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Q&A What is the voice called when the narrator is a secondary character?

You're mixing up the terms. There is the protagonist, and there is the narrator. Narration has perspective. The narrator is the voice in which the book is told. If the story is told using "he/s...

posted 10y ago by Lauren Ipsum‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-13T12:00:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/14719
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:56:08Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/14719
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T03:56:08Z (almost 5 years ago)
You're mixing up the terms.

There is the **protagonist** , and there is the **narrator**. Narration has **perspective**.

The narrator is the voice in which the book is told. If the story is told using "he/she/they" and not "I," it's third-person. This narrative voice (perspective) can see into everyone's thoughts (omniscient) or only one person's thoughts (limited).

If the narrator is using "I" and the story is only about what the "I" narrator sees, knows, and experiences, that's first-person. The story is told from one person's perspective.

The protagonist is the main character of the book. A book may have multiple protagonists (see _A Song of Ice and Fire_), primary and secondary protagonists (the Harry Potter series), or one protagonist.

The protagonist does _not_ have to be the narrator. The narrator does not have to be the protagonist. You can have a first-person narrative, like _The Great Gatsby_ or _Song of Achilles,_ where the person who is telling the story isn't the most important person in the story. It's still a first-person narrative.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-12-25T02:00:38Z (almost 10 years ago)
Original score: 6