While having good characters doesn't make a good story, there are some characters who can make or break a series simply by walking onstage. On the one hand, you can have a minor character from an obscure and poorly liked series who nonetheless inspires thousands of fanfics. On the other hand, some characters are so hated by fans that some feel the only way the show will ever be watchable again is to write the character out of existence. If the negative audience reaction is coming from outside the target demographic it is a Periphery Hatedom.
Characters We Like To Watch:
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Characters Who Impress Us Once
- One-Scene Wonder: A character that has limited screen time, and usually not much in the way of plot relevance, but is still one of the most memorable things in the movie. They may even be given top billing, or at least an "And Starring" credit, along with the more obvious stars. This is not the same principle as Ensemble Dark Horse, because the character is often played by an established actor, nor is it the same as Dead Star Walking, because the intent is not to fool you into thinking that the actor will appear more often. The character just appears, gives a show-stealing performance, and then is gone. Like a Spear Carrier, only way more righteous. Like a Celebrity Cameo, except you don't have to recognize the actor to appreciate the scene for all its worth. You know you're dealing with this sort of character if you start referring to "their scene".
Characters We Love To See, Even If Just Standing In The Background
- The Ensemble Dark Horse: The term "Dark Horse" has its origin in horse racing. A relatively unknown horse would be risky to place bets on, compared to a horse with a known track record, because the gamblers would be "in the dark", so when an unknown horse won a race it was called a "Dark Horse Victory". The term is also used in politics to describe a lesser-known candidate who does better than expected in an election. Generally, it's used to describe a side character making up part of the Ensemble, either a non-lead secondary character or a mere Flat Character, who can sometimes become unexpectedly popular with the fandom (sometimes, even more than the lead characters) depending on who and where the fandom is, as well as what the other characters are like in comparison. Often, this can happen because the character has very few character traits, allowing fans to imagine this character to have traits that they like. If the Ensemble Darkhorse becomes an important character, they're now a Breakout Character. See also Adaptational Badass, Ascended Extra, Memetic Bystander, Lower-Deck Episode, A Day in the Limelight, and One-Scene Wonder. An antagonist who becomes popular despite the author's intentions is Draco in Leather Pants — an example of Misaimed Fandom. The natural extension of this is the Spotlight-Stealing Squad.
Villains We Sympathize With
- The Anti-Villain: The Anti-Villain is a villain with heroic goals, personality traits, and/or virtues. Their desired ends are mostly good, but their means of getting there are evil. Alternatively, their desired ends are evil, but they are far more ethical or moral than most villains in the story and they thus use fairly benign means to achieve it, and can be downright heroic on occasion.
- The Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: A potential villain who is consistently a failure or never gets the respect that they think they deserve, and may even be angry that the heroes don't take them seriously. They may not necessarily be inept or have a laughably mild idea of what counts as villainy. Villain Decay is usually too simple an explanation. This is sometimes a relative situation, and the hero's Rogues Gallery just happens to include people more showy, better financed, or just plain scarier than him. This does not mean that he doesn't bear animosity; that's a Punch-Clock Villain. He's probably jumping at the opportunity to outdo his rivals and the hero. But there is something about his perseverance or attitude about the whole thing that is just short of sympathetic.
- The Magnificent Bastard: If there was ever a character that deserved to be called "Magnificent", that character is the Magnificent Bastard. The Magnificent Bastard is what happens when you combine The Chessmaster and the Manipulative Bastard: bold, charismatic, independent, and audacious. Capturing the audience with their charisma, incredible intellect, mastery of manipulation, and boldness of action, this character is a show-stealer, demanding your reverence at every turn.
- The Noble Demon: A villainous character who does good in spite of themself. The Noble Demon doesn't care that they have a bad image — they actively cultivates and embraces it. They'll practice their evil laugh and iron their cape so that it billows just right when they makes their entrance. However, every so often a situation presents itself and they're just not willing to go the extra mile necessary to be completely evil. They'll topple your castle, but they'll do it right after everyone has cleared out first. They'll also be obsessed with explaining this behavior so people won't think that they've gone soft. Killing enemies or servants who have failed but are loyal is "a waste of resources" and their inevitable newfound friends are "tactically advantageous allies". Their goals are evil but their means, not so much.
- The Unintentionally Sympathetic Villain.
