History Main / HelplessObserverProtagonist

[[folder:Film]]

* ''Literature/TalesOfPirxThePilot'': In ''Albatross'', two spaceships are lost due to a nuclear reactor explosion in full view of Pirx, and he can do nothing at all to help. First, he is currently flying as a passenger and not as a pilot, second, the ship he is on is a luxury liner and the crew can't risk the passengers' safety by getting closer to the disaster, so the space traffic controller commands them to leave.
* Patroclus in ''Literature/TheSongOfAchilles'' becomes one at the end of the book, [[spoiler:dying in battle and being forced to watch as a spirit as his lover Achilles goes mad with grief and fulfills the prophecy that leads to his death. He then sees Achilles' sociopathic son come in, kill Patroclus' friend Briseis, and disrespect Achilles' final wishes by refusing to put Patroclus' name on their grave, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife keeping Patroclus from joining Achilles in the Underworld.]]]] He is still able to communicate with Achilles' mother, the sea nymph Thetis.

* Season 1 of ''Podcast/Archive81'' is about Daniel Powell, an archivist digitizing the tapes of an oral history project about the Visser apartment building, collected by Melody Pendras. It quickly becomes clear that something is ''deeply'' wrong with Visser and Melody's in danger--but that all happened in 1994, and Dan's working on the tapes in 2015. [[spoiler: Even worse? He's not actually ''entirely'' helpless; he is in fact affecting events. Listening to the tapes is the final component of the Visser cultists' ritual...and by the time he realizes, it's too late.]]
* ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'': There's nothing Jon can do about the often-horrific fates of the people whose stories he's recording for the Magnus Institute, as by the nature of the format they all happen before he learns about them. [[spoiler: Taken to even worse extremes once he gains his powers as the Archivist. If Jon ''personally'' takes a statement from someone, that person is forced to relive their horrible experience every night in their dreams, and Jon is forced to watch.]]

* Several ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' books have a viewpoint character temporarily be infested by a [[PuppeteerParasite Yeerk]], which leaves them [[AndIMustScream trapped inside their own minds]].

** In ''Back to Before'', the alternate timeline's Tobias joins [[PathOfInspiration The Sharing]] and becomes a full member, not realising what he's getting into until it's too late. He spends the rest of his pagetime panicking.

* The lyrics of ''Brick Shithouse'' by Music/{{Placebo}} is about a ghost that can't do nothing but bitterly and hopelessly watch his lover having sex with the man who killed him.

* Flyora Gaishun of ''Film/ComeAndSee'', an ordinary teenage boy in occupied Belarus in World War II who is dragged against his will into the war and can only bear witness to the most depraved atrocities of Nazi Germany while powerless to do anything. The film's SignatureScene involves him being held at gunpoint and ForcedToWatch as the SS burns down a church full of women and children.

-->-- '''Tobias' narration''', ''Megamorphs #4: Back to Before''

* ''[[Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}} City of Lost Children]]'' is told from the perspective of Tom while he's a [[MeatPuppet Controller]], so he can do nothing but watch as his mother and brother argue with each other. His only act of agency is a brief moment of FightingFromTheInside.

* Season 1 of ''Podcast/Archive81'' is about Daniel Powell, an archivist digitizing the tapes of an oral history project about the Visser apartment building, collected by Melody Pendras. It quickly becomes clear that something is ''deeply'' wrong with Visser and Melody's in danger--but that all happened in 1994, and Dan's working on the tapes in 2015. [[spoiler: Even worse? He's not actually ''entirely'' helpless. Listening to the tapes is the final component of the Visser cultists' ritual...and by the time he realizes, it's too late.]]

** At the end of chapter 33, [[spoiler:the Drode takes Alloran to the splinter universe after he dies in the original timeline, where he's promptly re-infested and tormented by Visser Three.]]

* ''Animorphs'' fanfics:
** ''[[Fanfic/{{Eleutherophobia}} City of Lost Children]]'' is told from the perspective of Tom while he's a [[MeatPuppet Controller]], so he can do nothing but watch as his mother and brother argue with each other. His only act of agency is a brief moment of FightingFromTheInside.
** Chapter 6 of ''Fanfic/WhatTomorrowBrings'' is also told from the perspective of Tom, who's used to being helpless as Temrash 114 mercilessly tortures him. Fortunately, he gets better at the end.

