Known in the entertainment industry as “lead roles” and “minor roles,” the differences between main characters and minor characters are central to understanding the significance of those characters. Stories are centered on lead roles, whether the character is a protagonist or an antagonist. Stories progress through the actions of the main characters, or the responses of the main characters to actions of minor characters. For Native American characters, being in a minor role means supporting the story and narrative of a character who is not an American Indian. This leads to the two most common stereotypes of Native Americans: the “Good Indian” and the “Bad Indian,” the characters who either help or hinder the main character. This is where ACIII, with a member of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka (Mohawk) nation as the main character, improves upon all the other representations of American Indians in the American Revolution.
In ACIII, Ratonhnhaké:ton, usually called Connor in the game, plays the lead role in the story, giving the viewer the opportunity to view the events of the American Revolution through the eyes of a Native person. Ubisoft could have gone much further in this regard; the story could have been about the experience of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka people during the American Revolution, rather than getting the perspective of an American Indian on the standard narrative of Euro-American conflict and ideas. However, unique in this body of work with a Native American in the lead role, ACIII forces the audience to consider that the history of the American Revolution does not end well for Ratonhnhaké:ton, his people, and every other Native American nation. Putting Ratonhnhaké:ton into the lead role and foregrounding not only his story but also the story of his people is revolutionary in media set in the American Revolution.
Scenes from “Assassin’s Creed III” remastered edition (2019). Ratonhnhaké:ton goes to his home village only to find it deserted after Congress unjustly sold his people’s land in the mission titled “Kanatahséhton.” In the “Evacuation Day” cinematic, Ratonhnhaké:ton observes the last British soldiers leaving the United States, the people celebrating freedom, liberty, and justice in full view of an auction of enslaved Africans.
In all of the other reviewed media, American Indians take a back seat to the white main characters. In All for Liberty, the main character, Henry Felder (Clarence Felder), is a European immigrant participating in the American Revolution. He is portrayed as having an American Indian friend and ally named Sawgrass (played by Jim Sawgrass). The storyline involves Felder’s leadership over his local militia and struggles in the conflict against British soldiers; Sawgrass defers to Felder’s leadership, accompanying him and viciously fighting for him. One of the battle scenes involves Sawgrass chasing down a man, tackling him to the ground, and cutting his throat. The story is about Felder, and Sawgrass embodies the “sidekick” version of the “Good Indian” stereotype as well as the “savage” trope of the “Bad Indian stereotype.
Scenes from “All for Liberty” (2012); content warning for violence. Felder’s American Indian friend, Sawgrass, is welcomed into Felder’s militia camp and given a knife as a gift, and Sawgrass expresses that he wants to go kill “redcoats” immediately. Later, Sawgrass tackles a man and cuts his throat on the periphery of a battle on Felder’s property, embodying the “bloodthirsty savage” and “sidekick” stereotypes.
In Drums Along the Mohawk, one Native American character, Blue Back (Chief John Big Tree), fulfills the “Good Indian” stereotype while the other American Indians in the film are of the two-dimensional “bloodthirsty savage” stereotype. Blue Back is a minor character friendly to Gilbert Martin (Henry Fonda), the main character, warning him of danger and fighting on his side, fulfilling the “sidekick” role in addition to comic relief through his atypical speech and unusual understanding of Euro-American culture. The other Native Americans are used as shock troops and foot soldiers by the British antagonist, Caldwell (John Carradine), to attack not only Martin’s farm but also the colonial militia and Continental soldiers. None of these American Indians’ character traits are developed at all beyond being bloodthirsty; they all exist in the movie to fulfill Caldwell’s story arc as the villain.
Scenes from “Drums Along the Mohawk” (1939); content warning for violence. This clip highlights Blue Back acting as a protagonist helper stereotype for Gilbert Martin and the other colonists, while British loyalist Caldwell summons stereotyped antagonist “bloodthirsty savage” Kanienʼkehá꞉ka men to attack the colonists.
In America, D. W. Griffith’s portrayal of the Mohawk people is only slightly better than in Drums Along the Mohawk. They are still depicted as pawns of the British government, waiting on the orders of the British officer antagonist, Captain Walter Butler (Lionel Barrymore). Although this is only one of three evaluated items of media that portrays American Indians indoors (the others being Liberty’s Kids showing Cornstalk in a Shawnee building in episode 27 and ACIII having Ratonhnhaké:ton indoors during various parts of the game’s story), the American Indians in America do not appear to fit into the indoor scene, as directed by D. W. Griffith. The actors stand around in an awkward fashion, armed but not actively aggressive while waiting for orders, observing the British soldiers and colonial civilians play their parts in the story. The Kanienʼkehá꞉ka in this movie are merely accessories to the European American narrative. There are scenes where they do more than stand around, as they do participate in revelry with the British soldiers and they do take part in the battle sequences as combatants, fulfilling the “Bad Indian” stereotype as they fight against the movie’s protagonists.
Scenes from D. W. Griffith’s “America” (1924); content warning for violence. These scenes highlight American Indians standing around, generally being merely witnesses to the Euro-American story as stereotypical “helpers” for the antagonists, and fulfilling the “bloodthirsty savage” stereotype in their behavior and violence.
Turn: Washington’s Spies continues the representation of American Indians as minor characters. In Turn, Robert Rodgers (Angus Macfayden), the leader of the loyalist Queen’s Rangers mercenary military unit, has an American Indian as part of the unit named Awasos (Stephen Adkins, Jr.). No character development of this man ever takes place, as he is merely an armed American Indian fighting for Rogers, and his importance is never any greater than an armed sidekick. The same is true of a singular American Indian man on the side of the colonists, shown only in scenes relating to warfare.
Montage of scenes from “Turn: Washington’s Spies” (2014-2017); content warning for graphic violence. The materials used for this montage come from: season 1, episode 6; season 1, episode 8; season 2, episode 1; season 3, episode 3.
Sign of the Otter is somewhat more respectful of American Indians than the previously mentioned titles. In the film, Samuel Todd (John Christian Ingvordsen), an American colonist, is the father of James Todd (Ryan Washburn), a young boy, who is captured by British soldiers and their Kanienʼkehá꞉ka allies as they prosecute the war against the rebellious colonists. The elder Todd sets off on a rescue mission, and he is assisted in this effort by Tekhane (John Weiner), a friendly American Indian leader of the Lenape nation who also sees the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka as enemies. Initially, however, Samuel Todd acts in a hostile and violent manner towards Tekhane and his people without provocation, who had shown his family nothing but peace and kindness. Even after Todd’s negative behavior, Tekhane treats him with respect and even introduces him to Tekhane’s family. As Todd enacts his rescue mission with Tekhane’s help, Tekhane shows that he is not only a man of peace but also a skilled warrior as they fight off British and Kanienʼkehá꞉ka warriors together. Tekhane thus fulfills several common stereotypes of Native Americans: he is peaceful and wise, skilled in battle, and the perfect wilderness sidekick for a white hero who needs to do violence on his enemies. Tekhane embodies both the “Good Indian” and the “Bad Indian” stereotypes, while the adversarial Kanienʼkehá꞉ka minor characters embody only the two-dimensional “bloodthirsty savage” trope. There is an attempt here to show that white men were responsible for violence done to American Indians but Tekhane’s status as a minor character means he is still subordinate to Todd’s narrative arc, undermining the significance of Tekhane’s presence in the film.
Scenes from “Sign of the Otter” (1995); content warning for violence. This film portrays Kanienʼkehá꞉ka as “bloodthirsty savages” and Tekhane, a Lenape leader, as several American Indian stereotypes.