Let me take you through the anatomy of an active protagonist, one that everyone can relate to. We’ll make our protagonist—we’ll call him Joh
We Are the Mountain: A Look at the Inactive Protagonist
by VIDA CRUZ
Now let’s flip the script. Let me take you through the anatomy of characters who are commonly labelled “inactive protagonist.”
They are marginalized in some way, via race or class or gender or sex or ability. They will most certainly have suffered some kind of trauma (or three, or more), whether physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual. These two things have inevitably and inextricably colored not only how they perceive and navigate the world they live in, but how gods, natural or supernatural phenomena, technology, society, or other people react to them.
The latter, especially, is not something they can control. Not when you live in a world that wasn’t made for you. Not when you have no choice but to live in a world that wasn’t made for you.