Interactive Narrator: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
[[File:PrincessPiNarrator 3027.png|link=Princess Pi|rightframe|[http://www.platypuscomix.net/princesspi/index.php?issue=6&page=2 Princess Pi reveals her accidental involvement in the Royal Wedding.]]]
 
{{quote|'''Tigger''': Say, who are you?
'''Narrator''': I'm the narrator.
'''Tigger''': Oh, well, please, for goodness' sakes, narrate me down from here.|'''''[[The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'''''}}
|'''''[[The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'''''}}
 
In most series, the [[Narrator]] rests comfortably beyond the [[Fourth Wall]], able to tell his story in peace.
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{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* The narrator in ''[[Samurai Pizza Cats]]'' would break the [[Fourth Wall]] with the characters and engage in [[Lampshade Hanging]] with them. He even had his family kidnapped by the Big Cheese, as part of a plan to finally defeat the cats. The same show once decimated the concept by having the narrator "accidentally" read the lines of the wrong episode.
* The [[Narrator]] in ''[[Keroro Gunsou|Sgt. Frog]]'' also plays with the fourth wall a few times: he often gets yelled at, threatened, or outright attacked by the characters in the show for revealing their inner thoughts or reading an unflattering description of them. In episode 31, Keroro gets stranded in the middle of nowhere after his new hover-bike conks out, and he passes the time by trying to strike up a conversation with the [[Narrator]].
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{{quote|'''Caption:''' ''The Narrator sucks!''
'''Narrator:''' "Here's a caption - Bite me!" }}
* [[Suzumiya Haruhi|Haruhi Suzumiya's]] [[Anachronic Order|chronologically-first episode]] features one of these. It turns out to have been just [[Deadpan Snarker|Kyon]] being [[Lemony Narrator|Kyon]].
* ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler]]'''s narrator is interactive, both arguing with the main characters and at one point being pinned as the culprit during the Murder Mystery episode.
* Due to the show's [[No Fourth Wall]], the Narrator of ''[[Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo]]'' regularly interacts with the cast. They often get on each other's nerves, such as if Narrator messes up recaps.
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* ''[[Amagami SS]]'' has a narrator in its third arc<ref>Said narrator is not heard in any other arc</ref> that the characters sometimes respond to.
 
== Comics[[Comic Books]] ==
* Uatu the Watcher frequently narrates [[Marvel Comics]] [[Elseworld]] stories, most notably the "What If?" series. Usually he remains aloof from the events (as is his preference), though occasionally an [[Alternate Universe]] version of him becomes involved. In ''[[Earth X]]'', however, we're led to believe that he and protege X-51 will narrate the entire story from the moon—butmoon — but X-51 refuses to stay uninvolved, and soon other characters begin showing up to hassle the Watcher. Similar events occur in the sequels ''[[Earth X|Universe X]]'' and ''[[Earth X|Paradise X]]'', feature different narrators.
 
