Ensemble Darkhorse

"in every masterpiece there are supporting characters who outshine the protagonist."

- Neito Monoma

The term "Dark Horse" has its origin in horse racing. A relatively unknown horse would be risky to place bets on, compared to a horse with a known track record, because the gamblers would be "in the dark," so when an unknown horse won a race it was called a "Dark Horse Victory." The term is also used in politics to describe a lesser known candidate who does better than expected in an election.

Generally, it's used to describe a side character making up part of the Ensemble, either a non-lead secondary character or a mere Flat Character, who can sometimes become unexpectedly popular with the fandom (sometimes, even more than the lead characters) depending on who and where the Fandom is, as well as what the other characters are like in comparison (for example, the hero is not as popular because s/he is too much The Everyman).

The writers or producers may be tempted to Retool the show's premise to put them in the spotlight. Sometimes this works, but usually it's a bad idea for two reasons, both relating to what happens when you take a supporting character and move him or her into the protagonist's position. The first is that writers often "adjust" the character so that s/he can fit into a conventionally heroic role—in the process destroying the unconventional traits that made the character an Ensemble Darkhorse in the first place. The second is that if the writers don't do this, traits that were entertaining in a secondary character may become grating and unpleasant in The Protagonist.

However, it's still good business to bring Darkhorse characters back, even if they were originally meant to be featured for only a short time. Thus, episodes which do not specifically require a certain character will be more likely to use the Ensemble Darkhorse.

Occasionally, if an antagonist becomes a Darkhorse, the writer may decide to have him perform a Heel Face Turn in situations where the only other option is being killed by the protagonists. However, if the series doesn't have an end planned, it's more likely that he'll just escape.

If the Ensemble Darkhorse becomes an important character, they're now a Breakout Character. See also Adaptational Badass, Ascended Extra, Memetic Bystander, Lower Deck Episode, A Day in the Limelight, and One-Scene Wonder. Creator's Pet is the polar opposite, a character who the writer grows fond of but the fans do not. An antagonist who becomes popular despite the author's intentions is Draco in Leather Pants—an example of Misaimed Fandom. The natural extension of this is the Spotlight-Stealing Squad.

Mythology

 * Anubis in more modern times. He wasn't that central to the original canon, but he's so much more interesting than the chief gods like Ra or Osiris. Also, it's hard to find a death god who's an okay guy. Also, he appeals more to Furries.
 * The same could be said for Hades (minus the furry part), who is another example of a god associated with death who was actually an okay guy. The Ancient Greeks were rather wary of him, naturally, but in modern times he gets a lot more appreciation... that is, if you are not Disney or Hollywood. This could be because he is a classic case of Dark Is Not Evil mixed with The Woobie, and/or because he was one of the only gods in the Pantheon who wasn't a complete jerk.
 * Disney tried to make Hades |unlikeable. Thankfully, they failed, and the movie was that much better for this "failure."
 * Hephaestus has become this nowadays. His main flaw (his hideous looks) makes him seem to be more of a Woobie than back in Ancient Greece, when he would have been viewed as repulsive, plus, as with Hades, he's downright saintly next to his uncles, aunts, and cousins.
 * It doesn't hurt that his purview includes 'technology'.
 * Ares/Mars was a very unpopular god for the Greeks, but the Romans claimed to be his descendants. It is worth noting that despite widespread modern misinterpretations, the Roman gods were not exact analogues of the Greek gods. Ares/Mars is a particularly notable case, as the Greeks saw Ares as the god of brutal warfare, while the Romans saw Mars as the god of warfare for the defense and spread of civilization. He even had an agricultural aspect leftover from an earlier Etruscan god and the fact that early Roman soldiers were basically drafted farmers. Some modern adaptations of Greek mythology also feature Ares in a much more positive light.
 * So long as you're not counting God of War as a "modern adaptation"... which it isn't.
 * Both Sun Wukong and Hanuman got a disproportionate amount of attention, so much so that the former is now considered the main character of his story. The relationship between the two is interesting, but it's no surprise that they fill this role as they both get their fair share ofBadass moments.
 * As for Hanuman, his Ensemble Darkhorse status has made him the most popular deity (alongside Lord Ram) in the Guyanese and Trinidadian regional variant of Hinduism.
 * Budai a figure in Chinese folklore, often revered as a deity in buddhism, is probably THE most popular buddhist deities in western countries. While he is sometimes considered a bodhisattva, people with little to no knowledge of Buddhism often mistake him for THE Buddha. Chances are if you see a statue or other representation of a Buddha in fiction, it will be this plump bald man with a big smile.
 * Loki of Norse Mythology has acquired far more popularity than he originally possessed, due to his traits of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder and (often deadly) practical jokes being more appealing to more modern audiences (generally the favourite was originally Thor, his policy of "hit it with a hammer first ask questions never" being, interestingly, less appealing to modern audiences).
 * Arguably, Loki was "originally" not as unpopular as he became when the Christians got hold of Norse mythology and associated him with Satan. The only extant versions of the Norse myths are the Eddas, which were written well after the Christianization of the mythos.

