Narrative Texts—Characters

Main character in a story. The character responsible for making the story progress.

Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings series (Tolkien, 1954-1955)
Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis, 1865)
Charlie Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Dahl, 1964)

Main character’s adversary. The character responsible for creating conflict for the protagonist.

Lord Voldemort to Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series (Rowling, 1997-2007)
Captain Hook to Peter Pan in The Little White Bird (Barrie, 1902)
The Wicked Witch of the West to Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900)

A supporting character helping the protagonist progress through a story. Often also serves as the foil for the protagonist.

Samwise Gamgee to Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings series (Tolkien, 1954-1955)
Ron Weasley to Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series (Rowling, 1997-2007)
Inigo Montoya to Westley in The Princess Bride (Goldman, 1973)

A character used to elevate and emphasize another character’s qualities by contrasting them. The foil can be on the protagonist’s side (sidekick) or against (antagonist).

Dr. John Watson to Sherlock Holmes in the Sherlock Holmes series (Doyle, 1887-1927)
Lieutenant Dan to Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump (Groom, 1986)
Draco Malfoy to Harry Potter in the Harry Potter series (Rowling, 1997-2007)

Well developed and complex characters that affect and change with the story.

Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series (Rowling, 1997-2007)
Ponyboy Curtis in The Outsiders (Hinton, 1967)
Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald, 1925)

Characters with 1 or 2 simple traits used to advance certain plot points. They serve a specific purpose in the story.

Boromir in The Lord of the Rings series (Tolkien, 1954-1955)
John Hammond in Jurassic Park (Crichton, 1990)
Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter series (Rowling, 1997-2007)