Character development is, by definition, the change in characterization of a
Dynamic Character, who changes over the course of a narrative. At its core, it shows a character changing. Most narrative fiction in any media will feature some display of this.
While the definition of "good" and "bad" character development is subjective, it's generally agreed upon that good character development is believable and rounds out a well-written character. Bad character development leads to the feeling that someone is manipulating the events to their own whims, or even reduces the character's believability.
There are many sub-tropes that take place due to this trope, some of which include
These are hardly the only examples. The evil twin of
Character Development is
Character Derailment. Beware this trope. To see the opposite of this trope, see
Static Character. See also
Flat Character and
Rounded Character. Compare
Hidden Depths, where something is revealed that was true all along, but would not have been visible before.
The oldest form of this is the moral decay of the anti-hero, as in Shakespeare's
Macbeth or
Coriolanus. In each case the protagonist's growing vices are timidly concealed at first but then openly displayed. A fascinating reversal of this occurs in
Schindler's List - at first Schindler claims he is only saving people because he needs them for his business. By the end he is openly losing millions. His inversion of moral decay goes from an intention to get rich by exploiting slave labour, to crying over not saving one more person.
