Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Roger "Verbal" Kint

Verbal is the man in the middle of it all—he's got to convince Kujan to buy his story, and within that story he's got to make it through alive to the end. He succeeds in doing both, managing to keep his true identity a secret until it's too late for the cops to do anything about him.

As a protagonist in his story, he evades the wrath of Keyser Söze and helps the gang pull of their boat assault (even though the rest of them wind up dead). As a protagonist in real life, he escapes Kujan's clutches, pulling a fast one on him.

None of the other four criminals is developed enough as a character to be the protagonist. Sure, Keaton's got some things going on, with his lawyer girlfriend and his supposed attempts to go legit. But even he takes a backseat to Verbal, the true arch-criminal.

Keaton's just a puppet: Verbal's the puppet-master, and a hero-villain superior to all contenders.