Side characters are allowed to be super interesting because there is no expectation for them to follow the tone/expectations/status quo of the narrative. They are like the fun drunk Uncle they can come in for Thanksgiving, say some crazy stuff, and bounce. And everyone will talk about them for years. Unlike "Dad" who has to be stable 365 days out of the year and you barely remember a word they say. But, it's important to remember for every great side character there are a ton who are just meh, and many who are bad. Side characters are a chance to do something interesting, but they are not inherently interesting.
Bumi from Avatar: Legend of Korra (the one named after the original Bumi) is the perfect example as a literal uncle who stole the scene in his first appearance and had the viewership buzzing. Then once he became a regular cast member in later seasons and had to be fleshed out, all of that buzz and mystique was gone and he was just Uncle Washed, lol
Isn't that one of the (several) hallmarks of good writing: in good writing, if there are side characters that are more than merely background, many of them exhibit the properties @SavageBooks explains herre; in meh fiction, there are typically lots of side characters, usually all of them meh. Oh, and since you mention aunts and uncles: sure, they can pop up and bounce, if the author so desires, but they by no means need to. Case in point: Aunt Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.
@@CoolxBreese A shame too because I feel like there were plenty of ways to make him interesting. I can't understand why they didn't make it clear Bumi had a family and children too I mean... He strikes me like someone who would have been an AWESOME dad. But maybe had to flee his nagging wife and joined the military just to escape her. What if one of Bumi's children had been at the air temple training to become a nomad? That could have been cool. Bumi doesn't have bending himself but had a kid with air bending abilities, really showing the potential for Bumi's descendants to be part of the next group of Air nomads too. ... I will say when things really went off the rails was when HE got air bending. That just seemed so... Weird in a way. I know he wasn't the only one, the portal opened and the world re-balanced itself giving multiple people air bending powers but... Giving it to him seemed to kind of go against his entire character.
I think what make secondary characters such cradle of fan favorites is the fact that they arent hindered by the chains of being a protagonist. A main character is such much more than just the dude the story is about. He is a tool for the narrative to be told, a guide for the audience, if you make you MC too idiosyncratic you risk losing you audience. A secundary character can just be, is an aportunity for the author to experiment, to flex, to tell its own piece of the story.
This. A main character has to live in the world. Interact with every aspect of it. Carry the story and its themes. Be grounded enough that your book/film/whatever can attract people. A side character can literally be anything you want, and you can throw whatever at the wall you feel like and look at what sticks. Very easy to replace a side character that is super unpopular. You basically can't do it with a main character without upsetting the story in huge ways.
Looking back, I feel that Oberyn was not only a great character in his own right, but also something of a double-edged sword. He was, in the one season he showed up in, the audience's main experience with the region of Dorne, which had only been mentioned by that point. This guy showed up, is awesome, and we're all enraptured by him. We wonder how incredible Dorne as a whole is, this place we've never known, if a guy like this comes from it. Then we see it, and the other characters within it, and we're instantly let down. Oberyn was incredible, but he was Dorne's best card to play, and once he was gone, the region and its respective cast ceased to matter to any of us :(
To be fair, that was also mostly because the writing in season 5 for Dorne's characters were shit and the interesting parts of the plot and characters were... just not used.
Im a straight male but he is the romantic interest in a book that a geeky woman in her 20s writes. Honestly it is funny to think he is real. Usually it is smart average looking guy or hot dumbass.
@@thewhitewolf58 And he's either a lovesick playboy who wants to find his "queen" or somehow an estranged prince of some country that doesn't exist anymore and also somehow still a virgin. That or a vampire.
Sure he was but there's no denying he was also great in the show the scene with him and Tyrion is amazing acting, writing, and just a great scene overall
I haven’t watched that movie since I was 10 years old, and I remember every single character from the main cast of it. Those characters are peak memorability
Hxh Kurapika was the perfect side character who takes over the story since he's basically the mc with humble village boy going to the big city. Last of his kind and now the succession war Gon wasn't even the mc for the most part since togashi gives spotlight to the side characters as much as him.
I just watched Constantine again a few weeks ago. By far one of my favorite Lucifers. He feels so sleazy and scummy without even being trashy. Makes my skin crawl
I'm a big fan of very miner Star Wars OT character Admiral Piet. You don't even notice him unless you watch the OT way too many times, but following his story of being promoted to Admiral under Vader and miraculously surviving the events of Empire Strikes Back is a source of entertainment to those watching closely enough. The actor Kenneth Colley does a great job portraying his barely contained anxiety at being one wrong move from being strangled to death by his boss. They even had the presence of mind to bring him back for Return of the Jedi, the poor guy has been working for Vader for years at that point but he's still alive, so we're forced to conclude he's really good at his job. Ever since I noticed these things I've always appreciated those movies for adding these details.
For real. He went from being the funny antagonist that we loved to see due to his plans being quite entertaining, to becoming an anti-hero, and eventually a hero. I'd say by the final season, he eclipsed nearly everyone in the show, becoming the most engaging, tragic and deep character of the scoobies.
1:00 Oberyn is one of the best. We can sympathize with his whole purpose and what drives him in King's Landing. When he volunteers to defend Tyrion we feel a kind of hope for him; even without seeing Oberyn fight before, we can tell that he is tough and respected. When he dies, even though we knew him for so little time, it's very sad and shocking.
This video made me start thinking about the side characters in Pulp Fiction, and it made me realize I’m not even sure who the main characters are. Is it Vincent, Jules, and Butch?
@@SunlightGwyn And all of them are side character to each other's stories... That is the brilliance of the movie, it is a series of conected stories, from different perspectives, from the same characters, but every single one is the "main plot" for the character living it.
I saw this scene for the first time this year. Lucifer was just so dark and terrifying with his thin veil of manners and affability. Peter really gave us a good look at the king of hell
I’d like to submit Weyoun and Gul Dukat for the title of “most effective side characters.” Out of 176 episodes of Deep Space 9, they appear in only 24 and 35 of them respectively. But they are widely considered two of the best characters in all of Star Trek.
