History Main / UniqueProtagonistAsset

# The asset must be unique, endowed upon an individual, but there are four exceptions to this rule:

# The ability must be relevant to the story's {{Conflict}} in some way. Puzzle solving skills in a mystery novel are this trope, combat prowess in a romantic comedy is not (at least in general). However, this asset does not necessarily have to directly lead to the conflict's resolution (i.e. the protagonist has a powerful SuperMode that helps out in combat, but the villain is defeated by a DeusExMachina instead). The ability must also be noticeably demonstrated. InformedAbility, OffScreenMomentOfAwesome, and implied cases are not true examples.
# The character must be the protagonist, or at the very least one of the primary characters on the protagonist's side. Minor characters do not count. While antagonists may have special assets used to cause conflict in the story, the nature of conflict-causing abilities and the way they are used is often of a different nature than many special assets protagonists have.

Being the protagonist of a story has its perks. You [[PlotArmor escape all manner of danger however slim your chances]], [[LoveInterest win the love of your life]], [[FiveManBand hang out with some pretty cool people]], [[HeroInsurance don't have to answer for most of what you do]], achieve your goals simply because PropheciesAreAlwaysRight, and almost always get a HappyEnding.

Compare StandardizedLeader and DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome, where the protagonist is rather generic in terms of ability.

-> ''"What makes you so special?"''

* Subverted in ''Film/ABeautifulMind''. At first, we are made to think John Nash is a genius mathematician who is the only person skilled enough to crack Russian spy codes, but [[spoiler: it turns out he's just insane and it is all art of his mental illness]]. Double subverted [[spoiler: when he uses his genius intelligence to realize that his hallucinations are not real, thus curing himself.]]

-->-- '''Red Skull''' to Captain America, in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger]]''

-->-- '''Red Skull''' to Captain America, in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAverger]]''

->''"Only one man is capable of the Falcon Punch"''
-->-- '''Stealing The Diamond''', ''game screen after selecting the Falcon Punch and showing the player character fail to perform it.''

# The asset must be unique, endowed upon an individual, but there are five exceptions to this rule:

** The second exception is when the protagonist has the same kind of asset and to roughly the same degree as many people off-screen, but the story puts him/her around people who don't the asset or to a lesser degree. See NormalFishInATinyPond.
** The third exception is if the protagonist has the same kind of asset and to roughly the same degree as everyone else, but for some reason he/she is one of the few people who actually do something useful with it (i.e. RedShirt ninjas getting slaughtered left and right by the antagonist, but the exact same ninja training the RedShirtArmy had is exactly what the protagonist curb stomps the antagonist with).
** The fourth exception is when there are villanious characters who have the same asset; in this case, the UPA may not have been so much as an asset to make the protagonist a conflict-solving machine so much as to make the protagonist even be able to compete with the antagonist in the first place.

# The ability must be relevant to the story's {{Conflict}} in some way. Puzzle solving skills in a mystery novel are this trope, combat prowess in a romantic comedy is not. However, this asset does not necessarily have to directly lead to the conflict's resolution (i.e. the protagonist has a powerful SuperMode that helps out in combat, but the villain is defeated by a DeusExMachina instead). The ability must also be noticeably demonstrated. InformedAbility, OffScreenMomentOfAwesome, and implied cases are not true examples.

* The ''Film/GreenLantern'' is gifted with his GreenLanternRing, and although he's only one of many Lanterns, [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything he's the only one that makes a big difference in the conflict.]]

Being the protagonist has its perks. You [[PlotArmor escape all manner of danger however slim your chances]], [[LoveInterest win the love of your life]], [[FiveManBand hang out with some pretty cool people]], [[HeroInsurance don't have to answer for most of what you do]], achieve your goals simply because PropheciesAreAlwaysRight, and almost always get a HappyEnding.

However, one final perk may be having that one thing that makes you specially enabled in your quest to resolve {{Conflict}}, and that is your Unique Protagonist Asset. It that one thing (or any number of things) that justifies ''you'' specifically being the one to save the day. It's what makes TheHero the one who will succeed when everyone else has failed.