* The newspaper comic strip ''Overboard'' often portrays the writer/narrator as a man sitting in front of a drawing board in one of the rooms of the ship. The characters will occasionally wander in and talk to or threaten him in an attempt to change the plot.
* The narrator of the [[Insecticomics]] is actually one of the Vok, a race of reality-altering hyperevolved beings. In one comic, he narrated a "Meanwhile" scene change ''to his own scene''.
* In ''Dungeon Crawlin' Fools'', the first print volume of ''[[Order of the Stick]]'', the heroes eventually get annoyed with the narrator (who turns out to actually be standing near them) and use him to distract the monster guarding the entrance to the dungeon.
* The 80's comic strip [[Bloom County]] which frequently broke the 4th wall, had an interactive narrator that would at times squabble with the characters (especially Opus, who usually had his ugly truths revealed by the narrator). One sterling example was in a storyline when the characters went on strike. Steve Dallas is the only one to remain, and the rest of the cast has been replaced with scabs. Steve is about to start a scene with the hot blonde they've gotten to replace Bill the Cat.
{{quote|'''Steve Dallas''': (''pretending to be reading from the script'') Act I, Panel 1: Bill the Cat gives Steve a Swedish coconut-oil massage.
'''Scab''': A massage? Are you quite sure?
'''Steve Dallas''': If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.
'''Narrator''': He's lyin'.
'''Scab''': I quit.
'''Steve Dallas''': (''shaking fist at air'') *-#!!$% UNION NARRATOR!! }}
* The very concept of an interactive narrator is parodied in [https://web.archive.org/web/20100416054316/http://www.ugmadness.net/index.php?date=2006-07-03 this] strip from the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' webcomic ''[[UG Madness]]''.
* Cartoonist Bruce Tinsley frequently interacts with the title character of ''[[Mallard Fillmore]]'', appearing as a giant set of fingers holding a pencil above the panel.
* [[Fan Web Comic]] ''[[Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha]] [http://check.animeblogger.net/nanoha-gamers-index/ GamerS]'' has, to quote one of the characters, "this weird yellow box thing that keeps following me around and making weird comments". He tends to get threatened with grievious bodily harm, especially by [[Straight Man|Teana]].
* Uatu the Watcher frequently narrates [[Marvel Comics]] [[Elseworld]] stories, most notably the "What If?" series. Usually he remains aloof from the events (as is his preference), though occasionally an [[Alternate Universe]] version of him becomes involved. In ''[[Earth X]]'', however, we're led to believe that he and protege X-51 will narrate the entire story from the moon—but X-51 refuses to stay uninvolved, and soon other characters begin showing up to hassle the Watcher. Similar events occur in the sequels ''[[Earth X|Universe X]]'' and ''[[Earth X|Paradise X]]'', feature different narrators.
* Characters in ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' occasionally communicate with their narrator/author, but these asides do not seem to affect the plot at all. It's most common in non-canon strips like the annual appearance of the [[Halloween Episode|Halloween Monster.]]
* The ''[[Babymouse]]'' graphic novels have this kind of narrator, with Babymouse often telling the narrator to shut up when it makes keen observations on her life.
* In Warren Ellis' ''[[Supergod]]'', a character who possesses the power of quantum perception is able to perceive the narration accompanying his panels, and comments on it. The Narrator himself, a character recounting the story at a later date, has no idea that this is happening.
 
== Fan Fiction ==
 
== [[Fan Fiction Works]] ==
* In one ''[[Star Trek]]: First Contact]]'' [http://www.st-minutiae.com/humor/fullcontact.html parody] (written in [[Script Fic|script format]]), the story's narrator was assimilated by the Borg halfway through. For a while, the story is then narrated by the Borg, before the Starfleet crew activate the Emergency Narration Hologram.
* In the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' fanfic ''[[Those Lacking Spines]]'', the narrator takes on two forms; as the actual writer of the literature (with a habit of torturing Vexen), and as in the slightly-crazy fan of one of the protagonists, namely, Xaldin.
* The narrator of the ''[[Insecticomics]]'' is actually one of the Vok, a race of reality-altering hyperevolved beings. In one comic, he narrated a "Meanwhile" scene change ''to his own scene''.
* There is an unposted fanfic of ''[[Death Note]]'' that involves a wisecracking narrator whom everyone except Near (mostly) hates, named Zadi. She tries to remain offscreen, but in one chapter they ended up in Oz and she became a character who both narrated ''and'' talked for said chapter. Also, Matt hacks into the narration a lot so it gets confusing. And they have [[No Fourth Wall]]
* The ''[[FanLyrical Web ComicNanoha]] '' [[LyricalFan Nanoha|NanohaWeb Comic]] ''[http://check.animeblogger.net/nanoha-gamers-index/ Nanoha GamerS]'' has, to quote one of the characters, "this weird yellow box thing that keeps following me around and making weird comments". He tends to get threatened with grieviousgrievous bodily harm, especially by [[Straight Man|Teana]].
* In one episode of ''[[Naruto: The Abridged Comedy Fandub Spoof Series Show]]'', there is a [[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] esque narrator. Naruto immediately notices and throws a knife at her off-screen and we hear her writhing in agony.
* The ''[[Pokébattles]]'' Narrator is usually depicted as an omnipotent (or so it claims), genderless, sadistic [[Lemony Narrator]]... and whom the player can almost always hear and interact with.
 
