Protagonists of terror: the role of ludology and narrative in conceptualising extremist violence

ABSTRACT This paper is a conceptual exploration of whether terrorists’ self-perception as (anti-)heroes, playing characters drawn from their internalised narratives within a ludic framework, offers a better understanding of the mechanism which translates extremist ideologies into violent action. Applying narrative theory to the stories told through acts of communicative terrorism, I argue that viewing terrorists as their own ‘protagonists’ offers an improved understanding of terrorism. Given the growth of extreme right-wing terrorism and the increasing prevalence of individuals acting as characters, I further incorporate existing research in ludology and ‘ludic terrorism’ to evaluate the concept of a terrorist as a ‘ludonarrative protagonist’. This paper contributes to the methodology of terrorism studies by proposing a way of conceptualising terrorist actors harmonised with existing psychological and behavioural research. I also offer practical implications for counter-terrorism efforts. Adopting this more nuanced framework will better equip counter-terrorism practitioners for preventative engagement with (potential) terrorists by centring counter-narratives and the construction of roles which reinforce cognitive barriers to violent action. This research provides an alternative explanation for why and how individuals engage in terroristic violence, recognising the emergence of an increasingly decentralised terrorism ecosystem.


Introduction
Why, even Gollum might be good in a tale … I wonder if he thinks he's the hero or the villain?(Tolkien, 1983, p. 740) Terrorism is a form of communication: it uses violence (and the fear thereof) to communicate a political messagea political narrativeto an audience wider than its immediate victims (Schmid & de Graaf, 1982).Working from this premise, we can conceive of terrorism as morbid storytelling. 1We should, in turn, ask what story is being told.Who are the characters?And, crucially, who is the protagonist in the tale?To answer these essential questions, we must delve deeper into how we conceptualise the individuals who are (or may become) involved in violence inspired by extreme ideologies and how they conceptualise themselves. 2  This paper proposes an alternative construction of the self-perceived role of an individual 'terrorist' as an (anti-)heroic protagonist in their internalised narrative, drawing upon work from the literary and psychological study of narrative theory.However, narratives are insufficient to explain how an individual comes to participate in violent action.There must be an interactive element to the individual's relationship with the characters in the story.The multidisciplinary study of ludology provides insights into how ideas of 'play'in particular, taking on an alternative persona in lieu of one's own charactercan assist us in our conception of violent extremists.
This paper primarily draws upon cases from within the extreme right-wing as it represents an emergent, decentralised, and increasingly 'super-empowered' movement which benefits most significantly from the framework proposed here.By inserting themselves into a shared narrative, a 'lone actor' can derive a sense of legitimacy, direction, and coherence within an otherwise disparate movement.However, there is no barrier to this approach being ideologically agnostic. 3 These concepts contribute to the academic understanding of individuals who advance extremist ideologies through violence and provide a valuable framework for counter-terrorism practitioners to reframe preventative engagements with those at risk of engaging in violent extremism. 4This approach focuses on a person's self-perception and aims to provide practical solutions for counter-terrorism practitioners to work with individuals influenced by extremist narratives.However, this paper is a conceptual exploration, and further work will be required to establish its efficacy in the field.

Protagonists in the story of terror
Everybody situates themselves within a narrative, including individuals who engage in terroristic violence.I build upon the conception of terrorism as a communicative device responsible for transferring ideas and how this communication tells a grand, often hateful, story.In turn, I examine what we mean by a narrative and what shapes stories take in the context of terrorism, their characteristics, and their characters, leading us to understand how individuals can situate themselves within an extremist story and view themselves as the (anti-)hero.We begin to see the power of storytelling in the internalised narratives that permit individuals to transgress against protective factors that would otherwise restrain them from acts of terroristic violence, such as societal norms and values they may have previously deeply held.We can then understand how comprehending an individual as a protagonist can help us shape future research, policy, and practice in this field.

