Propp was a Bulgarian theorist. In his 1922 work The Morphology of the Folk Tale he analysed something like 400 Russian folk tales. He found that across all of these tales, despite apparent differences, characters and their actions can be categorized into clearly defined roles and functions (8 character roles and 31 narrative functions) which are summarized here:
The hero: seeks something, to fulfill a ‘lack’ of some kind
The villain: opposed the hero, tries to make the hero fail
The donor: aids the hero by providing an object with magical properties
The dispatcher: sends the hero on a quest of some kind
The false hero: pretends to be the hero
The helper: assists the hero in some way
The princess: doubles up as a reward for the hero and the object of the
Her father: will reward the hero (often by giving the hero his daughter)
The Hero: Mario
The Villain – Bowser
The Donor: Mushroom
The Dispatcher: King Toadstool
The False Hero: ?
The Helper: Luigi
The Princess: Princess Toadstool
Her Father: King Toadstool
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