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''. The narrator comes awfully close to this, dancing with the rest of the cast. The stage version plays the Trope straight.
* In the Brendan Fraser live-action movie of ''[[George of the Jungle (film)|George of the Jungle]]'', the narrator is an active and slightly malignant force. At one point a [[Mook]] picks a fight with him over his insulting description, to which the narrator responds by rewinding the movie just to taunt him. (The mook's comrade then asks, "Did you just ''argue'' with the ''narrator''?") The sequel has the narrator ''reach in and pick up'' a villain who annoyed him, a [[Deus Ex Machina]] resolution to a plotline.
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{{quote|Now, technically, I'm ''never'' supposed to do this...}}
 
== [[Literature]] ==
 
* Jack the Narrator from ''[[The Stinky Cheese Man]] And Other Fairly Stupid Tales''. He argues with the Little Red Hen, he spoils the ending of "Little Red Running Shorts" (at which point the characters simply walk away, leaving blank pages where the story was supposed to happen), and he gets kidnapped by the Giant when he tries to tell "Jack and the Beanstalk".
* In Simon Hawke's ''The Reluctant Sorcerer'', the [[Big Bad]] is an archmage described as possessing extremely potent mystical senses. He promptly demonstrates this by demanding to know who the mysterious voice talking about him is. He goes on to have several arguments with the narrator, resulting in abrupt scene shifts, and in the last volume of the series, {{spoiler|travels to the Narrator's dimension and buys out his publishing company in order to force him to change the ending of the book so that he wins}}!
* ''Anthony Trollope'', used the omniscient observer voice. However, in one novel, he interacted with the characters slightly by declaring that he once caught one of the characters fibbing.
* Applied [[In-Universe]] in ''[[Tanya Grotter]]'' series (Threea guessesseries of Russian books parodying ''[[Harry Potter|What]] this lampshades''). At the magical school , they have a game called "Drakonbol", which involves dragons. There also is a commentator. WhrenWhen said commentator is injured, Bab-Jagun, one of the plaerersplayers, becomes a resident "playing commentator". This wouldn't be so bad - except players are routinely ''eaten'' by said dragons. They don't '''usually'' devour said players, but you cannot comment on a play outside from there...
 
 
== Live Action Television ==
 
== [[Live -Action Television TV]] ==
* Most [[Game Shows]] have the host interacting with the narrator, who's usually called an "announcer" instead. Oftentimes the game show narrators appear on-camera, and some become very well-known in their own right.
* ''[[Teletubbies]]'' has the 'Tubbies hear the narrator and then refuse to do what he says.
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* On ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'' a documentary show called "Scandal Makers" films an episode about the Bluth family, which Ron Howard critiques, as narrator, saying that due to Tobias Fumke's poor acting, a heavy burden was placed on the narrator. He ends by saying, ''"Really shoddy narration. Just pure crap."''
 
== [[Newspaper Radio Comics]] ==
* The newspaper comic strip ''[[Overboard]]'' often portrays the writer/narrator as a man sitting in front of a drawing board in one of the rooms of the ship. The characters will occasionally wander in and talk to or threaten him in an attempt to change the plot.
* The 80's comic strip '[[Bloom County]]'', which frequently brokebreaks the 4thfourth wall, had an interactive narrator that would at times squabble with the characters (especially Opus, who usually had his ugly truths revealed by the narrator). One sterling example was in a storyline when the characters went on strike. Steve Dallas is the only one to remain, and the rest of the cast has been replaced with scabs. Steve is about to start a scene with the hot blonde they've gotten to replace Bill the Cat.
{{quote|'''Steve Dallas''': (''pretending to be reading from the script'') Act I, Panel 1: Bill the Cat gives Steve a Swedish coconut-oil massage.
'''Scab''': A massage? Are you quite sure?
'''Steve Dallas''': If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.
'''Narrator''': He's lyin'.
'''Scab''': I quit.
'''Steve Dallas''': (''shaking fist at air'') *-#!!$% UNION NARRATOR!! }}
* Cartoonist Bruce Tinsley frequently interacts with the title character of ''[[Mallard Fillmore]]'', appearing as a giant set of fingers holding a pencil above the panel.
 