Terrorism and storytelling
Schmid and de Graaf (1982), who conceptualise terrorism as a means of communication emphasising the instrumental role of violence in conveying a message, provide a macro-level foundation for our understanding of extremist violence.Terrorism is significant as a mechanism for individuals or groups to communicate their (political) message to a broader (societal) audience through fear.At the core of the message the actor(s) 5 share is the narrative that manifests their ideology (Archetti, 2017).Here, I delve into the micro-level realm, exploring the role of stories in an individual terrorist actor's communication and their personal relationship with those extremist narratives.
I define narrative as the construction of social meaning by making present life experiences or understandings of the world (Schiff, 2012) through (implicit or explicit) connections between two (or more) events (Copeland, 2019), where characters within the story can influence its development and outcome (Richardson, 2002). 6Gottschall's (2021, p. 19) illustration of the power of story and narrative to influence human thinking enriches this definition by providing the purpose of narrative.
Gottschall builds upon an earlier tradition of narrative theory (Gramsci, 1971) in conceiving the primary purpose of communication to be gaining sway (or influence) over others' minds (Gottschall, 2021).Specifically, he sees stories as humanity's innate tool to harmonise an audience with the storyteller's ultimate goal.This approach resonates with Herman and Vervaeck's (2007, p. 218) examination of the interaction between ideology and narrative, foregrounding how verisimilitude can transport 'story-logic' analogously into real-world logic, thereby naturalising the ideology adopted within the text.Corman (2015, p. 37) similarly describes narratives as substituting an individual's logical reasoning with the rationality derived from the narrative.
Based on the definition and conceptions outlined above, I understand narrative as a mechanism by which people describe experiences or ideas, representing two or more events as logically connected and seeking to generate sway over another.In this sense, we should consider the role of narratives in terrorism: primarily in the stories that terrorists tell each other.Indeed, the stories they tell themselves.

The narratives of hate
Having established what we mean by a narrative, we can examine how these components feature in what terrorists communicate, focusing on the role of narratives as a mechanism of influence within groups and between individuals rather than communicating with an external audience.From this framework, we can examine the role of the individual terrorist in the narrative.
Before considering the narratives adhered to by individuals, it is essential to recognise that narratives feature in terrorist propaganda to bolster the in/outgroup dichotomy and crisis/solution constructs (Reed & Dowling, 2018).This use of narrative in intra-and extragroup communications highlights its utility as a mechanism through which groups can sway members and improve recruitment prospects.While this use of narrative as an instrument of influence remains relevant to the following discussion, this paper focuses on the role of narrative in shaping the individual.
To understand this relationship, we must understand the story terrorists tell and live out in terms of their self-perception and interpretation of the social world.Lucas and Baldino (2021) illustrate, by referencing Brenton Tarrant, how we can use terrorist manifestos to glimpse how an individual terrorist makes sense of the people, places, and processes which make up their social world.These fundamental elements correspond with the preceding definition of a narrative: I suggest that terrorist manifestos represent a mechanism by which we can identify and understand the narratives shaping the individual that produced the manifesto.Given the power of narrative to shape individuals' perception of and means of interacting with the world, interpreting the core components of a terrorist's ideology in narrative terms is essential to developing a successful approach for counter-terrorism practitioners to employ when engaging with extremists.
By restructuring the messaging these actors share in narrative terms, we can reconstruct the cast of characters, the narrative arc and thereby, the animating force which drives the action.Tarrant's (2019) manifesto centred on the titular idea of the 'Great Replacement'.Framed in narrative terms, Tarrant is describing how heroic, radical revolutionaries are seeking to defend the victimised, oblivious, and helpless white population from the faceless enemy forces, including global Jewry and Marxists, who are covertly mobilising to bring about the apocalyptic end of the white race through surreptitious means (Beutel, 2019).It is a hateful narrative with murderous themes, but at its core, it resembles Booker's (2004) archetypal 'Overcoming the Monster' plot.Crucially, it was this story Tarrant believed.