Absolutely seconded! They're so effective that my first impulse was to say "They can't be side characters, they're the main villains of the show!" But they aren't. Dukat is a recurring antagonist who gets to take center stage during one arc, and Weyoun is a literal mouthpiece for the overarching threat of the Founders.
DS9 in general had awesome side characters. Rom, Nog, Garak, Damar, Martok are all great characters that get to be the main stars of some episodes. But we all know who the best character is... Morn! That lovable goofball never shuts up!
@@temporaneo617 I always tell people that DS9 is by far the best Trek series for character / character development. Voyager is my favorite for other reasons, but DS9 is a VERY close second.
Omigod, yes! I still don't like the way it ended for Dukat, because he was by far my favorite character, but yeah, Weyoun was fantastic too. Now I have to go find that clip of Dukat scaring the bejeezus out of the smuggler with just a few words. 😂
Respect for the Ian Malcolm shoutout. Very early crush. 😮💨 And Oberyn has like all of these elements - hidden depths, emotional weight, and rule of cool in the talented packaging of Pedro. The perfect side character.
I lost my notes about it, but after I realized that I remembered one character as more important and there for longer then they were, I checked a few others and it was the same case. Pretty interesting how much space they can take. Might be a unpopular opinion, but I read a few books where a great side character became a POV Character and for me lost what made him interesting. Kinda sad, but I think it was an important lesson for me: Some Characters don't have to be protagonists
Outside of movies, one of the best side characters I ever encountered (who became a fan favorite and a bigger character as a result) was Waldo Butters from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. A short, bushy-haired, nerdy, polka playing Jewish medical examiner who was willing to entertain the possibility of the supernatural. He was so interesting in his introduction that he grew into a major side character. Even the author said he’d never seen it coming and was originally planning on killing him off.
“We are not going to die." Butters stared up at me, pale, his eyes terrified. "We're not?" "No. And do you know why?" He shook his head. "Because Thomas is too pretty to die. And because I'm too stubborn to die." I hauled on the shirt even harder. "And most of all because tomorrow is Oktoberfest, Butters, and polka will never die.”
Rock Lee should've been the protag. He had a disablity, but worked hard to overcome it and would've made a better story than Eugenics-Second-Coming-of-Ninja-Jesus, Boruto's Dad
My favorite set of side characters that really made the film is the FBI agents under Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive. Each one was a realized person and you could totally imagine a whole set of stories/movies following that team.
Captain Jack Harknesss and River Song! Though They may become more than side characters as new who went on, they definately were for the most part! And Walter Mashburn from the mentalist. People just love him and we see him only a few times in the entire series.
Remember History of Violence movie? The Mob Boss brother only had 5 minutes and i think he got an oscar, he died recently, he was Thunderbolt Ross in Marvel i believe.
Halo's Gravemind is a very good side character, in Halo 2 especially. It really puts into perspective how dangerous and scary the Flood are. A large and intelligent collective of biomass pitting it enemies against each other
"How did Bumi become king?" Holy shit I've been watching Avatar for the better part of 15 years now and I just realized I still don't know the answer to that...
My number 1 reason as to why 'Monster' is such a brilliant show. Characters like Lunge, Martin, Jan suk, and of course Wolfgang Grimmer can have entire episodes around them before you even realise that the main characters haven't been present the whole time.
Great video! I recently restarted a superhero story and your advice about side characters is super helpful. I made some notes based on what you mentioned. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You shared some great examples also :) Have a great day!
Actually wasn’t Anthony Hopkins in around 25:00 of Silence of the Lambs. Certainly very little for Best Actor though. But you can feel his presence even when he isn’t on screen.
Best side character work from an ensemble is probably The Dark Knight. My response to that movie was it's amazing, but also, I weirdly want Convict #1 and Prison Guard #3 to get Oscar nods. Before that, and as an entirely different sort of movie, I'd say A League of Their Own. You can watch and rewatch that movie and fall in love with characters who aren't even on the main team (Brenda was the real MVP of that movie).
I'm very surprised to have made it to the end of this video without a mention of Boyd Crowder in Justified. Here's a side character who was only intended to be in the show's pilot, but a combination of incredible writing and an other-worldly performance from Walton Goggins elevated him to the show's co-lead.
The best example of a tertiary character I know is Charon from Greek mythology. He really only serves the purpose of getting people from point a to point b.
I am not sure if we can call Luis in RE4 remake a side character, since we spend so much time together with this daring swashbuckler, but if we can, I'd say he's another excellent example, especially if the player reads the in-game notes and other sources of lore. And Krauser and Ada are both up there too, especially the remake Krauser, having this intense deeply personal master-apprentice rivalry with Leon
Where would Isaac from Castlevania fall in this scale? He's one of the best side characters I've ever seen. Although I guess he could be considered an alternate protagonist?