== Theatre[[Radio]] ==
* The 1966 [[BBC Radio]] version of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' features a narrator called the Tale Bearer, who frequently argues with Bilbo Baggins over story details. For instance:
{{quote|'''Tale Bearer''': Hobbits are inclined to be fat in the stomach...
'''Bilbo''': (Clears throat) ''Well built'', I think. }}
* The 1950s BBC radio comedy ''[http://www.thegoonshow.net/ [The Goon Show]]'' subverted this constantly. The show's characters would constantly undercut nominal narrator Wallace Greenslade (a BBC announcer appearing under his real name), often narrating themselves or mocking Greenslade's "posh talk". [https://web.archive.org/web/20120512041054/http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/ajwills/raw/series06/s06e14.html One episode] turned the tables and made Greenslade the central character, telling the story of his rise to BBC stardom. In the episode "The Phantom Head-Shaver Of Brighton" he kept telling us about a tobacco stall he'd just opened. It turned out he was the Phantom Head-Shaver, using the hair for stock. Normally a BBC radio announcer would only announce the show's title at the start and read the closing credits at the end. Given their anarchic style of comedy the Goons weren't about to let ''their'' narrator get off so lightly.
* This also happened in another [[BBC]] radio comedy ''[[The Navy Lark]]'' at one point having the cast abandon the story to go look at the narrator's [[Page Three Stunna|dirty calendar]] - his naughty Lillian Gish calendar. On another occasion they help the narrator find a 15 sided nut for his vacuum. Throughout the run, the narrator set up the story with a little monologue at the beginning. Later in the run, the characters would break in and either converse or argue with the narrator, or tell him to hurry up so they could get on with the show.
* In the fan-made ''[[EarthBound]]'' radio play ''[[Fobbies Are Borange]]'', the characters have a hostile relationship with the narrator. {{spoiler|In the end, it turns out that the narrator was the [[Big Bad]] all along.}}
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'''Graeme Garden:''' I'm not complaining. }}
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* [[Steve Jackson Games]]'s game ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'' plays with this trope a little. The cards themselves can be understood to tell a loose story -- for example, a character may be a Feline Bounty Hunter locked in combat with CthuluCthulhu wielding a Laser-Maser-BoBaser (play it once and you'll understand). The "narrators" (players) are encouraged to argue and debate anything not explicitly stated on the cards, with the ultimate authority resting with the game's owner.
 
== [[Theatre]] ==
* Steve Jackson's game ''Munchkin'' plays with this trope a little. The cards themselves can be understood to tell a loose story - for example, a character may be a Feline Bounty Hunter locked in combat with Cthulu wielding a Laser-Maser-BoBaser (play it once and you'll understand). The "narrators" (players) are encouraged to argue and debate anything not explicitly stated on the cards, with the ultimate authority resting with the game's owner.
* ''[[The Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''. The Narrator often interacts with the cast, which is fair, since the audience ''always'' interacts with ''him'' and the cast.
 
