Line #7 TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/Literature


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4	* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'':
5	** Cinna. One of the first things established about him is that he volunteered to be the stylist for the District 12 tributes despite it being a traditionally unwanted job, but we never find out why. Or why he doesn't have a Capitol accent, or why his fashion sense is so understated as compared to the rest of the Capitol, or... anything about him really.
6	** Johanna once says that the mimickery of the Jabberjays can't hurt her because everyone she loves is dead - we never find out why. She also barely appears in the third book.
7	*** In ''Mockingjay'' Haymich implies that her family was murdered on President Snow's orders because she refused to cooperate with his plans to make her into a prostitute
8	** Rue also doesn't get much characterisation - just enough to make her an appealing victim. Thresh got it even worse.
9	** Nor does Prim. As the sister of the main character, and a huge motivation of Katniss' actions in the first book, you'd think some insight into her personality and their relationship would be shown.
10	** Lavinia, the red-headed avox girl who Katniss and Gale saw escaping from the capitol. We're never told why they were running, how they got to district 12, or anything of the like, and she's promptly killed off with almost no part to play at all.
11	** [[Film/TheHungerGames The first movie]] manages through AdaptationExpansion to shed some light on Seneca Crane (as well as President Snow, with stuff that only appears in the other books).
12	** The girl from District 4 was the only member of the career pack in the first book to not have any form of personality revealed and is killed early on. In the film she wasn't even a member of the pack and was killed even earlier on.
13	** "Foxface". Some of the other tributes from the 74th Hunger Games that remained nameless throughout the first book had their names revealed in the second, but despite being built up as a potentially interesting character in the first book, [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname her real name is never revealed]] and the victors' trip to District 5 is completely glossed over in ''Catching Fire''.
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16	[[folder:''Twilight'']]
17	* ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'':
18	** Alice, in spades. Reasons range from her being the BadassAdorable EnsembleDarkHorse to some people just enjoying the LesYay between her and Bella and finding that [[DieForOurShip this Edward fellow just keeps getting in the way]].
19	** Carlisle is also a favorite among people who find the books otherwise horrific, mainly due to the way he actually makes good use of his condition. He's not used so much in the plot.
20	** [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Leah]] is an IronWoobie. She's trapped in a telepathic connection with her ex-boyfriend (who she shared a fulfilling relationship with before he Imprinted on Emily, Leah's cousin, and promptly ditched her) and a group of various people who all hate her because of her bitterness about the above. She's one of the few female characters who actively seeks freedom and independence, ''and'' she can transform into a wolf. Once Jacob's [[spoiler:rebellion against the Quileute pack]] gives Leah an opportunity to escape the pack's mental link, she [[CharacterDevelopment runs with it]], leaving her family and protecting [[FantasticRacism the vampires she detests]], solely because doing so is more tolerable than being in Sam's proximity. (This is also around the time that she [[TookALevelInKindness Takes A Level In Kindness]] and bitches out Bella for her cruelty to Jacob.)
21	** Seth is a badass warrior, one of the series' few characters to be [[InformedAbility truly]] compassionate, and the ''only'' werewolf who doesn't hate vampires simply for existing. His main purpose in the narrative is as a sounding board for more angsty, pessimistic characters, and we don't get an idea of his perspective outside of that.
22	** Rosalie Hale, RichBitch vampire with a distaste for Bella that many readers can sympathize with. (She's also hinted to be a {{Tsundere}} behind the scenes, and is one of the few vampires to see value in human lives). Her backstory is also incredibly interesting but it's glossed over in one brief moment in the third book.
23	** Jasper is seen as a favorite amongst many: a battle-hardened vampire who was alive during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar and is now trying to become a better man due to falling in love with Alice.
24	** Bella's father Charlie is also fairly popular among the people who otherwise generally don't like the series. Mostly it's the fact that he's one of few characters who seems to have real-world responsibilities and friendships, and the fact that, especially in the early novels, he openly distrusts Edward.