New Media

 * Mr. Mooshi from Conquering the Horizon was supposed to just be the first thing Evelyn ate. Instead the players decided to get on top of him and try to use pheromones to tame him. After that the QM did a good job making Mr. Mooshi a fun character (which was often actually Evelyn being a fun character and have 'dialogue' with Mr. Mooshi). There's more to Mr. Mooshi than that though, like the time he vomited up grass for Evelyn to eat at one of her low points.

Toys

 * Takua in Bionicle started out as the Featureless Protagonist of a little-known Game Boy Advance game. After he was again the main character in a very successful online game (moving from Featureless Protagonist to having his own identity only at the very end), his popularity exploded. In 2003, he was the star of his own Direct to Video movie where he became Toa Takanuva and was released as a toy set twice (once as Takua and once as Takanuva). Then he and the other 2002-2003 characters returned in 2008 (complete with new toy figures), with Takanuva being the star of the first Level 3 Readers book and having an online blog that narrated the events of the final (regular) book. And his was the largest figure. He was released again as a Stars set in 2010.
 * Also of note are the Toa Inika. When the story moved to a brand new location (Voya Nui) in 2006, LEGO decided that, rather than create six new Toa characters, they would just take probably the six most popular Matoran characters and turn them into Toa, via space lightning.
 * A very minor on-line game character, called Tiribomba, developed a small following, despite having done absolutely nothing to contribute to the plot. The reason for his popularity lies in his wicked awesome name.
 * The Alley Viper figure from the original G.I. Joe line has a huge cult following amongst GI Joe fans, to such an extent that it was quickly re-released within two years of its initial run in circulation.
 * Same with the Crimson Guard figures; this was most notable during the GI Joe Vs Cobra/Valor Vs Venom years, when Hasbro built a new Crimson Guard mold and opted to not release as part of the regular series, opting to make the figure a Toys 'R Us exclusive. To ease fan anger, the figure was largely released in a series of army builder sets, meaning fans buying the figure could build their own units without having to buy multiple figures.
 * Mimic, a garish green unicorn from the 1980s My Little Pony line, reportedly did poorly in sales in its initial run. On today's second-hand market, prices soar.
 * It's been speculated, though, that Mimic's poor initial sales are what made her so hard to come by, and are the reason for her value today.
 * Firefly may be the queen of this trope. From the moment she was introduced, she was arguably the most popular of all the ponies. Even though she wasn't in much of the series, she was depicted on a ton of merchandise. When Rescue from Midnight Castle was rereleased on video in the 1990s, it was renamed Firefly's Adventure, even though Megan is really the main character. Lauren Faust even based Rainbow Dash's personality on her. (She would actually be Firefly if not for copyright issues).


 * Pluto in Milky Way and The Galaxy Girls, having quite a following compared to the other characters.

Other

 * Good, old rock, ain't nothing that can beat that.
 * Pluto, the former planet. The outrage when it was downgraded to planetoid was unprecedented.
 * Too bad the astronomers played paper.
 * Voice Actors are quite possibly the biggest example of an Ensemble Darkhorse when it comes to actors. The Animation fanbase online quite often love various Voice Actors for all the work they do in Animation (and to a lesser extent Video games) and are often guests in various conventions. Unfortunately often enough they are generally the only audience that these people truly have. Which the fact that often enough they get little pay and companies often seem to see them as nothing more than cheap disposable labor is considered all the more disheartening. But sadly if you talk about Voice actors to normal people chances are they most likely will have no idea what you're talking about. (The only exceptions are generally folks who either used to be/still are well known for screen acting.)
 * Unfortunately it doesn't help that often enough many vocal fans of Voice actors are young adults who are often not the Target Demographic of the shows they watch.
 * Mel Blanc came from the Golden Age of American Radio, where it was possible to become famous based solely on voice work. He also got a lot of his fame in front of the camera playing comedic characters and guest starring on variety shows. Lucille Ball, Orson Welles, and Jimmy Stuart also first became famous in radio. Even voice actors who weren't able to make the leap to the camera had fans with the older generations who remember the radio era. With that last group, it's less about being an Ensemble Darkhorse, and more about being a fading star as time marches on.
 * Japanese-wise, the darkhorse seiyuu would be Norio Wakamoto. When seiyuu these days about the younger people, especially those catering to the more Moe archetypes, there's this old school Cool Old Guy seiyuu who stockpiles about classic and awesome villain roles. Thanks to his epic hammy performance, he's still viewed as one of the greatest seiyuu in business despite being not really the norm of this age's seiyuu (a man and old), and a Memetic Badass (and Real Life Badass too).
 * From Disney Theme Parks, Figment is undoubtedly the most popular character at EPCOT, and the Hitchhiking Ghosts have become the unofficial mascots of The Haunted Mansion, despite only showing up near the end.