History Main / TheIshmael

* StaffChick Hermea from ''DarthWiki/OurParadise'' is the viewpoint character, but she's clearly TheLancer. It seems the the whole point of it all is to keep the SilentProtagonist silent. Even his thoughts.

* [[EarthBoundZero Ninten]] is simply a stand in for the player, and [[HeroicAlbino Lloyd]] and [[StaffChick Ana]] don't get a lot of development either.

* Rachel from ''{{Baccano}}!'' We mostly find out about the events aboard the Flying Pussyfoot from her report to the President of the Daily Days.

* Rachel from {{Baccano}}! We mostly find out about the events aboard the Flying Pussyfoot from her report to the President of the Daily Days.

* {{Fairy Tail}} is undeniably Lucys story. Lucys story about Natsu and Fairy Tail.

* Traudl Junge fulfills this role in ''{{Downfall}}'' in regards to Hitler, which makes sense, since she was one of the few people in Hitler's bunker to survive and tell her story. [[DrivenToSuicide The movie]] [[CyanidePill portrays this]] [[AteHisGun very blatantly.]] [[HerrDoktor Dr. Schenck]] also falls into this to an extent, except in regards to the general [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt chaos]] and [[SceneryGorn destruction]] of besieged Berlin.

A primarily {{literature}}-based trope, but one that shows up in other media occasionally. In VideoGames, this often takes the form of a NonEntityGeneral or other {{AFGNCAAP}}.

->''"[[TropeNamer Call me Ishmael]]."''

The author has a fascinating character in mind - it is unquestionably his story - but for one reason or another, getting into their head just wouldn't pan out for the reader; normally this is because:

# The character is dead at the end of the story.

# More rarely, it's not clear what the character is, exactly.

Enter the Ishmael, a character not that compelling in and of himself, but who is chosen as the {{narrator}} because he has an excellent view of the action surrounding the real focal character.

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** In his defense, [[BunnyEarsLawyer he occasionally gets nearly uncontrollable urges to go around knocking people's hats off.]] That's quite interesting.

* Weirdly, Lockwood and Nelly in ''Literature/WutheringHeights''. The main story (about Cathy, Heathcliff, Edgar and that lot) is being told to Lockwood - an outsider to the area - by Nelly, a servant whose active role in the story varies a lot.

** Also the vicar in ''Murder at the Vicarage'', where one of the three superficially similar, gossiping old ladies in the congregation solved the case. MissMarple had a few other Ishmaels over her career.

* Professor Arronax from JulesVerne novel ''{{Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea}}''. He is placed in the position of the Ishmael against his will by the main character (Captain Nemo) and escapes in the end.

* Richard Papen from DonnaTartt's ''TheSecretHistory''. The story is unquestionably about the other students in Professor Julian Morrow's clique, all of whom are far more sinister and have way more secrets, but Richard is our narrator.
* Fanny, the narrator of NancyMitford's ''{{Love in a Cold Climate}}'' and ''The Pursuit of Love'' tells the stories of Linda, Polly and Cedric and only mentions concurrent events in her own life - such as her marriage and the birth of her children - in passing.

* Elmore Leonard's "Hombre": mainly for reason #2, as a big part of the point is John Russell's unwillingness to let anyone else see what he's thinking, or who he really is.

* Barbara Robinson's three ''[[strike:Worst]] Best'' novels (most famously ''The Best Christmas Pageant Ever'') are all about the Herdmans, a group of misbehaved siblings with a difficult home life, as they interact with their town's other children. The books are narrated by a girl in their class, however, who relates information about the family and the children's various antics as the plot of each book unfolds.

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* Rachel from {{Baccano}}! We mostly find out about the events aboard the Flying Pussyfoot from her report to the President of the Daily Days.

* Sakuno Ryuzaki, and the Freshmen Trio from ''PrinceOfTennis'' (at least initially). Ryoma Echizen's undeniably the focus of the story, but his personality and development are mostly viewed through other characters due to his aloof nature.

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* ''{{Stalag 17}}''. The real protagonist of the movie is the AntiHero Sefton. The story is narrated and seen through the eyes of his "sidekick" Cookie, a character so bland that his name appears ''dead last'' in the [=IMDb=] cast list for this movie.

