History Main / MinorMajorCharacter

* Arguably, Arpeggio of ''[[SlyCooper Sly 2: Band of Thieves]]''. His initial appearance is a non-speaking role at the party in Rajan's "ancestral palace", while his second and [[spoiler:final appearance is a scene near the end of the game, where he reveals his master plan to hypnotise Paris using hypnotic lights devised by the Contessa and powered by Jean Bison's Northern Lights battery to send a Paris addled by spice sold by Dimitri, delivered by Jean Bison and produced by Rajan into a hate frenzy, in order to make himself immortal and able to fly using the Clockwerk frame. However, he is betrayed by [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Neyla]], and (apparently) dies soon afterwards.]]

* From {{Animorphs}} there's [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere The One]]. As the leader of the Yeerk remnants and the new BigBad, he ought to be important, but he shows up for a grand total of ''four pages'' and feels tacked on to the story as an afterthought.

** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]: [[spoiler:Jesse]] is actually a ''cambion'', means he's [[spoiler:''an'' antichrist and not ''the'' Anti Christ.]] It's a fine but important distinction. Also, his great power doesn't necessarily mean he's important to the story.

* Several of the senior members of [[TheSyndicate Quantum]] spotted at the opera house in Lake Constance, Austria, by JamesBond during ''QuantumOfSolace'', namely [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_James_Bond_henchmen_in_Quantum_of_Solace#Guy_Haines Guy Haines]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_James_Bond_henchmen_in_Quantum_of_Solace#Gregor_Karikoff Gregor Karikoff]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_James_Bond_henchmen_in_Quantum_of_Solace#Moishe_Saroff Moishe Saroff]].
* The unnamed executives of [[NebulousEvilOrganisation SPECTRE]], in the film version of ''ThunderBall'', one of which gets [[BoardToDeath electrocuted]] by [[TheManBehindTheMan Ernst Stavro Blofeld]].

[[quoteright:346:[[{{Oddworld}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Copy_of_boardgluks.bmp]]]]
[[caption-width-right:346:They may be high-ranking {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, [[NominalImportance but they still don't get naming privileges]], more than two scenes, [[TheUnintelligible or an easily comprehensible speaking part]].]]

* The Headmaster from ''GunnerkriggCourt''. He's shown up in ''one'' chapter, and his last name was only revealed (indirectly, at that) ten chapters later. We still don't know his first name.

* Parodied in the ExcelSaga anime, where ACROSS is secretly run by: That Man, That Man Over There, That Man Over Here, This Man, This Man Over Here, and This Man Over There.

A character who, though holding an important position within the world of the story, holds, at best, a minor role and more usually a few lines of dialogue in a single scene. May turn out to be ChekhovsGunman or become an AscendedExtra in other works. [[BiggerBad Bigger Bads]] usually qualify, as do most members of the OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness will qualify for this position and some occurrences of the SpecialGuest. Even the BigBad and BigGood can qualify in some works.

* Despite being a powerful Co and the possible leader of Orange Star, Nell doesn't really do much in AdvanceWars . She hasn't had a single on screen battle, and stays at home in Dual Strike. This maybe because her luck ability makes it hard to design missions around her.
* The Council in MassEffect. You report to them at the end of your mission, and that's it. The player can even invoke this by cutting them off.

* Video game example: in ''TronTwoPointOh'', fCon's CEO is never named (for some reason, he even signs his e-mails as "CEO"), is never shown (his underlings interact with him via a camera with a loudspeaker mounted on the ceiling), and only has two or three scenes despite being the person behind the whole evil plot. His three lackeys ([[AmoralAttorney Seth Crown]], [[TheCracker Esmond Baza]] and [[TheBaroness Eva Popoff]]) have much more screen time and can be considered the de facto antagonists of the game.

** The cinematically minor characters present at the Death Star conference room, namely [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cassio_Tagge Cassio Tagge]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Antonio_Motti Antonio Motti]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Moradmin_Bast Moradmin Bast]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Wullf_Yularen Wullf Yularen]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cass Cass]], [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tajis_Durmin Tajis Durmin]] and [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Nova_Stihl Nova Stihl]], as well as two other unidentified attendees. Expanded on in the novel ''DeathStar''.

[[{{Oddworld}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Copy_of_boardgluks.bmp]]
[[caption-width:346:They may be high-ranking {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, [[NominalImportance but they still don't get naming privileges]], more than two scenes, [[TheUnintelligible or an easily comprehensible speaking part]].]]

* Some of the members of [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Scorpia]] in ''AlexRider'', namely Mikato and [[http://alexrider.wikia.com/wiki/Levi_Kroll Levi Kroll]].

* In ''{{Naruto}}'' you could count the nine tailed beasts and their hosts besides the one, eight, and nine tails. They're a major part of the series setting and the goals of the major antagonist organization Akatsuki, yet the 2-tailed beast and its host are killed in just a couple chapters, the 3-tailed beasts was beaten off-screen and it's host was already dead by then, ([[spoiler:though he turned out to be semi-relevant PosthumousCharacter]]), the 4-tailed hosts was shown once after being beaten entirely off-screen with the beast never shown, while the hosts and beasts 5, 6, and 7 were never shown in the series proper at all (the hosts were shown on a cover, while their names were provided and the beasts were shown only in an art book) except the 6-tails host in a short anime {{filler}} arc.

