What are your thoughts on false/decoy protagonists?

[Kelheor]

I don't think we can name Kamina a false protagonist? We literally start anime with Simon and it's Simon who is obviously using the main thing useful for the plot, and while Kamina is the loud one, we see how he's not the MC.
I actually thought Eren would be a false protagonist in Shingeki no Kyojin when he was eaten. Now that would be fun.

[But_a_Jape]

I would actually cite ASoIaF as a well-done example of the decoy protagonist (criteria for which I'll cover later) because everything Ned did and his subsequent death still had massive impact on the rest of the story. Literally, the rest of the story does not happen if Ned doesn't die at the end of the first book, so I would not say those 500+ pages were useless. Also, ASoIaF is less a story about individual people but an entire country and sweeping changes across its society. It just chooses to tell this story through the grounded perspectives of its many residents.

But to cover what I think would make the false/decoy protagonist work well? Make sure the protagonist(s) you're replacing them with is still a compelling character in their own right. Hell, even better, make them a more compelling character than the decoy [to clarify, the decoy still has to be compelling in the first place - don't make them boring or unlikeable because you're worried the audience will abandon the story after they're gone]. Of all the main characters, I actually thought Ned Stark was the most boring one (still liked him though) and I became far more invested in the remaining characters and how they responded to this highly influential figure's death. In addition to this, make sure the decoy's death actually matters to the story. Like with Ned Stark, don't just stop their contribution to the plot with their death, make sure that everything they did prior to this actually made a difference and justify why the story benefits from this plot development.

This is also how I felt with Kamina and Simon (even though I did understand Simon was intended to be the protagonist from the beginning, I at least assumed it would be shared with Kamina). Some people might disagree, but I found Simon to be a much more interesting character than Kamina, who seemed to just be the most generic type of "loud, hotheaded shonen hero" (which I don't consider detrimental as I'm pretty sure it was intentional) so I was pretty satisfied with Simon inheriting most of the spotlight after Kamina's death. Also, Kamina's presence and the influence he left on everyone is still felt throughout the rest of the series so his character didn't feel wasted. And TTGL has a good number of enjoyable characters who were able to keep the show interesting, so it's not like the show sufferred in terms of entertainment value because of Kamina's absence.

[indagold]

Only story I remember doing it satisfyingly was Kafka's Metamorphosis (yeah I like the classics, sue me). It really hammers home the feeling of being a kid in an dysfunctional family, you're treated as literal scum when you don't live up to their expectations and if you died, whether metaphorically or physically in a sense, they move onto the golden child. Though this works well in a tragedy, I have no idea how well it would work in something not intended to be dark.

[Llyrel]

Literally, the rest of the story does not happen if Ned doesn't die at the end of the first book, so I would not say those 500+ pages were useless.

See, that was my problem with that first book, though: yes, the war that follows Ned's death wouldn't have happened otherwise, but by the time it happened I had already lost my interest in the plot as a whole. The thing is, while Ned's death does have consequences on the plot, the events that are described afterwards have nothing to do with the type of story we had up until that point: what started as an investigation about court intrigues, the Baratheon family and how Cersei and Jaime were involved in the attempted murder of Bran was suddenly scrapped in favor of a war plot that brings no closure to the political intrigue we had at the beginning and only adds further elements that at this point I, the reader, don't believe will ever be resolved, because I can't trust Martin as a storyteller anymore. He already killed a character once without giving him any closure, why should I trust him to bring closure to anyone else at this point? I get that the story is about the country as a whole, and the multiple POVs made it clear right from the start, but still... I found the lack of closure extremely disappointing, lol.
I guess another problem for me was that Ned Stark was my favorite character out of the whole book: there were others I liked, but Ned was definitely the one I liked the most, so seeing him go was a low blow.

Once again, though, these are just my personal opinions about ASoIaF. I get that the book and series are very popular, so clearly what didn't work for me worked for others... but yeah, I just wanted to share my two cents about it regarding the whole "false protagonist" topic, lol.

[imagineemmajun]

Usually when characters die early in a story it's a prologue or a set up. If you take it beyond that it's really hard to do it satisfyingly. Last of Us was a prologue. Game of Thrones worked because it was the set up for the whole saga about different people and regions of the country competing. Had the book just been about the Stark family it would have been a terrible way to go. The other point I would make is it would work best in a plot driven story. You don't want the reader getting too attached. Look at Psycho. We don't know much about her - I can't even remember her name! - and so its shocking when she dies but we don't really care. The only way to make the emotion work positively for you in this situation is to make a really evil character that the readers hate and then they are joyous when they are killed off. The book could then follow their slayer as the main protagonist

So basically if you want the decoy to work you need:

• a plot driven story
• a sweeping saga with multiple POVs
• a mysterious or hated false MC

I'm sure there's other ways to do it but this seems like the safest route,

[CJYoung]

I enjoy it when, maybe it goes like this: first main character seems important, but then seems to fade away, either because they finished their part in the story or they've changed perhaps for the worst, and plot focus then switches to the real main character, who may or may not have been introduced until this point, who became important due to whatever circumstances and ends up stealing the spotlight and being the real inspiration/hero.

And I think it can be a great experience, especially if they're a side characters who you really want to see more of!