History HiddenDepths / FanWorks

* ''Fanfic/WeAreNothing'': While Crabbe and Goyle are primarily known (both in-universe and by readers) for being Draco Malfoy's BumblingHenchmenDuo, Crabbe notes in his internal POV narration that he himself is actually a rather good artist while Goyle is an aspiring poet. Also, despite being a pureblood Slytherin, Crabbe is familiar enough with Muggle culture to know who UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli is.

* ''Fanfic/WeAreNothing'': While Crabbe and Goyle are primarily known (both in-universe and by readers) for being Draco Malfoy's BumblingHenchmenDuo, Crabbe notes in his internal POV narration that he himself is actually a rather good artist while Goyle is an aspiring poet. Also, despite being a pureblood Slytherin, Crabbe is familiar enough with Muggle boxing to know who UsefulNotes/MuhammadAli is.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792883/chapters/34223034 Fox Rain]]'' uses this abundantly:

** In "The Concerto," Rhino is revealed to be an accomplished drummer, to the point where he can perform the Ron Wilson drum solo from "Wipe Out" by Music/TheSurfaris.

** The trope is used with Lila from as early as the first chapter, where her reaction to a trio of muggers [[MuggingTheMonster harassing Master Fu]] is musing she could take them before driving them away by pretending Ladybug is arriving and uses the trope to make the point [[ForWantOfANail she could have been a hero, or at least an anti-hero, had things in canon gone just a little different]]. She also knows she needs a therapist, but her mother, for some reason, won't let her, and it's hinted that [[spoiler:part of her attitude comes from having been a bullying victim and the guilt complex from an excessive retaliation]].

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* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12202396/1/Clash-of-the-Ketchums Clash of the Ketchums]]'', Ash is fluent in three languages: the Pokémon equivalent of Japanese, Unovan, and Kalosian.

* ''Fanfic/InvaderZimABadThingNeverEnds'': Each of the Minion Trio turns out to have surprising interests, as revealed in Chapter 13 — Skoodge has taken up horticulture, Bob has picked up engineering skills from observing Zim, and the Announcer loves fashion.

* ''Fanfic/AHorribleWorldOfPlotHolesAndSpellingErrors'': Twist is genuinely hurt that her "siblings" not only don't remember her, but actively want to get rid of her. Yakko is caught off-guard by this, not expecting a Sue to have any depth.

* ''FanFic/AllTheRoofsOfUncertainty'' : Leslie Thompkins helps Jason understand Bruce better by telling him a stories of his teenagehood, when Bruce was already plotting to become Batman.

*** He points out Garcetti has so much money hoarded he only loses man power should his backers leave.

* ''Fanfic/EquestriaGirlsAFairlyOddFriendship'': When Sunset first saw Timmy interact with Trixie, she understatedly assume that Timmy had a crush on her because she was a rich, beautiful popular girl. And he was trying to win her over despite Trixie making her disinterest in him clear. Sunset bluntly told him that he was not acting that different from his own stalker, that he is obsessing over someone that does not like him and never will. Much to Sunset's surprise, she learns that Timmy's crush on Trixie is more than just a shallow crush. Timmy revealed the time that he discovers that Trixie secretly a tomboy, and she hides her hobbies to fit in with the popular kids. He genuinely wants to help Trixie be who she wants to be to the point where Timmy admits he does not care if she does date him; he just wants her to be happy with herself.

** Also, Kasumi has a deep and abiding fondness of ''Franchise/StarWars''.

* ''Fanfic/ResurrectedMemories'': While Ember is a wild rocker at heart, she is shown to be fiercely loyal and protective to those she deems to be her friends and is a genuinely hard working student, managing to get good grades on her own merit, as well as Lancer's respect due to her actually trying to work hard in class and on top of that she is revealed to have a dorky side to her that starts coming to the surface as she starts [[spoiler: falling in love with Danny]].

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' fanfic ''Fanfic/WalkingInCircles'', Evelyn's friend Signy is a quiet girl who mostly kept things to herself, but she often the first person who comes for Evelyn and helps her. She’s also [[spoiler: a powerful and resourceful blood mage who practicing her arts by using her monthly blood instead of just cutting herself and risked being discovered like regular blood mages do]]. Her being a shy, meek, gloomy girl is also mostly an act to avoid drawing attention to herself, as Solas notice that after they left the tower, Signy stands straighter, hair pulled back, and meets everyone’s gaze directly, she talks more too.