25	** Many of the characters introduced in the last half of Breaking Dawn can be considered this, since they are only briefly introduced and never really explored. Some of their backstories, given in [[AllThereInTheManual The Official Illustrated Guide]] are very interesting and could have made for good characters, had they been explored; not to mention improved the [[WorldBuilding WorldBuilding]] by adding their experiences to those of the protagonists.
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30	* ''Literature/TheBible'': Shamgar from the ''Literature/BookOfJudges''. God-blessed farmboy [[OneManArmy who killed 600 Philistines]] with ''[[ImprobableWeaponUser an ox goad]]'' (a type of cattle prod). He gets one verse in the whole book and is completely overshadowed by Samson, a similar Philistine-slayer from the very same book.
31	* ''Literature/BlackTideRising'':
32	** The cheerleading squad from the short story "Not in Vain" are set up as an AmazonBrigade via CoversAlwaysLie and the summary on the back of the book, and a lot of fans would have liked their story to live up to that and maybe feature them later on in the franchise's expanding universe. Unfortunately, most of them are just {{Action Survivor}}s while their coach is the main zombie fighter and, even more unfortunately, most of the girls who get (engaging and promising) backstories and personalities are infected and killed after requesting that their spinal fluid be used to make vaccines for the other kids.
33	** In the short story "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Grandpa?", the eponymous character, Andy Thompson, is urged to give up his gun collection prior to the apocalypse by his family (who end up apologizing and asking him for protection once the zombies emerge) and their lawyer Mr. Merritt after the city council complains about the safety risk the weapons pose. Merritt gets along well with Andy during the meeting and mentions having his own gun collection, setting him up as a potential StrongerThanTheyLook ally once the apocalypse starts. Instead, he's never seen or mentioned again.
34	* ''Literature/BoysLife'':
35	** Nemo, the young pitching prodigy with a MyBelovedSmother, only appears in about three scenes, when many fans wish he'd become a core member of Cory's group of friends.
36	** Jack Marchette, the fire chief who leads the efforts to stop a major flood and later is one of the only people to volunteer to help the sheriff during a ShowdownAtHighNoon, feels like a FlatCharacter despite his noticeable involvement in interesting things and the quirkiness of his neighbors.
37	* Jane Gallagher from ''Literature/TheCatcherInTheRye''. She's built up by Holden to be a unique, intelligent, and genuinely non-phony girl, she might have had sex with his friend/rival Stradlater, and then...[[TheUnreveal she never appears]].
38	* ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'':
39	** Prince Dagdan and Princess Brannah, the creepy twin emissaries from Hybern. They show a lot of political cunning and power, engaging in literal mind-games with Feyre and playing her as good as she plays them. Their presence also has the possibility of giving first-hand insight into Hybern culture. Too bad they're killed off a third of the way through ''A Court of Wings and Ruin''.
40	** Amren. She's not a fae, but is instead an otherworldly being heavily hinted to be an angel of death. She's small but fierce, drinks blood, broke out of a deadly prison, and...sheds her otherworldly form to become a High Fae, and that's the last we hear of her abilities.
41	* ''Literature/DoraWilkSeries'':
42	** Jean Mark, a ComicallySerious, wangsty OneSceneWonder vampire who LooksLikeOrlok on purpose is given exactly one scene, never to be mentioned again.
43	** Nikita, DarkActionGirl with DarkAndTroubledPast who works as an assassin for international organization reminescent of [[ComicBook/RasAlGhul League of Shadows]], disappears after a single book, along with her kill cult.
44	** Henry, a vampire suffering from CreativeSterility, is given a name, a fascinating backstory and an interesting psychic power... and no speaking lines or any presence in the book.
45	** Witkacy, Dora's partner in the police, a misplaced shaman who experiments with drugs, fights depression and sees ghosts - who come to him with their trouble - is unceremoniously shoved to the sidelines. At least he's getting his own book series.
46	* ''Literature/ExHeroes'':
47	** KidHero Banzai has a fun backstory, distinct powers, and is the only Asian-American hero in the series (as well as the youngest one until Corpse Girl shows up), but, to the disappointment of many fans, dies in the flashbacks to the initial outbreak rather than sticking around as one of The Mount's protectors.