Internalisation and self-conception
In this conception, developing on the literature outlined above, the use of terroristic violence is a bloody plot point in the actor's narrative.The actors cling to, indeed internalise, this narrative and begin to see themselves as having a role within it, often as the protagonist (Lucas & Baldino, 2021, p. 203).Our challenge is understanding how their self-perceived role in the narrative impacts their interactions with the world and how this contributes to an individual's pathway to expressing their role through terroristic violence.
A body of interdisciplinary research has already explored the narrative's role in identity construction (McAdams et al., 2006).Individuals integrate their experiences into an internalised story, reconstruct their past, interpret their present, and imagine their future (McAdams & McLean, 2013).In particular, the individual projects their narrative identity back and forth in time to impose a sense of structure and meaning upon their life following this story (Crossley, 2002).By adopting an ideological framework, such as that of the extreme right-wing or Salafi-Jihadism, an individual incorporates the narrative that the ideology promotes into their own identity (Horgan, 2008), supplementing (or, perhaps, supplanting) their existing narrative paradigm through which they interact with the past, present, and future (Braddock & Horgan, 2016).The role of the ingroup narrative, as understood within Social Identity Theory, acts as the interpretive framework that translates objective facts into subjective understandings of reality (Strindberg, 2020).The ability of metaphor and analogy to connect story-world and real-world logic changes how individuals with an internalised extremist narrative understand their place in the world.
If an individual has internalised an extremist narrative, the next question must be, where does the individual see themselves in this narrative?There will be a wide range of answers to this question, but if we consider only those mobilising to violence, there is a much tighter clustering of roles.I suggest that those willing to engage in extremist violence view themselves as responsible for driving the current situation forwardthat is, their role as the protagonist overlaps between their personal narrative and the broader extremist narrative they have internalised (Lucas & Baldino, 2021).For example, Tarrant (2019, pp. 7-9) understands his role as the vanguard of resisting the 'Great Replacement'.He sees his actions as contributing to the overall trajectory of history and certainly does not consider himself a side character (Tarrant, 2019, p. 9).Such a grandiose self-image is enhanced when the actor, like Tarrant, is part of a radical faction claiming to defend the group they perceive to be under threat, enabling them to frame themself as a hero.
However, being the protagonist does not always mean identifying as a traditional hero.Tarrant (2019) called on those who would emulate him to 'embrace infamy' (p.56) and suggests that while the 'morality [of his actions] is ambiguous', people in the future will write of him in 'wonder and admiration' (p.61).Following the concept of white knights in black armour (Lucas & Baldino, 2021), they may assume the role of an anti-hero.Antiheroes are characters with essential flaws who defy authority and rules while following a perverse, personal code of conduct and usually (claim to) side with the 'good' cause (Prusa & Brummer, 2022, pp. 4-6).Propaganda disseminated by neo-Nazi/fascist, accelerationist quasi-group, The Terrorgram Collective (2021), illustrates the figure of the anti-hero calling for the reader to be 'a Man of (Direct) Action' and the 'hero our people need' (p.24), even reminding the reader that they have the responsibility the 'carry the local struggle onward' (p.50), all the while describing horrendous acts of violence and even advocating for genocide (p.16).Terrorgram describes this as becoming 'antiheroes in the system's story' (p.8), reflecting the adoption of the anti-hero archetype at the core of extremist violence, defined in opposition to the established narratives of 'the system'.
Where individuals internalise the narratives put forward by extremist groups, they are likely to identify themselves as the protagonist (Gottschall, 2021, p. 14), frequently as an anti-hero.The consequences of this conceptualisation will be explored in further detail below as we consider how counter-terrorism practitioners can apply this to individuals who have internalised extremist narratives.

Summary
Working from an understanding of terrorism as a communication mechanism, I have argued that narratives pervade all communications by terrorists.By reframing the messages issued by individual actors, such as Brenton Tarrant, it is possible to expose the underlying narrative the actor has internalised.I propose that it is appropriate to interpret the self-image of individuals willingly engaging in acts of extremist violence as one of a protagonist.This conceptualisation inherently shapes how the individual interacts with the concepts of the story and natural worlds and therefore has consequences for how practitioners should engage with individuals at risk of engaging in self-initiated terroristic violence in emphasising counter-narratives in the intervention.However, questions remain around how an actor realises actions from their narrative and exports violence into the real world.

Ludology and extremist violence
Having explored our initial concept of terrorists as protagonists in a narrative, I now take a second pass at understanding the nature of protagonists, this time in play.I draw upon the study of ludology to explore the concept of taking on the role of a character.I utilise this framework to expand upon the discussion above by seeking to view the terrorist as both a narrative and ludic protagonist.By taking on an alternative version of themselves, they can interweave their own identity with that of the narrative protagonist outlined above, thereby providing a means by which ideas and actions can bridge the gap between the real and story worlds.Understanding the mechanism for translating ideas and actions is fundamental to counter-terrorism practitioners delivering effective interventions with individuals who may seek to take violent concepts from their narratives and act them out.

