>>279761048
A vicarious stand-in for the viewer; a character that the audience can see itself being, both objectively (viewpoint) and subjectively (relatability). Some characters exist entirely for the audience to self-insert into (teleological), but in of itself the status of a "self-insert" is as subjective as that of a "waifu" or "husbando". Most self-inserts aren't teleological ones, but simply the viewpoint characters of their respective stories. In romances it's especially common for viewers to ship two characters, self-insert as one of them, and then waifu/husbando the other.