History Main / FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator

* According to the [[Main/WordOfGod DVD commentary]], {{Film/Serenity}} is actually the story of {{Main/Cloudcuckoolander}} [[Main/ActionGirl River Tam]] as delivered by [[Main/TheCaptain Malcom]] [[Main/SpacePirates Reynolds]], indicated by the fact that Creator/JossWhedon deliberately planned the cinematography of the movie to start from her memory/dream sequence, jolt to her perspective, move to her rescue, introduce her pursuer, then cut to Mal interacting with the rest of the cast, before handing the perspective ball to her brother, who then hands it back to her, and she then hands it again back to Mal.

-->Milton: I guess it is also the story of how I met my wife, but as I have said before, I am just a simple man; Milton, husband, father, friend. History will not remember my name.

* Issun, the ExpositionFairy, narrates ''Videogame/{{Okami}}''. This is appropriate, since he's the VoiceForTheVoiceless for Amaterasu, a wolf, and also her Celestial Envoy (the one charged to spread the news of her great deeds so people will praise her).
* The night guards from the ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' series act like this. Yes, the game is about their survival against the [[HomicideMachines killer animatronics]], but they really don't have a big impact on the plot or backstory - at best, they can discover it. [[spoiler:''3'''s unnamed Fazbear's Fright guard ''might'' have burned down the building, but it's only slightly implied, with no confirmation.]] ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4'' and ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddysSisterLocation'' avert this, however, with ''4's'' child protagonist - who is substantially more involved in the plot - and ''Sister Location's'' enigmatic "[[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname Eggs Benedict,]]" who [[spoiler:[[AmbiguousSituation may or not be]] [[SerialKiller William]] [[TheDreaded Afton]] or his [[CameBackWrong formerly-dead]] [[TheDutifulSon son,]] [[AmbiguouslyEvil Michael,]] who seems to be on track to becoming the series' HeroAntagonist.]]

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* In the ''Manga/DeathNote'' prequel novel ''LightNovel/AnotherNote,'' the narrator is Mello, a character introduced in the manga's second half who was not present for any of the story's events and is only writing them down because the characters involved died in the first half. While this does call into question some of the finer details he relates (and at least one huge assumption he makes about the killer), his distance helps to obscure the story's major twist-- which he promptly mocks you for falling for.

The author has a fascinating character in mind, and a story that is unquestionably that character’s, but for one reason or another, getting into their head just wouldn’t pan out for the reader. This can be for any number of reasons:

See also TheWatson, whose job it is to merely ''set up'' exposition, POVBoyPosterGirl, where the boy often resembles this, and TagalongChronicler, who has the in-story job to create the story of the protagonist. When a {{Biopic}} is made in this fashion, it is called a SidelongGlanceBiopic.

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* Rachel from ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' We mostly find out about the events aboard the Flying Pussyfoot from her report to the President of the Daily Days.

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* ''Film/{{Stalag 17}}''. The real protagonist of the movie is the AntiHero Sefton. The story is narrated and seen through the eyes of his "sidekick" Cookie, a character so bland that his name appears ''dead last'' in the [=IMDb=] cast list for this movie.

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* The viewpoint character in the archaeology segment of the InteractiveFiction work ''The Beetmonger's Journal'' is a textbook First Person Peripheral Narrator; they're largely a complete cipher, and present primarily to chronicle the exploits of the more dynamic Lapot, and the ''other'' viewpoint character -- the eponymous beetmonger -- as dictated to them by Lapot from a journal they discovered.

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* [[NoNameGiven {...}]] from ''Webcomic/HannaIsNotABoysName'', natch. [[ThePollyanna Hanna]] himself is AmbiguouslyHuman and is implied to have a DarkAndTroubledPast, which remains mysterious as {...} himself doesn't know anything about it. (Heck, [[GhostAmnesia he doesn't even know his own past]], for that matter.)

* Cecil, host and narrator of ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'', reports all the news, gossip, and horrifying calamities going on in town, but rarely does much himself since he's usually in his radio booth when the most... ''exciting'' things are happening. This is sometimes a real source of frustration, such as when his beloved [[HotScientist Carlos]] is in danger.
* The Student in ''Machinima/MuseumOfIdiots'', doubling as TheStraightMan. Mostly, his role is to observe [[BunnyEarsLawyer Chickensuit McChickensuit]] and stop him from getting too out-of-hand. He usually fails.

