Guardians/Contagonist/Support/Skeptic
by Terrell
(Columbia, MO)
Hey quick question: can Guardians and Support-typed characters be on the dark or bad side? Also, can a Contagonist and a Skeptic be on the good side in regards to the protagonist?
Answer: It's as common for Antagonists to have Sidekicks as it is for Protagonists. Ditto with Skeptics and Guardians. As I recall, in the film, Star Trek: Nemesis, the villain (a clone of Captain Picard) had a Remian Guardian who raised him. That's just one example; there are many others.
Skeptics, when on the Protagonist's team sometimes serve a kind of loyal opposition, pointing out flaws in the protagonist's plans so he can improve them. (Han Solo plays this role in Star Wars: A New Hope.) Other times, Skeptics are just ignored, as is the case with Marvin the pessimistic robot in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Among the eight archetypal characters, there are some typical oppositions (e.g. Protagonist vs. Antagonist) but no fixed alliances that hold true across stories.
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