The protangonist paradox

[Kittenz 4,281]

I just had the craziest realization when I was thinking about crossovers

 

Suppose you take the main characters of two or more stories, and make a crossover where they have to fight each other.

 

Let's assume that in their own stories they are the heroes and the people who are against them are the antagonists, right?

 

What happens when main protagonists go against main protagonists?

 

To them, they would be the protagonist, and who they're fighting is their antagonist, but the reverse is also true for the other participants.

 

For example, lets take Sora and make him fight another hero from another story

 

Sora's enemy, from Sora's standpoint as the protagonist, makes them his antagonist and vise versa.

 

Meaning that everyone is a protagonist and an antagonist simultaneously until you chose the winner. 

 

[MythrilMagician 6,963]

Not necessarily, but in some cases,yes, this can be true.

[Kingdom Of Me 171]

Thats a whole Idea behind a protagonist. Protagonists aren't necessarily hero's, and the antagonist doesn't have to be a villain. The protagonists is just the person you "follow" though their tale. If it is first person, like in a book, then that person is the protagonist, like the book of Grendel, it tales the story of Beowulf from Grendel's perspective, Grendel is the villain in both stories by definition, but he is the protagonist in one and the antagonist in the other. In short it is a matter of perspective.

[Joker 1,560]

  On 5/27/2014 at 7:08 AM, KittensOnFire said:

 

I just had the craziest realization when I was thinking about crossovers

 

Suppose you take the main characters of two or more stories, and make a crossover where they have to fight each other.

 

Let's assume that in their own stories they are the heroes and the people who are against them are the antagonists, right?

 

What happens when main protagonists go against main protagonists?

 

To them, they would be the protagonist, and who they're fighting is their antagonist, but the reverse is also true for the other participants.

 

For example, lets take Sora and make him fight another hero from another story

 

Sora's enemy, from Sora's standpoint as the protagonist, makes them his antagonist and vise versa.

 

Meaning that everyone is a protagonist and an antagonist simultaneously until you chose the winner. 

 

I actually been wanting to make a story like this. but never get around to it

[littleTSUBAME 483]

  On 5/27/2014 at 3:50 PM, Oblivian474 said:

Thats a whole Idea behind a protagonist. Protagonists aren't necessarily hero's, and the antagonist doesn't have to be a villain. The protagonists is just the person you "follow" though their tale. If it is first person, like in a book, then that person is the protagonist, like the book of Grendel, it tales the story of Beowulf from Grendel's perspective, Grendel is the villain in both stories by definition, but he is the protagonist in one and the antagonist in the other. In short it is a matter of perspective.

Exactly. You wrote it pretty well.

It's like in Death Note. Light isn't really the hero of the story (at least for me, cause I don't like his thoughts), but he's a protagonist, and he believes what he does is right. Same way some atagonists think they do the right thing, but because their ideas clash with those of the protagonist's, they are villains.

So, as you said, it's a matter of opinion.