I keep thinking about the parallel between the player character of Pyre and Arknight. They're both faceless characters meant for the player to project into. Just like any character of the type though, they still have a few canon traits shown in the story. Both are not the leader of their group, but act somewhat like one: they tell the others what to do, they don't directly lead the team into action but strategize behind the scene, they have a close relationship with every member of the team, the depth of which leaves space for the player's interpretation.
More importantly, and I find it distinct from most other silent protagonist types, they're both mentioned to be sickly or weak or disabled in some way that they can't go to the field like all the other characters. (Gavial mentioned "do you know how weak you look, Doctor?" in The Great Chief Returns. It's been a while since I played Pyre, but it was implied that the Reader is physically weak). And yet they have or had vast knowledge (in Arknights the player character's title is "Doctor", as in the PhD. In Pyre, the Reader's "crime" was reading and having a collection of books). And though they started with next to nothing in the beginning of the story, they gained a lot of friends throughout it, who trust and think of each other as a family.
Also, like, one is known as the Doctor and the other is the Reader. That's fun.
As a disabled nerd myself, out of every silent protagonists in all the games, I find it easiest to project myself into them. Like, they're still a version of me that's stronger and better and not really like myself in real life, but they're stronger and better in ways I can imagine myself being. It's a lot easier to see myself in them, and to aim for what they are, than a protagonist who's physically strong and beat up those in their way.