== Theatre ==
 
* ''[[Rocky Horror Picture Show]]''. The Narrator often interacts with the cast, which is fair, since the audience ''always'' interacts with ''him'' and the cast.
* The story of ''[[Into the Woods]]'' is told by a narrator. In the first act, the characters don't interact with him too much, though it is clear that they can hear him. Halfway through the second act, however, the fairy-tale characters start giving [[Aside Glance]]s to the narrator as he describes the action in a frustratingly omniscient way, and they then decide to {{spoiler|sacrifice the narrator to the Giantess in an attempt to convince her he was Jack. The characters' logic is that, as the narrator himself protests, he isn't "one of us." The other characters lament that without him, they'll never know how the story ends.}} Not coincidentally, this is where everything really [[It Got Worse|spirals out of control]].
* ''Spamalot!'' features The Historian who begins the show with an expository speech culminating in "...this was England!" The curtain rises on pseudo-Scandinavian folk dancers singing the praises of Finland. He frustratedly states that he said "England", and the dancers shuffle off, with one of them even commenting that he should "ennunciateenunciate better". He also sets the scene for Act II, where King Arthur and Patsy are lost in a Large and Expensive Forest. [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|He does not get killed by Lancelot.]]
* The Balladeer from ''[[Assassins (theatre)|Assassins]]'' frequently interacts with the villainous men whose ballads he sings.
** Taken even further in the revival, where the Balladeer is transformed into {{spoiler|Lee Harvey Oswald.}}
* In ''[[Blood Brothers (theatre)|Blood Brothers]]'', the Narrator not only assumes the roles of various minor characters throughout the show, but also interacts in some capacity with the main characters. How much and in what ways this is done varies from production to production, but a fairly standard usage is hits presence visually haunting Mrs. Johnstone and Mrs. Lyons whenever their bargain is recalled.
* The Leading Player from ''Pippin'' starts off speaking directly to the audience, but by the end of the play he is giving Pippin himself instructions on how the play should end.
* Officer Lockstock in ''[[Urinetown]]'' interacts with everybody, especially with Little Sally as they explain a lot of the plotholes. This is also beautifully lampshaded in the final number, with a line that might also be a shoutoutshout-out to ''[[Into the Woods]]'':
{{quote|Little Sally: Aren't you afraid they'll see you?
Officer Lockstock: Oh, I may be a cop, but I'm also the narrator. So no one can touch me, not if they want the show to end. }}
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** When the archery tournament is suddenly changed to a bowling tournament, he also reveals that ''he'' is the best bowler in the land (whereas the Sheriff is the second best) and proceeds to give Robin lessons.
* In "Our Town", Thornton Wilder uses a Stage Manager to aid in telling the story. Early performances had actors simply sitting in chairs reciting their lines, and the Stage Manager was a necessity. Later, directors had the actors do more acting, but the Stage Manager still played an important role.
* ''[[Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]]'' has a female narrator explaining the story, and the role can get pretty superfluous depending on the production (the 1999 movie adaptation in particular has her doing some pretty ridiculous things). Also, if the narrator wasn't around, there would be no significant female role at all.
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* ''[[Plumbers Don't Wear Ties]]''. In the most stupid, embarrassing way.
* The 2005 adaptation of ''[[The Bard's Tale]]'' featured this type of narrator, who was highly critical of the [[Jerkass]] Bard whose tale he was narrating. The two would often argue with one another, with the narrator (as voiced by the late [[Tony Jay]], no less) dropping [[Deadpan Snarker|insults]] the Bard's way whenever something happened to him.
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* The narrator in the ''[[Space Quest]]'' games can be heard by other members of the cast and harbors some sort of grudge against the game's protagonist, Roger Wilco.
{{quote|'''Narrator:''' Maybe if you wait a while, the nice droid will come around to where you are and ''talk'' to you. [[Evil Laugh|(Laughs evilly)]]}}
:: In ''VI'', Hehe shrugs it off as "Mechanical Flatulence from the ship" near the start
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]|Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir]]'', the narrator for the opening and ending is a character. After the ending, you can bluff or threaten him into ''changing the ending''.
* In ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]'', the Narrator is revealed in the secret ending to be {{spoiler|Cid of the Lufaine.}} In said ending, he appears to be narrating the end of the story, {{spoiler|only for Cosmos to raise her head and begin speaking to him.}} It's a rare occurrence of this trope being absolutely dead serious.
* The trailers for the ''[[Persona 4 Arena]]'' have the [[Lemony Narrator]] giving insulting nicknames to each of the Team's members which, naturally, they complain about.
* The narrator in the ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' games is also [[Big Bad]] Shao Kahn. In some games, when he wins a fight, the narrator will sometimes say "I win" instead of "Shao Kahn wins". Oddly, he seems completely non-biased, even while narrating endings where the Earthrealm warriors triumph.
* In ''[[Bastion]]'', the narrator is Rucks, one of the last survivors of the Calamity and {{spoiler|the one responsible for creating the Bastion}}. He provides running commentary on [[The Hero|the Kid's]] journey, as well as [[Heroic Mime|his voice]] when he talks to the other survivors.
* The narrator of the Source Mod ''[[The Stanley Parable]]'' seems to gently nudge you in the direction that leads to freedom. And by gently, we mean he gives you the solution to a puzzle almost completely upfront. If you try to go [[Off the Rails]] in any way however, he quickly grows annoyed at your attempts and will try to stop your progress in any way he can, giving you a [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] along the way.
* [[The Stinger]] of ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'' reveals that Rosalina was actually narrating the game's plot via a storybook she was reading to the Lumas. At the end of "The Perfect Run", she writes herself into her own book to give Mario/Luigi the final Power Star.
* The Narrator in ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse]]'' turns out to be an interesting subversion. {{spoiler|In the final episode he's revealed to actually exist within Sam & Max's universe, as the personification of Max's super-ego, and lives inside his brain. Even after we learn this, however, he continues to narrate somewhat and [[Fourth Wall Observer|address the audience beyond the fourth wall]].}}
* ''[[The Juggler's Tale]]'' is a platformer and puzzle game where the protagonist, Abby, is a living marionette, trying to escape the cruel Ringmaster and win her freedom. [[Rhymes on a Dime| The rhyming Narrator]] not only gives her advice, but seems to be the one holding her strings, occasionally lifting her over and away from danger. {{spoiler| Eventually, however, it is revealed he is the true [[Big Bad]], upset that Abby is going off script, and the one placing her in danger to begin with.}}
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
 
