Image: Wikimedia Commons

character

Fictional human or non-human character in a narrative work of art

Also known as fictional character

Instance of: literary element
Subclass of: imaginary character
, agent
1
Sources
1.raw.githubusercontent.com/ontologyportal/sumo/master/mappings/DBpediaMapping.ttl
View statement on Wikidata ↗

Overview

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · Read full article · Text CC BY-SA 4.0

A character is a person or being in a narrative. The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life person, in which case the distinction of a "fictional" versus "real" character may be made. Derived from the Ancient Greek word χαρακτήρ, the English word dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones by Henry Fielding in 1749. From this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed. A character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theater or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person". In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes. Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor. Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practiced by actors or writers, has been called characterization.

Overview

All data

110 statements · 9% with external sources · numbers in brackets are citations

Has characteristic: given name
birthday
sex
type of fictional character
Properties for this type: sex or gender
occupation
family name
given name
creator
performer
first appearance
present in work
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date of birth
date of death
place of birth
place of death
cause of death
from narrative universe
narrative age
image
country of citizenship
Personality Database profile ID
CharacTour character ID
Archive of Our Own tag
LezWatch.TV character ID
uses
character type
inspired by
‎Fanlore article ID
Has list: lists of fictional characters by work
Category for eponymous categories: Category:Wikipedia categories named after fictional characters
Main Wikidata property: characters
narrative age
Model item: Pepper
Doraemon
Yoh Asakura
Boruto Uzumaki
Different from: Personnage
fictional human
figure that may or may not be fictional
human
fictional person
character
mythical character
hypothetical person
Show 2 moreShow less
role
imaginary character
Partially coincident with: fictional creature

On other databases

42 identifiers linking character across the web's reference databases

Data quality

110

statements

externally sourced

Source last edited October 7, 2026. AIDB refreshes this page daily.

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curl https://aidb.si/api/v1/entities/Q95074

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Cite this page

AIDB. (2026). character (Q95074). Retrieved from https://aidb.si/e/character-Q95074