Best child protagonist?

[Relish in Chaos]

Who do you believe is the best child protagonist? For the purposes of this thread, teenagers and children that eventually develop into teenagers/adults are excluded. I'm talking about protagonists that are mostly prepubescent children from beginning to end.

Personally, I'd say Alice, from Alice in Wonderland. Just because she is so iconic, her politeness makes her somewhat more endearing in a 21st century context, and I think she just embodies the curiosity and imaginative innocence of childhood.

 

[Queen Michael]

Yotsuba.

I honestly can't think of a single child protagonist I like more than I like her, no matter the medium.

 

[JoJo]

Hm, despite the fact that I often write child protagonists myself, this is quite a tough question. Two that spring to mind from books I've liked is Scout from To Kill a Mockingbird and Ender from Ender's Game, but both rely on the somewhat cop-out method of making their child protagonist precociously intelligent and gifted. On the other hand, it's quite difficult to write an interesting story for adults with a small child in the front seat if they don't have an unusually developed take on the world. I mean, what's more interesting, an eight year old hatching his next scheme to get revenge on his parents while making cutting observations beyond his years, or the more realistic prospect of him eating a bunch of sugar while watching cartoons and then throwing a tantrum when he has to go up for bed?

 

[Zhukov]

Clementine from The Walking Dead I guess.

She does the forced-to-grow-up-before-her-time thing well. Although the adult characters give her words a bit too much weight, and place an awful lot of responsibility on her. But it's still nice to see a game have the balls to make you play as an 11 year old girl in a grounded setting (y'know, with zombies) filled with unrelenting death and despair.

Honestly, not much to choose from.

EDIT: Whoops, just realised that this is Off-Topic, not Gaming. Well, that blows it wide open.

I'd say Brutha from Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. A god to whom a huge religion is dedicated to decides to appear before his followers, only to find out that out of his millions of believers, only one of them actually has any faith, and that's a simple servant boy named Brutha. His whole schtick is that he's so clear sighted that he comes across as simple and naive, when in fact he's brilliantly intelligent.

 

[Kitsune Hunter]

Gon from Hunter x Hunter

Spoiler

I just think that Gon is a more realistic portrayal of the typical shounen child hero due to his very questionable and unpredictable sense of morality, kind of morality a typical child would have. For example in the Chimera Ant arc, after taking out an entire squadron of Ants, Kite tells him to be careful if he starts to sympathise with the enemy, to which he replies that he has no sympathy for bugs who call their comrades trash, which Kite states is a very dangerous view to have. Although it doesn't become clear until he meets Pitou again to take revenge on her that shows his messed up sense of morality. He let himself believe that Pitou was this complete monster who killed his mentor and had no redeeming qualities. The sight of Pitou healing someone completely upset and angered him and this scene perfectly sums it up

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Most Miyazaki movies do their child protagonist very well.
I love the girls in Totoro. They behave "realistically", for lack of a better word.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Most Miyazaki movies do their child protagonist very well.
I love the girls in Totoro. They behave "realistically", for lack of a better word.

That would've been my answer, too. Mei in particular. She acts the way a child would act, not the way an adult imagines a child would act. The first half hour of the movie there's isn't a Totoro in sight, but it's still so enjoyable because you're just watching the kids be kids. That scene where Mei plays alone in the yard is genius.

 

[PapaGreg096]

Lilo from Lilo and Stich because I feel like she acts like a child in which she is curious, weird, friendly and a little bit tormented. While at times she seems naive there are other times in which she is more self aware than the adults around her

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Got ninja'd on Miyazaki, but I'll still mention Ponyo specifically. I like her even more than Mei and Satsuki from Totoro. There's something irresistible about her unrestrained enthusiasm that makes me giggle like a lunatic and curl up.

Spoiler: I mean look at that smile!

Little My (Lilla Myn) from The Moomins is a good counterbalance to Ponyo (and she also has red hair and wears a red dress... huh). She's scheming, bratty manipulative and quite mean at times, eg. like a real child.

Also, Arya Stark because reasons.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I want to say Goku but I guess Z and GT will be put into account (I refer to Goku in Dragon Ball only).


Excluding the Studio Ghibli film, I would have to go with Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender (it count since we only seen traces of him so far in Korra)! Honestly if it weren't for the title "child protagonist" I would sooo went with Toph (seriously I was in the middle of typing why I select her until I read the title again)!!!

 

[DefunctTheory]

If you're using protagonist to mean 'main character,' then there's only one answer.