This is why I love a lot of the writing in My Hero Academia and some of the writing in Naruto. Note: SPOILERS In MHA, Midoriya Izuku is our main character, but so much of the story revolves around the other characters that Izuku gets to have that same exaggeration that Savage Books describes. Instead of being a more typical Shonen Jump protagonist (Goku, Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo) who tend to abide by more masculine ideals, Izuku is a self-effacing, nerdy, fanboy, obviously straight, analyst who only occasionally gets riled up enough to kick building-sized antagonists into city blocks. He's eccentric. The other characters treat him as eccentric. And it's great because we don't have to have a bland main character. He's another weirdo along with all the other weirdos. And we got to delve into how they're all weirdos. As Savage Books said in a previous video, All Might is basically the main protagonist seasons 1-3, and we get to see how he handles the end of his career as a professional hero (which is a relatively new take in the hero genre). Todoroki Shoto gets so much of seasons 2 devoted to him that he or Endeavor are the functionally the main characters of some episodes. And from the public's perspective, everyone would think that Bakugo Katsuki was the main character, because all the big shit just keeps happening to him. There's a reason Izuku flies under the public radar until Season 6. And that's not even counting all the moments and arcs that hinge on supporting character's decisions. Jiro leads Class 1 A through the school festival, Lemillion leads the charge to save Eri, Inko nearly chooses to pull Izuku from MHA, and we get to follow Yayorozu Momo through her highs and lows of self esteem, Karishima Ejiro as he pursues his ideal of emulating Crimson Riot, and Asui Tsu helps us process Class 1 A's emotion after Bakugo is saved from Shigaraki Tomura, etc. MHA delves so deeply into its supporting characters, that it freed its main character from having to be a bland MC. Instead, he gets to be weird. Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, if I were to graph the protagonists of MHA by their narrative importance, that's basically the list of my favorites. And I think MHA is the only story for which that is true. I don't think Naruto is too many people's favorite character in his own series. He has many of the classic Shonen Jump protagonist traits - (1) kid who has seemingly impossible goal (2) monster appetite (3) is straight but unbelievably clueless to the girls who actually like him (yes, Luffy is an exception as an Ace King) (4) has an surreal tolerance for pain (5) gets mad on other's behalf far more readily than on his own (6) is an idiot about everything asides from fighting and key moments of emotional intelligence The most interesting thing about Naruto is actually the same thing that drives his relationship with Gaara - a common fan favorite: he has a demon sealed inside of him. Kurama is the most interesting thing about Naruto because Naruto's relationship with him shows the shift in Naruto's attitude toward violent power itself. As a kid, Naruto wants to exploit Kurama's chi because he's got fights to win, enemies of Konoha to defeat, and bottomless gorges to escape. But as Naruto matures and comes to better understand his enemies, his society, and his personal history, he similarly understands Kurama. As a Jinchuriki, Naruto was made - and reviled - by his village as a weapon of mass destruction in human form. But instead of gaining hatred for his allies, Naruto gained compassion for his enemies. This started with his fight with Gaara during which (even though they didn't realize they were both Jinchuriki at the time) they recognized the profound isolation in which they grew up was mutual. Naruto then goes on to make friends with all the other villages' human WMDs and their friendship acts like a form of social nuclear disarmament. After all, it's a lot harder to fight each other when your biggest weapon is totally cool with your enemy's biggest weapon. This does make it easier to unite all the villages under one banner to fight a different (literally alien) big bad and afterward transition to an era of peace that leaves behind a society in which 13-year-olds didn't question the fact they were being raised as child soldiers. So basically: Naruto is interesting because his themes are fascinating in retrospect. But Gaara is compelling because he is both a vicious killer and a psychologically wounded child. You fear him and feel for him at the same time, and at any given moment, you do not know which side is going to win. At least not until Shippuden. But we basically know what's going on in Naruto's head all the time. And his character arc is so gradual that it doesn't serve to continuously hook audience attention.
Oh absolutely. Like, barely double digit minutes of screen time, next to no dialogue, does nothing, gets rekt by a blind Han iirc, but infinitely beloved. Honestly, every time I revisist the originals, I'm surprised every time that without the glut of all the other media, this guy managed to get such a fandom.
One of the most intriguing things I've seen was during the final season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where for a short time the central character was faced with the very real prospect of becoming just another sidekick in her own story. It was a shame that the writers didn't have the guts to explore this more fully, the chosen one who finds she isn't the chosen one after all had fantastic dramatic potential.
Typically in almost everything I take in. I'm more interested in the surrounding cast, as apposed to the protagonist. It's to the point I get surprised now if the protag comes out being my favorite character in a story.
Perspective - the director of the movie has its own idea and sees things in his own way, the public - anyone has its own view, opinion, experience - that's how memes are born, not because the director planned it, but because of the audience experience of the movie
you forgot Helena Bonham Carter all side characters if she’s not the lead, she always stand out - i understand its not necessarily the writing but she always stand out
I would like to nominate Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as an example for well done side characters. Garak, Quark, General Martok, Weyoun, and later on even Rom and Nog not only embodied themes effectively, or effectively counter-balanced the main characters, but later on all had moments where they got to shine.
3:58 I would argue Han isn't a side character at all nor is Leia. The two of them along with Luke are all Main characters. Now between them Luke is definitely THE Main character since he's the most important and I would argue the one who has the most growth and development in all three movies but they're all Main characters. I think a better example of a side character would be Boba Fett. He's barely in those movies at all and yet people came to absolutely love him despite the character practically doing nothing in them, he literally just had to stand there and look cool. But the most ironic example of a side character in A New Hope? Darth Vader. He wasn't the main villain of that story, Tarkin was. He's the one who wanted the Death Star so badly not Vader in fact Vader seems to view the Death Star as a massive waste of time and money. Tarkin destroys Alderann even though everyone credit's Vader with this 😒 and Tarkin is the one leading the defense mission of the Death Star at the end. To further show what I mean A New Hope is 121 minutes long, just over 2 hours. Of that time Vader is only on screen for 9 minutes and 15 seconds, sounds like a side character to me.
I think one thing side characters do better than the MC is being the underdog. Sure, the MC is often framed as the underdog, but realistically you know they’re gonna make it past the big scary stuff and reach the top eventually. Because they’re the MC, duh. The story will probably collapse if they don’t. But a side character? Those aren’t as vital to the plot. We don’t know what battles they’ll win and what they can’t. We won’t even know if they’ll survive the encounters. This adds more tension and unpredictability, which makes us root for them more. It creates a true underdog scenario where we don’t know if they can win.
I can't believe in a video titled "when a side character takes over" that there wasn't EVEN ONE appearance of Nakahara Chuuya!!! ESPECIALLY after he mentioned the Rule of Cool! I'm ded
All the vids this guy makes is super cool and well thought out and it kinda makes me want to write my own story. I don’t think i have that ability though, is there any like website i could go to, to just leave giant descriptions of characters ive created?