Playing the protagonist
What does it mean to be a ludic protagonist?Salen and Zimmerman (2004, p. 303) understand ludic activity as including formalised games and the broader class of non-game behaviours we consider 'playing'. 7In particular, this paper focuses on Caillois and Barash's (2001, pp. 19-23) conception of 'mimicry' as a form of ludic activitythe play of becoming (or behaving as) an illusory character in which the player 'forgets, disguises, or temporarily sheds his personality in order to feign another'.Huizinga (1949, p. 13) similarly understands the extraordinary process that by playing as another 'being', the player actually becomes another 'being'.Building on both Caillois and Huizinga, I understand this transformation as neither a means nor an end but an inherent component of 'play'.
History illustrates how such mimicry has not always been an innocent or joyful pursuit.The mediaeval Carnival provided a separate world where people could take on new roles by slipping on masks and turning the ordinary order of laws and officialdom on its head (Bakhtin, 1984, p. 7).In such mimicry, the player goes beyond mere acting and engages in grave, sometimes murderous, transgressions (Guarino, 2017, p. 8).Carnival illustrates how individuals can use mimicry to appropriate power and contest authority (Aucoin, 2019, p. 273).
This idea of 'the ludic' provides a context for exploring the 'player'the one who takes on the role of a protagonist in the play.Where narrative has more precise delineations for the role of a protagonist, the ludic allows for more expansive definitions. 8Developing Caillois and Barash's (2001, pp. 19-21) work, my framework considers a ludic protagonist to be anyone who actively participates in 'play': that takes upon themselves a new persona and, in so doing, disposes (at least temporarily or partially) of their prior personality.The extent to which they cease to be themselves need not be complete, merely that they are sufficiently changed in their modes of behaviour that they are recognisably taking on a role.
The drawing out of an illusory character drawn from the individual's internalised narrative represents a crucial overlap between narrative theory and ludic mimicry.In this sense, the character they 'put on' is an external manifestation of the idealised character constructed from their narrative.This externalisation of a constructed narrative protagonist amplifies the effects of verisimilitude between the story world and the real world.The 'player' provides an avatar in which the narrative protagonist can begin to act out the story interactively with other people in the real world.
A vivid example of the power of this phenomenon is in the emergence and popularity of the meta-conspiracy of 'QAnon' (Amarasingam & Agentino, 2020;Jensen & Kane, 2021).QAnon is unique in our time as it combines conspiratorial thinking and ideological dissemination with the ludic hallmarks of an Alternative Reality Game 9 (Davies, 2022) the adherents collectively took on roles of detectives unpicking the mysteries shared in 'Q Drops'. 10By adopting the 'detective' persona and living out the mantra 'do the research', thousands of people became embedded in the narratives more familiar to the extreme right-wing (Jensen & Kane, 2021).In this way, 'play' simultaneously introduced individuals to the story while providing mechanisms to internalise and ultimately act upon the narrative.Adherents began to act in their newly assumed roles as representatives of Q, defending the outgoing US President, Donald Trump, and culminating in the deadly assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.The morally dubious breach of the Capitol and assaults on law-enforcement officers, taken to advance their 'good' cause, suggest that the characters QAnon activists had adopted aligned with the anti-hero archetype.Some rioters affiliated with QAnon wore costumes that embodied their adopted characters, whether dressing up as an esoteric 'shaman' or wearing some insignia (Sheppard, 2021).The physical manifestation of their previously online ludic activity enabled the individuals to act as (anti-)heroes for their cause célèbre: fighting against malevolent powers trying to 'steal' the 2020 election from Donald Trump by all means necessary.
In manifesting the narrative in the real world, QAnon demonstrated the efficacy of its Alternative Reality Game approach; QAnon activists represent the largest faction of defendants charged for their roles in the insurrection, compared to other white supremacist, anti-government, and extreme right-wing groups.QAnon highlights the mutually reinforcing relationship between the story and play: participation in ludic activity can facilitate the internalisation of a narrative, and the play can draw upon the narrative to manifest it in the real world.
I argue that this ludic participation in violent extremism resembles mimicry in inverting Carnival roles, enabling otherwise socially unacceptable (and occasionally reprehensible) behaviour by giving individuals a mechanism by which they can 'put on' a character.A character provides a metaphorical, or at times literal, mask behind which they hide, distancing the actor from activities they may not otherwise consider legitimate or permissible (Parsons, 2005, pp. 818, 829).The cognitive separation is made possible by the externalisation of the protagonist from a story in which acts of violence are considered necessary or even virtuous.

