Propp's Character Theory

Propp's Character Theory

The 7 Character Types

1. The Villian - a character who struggles against the hero
2. The Donor - character who prepares the hero by giving them an object/power/ability/advise to aid them
3. The Helper - a character - often imbued with a gift/power/ability/view the hero doesn't have
4. The Princess - the character the hero loves - often sought for in the narrative/object of the quest
5. The False Hero - first perceived as a good character (often aiding the hero) later revealed to be or emerges to be evil
6. The Dispatcher - character who makes the 'lack' known, sending the hero off on their quest
7. The Hero - AKA the victim/seeker/winner - reacts with the donor, marries the princess 

Shadow Of Mordor

So I have recently been obsessed with this game, and have decided to apply it to Propp's character theory.

The Villain

• This could apply to the Uruk, but your main enemy is the black hand of Sauron

The Donor

• Celebrimbor - The wraith that aids you, letting you use his power

The Helper

• You have a few helpers throughout the game, but I haven't encountered any large ones, save the queen of the shore, who i'm pretty sure is psychic

The Princess

• Your wife - she dies at the beginning of the game and you spend the whole game trying to join her in death, which you are banished from 

The False Hero

• Haven't found one yet, I suppose people are pretty obedient to an all powerful wraith

 The Dispatcher

• Celebrimbor - He sent you on the quest, at the very start

The Hero

Talion - A damaged adult who lost his family to a blood sacrifice, disturbing his equilibrium and causing him to seek death, to forever be with his wife 

Todorov's Narrative Theory

*Spoiler Alert!

Todorov's Narrative Theory

Applied To Bioshock Infinite

Todorov's theory is as follows. First there is equilibrium, then a disruption of this equilibrium. There is then a recognition of this disruption and an attempt to repair the damage, which leads to a new equilibrium. This narrative theory is circular, and the new equilibrium can easily become disrupted, starting it all over again. 

Aside from the intricate details that have made this game very difficult for people to understand at the end, the base story-line can be explained using Todorov's theory. In the game, you play as Booker Dewitt (the protagonist of the story), who we don't hear much about prior to the story, so we don't know what his beginning equilibrium is, i'm guessing a happy family with his daughter. But he racks up a debt with a mystery... man?, which is the disruption. He then gets told that if he finds the character Elizabeth and takes her to New York, then his debt will be erased. Or so he thinks. So this is where the story got a bit strange, because the bad guy that has her happens to be Booker from an alternate universe... Told you it gets strange, but still amazing :) So even still, this is then the recognition of the disruption, and the begging of his attempt to stop the disruption of his equilibrium. Booker finds out that this is much bigger than just a debt that needs to be settled, and understands that the bad guy needs Elizabeth to use her as a weapon to destroy the world. The end result of this battle leads you to understand that you are both the good and guy, which one depending on whether you chose to be baptized or not, and multi-dimensional being Elizabeth (who also happens to be your daughter), takes you back in time to when the alternate and evil Booker was created, and drowns you, thus defeating the bad guy and restoring equilibrium, maybe not for Booker who got drowned, but definitely for the world that was in peril. 

So the story does end in equilibrium, just not for our protagonist.

p.s. please don't call me out, its been a while :) 

Skyrim Inspiration

In my opinion, one of the best looking games that I enjoy is Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim.

On a high performance PC, it has the ability to wow most people who play it, one of the main ways they did this was using the completely intractable  free-roam world, with its multiple amazing landscapes.

The Begining

My First Blog

So we have been encouraged to begin a blog to archive our work, including all of our ideas and inspiration.