Something GOT overall did so much better than HOTD was the side characters. I rewatched GOT recently and my partner commented we got more character stuff from the group of kids that traveled with Arya for a few episodes in season 2 than both seasons of HOTD side characters
6:13 I still wish we got more story with Tayuya and the Sound 5 instead of them all just getting killed off by the shitty, non-experienced Leaf Ninja. :/
Hmmm... Will and Elizabeth (especially the former) are THE main characters and Barbarossa is the main villian. Unsure if Jack would count as a main character (certainly not one of the main characters but I think it could be argued that he is a main character and not a side character, even with only taking the first movie to the account) or a side character.
I want to make a useful distinction. It seems odd to consider someone a "side character" in the case of Joker (a main Villain character) or Hannibal Lector. Both might technically spend very little time interacting with the story directly, but they are defining and driving forces of the stakes of the story, to the point that everything and everybody references them, even though they aren't the central viewpoint. A side character like this who is constantly defining the context of a story throughout canbe as important as a secondary companion character or be the human EMBODIMENT and manifestation of the logic of the setting. If everybody in a story references a dead father, say, or a character out there who turns out to be a shared illusion and a fiction rather than a real person, (think the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride) the character need not even be present at all in the action to be incredibly central to the story's telling. Technically any character who isn't most often the perspective the reader is put into is somewhat "side", but I'd almost never think of this kind of character this way because they don't just fill out setting and plot , they drive the terms, stakes and characteristic of the story. They might technically be sidelined by our perspective, but they deserve their own category as consistent setting-definers, that is somewhat more useful in understanding them than whether or not they are "side". Characters who appear and disappear from the radar of most people in a given context and the plot, or are generally sidebars from the story plot focus are more comparable classic side characters. These types deserve to be distinguished. No matter how well or poorly written "side" means a far different thing and amount and kind of focus, when considering them.
Hey, Professor! Nothing to report! The Gatekeeper from Fire Emblem: 3 Houses is a perfect example of a Background/Tertiary Character becoming something more. He's a faceless NPC who stands in the same spot for the entire game (which can last 80+ hours), but his chipper greeting and enthusiasm for something so mundane and boring as standing guard in front of a gate (as well as his love for gossip) made him instantly lovable. And when he's *_not_* chipper or enthusiastic, it's noticeable. There's a reason a nameless, faceless NPC won a Choose Your Heroes popularity contest and got added to the fire emblem gacha game. Well, I guess that's _something_ to report. Consider it re-ported! Edit: To emphasize my point, in the game he's from, he's only got 4 minutes and 41 seconds with of dialogue, which again comes from a game that has 80+ hours for a single playthrough. People still loved him so much that they voted him into a gacha game so they could pay real money to play as him, and even cheered because he appears in the background of the Smash Bros Ultimate fighting stage based on Garreg Mach. If that's not a beloved background character, I don't know what is.
Only now realizing that Avatar has two minor antagonists, one named "Boomy" (Bumi) and the other "Combustion Man" and we all just took that at face value. Man, context is everything.
Side characters are allowed to be super interesting because there is no expectation for them to follow the tone/expectations/status quo of the narrative. They are like the fun drunk Uncle they can come in for Thanksgiving, say some crazy stuff, and bounce. And everyone will talk about them for years. Unlike "Dad" who has to be stable 365 days out of the year and you barely remember a word they say.
But, it's important to remember for every great side character there are a ton who are just meh, and many who are bad. Side characters are a chance to do something interesting, but they are not inherently interesting.
Bumi from Avatar: Legend of Korra (the one named after the original Bumi) is the perfect example as a literal uncle who stole the scene in his first appearance and had the viewership buzzing. Then once he became a regular cast member in later seasons and had to be fleshed out, all of that buzz and mystique was gone and he was just Uncle Washed, lol
Isn't that one of the (several) hallmarks of good writing: in good writing, if there are side characters that are more than merely background, many of them exhibit the properties @SavageBooks explains herre; in meh fiction, there are typically lots of side characters, usually all of them meh.
Oh, and since you mention aunts and uncles: sure, they can pop up and bounce, if the author so desires, but they by no means need to. Case in point: Aunt Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.
@@CoolxBreese A shame too because I feel like there were plenty of ways to make him interesting.
I can't understand why they didn't make it clear Bumi had a family and children too I mean... He strikes me like someone who would have been an AWESOME dad. But maybe had to flee his nagging wife and joined the military just to escape her.
What if one of Bumi's children had been at the air temple training to become a nomad? That could have been cool. Bumi doesn't have bending himself but had a kid with air bending abilities, really showing the potential for Bumi's descendants to be part of the next group of Air nomads too.
... I will say when things really went off the rails was when HE got air bending. That just seemed so... Weird in a way.
I know he wasn't the only one, the portal opened and the world re-balanced itself giving multiple people air bending powers but... Giving it to him seemed to kind of go against his entire character.
Thank you to put my thought into words
Side characters are short stories.
Side characters are the perfect place to put your OP Mary Sue characters.
This feels like a direct reference to "The Saga of Tanya the Evil"
Levi Ackerman
Like Reinhardt in Rezero
I think what make secondary characters such cradle of fan favorites is the fact that they arent hindered by the chains of being a protagonist.
A main character is such much more than just the dude the story is about. He is a tool for the narrative to be told, a guide for the audience, if you make you MC too idiosyncratic you risk losing you audience.
A secundary character can just be, is an aportunity for the author to experiment, to flex, to tell its own piece of the story.
This. A main character has to live in the world. Interact with every aspect of it. Carry the story and its themes. Be grounded enough that your book/film/whatever can attract people. A side character can literally be anything you want, and you can throw whatever at the wall you feel like and look at what sticks. Very easy to replace a side character that is super unpopular. You basically can't do it with a main character without upsetting the story in huge ways.
