The Storyteller: Difference between revisions

{{quote| ''Once upon a time...''}}

One of the [[The Oldest Ones in Thethe Book|oldest archetypes]]; a character that is noted for his or her ability to tell tales, or at least their propensity to do so.

Sometimes the tales have a purpose in the main plot. At other times it is simply an interesting side excursion, perhaps to give the setting a feeling of depth.

For the Jim Henson series, see [[The Storyteller (TV series)|here]].

* Jun Kudo from ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei-sensei]]'', especially a master of the [[Tear Jerker]] tales. Of course, [[Cut Short|we hardly ever get to hear any of his stories]]...

* Kitty Pryde in the classic ''[[X -Men (Comic Book)|X Men]]'' issue "Kitty's Fairy Tale", made up a bedtime story for young Illyana Rasputin, casting herself as the heroine and other members of the X-Men as characters. Notably, Kitty cast Cyclops as a prince and Jean Grey as a princess cursed by the evil Phoenix, and gave the Scott and Jean in her story the [[Happy Ending]] their counterparts were denied.

== [[Fairy Tales]] ==

* Scheherazade in ''[[Arabian Nights (Literature)|Arabian Nights]]''.

* Fflewddur Fflam in ''[[Prydain Chronicles]]'', doing part-time as a [[Spoony Bard]].

* Bilbo in ''[[The Lord of the Rings (Literature)|Lord of the Rings]]''. Also Aragorn.

** Also the two [[Intrepid Merchant|Intrepid Merchants]]s in Ballad of the King's Jest by the same author.

* Belgarath in ''[[The Belgariad]]'' has masqueraded as a traveling storyteller, and his storytelling abilities are genuinely good.

* The Minstrel in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Last Hero|The Last Hero]]'', who is dragged along by the Silver Horde to chronicle their last great act of heroism. It is revealed at the end that he is only The Minstrel - no name other than that - and his ''entire purpose'' is to be the one that tells the tale. Despite his battered appearance by the end of it all, he seems to be a pretty good sport about the whole thing. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Or else he has been driven insane by the ordeal and forgotten whatever name he had before.]]

* [[David Copperfield (novel)|David Copperfield]] was this in his [[Boarding School of Horrors]].

* The title character in [[LML. M. Montgomery]]'s ''The Story Girl''.

* The title character of ''The Book Thief,'' by Marcus Zuzak, finds she can calm people down by reading aloud to them during an air raid in [[World War Two]] Dresden.

* [[No Name Given|The unnamed gentleman]] in the short story "The Storyteller" by H. H. Munro (better known as [[Saki (Creatorauthor)|Saki]]).

* [[Colas Breugnon]], the narrator and protagonist of the novel of the same title.

* In [[Michael Flynn]]'s ''[[Spiral Arm (Literature)|The January Dancer]]'', the harper sought out the scarred man to get him to tell her his stories, so she could write songs about them.

* The afore-mentioned short-lived [[Jim Henson]] series [[The Storyteller (TV series)|The Storyteller]] (unsurprisingly) featured one. He was credited [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"|just as "The storyteller"]] and his storytelling was the [[Framing Device]] for each episode. He was also the protagonist of one story.

* In the [[Backstory]] of ''[[Othello (Theatre)|Othello]]'', this is how Othello won Desdemona.

{{quote| ''Her father loved me, oft invited me,<br />

Still questioned me the story of my life<br />

From year to year, the battles, sieges, fortunes,<br />

That I have passed.<br />

I ran it through, even from my boyish days,<br />

To th' very moment that he bade me tell it,<br />

Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances,<br />

Of moving accidents by flood and field,<br />

Of hair-breadth ’scapes i' th' imminent deadly breach,<br />

Of being taken by the insolent foe<br />

[[Made a Slave|And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence]]<br />

* Wendy in ''[[Peter Pan]]''. The fact that she knows "lots of stories" is what makes Peter take her to Never Land in the first place, since the Lost Boys don't know any stories. In early drafts of the script, even the Indians listen in.

* Gerald from [[Hey Arnold!]] tells a lot of [[Urban Legends]].

* Cherilee in the third generation of ''[[My Little Pony]]''. The intro even spells it out for us: "I hope we hear a story from Cherilee!"

* An episode of the ''[[X -Men (Animationanimation)|X Men]]'' animated series puts Jubilee in this role. When she and a bunch of non-powered children are trapped in a cave, she cheers them up via telling them stories where she cast herself as an [[Action Girl]], Gambit and Wolverine were her teammates, Professor Xavier was [[The Mentor]]...

[[Category{{DEFAULTSORT:The Storyteller]], The}}