The Narrator (Stanley Parable)

The Narrator is the voice heard constantly in The Stanley Parable, who serves a general purpose of guiding Stanley.

He is voiced by Kevan Brighting.

Depending on Stanley's actions, the Narrator can serve as the main antagonist, the deuteragonist, a neutral/misunderstood character or even Stanley's friend.

The Narrator is a transcendental entity that exists independently from the game-world and manifests himself as a voice in Stanley's head. It is unknown what the Narrator truly is, but his powers, alignment and motives vary per ending.

Personality
The Narrator's personality depends entirely on the choices Stanley makes, and may develop into several different personalities, such as sad, angry, obnoxious, happy, and confused.

In several endings such as the Freedom Ending or the Confusion Ending, the Narrator serves his role in the game as the player's guide and even friend. However, the Narrator can also display a cold, ruthless demeanor. This is showcased in the Explosion Ending and the Museum Ending, where he willingly lets Stanley slowly die. (However, in the Museum ending, he tried to warn Stanley about entering the escape route, which seems to suggest that in this route, his ruthlessness is caused by annoyance or some other exterior emotion.)

The Narrator also displays a great deal of sarcasm; in the Serious Room, he exclaims that most rational people would say that the Narrator spends an absurdamount of time doing nothing but looking at tables. Also, in the Games Ending, the Narrator sarcastically remarks that he "doesn't need the validation of a man whose job is to push buttons".The Narrator is also impatient; if Stanley stays in the Broom Closet, the Narrator will get bored and angry quite quickly. He does the opposite of this in the Demo, where he says he'll wait for Stanley if the player waits in the waiting room, and plays the 8 game.

In some endings, the Narrator will also make fun of Stanley. For example, in one of the endings in the original Half-Life 2 mod, he will call Stanley "fat, ugly, and really, really stupid". The same line is used to mock Stanley if he stays inside the Broom Closet long enough.

The Narrator shows an antagonistic personality in the following endings: In the Zending and the Games Ending, the Narrator instead falls victim to Stanley's villainous role, as Stanley ignores and tortures the Narrator and prevents him from being happy.
 * Explosion Ending - He reveals his plot about erasing Stanley's co-workers and expecting to see Stanley die in many ways. He also taunts Stanley while the countdown goes down.
 * Cold Feet Ending - He pressures Stanley into jumping off the platform, and then makes a sarcastic remark about making a miscalculation.
 * Phone Ending - He tricks Stanley about the existence of his wife. (However, the Narrator was trying to prove a point.)

Abilities

 * Reality-warping: The Narrator has a massive degree of control over the game-world. He can completely alter the game-worlds to varying degrees and extents. The Narrator can even take control of other game-worlds, such as the ones of Portal and Minecraft.
 * Plot manipulation: To the Narrator, the game is but a story he wrote. The Narrator can create entirely new plot elements and can alter the game's script.
 * Spatial manipulation: The Narrator possesses advanced ubicokinetic talents, having complete control over the game's space. Examples of this power include re-arranging, creating and modifying rooms, adding or removing doors and creating infinite loops in space, such as in the Mariella Ending.
 * Time-reloading: The Narrator can freely reload the game's time, jumping back to the opening scene of the game. He can also rewrite the game's timeline from there, such as re-arranging rooms or conjuring the Stanley Parable Adventure Line.
 * Telekinesis: The Narrator can interact with objects in the game-world without touching them, such as opening or closing doors and maneuvering Stanley through the air.
 * Pyrokinesis: The Narrator is described as having pyrokinetic abilities. In the Explosion Ending, he mentions that he has burnt the office to the floor in an unseen version of the story. In the Games Ending, he also conjures fire during the Baby minigame.
 * Nonexistence: The Narrator could freely decreate anything, wiping it from existence. This was done to erase Stanley's co-workers.
 * Empathic manipulation: The Narrator can influence Stanley's emotions. This is used in the Mariella Ending to drive Stanley to madness.
 * Necrogenesis: The Narrator can force Stanley to die in certain endings, like the Mariella Ending.
 * Resurrection: Contrary, the Narrator can also bring Stanley back after certain deaths.
 * Light and darkness manipulation: The Narrator can summon light, both outside the Office and in the Zending's space area, and shroud areas into darkness, such as the Phone Room.
 * Telepathy: The Narrator is described as being a voice in Stanley's head, and the Mariella Ending confirms that Stanley hears the Narrator, meaning he must be talking to Stanley through the mind.
 * Technopathy: The Narrator can take control of electronic devices, such as initiating the self-destruct system in the Explosion Ending, creating his own electric contraptions in the Games Ending and activing a mechanism to reveal a hidden passage in the Boss's Office in multiple endings.
 * Summoning/Conjuration/Instant creation: The Narrator can freely create, conjure and summon anything, such as new objects and furniture, rooms, the Baby/Puppy minigame and the Stanley Parable Adventure Line.
 * Nigh-omnipresence: The Narrator is seemingly almost everywhere at once, seeing everything Stanley does. However, he is not truly everywhere, whenever and nowhere, as seen in the Escape Pod Ending where the escape pod requires the Narrator's presence.
 * Perception manipulation: The Narrator can alter what Stanley perceives, such as applying a red shader of his point of view, making him hear music, or making him see the words "You win!".
 * Weather control: The Narrator is able to make it rain outside the Office, which can rarely be heard after a restart. Another possibility is for the Narrator to comment on how Stanley hears the wind blowing outside.
 * 4th wall awareness: The Narrator is well aware that The Stanley Parable is but a game and that Stanley is controlled by the Player. He even comments on this at certain moments in the game.

Trivia

 * Some have theorized the Narrator to be Stanley addressing himself in third person and with everything being Stanley's imagination.
 * This, however, seems unlikely to be true since numerous factors suggest otherwise, such as the Mariella Ending.
 * The Narrator has claimed to rely on Stanley to exist. This contradicts his decisions in some endings, in which he seems happy to let Stanley die, and even went as far as ditching Stanley in the Games Ending.
 * The Narrator can be considered both a deuteragonist and an antagonist, depending on the ending played.
 * In the original Half Life 2 Mod, the Narrator is more rude and unpolite in the endings.
 * The Narrator will be at his most evil in the Explosion Ending, exclaiming various sadistic quotes (which differ between the mod and full game) and forcing Stanley through a literal countdown to this death.