48	** The scavengers and wall guards (Billie, Jarvis, Lady Bee, Makana, etc.) do a good job of acting as BadassNormal support personnel who fight alongside the heroes, but a common complaint, especially for the first two books, is that they're always just there and get minimal backstory and CharacterDevelopment despite their interesting potential.
49	* Leila from ''Literature/FiftyShadesOfGrey''. She is an ex-sub of Grey's who has been institutionalized twice against her will, attempted suicide and is portrayed as mentally unstable and out to get revenge on Christian or intent on harming Ana. She is the first one to point out to Ana that the two of them look very similar, the first sign that Grey specifically looks for women who have the same type of appearance that reminds him of his biological mother. Leila is treated as a big threat to the both of them, but sadly suffers from severe {{offstage villainy}}, which lessens her impact. When she actually ''does'' finally appear, threatening Ana with a gun, she is easily disarmed and carted off to another institute. Her entire arc took up 11 chapters with her actively only appearing in two of them, when she could have been expanded on into being a proper villain or even come across as a warning to Ana about what has happened to Christian's ex-subs and what ''could'' happen to her.
50	* ''Literature/FunJungle'': Athmani Okeke, a South African game warden turned [=FunJungle=] security consultant. His intelligence, good sense of humor, rapport with the Fitzroys, and experience fighting murderous {{Evil Poacher}}s in Africa (when the regular cast are all American) make him interesting to read about, and many fans are disappointed that he only appears in ''Big Game''. [[spoiler:While his being the villain of that book is an effective twist, some readers would have liked it better if he was innocent and remained a recurring character.]]
51	* ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'', true to its AnyoneCanDie nature, is filled with people with interesting personalities or histories, or could otherwise have had a huge impact on the story, killed off unceremoniously without warning. Perhaps the most galling though is Colonel Wilder, ReasonableAuthorityFigure who managed to keep the Ghosts together and become their new commanding officer after many of the main characters are presumed dead, who [[spoiler:is killed off in the very book he's introduced in.]]
52	* ''Literature/{{Gone}}'' has around 300 characters, and about 60 are named, so it's natural that there are a few examples of this, including Sinderm, a PerkyGoth teenager with a green thumb and a blog, and Sanjit's siblings. Being written by one half of the writing duo who wrote ''Animorphs'' above, this was perhaps to be expected.
53	* The father in ''Literature/GoneGirl''. He's set up as menacing and confused in turns, with a definite hate-on for women...until he's killed off by old age in the last act. He would have been the perfect killer, but Gillian Flynn went in another direction.
54	* ''Literature/GoodnightMisterTom'' [[DroppedABridgeOnHim dropped a bridge on Zach]], killing off the one interesting character in an otherwise dull book.
55	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
56	** Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Luna Lovegood, Mad-Eye Moody, Peter Pettigrew, the Hogwarts professors besides Dumbledore & Snape (not to mention the trope namer for HufflepuffHouse, and Ravenclaw doesn't get much more exposure)... if we all thought up a character whose development we might consider to be short-changed and compiled them in one place, we'd probably have enough guests to hire out an entire restaurant for.
57	** Despite being a pretty major character, Professor [=McGonagall=] has also been seen as this after Rowling revealed her terribly depressing backstory on Pottermore.
58	** Theodore Nott, despite only being mentioned a few times a lot was revealed by Rowling about him. Apparently he's the son of one of Voldemort's early Death Eaters and is just as pure-blooded as Malfoy. He is very similar to Malfoy only Nott is not part of a Slytherin gang and may be even cleverer than him. He could've served as a foil to Malfoy but unfortunately he was almost completely cut.
59	* In Perry Moore's ''Literature/{{Hero}}'', the protagonist Thom gets picked up at a gay bar by a slightly older young man and has his first kiss with him. Later, [[spoiler:it's revealed that Thom's would-be beau is the supervillain Ssnake, who stands accused of murdering a beloved superhero at the time this was happening]]. When Thom reveals this to the public, it sets in motion a series of events that lead to the real villain's downfall and saves the planet from destruction. But sadly, we never see [[spoiler:Ssnake]] again, even though he could have been a much more interesting love interest than Goran.
