History Main / SmallRoleBigImpact

* Dying Breed rarely appear in {{Manga/Beck}}, but they inspire both Ryuusuke and Koyuki to push the band to great heights, and [[spoiler: Eddie Lee's death]] causes a HeroicBSOD from almost the entire music world. Not only that, but rumors of an unreleased song of theirs drive a huge portion of the plot.

* Dying Breed rarely appear in {{Manga/Beck}}, but they inspire both Ryuusuke and Koyuki to push the band to great heights, and [[spoiler: Eddie Lee's death]] causes a HeroicBSOD from almost the entire music world.

* Phil Davis appeared on ''Series/{{Merlin}'' in a guest spot that lasts no more than five minutes. In that time he ''mortally wounds'' [[spoiler:King Uther]], a major character who had been on the show since the beginning, and changes the entire course of the show.

* In the 1999 movie version of ''AMidsummerNightsDream'', Hippolyta (the vanquished Amazonian Queen marrying Duke Theseus) has no lines, and is mostly a background figure. However, in the movie when the Duke and his party discover the lovers in the morning, Hippolyta pulls Theseus aside and has some words with him, which go unheard by both the audience and other characters. Afterward Theseus announces that the lovers may marry according to their own wishes, rather than according to the decree of their families.

* RicardoMontalban once said that he almost passed on coming back for ''StarTrekII'' because, as it is written in the script, Khan is actually only onscreen for about fifteen total minutes over the course of the entire movie, and his actual spoken dialogue is pretty minimal as well when compared to the main characters. But then he realized, as he read the story, that Khan's ''impact'' on the other characters is present on ''every single page of the script'', and immediately agreed to reprise the role. (It's worth noting that Khan's name hadn't been put in the title yet.)

* Joe in ''Show Boat''. It helps that he has [[MinorCharacterMajorSong one of the best Broadway songs ever written]], "Ol' Man River."

* Jessica, daughter to Shylock in ''TheMerchantOfVenice'', has very few lines, but the whole play hinges on her elopement and her conversion to Christianity, which drive her father over the edge. Whether she's seen as a "good" or "bad" character is a key decision when staging the play, and directors tend to give her plenty of extra stage time to pray in Hebrew or look tragic. Lorenzo could also be seen this way--besides being the boy who steals Jessica, he has one of the play's best soliloquies ("How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank...")

* Jessica, daughter to Shylock in ''TheMerchantOfVenice'' has very few lines, but the whole play hinges on her elopement and her conversion to Christianity, which drive her father over the edge. Whether she's seen as a "good" or "bad" character is a key decision when staging the play, and directors tend to give her plenty of extra stage time to pray in Hebrew or look tragic. Lorenzo could also be seen this way--besides being the boy who steals Jessica, he has one of the play's best soliloquies ("How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank...")

* Lily Evans really isn't in much of ''HarryPotter'',however her actions pretty much drove the etire characterization of Snape,and her HeroicSacrifice set up the entire plot

* Narcissa Malfoy in the latter ''HarryPotter'' books. In terms of facetime and notoriety, she takes backseat to her husband and son and mostly just another snobby wizard supremacist. However, in [[HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince the sixth book]], her binding Snape to the Unbreakable vow is ultimately responsible for the climax of the story. And in book 7, her willingness to [[MamaBear lie to]] [[BigBad Voldemort]] about Harry's death is what gives Harry the chance to end him once and for all.

* Socks and Ruby in the ''WarriorCats'' manga ''Rise of Scourge''. Both were mean to Tiny, causing him to run away and become [[MadeOfEvil Scourge]]. Also Tigerclaw, but [[BigBad only in the manga.]]

* Narcissa Malfoy in the latter ''HarryPotter'' books. In terms of facetime and notoriety, she takes backseat to her husband and son and mostly just another snobby wizard supremacist. However, in [[HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince the sixth book]], her binding Snape to the Unbreakable vow is ultimately responsible for the climax of the story. And in book 7, her willingness to [[MamaBear lie to]] [[BigBad Voldemort]] about Harry's death is what gives Harry the chance him once and for all.

