Propp's Character Functions

Vladimir Propp as a Soviet Folklorist and scholar who spent his life analyzing basic Russian Folk Tale plot components, here he identified their simplest narrative elements. In his Morphology of the Folktale character types, he identifies seven main character roles which are found in countless stories, these are: the Villain, Donor, Helper, Princess, Dispatcher, Hero and the False Hero.

Villain:

The Villain is the person who creates havoc and conflict. These characters are usually presented as dark characters, darkness representing evil and spreading fear amongst other characters in the story. Villains are also portrayed to admire destruction and perfection to what they want the world to be. For Example, in Harry Potter, throughout the story, Voldemort aspired to have both wizard and human world ruled by him under fear as then he would be renowned as the most powerful being in the world.

Donor:

This character provides the hero with a gift to help them succeed on their quest such as a magical item, forged to destroy the specific evil. For example, in Alice in Wonderland, Alice who is the hero of the story, receives information about the different parts of mushrooms in Wonderland from the Caterpillar, that allows her to shrink and grow, to then help her get back home.

Helper:

 This character helps the hero during their quest. In Propp's folk law stories, many of these characters were magical or had some form of special skill which aided the hero. The helper may be found as the hero's sibling/long-time friend or soon to be friend. Their characteristics are usually intelligence in a specific subject, determination, courage, etc. For example, in the Finding Nemo, Dory is Marvin's companion who helps to find Nemo.

Princess:

The 'Princess' is usually known as the damsel in distress. this person usually falls in love with the hero. Occasionally, the princess can fall in love with the false hero, before finding whom the real hero is. The princess doesn't have to actually be a princess, but usually it was a princess in the Russian folk law stories that were written by Propp, which is what he based him Character Functions theory on. An example of a princess/person in the distress is in the beginning of Frozen, Anna was naive and fell in love with the false hero, to then find herself betrayed and left to die at the end.

Dispatcher:

The Dispatcher is shown at the beginning of the story, this is the character who sends the hero on their quest. This character could be portrayed as a family member, friend, or even a stranger. The dispatcher may also be combined with another role, for example the false hero, who then tracks the hero's movement. An example of this character is in Elf, when Santa gives buddy the coordinates of his father's location.

Hero:

The Hero is often the main character of the story or someone whom the audiences associates with the major character of the story. The hero is the person who resolves the conflict in the story, and returns everything back to normal, ending with a happy ending for everyone in the story, apart from the villain. For example in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, after the prince had saved Snow White from her deep sleep, everyone was happy, and the hero and princess got married, leaving the Evil Queen to disappear and never be seen again.

False Hero:

The False Hero is someone who is seen to supposedly be the savior of the story, but then near to the end of the story, they reveal themselves as a villain. An example of this is in Thor, Loki is first seen as a friend, who helps Thor complete his quest, but then later we find that after Thor leaves, Loki had already killed Thor's father and had been mimicking him this whole time to allow him to rule Azgard.