* Sam The Snowman (a pudgy snowman) in the famous [[Creator/RankinBassProductions Rankin/Bass]] animated adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964''. Apparently, his only ''raison d'etre'' besides telling the audience the story is to sing and perform on the guitar songs that are only tangentially related to the plot. The story's ''real'' protagonist, of course, is Rudolph.

* The ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/BlueCatBlues", about Tom committing suicide after a failed romance, is told from Jerry's narrative.

* The Narrator (a pudgy snowman) in the famous Rankin/Bass animated adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''. Apparently, his only ''raison d'etre'' besides telling the audience the story is to sing and perform on the guitar songs that are only tangentially related to the plot. The story's ''real'' protagonist, of course, is Rudolph.

* The ''Manga/ThusSpokeRohanKishibe'' series (A spinoff of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'') does indeed star the eponymous mangaka from ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]]]'' as the central focus and framing device, but aside from a select few stories, Rohan does not actively participate in their events. He instead serves as a passive observer and chronicler to said events. This is best exemplified by the series' Japanese title ''Kishibe Rohan wa Ugokenai'', meaning "Rohan Kishibe Does Not Move."

Enter the First-Person Peripheral Narrator, a character who is not the main character or protagonist, but is chosen as the {{narrator}} because he has an excellent view of the action surrounding the real focal characters. By nature they tend to act as a DecoyProtagonist, unless they explicitly state who the real main character is in the beginning. The ''real'' main character is also, by definition, a NonPOVProtagonist. If the story that starts out like this switches to the main character, it's IntroOnlyPointOfView.

* Marwood in ''Film/{{WithnailAndI}}''.

* ''Literature/FromTheMixedUpFilesOfMrsBasilEFrankweiler'' by E.L. Koingsberg revolves around two run-aways who hide out at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York City, but is narrated by the eponymous character, who doesn't show up until the last few chapters of the book.

* ''Literature/WyldersHand'' is narrated by Charles de Cresseron, a London-based friend of Mark Wylder's who comes to the village where Wylder lives to attend Wylder's wedding, and thus is present when the plot kicks off. The main characters of the novel are inhabitants of the village, Wylder's family and friends (and enemies), but it's all narrated by de Cresseron, the outsider. Where it gets a bit weird is that he's only in the village for three short visits, at the beginning and end and somewhere around the middle of the novel, so large stretches are narrated in what's effectively omniscient third person, describing events and characters' thoughts that it's unlikely de Cresseron would have been made privy to.

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* Dunstan, the narrator of ''Literature/FifthBusiness'', could be considered this. He himself doesn't really do much, but the accompanying stories of Percy and Paul detail a story of revenge that takes sixty years to conclude. The title even references this; "fifth business" is a stage term meaning that one character who has no real part to play in the story except for the fact that they know a game breaking fact about the main character.

* [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/23128741 Gonjiki Yasha – Meiji Onmyōji Tales]]: The protagonist is Abekawa Haruaki (Abe no Seimei), but the first-person narrator is his assistant Hakuzōsu Kohaku.

* In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', Burr is kind of a quasi-example. He's clearly not the main protagonist, and the majority of the songs concern events that either don't feature him or aren't hugely relevant to him personally, some of which he does provide narration for (such as "Say No To This"), but he ''is'' the second most important character (if arguably tied with Eliza), and by the end of the musical his narration becomes much less peripheral and much more personal. Compare the opening to "What'd I Miss", in which he otherwise doesn't appear:

* ''The Mad Scientist's Club'' by Bertrand R. Brinley. Charlie serves as the narrator and sixth member of the eponymous group, but we know little about him. The other members have easily discernable characteristics (Jeff is the pragmatic leader, Henry is the brilliant thinker, etc.), but it takes a close read of the series to even tease out the narrator's name.

* Nagisa Shiota starts out as this in ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': The actual main character is Korosensei, and the series, at least early on, focuses on his interactions with the E-Class students, giving each one ADayInTheLimelight. This changes a bit in Season 2, as the story shifts from a more episodic nature to a plot-driven one, and Nagisa gradually steps up as a driving character, with more focus put on his backstory and CharacterDevelopment.

* Nagisa Shiota starts out as this in ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': The actual main character is Korosensei, and the series, at least early on, focuses on his interactions with the E-Class students, giving each one ADayInTheLimelight. This changes a bit in Season 2, as the story shifts from a more episodic nature to a plot-driven one, and Nagisa gradually steps up as a driving character, with more focus put on his backstory and CharacterDevelopment.