Literary Characters

Literary character entities gather the individually notable fictional figures a literary work itself introduces, distinct from the real author who created them and from the work entity that first tells their story. Eight bands group this atlas's literary character roster by the dramatic role each figure plays, Tragic Heroes and Doomed Protagonists, Byronic Heroes and Antiheroes, Quest Heroes and Adventurers, Villains, Monsters and Antagonists, Innocents and Coming-of-Age Protagonists, Romantic and Star-Crossed Figures, Satirical, Picaresque and Comic Protagonists, and Moral Exemplars and Social Critics. A character who also has a documented real historical basis is a seam to the atlas that records that historical figure directly.