Spoiler

If you mean in terms as a protagonist (Referring to the main character who's in conflict with an antagonist), then probably...

Spoiler

 

[Zef Otter]

Clementine from The Walking Dead I guess.

She does the forced-to-grow-up-before-her-time thing well. Although the adult characters give her words a bit too much weight, and place an awful lot of responsibility on her. But it's still nice to see a game have the balls to make you play as an 11 year old girl in a grounded setting (y'know, with zombies) filled with unrelenting death and despair.

Honestly, not much to choose from.

EDIT: Whoops, just realised that this is Off-Topic, not Gaming. Well, that blows it wide open.

I'd say Brutha from Terry Pratchett's Small Gods. A god to whom a huge religion is dedicated to decides to appear before his followers, only to find out that out of his millions of believers, only one of them actually has any faith, and that's a simple servant boy named Brutha. His whole schtick is that he's so clear sighted that he comes across as simple and naive, when in fact he's brilliantly intelligent.

I agree with Clem! Season 2 episode 4 got lots of Dark disrepair .

Another one I like is Jamie from empire of the sun who turned from a spoiled brat to a scarred and traumatized kid at the end of the film.

 

[Jamieson 90]

Ender from Ender's Game

Jojo already mentioned Andrew 'Ender' Wiggin from Ender's Game so I'll put forward Jake Chambers from Stephen King's Dark Tower series. I really don't want to ruin anything by posting spoilers so it's really hard to describe how cool a kid he is. He goes through a lot and nearly loses his mind at one point though, and becomes very gifted with a gun, not to mention he has a great pet called Oy!

As Oy would say "Ake!"

Spoiler

Image by alliarist http://alliartist.deviantart.com/

 

[Denamic]

I can't stand children, and Clementine from the walking dead is about the only character that does not piss me off. Hell, I even like her.

 

[laggyteabag]

You are probably going to get tired of this, but Clementine from Telltale's The Walking Dead. She is just super likable.

 

[Malbourne]

What, no Recette? That adorable rapscallion with a crude grasp of economics and an insatiable lust for candy? Her naive optimism and ability to fleece neighbors is just too infectious!

Spoiler

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Ciri from the Witcher novels, I guess. I mostly fucking hate children in media, as they seem to serve little end but to annoy you. Ciri did not annoy me though. At least not for the most part. So her. To be fair, she's actually quite a well-written character with some semi-complex relationships with other characters.

 

[Super Cyborg]

What, no Recette? That adorable rapscallion with a crude grasp of economics and an insatiable lust for candy? Her naive optimism and ability to fleece neighbors is just too infectious!

Spoiler

Nice one. The most infectious thing for me was the thing she did whenever she put an item on the counters. That was so adorable.

I would also have to second Aang from Avatar: the Last Airbender. With all he had to go through, he could've been just a pile of misery, but he showed a range of emotions and was quite mature for his age.

This one might be debatable, but I have to go with Chopper from One Piece. Yes, he is still at the age that he would be considered a child. He can be both Childish and really mature. He's also a boss because of all the things he can do. The fact that he's a doctor as well is impressive. He's not the main protagonist, but he's a protagonist non the less.

For non-debatable, I have to go with the three girls from Fortune Summoners: Secret of the Elemental Stone. I liked each one and they had a nice story for each of them. It's a shame it didn't sell well, since there was promise for more of the world, but it ended nicely still. Game was crazy difficult though.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Little My (Lilla Myn) from The Moomins is a good counterbalance to Ponyo (and she also has red hair and wears a red dress... huh). She's scheming, bratty manipulative and quite mean at times, eg. like a real child.

But then you gotta wonder what even constitutes as a child in a place as freaking weird as the Moomin universe?

 

[Zeterai]

The characters of a very, very strange D&D campaign I once participated in..

Recette, Calvin, and Andrew Wiggin have already been mentioned, though I think that Andrew's sister Valentine should count as one as well given that she has a couple of chapters from her perspective as well. Perhaps even Peter, though he's more antagonistic towards the pair..

Really, there aren't a whole lot that spring to mind. I mean, there are an awful lot of fictional accounts that are centered around children, but particularly excellent ones are more rarified, especially when they're the main character rather than just something that others focus on.

Perhaps Link, from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask? He does get adult forms in both games, but his age is a principle mechanic for each one as well. It's the only one that springs to mind which balances pros and cons of being an adult and being a kid.