The ludonarrative terrorist
Expanding upon this concept further, we can delve deeper into how individuals externalise an extremist grievance narrative by positioning themselves within the story and actively constructing a role they can inhabit.This process transcends mere identification with a character; it entails crafting a persona through which individuals can engage with the narrative, enabling them to participate more directly and relate personally to the successes and failures of the broader cast of protagonists (cf.de Graaf et al., 2012).For example, The Terrorgram Collective (2021, p. 26) has called upon its supporters to take upon themselves a new identity: to remake themselves in the context of their extremist interpretation of the world.In exploring this, I build upon the concepts and cases outlined by Patterson (2020) relating to 'ludic terrorism' and integrate them with ideas of internalised narratives and the role of the ludic discussed above.
Anders Breivik exemplifies the ludic terrorism phenomenon in the 2011 Oslo/Utøya attack.Breivik had internalised a nativist, cultural nationalist, and Islamophobic narrative (Richards, 2014), but he went beyond belief and conviction.He constructed his own character, the 'Marxist Hunter,' equipped with a self-issued 'Multiculturi Traitor Hunting Permit' (Jacobsen & Maier-Katkin, 2015, p. 145).Breivik not only believed in a story in which the white populous were victims of the Muslim antagonists, he deliberately created a character which provided him with a tangible entrance into the pages of his own story, or instead, allowed his 'Justiciar Knight' to step into the real world.Thus, his actions were not divorced from reality but immersed in an alternative reality he had meticulously constructed.This alternative reality possessed sufficient verisimilitude, allowing his extremist ideas to flow from the narrative into the real world, ultimately leading to his murderous attack.
Similarly, Elliot Rodger, the perpetrator of an attack motivated by a less coherent but undeniably political narrative, 11 also constructed a distinctive character.This character is evident in the video Rodger (2014a) recorded and published on the eve of his attack and his manifesto (Rodger, 2014b), where he portrayed himself as a deified 'gentleman' seeking retribution against his perceived antagonists: primarily women but also sexually active men.Throughout Rodger's quasi-biographical manifesto and videos, he repeatedly referred to himself as a 'gentleman'. 12Notably, this notion gains prominence as the manifesto progresses, particularly in its more violent sections.Rodger's construction of his 'gentleman' shares unsettling parallels with Plato's philosopher king; primarily, the control over sexual relations reflects elements of Plato's noble lie (Plato, ca. 375 B.C.E./ 1888, pp. 414b-416a, 458).In Rodger's case, he proposes exterminating all but a few women, hiding their existence from the remaining men, with his 'divine ruler' (himself) exercising total control over their sexual activities (Rodger, 2014b, p. 136).By externalising his narrative as the 'Supreme Gentleman', I suggest Rodger, much like Breivik, was able to produce a distance between himself and his actions, thereby dismantling cognitive barriers to transgression.That is not to suggest that Rodger became an automatonthe mere embodiment of a character over which he had no controlto the contrary, Rodger played the 'Supreme Gentleman', which he drew from his narrative, to bring his violent fantasies into the real world.The creation of a role which bridges the story's world and reality magnifies the verisimilitude of the narrative.
This interaction between ludic activity and internalised narratives assumes paramount significance: its impact is multiplicative.By participating in an extremist narrative, ludic protagonists can cross over and bring the moral content of the narrative from the page (or mind) into reality.These roles are co-created between individual actors' self-conception and personal desires, incorporating the logical and moral frameworks from the narrative they have internalised.This co-creation brings a more substantial alignment between the ideals and values of the character, the extremist narrative, and the individual.Consequently, this amplifies the narrative's power to influence real-world action beyond mere verisimilitude by inhabiting an agent capable of realising story concepts.Questions of morality are reframed by reference to the character and the narrative (Tarrant, 2019, p. 61), hinting at a mechanism by which individuals can lower cognitive barriers to transgression.I suggest that individuals willingly assume the roles they have (co-)created as they reflect their self-image while drawing upon their internalised narrative.The impact upon cognitive barriers of blurring an individual's personality with a constructed character provides an essential dimension for any preventative engagement by a counter-terrorism practitioner, as any engagement will seek to strengthen or re-establish cognitive barriers to engaging in violence.
Given the lack of rules, end states, and formalised mechanics associated with the abovementioned cases, this paper has primarily been concerned with the broader components of ludic activity.However, ludic roles can also incorporate recognisable elements of games and gamification, which research of modern terroristic violence has identified in concepts such as 'high scores' (Lakhani & Wiedlitzka, 2022, p. 10), achievements (EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, 2020, p. 7) and adapting tropes of modern 'first-person-shooter' video games (Macklin, 2019, p. 19). 13These reflect more game-like and tightly defined aspects of the ludic, contributing to the cognitive experience of playing.The impact of 'gamification' complements the mechanisms outlined in this paper for externalising narratives through taking on roles and therefore represents an additional layer that counter-terrorism practitioners should be aware of when engaging with potential violent extremists.

