Dramatis Personae
main characters
Protagonist(s): hero(s) / heroine(s)
- someone who either suffers from actions of antagonist(s), or
- who senses some kind of lack, or
- who agrees to liquidate misfortune or lack of another person
- someone who is supplied with magical agent, or helper, and
- who makes use of it or is served by it
- only sibling
- youngest of three siblings
- step-sibling
- lazy / "fool"
- special from birth
- brother / sister
- husband / wife
Antagonist(s): villain(s)
- someone whose actions cause protagonist(s) to suffer
- sibling(s)
- step-parent
- step-sibling(s)
- spouse
- servant(s), clerk(s)
- robber(s)
- merchant(s)
- evil - tsar / tsarina / knyaz / knyagina
- night spirit(s)
- forest spirit(s)
- water spirit(s)
- witch
- dragon
- koshchei (the deathless)
Dispatcher:
- someone who sends protagonist(s) away in search or exile
- tsar / tsarina
- knyaz / knyagina
- elder(s)
- parent(s)
- protector(s)
- spouse
- sibling(s)
Donor:
- someone encountered accidentally (in forest, on road), and
- who provides the [magical] agent that eventually liquidates misfortune or lack, but
- first tests protagonist(s) before providing agent
- animal
- magical animal
- wise spouse
- elderly person
- wise counselor
- forest spirit
- witch
- baba jaga
Helper(s): magical agent(s)
- someone who assists, rescues, solves and/or transfigures protagonist(s)
- wise spouse
- animal (bear, wolf, pike, falcon)
- magical animal (firebird)
- magical servants (sees-far, runs-fast, eats-all)
- magical object (replenishing sack / tablecolth, animated club)
- forest spirit
- water spirit
- prophetic
Person Sought-For(s):
- someone who exists as a goal and often recognizes and rewards protagonist(s) and / or punishes antagonist(s)
- tsar / tsarina
- knyaz / knyagina
- parent(s)
- sibling(s)
- spouse
False Protagonist(s): false hero(s)
- antiprotagonist(s) or usurper(s)
- someone who claims to be the protagonist(s), often seeking and reacting like a real protagonist
- older siblings
- step-sibling
- false "friend"
- military companion
supporting characters
family members(s):
- elder(s)
- parent(s)
- protector(s)
- sibling(s)
- step-sibling(s)
- spouse
connector(s): advance the plot
- one character finds out something from another, and
- thereby links one function to the next — advancing the plot
- information is usually announced, overheard or seen
- informers
- complainers, slanderers
- betrayers
- beggars
- servants
- animals
- magical objects
Dramatis Personae definitions based on those from: "Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp" (University of Texas Press, Austin, Texas, 1968), pp.71-91
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