Looking back, I feel that Oberyn was not only a great character in his own right, but also something of a double-edged sword. He was, in the one season he showed up in, the audience's main experience with the region of Dorne, which had only been mentioned by that point. This guy showed up, is awesome, and we're all enraptured by him. We wonder how incredible Dorne as a whole is, this place we've never known, if a guy like this comes from it. Then we see it, and the other characters within it, and we're instantly let down. Oberyn was incredible, but he was Dorne's best card to play, and once he was gone, the region and its respective cast ceased to matter to any of us :(
To be fair, that was also mostly because the writing in season 5 for Dorne's characters were shit and the interesting parts of the plot and characters were... just not used.
Dorme is still awesome in the books and full of interesting characters, they just failed to adapt it on screen.
There's a reason Darth Maul became such a legend. And yes, he's easily my favourite non-LOTR side character.
I totally agree!
I love that you had to make that separation clear. LOTR really is in a league of its own.
Imagine if he was in LOTR 🤔
" professional novel and script editor - and author" is a funny way to say: "6'4" 230lb word hulk"
6'5 240 get your facts in check /j /lh
Im a straight male but he is the romantic interest in a book that a geeky woman in her 20s writes. Honestly it is funny to think he is real. Usually it is smart average looking guy or hot dumbass.
@@thewhitewolf58 you sound gay af
@@thewhitewolf58 And he's either a lovesick playboy who wants to find his "queen" or somehow an estranged prince of some country that doesn't exist anymore and also somehow still a virgin.
That or a vampire.
Haven't watched the video yet but I'm confused, who is the 6'4 word hulk?
To be fair, Oberin was fantastic in the books, too. By then, I expected him to die eventually, but I was pissed when he did.
Sure he was but there's no denying he was also great in the show the scene with him and Tyrion is amazing acting, writing, and just a great scene overall
2:35 Schaffrilas Productions jumpscare
Cabbage guy is crutial to the ploi of ATLA and shall not be degraded to a mere tertiary character, sir!
I appreciate the Timon and Phumba shoutout they do a great job of changing the tone of the story considering they show up after Mufasa’s death
The best side characters ever are from Disney’s Atlantis. The cast is overwhelmingly side characters who are all the best
I haven’t watched that movie since I was 10 years old, and I remember every single character from the main cast of it. Those characters are peak memorability
@@graysonhuff8764 Wow, I think I can too. They did really good work with that movie.
Hxh Kurapika was the perfect side character who takes over the story since he's basically the mc with humble village boy going to the big city. Last of his kind and now the succession war
Gon wasn't even the mc for the most part since togashi gives spotlight to the side characters as much as him.
I mean, I became a Kurapika fan when I saw he brought a shovel with him to a fight. Gotta love that confidence.
Not much of an anime fan but Hunter x Hunter season 3 was still incredible.
I just watched Constantine again a few weeks ago. By far one of my favorite Lucifers. He feels so sleazy and scummy without even being trashy. Makes my skin crawl
The Devil in Constantine is one of those characters and scenes that just fucking kills it on 56,000 levels.
The tar on his feet, the accent, the tattoos, his delivery, the tar he rips out of John. Diaboli ex machina
I'm a big fan of very miner Star Wars OT character Admiral Piet. You don't even notice him unless you watch the OT way too many times, but following his story of being promoted to Admiral under Vader and miraculously surviving the events of Empire Strikes Back is a source of entertainment to those watching closely enough. The actor Kenneth Colley does a great job portraying his barely contained anxiety at being one wrong move from being strangled to death by his boss. They even had the presence of mind to bring him back for Return of the Jedi, the poor guy has been working for Vader for years at that point but he's still alive, so we're forced to conclude he's really good at his job. Ever since I noticed these things I've always appreciated those movies for adding these details.
I think Expanded Universe/Legends did give him credit as one of the most competent Imperial Admirals as well.
Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an example of a character so well written and well received that it changes the course of it's respective show
For real. He went from being the funny antagonist that we loved to see due to his plans being quite entertaining, to becoming an anti-hero, and eventually a hero. I'd say by the final season, he eclipsed nearly everyone in the show, becoming the most engaging, tragic and deep character of the scoobies.
1:00 Oberyn is one of the best. We can sympathize with his whole purpose and what drives him in King's Landing. When he volunteers to defend Tyrion we feel a kind of hope for him; even without seeing Oberyn fight before, we can tell that he is tough and respected. When he dies, even though we knew him for so little time, it's very sad and shocking.
This video made me start thinking about the side characters in Pulp Fiction, and it made me realize I’m not even sure who the main characters are. Is it Vincent, Jules, and Butch?
Vincent, Jules, Butch, Ringo, Mia Wallace and Marcellus Wallace are all the main characters within their own parts of the story.
@@SunlightGwyn And all of them are side character to each other's stories...
That is the brilliance of the movie, it is a series of conected stories, from different perspectives, from the same characters, but every single one is the "main plot" for the character living it.
@@SunlightGwyn is Hans Landa the main character of Inglorious Bastards?
@@Mr_Case_Time He’s not THE main character, but he is a main character. He’s the main villain.
I saw this scene for the first time this year. Lucifer was just so dark and terrifying with his thin veil of manners and affability. Peter really gave us a good look at the king of hell
The penguins...
Just smile and wave boys, smile and wave
I’d like to submit Weyoun and Gul Dukat for the title of “most effective side characters.” Out of 176 episodes of Deep Space 9, they appear in only 24 and 35 of them respectively. But they are widely considered two of the best characters in all of Star Trek.
Absolutely seconded! They're so effective that my first impulse was to say "They can't be side characters, they're the main villains of the show!" But they aren't. Dukat is a recurring antagonist who gets to take center stage during one arc, and Weyoun is a literal mouthpiece for the overarching threat of the Founders.
DS9 in general had awesome side characters. Rom, Nog, Garak, Damar, Martok are all great characters that get to be the main stars of some episodes.
But we all know who the best character is... Morn! That lovable goofball never shuts up!
