Liko and Roy from ‘Pokemon: Horizons’
The above characters are what prompted this week’s topic. THey are Liko and Roy from the new Pokemon series. For 25 years, we followed Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, but their story ended. Now, we have a dual protagonist system. Going by forums, it doesn’t seem to be going smoothly.
The arguments I saw at first was the Roy took a lot of screen time when promos made it appear as if Liko would be the focal point. As the series progressed, Liko ended up claiming most, some said all, of the plotlines. This pushed Roy into the background for some people and turned him into a sidekick instead of a fellow protagonist. After seeing the first 24 episodes, I can see how Roy’s high energy and confidence made him a scene stealer at the start. I can also see how Liko is being pushed ahead by being connected even to the subplot that I thought was going to be Roy’s purpose. Kind of a shame since they both are good characters.
This shows the difficulty in working with more than one protagonist. Once you lean to one side, the other one suffers and fans of that character will complain. An adjustment can make it look like it’s going in the opposite direction instead of the middle. So, you end up getting ping-ponged between your protagonists with nobody being happy because every attempt to make them even is misunderstood. A fairly easy trap to fall into if you decide to temporarily focus on one person’s story for a time. Actually, it’s inevitable because you can’t narratively run both plots at the same time unless they are intertwined to the point where they are inseparable.
I think a dual protagonist story is easier to do in a book though. With a show or movie, your time is limited to 30 minutes to 1.5-4 hours. It isn’t as much time as one would think since you have so much to do. With a book, you can use chapters to bounce between plots if you split the characters up. If they stay together, you can reveal more in narration that shows they are on the same level. As long as the reader notices there’s plenty of pages left and you’ve already avoided showing favorites, you have a lower chance of losing them. It works even better if you look at chapters as episodes to help you swap the spotlight and share the attention.
Personally, I enjoy stories with multiple heroes, but not as much when I have to write them. Legends of Windemere had 6 champions who I managed to portray as a group, which made it feel like multiple protagonists. Yet, that required 15 books with a staggering of introductions to give each one a moment to shine. This is why I think it’s easier to do this with books than shows or movies. Even with what I did, people would claim a champion as their own and think that was the main character. This was usually Luke Callindor or Nyx with a few thinking it was Sari or Timoran. Poor Delvin and Dariana never got out of the pack. Anyway, I felt like no matter how much I tried to make them equals, a few readers will still think one is the main character.
Guess that’s the real challenge though. You have to make it clear that this is a dual protagonist story from the beginning. It won’t prevent =favoritism, but it will reduce the chances of people getting upset when their chosen hero isn’t in the spotlight for a time. A declaration makes it clear that you are following two heroes, so patience is needed to get back to the other at times. Not a perfect solution, but it’s the best I can think up since reader reactions aren’t very predictable.
So, what do you think of dual protagonists?
Legends of Windemere 
I have not seen the latest Pokémon series! Wow, that’s quite a change. I don’t mind dual protagonists. Barbara Kingsolver’s novel, The Poisonwood Bible, has five protagonists. I have three in one novel and two in another. Brandon Sanderson often has dual protagonists in his novels. It’s frustrating, but I can understand how people get upset about one character getting more of the share of attention if a series started off with everyone on equal footing. I felt like that when Star Wars: The Force Awakens seemed to have three protagonists: Rey, Finn, and Po. But then the plot seemed to change toward Rey being the protagonist. I’m still a little confused about that aspect.
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Star Wars is a good example. The originals did have 3 protagonists if you look at it. Luke, Leia, and Han all had their own storylines, niche, and importance. It may have been more Luke’s story as the main, but the others were definitely more than supporting cast. In contrast, Force Awakens started heading in that direction, but then shifted entirely to Rey. She ended up filling the niches of the original 3 by herself, which is why I was iffy on everything after the end of episode 7.
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Same here. I was very disappointed.
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Dual protagonists is tough to pull off. There has to be a concerted effort to keep both in the spotlight and engaged. They both need to come up with solutions and have equal time leading scenes. I’m into my third book with dual protagonists and it is work.
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It’s a major juggling act. Not for the faint of heart.
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I agree.
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This sounds different than the couple of buddy stories I have written. Even going all the way back to Panama. I had to intro one before the other, so he had a bit more of a main character vibe, but generally whatever they did was together. There were some individual chapters, but I saw them as equals. I’ve written a couple of groups, and wound up with Serang evolving into a co-main character. Maybe I’m not popular enough to face Pokemon levels of critisism.
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I think these stories tend to have one hero introduced before the other. It’s to help make them individuals. Unfortunately the first one tends to be seen as the main event if that’s not true. It still comes down to balance and not having one repeatedly overshadow the other.
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Your pokemon example sounds like a case of not making everyone happy. Also not being able to predict what viewers will react to. I am watching Black Clover now, with Asta and Yuna supposed to be main characters, but definitely Asta is getting the focus. Maybe another season will shift to Yuna’s squad more.
In writing books, I love multiple POVs but for me it’s about having a character present to witness events that are spread over different areas. It also allows the POV characters to witness the same events with a different perspective. Sometimes I jump between them, and sometimes I stick with one POV that will be unexpected.
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I’ve read and watched Black Clover. Asta is the main character given his unique background while Yuno is the rival. With Pokemon Horizons, they tried to make Lyko and Roy on equal footing even though she appeared first. It was iffy at first since she wasn’t as aggressive a personality than Roy. Then, there was a shift where every storyline was given to her including the one that acted as Roy’s motivation. It was really rough writing in my opinion since it eliminated the urgency of a supposed protagonist.
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I have multiple protagonists in my Wolves of Vimar series. I tend to have a chapter for each, especially in my current wip, book 4, as they split into two groups.
I think it can work well. Robert Jordan managed it well in his Wheel of Time.
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Fantasy authors do seem to pull it off more often than others.
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