History Main / DemotedToSatelliteLoveInterest

''Please don't use this trope as an excuse to [[Administrivia/ComplainingAboutCharactersYouDontLike bash characters whom you dislike for X/Y/Z motives]]. Becoing a love interest doesn't immediately equal being demoted to SLI, and many accusations fit less in this trope and more in DieForOurShip.''

* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': After Kiyoh gets married, she never returns to the fighting, unlike her husband. After all, she has to raise her baby girl.

** Hook as well as of Season 4. He gets defined almost entirely by his status as Emma's boyfriend, and all his storylines revolve around his relationship with Emma.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* {{Inverted}} with Flame Princess of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'', who goes from being a LoveInterest for the male lead Finn to being a full-fledged character who rules the Fire Kingdom in hopes of turning it into a good kingdom. Of course, this comes about because she dumped Finn for manipulating her into a fight with the Ice King.

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* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Android 18 was introduced as an independent villain alongside her brother, but then receded into the role of Krillin's wife and more-or-less retired from fighting.

* In the first Lion King film, Nala plays a significant role in getting Simba to return to Pride Rock and face his past, not to mention being a fierce and determined character in her own right. In the sequel, however, she has a maximum of 20-ish lines, and hardly does anything to contribute to the plot besides fighting in the pride-on-pride battle near the end. What makes it worse is that there were ''many'' opportunities and times that she could've said or done something of importance, but she still hardly affected a thing through the whole movie.

* Will Scarlet was a main character in ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland''. When he shows up in season four of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', he's credited as part of the main cast, but is quickly demoted to the love interest of Belle. Sometimes his only appearances are holding her hand in the background, and he only has a quick, blink-and-you'll-miss-it, unspoken cameo in the finale. To make things worse for him, Belle herself has rarely been more than the love interest of Rumpelstiltskin in the series, making Will Scarlet demoted to the satellite love interest of a satellite love interest.

** Robin Hood also gets this treatment big time. In his initial appearance he was a fully independent character, but upon his return (and recasting) he became not a lot more than Regina's true love. This progressively gets worse and worse, until Season Five (ironically the season he got a {{Promotion to Opening Titles}}) where he is basically a shadow/occasional {{Damsel in Distress}} until [[spoiler:he is killed off towards the end of the season, probably at the actor's request.]]

[[AC:AnimeAndManga]]
* Syaoran Li of ''Anime/CardcaptorSakura'' started off as TheRival and for a while had almost equal footing with Sakura, his own supporting cast and many limelight episodes (so much the English dub tried to play him as co lead with ''Cardcaptors''). After Sakura becomes Master of the Cards, the rest of the main arc must be resolved by her with the others providing marginal assistance. As such, most of Syaoran's spotlight at this point consists of one or two short scenes concerning his growing crush on Sakura (he does still get limelight episodes but they revolve entirely around being a love interest).
* ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': Android 18 was introduced as an independent villain alongside her brother, but then receded into the role of Krillin's wife and more-or-less retired from fighting.
* ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'': Sasahara's character arc focuses exclusively on his relationship with Oguie after [[WillTheyOrWontThey they finally get together]]. After the series was UnCanceled as ''Genshiken Nidaime'', Sasahara went from the main character to DemotedToExtra as the focus shifted squarely to Oguie as the new main protagonist. This makes perfect sense, as Sasahara graduates, has little reason to interact with the other characters, and moves OutOfFocus, and Oguie takes his place as president of the titular club.
* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'': There are examples of this in both the anime and manga:
** [[ActionGirl Poison Scorpion Bianchi]] started off as a pretty capable [[FemmeFatale hitman]] who could turn everything into poison. But she was also the titular Hitman Tutor's lover, and by the Future Arc she is reduced to an older sister figure for the girls.
** [[ActionGirl Lal Mirch]] is probably the most badass character in the series, she has strength, agility, incredible weapons and she even trained one of the Strongest Seven, being chosen for his position initially. And yet everyone just recognized her as one of the Arcobaleno's [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] and as one half of the token het couple.
* In the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', Mirai Yashima takes on the important role of first mate and helmsman of the [[SuperPrototype White Base]], but when she reappears in ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'', we find that she married Mr. Bright and started a family with him. And even though her husband soon becomes one of the key figures of [[LaResistance AEUG]], she makes very few appearances, instead staying on Earth to take care of her children. That said, most fans remember Mirai more for being able to get a huge spaceship to dodge laser blasts than for starting a family.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': Mamoru aka Tuxedo Mask suffers this in the anime, but not in the manga. In the manga Mamoru is one of the most important and developed characters: while somewhat weak on his own, the major villains are usually defeated by combining his powers with Sailor Moon's. His future as King Endymion is also of great importance. By the 4th season he becomes the character with the most focus (after Sailor Moon herself), because of [[spoiler:his connection to Pegasus/Helios, and his weak health that fuels that arc's drama]]. Compared to the manga, the anime starts forcing Mamoru out of the focus after the first season. In the first season he still has an important plot role, due to his forbidden love with Usagi/Princess Serenity. However, in the second season his importance gets considerably downplayed -- and by the third season onward he's turned into a mere extra, to the point that [[spoiler:when in the fifth season he's PutOnABus, it really lessened the impact that event had in the manga.]]
* ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'' plays this trope straight, twice, by reversing the roles of the characters involved:
** In the initial ''Sword Art Online'' arc, Asuna is a badass, give-no-fucks ActionGirl who carries her weight as one of the most powerful and well-known players in the [[EliteArmy lead group]]. When the game is shut down, though, she's one of the players who is "captured" and prevented from logging out. Immediately after this, during the ''[=ALFheim=] Online'' arc, she is a textbook GirlInTheTower held prisoner by the BigBad (who plans on marrying her in the real world despite the fact that [[DudeShesLikeInAComa she's comatose]], and [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty sexually harasses and/or assaults her]] on numerous occasions in the game), giving TheHero Kirito all the motivation he needs to beat the game and rescue her. Finally, in the ''Gun Gale Online'' arc, she's... Kirito's girlfriend. She has almost no plot significance whatsoever, and does not appear in GGO's game world; all of her scenes are either milling about in ALO wondering what Kirito is doing, or having conversations with him in the real world.
** In the fourth and final arc of the anime, which returns to ALO, Asuna becomes TheProtagonist and is finally relevant again, for the first time since the SAO Incident--only to swap roles with Kirito. In this arc, ''he's'' the barely-present love interest who has little relevance to the plot.
* ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': After Kiyoh gets married, she never returns to the fighting, unlike her husband. After all, she has to raise her baby girl.

