Dramatica Definition: Guardian

Guardian • [Archetype] • An Archetypal Character representing the qualities of Conscience and Help • This Archetypal character acts as teacher/helper to everyone including the Protagonist. As Conscience, he provides the audience with the story’s assessment of what is good and bad in the world it describes. In his Dynamic Pair relationship, the Guardian counterbalances the efforts of the Contagonist to hinder progress and tempt the Protagonist from the proper path. Since, according to Archetypal convention, the Protagonist must ultimately face the Antagonist without assistance, both the Guardian and Contagonist must be dramatically nullified before the climax of the story so that they cannot interfere. This often occurs as a separate confrontation between them, just prior to the Protagonist meeting the Antagonist, or it may occur concurrently, but concludes before the actual climax of the story is reached.