History EnsembleDarkhorse / Literature

%%* ''Literature/{{Divergent}}'':
%%** Some fans seem to like [[WeHardlyKnewYe Fernando]].
%%** Considering the reaction to his character being cut from the first movie, Uriah seems to be this.

** Charlie Swan is another one who's quite popular even among the haters, who often call out Bella for the hell she puts her father through.

** [[ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter The real Tom]] only appears Yeerk-free once, but he's popular due to his tragic story and HeroicSacrifice in the first book. Many a FixFic will give him a happier ending.

** Mention should also go to Lord Vetinari, a MagnificentBastard among {{Magnificent Bastard}}s, and the Librarian, since [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys Everything's Better With Apes]] [[BerserkButton Who Are Most Definitely Not Monkeys]]. They were both invented for one-shot gags, but morphed into characters that steal the show if given the slightest opportunity. Also see the Death Of Rats.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' has Glorfindel and Prince Imrahil, neither of whom made it into the movies.
** Glorfindel was named after another Glorfindel: one who faced a Balrog in single combat and even manages to defeat it by knocking it off a cliff. Gandalf apparently took notes.
*** Except Tolkien stated that those two Glorfindels are one and the same. Elves, unlike Men, were bound to the world so when they "died" they would sometimes be allowed to leave the halls of Mandos (the Vala in charge of the dead Elves) and reincarnate. This was less true reincarnation, though, and more along the lines of picking up where he left off. That's right, the Glorfindel from the Third Age is the same one from the First. ''[[VideoGame/TheBattleForMiddleEarth Battle For Middle Earth II]]'' showed us just how badass Glorfindel is.
** Nerdanel and her son Maglor are disproportionately popular compared to the number of times they're actually mentioned.
*** ''All'' of Nerdanel and Fëanor's sons. The only possible exception is Caranthir, who is often forgotten by fans.
** Elladan and Elrohir are also very popular among the fans despite the fact that they were rather minor characters. Rather ironically, they did not make it to the movie even though they actually appeared ''more'' than their younger sister, Arwen.
** The Variags of Khand as a race in general. Despite only being mentioned in a few sentences and never being described in any aspect, there's an immense amount of speculation regarding the Variags on Tolkien fan sites.
** The [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters sheer amount of characters]] in the whole Middle-Earth universe allows a fair share of this. Especially characters in ''The Silmarillion'', which wasn't originally supposed to be published. Special note goes to the other three Istari (Radagast, Alatar and Pallando) who are this even though the latter two ''never appear''. A lot of the Valar also qualify, given that they appear just in the beginning.
** Tom Bombadil's exclusion from the movies caused a long-lasting storm of fan rage. [[BaseBreakingCharacter On the other hand,]] many other fans consider him, and the two-and-a-half chapters devoted to him, to be utterly pointless, or at the very least utterly unfilmable. The fact that Tom has been excluded from the films and other adaptations, along with the sheer mystery behind his existence, has probably contributed to his semi-ironic fandom.
** Erestor, especially in {{slash|Fic}} {{fanfic}}s. In the books, he's just Elrond's chief counsellor, who appears at the Council of Elrond but does not make any significant contribution (he suggests the Ring be given to Tom Bombadil, and doesn't think trying to destroy the Ring is a good idea). In fanfiction, however, his status as an OCStandIn who's relatively important in Rivendell but has very little defined personality made him a very popular character to make use of, especially when writing slash (Glorfindel/Erestor is actually one of the most popular ships in the fandom).
** Princess Lothíriel of Dol Amroth was mentioned exactly ''once'', in the Appendices as Éomer's Queen, and we don't even know when she was born, let alone anything about her. But ''because'' she is the eventual Queen of Rohan, she has become immensely popular among Fourth Age fanfic writers, and is usually portrayed as a SilkHidingSteel ProperLady or SpiritedYoungLady who is skilled in healing.

** In general, if you played a major part in a ''Chronicles'' book, you're probably one of these - most of the protagonists of those stories are at best supporting characters and at worst {{Posthumous Character}}s, but they're pretty much universally popular in the fandom.

* In Creator/HPLovecraft's [[Franchise/CthulhuMythos Yogg-Sorothy]], Cthulhu only had one story about him written by Lovecraft himself. However, his disciple writing more stories led to Cthulhu becoming the [[EldritchAbomination poster-squid...thing]] for the entire Chronology, with the fans dubbing it the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' trilogy we have Finnick - he was only a minor character in ''Catching Fire'' and more minor in ''Mockingjay'' but he became extremely popular for his kindness, strength, sense of humor, and dedication.

* ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' spans over thirty books. ''One'' of them - a novelisation of a video game set in the world, no less - features Gorath, a dark elf chieftain, who defects to the side of the humans to prevent another war his people are trying to start that he knows would be too costly for them. Gorath is easily one of the most complex and intriguing characters in the entire cycle, not even counting being cool as hell - unlike some other dark elf renegades *coughDrizztcough*, he is dignified and stoic, despite having a backstory that would justify anything from Wangst to a complete insanity breakdown. Even though he appears alongside such fan favourites and scene-stealing characters as Pug and Jimmy the Hand, fans and critics alike praise him and wish they could have seen more of him.

* Within the Literature/{{Sweet Valley|High}} fandom, Lila Fowler (Jessica's primary snobbish friend) is wildly popular - often more so than the Wakefield twins themselves (each of who have more than their fair share of detractors, for different reasons).

** Hurin, the Sniffer from Shienar, plays a role in book 2, The Great Hunt, although his main purpose is to provide Perrin with an opportunity to take his place where necessary. Part way into book 3, he leaves to return to Shienar, and is not seen again until book 12, The Gathering Storm, practically as a cameo. Despite this, he is a highly regarded character, and prior to the release of The Gathering Storm, he was perhaps the character that people most wanted to see return.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', from the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters loads and loads of protagonists]], Edmund Pevensie is way far in front of the others, due to his DeadpanSnarker tendencies and his several [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome crowning moments of awesome]] during ''Literature/PrinceCaspian''. The actor became TallDarkAndHandsome, which combined with the [[DeadpanSnarker snarkiness]] and the HeelFaceTurn from TheMole he was in the first film, makes him an AntiHero. On sites and polls he always has the most votes as the best character, the best fighter, the most handsome character...well he is generally the most loved one. He also has on FanFiction. net, the most stories and he is the one most often paired with various Ocs.
** Meanwhile, the actor, Skandar Keynes, *hates* the fame the role brought him.
** Reepicheep is also incredibly popular, possibly due to his swashbuckling style.
** Edmund's sister Susan. Part of this is down to the fact that, as a teenage girl, she is [[LauncherOfAThousandShips easily shipped with pretty much anything]], but there is another factor Lewis almost certainly couldn't have foreseen, and that was being embraced as a feminist symbol. This is due to, in the last book, being the only one of the protagonists to actually lose interest in Narnia due to discovering "lipstick and nylons," which is often seen as {{un|fortunateImplications}}comfortable, as though Lewis is "punishing" her for becoming a sexual being. As such, female ''Narnia'' fans tend to embrace Susan ''because'' the author apparently rejected her!

** And then Death appeared in ''every'' book, got three books of his own and a daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter. With that, it's hard to argue that he isn't the Disc's main character now.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', from the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters loads and loads of protagonists]], Edmund Pevensie is way far in front of the others, due to his DeadpanSnarker tendencies and his several [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome crowning moments of awesome]] during ''Literature/PrinceCaspian''. The actor became TallDarkAndHandsome, which combined with the [[DeadpanSnarker snarkiness]] and the HeelFaceTurn from TheMole he was in the first film, makes him an AntiHero. On sites and polls he always has the most votes as the best character, the best fighter, the most handsome character...well he is generally the most loved one. He also has on FanFiction. net, the most stories and he is the one most often paired with various Ocs and Mary-Sues.

* Gaeadrelle Goldring from ''[[TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} The Cloakmaster Cycle]]''. She's a [[HalfHumanHybrid half]]-''[[Literature/{{Dragonlance}} kender]]'' who once "studied art of some kind" in "some place called [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Kozakura]]", with a crush on the protagonist, as awesome as only half-kender could, later [[spoiler:PutOnABus toward high-end [[PsychicPowers psionic training]]]] on top of this, no less. The potential to make "MarySue Litmus Test" [[OverclockingAttack explode in colored flames]] is obvious, yet she's fine -- and many readers [[http://sjml.spelljammer.org/archive/oracle/200609/06-204721.html liked]] her [[http://sjml.spelljammer.org/archive/oracle/200812/23-041708.html a lot]].

