HeroesPath

Protector alters are primarily responsible for keeping the body (and other alters, especially the host) safe from physical and emotional trauma or triggers. Protectors often feel a strong sense of responsibility for the system and can see themselves as physically strong or more of a tank for trauma, but this doesn't mean they're unaffected. Protectors can vary a lot in their specific jobs from system to system, and one system can have many protectors.

Persecutors are also sometimes called persecutor-protectors and are a type of protector who uses logic that is misguided in nature in order to keep the body/host/system safe on their own terms. Often this attempt at protection ends up causing more harm than good, though the opposite is usually the intention of the persecutor. Other types of persecutors may be introjects (internal copies) of an abuser who are continuing to carry out the abuse from inside their victim's mind. These types of persecutors may not even know that they aren't the real abuser, and continue to inflict harm with little to no intention of protection.

The host is often thought of as being the 'original' person in the body, or the person who identifies with the identity of the body, but the role of host can be transferred from one alter to another and is most accurately used to describe the alter who is in control of the body the most often and handles day to day activities and most social interactions.