]

 

 

So you've got your hero. He's practically has a giant neon sign over his head that says he's a hero. It might be subtle, but it's fairly obvious you've found the guy who'll save the day, get the girl, and live a long and hap—what the? Did he just get bitten in half by a mutant [[Tyrannosaurus Rex|T. Rex]]?

** ''The Course Of Honour'' appears to be Caenis' story, but in reality, it's the story of the rise of Vespasian, seen through Caenis' eyes.

* Highly pronounced in Susanna Clarke's ''[[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell]],'' where the titular Jonathan Strange is not introduced for 250 pages, before proceeding to gobble up most of the spotlight.

** This was how it was intended to be, before [[Terry Pratchett]] realised Vimes had more character and switched protagonists.

* ''The Zero Game'': The apparent protagonist [[Revealing Coverup|is murdered]] four chapters in, with the narration switching to his friend.

* Subverted in the ''[[King of the Hill]]'' episode, ''Aisle 8A''. Bobby is the main character for the first act, then the focus shifts to Hank for the second act, and finally back to Bobby in the third act.

* [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_WYfblufc8eM/TNXA8DOLYVI/AAAAAAAAAaU/tJoOJMj-Ahc/s1600/Transformers_Prime_Poster__scaled_800.jpg Promotional artwork] for [[Transformers Prime]] showed a team of six Autobots. One of them, Cliffjumper, was the star of the comic released before the show debuted, and was also announced to be voiced by fan-favourite [[Dwayne Johnson]]. The first five minutes of the show follow Cliffjumper as he finds the Decepticons have arrived on Earth...and then he gets [[Killed Off for Real|stabbed through the chest by Starscream]]. The other bots end up being a traditional [[Five-Man Band]].

* [[Mickey Mouse]] in ''[[Pluto's Judgement Day]]''. Despite the short claiming that Mickey is the main character, it's actually [[Pluto the Pup|his dog Pluto]] that is the main focus of this short. Mickey actually punishes Pluto for chasing a cat around his house, and as a result the dog starts to have a nightmare about him going to Hell.

* From episode 1, ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'' sets up [[The Chosen One|Omi]] as [[The Hero]]. For awhile, this is undoubtedly the case; he is [[The Ace|the most skilled]], gets [[Adorably Precocious Child|the most attention]], and gets the most opportunities to [[Big Damn Heroes|save his teammates]]. As the series goes on, he still gets the most attention (including [[We Can Rule Together|special training]] from Season 2's [[Big Bad]]), plus the [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|ego to show for it]] and the most [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] moments, so that by the start of Season 3 he's the [[Badass in Distress|one being saved]], and {{spoiler|[[The Atoner|Rai]][[Took a Level in Badass|mundo]]}} is [[The Hero]] in all but name. [[Character Development|Subtly played]], but quite a few viewers saw the finale and {{spoiler|Raimundo being named team leader}} coming a season away.