History Main / TheIshmael

* [[LegacyCharacter The various]] Links from ''TheLegendOfZelda'' act as this, but especially in ''[[ptitle6ibfdbcv Majora's Mask]]'', where the {{NPC}}s are given an unusual amount of in depth characterization.

* To a certain extent, [[TheBible most of the New Testament and some of the Old as well.]]
* "The Sea-Wolf"

* Captain {{Alatriste}}'s squire Íñigo de Balboa, although Íñigo sometimes furthers some plots himself.

* In RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "Beyond the Black River," Balthus. Many of the stories introduce Conan with such a character, who often lasts a long time into the story before we get Conan's POV.

* ''[[HoratioHornblower Lieutenant Hornblower]] is told from the perspective of one of Hornblower's superior officers, starting with a poor first impression, and proceeding with the increasing awareness of the fact that Hornblower is [[TheChessmaster manipulating him into basically following Hornblower's plan.]] He goes along with it because Hornblower tends to have very good ideas. Of course, the primary reason for this Ishmael setup (''Lieutenant'' is the only book in the series to do this) is because a central plot of the book is a mystery about their unstable captain who was injured and put into a coma under [[CutHimselfShaving suspicious circumstances]], the only witnesses being Hornblower and a midshipman, [[TheDogBitesBack both of whom suffered abuse at the Captain's hands]].

* Ishmael in ''MobyDick'', the TropeNamer. He's arguably the least interesting character in the book, we're given much more information about almost every other characters' backstory, and he stops participating in any of the events in the story entirely half way through the book, describing scenes that he couldn't possibly have been present to witness, and only becomes involved with things again in the books epilogue.

* Weirdly, Lockwood and Nelly in ''WutheringHeights''. The main story (about Cathy, Heathcliff, Edward and that lot) is being told to Lockwood - an outsider to the area - by Nelly, a servant whose active role in the story varies a lot.

** For what it's worth, Tidus & co. spend a lot of time and energy tracking down a giant mutant whale. Not really part of this trope, of course. But it's interesting.

* Tylor in TheIrresponsibleCaptainTylor is inscrutable, as no one can tell whether he's a lucky idiot or a [[ObfuscatingStupidity genius.]] Yuriko and Yamamoto tend to be the viewpoint characters.
* For the first few eps. of {{Trigun}} we mostly see Vash from Meryl's point of view, and don't even get confirmation he is Vash for some time. This doesn't last- we get very deep in Vash's psyche by the end.
* The first half of GurrenLagann, up until [[spoiler:Kamina dies]]. In this case, however, it's not a viewpoint shift, but the viewpoint character becoming the protagonist as he comes into his own.

*** Third NipponIchi example: SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters. Revya is a much less interesting & developed character than many of his/her companions.