@@rebeccaliar9873 Yeah I was honestly stunned when I learned how few episodes they were actually in. Their presence is unforgettable.
@@temporaneo617 I always tell people that DS9 is by far the best Trek series for character / character development. Voyager is my favorite for other reasons, but DS9 is a VERY close second.
Omigod, yes! I still don't like the way it ended for Dukat, because he was by far my favorite character, but yeah, Weyoun was fantastic too. Now I have to go find that clip of Dukat scaring the bejeezus out of the smuggler with just a few words. 😂
Respect for the Ian Malcolm shoutout.
Very early crush. 😮💨 And Oberyn has like all of these elements - hidden depths, emotional weight, and rule of cool in the talented packaging of Pedro. The perfect side character.
I lost my notes about it, but after I realized that I remembered one character as more important and there for longer then they were, I checked a few others and it was the same case. Pretty interesting how much space they can take.
Might be a unpopular opinion, but I read a few books where a great side character became a POV Character and for me lost what made him interesting. Kinda sad, but I think it was an important lesson for me: Some Characters don't have to be protagonists
Jack Horner is the best secondary antagonist I've seen in a long time!
Outside of movies, one of the best side characters I ever encountered (who became a fan favorite and a bigger character as a result) was Waldo Butters from The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. A short, bushy-haired, nerdy, polka playing Jewish medical examiner who was willing to entertain the possibility of the supernatural. He was so interesting in his introduction that he grew into a major side character. Even the author said he’d never seen it coming and was originally planning on killing him off.
“We are not going to die."
Butters stared up at me, pale, his eyes terrified. "We're not?"
"No. And do you know why?" He shook his head. "Because Thomas is too pretty to die. And because I'm too stubborn to die." I hauled on the shirt even harder. "And most of all because tomorrow is Oktoberfest, Butters, and polka will never die.”
Rock Lee should've been the protag. He had a disablity, but worked hard to overcome it and would've made a better story than Eugenics-Second-Coming-of-Ninja-Jesus, Boruto's Dad
My favorite set of side characters that really made the film is the FBI agents under Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive. Each one was a realized person and you could totally imagine a whole set of stories/movies following that team.
Captain Jack Harknesss and River Song! Though They may become more than side characters as new who went on, they definately were for the most part! And Walter Mashburn from the mentalist. People just love him and we see him only a few times in the entire series.
Peter Stormare is the man. Should get more screen time next Constantine.
10:40 now THIS is my favourite type of character, always has been always will be
A lot of anime have side characters outshine the main character to the extent that the fanbase wishes the side character was the actual MC.
Remember History of Violence movie?
The Mob Boss brother only had 5 minutes and i think he got an oscar, he died recently, he was Thunderbolt Ross in Marvel i believe.
William Hurt! Great actor.
Halo's Gravemind is a very good side character, in Halo 2 especially. It really puts into perspective how dangerous and scary the Flood are. A large and intelligent collective of biomass pitting it enemies against each other
"How did Bumi become king?"
Holy shit I've been watching Avatar for the better part of 15 years now and I just realized I still don't know the answer to that...
My number 1 reason as to why 'Monster' is such a brilliant show. Characters like Lunge, Martin, Jan suk, and of course Wolfgang Grimmer can have entire episodes around them before you even realise that the main characters haven't been present the whole time.
Lalo Salamanca from Better Call Saul.
Hobie from Across the Spider Verse.
Great video! I recently restarted a superhero story and your advice about side characters is super helpful. I made some notes based on what you mentioned. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You shared some great examples also :)
Have a great day!
Actually wasn’t Anthony Hopkins in around 25:00 of Silence of the Lambs. Certainly very little for Best Actor though. But you can feel his presence even when he isn’t on screen.
Side characters are like short stories.
Daryl Dixon, the sode character who ascended to protagonist status
i got through the entire video expecting the section in which you would talk in deoth about oberyn specifically. I was decieved.
Best side character work from an ensemble is probably The Dark Knight. My response to that movie was it's amazing, but also, I weirdly want Convict #1 and Prison Guard #3 to get Oscar nods.
Before that, and as an entirely different sort of movie, I'd say A League of Their Own. You can watch and rewatch that movie and fall in love with characters who aren't even on the main team (Brenda was the real MVP of that movie).
I'm very surprised to have made it to the end of this video without a mention of Boyd Crowder in Justified. Here's a side character who was only intended to be in the show's pilot, but a combination of incredible writing and an other-worldly performance from Walton Goggins elevated him to the show's co-lead.
"TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT"
That was Hannibal Lector right?
I could listen to your voice all day. When are you setting up your ASMR channel--my goodness!
Seriously. I wonder how much he'd charge to narrate my book for audio? 😂
The best example of a tertiary character I know is Charon from Greek mythology. He really only serves the purpose of getting people from point a to point b.
Elim Garek is probably the best example of this
Was about to go to bed dammit, now i want to work on my writing!
I am not sure if we can call Luis in RE4 remake a side character, since we spend so much time together with this daring swashbuckler, but if we can, I'd say he's another excellent example, especially if the player reads the in-game notes and other sources of lore. And Krauser and Ada are both up there too, especially the remake Krauser, having this intense deeply personal master-apprentice rivalry with Leon
Where would Isaac from Castlevania fall in this scale? He's one of the best side characters I've ever seen. Although I guess he could be considered an alternate protagonist?
Penguins took over the whole Madagascar franchise
This is why I love a lot of the writing in My Hero Academia and some of the writing in Naruto.