60	* ''Literature/TheHouseOfNight'':
61	** Side character Aphrodite, a snarky yet sympathetic LonelyRichKid who begins as an AlphaBitch but [[CharacterDevelopment genuinely matures]] over the story's course, overcoming parental neglect ([[spoiler:and the stress of her precognitive abilities]]) to become a good person and Zoey's TokenEvilTeammate.
62	** Stevie Rae, a compassionate WideEyedIdealist [[spoiler:who is killed early into the story, resurrected through dark magic, and becomes the disillusioned leader of the red fledgings]]. The glimpses we get of her descent of insanity (and eventual climb out of it) are quite interesting.
63	** Speaking of Stevie Rae, a whole ''novel'' could be written about [[spoiler:the red fledgings (outcast from everything they've ever known, seemingly abandoned by God, yet staying sane and retaining their personalities...)]].
64	* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle:'' Murtagh was the biggest EnsembleDarkhorse of the series. [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Then he dies at the very beginning of book one]], [[DisneyDeath then turns out to be alive]], but magically ForcedIntoVillainy for most of the series. He's also revealed to be [[spoiler:Eragon's brother]], making it seem like he was created just for a standard [[spoiler:CainAndAbel]] plot. However, Paolini seems to have noted his popularity, since he's getting a spin-off book in 2023.
65	* The kids' book ''It Hurts When I Poop'' is about a little boy, and the whole book focuses on the importance of not holding your poop in excessively. However, Ryan, the little boy, had more potential as a character. He was seen imaginatively playing with dinosaurs at the beginning, which could easily lead to a series of books about an [[MrImagination imaginative]], dinosaur-loving boy.
66	* ''Literature/JamesBond''
67	** ''Literature/ForSpecialServices'' features [[spoiler:the daughter of Ernst Stavro Blofeld as the primary antagonist]], who ends up being killed in the very first book introducing the character.
68	** Kauffburger from ''Literature/{{Cold}}'' is an example of an archetypical right-hand henchman, but he isn't featured in any important scenes after his debut, not even in the climax.
69	** The short story "Blast from the Past" by Raymond Benson has Bond finally meeting his son James Suzuki, whom he fathered in ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice''. After he has been killed.
70	* The English writer and literature historian George Saintsbury wrote of Éponine Thénardier in ''Literature/LesMiserables'', claiming if "Hugo had chosen to take more trouble with her, might have been a great, and is actually the most interesting, character." Some adaptations (such as [[Film/LesMiserables2012 the Film of the Musical]]) cast an actress good enough for Éponine to become an EnsembleDarkhorse.
71	* ''Literature/JLAExterminators'': Most of Ian's fellow new metahumans (NighInvulnerable detective Bryan, pyrokinetic CountryMouse Julia, the grieving mother who makes a golem, a doctor with HealingHands, the teenaged teleporter, the clairvoyant retiree, etc.) have cool powers and have powerful interactions with [=JLA=] members who either fight alongside them or are sympathetic to their situations. It would have been interesting to see the team fighting to save all of them from mutating along with Ian (or have more progress in trying to cure specific mutants whom they'd bonded with) throughout the whole book. Unfortunately, none of them make it to the final act, and those who mutate are barely, if ever, mentioned by name afterward.
72	* UnexpectedCharacter: The original Young Justice team roster makes an appearance even though their series had definitively wrapped up (with some of the characters retiring from hero work) over a year before this book came out.
73	* ''Literature/{{Linked}}'': Sophie never has a [=POV=] section and is barely mentioned in the last quarter of the book despite being Pamela's best friend, having a crush on Link, getting some minor ShipTease with Pouncey, and being one of the most imaginative pranksters in her group of friends. Her reactions to [[spoiler:Link and Pamela]] being the Swastika taggers is never even mentioned.
