Who Is The Protagonist In 'Subject Faraday'?

The protagonist in 'Subject Faraday' is Dr. Elias Faraday, a brilliant but morally ambiguous neuroscientist who gets caught in his own experiment. He's not your typical hero—he's arrogant, reckless, and driven by obsession rather than noble goals. The story follows his transformation after injecting himself with an experimental serum designed to unlock latent brain potential. Instead of just gaining genius-level intelligence, he develops terrifying psychic abilities like telepathy and precognition. What makes him fascinating is his downward spiral—the more power he gains, the more his humanity erodes. His relationships collapse as he starts viewing people as mere test subjects, and his former colleagues become terrified of his god complex. The narrative forces readers to question whether he's truly the protagonist or just a villain in his own tragedy.

In 'Subject Faraday', the lead character isn't just one person—it's a dual protagonist structure that plays with perception. The surface protagonist is Dr. Faraday, the scientist who becomes superhuman, but the hidden protagonist is his lab assistant, Mia Chen. While Faraday's perspective dominates the first half with his power fantasies, Mia's grounded viewpoint takes over as she tries to contain the damage he causes.

Faraday represents the dangers of unchecked ambition. His psychic abilities let him manipulate stock markets, influence governments, and even rewrite memories, but he loses all emotional connections. Mia counters this as the moral center—an ordinary person fighting extraordinary circumstances. Her scientific mind helps her develop countermeasures against Faraday's powers, turning their relationship into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.

The brilliance lies in how their roles reverse. By the final act, Faraday becomes more experiment than scientist, while Mia evolves from observer to hero. Their intertwined fates explore whether humanity defines us more than ability does. If you enjoy complex character dynamics, this rivals 'Frankenstein' in its philosophical depth.

Let me break down why Faraday works as an antihero. He starts as this celebrated researcher—think Tony Stark without the charm—and the serum amplifies his worst traits. His 'powers' are horrifying when you analyze them: involuntary mind reading that forces him to hear everyone's darkest thoughts, or precognitive flashes that show him multiple gruesome futures. The novel cleverly frames these as curses disguised as gifts.

His relationships reveal his collapse. Early scenes show genuine warmth with his sister, but post-serum, he coldly calculates how to use her political connections. His romantic subplot with a journalist becomes chilling—he edits her memories during arguments. The most disturbing aspect isn't his powers but how casually he abuses them.

What elevates him beyond a mad scientist trope is his self-awareness. Brief moments of clarity hit him—like when he realizes he's recreating the trauma of his abusive father through psychological manipulation. These flashes make you hope for redemption, even as his actions grow monstrous. For similar complex protagonists, try 'The Library at Mount Char' or 'Hench'.