** Evelyn herself lampshades this trope when she calls [[NobleBigot Solas]] out on his bigotry and condescending attitude. She points out that the reason he sees her as strong, kind, wise and more special than anyone is because he spends most of his times with her while deliberately avoiding all other mages. Had he tried to know others more, he’d have seen that they also have their own lives and stories to tell, how they also try to rebel against their oppressors in their own ways.

--> '''The High Septon:''' Who's a sweet boy? You, Balerion, you are a sweet boy. Yes you are.

[[AC: ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'']]

* ''Fanfic/TheBlackSheepDogSeries'' adds a lot of nuances in its characterization of Sirius's parents, Orion and Walburga Black, to show that, despite their flaws and prejudices, they are still thinking, feeling humans who do love their son in their own dysfunctional way, and are certainly not the evil, heartless snakes that Sirius believes them to be. This is particularly true for Orion, who is a lot more reserved than his wife, so much that no one can really make heads of tails out of him, and almost everyone who knows him have very different perception of his character.
* ''To the Moon'' included a Crabbe and Goyle who were not only in a relationship with each other, but gave the ''impression'' of dimwittedness because Crabbe had dyslexia and Goyle spent too much time reading the textbooks to Crabbe to bother much about his own homework.

* ''Fanfic/CellarSecrets'': For a FeralChild who lacks comprehension and is terrified of most things, Ryuuko seems to be rather perceptive, figuring out, to a degree, of what's going on around her. She also has a mischievous side.
* Rei from ''Webcomic/KillLaKillAU'', as we find out. Underneath her alcoholism and thoughtlessness, she's smarter than she seems and is pretty wise, being able give advice, along with picking up on things the others might miss. She's also pretty good with explosives.

* ''Fanfic/{{Regrets}}'': Leni as to be expected, despite being the ditz, is shown to have a deep understanding of her depression, and well as compartmentalism, and verifies her levels of depression in light, grey or dark areas.

** The trope is used with Lila from as early as the first chapter, where her reaction to a trio of muggers [[MuggingTheMonster harassing Master Fu]] is musing she could take them before driving them away by pretending Ladybug is arriving, and uses the trope to make the point [[ForWantOfANail she could have been a hero, or at least an anti-hero, had things in canon gone just a little different]]. She also knows she needs a therapist, but her mother, for some reason, won't let her, and it's hinted that [[spoiler:part of her attitude comes from having been a bullying victim and the guilt complex from an excessive retaliation]].
** A good part of [[BigBad Papillon]]'s act is just that: an act he pulls to make his supervillain persona different from his civilian one. And for all of his psychotic persona, he refuses to akumatize "people with certain mind troubles, such as legitimate psychos, serial killers, and soldiers with PTSD" as that would be far too dangerous.
** Colonel Hartmann, the military attache to the Italian embassy, is a nice and cool woman nicknamed "Leprotta" (little hare) for her habit of wearing her hair in twin tails. She also has PTSD serious enough Papillon won't Akumatize her.

'''Scootaloo:''' No man, I do get it. Most people have an elaborate interconnected web of bullshit with their parents and it spans a life time and I guess it's not fair for an outsider to come bursting in and making judgement, but part of becoming an adult is processing those clusterfucks of poorly defined emotion you had as a kid and dealing with them in a constructive manner.\\
'''Rainbow:''' Dude! [[LampShadeHanging You're like twelve man, how are you saying all these psychologist words]]?\\
'''Scootaloo:''' [[BreakingTheFourthWall Because this is the part of the video where this pretentious pseudo-intellectual faggot, does the oh so deep life lesson bit, and I'm the only other character in this scene]], so shut the fuck up.
** Starlight apparently has a successful hip hop career on the side.

** Kakashi, math teacher at Konoha High School, a pervert who reads dirty books and gets into verbal spats with fellow teacher Kurenai at every opportunity, quirky enough to constantly wear a dust-mask that covers the lower half of his face despite clearly not needing it...and also seeing himself as a FailureHero for not being able to help his longtime friend Rin [[spoiler:when she was suffering abuse at her boyfriend's hands]]. And, of course, he ''is'' a competent teacher, inside and outside the classroom, who won't hesitant to [[PapaWolf run to his students' help if they're in serious trouble]].
** Kushina is generally quite cheerful, spends most of her time at home cooking and doing typical housewife stuff, and on the more eccentric end she cosplays as the in-universe comic book character Shadow Fox and also owns her very own porn stash. However, under serious circumstance she proves to be a source of good maternal wisdom to whoever needs it. [[spoiler:She also has some got some deep-seated resentment toward her husband Minato for distancing himself from his family, to the point of requesting Kushina to retake her maiden name, for the sake of protecting her and Naruto due to Minato's black-ops work, and subsequently leaving her alone to deal with Naruto's post-365 days trauma -- all of which [[StepfordSmiler she hides very well]]]].