* In the 1999 movie version of ''AMidsummerNightsDream'', Hippolyta (the vanquished Amazonian Queen marrying Duke Theseus) has no lines, just like in the play. Mostly she is a background figure. However, in the movie when the Duke and his party discover the lovers in the morning, Hippolyta pulls Theseus aside and has some words with him, which go unheard by both the audience and other characters. Afterward Theseus announces that the lovers may marry according to their own wishes, rather than the decree of their families.

* Ricardo Montalban once said that he almost passed on coming back for ''StarTrekII'' because, as it is written in the script, Khan is actually only onscreen for about fifteen total minutes over the course of the entire movie, and his actual spoken dialogue is pretty minimal as well when compared to the main characters. But then he realized, as he read the story, that Khan's ''impact'' on the other characters is present on ''every single page of the script'', and immediately agreed to reprise the role. (It's worth noting that Khan's name hadn't been put in the title yet.)
* Harry Lime in ''TheThirdMan''.

This can occasionally overlap with OneSceneWonder, because occasionally a OneSceneWonder ''does'' have a large effect on the plot. Can sometimes be a PosthumousCharacter. If they never appear on screen they are TheGhost.

* Joe in ''Show Boat''. It helps that he has [[OneSongWonder one of the best Broadway songs ever written]], "Ol' Man River."

[[AC:{{Film}} - Animated]]

[[AC:{{Film}} - Live Action]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]
* Lord Asano [[HeWhoMustNotBeSeen is never actually seen]] in ''PrincessMononoke'', but those are his samurai who are dangerously close to conquering Iron Town, and it may also have been his men that Ashitaka saw brutalizing the countryside before.
* The Emperor in ''{{Onmyoji}}'' is hardly in it bar a couple of scenes in which he does very little that's useful, but it's his rejection of Suke-hime that leads to most of the villain's attempts to kill the imperial family via her angry father and her eventual transformation into a demon.
* Admiral Robert J. Hanner, United Planets Space Force (ret.), from ''IrresponsibleCaptainTylor'' appears only about four times in the 26 episode series, and only once in a speaking role. However, directly or indirectly, he's responsible for Tylor becoming a starship captain, the ''Soyokaze'' crew getting demoted, the war with the Raalgon being able to conclude without additional bloodshed, and his death sparks a HeroicBSOD from Tylor.

[[AC:{{Theater}}]]

* In the 1999 movie version of ''AMidSummerNightsDream'', Hippolyta (the vanquished Amazonian Queen marrying Duke Theseus) has no lines, just like in the play. Mostly she is a background figure. However, in the movie when the Duke and his party discover the lovers in the morning, Hippolyta pulls Theseus aside and has some words with him, which go unheard by both the audience and other characters. Afterward Theseus announces that the lovers may marry according to their own wishes, rather than the decree of their families.
* Ricardo Montalban once said that he almost passed on coming back for ''StarTrekTheWrathOfKhan'' because, as it is written in the script, Khan is actually only onscreen for about fifteen total minutes over the course of the entire movie, and his actual spoken dialogue is pretty minimal as well when compared to the main characters. But then he realized, as he read the story, that Khan's ''impact'' on the other characters is present on ''every single page of the script'', and immediately agreed to reprise the role. (It's worth noting that Khan's name hadn't been put in the title yet.)

* Voldemort doesn't appear that much in the ''HarryPotter'' series. He's completely absent from ''PrisonerOfAzkaban'' and only appears in flashback in ''HalfBloodPrince''. In the rest of the books, he shows up for the climax and will be lucky if he got a few scattered appearances before that. Nevertheless, he drives almost every plot in the series.

-->''""It seemed that my lot in life was to either have big parts in small films or small parts in big films."''

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Western Animation}}]]
* The Little Green Men in ''ToyStory 3''.

* Ricardo Montalban once said that he almost passed on coming back for ''StarTrekTheWrathOfKhan'' because, as it is written in the script, Khan is actually only onscreen for about fifteen total minutes over the course of the entire movie, and his actual spoken dialogue is pretty minimal as well when compared to the main characters. But then he realized, as he read the story, that Khan's ''impact'' on the other characters is present on ''every single page of the script'', and immediately agreed to reprise the role.