* Video game example: in ''[=~Tron 2.0~=]'', fCon's CEO is never named (for some reason, he even signs his e-mails as "CEO"), is never shown (his underlings interact with him via a camera with a loudspeaker mounted on the ceiling), and only has two or three scenes despite being the person behind the whole evil plot. His three lackeys ([[AmoralAttorney Seth Crown]], [[TheCracker Esmond Baza]] and [[TheBaroness Eva Popoff]]) have much more screen time and can be considered the de facto antagonists of the game.

* Arguably, Arpeggio of ''[[SlyCooper Sly 2: Band of Thieves]]''. His initial appearance is a non-speaking role at the party in Rajan's "ancestral palace", while his second and [[spoiler:final appearance is a scene near the end of the game, where he reveals his master plan to hypnotise Paris using hypnotic lights devised by the Contessa and powered by Jean Bison's Northern Lights battery to send a Paris addled by spice sold by Dimitri, delivered by Jean Bison and produced by Rajan into a hate frenzy, in order to make himself immortal and able to fly using the Clockwerk frame. However, he is betrayed by [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Neyla]], and ([[OrIsIt apparently]]) dies soon afterwards.]]

* [[spoiler:Jesse]] in Supernatural. You mean he's [[spoiler: The Anti Christ]] and super powerful? Wow, he's got to be important. Wait, what do you mean he's only in one episode that doesn't affect the rest of the series?
* Dracula in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. All the vampires look up to him. Buffy readies herself for an epic confrontation...and after that episode, he's never seen or spoken of again.
* The councils that head the Alliance of Twelve and Prophet Five on ''{{Alias}}''. Between them, they're the [[BigBad Big Bads]] of half the series, but most are never named and the heroes' main foes are "middle management" like Arvin Sloane, [[spoiler:who ends up taking out both groups anyway]].

A character who, though holding an important position within the world of the story, holds, at best, a minor role and more usually a few lines of dialogue in a single scene. May turn out to be ChekhovsGunman or become an AscendedExtra in other works. BiggerBads usually qualify, as do most members of the OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness will qualify for this position and some occurrences of the SpecialGuest. Even the BigBad and BigGood can qualify in some works.

A character who, though holding an important position within the world of the story, holds, at best, a minor role and more usually a few lines of dialogue in a single scene. May turn out to be ChekhovsGunman or become an AscendedExtra in other works. Most members of the OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness will qualify for this position, as do some occurrences of the SpecialGuest. Even the BigBad and BigGood can qualify in some works.

* The councils that head the Alliance of Twelve and Prophet Five on ''{{Alias}}''. Between them, they're the [[BigBad Big Bads]] of half the series, but most are never named and the heroes' main foes are "middle management" like Arvin Sloane [[spoiler:who ends up taking out both groups anyway]].

* The councils that head the Alliance of Twelve and Prophet Five on {{Alias}}. Between them, they're the [[BigBad Big Bads]] of half the series, but most are never named and the heroes' main foes are "middle management" like Arvin Sloane [[spoiler:who ends up taking out both groups anyway]].

* Video game example: in ''[[{{Tron}} Tron 2.0]]'', fCon's CEO is never named (for some reason, he even signs his e-mails as "CEO"), is never shown (his underlings interact with him via a camera with a loudspeaker mounted on the ceiling), and only has two or three scenes despite being the person behind the whole evil plot. His three lackeys ([[AmoralAttorney Seth Crown]], [[TheCracker Esmond Baza]] and [[TheBaroness Eva Popoff]]) have much more screen time and can be considered the de facto antagonists of the game.
** Note: while the CEO remains unnamed, one of his e-mails not to subtly hints that he is actually [[spoiler:Ed Dillinger.]]

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<<|CharactersAsDevice|>>

* In ''{{Naruto}}'' you could count the nine tailed beasts and their hosts besides the one, eight, and nine tails. They're a major part of the series setting and the goals of the major antagonist organization Akatsuki, yet the 2-tailed beast and its host are killed in just a couple chapters, the 3-tailed beasts was beaten off-screen and it's host was already dead by then, ([[spoiler:though he turned out to be semi-relevant PosthumousCharacter]]), the 4-tailed hosts was shown once after being beaten entirely off-screen with the beast never shown, while the hosts and beasts 5, 6, and 7 were never shown in the series proper at all (the hosts were shown on a cover, while their names were provided and the beasts were shown only in an art book).

* [[spoiler:Jesse]] in Suppernatural. You mean hes [[spoiler: The anti christ]] and super duper powerful? Wow hes got to be important. What do you mean hes only in one episode that doesn't affect the rest of the series? The living embodiments of the SEVEN SINS might also qualify. Trickster inverts this trope.
* Dracula in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. All the vampires look up to. Buffy readies herself for an epic confrantation.... and after that hes never seen or spoken of again

A character who, though holding an important position within the world of the story, holds, at best, a minor role and more usually a few lines of dialogue in a single scene. May turn out to be ChekhovsGunman or become an AscendedExtra in other works. Most members of the OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness will qualify for this position, as do some occurrences of the SpecialGuest.