History Main / SecondaryCharacterTitle

* In ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', the PlayerCharacter is Prince Zagreus, which the Lord of the Dead himself is Zagreus's father and [[spoiler:the FinalBoss]]. However, the title may also refer to the setting since "Hades" is another name for the Underworld itself.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': The ultimate TropeCodifier to point that the ''true'' protagonist is Link.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess''. [[spoiler:The game's main character's sidekick, Midna, is the Twilight Princess, not Zelda (who barely appears)]].
** The [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle Games]], ''Oracle of Ages'' and ''Oracle of Seasons'', are named for their respective [[DamselInDistress Damsels in Distress]], Nayru and Din. Zelda only appears in the games when they're started with a code gained by completing the other game in the subseries.

* ''VideoGame/TheImmortal'' (obvious, since there's EverythingTryingToKillYou)

* You'd be surprised how little ''VideoGame/{{Anna}}'' actually features in her own game. In fact, it's debatable if she appears ''at all'' (because TrueArtIsIncomprehensible).
* The Arkham Knight from ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'', while still extremely important, is TheDragon to the game's real BigBad, Scarecrow.
* Cross of ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' serves as a witness to the plot which is about humanity's survival with [[TheLeader Elma]] at the helm, although [[http://iwataasks.nintendo.com/interviews/#/wiiu/xenoblade-chronicles-x/0/5 symbolically]], the "X" represents alien life of the unknown [[spoiler:which Elma is an alien herself.]]
* Seen in a few installments of the ''VideoGame/DarkParables''; the fourth game is called ''The Red Riding Hood Sisters'' and the fifth is ''The Final Cinderella.'' The actual protagonist of all of the games is a woman known as the Fairy Tale Detective.
* ''VideoGame/{{Lisa}}'': Lisa herself only appears in one of the games, outside of as a hallucination. [[ItWasHisSled Her death]], however, kickstarts the plot of all games onward.
* In ''VideoGame/PrincessTomatoInTheSaladKingdom'', the protagonist and player character is Sir Cucumber, who must rescue the eponymous princess.

* Downplayed in ''Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers''. Although SMG4 is one of the two main protagonists, the show mostly revolves around Mario.

* ''Machinima/Supermarioglitchy4sSuperMario64Bloopers'' has a Downplayed Example, Although SMG4 is one of the 2 main protagonists. the show mostly revolve around Mari0.

* ''Film/BirdsOfPrey'' was more of a ''ComicBook/HarleyQuinn'' movie with the rest of the Birds being minor characters.

* ''Anime/MyHime'': After being the main character, Mai Tokiha barely appears in the {{Elseworld}} spin-off ''Anime/MaiOtome'', relegated to a supporting role near the end. Also an example of ArtifactTitle.

* While the title of ''[[Fanfic/ChristianWestonChandlerInSurvivorKujiraJima Christian Weston Chandler in Survivor: Kujira-Jima]]'' implies Chris to be a [[SpotlightStealingSquad spotlight stealer]], everyone gets a fair amount of screen time and character development, some more than Chris himself.

* It wasn't uncommon at all for rock bands in TheSixties to be named after the founding member, even if, instead of being the lead singer, they were the guitarist (Spencer Davis Group, Jeff Beck Group), the keyboardist (Music/ManfredMann, Music/PaulRevereAndTheRaiders) or the drummer (The Music/DaveClarkFive).

* It wasn't uncommon at all for rock bands in TheSixties to be named after the founding member, even if, instead of being the lead singer, they were the guitarist (Spencer Davis Group, Jeff Beck Group), the keyboardist (Music/ManfredMann, Music/PaulRevereAndTheRaiders) or the drummer (Music/TheDaveClarkFive).

* It wasn't uncommon at all for rock bands in TheSixties to be named after the founding member, even if, instead of being the lead singer, they were the guitarist (Spencer Davis Group, Jeff Beck Group), the keyboardist (Manfred Mann, Paul Revere & the Raiders) or the drummer (The Dave Clark Five).

* Though the plot of ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'' has very much to do with her, Rebecca was already dead before the movie even began and is only discussed by other characters.

* ''Manga/KatekyoHitmanReborn'' has Reborn, the hitman who is the tutor to the main character Tsunayoshi Sawada. Reborn does nothing except making Tsuna stronger and stronger, so the latter can beat the crap out of the enemies.

* ''Anime/MaiHime'': After being the main character, Mai Tokiha barely appears in the {{Elseworld}} spin-off ''Anime/MaiOtome'', relegated to a supporting role near the end. Also an example of ArtifactTitle.
* ''Anime/MoribitoGuardianOfTheSpirit'': The title "Guardian of the Spirit" actually refers to the young [[ShelteredAristocrat Prince Chagum]], not the main protagonist [[ActionGirl Balsa.]] This is easy to mistake, as Balsa is [[MamaBear Chagum's bodyguard]], making her the Guardian of the Guardian of the Spirit.
* The main protagonist and POV character of ''Manga/{{Inuyasha}}'' is actually Kagome, though the titular Inuyasha gets almost as much screen time and serves as the deuteragonist.

* While the title of ''[[FanFic.ChristianWestonChandlerInSurvivorKujiraJima Christian Weston Chandler in Survivor: Kujira-Jima]]'' implies Chris to be a [[SpotlightStealingSquad spotlight stealer]], everyone gets a fair amount of screen time and character development, some more than Chris himself.

* ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' refers to Jeffrey Lebowski, a millionaire for whom the protagonist ([[NamesTheSame also christened Jeffrey Lebowski]], but goes by "The Dude") is mistaken. Walter refers to the former as "the other Lebowski, the Big Lebowski" in one line.
** This one gets it bad enough that even fans of the film who ''know'' there are two Lebowskis and that Bridges's character is primarily called the Dude, still talk about Jeff Bridges being "The Big Lebowski".

* The ''Literature/ChroniclesOfPrydain'' are about a young man named Taran and the adventures he experiences on the path to adulthood in the country of Prydain. The final book in the series, ''The High King'', refers to the ruler of the country. [[spoiler:This is ultimately a subversion of the trope, however, because Taran himself is named High King of Prydain at the very end of the story.]]

* The protagonist of ''Film/RachelGettingMarried'' is Rachel's younger sister.

* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' spends the entirety of the film version in a glass jar. He's somewhat more active in the manga version, but while plot-relevant f(being a young psychic PersonOfMassDestruction who destroyed Tokyo), isn't much more than tertiary as a character.

** The ''[[VideoGame/Metroid1 first game]]'' and the whole series are named after [[PersonalSpaceInvader the species]] the villains are using as biological weapons.