74	* ''Literature/{{Mog}}'': "Goodbye, Mog" introduces Rumpus, a CuteKitten who is very skittish. He becomes the Thomases' pet but is never seen again. At first, it seemed like it was justified by saying that there can be no more ''Mog'' books because Mog is dead-- but then, along came "Mog's Christmas Calamity", where it turned out that, [[UnexplainedRecovery nope]]. Mog and Rumpus would make a cute duo of cats; they could have character conflicts and/or work together, and there is plenty of potential with Mog having a right-hand kitten.
75	* The sardonic, tragic, cheerful Lenox from Creator/AgathaChristie's ''[[Literature/HerculePoirot Mystery of the Blue Train]]''. Admittedly, it wasn't her best novel anyway, but Lenox was infinitely preferable to the rather prissy Katherine.
76	* ''Literature/TheMadScientistsClub'': Daphne Muldoon being the cousin of one club member, the girlfriend of another, and the sister of their hated rival Harmon had the potential to try to play peacemaker, get some MySisterIsOffLimits treatment from Freddy or Harmon, or have Harmon spy on her to get information about the club, but mostly she spends the series as a female friend of the group and an occasional researcher.
77	* ''Literature/OnTheRun'': In the ''Kidnapped'' trilogy, Aiden struggles to reconnect with his old best friend Richie, feeling he lacks the perspective to understand what Aiden went through and finds something about it awkward enough to avoid Aiden. After Meg is kidnapped, Richie comes over to lend his sympathy and help, but barely does anything beyond that, besides giving Aiden a DitchTheBodyguards disguise, when he could have provided some additional help and had more scenes exploring and repairing his friendship with Aiden.
78	* Brian Jacques is guilty of this quite often in the ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' series, introducing a charismatic, kickass new character and then killing them off within two chapters. Has overlapped with TooCoolToLive.
79	* Creator/MatthewReilly:
80	** ''Literature/CobaltBlue'': White/Winnie is an entertaining CoolBigSis and the LifeOfTheParty, while Red/Reggie is a blunt-spoken but modest liberal cop who recognizes how outmatched he is but still fights the Fury. Both of them are also among the better fighters of the Cobalt siblings. Consequently, the fact that neither of them even makes it to the 30% point of the ebook is a waste of two particularly good characters. This is amplified by the fact that there are multiple Furies they could have fought and [[spoiler:Golden Gary gets to survive his apparent death]].
81	** ''Literature/{{Temple\|MatthewReilly}}'':
82	*** [[spoiler:Van Lewen]] gets some great action scenes and bonding with Race, only to be killed without a fight while trying to appeal to the better side of a man who's shown he doesn't have one.
83	*** Molke ends up the last military survivor of the (quite large) German team out to stop the Neo-Nazis and helps save several main characters' lives offscreen, but never gets a single line or action to suggest that he's anything but a RedShirt.
84	* In ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' the author devotes a book to novelizing the plot of the insanely successful RPG ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'' written by Neal Hallford and set in his world. One of the characters, Owyn Beleforte, ends up as a very powerful 19-year-old magician who has become [[FireForgedFriends friends]] with one of the allegedly AlwaysChaoticEvil dark elves and the first character to actually sympathize with the enemy. Additionally, he can understand their language due to a spell cast on him by one of their witches. He's also one of the handful in the world to be aware of the nature and location of the ArtifactOfDoom after helping save the world from it, as well as the super secret details of the last major war between humans and dark elves - to wit, the dark elves were manipulated by a third party into a near-suicidal invasion that killed many of them off like flies. Oh, and his dark elf friend dies through a HeroicSacrifice. The story that practically begs to be told is that of Owyn taking up his fallen friend's cause and working further toward the peace which neither of the nations really want at the moment - he is unique in having both the backstory and motivation as well as the power to make feasible progress in it. The author, however, holds no interest at all in a character he didn't come up with, so after that book Owyn allegedly gave up the life of adventure and went home to live a normal life - according to WordOfGod - his fate didn't even get an in-story explanation, much less an appearance on-screen.