** When Asuka discovers Shinji plays cello, is an excellent cook and reads books in half a dozen of languages (including Japanese, French, Spanish, Russian and Latin), she is impressed.
** When Touji uses words as "waif" or "encircled" his classmates get shocked. He complains that everybody assume he is a dumb jock only because he works out.

* ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': In chapter 7 Asuka remembers that she was surprised when she found out that Shinji played cello, since she did not know that he had hidden talents.

** Robin wore cowboy hats while in Baroque Works, because they reminded her of Saul and helped her feel strong in times of stress.

* Misty in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'' was considered the less talented among her sisters, but one sidestory and later chapters show that she managed to pick up some skills in acting, singing and dancing.

--> '''Buck:''' Pretty cool backdrop, huh? I think it's a Baldwin E2 Atlantic. Early 1900s. Pretty rare, huh?\\

** While Sierra depicted as little more than an ditzy and insane Cody fangirl in canon, she's shown here to be very sneaky, a tech whiz, and very good at deducing information about others based on the tiniest clues. She also reveals that she really does care about Cody in a genuine fashion and actually understands him to be more than just a girl-crazy geek, rather than merely being very possessive of him.
** Whereas Cody canon self was presented as little more than a dweeby and perverted DoggedNiceGuy, he shows himself over the story to be a genuinely kind person towards virtually everyone.

** Sylvia's a comic book fan, mostly Batman and Jonah Hex, even secretly go into a comic book store to get one.
*** In "The Most Dangerous Cure Hunt, Sylvia seems to have a thing for Pretty Cure, despite she dislikes girly stuff. She also used to like the Powerpuff Girls as a kid and her favorite was Buttercup, due to having similar traits with her.
*** Sylvia secretly has love for Westerns because her dad was a huge fan, especially John Wayne.

* ''Fanfic/TotalDramaActionAllIn'': Everyone gets a little bit of this. Trent's clinginess is because he has been cheated on by previous girlfriends twice, Owen loves Izzy because she doesn't judge him for his weight, Courtney's perfectionist tendencies comes from having a BigSisterBully, Bridgette hates being objectified for her appearance, Eva is in fact barely literate and was bullied as a child, Beth is a history geek, etc.

** Diamonique appears to be a spoiled rich ditz, but is actually more aware and has high intelligence.

** Riley may seem like a silly, typical bro, but she has grown up without parents and living a lower class life with her brothers. She often has life advice for her teammates and seems to be one of the most confident and happily adjusted contestants.

** Graham fashion sense, vocabulary, and general behavior aren't because of his grandparents. It's actually all modeled after a character he created, Oliver Kilgore, an idealized romantic hero who's everything the actual Graham isn't. He reveals this to Suvir and later Kelsey, admitting Oliver was a coping mechanism to try and become more confident, and abandons the persona with a subsequent makeover.

** Steve real name is Cole Walker, and he is an undercover FBI agent investigating Kasimar's disappearance.

* ''Fanfic/TotalDramaSomeStars'': Topher enjoys fishing, as seen by his introduction.
* ''Fanfic/TotalDramaSuperstars'': It's slowly revealed during Wolfgang conversations with characters such as Flora and Helga that he's actually not a bad guy, just socially awkward and introverted, and has a hard time getting to know people without accidentally scaring them off.

* ''Fanfic/TotalDramaTweenTour'': Emily Ferrent is really a computer genius, and a geek; the silly girl personality is all but an act.

** Katie turns out to be a gamer during the zombie VR challenge, as her experiences with it contributes a lot with her survival.

** "Revenge of the Telethon" has Staci coming from a really large family that work very mediocre jobs, which explains why she constantly lies about her family's achievements.

*** Once Ella leaves her PrincessPhase, she's also shown to be quite savvy in regards to strategies some of the other contestants might be plotting. Fitting for a fan of the show.

