Is there a term...

[ErylRavenwell]

Is there a term for a character—not the protag—who is central to a plot and without whom the story has no raison d'etre? A key character, perhaps?

[KarlaErikaCal]

I know of supporting characters... could that be it?

[Andrhia]

I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe you can have a main character who is yet not the protagonist...

[Sonneillon]

I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe you can have a main character who is yet not the protagonist...

I don't think you're wrong. After all, in the X-Files, Mulder and Scully are both the main characters, but Mulder is pretty clearly the protagonist because his obsession is what drives the series along.

I don't know if there's a specific term for a secondary main character... if there is, I've never heard it. Supporting Main Character, maybe?

[ErylRavenwell]

I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe you can have a main character who is yet not the protagonist...

I reckon, "main character" may be too generic a term to qualify.

[ErylRavenwell]

I don't think you're wrong. After all, in the X-Files, Mulder and Scully are both the main characters, but Mulder is pretty clearly the protagonist because his obsession is what drives the series along.

I don't know if there's a specific term for a secondary main character... if there is, I've never heard it. Supporting Main Character, maybe?

Not in that way. Scully is merely a supporting character, most of the times. A main character and even the protag at times as well, but hardly ever the key character.

[My-Immortal]

Is there a term for a character—not the protag—who is central to a plot and without whom the story has no raison d'etre? A key character, perhaps?

Like Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan?

[ErylRavenwell]

Like Private Ryan in Saving Private Ryan?

Ex—zact—ly. Bravo. I was dredging my mind for an appropriate example and you were faster than I.

[Sage]

A catalyst?

[Cranky]

Ex—zact—ly. Bravo. I was dredging my mind for an appropriate example and you were faster than I.

A MacGuffin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin)?

ETA: Or maybe not, depending on how important this character is to your plot...

[ErylRavenwell]

A catalyst?

Well, a catalyst acts like a trigger to events in a plot. It's never central to anything.

[ErylRavenwell]

A MacGuffin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin)?

ETA: Or maybe not, depending on how important this character is to your plot...

Thanks for the link. If I've understood the term correctly, then I think a MacGuffin is more or less a catalyst.

[Cranky]

Thanks for the link. If I've understood the term correctly, then I think a MacGuffin is more or less a catalyst.

Yes. But you asked if there is a term for it, and that's the closest thing I could think of that fit.

Sorry if that's not what you were looking for.

[Sage]

Well, a catalyst acts like a trigger to events in a plot. It's never central to anything.
Well, under some definitions--including the chemical one--it's not involved, but under other definitions, it's simply an agent for change.

One of my MCs is an agent for change for the other. Without her, he would remain emotionally numb instead of evolving over the course of the novel. She is a catalyst for his evolution, but she is also a main character.

[LaceWing]

"Ally" is the term I think you're looking for. One role of the ally is to check the hero when he's tempted to cheat his own moral code.

[ErylRavenwell]

Well, under some definitions--including the chemical one--it's not involved, but under other definitions, it's simply an agent for change.

One of my MCs is an agent for change for the other. Without her, he would remain emotionally numb instead of evolving over the course of the novel. She is a catalyst for his evolution, but she is also a main character.


It's involved but is unchanged by the process, chemically speaking.

It's not about evolution; it's more about revolution, in the sense the storyline revolves around the said character. I hope you don't mind me being argumentative. I sometimes pay an obsessive attention to detail. :D

[My-Immortal]

Causal agent?

[IceCreamEmpress]

A central character? A core character? An essential character? A keystone character? A sine qua non character? A motivating character?

I don't think there's a standard term for it, so use whatever works best for you.

[IdiotsRUs]

Is there a term for a character—not the protag—who is central to a plot and without whom the story has no raison d'etre? A key character, perhaps?

I call them Gatsby's ( as in the Great :))

[DWSTXS]

well...if the character is not the protagonist, but is central to the story, as in my own WIP......I call this character the antagonist

[ErylRavenwell]

well...if the character is not the protagonist, but is central to the story, as in my own WIP......I call this character the antagonist

Not necessarily. The term is a Private Ryan (the most concise example I can find). Without Pvt Ryan in Saving Private Ryan the plot evaporates into thin air. Yet for most part of the movie, Pvt Ryan is absent; still the plot revolves around him. He's central to the plot, and in IceCreamEmpress' words, "the sine qua non character". Yet he's neither the protag or antag.

If they can have a MacGuffin, then I can personally have a Pvt Ryan. :D

[DWSTXS]

okay. not necessarily. But, not necessarily not either. Maybe it depends upon the context that the character fills.