85	* ''Literature/TheScholomance'':
86	** Clarita. Her BeneathNotice BackStory of being an UnknownRival to every other AcademicAlphaBitch in the school and her plans to join the New York Enclave could have made her an interesting supporting character in the earlier sections of the ''A Deadly Education''. Her role in helping so many seniors make it out of the scholomance alive could have given her a prominent status for the scenes outside of the scholomance in ''The Golden Enclaves.'' Instead, she doesn't appear until the penultimate chapter of ''A Deadly Education'' and is barely mentioned afterward.
87	** David Pires, the salutatorian who lost the valedictorian role to Clarita after spending ''years'' in an AssumedWin mode and later joins the climactic quest of ''A Deadly Education'' only appears for a few pages and gets no dialogue or onscreen notable accomplishments.
88	** Maya Wulandiri is a high-scoring senior who has the interesting motivation of trying to get into a specific enclave because it will let her bring her whole family with her, but only gets a few brief scenes in chapter 12 of ''A Deadly Education.''
89	** MageBornOfMuggles Luisa is a PosthumousCharacter, even though many fans would have liked watching someone with little knowledge of the magical world try to navigate through the CrapsackWorld of the Scholomance.
90	** Shanghai enclavers Yuyan and Zixuan get little characterization and barely interact with El except while they're trying to kill her over a misunderstanding. Their magical skills, Zixuan's family relationship to BigGood Li Shangfen, and the way they get into a LoveTriangle with Liu could have been explored more.
91	** Sudarat and Salta enclaver Tomas don't have many scenes in ''The Last Graduate'' and are only mentioned a few times in ''The Golden Enclaves.'' It would have been interesting seeing them navigate their place in the world after losing their home enclaves. They also never seem to find out that [[spoiler:El's heroics inadvertently destroyed their enclaves, when the fact that El saved their lives and both of them seem like decent and non-vindictive people could have given an interesting dimension to their interactions with El.]]
92	* ''Literature/SergeStorms'': Serge occasionally brings out the better in unpleasant characters (or happens to be around when something else does) who he counts as friends and helps them along the way. Consequently, it can feel annoying that this never happens with certain interesting characters he has more antagonistic relationships with.
93	** Sly [=McGraw=] from ''Triggerfish Twist''. While the rest of the [=McGraw=] family seem to largely be [[TheBrute more brawn than brains]] Sly is [[AffablyEvil able to have a polite conversation with Serge while holding him hostage]] and even matches Serge beat for beat when Serge starts going on one of his rambling diatribes about what's wrong with modern society, with the two debating if it's unique to Florida or happening all over the country. He promptly gets gunned downed by Jim Davenport shortly there after, sadly making it impossible for him to show up again in ''Atomic Lobster'' which saw the return of the [=McGraw=] family.
94	** Doug from ''Cadillac Beach'' spends the book being dragged into dangerous misadventures by Serge and surviving due to a being a decent ActionSurvivor, before the final act has him [[spoiler:reveal himself as an AffablyEvil PunchClockVillain hitman who has been manipulating Serge the whole time]]. His personality and his besting Serge that way could have made him an interesting {{Foil}} or [[spoiler:EvilCounterpart]] to UnluckyEverydude Jim Davenport if he had continued to occasionally show up in future books, but [[spoiler:he is shot within three pages of the reveal about his true nature]].
95	** AddledAddict Rachael (while she is the GirlOfTheWeek, she and Serge spend 90% of their time fighting) from ''Atomic Lobster'' is a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute for Sharon Rhodes besides being more of a HotBlooded hedonist and TheLoad rather than a calculating grifter, killer, and HoneyTrap like Sharon. [[spoiler:She is also Sharon's sister and mourns her death at the hands of Serge. This could have been used to explore how Serge's actions can hurt people, add a layer of tension and complexity to Serge and Rachael's future interactions for a while to come, and have given Rachael a reason to reflect on how her own self-destructive lifestyle reflects Sharon's. Instead, she immediately tries to attack Serge and Coleman with a knife after learning the truth and learns the meaning of BullyingADragon]]. She also shows some signs of recognizing the toxicity of her SlapSlapKiss relationship with Serge by suggesting roleplaying to get past their normal anger-filled sex, but this doesn’t lead to any visible CharacterDevelopment in other parts of her life.
