GTA: Ranking The 10 Best Protagonists

From Tommy Vercetti to Trevor Philips, who did you enjoy destroying the world around you with the most?

By Scott Tailford / January 25, 2018

The world of Grand Theft Auto is a gloriously ridiculous and overtly violent one, that we all love to indulge in on various levels.

Outside of throwing the rulebook out the window and letting you run amok in a blur of pedestrian-abuse and vehicular destruction, another huge draw (especially in the newer iterations of the series), is embodying a character that is contributing to your onscreen actions by way of play-by-play commentary or an otherwise hilarious quip.

As the series has evolved and video games have begun to be taken just as seriously as films and other media, more questions tend to get levied at the portrayal of these characters, yet with the newest instalment GTA V, Rockstar managed to create three very different characters, one of which is the perfect middle-finger-flailing catch-all answer to those sorts of questions. Going forward were sure Rockstar will continue to set new benchmarks and push every boundary they can, hopefully eventually creating a female protagonist to balance the testosterone-fuelled previous instalments.

10. Claude (GTA III)

For many, the protagonist of GTA III is actually one of their favourites, due in no small part to the genius of making him mute, thereby allowing all of us at home to inject our own reactions and dialogue into the games many scenes of interaction with a city full of gangsters. If youre anything like me, it actually didnt even dawn on you that Claude didn't speak, due in no small part to Rockstars exemplary scriptwriting and delivery that effortlessly carry the many one-sided conversations with great pace. Said mutism also allowed Claude to be the unremitting badass we all imagined him to be. A silent weapon of debauchery, existing in a constant state of rule-breaking, going from jacking all manner of cars, to blowing up Triad vans, to taking part in any number of random Rampage missions. His silence did away with the more modern-day discussions on motive and place within the gameworld, and we were free to indulge in the first 3D Grand Theft Auto to placate our darkest desires, all the way back in 2001.