Note: SPOILERS
In MHA, Midoriya Izuku is our main character, but so much of the story revolves around the other characters that Izuku gets to have that same exaggeration that Savage Books describes. Instead of being a more typical Shonen Jump protagonist (Goku, Luffy, Naruto, Ichigo) who tend to abide by more masculine ideals, Izuku is a self-effacing, nerdy, fanboy, obviously straight, analyst who only occasionally gets riled up enough to kick building-sized antagonists into city blocks. He's eccentric. The other characters treat him as eccentric. And it's great because we don't have to have a bland main character. He's another weirdo along with all the other weirdos. And we got to delve into how they're all weirdos. As Savage Books said in a previous video,
All Might is basically the main protagonist seasons 1-3, and we get to see how he handles the end of his career as a professional hero (which is a relatively new take in the hero genre). Todoroki Shoto gets so much of seasons 2 devoted to him that he or Endeavor are the functionally the main characters of some episodes. And from the public's perspective, everyone would think that Bakugo Katsuki was the main character, because all the big shit just keeps happening to him. There's a reason Izuku flies under the public radar until Season 6.
And that's not even counting all the moments and arcs that hinge on supporting character's decisions. Jiro leads Class 1 A through the school festival, Lemillion leads the charge to save Eri, Inko nearly chooses to pull Izuku from MHA, and we get to follow Yayorozu Momo through her highs and lows of self esteem, Karishima Ejiro as he pursues his ideal of emulating Crimson Riot, and Asui Tsu helps us process Class 1 A's emotion after Bakugo is saved from Shigaraki Tomura, etc.
MHA delves so deeply into its supporting characters, that it freed its main character from having to be a bland MC. Instead, he gets to be weird. Actually, now that I'm thinking of it, if I were to graph the protagonists of MHA by their narrative importance, that's basically the list of my favorites. And I think MHA is the only story for which that is true.
I don't think Naruto is too many people's favorite character in his own series. He has many of the classic Shonen Jump protagonist traits -
(1) kid who has seemingly impossible goal
(2) monster appetite
(3) is straight but unbelievably clueless to the girls who actually like him (yes, Luffy is an exception as an Ace King)
(4) has an surreal tolerance for pain
(5) gets mad on other's behalf far more readily than on his own
(6) is an idiot about everything asides from fighting and key moments of emotional intelligence
The most interesting thing about Naruto is actually the same thing that drives his relationship with Gaara - a common fan favorite: he has a demon sealed inside of him. Kurama is the most interesting thing about Naruto because Naruto's relationship with him shows the shift in Naruto's attitude toward violent power itself. As a kid, Naruto wants to exploit Kurama's chi because he's got fights to win, enemies of Konoha to defeat, and bottomless gorges to escape. But as Naruto matures and comes to better understand his enemies, his society, and his personal history, he similarly understands Kurama. As a Jinchuriki, Naruto was made - and reviled - by his village as a weapon of mass destruction in human form. But instead of gaining hatred for his allies, Naruto gained compassion for his enemies. This started with his fight with Gaara during which (even though they didn't realize they were both Jinchuriki at the time) they recognized the profound isolation in which they grew up was mutual. Naruto then goes on to make friends with all the other villages' human WMDs and their friendship acts like a form of social nuclear disarmament. After all, it's a lot harder to fight each other when your biggest weapon is totally cool with your enemy's biggest weapon. This does make it easier to unite all the villages under one banner to fight a different (literally alien) big bad and afterward transition to an era of peace that leaves behind a society in which 13-year-olds didn't question the fact they were being raised as child soldiers.
So basically: Naruto is interesting because his themes are fascinating in retrospect. But Gaara is compelling because he is both a vicious killer and a psychologically wounded child. You fear him and feel for him at the same time, and at any given moment, you do not know which side is going to win. At least not until Shippuden. But we basically know what's going on in Naruto's head all the time. And his character arc is so gradual that it doesn't serve to continuously hook audience attention.
The smoking cancerpatient in the movie Flight!
Love your videos bro.
The OG rule of cool character; Boba Fett. Showed up, barely spoke, became so beloved Lucas created an entire culture and clone army out of him.
Oh absolutely. Like, barely double digit minutes of screen time, next to no dialogue, does nothing, gets rekt by a blind Han iirc, but infinitely beloved.
Honestly, every time I revisist the originals, I'm surprised every time that without the glut of all the other media, this guy managed to get such a fandom.
The new Transformer movie was an allegory. What is the Trauma lens?
One of the most intriguing things I've seen was during the final season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, where for a short time the central character was faced with the very real prospect of becoming just another sidekick in her own story. It was a shame that the writers didn't have the guts to explore this more fully, the chosen one who finds she isn't the chosen one after all had fantastic dramatic potential.
They might have explored it more in Season 8 in the comics. While not bad, I can't say I'd recommend going out of your way to find them...
"You're my boy, Blue!"
Side characters are the best, they have less screen time so they stay fresh.
Typically in almost everything I take in. I'm more interested in the surrounding cast, as apposed to the protagonist. It's to the point I get surprised now if the protag comes out being my favorite character in a story.
Perspective - the director of the movie has its own idea and sees things in his own way, the public - anyone has its own view, opinion, experience - that's how memes are born, not because the director planned it, but because of the audience experience of the movie
you said rule of cool I instantly thought of Naruto
you forgot Helena Bonham Carter all side characters if she’s not the lead, she always stand out - i understand its not necessarily the writing but she always stand out
I am genuinely shocked you didn't even mention Ekko from Arcane
I would like to nominate Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as an example for well done side characters.
Garak, Quark, General Martok, Weyoun, and later on even Rom and Nog not only embodied themes effectively, or effectively counter-balanced the main characters, but later on all had moments where they got to shine.
3:58 I would argue Han isn't a side character at all nor is Leia. The two of them along with Luke are all Main characters. Now between them Luke is definitely THE Main character since he's the most important and I would argue the one who has the most growth and development in all three movies but they're all Main characters.
I think a better example of a side character would be Boba Fett. He's barely in those movies at all and yet people came to absolutely love him despite the character practically doing nothing in them, he literally just had to stand there and look cool.
But the most ironic example of a side character in A New Hope? Darth Vader. He wasn't the main villain of that story, Tarkin was. He's the one who wanted the Death Star so badly not Vader in fact Vader seems to view the Death Star as a massive waste of time and money. Tarkin destroys Alderann even though everyone credit's Vader with this 😒 and Tarkin is the one leading the defense mission of the Death Star at the end.