- The Draco in Leather Pants: When a fandom takes a controversial or downright villainous character and downplays their flaws, often turning them into an object of desire and/or a victim in the process. This can cause conflicts if the writers are not willing to retool the character to fit this demand. In fanfiction, they are frequently the love object of the local Author Avatar, who uses the power of love to redeem the character or are part of a fix fic to save the character. In extreme cases, the affection these characters receive from fans can lead them to forget that they're actually still supposed to be villains. Or, on the flip side, any crimes the character commits can be rationalized, while any insult from the hero towards the villain is cast as deplorably mean. Common reasons for this include the character being wicked in a classy or cool way. A physically attractive character is much more likely to be subject to this trope than a physically ugly one or it can be the result from certain fans sympathizing greatly with the villain's backstory in which case it overlaps with Unintentionally Sympathetic Villain or Jerkass Woobie or Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. Sometimes, this is the result of the villain coming off as less evil than other villains in the story also (like the Trope Namer, who was a mere annoyance as opposed to Lord Voldemort).
- The Affably Evil Villain: Then there are villains who are Affably Evil. There is absolutely nothing separating them from being normal, polite people except for the fact that they want to Take Over the World or use human souls to power their Artifact of Doom. They're not the Stepford Smiler — their affability is a genuine part of their personality, not a mask. If they have underlings, expect them to be a Benevolent Boss. In one way, they're the opposite of an Anti-Hero. They may Pet the Dog on occasion, but won't hesitate to kick it with steel-toed boots the next second if it helps them accomplish their Evil Plan. They may well be a Villain with Good Publicity because, after all, being evil doesn't mean you have to be rude.
- The Faux Affably Evil Villain: A villain whose polite mannerisms only serve to enhance their evil. They lack a villainous demeanor yet they are truly, wholly and unrepentantly evil regardless. This kind of villain maintains a friendly, courteous mask even as they commit incredibly heinous acts. Unlike Affably Evil characters, whose niceness is genuine, Faux Affably Evil villains adopt this pleasant persona. An Affably Evil villain will treat The Hero like a friend, and will be reluctant to make an enemy of them. A Faux Affably Evil villain will throw in a jolly "Ooh, my friend, aren't we having a lot of fun?" as they are torturing them. A Faux Affably Evil character's demeanor is an act. At heart, they're utterly soulless, but they mask it with a pleasant, polite, "normal" attitude, perhaps because they have social standards to live up to or because their pleasantness reflects their sheer enjoyment of evil. It's anyone's guess what this kind of villain will do if they suffer a Villainous Breakdown; maybe they will drop all pretenses and find that they are Not So Above It All or maybe they will fall into a state of Dissonant Serenity, blabbering off-kilter pseudo-mannerisms as they go crazy.
Characters We Love To See Suffer
- The Chew Toy: An odd sort of polar opposite to The Woobie, The Chew Toy is a character the audience loves specifically because their misery amuses them so. The Chew Toy is roughed up or messed with on a constant basis... and is always, always used for comic effect and treated with a light touch, generally glossing over the meaner undertones of the idea. Unlike Woobification, Chew Toys are generally designated as such in the series proper, and often have a tendency to bemoan their fate. If they're lucky, the writers will Throw the Dog a Bone a time or two. If they're unlucky, they'll Yank the Dog's Chain. It can sometimes be a delicate balance. Throw too often and the character can be Flanderized into The Eeyore; Yank too much and the audience may no longer find it funny.
- The Cosmic Plaything: Most of us like to think that our decisions have some influence on our lives. That we have control, at least to a point. But sometimes, there's the sneaking suspicion that maybe an influence doesn't like us very much, or maybe likes us in a very abusive way. On some series, a particular character doesn't just suspect. They know. For some strange reason, they find their lives governed by events and rules that defy either coincidence or logical explanation. They might figure out some of the "rules", like the what and the where, but the how and the why is a complete mystery. The nature of such a situation allows a certain flexibility to writers, as they don't have to think too hard about why this is happening, or even if the character's belief in their situation is correct, allowing them to focus on the immediate story.
- The Designated Monkey: The Designated Monkey is an unintentional Butt-Monkey. They constantly find themselves in horrible situations; the author appears to intend this to be karmic punishment, but the audience (or a significant subgroup of it) thinks that it's out of proportion and will treat them as The Woobie. This can create Values Dissonance in the work, or it could mean that the fandom is misaimed. The audience may even begin to wonder whether the author is deliberately misrepresenting this character to prevent us from sympathizing with them. Or write Revenge Fics on their behalf.
