Summary
Protagonists in story-driven video games are very important. They are the characters you have to relate to, the characters you have to spend the most time with, the characters you do everything as throughout your time in the game. TheGrand Theft Autoseries is a long one with many entries. Many of those games are also fairly sizable and content-rich.
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It’s important that you like the protagonists of these games, or at the very least, you enjoy stepping into their shoes throughout your playthrough. Typically, the protagonists of Grand Theft Auto are criminals, gangsters, mafia members, and other individuals of ill repute. They murder, steal, and do horrific things, and yet we like them; some more than others.
11Claude – Grand Theft Auto 3
Claude is a protagonist from a bygone era. He’s a voiceless, and for a long time, a nameless character who serves primarily as an avatar for the player. ThroughoutGrand Theft Auto 3, he says nothing, but gestures and movements sometimes indicate his mood or thoughts.
There’s very little known about him or his life. Thanks toGrand Theft Auto: San Andreas, we know he has a history with the eclectic Catalina and is a good driver and career criminal.
10Victor ‘Vic’ Vance – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
Vic Vance is the brother of the more renowned Lance Vance, a character first seen inGrand Theft Auto: Vice City. Unlike his brother, Vic is more stoic and serious. He’s a man with a military past, with a rod up his backside that slowly shifts throughout your time inVice City Stories.
Vic is also a man who does bad things for good reasons. He’s arguably not a bad person, depending on how you play the game. For example, he goes into a life of crime to pay for asthma medication. While Vic makes some questionable choices, his heart is almost always in the right place.
9Antonio ‘Toni’ Cipriani – Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
The Grand Theft Auto series has always paid homage to and even satirized pop culture, the real world, and other media. This is no more evident than in the character of Toni Cipriani, who is a clear rip on the character of Tony Soprano in the hit HBO series The Sopranos.
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Tony lives with his mother, works in a restaurant with his family, and has ties with the mob. He’s a mafia member, depending on who you ask. He’s not the most original character ever, but he is likable, with a sense of humor and honor. You also work for him in Grand Theft Auto 3, showing some character growth and progression across the series.
8Johnny Klebitz – Grand Theft Auto 4: The Lost and Damned
Johnny Klebitz is the vice president of The Lost biker gang, situated in Liberty City. He’s a character with a rocky past, a few too many exes with whom he no longer gets along with, and a superior whose decisions he constantly questions.
Like many of Grand Theft Auto’s protagonists, Johnny is destined for greater things. He’s also a character whose heart is in the right place, but circumstances prevent him from doing the right thing. After the events of The Lost and Damned, Johnny reappears inGrand Theft Auto 5, where he is unceremoniously murdered by Trevor after first having that biker machismo peeled away as he cries over his latest love.
7Tommy Vercetti – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Tommy Vercetti was the first Grand Theft Auto protagonist to speak and the first to have some sort of personality. Voiced by the late great Ray Liotta, Tommy was a mob member sent to Vice City on a simple drug deal. As the game progressed, Tommy practically ended up running the city.
Tommy has a history, too. He served a fifteen-year prison sentence, got involved with the mob as a teenager, worked various odd jobs, and became known as ‘The Harwood Butcher.’ Tommy might be one of the coolest protagonists of the series, partially because of the 80s style and fashion he can don.
6Niko Bellic – Grand Theft Auto 4
Niko Bellic is a character in search of the fabled American dream. He is an immigrant, arriving in Liberty City to claim the riches his cousin supposedly acquired. When it turns out his cousin may have told a fib or two, Niko finds himself working for several people of ill repute, eventually becoming a mafia associate in the process.
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What makes Niko a good protagonist is how he interacts with the world. He questions people; he’s sarcastic; he has a personality that shines and shows itself. He was the first Grand Theft Auto protagonist to be more than a fleshed-out stereotype. As Niko, you can get to know him more byinteracting with datesand friends, a first for the series.
5Carl ‘CJ’ Johnson – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
CJ is a protagonist that varies from one player to another. Primarily because he is the most customizable Grand Theft Auto protagonist in the entire series. You can make him fat, muscular, slow, or fast. You canimprove his drivingand shooting, and more.
On top of all that, CJ is a protagonist who puts family first. He’ll moan and complain about it all the time, constantly pointing out his dissatisfaction with everything going on around him, but his rags-to-riches story has CJ learning who he is and where he belongs.
4Franklin Clinton – Grand Theft Auto 5
On the surface, Franklin is a stereotype. He’s a black American man from a low-income part of a fictitious Los Angeles who hangs out with criminals. It’s not a good look. But Franklin is more than that. He’s a character with the future in mind, with a sense of optimism. He’s loyal to his friends, too.
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Franklin lives with his mother in Grand Theft Auto 5, and he’s the youngest of the protagonists in the game. Franklin serves as your introduction to the world of Los Santos because he himself is growing and expanding his knowledge. He goes through a rags-to-riches story and becomes a shining example thatcrime does in fact pay. Whether it should be done is another matter.
Luis Lopez is an unusual Grand Theft Auto protagonist in that he doesn’t go on a rags-to-riches story. He doesn’t become a crime lord. He doesn’t change status all that much at all throughout The Ballad of Gay Tony. In many ways, he’s just along for the ride, with his business partner, Gay Tony, constantly pushing them into unfortunate circumstances.
Luis is perhaps the most grounded and charming of all the Grand Theft Auto protagonists. He has a mother, whom he visits occasionally, old friends from a life of crime he wants to forget about, a nice home, and a decent job. He has it all. What elevates Luis is that he’s cool, with a relatable life and story, a fun personality, and all the bad actions that define GTA protagonists.
2Michael Townley – Grand Theft Auto 5
Michael Townley is the Grand Theft Auto protagonist who won it all and was then dragged back into the game. In Grand Theft Auto 5, Michael has a mansion, a nice car, kids, and a wife. He just isn’t happy with any of it.
Michael is perhaps the deepest protagonist of the series, with a business life, a family life, a criminal life, likes and desires, hopes and dreams. He’s layered, and he’s dealing with mental issues on top of it all. Michael is also fun, funny, cool, and likable, which are bonuses.