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* In ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', Victor was first introduced as a teenaged boy who was fated to become Gert's mortal nemesis when he grew up. He was shown to be highly intelligent and powerful enough to fight off the rest of the team. After the Runaways managed to change his fate, he ultimately became the love interest to the team leader Nico. Since then, Victor's importance and power diminished considerably: e.g. he got outwitted by Chase, the least intelligent member of the team (who had also temporarily turned against his former teammates.) And then, after Nico dumped him, he spent the rest of the series doing almost nothing except ineffectually pining after her.
* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'': Marla Madison was a scientist who built a Spider-Slayer for J. Jonah Jameson. He subsequently fell in love with her and they eventually married. Since Dr. Madison stopped building Spider-Slayers, she gradually settled down into the position of Jonah's wife as few writers seemed to be interested in developing her as a character (while JJJ continued being important). As she was StuffedIntoTheFridge in a recent story, there is now little chance of that being ever rectified.

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[[AC:{{Film}} -- Live-Action]]
* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' Amidala is the ruler of Naboo who fights bravely for her people. By ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' she's given up the throne and married Anakin, and while she's still a Senator it's all about Anakin becoming Darth Vader because the scene where she planted the seeds that would later become the Rebel Alliance was left on the cutting room floor for some bizarre reason.

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* TheGoodPrince Antar in ''Literature/BlackTrillium'' is a complex character torn between his loyalty to his royal father and to his country and the realization that his father and king has been corrupted by an EvilSorcerer and pushes their country into ruin and dishonor. In Creator/JulianMay's sequel novels, his role mostly boils down to being the King Consort and frequent DistressedDude to his queenly wife, [[spoiler:the ex-princess Anigel]].
* {{Invoked}} in the ''Literature/{{Robotech}}'' ExpandedUniverse. Miriya was the greatest Zentraedi female ace, and when she got her HighHeelFaceTurn and [[BestHerToBedHer married Max Sterling]], for the rest of the original series she was his counterpart and got equal screentime with him. Then during the Malcontent Uprisings, the brass made the official decision to turn her into a propaganda piece; "homemaker, mother, ''former'' freedom fighter." Miriya abided by it, but still played an important role in the finale (and returned to badass status during the Sentinels series).

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* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': In season 7 Barney's character is appropriated as Robin's love interest, and his main significance is to be a source of angst for Robin. This makes the single brief look at his perspective in "Tick, Tick, Tick" all the more heartbreaking, as the audience knows that while Robin is busy going through character development and struggling with her personal conflicts, Barney is miserably and silently OutOfFocus, waiting for her to address her relationship with him.
* ''Franchise/PerryMason'': {{Defied}}. Della Street turned down several proposals of marriage by Perry, because she wanted to be a part of his life and she knew that meant being a part of his work -- and she expected that to [[QuittingToGetMarried end after marriage]].
* Will Scarlet was a main character in ''Series/OnceUponATimeInWonderland''. When he shows up in season four of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', he's credited as part of the main cast, but is quickly demoted to the love interest of Belle. Sometimes his only appearances are holding her hand in the background, and he only has a quick, blink-and-you'll-miss-it, unspoken cameo in the finale. To make things worse for him, Belle herself has rarely been more than the love interest of Rumpelstiltskin in the series, making Will Scarlet demoted to the satellite love interest of a satellite love interest.