* ''[[Books Don't Work Here]]'' simply has a very talkative narrator who can't keep his nose on the other side of the 4thfourth wall and out of his character's business. This trope will be used not-so-simple later when {{spoiler|it is done more complexly. Not enough spoiler for you? Well too bad you have to wait for chapter 4 like everyone else to actually meet the narrator in person.}}
== Webcomics ==
 
* ''[[Books Don't Work Here]]'' simply has a very talkative narrator who can't keep his nose on the other side of the 4th wall and out of his character's business. This trope will be used not-so-simple later when {{spoiler|it is done more complexly. Not enough spoiler for you? Well too bad you have to wait for chapter 4 like everyone else to actually meet the narrator in person.}}
* The narrator of ''[[1/0]]'' is quite explicitly the author, as well as the closest thing the comic has to a god figure. He gave his creations [[No Fourth Wall]], so he often converses with them and occasionally takes requests from them. (At one point, they go on strike and refuse to do anything until he stabilizes the comic's physics.)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090429064352/http://qwantz.com/archive/001192.html This strip] of ''[[Dinosaur Comics]]''.
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:: Even worse when you consider that the "lame-o Sci-Fantasy explanation" is EXACTLY what happens to her next boyfriend. [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2007-04-01 making the whole thing a five year] [[Brick Joke]].
* ''[[Homestuck]]'' takes this trope and runs with it. As a webcomic in the style of [[Interactive Fiction]] about a game that affects reality, narrators don't just describe a scene—they also command or suggest the actions of the characters, and a few of the character are capable of talking back to them. On top of that, ''every single narrator'' is a character in the story, [[Author Avatar|including the author himself]] and quite possibly the audience. This means that most narrators have narrators of their own when it time to focus on them. It's possibly the single most meta example of this trope ever.
* In ''Dungeon Crawlin' Fools'', the first print volume of ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', the heroes eventually get annoyed with the narrator (who turns out to actually be standing near them) and use him to distract the monster guarding the entrance to the dungeon.
* The very concept of an interactive narrator is parodied in [https://web.archive.org/web/20100416054316/http://www.ugmadness.net/index.php?date=2006-07-03 this] strip from the ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' webcomic ''[[UG Madness]]''.
 
== Web-Original[[Western Animation]] ==
 
* The Pokébattles Narrator is usually depicted as an omnipotent (or so it claims), genderless, sadistic [[Lemony Narrator]]... and whom the player can almost always hear and interact with.
* In one episode of [[Naruto: The Abridged Comedy Fandub Spoof Series Show]], there is a [[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]] esque narrator. Naruto immediately notices and throws a knife at her off-screen and we hear her writhing in agony.
 