* Captain Greville in ''{{The Madness of King George}}.''

* Arguably the first three ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' movies. While Jack Sparrow (and maybe Will Turner) is our hero, the films are actually told from Elizabeth Swann's point of view.

* [[spoiler:Sweet Pea]] in SuckerPunch.

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* [[NoNameGiven {...}]] from ''HannaIsNotABoysName,'' natch. [[ThePollyanna Hanna]] himself is AmbiguouslyHuman and is implied to have a DarkAndTroubledPast, which remains mysterious as {...} himself doesn't know anything about it. (Heck, [[GhostAmnesia he doesn't even know his own past]], for that matter.)

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-->--'''Ishmael''', ''MobyDick''

* Weirdly, Lockwood and Nelly in ''WutheringHeights''. The main story (about Cathy, Heathcliff, Edgar and that lot) is being told to Lockwood - an outsider to the area - by Nelly, a servant whose active role in the story varies a lot.

See also TheWatson, whose job it is to merely ''set up'' exposition, and POVBoyPosterGirl, where the boy often resembles this. Compare and contrast with DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome.

* Dostoyevsky's ''TheObsessed'' has an unnamed narrator who has a minor role in the events, but he knows everyone and described a lot of scenes he hasn't witnessed... ahem.

Enter The Ishmael, a character not that compelling in and of himself, but who is chosen as the {{narrator}} because he has an excellent view of the action surrounding the real focal character.

* Jim Burden, in ''MyAntonia'', has touches of this. His narration speaks mostly of the fascinating people around him than of his own life.

* Jack Burden narrates AllTheKingsMen instead of Willie Stark.

* Jim Burden, in ''MyAntonia'', has touches of this. His narration speaks mostly of the fascinating people around him than of his own life.

* {{Fairy Tail}} is undeniably Lucys story. Lucys story about Natsu and Fairy Tail.

* Pops up again in ''FinalFantasyXIII'' between Lightning, party leader and the game's official protagonist, and Vanille, the game's narrator.

* Harry Mason, Henry Townsend and Travis Grady may be the playable characters in their respective ''SilentHill'' games, but they're coming into the story as (more or less) complete outsiders, trying to discover [[CatchPhrase what the hell]] is up with the world around them. Heather Morris, James Sunderland, and Alex Shepherd start out like this, but then discover an [[TomatoInTheMirror unpleasant surprise]].

* Some of John Wyndham's works use this, most notably ''The Midwich Cuckoos'', which is told by a fairly uninspiring and relatively uninvolved observer. If the book can be said to have a protagonist, it would have to be Zellaby.

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* The ''{{Silverwing}}'' series' third book actually ''has'' a character named Ishmael, though he appears near the end of the story, isn't given much characterization, and [[RedShirt dies during the climactic battle]].

* ''{{The Name of the Rose}}'' is narrated by the apprentice of the protagonist and investigator.

See also TheWatson, whose job it is to merely ''set up'' exposition, and POVBoyPosterGirl, where the boy often resembles this.

* In ''TheMasterOfBallantrae'', the story is told after all the important characters are dead by Mr. McKellar, the steward of the Durrisdeer estate, because he wants to set the record straight and clear the reputation of the late Lord Durrisdeer. McKelllar narrates the events he was present at in the first person, and his actions have some influence on the course of events, but he's not central.

The Ishmael doesn't have to be pointless, stupid, GenreBlind or [[TheWatson a form of exposition]] necessarily, just [[DecoyProtagonist not the real main character.]] Indeed, in some cases, it can be his story too in a way: the story of how he passively watched the lead and was deeply influenced. It is not uncommon for the Ishmael to have more CharacterDevelopment than the actual main character.

** [[YourMileageMayVary Some]] consider this an [[AvertedTrope aversion]] if you take into account DeathOfTheAuthor. [[hottip:*: Lightning shares the focus between several other characters equally throughout the entire game. Taking that into account, FFXIII features more of an EnsembleCast rather than one main character specifically.]]

** [[YourMileageMayVary Your mileage may definitely vary]] on that one. If you haven't played the first game, you'll be unfamiliar with [=MacTavish=] and he'll be just like Sgt. Foley. [[spoiler:The last level is played as Soap because, well, [[KillEmAll everyone else is dead]].]]