page_title: False protagonist
section_title: Literature
hierarchical_section_title: False protagonist / Examples / Literature
context_page_description: In fiction, a false protagonist is a literary technique, often used to make the plot more jarring or more memorable by defying the audience's preconceptions, whereby a character who the audience assumes is the protagonist is later revealed not to be.
  A false protagonist is presented at the start of the fictional work as the main character, but is then removed from the role, often killed or relegated to a different role in the story.
context_section_description: The Book of Samuel begins with Samuel's birth and God's call to him as a boy. At this point, the readers are led to believe that Samuel is the central figure in the book. By the sixteenth chapter, the book starts to primarily focus on David.
  The story of Aladdin in the Arabian Nights begins with a sorcerer making a difficult journey all the way from Morocco to China, on a quest for a marvelous magic lamp - giving the clear impression that he is the protagonist. Even when he makes contact with the boy Aladdin, pretending to be his long-lost uncle, this is still told from the sorcerer's point of view. Only after the sorcerer quarrels with Aladdin and leaves him trapped in a dark cavern does the point of view shift to Aladdin and it becomes clear that he is the true protagonist and that the sorcerer is the story's antagonist.
  George R. R. Martin's novel A Game of Thrones, the first entry in the A Song of Ice and Fire epic fantasy series, features chapters told from the point of view of numerous characters, but the most prominent is Ned Stark, who is the viewpoint character for the greatest number of chapters; in the television adaptation Game of Thrones he was portrayed by Sean Bean, the best-known actor in the cast. He appears to be the novel's main protagonist until the final chapters, in which he is unexpectedly executed.
  Kumo Kagyu's Light Novel Goblin Slayer begins Volume 1 with a trio of adventurers recruiting a Priestess for a Goblin killing contract where the trio are eaten, poisoned to death, and reduced to a vegetative state from the trauma. Before she was harmed the Priestess was rescued by the legendary Goblin Slayer who replaces her 3 three escorts as the protagonist.
caption: The Book of Samuel starts with Samuel as a young boy. He was the main focus in the first few chapters until he eventually becomes a minor character.
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