It can be anything. Material objects such as weapons, clothes, or tools count. Abilities such as superpowers, LeParkour, ImprobableAimingSkills, and ImplausibleFencingPowers count. Vehicles can count as well, as can any special modifications these vehicles may sport. Literally anything can count as long as it fits these three criteria:

Compare TheGift for when this is a talent. If {{Mooks}} have this ability, they would be called SuperpoweredMooks. May overlap with RoadRunnerPC if this ability is superior mobility and the protagonist is in a video game, as well as ProtagonistPowerUpPrivileges the main character acquires their UPA instead of having it right from the start. Possibly the reason why someone is a BornWinner. Almost every superhero within the context of their own stories has a UPA, although shared universes containing dozens or even hundreds of other supers cast a shadow on this trope.

However, one final perk may be having that one thing that makes you specially enabled in your quest to resolve {{Conflict}}, and that is your Unique Protagonist Asset. It that one thing (or any number of things) that justifies ''you'' specifically being the one to save the day. It's what makes TheHero the one who will succeed when everyone else has failed. It's what makes you more qualified than

However, one final perk may be having that one thing that makes you specially enabled in your quest to resolve {{Conflict}}, and that is your Unique Protagonist Asset. It that one thing (or any number of things) that justifies ''you'' specifically being the one to save the day. It's what makes TheHero the one who will succeed when everyone else has failed.

# The character must be the protagonist. While antagonists may have special assets used to cause conflict in the story, the nature of conflict-causing abilities and the way they are used is often of a different nature than many special assets protagonists have.

However, one final perk may be having that one thing that makes you specially enabled in your quest to resolve {{Conflict}}, and that is your Unique Protagonist Asset.

# The asset must be unique, endowed upon an individual or only small parts of the cast. But there are four exceptions to this rule:
** The first exception is if the protagonist has the same kind of asset as everyone else, but has a much better version than everyone else has (i.e. everyone in the setting is packing heat, but the protagonist has a modern assault rifle while everyone else has muskets).

# The character must be the protagonist. While antagonists may have special assets used to cause conflict in the story, the nature of conflict-causing abilities and the way they are used is often of a different nature than many special assets protagonists have.

-->-- '''Stealing The Diamond''', ''game screen after selecting the Falcon Punch and showing the player character fails to perform it.''

* Aang in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is the Avatar, who towards the end of the series masters all four elements.

* As explained in the last ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' book, the BigBad Voldemort forged a connection between himself and Franchise/HarryPotter deeper than any two wizards had ever been connected, the most prominent of which is the fact that he inadvertently made Harry [[spoiler:one of his {{Soul Jar}}s]], giving Harry some of his own abilities.

If {{Mooks}} have this ability, they would be called SuperpoweredMooks. May overlap with RoadRunnerPC if this ability is superior mobility and the protagonist is in a video game, as well as ProtagonistPowerUpPrivileges the main character acquires their UPA instead of having it right from the start. Possibly the reason why someone is a BornWinner. Almost every superhero within the context of their own stories has a UPA, although shared universes containing dozens or even hundreds of other supers cast a shadow on this trope.

* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8923104/1/Harry-Potter-and-the-Munchkins Harry Potter and the Munchkins]] by [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/4060809/Schwepcn Schwepcn]] has HarryPotter gaining video game powers on his eleventh birthday. In this AlternateUniverse, all wizards are players so [[RPGMechanicsVerse discussions of maximizing feats and stats are everywhere]], but Harry is the only empowered protagonist alive (owls are his [[JustifiedSavePoint justfied save points]]). Keeping his reloading abilities secret he takes SaveScumming to epic levels.

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Being the protagonist has its perks. You [[PlotArmor escape all manner of danger however slim your chances]], [[LoveInterest get your soul mate]], [[FiveManBand hang out with some pretty cool people]], [[HeroInsurance don't have to answer for most of what you do]], achieve your goals simply because PropheciesAreAlwaysRight, and almost always get a HappyEnding.

* Aang in ''Anime/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is the Avatar, who towards the end of the series masters all four elements.

* All the main protagonists of the ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}}'' series have a SuperReflexes power (either from the start or as a SecondHourSuperpower) which manifests as a limited ability to enter BulletTime and is implied to be possible thanks to PsychicPowers.* The player characters in both ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' have the ability called "Wild Card," letting them change their [[SummonMagic Persona]] at will.