{{Short description|Plot device wherein a fictional character is preserved from harm}}
'''Plot armor''' is a plot device wherein a fictional character is preserved from harm due to their necessity for the plot to proceed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plot-armor|title=Plot armor|work=Dictionary.com|access-date=31 January 2024}}</ref> The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' identified the term as originating in the 2000s, with its first reported use on the Usenet forum alt.games.dur-trs-trap.<ref>{{Cite OED|plot armor|3086855677|access-date=31 January 2024}}</ref> While protagonists and heroes within fictional works are often shielded from destruction by plot armor, their deaths in certain works function as a plot twist.<ref name=Somers>{{cite magazine|title=Twisty Business|magazine=Writer's Digest|first=Jeff|last=Somers|date=September 2023|volume=103|issue=5}}</ref>
Within certain works of fiction, elements of the story can provide an explanation for why the protagonist is protected.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Navigator: Excellent Writing Across the Disciplines|editor-first=Brandi|editor-last=Handley|date=2021|jstor=31795394|page=22}}</ref> Various iterations of James Bond have been cited as defining examples of plot armor.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/28/crosswords/daily-puzzle-2021-05-29.html|title=Low-Key: Adam Aaronson sneaks up on us with a subtly strenuous Saturday puzzle.|first=Caitlin|last=Lovinger|date=28 May 2021|access-date=31 January 2024|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Other works eschew plot armor for main characters. The deaths of Ned Stark and other main characters within ''A Game of Thrones'' and its television adaptation have been considered examples of protagonists defying expectations that their role in the plot protected them from harm;<ref name=Somers/><ref>{{cite journal|title=Bad TV|first=Andrea Long|last=Chu|journal=N+1|date=Spring 2018|issue=31|page=10}}</ref> a battle where many main characters escaped harm within the same series has also been cited as examples of plot armor.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/game-of-thrones-review-the-long-night-sepinwall-828477/|title='Game of Thrones' Close-Up: To Kill a King|first=Alan|last=Sepinwall|authorlink=Alan Sepinwall|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=29 April 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/arts/television/fans-reaction-game-of-thrones.html|title='Game of Thrones' Fans Are Thrilled, Confused and Setting the Internet on Fire|first=Niraj|last=Chokshi|work=The New York Times|date=30 April 2019|access-date=31 January 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title="What Should Have Been, But Sadly Wasn't". Commoning HIV/AIDS History in "Pose"|first=Kilian|last=Schmidt|page=87|journal=Femina Politica|date=2023|volume=32|issue=2|doi=10.3224/feminapolitica.v32i2.07|doi-access=free}}</ref>
==See also== * Killing off * Deus ex machina
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Literary concepts Category:Plot (narrative)
{{Lit-stub}}