** Cody and Heather, all the way. While Heather oftentimes appears to be the more dominate of the two, Cody has made it pretty clear on a few occasions that this is by choice, his choice to be exact, and he has no problem standing up to her or calling her out. Heather likewise has proven to be surprisingly empathetic towards others, especially those in situations or circumstances they have no control over, something she is quite familiar with.
** In chapter 27 Cody reveals that it was Lindsay who taught him about Heather's feelings on touching. Her immense knowledge of business also qualifys. She also shows great determination, willing to succeed by her own means and only asking for help if truly necessary.

* ''FanFic/TamersForeverSeries'': ''Every'' character has more to him or her than meets the eye. Bonus points for the fact that these Hidden Depths are perfectly compatible with the characters canon personalities.

* This is a big part of ''Fanfic/HeroesForEarth'', as each of the main characters are not the one dimensional characters from the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' cartoon. For instance, Wheeler, while a bit of a TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong in the cartoon, in the fanfic, he does have his womanizer, jerkish qualities, but he is also a caring old brother who works on a secret garden to honor his mother.

* In ''Fanfic/FracturesSpaceDimentio'', Padparadscha is fully aware of how much of a burden she can be, believing she lacks the physical prowess and super-abilities to be any help for the Off-Colors, leading to Pink Diamond to console her.

* ''FanFic/QueenOfAllOni'': In addition to the examples in the canon WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures post below; once Jade becomes a FallenHero, not only do we see her being as cunning as in canon, but she seems to become even MORE cunning. And her normal, pre-FaceHeelTurn attitude is revealed to be rooted in the ParentalNeglect (bordering on [[AbusiveParents abuse]]) she experienced growing up.

* ''Fanfic/ACertainMagicalFriendship'':

* ''Fanfic/OneDayAtATimeFanfic''

* ''FanFic/HeartOfGoldFeathersOfSteel'' reveals there is [[AbusiveParents a lot]] [[BrokenBird more]] [[TheExile going on]] with Gilda than you'd expect just from watching ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E5GriffonTheBrushOff Griffon the Brush Off]]''.

* The ''Fanfic/FeralnetteAUBigFatBreak'' [[PlayingWithATrope plays with this]] with NewTransferStudent Felix. He's quite surprised to see that Marinette has an interest in fashion, even though that wouldn't be news to anyone who knew her before... namely because she's StoppedCaring about her appearance alongside her social life, becoming an UnkemptBeauty slouching around in oversized hoodies with MessyHair. So catching sight of some of her sketches intrigues him enough that he starts making an effort to get to know her better.

** DWK, the narrator and creator, likes to play himself off as just a drunken, cynical, {{Jerkass}} loser, making fun of a little girls show. But deep under his cynical, snarky, perverted, crude, and alcoholic personality lies a surprisingly insightful fan who has a great appreciation for the show, its morals, and characters, even if he does loves poking fun at them. The narrator is also shown to have some deeply-rooted personal issues and cynicism, as noted in his recap of "Flutter Brutter," where Zephyr Breeze's personality and character flaws really hit close to home for the narrator.

** [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnonTitansAndOtherCreatures Rodan]]'s personality is rather {{jerkass}}, but despite his snarky behavior, he stays true to his duty mentoring [[AdaptationalHeroism Monster X]] despite his reservations about the TwoBeingsOneBody creature, it's revealed he's apparently reared Titan/s outside his own species before them, and Vivienne notes he has genuine words of wisdom despite his ego.
** [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnon Dr. Rick Stanton]] already showed clear signs of being a good person beneath the DeadpanSnarker in [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 the film]]; but in Chapter 12, he admits that he self-reflects and worries his cynicism might be pushing him towards the DespairEventHorizon.

* ''Fanfic/CardsOfRemnant'', Cardin is still TheBully and JerkJock he is in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' canon, but he's also AFatherToHisMen, comforting Russel after Ruby can't remember him and even agreeing to Jaune's suggestion of declaring a draw for their duel to keep his teammates safe from the spillover. His POV sections also reveal that he, like [[NotSoDifferent Jaune]], struggles to live up to his father's expectations.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fractures}}'', Padparadscha is fully aware of how much of a burden she can be, believing she lacks the physical prowess and super-abilities to be any help for the off-Colors, leading to Pink Diamond to console her.

* ''Fanfic/CardsOfRemnant'', Cardin is still TheBully and JerkJock he is in ''WebAnimation/RWBY'' canon, but he's also AFatherToHisMen, comforting Russel after Ruby can't remember him and even agreeing to Jaune's suggestion of declaring a draw for their duel to keep his teammates safe from the spillover. His POV sections also reveal that he, like [[NotSoDifferent Jaune]], struggles to live up to his father's expectations.