History Main / Narrator

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* To some extent, Mike Hanlon in Creator/StephenKing's ''{{It}}''. Between every section of the book there is an interlude where Mike narrates the history of It in the form of a documentary journal.

* The Narrator of the StephenSondheim musical ''IntoTheWoods'' [[spoiler: becomes a more tangible character in the second act and gets sacrificed to the giant's wife]].

* ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'' gives us Kyon, who gives us an on-the-fly narration [[InnerMonologue in his head]]... perhaps. The title character sometimes responds to his narrations. It's never really made certain as to whether he's saying much of the narration [[DidIJustSayThatOutLoud out loud]], or just to himself. Haruhi's own nature further confuses things.

* For the Frankenstein segments of GrantMorrison’s SevenSoldiers the narrator was also a LargeHam.

* The Narrator of ''PassingStrange'', who is meant to be the grown-up version of the Youth the story revolves around, and who was [[OriginalCastPrecedent originally played on Broadway]] by one of the show's co-writers, [[OnlyOneName Stew]].

* Mary Alice Young (an omnipresent [[PosthumousCharacter dead]] character), on ''DesperateHousewives''.

* Spoofed in a [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=060722 summer 2006 installment]] of the webcomic ''SluggyFreelance''.

[[SelfDemonstratingArticle That's what the sign had said, anyway.]] And so, [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife as if compelled to do so]], [[TheStanleyParable Stanl-]] I mean the Troper sat down at his computer screen and began to type...

* ''TheStanleyParable'' is narrated like a novel, and said narrator describes the actions and choices of the player before they even happen. If you [[OffTheRails don't do whatever it is he is narrating]], he gets increasingly irate.

* The Narrator from ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat''. Though the play would be fine without her (with her lines distributed to the other characters), it seems that [[AndrewLloydWeber ALW]] wanted to have [[TheSmurfettePrinciple at least one woman]] in the show who actually had a part.
** Except that the original narrator was actually portrayed by a man until it premiered on Broadway more than decade after [[AndrewLloyd Weber ALW]] and Tim Rice wrote it.

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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/narrator3_4524.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/RockyAndBullwinkle http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/narrator3_4524.jpg]]]]

[[SelfDemonstratingArticle That's what the sign had said, anyway.]] And so, [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife as if compelled to do so]], the Troper sat down at his computer screen and began to type...

->"How d'you do and hello, I'll be running the show, I'm your host and emcee."
-->'''The Cat In The Hat, {{Seussical}}''', ''Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!'''

* Parodied until the break of dawn by the ''GeorgeOfTheJungle'' [[TheFilmOfTheSeries movie]]. The narrator not only narrates the action, he talks to the audience (at one point assuring them "[[NeverSayDie Nobody dies in this movie]]... they just get really big boo-boos"), corrects the actors when they mishear his description and at one point gets into an argument with one of the {{Mooks}} over how he's describing him, even rewinding the movie just to give him a hard time.
** The narrator was also parodied with in the old ''GeorgeOfTheJungle'' cartoons, including one point where he made a character in the cartoon crash his plane into the top of the mountain with the warning, "Let that be a lesson to you: never monkey around with a narrator."
* ''[[ThreeHundred 300]]''. At the end of the film, the {{Narrator}} turns out to have been [[LiteraryAgentHypothesis relating the entire tale]] to his fellow Spartans.
* The Creator/AdamSandler flick ''EightCrazyNights'' had narration as well.

* Harry Lockheart in ''KissKissBangBang''.

* ''TheHallelujahTrail:'' Veteran western character actor John Dehner provides an ongoing commentary on the supposed historical context surrounding events, sometimes including maps and arrows to help the viewer keep track of just where everyone is.
* ''RocknRolla'' makes use of this by having the [[GenreSavvy genre-savvy]] [[TheDragon dragon]] Archy explain to the audience how his boss and London's underworld works.
* It's entirely possible to just listen to ''{{Casino}}'' from another room and understand almost everything that's going on because of the detailed narration.
* The first two movies of Creator/LarsVonTrier's American trilogy, ''{{Dogville}}'' and ''Manderlay'', feature Creator/JohnHurt as the narrator.

->''"(speaking to [[TheManyAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh Tigger]]) Why, I'm the Narrator!"'

* The Manga/DragonBall series. Recaps the previous episodes. And closes the final scene. On occasion, he narrates in the middle of episodes. The Funimation Texas dub narrators are infamous for gravely voiced, "Last time, on Dragon Ball Z!". The Japanese dub sounds like an elder man telling a story.
** In the Japanese version, JoujiYanami is the narrator for all of the series. In the Funimation dub, Brice Armstrong narrates DB, KyleHebert does DBZ, Andy Chandler does DBGT and Doc Morgan does DBZ Kai.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': The pilot episode kicks off the story and the setting with a female narrator giving a brief overview of the history of humanity and the world, ending on a dark, bitter, pessimistic note. Her speech is concluded by a male narrator who strongly implies her bitterness is connected to a fall from grace. Between them, both narrators foreshadow future darkness and a solution lying with a person who has a 'simple soul'. The male narrator is quickly revealed to be [[BigGood Professor Ozpin]]; the female narrator takes much longer to be revealed.

* {{Ookami-san}} has Shirai Kuroko as a LemonyNarrator who also makes frequent observations about the main heroines' [[ACupAngst lack of endowments]].

* The narrator in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' appears to be [[TheSmartGuy Armin]], based on also being voiced by MarinaInoue. He primarily narrates the opening to an episode, recounting important past events or narrating important pieces of information.

* The Narrator from ''JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat.'' Though the play would be fine without her (with her lines distributed to the other characters), it seems that [[AndrewLloydWeber ALW]] wanted to have [[TheSmurfettePrinciple at least one woman]] in the show who actually had a part.

* The first two movies of Creator/LarsVonTrier's American trilogy, ''{{Dogville}}'' and ''Manderlay'', feature JohnHurt as the narrator.