* Tobias and Ax from the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series. They were only given one book apiece for each ten book cycle, while the other four Animorphs got two. This was done because Scholastic didn't think these two characters would be as popular as the main cast. Later, as the series was nearing its end, Scholastic finally realized how wrong they'd been about that and mixed up the release order so Tobias and Ax would get more books.

** [[ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter Tom]] only appears Yeerk-free once, but he uses his only moment of agency to punch a Taxxon and make a HeroicSacrifice against Visser Three, which certainly leaves an impression. He's also one of the most tragic characters in the series.
* Pullings in the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' series.

** [[ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter The real Tom]] only has about three lines in the entire series[[note]]One of which is internal, and another which may or may not have been a case of FightingFromTheInside[[/note]], but he's popular among fans due to his tragic story, and because his only Yeerk-free appearance consisted of him punching a Taxxon and then making a HeroicSacrifice against Visser Three.

** [[ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter Tom]] only appears Yeerk-free once and has about three lines in the entire series[[note]]One of which is internal, and another which may or may not have been a case of FightingFromTheInside[[/note]], but he's popular among fans because of his tragic story and HeroicSacrifice in the first book.

** However this may have been Milton's intention. He wanted to show how seductive evil can be, Satan possibly being an Oliver Cromwell type figure, though reading the book carefully shows deliberate MotiveDecay from Satan.

* Gaeadrelle Goldring from ''[[TabletopGame/{{Spelljammer}} The Cloakmaster Cycle]]''. She's a [[HalfHumanHybrid half]]-''[[Literature/{{Dragonlance}} kender]]'' who once "studied art of some kind" in "some place called [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Kozakura]]", with a crush on the protagonist, as CrazyAwesome as only half-kender could, later [[spoiler:PutOnABus toward high-end [[PsychicPowers psionic training]]]] on top of this, no less. The potential to make "MarySue Litmus Test" [[OverclockingAttack explode in colored flames]] is obvious, yet she's fine -- and many readers [[http://sjml.spelljammer.org/archive/oracle/200609/06-204721.html liked]] her [[http://sjml.spelljammer.org/archive/oracle/200812/23-041708.html a lot]].

*** Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald is one of the less focused on Masters of the story, has gained a surprising following among fans thanks to his status as a FountainOfMemes. His Mystic Code, [[ExtraOreDinary Volumen Hydragyrum]], also sees a surprising amount of love, likely for its connection to Kayneth and many finding it to be oddly adorable. This is likely the reason it returns as a major character in the ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles''.