Summary
The process of creating and inhabiting a persona outlined above explains how individuals mobilise to violence better than simply believing an extremist narrative to be true.The cases of Anders Breivik and Elliot Rodger demonstrate how these self-created characters become gateways to the narrative and, in turn, for the characters to step off the page.Playing the character in the real world, a terrorist can apply the logic and morality embedded in the narrative to their actions, allowing them to rationalise their transgressions and enable them to commit acts of terroristic violence.
Recognising these dynamics has significant implications for how practitioners should understand and engage with terrorist actors.Counter-terrorism practitioners should consider how their interventions address the underlying processes which facilitate the creation and inhabitation of characters and the internalisation of extremist narratives.

Implications for theory and practice
I have provided a sketch of how we can understand the ideology and identity of an individual willing to engage in terroristic violence through the combined lens of the narrative and ludic.I now address critical questions regarding the applicability of this conceptual approach and how it interacts with the existing psychological approaches to explaining terrorism.In exploring the consequences for counter-terrorism practitioners, I suggest that engaging with the stories potential violent extremists have internalised, and within which they begin to perceive themselves as protagonists, should contribute to frameworks for preventative engagements.Furthermore, recognising the impact of taking on a character or role on the individual's capacity to engage in violence, I highlight the need to recognise and integrate ludic activity to prevent extremist narratives from manifesting as violence.

Applicability to ambiguous cases
It is critical to address how this concept could apply to less clear cases than those of Tarrant, Breivik, and Rodgers.I deliberately selected these cases for their strong narrative and the telegraphed creation of characters.As such, it is necessary to consider whether this concept applies to cases without ex post facto explanations of how the individual moved towards violence.I suggest that the general principles derived from the cases above remain applicable to other cases, though they may be less evident at first.
Extremist ideologies promoted by extremist propagandists collate (ingroup) protagonists and (outgroup) antagonists, using them to tell a story where the former defeat the latter (The Terrorgram Collective, 2021, pp. 7, 16, 38, 67).The same extremist groups call on each supporter to be the one to act rather than be merely a supporting character (The Terrorgram Collective, 2021, p. 50).
Blending a protagonist character from the narrative into the real world by the actor inhabiting the character is closely tied to mobilisation towards violence.A formal expression of identity, such as a name or costume, need not be present.Instead, the cognitive process by which an individual engages in terroristic violence is inherently ludicit may be a warped form of play, but it is play, nonetheless.They play out the story they have internalised: an accelerationist plays the role of the match, which sets the world ablaze, and the Salafi-Jihadist plays the anti-crusader defending dar al-Islam from Western infidels.The established characters within the narrative may be closer to or further from the actual person and the world the individual inhabits; as there is never complete alignment, an invented role is necessary to bridge the gap between narrative and reality.
There is no inherent barrier to the generalisability of these concepts.However, I acknowledge that it will be necessary to gather data to evaluate how effectively this theory applies in practice to a more diverse set of individuals.

