History Deuteragonist / VideoGames

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'': Midna is the titular Twilight Princess who receives the brunt of character development and focus with the only reason she isn't the protagonist is the fact she isn't the playable character like [[SupportingProtagonist Link]] is. Zelda, in comparison to most games, is the tritagonist and it's important for Midna's character development.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'': Link himself is this in the narrative, with his companion Midna being the main protagonist.

** Finally, since the three characters have their own {{Cast Herd}}s, they also have their own deuteragonists. Connor's is Hank, as mentioned; in fact, if you just treat the three [=PCs=] as sharing the protagonist spotlight, Hank is the deuteragonist for the whole game. Kara's is Alice, the abusive owner's little girl whom Kara becomes a MamaBear for, with a tritagonist in BlackBestFriend Luther. And Markus's is North, the BloodKnight SexBot {{Love Interest|s}}, with a tritagonist in Josh, the ActualPacifist BlackBestFriend; they, plus another guy named Simon, are the leaders of LaResistance when Markus stumbles upon them.

*** The ''[[DownloadableContent Fell Xenologue]]'' storyline has Nel act as the deuteragonist to Alear's protagonist, with her character arc, history with Alear's AlternateSelf, [[FireForgedFriends growing friendship with Alear]] being just as vital to the plot. The tritagonist isNil, [[spoiler: or rather Rafal, who also serves as the ArcVillain of the DLC]].

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'' has Veyle as the deuteragonist to Alear's protagonist, showing up early on and often driving the story through her or her other personality's actions, so she's the second most important character after Alear.
*** The ''[[DownloadableContent Fell Xenologue]]'' storyline has Nel act as the deuteragonist to Alear's protagonist, with her character arc, history with Alear's AlternateSelf, [[FireForgedFriends growing friendship with Alear]] being just as vital to the plot. The tritagonist is [[spoiler:Nil, or rather Rafal, who also serves as the ArcVillain of the DLC]].

* ''Franchise/{{Touhou|Project}}'' is a bit odd with this. Theoretically Reimu is the protagonist and Marisa the deuteragonist, but Marisa actually gets more appearances outside of the main games (while they're tied in the games). Reverse-wise, the games put Sakuya and later Sanae as the tritagonist, but this hasn't extended to the side material (where most of the story is).

** Throughout the series [[ArcherArchetype Leliana]] is probably the most predominant character, since she appears in all three games and regularly in ExpandedUniverse material. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' in particular gives her the most attention, with her serving as the Inquisition spymaster and then potentially as [[spoiler:''the Divine herself'', making her arguably the most powerful person in Thedas]].

* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'' has two protagonists, and each one of them has a deuteragonist. Returning Ellie's deuteragonist is her girlfriend, [[BadassIsraeli Dina]], while [[spoiler:[[AntiVillain Abby's]]]] deuteragonist is [[spoiler:[[ArcherArchetype Lev]]]].

* ''VideoGame/CrescentPrism'': After beating Chapter 1, the player is thrust into Chapter 1X, where they take control of Nova as he starts to realize how poorly he treated Amos. Nova [[spoiler:ends up partnering with the Crimson Prism Stone, showing that he's going to be a major player in future chapters]].

* [[TheLancer Riku]] in ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has progressively become this, starting with ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Chain of Memories]]'', where [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent he takes over as the playable character in his own story]] once [[TheHero Sora's]] story finishes, and cemented past ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. Out of all the games in the series, ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' has the most fun with this trope. [[spoiler:In this one, ''Sora'' is the deuteragonist, while Riku himself gets [[ADayInTheLimelight a day as the protagonist]].]]

** Finally, since the three characters have their own {{Cast Herd}}s, they also have their own deuteragonists. Connor's is Hank, as mentioned; in fact, if you just treat the three [=PCs=] as sharing the protagonist spotlight, Hank is the deuteragonist for the whole game. Kara's is Alice, the abusive owner's little girl whom Kara becomes a MamaBear for, with a tritagonist in BlackBestFriend Luther. And Markus's is North, the BloodKnight SexBot LoveInterest, with a tritagonist in Josh, the ActualPacifist BlackBestFriend; they, plus another guy named Simon, are the leaders of LaResistance when Markus stumbles upon them.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'': For the first generation, Deirdre serves as this to Sigurd, due to her being his LoveInterest [[spoiler:and a key element in [[TheManBehindTheMan Manfroy]]'s EvilPlan]]. The second generation has Julia to Seliph; [[spoiler:her relationship with both [[BigBad Julius]] and Seliph himself, as well as her heritage being the key to stopping [[GreaterScopeVillain Loptous]], provide her a great deal of focus]].
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'', meanwhile, features Nanna in the role to Leif's protagonist, being his LoveInterest. But much like Caeda, this can be subverted if she falls in battle, as Nanna also doesn’t have any PlotArmor.

** The trilogy has a rotating cast of recruitable party members -- there are ''twenty'' spread across three games. Of them, only ''three'' are recruitable in all three: [[Characters/MassEffectGarrusVakarian Garrus Vakarian]] graduates to the role of [[TheLancer Shepard's right-hand man]] ([[PromotedToLoveInterest and potential Love Interest for female players]]) in the second game, and in ''Mass Effect 3'', he's second only to Liara in available dialogue options -- despite the fact that he can be KilledOffForReal in ''2'' and not even ''appear'' in ''3''. His CharacterDevelopment throughout the trilogy is meant to paint him as a {{Foil}} and ShadowArchetype to Shepard. [[Characters/MassEffectTaliZorah Tali'Zorah]] ''nar'' Rayya is likewise PromotedToLoveInterest in the second game, and is absolutely ''central'' to resolving one of the trilogy's two biggest subplots -- like, if you've gotten her killed off by this point, FailureIsTheOnlyOption. Finally, [[Characters/MassEffectLiaraTSoni Liara T'Soni]] is the only character on this list who is a LoveInterest in the first game, the only party member ''in the franchise'' with no {{Plotline Death}}s, the only character to appear in the DistantSequel ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' '''and''' the (as of 2020) in-development fifth ''Mass Effect'' game (in the sense that she [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg-Ctg6k_Ao appears in the teaser]]), and serves as Shepard's NumberTwo in the third game. This is partially to make up for the second game, in which she is either an NPC or an NPC who can be recruited during a DLC mission. Any -- or perhaps all -- of these characters qualify as Deuteragonist due to their relative prominence throughout the trilogy.

*** [[BigBad Dr. James Marcus]] splits the roles of antagonist and tritagonist, with his backstory, the mystery of his death, and the reason for his vengeance against Umbrella kickstarting the events of the game and driving the plot. For an Umbrella scientist, he's [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds remarkably sympathetic]], and it's Marcus's actions that cause the events of both the first game and [[ForWantOfANail the rest of the series]].

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3'': Noah is the protagonist, but Mio is just as important to the story as he is. The story is about their friendship and eventual romance as they unite the separate factions that they are from.
** Interestingly, you can tell who is going to inherit a class from a [[GuestStarPartyMember Hero]] by guessing which of the party members is the deuteragonist of that Hero's Hero Quest.