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[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* ''Literature/SherlockHolmes'': Mary Morstan, a central character in ''Literature/TheSignOfFour,'' marries Dr. Watson at the end of the book. After that, she's mentioned by Watson once in a while, typically as "my wife" rather than by name. She eventually dies off-page in the interval between two books. A sample of how she typically appears in later stories:

* Riku is introduced as ''Manga/WanderingSon'' as a classmate of Maho has a crush on. He has a crush on her little sibling at first but eventually they begin dating. By high school though he's pretty much "Maho's boyfriend" when before he had some chemistry with Nitori at least.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': In ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' Amidala is the ruler of Naboo who fights bravely for her people. By ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' she's given up the throne and married Anakin, and while she's still a Senator it's all about Anakin becoming Darth Vader.

* Astrid of ''Film/HowToTrainYourDragon'' is initially set up as a competitive student who's determined to ace Gobber's training and become a fully fledged viking. Hiccup's aversion to fighting irritates her and his sudden improvement makes her suspect foul play, resulting in her following him into the forest to find out what his secret is. After their first romantic encounter she becomes much more subdued, existing solely to provide Hiccup with support and advice.
** The film's [[Film/HowToTrainYourDragon2 sequel]] makes a conscious effort to remedy this, giving Astrid an independent solo role while still maintaining her relationship with Hiccup.

** This seems to be the inevitable fate of any ActionGirl in the series. Chi-Chi and Videl would be hit with this too.

* Inverted with Flame Princess of ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' who becomes from a LoveInterest for the male lead Finn, to being a full-fledged character who rules the Fire Kingdom in hopes of turning it into a good kingdom. Of course, this comes about because she dumps Finn for manipulating her into a fight with the Ice King.

* TheGoodPrince Antar in ''Literature/BlackTrillium'' is a complex character torn between his loyalty to his royal father and his country and the realization that his father and king has been corrupted by an EvilSorcerer and pushes their country into ruin and dishonor. In Creator/JulianMay's sequel novels, his role mostly boils down to being the King Consort and frequent DistressedDude to his queenly wife, [[spoiler:the ex-princess Anigel]].

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* Syaoran Li of ''CardcaptorSakura'' started off as TheRival and for a while had almost equal footing with Sakura, his own supporting cast and many limelight episodes (so much the English dub tried to play him as co lead with ''Cardcaptors''). After Sakura becomes Master of the Cards, the rest of the main arc must be resolved by her with the others providing marginal assistance. As such, most of Syaoran's spotlight at this point consists of one or two short scenes concerning his growing crush on Sakura (he does still get limelight episodes but they revolve entirely around being a love interest).
* ''DragonBallZ'': Android 18 was introduced as an independent villain alongside her brother, but then receded into the role of Krillin's wife and more-or-less retired from fighting.

* ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'': After Kiyoh gets married, she never returns to the fighting, unlike her husband. After all, she has to raise her baby girl.

* ''SpiderMan'': Marla Madison was a scientist who built a Spider-Slayer for J. Jonah Jameson. He subsequently fell in love with her and they eventually married. Since Dr. Madison stopped building Spider-Slayers, she gradually settled down into the position of Jonah's wife as few writers seemed to be interested in developing her as a character (while JJJ continued being important). As she was StuffedIntoTheFridge in a recent story, there is now little chance of that being ever rectified.

* ''StarWars'': In ''ThePhantomMenace'' Amidala is the ruler of Naboo who fights bravely for her people. By ''RevengeOfTheSith'' she's given up the throne and married Anakin, and while she's still a Senator it's all about Anakin becoming Darth Vader.

* ''SaGaFrontier2'': The Knights family gets a bad case of this. Cordelia (assuming she marries Wil Knights) and Diana are both exceptional fighters (in Diana's case, [[MasterSwordsman more than exceptional]]), but once they get pregnant, both retire from the battlefield, settle down and raise their children. Even when Wil Knights returns to the battlefield (with his granddaughter as the party leader!), neither his wife nor Diana are there with him.

* ''SaGaFrontier2'': The Knights family gets a bad case of this. Cordelia (assuming she marries Wil Knights) and Diana are both exceptional fighters (in Diana's case, [[MasterSwordsman more than exceptional]]), but once they get pregnant, both retire from the battlefield, settle down and raise their children. Even when Wil Knights returns to the battlefield (with his granddaughter as the party leader!), neither his wife nor Diana are there with him.