Characters Who Allow Us To Live Vicariously
- The Cape: The superhero as an ideally good person. Generally associated with older protagonists, before whenever the latest round of deconstruction happened, and often invokes elements of a Messianic Archetype. Has now become nigh-synonymous with the "classic" superhero. Capes don't need to actually wear capes, although a distinct outfit and some kind of special ability is part of the image. The most important feature is these heroes adhere to a strict code of honor and sense of authority; capes can be notoriously inflexible and perceive things in black and white, and even be painfully straightforward and selfless. They often downplay their own heroism and will act heroically even when no one will know. They almost universally subscribe to Thou Shalt Not Kill. Capes usually have secret identities, but make public appearances in costume and actively try to keep a good public image.
- The Escapist Character: So you just picked up this book about a character who's powerful, incredibly talented, irresistible to the opposite sex (or people of the same gender), long-lost royalty, and Friend to All Living Things. Sounds like a horrible story, right? Except that you don't mind at all. Instead, you're seeing yourself in their shoes and enjoying it. After all, everyone likes to fantasize about being awesome once in a while. You can argue over whether or not they're a case of overt perfection, but they're definitely an Escapist Character. While a Self-Insert Fic is generally defined as being a bad thing, some of the most widely-loved characters in existence are Escapist Characters with any number of Common Mary Sue Traits. While a badly written Escapist Character can come off as such, the key difference between the two is that a Self-Insert Fic is the author's wish fulfillment fantasy, while the Escapist Character also functions as the audience's wish fulfillment fantasy.
- The Magnificent Bastard: If there was ever a character that deserved to be called "Magnificent", that character is the Magnificent Bastard. The Magnificent Bastard is what happens when you combine The Chessmaster and the Manipulative Bastard: bold, charismatic, independent, and audacious. Capturing the audience with their charisma, incredible intellect, mastery of manipulation, and boldness of action, this character is a show-stealer, demanding your reverence at every turn.
Villains We Love To Hate
- The Big Bad: The cause of all bad happenings in a story. A Big Bad could be a character with Evil Plans or it could be a situation, such as a comet heading towards the Earth. The Big Bad can (and often does) exert effect across a number of episodes, and even an entire season. Note that Big Bad is not a catch-all trope for the biggest and ugliest villain of any given story. The leader of the outlaw gang that the heroes face once or twice isn't the Big Bad. The railroad tycoon who turns out to be using the gang as muscle is the Big Bad. If there is a constant Man Behind the Man story going on in order to reveal the Big Bad, then whoever is behind it all is the Big Bad, not every major villain in the lead-up. At other times, if a new enemy shows up to replace the previous Big Bad, then they are the Big Bads of their individual storylines.
- The Manipulative Bastard.
- The Complete Monster: The Complete Monster is the most depraved of all characters; a villain utterly lacking in redeeming features. Trying to put a value on the evilness of a Complete Monster is like calculating the credit score of Bill Gates: it's a moot point. Or, anyway, that is how the character is presented in the story. The character is a bad guy, full stop. The author has not taken the character through any actions toward redemption, or at least any that stuck. Characters like this that commit especially horrendous and Squicky acts may end up in Hate To Watch territory instead.
- The Hate Sink: The guy everyone just loves to hate, seeing as that's the idea. A Hate Sink is a character whose intended role in the story (the role the authors made for them) is to be so despicable that the audience wants them to fail just as much as they want the heroes to succeed. However, this individual doesn't have to be the main villain of the story, or even a villain at all. Let's say we have a cast of perfectly likeable protagonists, reasonable and sympathetic villains, and Bob. Bob is not necessarily the main antagonist. He is not causing the struggle that the heroes must overcome, but he is making the heroes' lives more difficult. His list of character traits includes selfishness, stubbornness, greed, holier-than-thou contempt, cowardice and an inexhaustible penchant for making bad decisions. He may also be rude and obnoxious, bigoted, hypocritical, sleazy and undeservedly smug. Basically, Bob exists to be hated. Everything he does and everything he says is designed to make the audience yearn for his death just a little bit more. If we see his eventual downfall — and we usually do — it is just as satisfying as the writers can possibly make it. A particularly pointed Karmic Death is always a nice touch, and can be quite satisfying to watch.