== Western Animation ==
 
* In the [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[Earthworm Jim (animation)|Earthworm Jim]]'', the characters often interact with the narrator. In one episode, the narrator was once held at gunpoint by the villains and forced to read lines they'd written.
* ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]''{{'}}s narrator was similar, complete with rampant fourth-wall breaking and kidnapping.
** In the aforementioned kidnapping incident, the kidnappers quickly realized that without the narrator to say things like "And just then, a familiar figure entered the room", the plot could not progress. So they let him go.
** In [[The Movie]], being reduced to moving in with his mother and narrating his own life when the show was cancelled.
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** In ''How to Be a Gentleman,'' Goofy exacts his revenge on the unseen voice that's been tormenting him for so long... with a giant club.
** And speaking of ''[[House of Mouse]]'', there were a few instances of [[John Cleese]] lending some narration. Usually without the interaction, but in one particular cartoon, ''The Nutcracker'', Cleese not only argues with the characters and gets flustered by the confusing casting (including flat-out lying to Donald about the Rat King's ultimate fate to get him to actually do the part), but he also manages to kick Ludwig von Drake out of the picture (temporarily, to his great frustration).
* Protagonist Kuzco narrates the first half of ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]'' in extremely snarky fashion, even complaining when other characters are given more screen time than him. When on-screen Kuzco finally begins to turn away from being a [[Jerkass]], he tells narrator-Kuzco to shut up and go away. He does, and there is no narration in the second half of the film.
* ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]''{{'}}s narrator talks with the characters at least once per story...
** The most extreme example of narrator-character interaction is "And Tigger too", when Tigger and Roo got stuck in a tree, the narrator ''tips the book on its side'' to allow Tigger to slide down to safety. (In the Disney version, all the action takes place inside a book, and includes other gags of this nature)
** In ''[[The Tigger Movie]]''{{'}}s opening scene, Tigger is upset at the title of the book usually used in the other Pooh Bear Adventures. The Narrator asks "well, what would you call it then", to which Tigger Rearranges the print on the page to form his own title.
* ''[[Word Girl]]''{{'}}s narrator, in addition to explaining the plot, [[Deadpan Snarker|comments on the absurdity of the show]], as well as advancing the plot himself, such as explaining where the villains are hiding. A [[Running Gag]] involves him adding a [[Cliff Hanger]] to the plot in the middle of an episode, leading to the characters' complaining.
** One episode had a ''second'' narrator [[Genre Shift|narrating the episode in a dramatic manner]]. The Narrator has an ''obvious'' bias towards the main character. The villains that tend to be more [[Genre Savvy]] on the show will often notice this and complain.
** In one episode, the villain known as Chuck, The Evil Sandwich-Making Guy, passed a sandwich above the screen, and the Narrator ate it.
* In one ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'' episode, the "storyteller" was enslaved by the resident evil pig. The problem was solved by {{spoiler|Dave and his family hiring a new one.}}
* In one ''[[Mr. Magoo]]'' cartoon with an Old West theme, Magoo is riding a stagecoach, oblivious to a bandit ''and'' a gang of Native Americans preparing to attack it. The narrator knows, and the bandit says, repeatedly, "You talk too much!" and tries to shoot him. His narration of what the Indians are doing fares little better, the leader noticing their planning meeting and getting upset at him for eavesdropping.
* ''[[Veggie Tales]]''
** Used in a short about the life of Maewynn Soccet, who would later become St. Patrick. The narrator is played by the bit-character Lutfi, "The Teensy weensy cucumber".
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* In the "Woodland Critter Christmas" episode of ''[[South Park]]'', Stan comes into conflict with a narrator who describes him doing things he didn't, and wouldn't, do, and transports him to places when he refuses to go there himself. The narrator turns out to be {{spoiler|Cartman}}.
* The narrator of [[Disney]]'s ''[[Hercules (1997 film)|Hercules]]'' is named Bob (his wife is Mrs. Bob, they have two kids). While he rarely interacts with the main characters he is in competition with the Muses and frequently argues with them. Bob is apparently ''just'' an invisible Charlton Heston as he and his family appear in one episode wearing large souvenir hats.
 
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[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Narrator Tropes]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
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