To further show what I mean A New Hope is 121 minutes long, just over 2 hours. Of that time Vader is only on screen for 9 minutes and 15 seconds, sounds like a side character to me.
True, the main villain in A New Hope is Gran Moff Tarkin. Even Leia calls him out about holding Vader on a leash.
Yup, all true.
I think one thing side characters do better than the MC is being the underdog.
Sure, the MC is often framed as the underdog, but realistically you know they’re gonna make it past the big scary stuff and reach the top eventually. Because they’re the MC, duh. The story will probably collapse if they don’t.
But a side character? Those aren’t as vital to the plot. We don’t know what battles they’ll win and what they can’t. We won’t even know if they’ll survive the encounters. This adds more tension and unpredictability, which makes us root for them more. It creates a true underdog scenario where we don’t know if they can win.
I can't believe in a video titled "when a side character takes over" that there wasn't EVEN ONE appearance of Nakahara Chuuya!!! ESPECIALLY after he mentioned the Rule of Cool! I'm ded
All the vids this guy makes is super cool and well thought out and it kinda makes me want to write my own story. I don’t think i have that ability though, is there any like website i could go to, to just leave giant descriptions of characters ive created?
Something GOT overall did so much better than HOTD was the side characters. I rewatched GOT recently and my partner commented we got more character stuff from the group of kids that traveled with Arya for a few episodes in season 2 than both seasons of HOTD side characters
Genie a side character? That whole movie was designed around Robin Williams in that role.
6:13 I still wish we got more story with Tayuya and the Sound 5 instead of them all just getting killed off by the shitty, non-experienced Leaf Ninja. :/
Video idea: The difference between and edgy character and a emo character
Would you consider Jack Sparrow a side character in The Curse of the Black Pearl? In my opinion he is a great side character in that movie ❤
Hmmm... Will and Elizabeth (especially the former) are THE main characters and Barbarossa is the main villian. Unsure if Jack would count as a main character (certainly not one of the main characters but I think it could be argued that he is a main character and not a side character, even with only taking the first movie to the account) or a side character.
Spoilers for Wolverine and Deadpool ahead!!!!!
3:13 whats this from? google image?
Oh geez, I've been watching this channel for a few years and I've never known your name😲
There is a cabbage merchant in Avatar : TLA ? First time I'm seeing this.
This happened with a recent anime
Why they do my boi Yamcha dirty like that? 3:29
I thought this video was going to end with a comment about The Penguin
I want to make a useful distinction. It seems odd to consider someone a "side character" in the case of Joker (a main Villain character) or Hannibal Lector. Both might technically spend very little time interacting with the story directly, but they are defining and driving forces of the stakes of the story, to the point that everything and everybody references them, even though they aren't the central viewpoint. A side character like this who is constantly defining the context of a story throughout canbe as important as a secondary companion character or be the human EMBODIMENT and manifestation of the logic of the setting. If everybody in a story references a dead father, say, or a character out there who turns out to be a shared illusion and a fiction rather than a real person, (think the Dread Pirate Roberts in The Princess Bride) the character need not even be present at all in the action to be incredibly central to the story's telling.
Technically any character who isn't most often the perspective the reader is put into is somewhat "side", but I'd almost never think of this kind of character this way because they don't just fill out setting and plot , they drive the terms, stakes and characteristic of the story. They might technically be sidelined by our perspective, but they deserve their own category as consistent setting-definers, that is somewhat more useful in understanding them than whether or not they are "side". Characters who appear and disappear from the radar of most people in a given context and the plot, or are generally sidebars from the story plot focus are more comparable classic side characters. These types deserve to be distinguished. No matter how well or poorly written "side" means a far different thing and amount and kind of focus, when considering them.
Saul Goodman from Breaking Bad. And Mike
Are the avatar hippies side characters?
(Secret tunnel)
As different as the Constantine movie was. I loved the holy shotgun and demon designs. Shame the tv show got canned.
Genie is a main character
12:52 I’m sorry but almost nobody in Naruto is more loved than Naruto other than maybe itachi
Hey, Professor! Nothing to report!
The Gatekeeper from Fire Emblem: 3 Houses is a perfect example of a Background/Tertiary Character becoming something more. He's a faceless NPC who stands in the same spot for the entire game (which can last 80+ hours), but his chipper greeting and enthusiasm for something so mundane and boring as standing guard in front of a gate (as well as his love for gossip) made him instantly lovable. And when he's *_not_* chipper or enthusiastic, it's noticeable.
There's a reason a nameless, faceless NPC won a Choose Your Heroes popularity contest and got added to the fire emblem gacha game.
Well, I guess that's _something_ to report. Consider it re-ported!
Edit: To emphasize my point, in the game he's from, he's only got 4 minutes and 41 seconds with of dialogue, which again comes from a game that has 80+ hours for a single playthrough. People still loved him so much that they voted him into a gacha game so they could pay real money to play as him, and even cheered because he appears in the background of the Smash Bros Ultimate fighting stage based on Garreg Mach. If that's not a beloved background character, I don't know what is.
Do really like Brian Cox Hannibal in man hunter but very different
Lorne on ANGEL stole the show!
Where is vegeta in this.
And then there’s breakout characters
Steve urkel has entered the chat
U mean jojo bros like Rohan or Koichi or Hermes?
🦅
Only now realizing that Avatar has two minor antagonists, one named "Boomy" (Bumi) and the other "Combustion Man" and we all just took that at face value. Man, context is everything.
This is the first time i've seen someone confused Bumi's name in this kind of way.
Have you seen Transformers One?
🎉
Aha, a fellow "professional novel and script editor and author". It's a good day to meet you, sir.
Hahha I'm her not even a minute after posting, gj UA-cam recs
;)
X is the answer
L337 hell yes