Psychology and terrorism
The concepts outlined above primarily draw upon literary theory; however, they overlap significantly with wide-ranging research into the psychological hypothesis of terrorism (Hudson, 2010), underpinning existing research into how individuals become involved in terrorism.I have proposed a theory which contributes to existing psychological explanations; my concepts explore these psychological processes through the frame of the narrative and the ludic, which acts as an additional and intuitive dimension through which academics and counter-terrorism practitioners can engage with these psychological mechanisms.
Contemporary behavioural explanations for individuals becoming involved in violent extremism address various factors, including general, individual, and group approaches.One of the central organising frameworks is Social Identity Theory (SIT), which collates different psychological processes and concepts across macro-and micro-levels of analysis (Strindberg, 2020).Moghaddam's (2005) 'Staircase to Terrorism' metaphor blends SIT with the study of individual psychological processes; it explores why, of many people who suffer relative deprivation, only a subset support terroristic violence, and fewer still are willing to participate.The 'Staircase of Terrorism' metaphor requires someone or something to induce the individual to see the world in the same way as the terrorist group and to abrogate their established moral framework (as taught to them by society and upheld by traditional authorities) in favour of the terrorist group's moral framework (Moghaddam, 2005, p. 165).SIT emphasises the need for the individual to consume the ingroup narrative as the mechanism by which they self-categorise as a member of a terrorist group and begin to justify their actions by reference to the ingroup narrative (Strindberg, 2020, pp. 39-41, 46).Existing psychological research, therefore, recognises the essential role narratives have in shaping the individual's identity: how they enable individuals to self-categorise as a member of a terrorist group and derive moral justification for engaging in acts of violence.
When considering how individuals adopt such an ingroup narrative as their own, the idea of 'thought reform' provides a potential explanation: the concerted effort to change an individual's understanding of the world (Leistedt, 2013).Leistedt notes the implicit need for hierarchical imposition to implement 'thought reform' as traditionally constructed (Kanavou & Path, 2017).However, given the increasingly decentralised and leaderless nature of post-organisational terrorism in the twenty-first century (Davey et al., 2021), the power of the narrative to influence potential terrorists can enrich the concept of 'thought reform' in the digital age.
Centralised leadership is less characteristic of the emergent extreme right-wing, where self-initiated terrorism is increasingly common, as illustrated in the cases of Breivik and Tarrant.Ideologues deploy ingroup narratives and benefit from such stories' influence over an individual's interpretations of the world.Therefore, narratives act as instruments for thought reform: the first-person story with explicit or implicit calls to emulate the protagonist exemplifies narratives as a contemporary mechanism of aligning the reader's identity with the (loosely defined) group. 14As identification with the character enhances the persuasive power of a narrative (de Graaf et al., 2012), the first-person story is remarkably apt to influence the reader's worldview.Furthermore, the call for every reader to become a protagonist demonstrates that formal power and authority are not required to become a member or leader of an increasingly horizontal hierarchy of contemporary violent extremism.As individuals interact with the world by parsing events through a narrative acquired by consuming and adopting extremist narratives, this empowers 'lone actors' to identify targets and generate (perceived) legitimacy for their actions without the need for traditional group structure or sanction from leadership figures.
On this basis, it is possible to harmonise the concepts outlined in this paper with existing psychological and behavioural explanations.However, there remains value in conducting a systematic review of psychological and behavioural studies of pathways to extremism to identify correspondence and divergence between the proposed theory and the body of research supporting the current understanding of processes that lead individuals to participate in violent extremism.

Applications in practice
There are three key areas within which this interpretation could add value for counter-terrorism practitioners: recognising the power of narratives to subvert the rational critiques of ideas, examining the consequences of a person's perception of themselves as a protagonist (and how to utilise this when engaging with individuals); and, centring ludic activity as a tool to disrupt the externalisation of extremist narratives into violence.
Previous research has highlighted the promise of using counter-narratives to draw individuals away from potential violent extremism while recognising that it remains an under-researched area (Carthy et al., 2020).Given the role internalised extremist narrative has in shaping the identity of an individual who may seek to engage in violent extremism (Horgan, 2008), this provides a conceptual imperative for including counter-narratives in targeted interventions with potential violent extremists.Counter-terrorism practitioners seeking to redirect individuals away from engaging in violent extremism should therefore prioritise the development of an alternative, non-violent narrative to supplant the identity constructed by the subject which they have derived from an extremist narrative.
A closely linked concept is the fusion between the extremist narrative and the subject's identity.The individual's identification with the protagonist at the centre of their self-narrativeshaped by the extremist narrative they have internalisedhas a fictionalising effect, detaching them from a more realistic view of themselves (Mathies, 2020).As a result, any engagement with the individual must address the real self and the (anti-)hero with whom they have identified.The individual's identification with the protagonist drawn from an extremist narrative should be undermined by grounding the subject's self-perception in facts.Such an approach promotes an identity that more closely coheres to the individual's lived experience, thus strengthening the subject's resilience if exposed to extremist narratives in the future.
There are further implications for interventions when individuals begin to play as the character in the real world.Previous work on evaluating the efficacy of counter-narrative interventions highlighted the limited evidence for direct impact on the intent to act violently (Carthy et al., 2020).Based on the framework outlined above, interventions can better target the mechanism for translating narratives into violent outcomes by foregrounding the ludic role the individual has constructed for themselves, which can act as a vehicle for their violent intent.Building on the previous recommendations of using counter-narratives and engaging with the fictionalised protagonist with which an individual has identified, interventions should seek to undermine the ability for actions to cross over from the narrative to the real world by deconstructing any roles that have the potential to bridge the extremist story and real world.Employing the power of ludic activity constructively to identify, and co-create healthy roles within the narrative, which re-establishes cognitive barriers to violent actions, is one approach counter-terrorism practitioners could use to achieve this.
Testing whether the ideas presented here are effective in practice remains essential.There is significant scope for future research to test this theory and its implications for counter-terrorism practitioners.Seeking to identify whether the approaches outlined above correspond with mechanisms already known to be effective in practice and whether implementing any of the above has a meaningful (or measurable) impact on the outcome of preventative engagements with potential violent extremists.

