The beloved Fatal Frame series is known for its dark atmosphere, deep and entwining storylines, as well as memorable characters both good and evil. Many of the games feature branching storylines with a variety of controllable protagonists, while other characters influence the story through cutscenes and in-game story items.
The complex family trees of the franchise can be confusing, but they all help to enrich a series that is now finally fully available to Western audiences on modern platforms. While not every character in this list is a playable character, they are generally considered to be on the "good" side of the story, even if they don't always end up producing good outcomes.
15 Sayaka Minazuki
Though Sayaka is not a playable character, she features as a guide to Ruka Minazuki and Choushiro Kirishima, who are both player-controlled characters. Having lost her daughter to the water ritual on Rougetsu Island, she contacts the detective, Choushiro, and grants him the special flashlight that enables him to slay ghosts.
Though her contribution is helpful, she cannot really be considered in the same vein as other, more important characters in the series.
14 Mafuyu Hinasaki
Since Mafuyu is only very briefly playable in the prologue of the original Fatal Frame, many players will not remember him fondly. It is also primarily his fault that many of the terrible supernatural events that happen to his sister later unfold. Not a bad person necessarily, but a naive one certainly.
He's also weirdly implicated in the birth of Miu, despite being Miku's older brother.
13 Madoka Tsukimori
Madoka is one of the four playable protagonists in Fatal Frame 4: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse, and one of the surviving girls of the Rougetsu Island water ritual.
This poor girl is really not cut out for this kind of supernatural investigative work and complains and doubts herself at every possible opportunity. Though players are inclined to feel sorry for her in many ways, it would have been far more sensible for her to simply stay at home.
12 Kei Amakura
Kei appears as a playable character in Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented, and much like Mafuyu, it is his naïveté that gets him into trouble.
Uncle to Mio and Mayu Amakura, Kei attempts to enact a spirit ritual following the tragic events surrounding his nieces. Suffice it to say it does not go to plan, and Kei ends up unleashing far more chaos than he otherwise might have done.
11 Hisoko Kurosawa
Descended from a Shrine Maiden of Mt Hikami, Hisoko appears in Fatal Frame 5: Maiden Of Blackwater as an intelligent and intuitive investigator.
Her skills as a Shadow Reader enable her to find lost items as well as understand things about them. She is also able to tell fortunes and works as a cafe owner and antique dealer. She is also a mentor to Yuri, one of the playable characters in the game.
10 Mayu Amakura
One of the central protagonists of Fatal Frame 2: The Crimson Butterfly, Mayu is highly susceptible to the paranormal and becomes increasingly sick as her sister, Mio, tries to save her. Mayu can be frustrating due to her slow movement, but players will largely control her sister throughout the game's story.
Whilst she is certainly deserving of our empathy, Mayu irritated a lot of players by wandering off and separating herself from Mio for increasingly bizarre reasons. This unfortunate negative impact on game mechanics detracts from her otherwise likable character design and her powerful impact on the story.
9 Misaki Asou
A descendent of Dr. Kunihiko Asou, Misaki revisits Rogetsu Island in order to learn more about the water ritual, in addition to finding a cure for her 'getsuyuu syndrome'.
She is a strong-willed and resilient character, having survived unimaginable torture in her youth, and like many other characters, her fate is dependent upon player choices made throughout the game's story. She is relatively courageous compared to her friend Madoka, though it could be argued that Madoka's tragic fate is a consequence of Misaki's decisions.
8 Ruka Minazuki
Though Ruka generally does not engage in many conversations and is largely isolated throughout the story of Fatal Frame 4: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse, she is courageous enough to explore and face ghosts by herself and is also a very thoughtful and insightful character.
It is thanks to her that many mysteries on Rogetsu Island are uncovered, all the while battling the psychological Getsuyuu Syndrome.
7 Choushiro Kirishima
A former police detective, Choushiro is arguably the strongest protagonist in Fatal Frame 4: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse, and his special flashlight makes for a good change to combat from the Camera Obscura.
Choushiro is a noble and well-meaning gentleman, and he contributes a piece of the Rougetsu Island ritual mask for Ruka. Unlike many other playable characters in the series, Choushiro is already in spirit form, having died years before the events of the game begin.
6 Ren Hojo
Ren is an author with a curiosity verging on the obsessive and is not necessarily always the most sensible adult in the room. Much like Rei in Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented, Ren is plagued by bad dreams, in particular by the ghost of a shrine maiden named Shiragiku.
He is a forgetful man, often misplacing things and requiring the assistance of Hisoko to recover them. But, he is a good-spirited and resilient investigator, with his heart in the right place.
5 Miu Hinasaki
As the daughter of Fatal Frame's original protagonist, Miku, Miu is deeply entrenched within the lore and story of the franchise. Appearing as a playable character in Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Blackwater, Miu is deeply motivated to uncover what happened to her mother.
Despite her seeming fragility, she is adept at battling ghosts with the Camera Obscura, and she contributes a lot to the overall narrative of the franchise, though precisely how things end will depend on the player's choices.
4 Miku Hinasaki
The original Fatal Frame protagonist, perhaps Miku deserves a higher ranking on the list for nostalgia's sake, but when compared with the vastly superior voice acting and character models of later protagonists, Miku, unfortunately, pales in comparison.
She does make a return, however, in Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented, and her personal story is central to the lore of the majority of the franchise. Of all the characters, she perhaps endures the most hardship and carries the heaviest burden, and despite all this is still able to foster a deep connection with her daughter, Miu, in Fatal Frame 5: Maiden of Blackwater.
3 Mio Amakura
Twin sister to Mayu Amakura, Mio is the central protagonist in Fatal Frame 2: The Crimson Butterfly, which is widely regarded as one of the best games in the series. For her young age, Mio is incredibly courageous, and her strong sense of loyalty and willingness to succeed for her sister are proof of her good character.
Single-handedly confronting some of the most menacing spirits in the franchise, Mio is a true hero and deserves recognition for her sisterly devotion.
2 Yuri Kozukata
The central protagonist in Fatal Frame 5: Maiden Of Blackwater, Yuri begins as an assistant to Hisoko but throughout the story, she develops into a much bolder, more astute, and more aware young woman.
While she is deeply traumatized due to her family being killed in a traffic accident, she represents a powerful symbol of enduring negative mental health in video games, and depending on player choices can be saved from such a gruesome fate. Her willingness to repeatedly return to Mt. Hikami in search of further information is really a testament to the stoic spirit and courageous attitude that lie beneath her beauteous appearance.
1 Rei Kurosawa
Widely recognized as the best protagonist in the series, Rei is mature and intelligent and is the principal controllable character in Fatal Frame 3: The Tormented. Having lost her husband in a tragic car accident, Rei suffers from cursed dreams in which his spirit calls to her.
She follows him into the Manor Of Sleep, a place infested with all kinds of ghostly apparitions and stories of ancient spirit rituals. Her skills as a photographer make her a powerful wielder of the Camera Obscura, and it just seems that generally, Rei is a good person doing her best to help everyone around her, no matter how much tragedy besets her.