Heroes We Love To Root For
- An Action Hero (or Action Girl) is a form of protagonist who primarily uses combat to achieve their goals in a story. If there's something in his way, their main response is to beat it up. This could be because they don't have the patience or skills for any other method, or because they just don't have the time. But then again, maybe they actually do try other methods first but it always seems to turn out that Violence Really Is the Answer.
- The Cape: The superhero as an ideally good person. Generally associated with older protagonists, before whenever the latest round of deconstruction happened, and often invokes elements of a Messianic Archetype. Has now become nigh-synonymous with the "classic" superhero. Capes don't need to actually wear capes, although a distinct outfit and some kind of special ability is part of the image. The most important feature is these heroes adhere to a strict code of honor and sense of authority; capes can be notoriously inflexible and perceive things in black and white, and even be painfully straightforward and selfless. They often downplay their own heroism and will act heroically even when no one will know. They almost universally subscribe to Thou Shalt Not Kill. Capes usually have secret identities, but make public appearances in costume and actively try to keep a good public image.
- Little Old Lady Investigates: There's a subgenre of Mystery Fiction called "Cozy Mysteries", a prevalent trope of which is the little old lady investigator. She is an older lady, usually retired, usually a Cool Old Lady, who has a knack for solving mysteries and who is always solving murders wherever she goes. She's usually an Amateur Sleuth, but occasionally she works for an agency or is a registered PI. The fact that people seem to keep dropping dead around her often makes her a Mystery Magnet. This sub-genre is also known as the "tea cozy mystery". This trope makes a perverse sort of sense. Old women are supposed to be nosy, and attract little attention when they are. A grandmotherly type may be a lot better at prying relevant but embarrassing details from suspects than the gruff policeman. Finally, she is frequently protected by Even Evil Has Standards: who would dare to off the nice old lady? Not that the perp thinks she's nice...
We Love To Watch Them Get Needlessly Killed
- Mooks: Mostly they provide a chance for the characters to show off their flashy fighting skills and can be shot without guilt. The hero might find it in their heart to Save the Villain, forgive them, even accept them into their inner circle, but the guys whose only crime is not finding a better employer will be shown no mercy. Next to Punch-Clock Villain, but usually more faceless, this is one of the tropes most liable to Just Following Orders.
- The Red Shirt: A Red Shirt is the Good Counterpart of Evil Minions and Mooks — set filler for our heroes' side. Their purpose is almost exclusively to give the writers someone to kill who isn't a main character, although they can also serve as a Spear Carrier. They are used to show how the monster works, and demonstrate that it is indeed a deadly menace, without having to lose anyone important. Expect someone to say "He's Dead, Jim", lament this "valued crew member's senseless death", and then promptly forget them. Security personnel in general fall victim to the worst shade of this trope, as most of the time, their deaths aren't even acknowledged at all; according to Hollywood, you could walk into a bank and shoot a security guard right in the face without anyone making a fuss. If you shot anyone else afterward, the headline would just read "Bank Customers Killed".
We Love To See Them Semi-Naked
- Mr. Fanservice (and Ms. Fanservice): The brother of his counterpart, Mr. Fanservice provides similar eye candy for women. It can be an effective way to bring in female viewers, even in a series directed towards males. In order for a guy to qualify as Mr. Fanservice, just being attractive isn't enough. He needs to sport a reasonably fit physique. In particular, he can have anything between muscular limbs, broad shoulders and/or sculpted abs (between six-packs and eight-packs). The muscles can be either lean or bulging; as long as you can see them, they count. He needs to be subjected to at least one Shirtless Scene, or he can take it a step further by deciding to forgo a shirt entirely. Just like his aforementioned counterpart, he can wear tight clothing, which shows off his body without bearing skin. He can wear anything (or nothing, that works too), as long as these clothes accentuate or reveal his muscles. He can also Gender Flip the Reluctant Fanservice Girl, Shameless Fanservice Girl and Innocent Fanservice Girl tropes.
