The title character need not be literally named in the title, but may be referred to by some other identifying word or phrase, such as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit,[4] Simba in The Lion King, Aang in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland or more vaguely, as in the play An Ideal Husband, which ostensibly refers to the character Sir Robert Chiltern.
[5] A title character is typically fictional, such as Alice in the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Robinson Crusoe in the book of the same name or Jean-Luc Picard in the TV series Star Trek: Picard; but can be a non-fictional dramatization, such as Annie Oakley in the musical Annie Get Your Gun,[6] Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name,[7] or Thomas More in the play A Man for All Seasons.
Examples of titular antagonists include Sauron in the book and film series The Lord of the Rings,[9] Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula,[10] or Francisco Scaramanga and Julius No in the James Bond novels and films The Man with the Golden Gun and Dr.
[11] The protagonist and antagonist can arguably both be title characters, as in the films Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster or Smokey and the Bandit.
In the novel and TV series Shogun, the feudal lord Toranaga is the title character, but the protagonist is John Blackthorne.