Editing Title character (section)

{{Short description|Character who is named or referred to in a work's title}}
{{Excessive examples|date=January 2024}}
The '''title character''' in a [[Narrative|narrative work]] is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the '''title role''' of the piece. The title of the work might consist solely of the title character's name – such as ''[[Michael Collins (film)|Michael Collins]]''<ref>{{cite book|title=Irish English as Represented in Film|page=258|first=Shane|last=Walshe|publisher=Peter Lang|date=2009}}</ref> or ''[[Othello]]'' – or be a longer phrase or sentence – such as ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]'' or ''[[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer]]''. The title character is commonly – but not necessarily – the [[protagonist]] of the story. Narrative works routinely do not have a title character and there is some ambiguity in what qualifies as one.

Examples in various media include Figaro in the opera ''[[The Marriage of Figaro]]'', Giselle in the [[Giselle|ballet of the same name]], [[the Doctor]] in the TV series ''[[Doctor Who]]'', [[Gregory House|Dr. Gregory House]] of the TV series ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', [[Mario]] and [[Luigi]] in the video game ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'', [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]] in the [[Harry Potter|series of novels]] and [[Harry Potter (film series)|films]],<ref>{{cite book|title=Hermione Granger Saves the World: Essays on the Feminist Heroine of Hogwarts|last=Bell|first=Christoper E|date=July 30, 2012|publisher=McFarland|page=21}}</ref> and [[Romeo|Romeo Montague]] and [[Juliet|Juliet Capulet]] in the play ''[[Romeo and Juliet]].''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.richmondshakespearefestival.org/event/the-tragedy-of-romeo-and-juliet/|title=The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet|publisher=Richmond Shakespeare Festival}}</ref>