96	* ''Literature/TheShadow'': Many fans dislike the JokerImmunity aversion of the series and wish characters like the Black Falcon, the Red Blot, and the Cobra had survived to have at least one rematch with the Shadow.
97	* Mary Watson, ''née'' Morstan, in ''Literature/SherlockHolmes''. Despite playing a major role in ''The Sign of Four'', having quite a bit of genuine detective skill herself, and ending up married to Dr. Watson, she's never used again except in cameos, and during the TimeSkip between "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House", [[spoiler:[[BusCrash she's killed off]]]].
98	* ''Literature/{{Slugfest}}''
99	: AcademicAthlete Fiona is the least prominent of the Slugfest students by far, and the strange reason why she failed her swim test and the fact that her dad was once taught by Mrs. Finnerty (which could have made her more invested in the argument about whether to accuse Mrs. Finnerty of being unaccredited) are never brought up again.
100	* The children's book ''Sneezy Louise'' features a [[TheKlutz clumsy]] girl named Louise who was a bit [[ButtMonkey unfortunate]] but always came round, lived with parents, a grandma, a dog, and a little brother, and had a best friend named Mary. That could be the setup for a whole series of books, but no.
101	* With the exception of Spink, all of Nevare's academy classmates completely disappear from the story after the first book of ''Literature/TheSoldierSon''. Especially Gord and his troubled relation to Trist seemed to have loads of potential, but they are never seen again.
102	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' does such a good job of creating fascinating characters, even ones that play very small roles, [[AnyoneCanDie that it's inevitable to be upset at the horrible fates of at least one.]]
103	** Among the characters that haven't died (yet), we have Robb Stark's wife Jeyne Westerling. The story of how they met is very fascinating on both her and Robb's part: she slept with Robb after he got wounded in a siege when he heard that Winterfell was sacked by his foster brother Theon Greyjoy. Robb, having inherited the Starks' tendency towards HonorBeforeReason, broke off his engagement to his current allies, the power-hungry Freys, in order to marry her, and from what we know, the couple loved each other very much. Despite this, we get zero insight into her character beyond this and no details about her relationship with Robb.
104	* ''Literature/TheStand'': As enormous as the cast is, and as impactful as almost every character is with the role that they do have, there can still be characters who it feels like King could have done more with.
105	** Susan Stern gets a great ActionGirl introduction fighting back against men who have spent weeks raping her and later becomes part of the Boulder Free Zone Council, all of which build her up as a promising secondary character. Then she gets little additional plot role or character development beyond being a dog lover. Despite her wearing a Kent State shirt, it's also never mentioned if she was involved in the massive protests against the government coverup that Kent State students threw before the military put it down with mortar fire.
106	** Patty Kroger is one of Susan's companions, TheBabyOfTheBunch of the rape victims who also fights back against her captors and has a crush on Harold (which could have made him at least consider getting over his toxic obsession with Frannie and Stu), but only has a handful of minor scenes after her introduction,
107	** Mike Childress, one of the men who beats up Nick and then is arrested by him, is never seen again after Nick releases him when, regardless of whether he died of the flu afterward (as it's never indicated that anyone who was symptomatic ever recovers), this could have set up an UngratefulBastard or AndroclesLion moment if he ever encountered Nick again.
108	** Gina, Olivia, and June are three people who Nick, Tom, Ralph, and MauveShirt Dr. Dick Ellis encounter and have some briefly-shown FamilyOfChoice dynamics with Nick and the others. They are also among the first people to meet Abigail and arrive in Boulder (which could have given them a certain status in the community), but they quickly fade into the background afterward and have minimal details about their backstories given.
109	** George [=McDougall=], who dies in the "natural selection" chapter, mentions that Patricia, one of his eleven children, almost got better from the flu before dying. Seeing two Boulder survivors from the same family (albeit one that has still undergone a lot of loss) together could have been novel and prompted a lot of dialogue and interesting interactions, even without considering how the immune survivors might have viewed with interest someone who actually beat the flu.
