Prologue POV character going AWOL - annoying or not?

[HareBrain]

I have a prologue from character A's POV, in which he meets B&C for the first time (B&C being the main characters for the novel).

The rest of the story takes place 2 years after the prologue. Character A is referred to occasionally, as he was important to B&C during the intervening period, and he appears in a flashback that fills in the gaps between the prologue and ch1, but he never appears again in the novel.

By having the prologue from A's POV, am I leading the reader to expect that he will reappear? I know prologues are quite often from other POVs than the main characters', but often the prologue POV character dies, or the prologue takes place so far in the past that s/he can be assumed to be dead, so there is no such expectation. I don't want the reader waiting for A to turn up and getting annoyed that he doesn't.

Any thoughts gratefully received.

 

[The Judge]

I think you may well be raising expectations that he will either appear or be very important to the plot in some way, so you are running a risk of your readers wondering what has happened to him.

If you can't make A turn up in the novel in person, then I would say he needs to be referenced a good deal throughout -- more than simply 'occasionally' and in one flashback. Is there any way for someone to have met him off-stage, as it were, and recount conversations with him, if you can't have him actually appearing?

J

 

[Ursa major]

I don't think that you should worry overmuch, HB. Without giving spoilers, a rather well-regarded fantasy series (with a host of threads on the Chrons) has Prologue and Epilogue POV characters that appear nowhere else (and sometimes are not mentioned again).

If you need the prologue, and it's best described from a POV specific to that prologue, then do that. As for the rest of the book, don't shoehorn the Prologue POV Character (PPOVC) into the rest of the book simply to get them back in shot. If they have to reappear (have to for the story), they will do so anyway.

 

[HareBrain]

Thanks guys

Is there any way for someone to have met him off-stage, as it were, and recount conversations with him, if you can't have him actually appearing?

Ah ... there is someone who's met him once, off-stage, after his separation from B&C, and she might be able to tell them why he isn't likely to be appearing in the near future. That should do it.

Judicial chocolates in the post.

If you need the prologue

Oi! Put the lid back on that can before those worms escape.

 

[Culhwch]

I'm with Ursa. As you've described it, it seems perfectly legitimate to me.

 

[LukeW]

George R. R. Martin started A Game of Thrones in a similar manner, except the character's in that prologue all died within that same piece of text.

I believe a prologue is more there to build a background to your world and help set the scene (though I'm sure I'll be corrected on that).

I don't think it matters if your character goes AWOL.