Ode to Side Caharcetrs

[polarissruler]

They appear only for one chapter/episode/level. Their moments are so far and in between, that you can count them on a single hand. Yet whenever they show up, you can't hold yourself, because, "Wow! They are back!" They are more interesting than the main characters, or more powerful, or more enjoyable. Their stories might be just as exciting to see, but they are not the focus. Which are your favourite side characters, which you would have loved to see more of?

While I can't complain about lack of screentime for Mastema (all of his fight have been amazing, especially the first one), Uriel could have used a bit more appearances. After his big plot twist was revealed, he had exactly two appearances where he wasn't a prop at the background. And while he didn't die without a very flashy fight, his character left a lot of things unrevealed.


Well, what side character do you want to see in a leading role the most?

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

Canton Everett Delaware III only appeared in two episodes of Doctor Who, but I thought he was great fun and I really hoped he'd join the team as a permanent companion. Alas, it wasn't to be.

[alias_sqbr]

Hmm. I can think of a fair few secondary characters I feel that way about, but not many SUPER side characters....

Kimiguku from Hakuoki. She's this quiet, low-born demon ninja bodyguard from a sexist, stratified society, and I was always curious to know what was going on in her head.

[stellar_dust]

I want a Wayward Sisters tv show so damn much. (Context is that most of the still alive badass female characters on supernatural are currently sharing a house, and they even shot a backdoor pilot, but it wasn’t picked up.)

[primeideal]

Aftran and Loren from Animorphs.

I'm rereading Wheel of Time right now where there are about one million semi-major characters, so that's kind of a hopeless question, but some relatively-minor characters that have stood out to me on this readthrough are Sarene (White Ajah Aes Sedai, writes poetry, will have a tempestuous love affair), Takima (Brown Ajah Aes Sedai, knows the esoteric war regulations). And some slightly-more-major characters I want more about are Asmodean (bad guy, sort of has the beginnings of a redemption arc before dying mysteriously) and Aludra (fireworks technician).

[castiron]

Lin Chen from Nirvana in Fire was such a scene stealer that he doesn't need his own show, but I'd still watch the sixth-century-China medical comedy/drama show starring him.

[fabrisse]

I didn't much like CSI, but my roommates watched. They knew to yell for me if Lady Heather was featured.

[adriennefae]

Hugh from Star Trek: Picard. (And TNG, though I haven't seen the episodes of that he was in for a while... I should do that, while we're in lockdown anyway.) I really liked the idea of him in the Picard series having become the director of this Borg reclamation project, and trying to help other people like himself who had gone through similar trauma. I wish the show had done more with that.

Also: Laris and Zhaban from the same show. I'd love to read an AU where they go on the mission with Picard.

This next one is definitely not a case of the side character being *more* enjoyable than the main characters, as I love pretty much all the main characters on this show too... but Gabrielle Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery. She's only had a real speaking role in one episode so far, but she seemed like a very interesting character and I hope to see her back in season 3.

Discovery also has Keyla Detmer and Joann Owosekun, who actually appear in most of the episodes but are usually background characters, especially in the first season. Season 2 did start to tell us a bit more about them, and what we know so far definitely has potential.

[silveradept]

Abigail Schiuto deserved her own series, possibly with Duckie as a co-star, but it probably never would have happened because of all the forensics procedurals that already existed at the time.

And sometimes, you know, you want to check back in on the lives of not-super-powered people in settings where you have masked heroes and see how their days are when there's always the possibility that whatever plans they had for the day get disrupted because Bandora or Hawkmoth or someone else decided today was the day to send another attack or someone decided to go on a Dopant rage. An entire series of lower deck episodes, where the heroes and the mecha and that are the interesting side characters that never get much screen time.

[alexseanchai]

In Miraculous Ladybug, August's mother rates neither a name nor a face of her own. (The animators recolor and reuse background character models—it's super apparent in Mme. Mendeleiev's class photo in "Reflekta"—and August's mother is from the adult female background character set. So it's not always easy to tell when we're seeing August's mother without August and when we're seeing Random Parisienne #23 due to animation [budget] limitations.) I have a whole backstory for her.

Chanter is writing lots about Émilie Agreste, who is not yet a speaking character.

[mindstalk]

Tangentially related AMV: "Soldier A" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TA-QJ2d3kk

[doranwen]

Hmm, I can't say I tend to like side characters *more* than main ones. But I do find myself curious about them sometimes. Like I've requested fic about some of the side characters in the Earth Girl trilogy/series by Janet Edwards, because we see everything through the main char's eyes but there are some really interesting characters that I would like to see more of (Commander Nia Stone, for instance.) A little side note about their backstory and suddenly I want to read the story behind it.

But I'm mostly quite happy with the main ones, lol.

[annathecrow]

I'm often drawn to side characters because they have "potential": to get a characterization I like, to have a story with motives/themes I like, etc.

Reading Marvel/DC comics was always a ride in this respect. :D I would always latch onto some bit character doomed to disappear after the story arc was done. People like Karma, Warbird or Xorn(!) from X-Men, Finesse in Avengers Academy, agent Sum in the old Ms. Marvel.

(Hm, now that I think about it, it would make sense that these new characters introduced by this or that writer, basically OCs, might be less "stuck" in their characterisation than the MCs and therefore more fun to read...*chinhand*)