Conclusion
In this paper, I have explored how we can leverage narratives and the ludic to improve our understanding of the relationship between the ideology and identity of individuals prone to terroristic violence.By examining the cases of Tarrant, Breivik, and Rodgers, I illustrated how we can interpret their actions as part of a larger extremist narrative framework in which they cast themselves as protagonists.This work conceptually foregrounds the perspective and self-interpretation of the individual, emphasising that their acts are derived from their narrative identity and self-perception, ultimately reflecting their understanding of the social world.
I have argued that extremist ideologies inherently lend themselves to being reframed as narratives and how the construction and occupation of the role of the narrative protagonist by terrorists can act as a conceptual interpretation for how extremist ideas can manifest as violence in the real world.This understanding has practical implications for counter-terrorism practitioners in their efforts to prevent and counter radicalisation.
I recommend practitioners pursue centralising the alternative emotional, psychological, and ideological counter-narratives to disrupt the grip of extremist ideologies on 'lone actors' within an increasingly decentralised terrorism ecosystem.Secondly, practitioners should understand the individual's identification with the protagonist's role to address the real self, the fictionalised (extremist) protagonist, and the overlap between them by grounding the self-narrative in facts.Finally, interventions should strive to disrupt the translation of narratives into real-world actions through constructive ludic activities which build stronger delineations between the characters derived from extremist narratives and the subject's identity.
The theoretical framework presented in this paper contributes a new framework for understanding and addressing violent extremism grounded in the overlap between literary theory and psychology.However, it remains essential that future research seek to test its value in practice and evaluate the efficacy of the practical implications proposed here.

Notes
1.The terms 'narrative' and 'story' will be used interchangeably, though I recognise the debate about the difference between the concepts (Braddock & Horgan, 2016, p. 382).2. This paper primarily explores the use of violence to achieve some political, social, or religious objective, usually associated with the superiority/dominance of the ingroup: designated here as violent extremism.Given the enduring dispute over the definition of 'terrorism', and to emphasise this paper's slightly broader subject matter, the terms 'terrorism', 'terroristic violence' and 'extremist violence' will be used interchangeably.3. Corman (2015) provides a useful introduction to the role of the narratives relevant to Islamist extremism.His work explores the powerful role of master narratives in strategic communications by al Qaeda, highlighting their function as galvanising (ingroup) supporters against an (outgroup) enemy: whether an 'apostate' Muslim leader or invading 'crusaders'.4.This concept is closely aligned with the existing study and practice of '(de-)radicalisation'.
However, this paper is primarily interested in the mechanisms by which individuals internalise and enact extremist narratives rather than the traditional subjects of 'radicalisation' literature, such as the vulnerabilities of individuals and the recruitment processes employed by terrorist groups.Furthermore, 'radicalisation' has been problematised by a body of critical studies into the concept and its instrumental use to disproportionately target Muslim communities (Kundnani, 2009).Therefore, while this paper addresses similar content and forms part of the conversation about 'radicalisation', the term will not be used here for the reasons outlined above.5.As noted above, this paper addresses the wider field of 'violent extremism', therefore throughout this paper I will refer to an individual perpetrator of such violence as a 'terrorist (actor)', 'violent extremist' and, in the context of interventions by counter-terrorism practitioners, as the 'subject' of interventions.This is intended to emphasise the breadth of scope, and not to suggest that the concepts explored here are limited to one, specific, subset of individuals motivated by extremism.6.A more formalised definition is set out by Ryan (2007, p. 29).While I do not adhere strictly to Ryan's concepts, the detail of the components of narratives underpins the following discussion.