->''I was helpless. Powerless. Unable to move an eye. Unable to lift a finger. Unable to speak. Unable to alter a facial expression. To smile. Frown. Give any sign that I was alive within my own body, a captive inside my own brain.''

* ''Literature/TalesOfPirxThePilot'':
** In ''Albatross'', two spaceships are lost due to a nuclear reactor explosion in full view of Pirx, and he can do nothing at all to help. First, he is currently flying as a passenger and not as a pilot, second, the ship he is on is a luxury liner and the crew can't risk the passengers' safety by getting closer to the disaster, so the space traffic controller commands them to leave.
** In ''Ananke'', a ship of a hundred thousand tons crashes on a Martian landing field, again in full view of Pirx ([[spoiler:due to faulty computer programming]]). Neither Pirx nor anyone else can do anything to help, as everything happens in the course of seconds: the most Pirx can do is investigate the crash afterwards.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/Hitman3'' has one of the final cutscenes be fully playable, and the only thing you can do is walk 47 forward while a voice taunts you. You walk deep into his [[spoiler:memories of his past assassinations, his nightmares of Diana betraying him, and [[ControllableHelplessness you are forced to kill the young Diana once again, as he did all those years ago.]]]]
[[/folder]]

* ''Literature/TheShipWho'' series is about human-computer cyborgs. Severely disabled children with high-functioning brains may become cyborgs in different professions, including space exploration. This is perhaps a variant of the helpless observer: a ship brain is powerful in many ways, but the human component is encapsulated in a life-support system.

** Patroclus in ''Literature/TheSongOfAchilles'' becomes one at the end of the book, [[spoiler:dying in battle and being forced to watch as a spirit as his lover Achilles goes mad with grief and fulfills the prophecy that leads to his death. He then sees Achilles' sociopathic son come in, kill Patroclus' friend Briseis, and disrespect Achilles' final wishes by refusing to put Patroclus' name on their grave, [[BarredFromTheAfterlife keeping Patroclus from joining Achilles in the Underworld.]]]] He is still able to communicate with Achilles' mother, the sea nymph Thetis.

Compare UselessProtagonist, PinballProtagonist, FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator, RearWindowWitness.

* ''VideoGame/Hitman3'' has one of the final cutscenes be fully playable, and the only thing you can do is walk 47 forward while a voice taunts you. You walk deep into his [[spoiler:memories of his past assassinations, his nightmares of Diana betraying him, and [[ControllableHelplessness you are forced to kill the young Diana once again, as he did all those years ago.]][[/spoiler]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* ''Literature/TheBible'' has ''[[Literature/BookOfRevelation The Book of Revelation]]'', written by St. John of Patmos [[note]]A different person from St. John the Apostle[[/note]]. It is an account of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and, written as a Divine Revelation, shown to John in Prophetic vision, he can only bear witness to the events as they unfold.
[[/folder]]

* The lyrics of ''Brick Shithouse'' by Music/{{Placebo}} is about a ghost that can't do nothing but bitterly and hopelessly watch his lover having sex with the man who killed him in life.

A Helpless Observer Protagonist is ForcedToWatch the story unfold in front of them, powerless to interact with anyone or anything. They're not just a witness to events far beyond their control; their agency is so nonexistent that they can't even influence the outcome in minor ways such as giving someone advice. They may be a [[PosthumousNarration ghost]], [[TragicIntangibility intangible]], trapped in an AndIMustScream situation, watching a recording of past events, or heavily oppressed. In prose, they're usually a first-person narrator.

A Helpless Observer Protagonist is ForcedToWatch the story unfold in front of them, powerless to interact with anyone or anything. They're not just a witness to events far beyond their control; their agency is so nonexistent that they can't even influence the outcome in minor ways such as giving someone advice. They may be a [[PosthumousNarration ghost]], [[TragicIntangibility intangible]], trapped in an AndIMustScream situation, or watching a recording of past events. In prose, they're usually a first-person narrator.

* ''Literature/TheBible'' has ''The Book of Revelation'', written by John. It is an account of TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and, written as a Divine Revelation, shown to John in Prophetic vision, he can only bear witness to the events as they unfold.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]