Ensemble Darkhorse/Literature: Difference between revisions

* Satan, of [[The Bible|biblical]] fame. In the Old Testament, he was a minor character, serving as an "accuser." In the New Testament, he becomes the [[Big Bad]]. Now, he's the [[Trope Codifier]] for the [[God of Evil]] trope, and seen by millions as the ultimate [[Big Bad]].

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' has a number of examples:

** Bronn is virtually an [[Ascended Extra]], starting off as one of a pair of sellswords who join a large crew of [[Red Shirts]] to escort Tyrion to the Eyrie. By the time his partner and most of the redshirts have died, Bronn has become Tyrion's badass bodyguard. When he's not kicking ass, he's usually sharing witty banter with Tyrion, making him prime fodder for fandom.

*** One of Ser Jaime Lannister's [[Bastard Understudy|squires]], Josymn "Peck" Peckledon is also fondly regarded by some fans as a darker counterpart to Pod, namely because, whilst Pod is a ''hidden'' [[Badass]], Peck is just a straight up [[Badass]]. His best exploit to date was at the Battle of the Blackwater, when, aged fifteen, he killed two knights, crippled a third and captured two more.

** Nearly every minor Lannister, but most particularly Ser Daven, Ser Kevan and Lady Genna, is regarded with affection throughout the fandom.

* Terry Pratchett, the author of the ''[[Discworld]]'' series, claims that this is the greatest danger when you create a throwaway character. The best example is [[Grim Reaper|Death]], whom he only created as a one joke character, but liked so much that he gave him multiple additional appearances in the first two books. Samuel Vimes and Granny Weatherwax also started out as support characters.

** And then Death appeared in ''every'' book, got three books of his own and a daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter. With that, it's hard to argue that he isn't the Disc's main character now.

*** Also see the Death Of Rats.

*** And Detritus, who started as a "[[Bouncer|splatter]]" and became Sergeant and head of the Watch's training academy, married to Ruby, and "adopted" Brick.

** Jacob Black was originally meant to be a one-shot character who would introduce Bella to the myths of the "cold ones" (vampires), but Stephanie Meyer and the readers ended up enjoying him so much that he became very important to the overall plotline of the next three books and Bella's best friend and second love.

** James was simply a member of the [[Wacky Wayside Tribe]] of nomadic vampires introduced in the first book whose only purpose in life was to hunt, kill and drink good blood, namely Bella's. He's described as being unremarkable in appearance, average even by human standards. But he became inexplicably popular with the fans when he was revealed to have a connection with Alice, and his lack of an established past made him a point of interest for theorists. It also did not help matters that Cam Gigandet, the actor who played him in [[The Film of the Book]], was [[Hollywood Homely|very admittedly attractive]], and when asked to come up with his own [[Alternate Character Interpretation|interpretation of the character]], said that James was really a broken hollow shell of a person on the inside, coming damn close to making James [[The Woobie]] as well.

** Leah's little brother Seth Clearwater has a small part to play in ''Eclipse'', and picked up a massive following for his adorable snark, bravery, and almost naive affableness. Come ''Breaking Dawn'', he had a lot more action and some of the best lines in the book.

** Many of the Volturi became very popular amongst the fans as well, despite having not many lines or characters.

* Irial and Niall from ''[[Wicked Lovely]]'' are hands down the most popular, beloved and lusted over characters in the series. [[Even the Guys Want Him]].

* In H.P. Lovecraft's [[Cthulhu Mythos|Yogg-Sorothy]], Cthulhu only had one story about him written by Lovecraft himself. However, his disciple writing more stories led to Cthulhu becoming the [[Eldritch Abomination|poster-squid...thing]] for the entire Chronology, with the fans dubbing it the [[Cthulhu Mythos]].

* In the ''[[Hunger Games]]'' trilogy we have Finnick - he was only a minor character in ''Catching Fire'' and more minor in ''Mockingjay'' but he became extremely popular for his kindness, strength, sense of humor, and dedication.

** Foxface also gets a lot of love thanks to her cleverness, despite only appearing in one book, not having any speaking lines, and ''not having an actual name.''

* Nico di freaking Angelo from ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]''. He goes from this bratty little halfpint obsessed with a cardgame and always asking a million questions in Book 3, to something of an enemy in Book 4 because he blamed Percy for the death of his sister, to pulling the biggest [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment of the entire series in Book 5.

* ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'':

* In ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|Warrior Cats]]'', there are many, many ensemble darkhorses out of the series' [[Loads and Loads of Characters]]. However, a few do get special note.

** [[Cool Old Guy|Purdy]], who has become a huge [[Memetic Badass]] and well loved, even ending up {{spoiler|1=[[Breakout Character|joining ThunderClan.]]}}

** Ashfur is an odd case. He's the [[Base Breaker]] to end all [[Base Breaker]]s. You either [[Love It or Hate It|love him or you hate him]]. He was only directly featured in about three books or so, but he's wildly popular ''and'' unpopular.

** [[Ax Crazy|Mapleshade]], who gained a massive fanbase before even appearing in the series! And when [[Up to Eleven|she did show up...]]

* Hurin, the Sniffer from Shienar, plays a role in book 2, The Great Hunt, of ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', although his main purpose is to provide Perrin with an opportunity to take his place where necessary. Part way into book 3, he leaves to return to Shienar, and is not seen again until book 12, The Gathering Storm, practically as a cameo. Despite this, he is a highly regarded character, and prior to the release of The Gathering Storm, he was perhaps the character that people most wanted to see return.

* ''[[Battle Royale]]'' has Takako Chigusa. To those who have read, [[Groin Attack|don't think too hard about that]]. In the live action movie, she was played by Chiaki Kuriyama. [[Quentin Tarantino]], a fan of the novel and film, casted her as [[Kill Bill|Gogo Yubari]] for this exact reason.

* ''[[The Pickwick Papers]]: Samuel Weller was introduced in a minor supporting role as the main character's cockney valet partway through the serial, but quickly developed a massive following that almost single-handedly kick-started [[Charles Dickens (Creator)|Charles Dickens]]' career.