Characters We Hate To Watch
- Anyone who must Die for Our Ship: Sometimes, a character is hated simply for their own characteristics — because they're annoying, because they came in after the show Jumped the Shark, because they're a raging self-insert and get too much attention, or because they're the replacement of a fan favorite. The list goes on. More often, when shipping comes into play, though, a character — even one who was tolerated or loved before — can become hated for a plot-related reason outside of their character: interfering with a fan's OTP. Hate shrines. Death Fics, frequently with a side order of Revenge Fic. Fics where, say, the formerly sweet and loyal character cheats on the heroine with her two best friends and proceeds to murder her teammates, just so she can be with the Jerk with a Heart of Gold, or the Stalker with a Crush, the actual villain, her cousin, or even her brother, or whomever else the fan prefers. They're all over the place. Sometimes it gets so bad that even people who know nothing about the show or even the genre have heard about just how much of the fandom hates the rival love interest.
- The Smug Snake: The Smug Snake is a type of character (usually cast as a villain) who tends to treat friends and enemies alike with equal disdain. They almost constantly speak in a sarcastic tone and punctuate most of their sentences with a smirk. While they aspire to be a formidable and awe-inspiring adversary, they often end up just being a Big Bad Wannabe, failing in the face of more cunning villains or ending up as their servants, in which case they'll generally be The Starscream. Others that fall under this trope are simply in it to bug the good guys and take advantage of their moral insecurity.
- Anyone who goes through Character Derailment. A character who evolves from a well-established character to a totally different character (without rhyme or reason) is a sign of an Audience-Alienating Era. You'll be confused why they have changed so drastically even within the context of the story.
- The Scrappy, and all subtropes thereof:
- The Damsel Scrappy: The Damsel in Distress is an age-old classic plot device, which places a character in danger to add tension to the story. Sometimes one character (usually a Love Interest or a relative of another character) seems to have no discernible purpose besides serving as the Designated Victim. If the character is popular with the audience, this can be effective. Other times, well....let's just say that the audience starts wishing that the Big Damn Heroes would get stuck in traffic, just so they won't have to put up with her anymore. Most of the time, this character's plight is due entirely to her own stupidity. She doesn't just pick up the Distress Ball, she runs it into her own endzone and gets tackled for a safety. And she keeps on doing it, again and again and again. This may be due to being The Ditz, or a severe case of crippling genre blindness. Even if she's just unlucky, she may be disliked for other reasons. Perhaps the audience finds her too bland, or too bitchy. Perhaps her presence seems shoehorned into the main plot (perhaps to attract a Periphery Demographic or for blatant fanservice), and the audience feels she steals time from the story they're actually interested in. This is especially true when her subplot has nothing to do with the main plot at all. Or else she seems like useless dead weight whose only purpose is to pad the plot by getting in trouble. And worst of all, the fans may just dislike her for getting in the way of their Fan-Preferred Couple.
- The Ethnic Scrappy: An awful relic from less enlightened times, or a sign that the attitudes from those times have not gone away completely. Comic relief characters in the Sidekick Creature Nuisance or The Scrappy mold whose strangeness in appearance and behavior is put down to their being of a different race or ethnicity to the heroes. Often highlighted by their being extreme gonks in an otherwise normal cast. Sometimes, ironically, they were put in precisely because the creators wanted some diversity in the cast. This is definitely one case where Monochrome Casting would have been a lot less offensive.
- The Replacement Scrappy: A popular character is killed off or otherwise written out and replaced with a new character who fills their previous role. Regardless of what this new character is like, they're likely to end up with a Hatedom directed at them, just because they're not the old favourite. If they'd been there from the start, maybe the fans could have loved this new character, or at least respected them. But no—they're a replacement. They're not even a Suspiciously Similar Substitute who at least shared some character traits with the other guy, they're a totally different guy, and so every flaw—every trait that makes them not like the character the fans want him to be—drives them crazy with longing and disgust, and all they can do is get angrier and angrier.
- Also, the following likely scrappies:
- Creator's Pet: There are certain characters who receive a lot of hatred from the fanbase for one reason or another. Most often, when their creators pick up on the hate, they have a couple options. They can ignore it, tweak the character into a more likable version, or even play it for laughs. Sometimes, however, the creator(s) have become so attached to this character for whatever reason, whether because they see something of themselves in the character or the character reminds them of someone they were close to or the character represents something they admire, that they decide to increasingly focus on them, magnifying the importance of their role, and having the other characters talk about how awesome they are, in painful ignorance of — or sometimes in spite of — the fans' obvious hatred.