** [[PintSizedPowerhouse Scourge]], a villain who only appeared in one book but gained lots and lots of fans and sometimes a DracoInLeatherPants status, simply because he's badass ([[spoiler: He killed Tigerstar with one hit! He took away ''all his nine lives'' with ''one swipe of his paw!'']] He got to be so popular that the authors made a whole manga book about him, detailing his past and his StartOfDarkness as well as giving him a FreudianExcuse, which doesn't excuse him for his evilness but does give you a reason to feel sorry for him.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Luna Lovegood. Originally to have importance only in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'', by the end of the series she is the sixth member of the Literature/HarryPotter TrueCompanions, and the only non-Gryffindor to be in it. Luna's ''so'' popular, she managed to make her Quibbler critters a popular source of ArbitrarySkepticism jokes in the fandom, and many fans were disappointed that she never discovers a Crumple-Horned Snorkack during her time as a Magizoologist.
** Draco Malfoy, who of course is given DracoInLeatherPants treatment.
** Blaise Zabini is only a name until the sixth book when he's at least given a gender and a race, but he has many appearances in fanfiction as a main character.
** Theodore Nott also has plenty of fans despite his few appearances and lack of lines. Part of this may be due to the fact that he was supposed to have a larger role.
** Neville Longbottom. He's a MemeticBadass for a reason.
** The Giant Squid is popular in crack fics and WildMassGuessing and the like.
*** TGS was SO popular, [[WordOfGod JK herself]] had to put an end to mass rumour that it was actually Godric Gryffindor as a 1000-year-old animagus.
*** It should be noted that all this is despite the fact that it appears three or four times in the ''entire series,'' serves almost exclusively as a source for jokes, and ''never'' impacts the plot at all.
*** It eats one of Harry's unwanted pieces of toast in ''The Goblet of Fire''.
*** And [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome saves]] [[PetTheDog Dennis Creevey!]]
** [[DeadGuyJunior Albus Severus Potter]]. Largely because of what his initials spell, and considering that the Slytherin House is associated with snakes...
** Professor Minerva [=McGonagall=] gets this as well. Originally introduced as a typical SternTeacher, thanks to her hilarious comments during Quidditch matches, loyalty to Dumbledore [[spoiler: and Harry, especially in the fifth and seventh books]], and a few stunning feats of magic during the Battle of Hogwarts, she became synonymous with CoolOldLady.
** The Weasley Twins, Fred and George, mainly because they are the living example of [[Funny/HarryPotter Crowning Moment of Funny]] (which is also ''very'' necessary, as the books get so much darker as the series progressed).
** Fans just love Lucius Malfoy.
** Although Voldemort is the BigBad, many fans LoveToHate [[SadistTeacher Umbridge]] (and to a lesser extent, [[AxCrazy Bellatrix]]) even more than him.
** [[WebVideo/PotterPuppetPals Snape, Snape,]] [[MemeticMutation Severus Snape]]. It helps that he's played by Creator/AlanRickman in the films, but even before that, he was already hugely popular among the readership. The SadistTeacher and RedHerring suspect in the first book who seems to be trying to steal the [[MacGuffin Stone]] and kill Harry in the Quidditch game. When the truth turned out to be the opposite (he was trying to keep the real culprit from stealing the Stone and saved Harry's life in the Quidditch game) he became bizarrely fascinating. An outwardly nasty character who [[GoodIsNotNice is working with the good guys]], he introduced a shade of gray in what seemed at first glance to be a BlackAndWhiteMorality series. With his [[DeadpanSnarker devastatingly witty put-downs]] and his big black cloak, he became a DracoInLeatherPants to rival Draco, with the justification that he was seemingly a good guy. Then came the sixth book with the [[MemeticMutation shocking plot twist]] [[ItWasHisSled that everyone now knows.]] It says much of his popularity, that for the seventh book, Scholastic put much of it's publicity around him with its "Snape: Hero or Villain?" debates, despite his minimal appearances in that book. Those appearances didn't disappoint, revealing a tragic backstory that explains (but not justifies) some of his nastiness, making him probably the biggest polarizing character in the series.
** Both Remus Lupin and Sirius Black are very popular characters amongst the fans, placing 6th and 5th respectively on [[http://www.empireonline.com/features/greatest-harry-potter-characters/default.asp this]] list of the greatest Harry Potter characters, behind only the Golden Trio and Snape.
** Mad-Eye Moody, [[DrillSergeantNasty wizard drill sergeant]] and [[GoodIsNotNice badass good guy]] extraordinaire.
** Antonin Dolohov has his share of fans. Possibly due to being one of the more competent Death Eaters and almost always winning the duels he participates in.
** The fans are so crazy even characters who barely get mentioned at are, such as Daphne Greengrass, the Patil twins and Susan Bones, or not at all, are at times more popular then established characters over the time frame of several books, such as the Gryffindor Chasers, Cho Chang, or Justin Finch-Fletchey.
** Many characters who are deceased before the series even begins get this treatment. Some examples include Evan Rosier and Marlene [=McKinnon=].
** Tonks. Fans absolutely love her, despite the fact that she doesn't appear until fifth book and is relatively minor character with only a few lines in the entire series.

** Professor [=McGonagall=] gets this as well. Originally introduced as a typical SternTeacher, her hilarious comments during Quidditch matches, loyalty to Dumbledore [[spoiler: and Harry, especially in the fifth and seventh books]], as well as a few stunning feats of magic during the Battle of Hogwarts, she became synonymous with CoolOldLady.

** Erestor, especially in {{slash|Fic}} {{fanfic}}s. In the books, he's just Elrond's chief counsellor, who appears at the Council of Elrond but does not make any significant contribution (he suggests the Ring be given to Tom Bombadil, and doesn't think trying to destroy the Ring is a good idea). In fanfiction, however, he somehow tends to become [[MarySue the most beautiful, smart, witty Elf in Middle-earth]] and gets slashed with just about everyone.

** Tom Bombadil's exclusion from the movies caused a long-lasting storm of fan rage. [[BaseBreakingCharacter On the other hand,]] many other fans consider him, and the two-and-a-half chapters devoted to him, to be utterly pointless, or at the very least utterly unfilmable.