ABSTRACT
A character’s transtextual identity clashes with the ideal of narrative continuity. This chapter argues that characters’ transtextual identities are controlled through archaic strategies of control —authorship ownership, and canonisation—to create the impression that their identities are coherent across different works. These strategies serve no one but the institutions that employ them. By analysing the dynamic game character’s configuration in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the Mass Effect series, and Animal Crossing: New Horizon and their related texts, this chapter argues that once dynamic game characters move across different media, the player’s agency is sacrificed in favour of a dominant reading by authorititative institutions.
