tvtropes.org

Character Calculus - TV Tropes

  • ️Mon Jan 14 2008

There are so many different kinds of Characters explored on this wiki that we can lay out several independent dimensions of characterness. It would be too hard to graph three dimensions on this page, so a series of sliding scales will have to do, each representing a different axis of Character Calculus.

The Morality Axis

The morality axis describes how good or evil a character is, regardless of whether they're The Protagonist or even a main character at all. Tropey the Wonder Dog will tell all about how to change place.

The POV Axis

The point of view (POV) axis describes the range of narrative perspectives between a protagonist and an antagonist or foil. Not to be confused with how much attention a character gets, this is about how closely the character's perspective is aligned with the story's perspective. (This can get weird when, say, the Big Bad is also the Narrator, like in Samurai Jack.) Movement along this axis is quite rare, nothwistanding moments of Captain's Log.

The Focus Axis

This axis describes how much a character is in the focus of the point of view. So, how much attention it gets. Movement is Character Focus, including everything from Demoted to Extra and Ascended from it.

The Power Axis

This axis describes how effectively the character shapes the world around them.Characters can move up this ladder if they Take a Level in Badass and can slide down via Badass Decay. See also Super Weight.

Analysis.Anti Hero uses the variability which is the point of antihero. An anti-hero must vary away from a hero on one of these scales, but hero has a couple more scales to fail on including Respectability (Type I), Niceness (Type II), but also morality like here. Type IV and V are heavily lacking on morality, which is more defining for heroes than most characters, yet are on high the regular axes like perspective.

Note that since these axes are separate, any combination is technically possible. (Whether it's a good idea is a different question entirely.) For example, the Sympathetic P.O.V. could be assigned to an Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist who is a jerkass quirky miniboss who serves a Big Bad with a short temper. Then, the position of a Narrator who observes and comments on the real main characters could be added to his other role as a Butt-Monkey who provides comic relief with his Amusing Injuries.

See also Cast Calculus for how any given cast interacts with their extended ensemble, if any.