![]() ![]() ![]() More idealistic works will have them realize the error of their ways, while more cynical ones will use the protagonist as an illustration of Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and a Protagonist Journey to Villain. Alas, the protagonist often falls prey to He Who Fights Monsters, frequently seeing other people (including his enemies' innocent children, as in the original novel) as mere obstacles on their path to justice.They also frequently discover their family or lovers are now in the grasp of the same villains who wronged them all those years ago.Under their new identity or by taking advantage of their new obscurity, the protagonist sets out to systematically destroy their former oppressors, sometimes with the help of new allies (whether they're the Token Good Teammate or a Psycho Supporter).The protagonist escapes (or more rarely, is simply released) from exile or captivity and makes their way back to where they started, in many cases having changed their name and often with newly acquired vast wealth to back them up.This Break the Cutie experience sends the protagonist down a path From Nobody to Nightmare, where they hone their skills and harden their hearts in exile.A common variation, especially in sci-fi or horror stories, replaces this step with social exile by inflicting Body Horror on the protagonist - they may not literally be imprisoned or exiled, but their new scarred (or even monstrous) form makes it difficult for them to return to a normal life. The protagonist doesn't just lose everything - they're removed from their own life, often to exile or prison or even a combination of both (e.g., in the original novel, Edmond Dantes being imprisoned in the Chateau d'If penal colony). ![]() The protagonist's life is then ruined by most typically a group of antagonists who all have various reasons for wanting them out of the picture.The protagonist begins as a total innocent with a charmed or at least happy life, often in love and occasionally even with a family (or a baby on the way, for extra pathos).When Alexandre Dumas wrote The Count of Monte Cristo in the early 1840s, he codified an archetypal revenge story that follows particular beats: ![]()
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