110	** Four-year-old Eva Hodges is one of Stu's neighbors and initially seems to be immune, intriguingly only showing symptoms of the flu much later than anyone else shown getting Captain Trips. Still, she's never mentioned after that point. How her body resisted the flu for so long remains ambiguous when, regardless of her ultimate fate, it felt potentially significant to many readers.
111	** Many of Flagg's followers in Vegas can feel underused due to being {{Satellite Character}}s and/or only getting a couple of scenes, such as Ace High (given his status as one of the sixteen people who were already in Vegas when Flagg came, and someone who becomes disillusioned with Flagg and is planning to abandon him by the final act), shrewd and ruthless but easily flustered intelligence officer Paul Burleson, ex-cop and PunchClockVillain Barry Dorgan (who has some of the most characterization of Flagg's faction but only first appears a couple of dozen pages before Flagg's downfall), and rugged Marine veteran and helicopter pilot Carl Hough (who survives Trashcan Man's first rampage, only to die in a redundant second one).
112	* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
113	** Fans will never agree on it, but it seems that the decision to kill Anakin Solo just as they'd launched three major plot arcs around him (romance, check; special abilities, check; unique connection with enemy culture, check) was a bit of a dead end. Not to mention multiple Force prophecies about Anakin's future importance (some dating to well before the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' era) that never played out. Oddly, the writers of the post-''NJO'' era seem to agree, as they keep making everyone relive his death. Oddly, Anakin bordered on CreatorsPet in the Corellian Trilogy. According to the writers, they were going to make Anakin the hero of the ''NJO'' books, but Creator/GeorgeLucas vetoed it because he was afraid people would mix up Anakin Skywalker and Anakin Solo.
114	** Jaina Solo as well, since the writers turned her into a FlatCharacter.
115	** Also, Anakin's girlfriend, Tahiri Veila, gets this; while she was important for much of the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'', she got DemotedToExtra in the last book and then hovered around in the background for a while, as if the writers were unsure what to do with her - and then brought her back into the spotlight only to have a lot of her CharacterDevelopment undone so she could be derailed into a villain. However, she later gets brought back for her own story arc in the Legacy of the Force.
116	** In the ''Literature/MedStarDuology'' BadassNormal corrupt Republic Admiral Bleyd is a ruthless crook who is nonetheless motivated to restore the honor of his bankrupt family and has killed Rancors, Noghri, and Shiatavanens with non-technological melee weapons. He had a lot of potential to be a notable AntiHero or AntiVillain throughout the series, but he is killed in a quick and unfair fight less than halfway through the series without much attention being given to the honest parts of his job.
117	** Many fans feel TheExile from ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', aka [[PlayerCharacter Meetra Surik]], suffered from this in ''Literature/{{Revan}}''. The book ignores much of the character, motivation, and events shown in the game she came from, and she accomplishes little of note before being killed off in the end.
118	** One of Luke's first Jedi apprentices, Cray Mingla, is a scientific prodigy (and one whose mentor was a ReluctantMadScientist Death Star designer and who has an uneasy relationship with Leia) trying to save her fellow Jedi lover from a fatal disease by transferring his mind into a human replica droid while wondering if he is truly still alive or is just an [=AI=] parroting old memories. Her relationship with her old mentor isn't important to the plot; she gets few notable combat scenes, and her best scientific accomplishments are mostly offscreen before she becomes a DamselInDistress who only has a few scenes with her lover and quickly dies and is barely mentioned in subsequent books.
119	* Prince Garrid from the ''Literature/TalesOfTheFrogPrincess'' series. He's a FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire that is apparently the oldest in his family of vampires and clearly has a lot of authority in the family, alludes to a vampire/werewolf war that apparently killed his parents, and despite his abilities and initial creepiness, is a loyal friend and ally to Emma. He's even married to her best friend! You'd think he'd get something to ''do'' for the plot, but... nope!
120	* ''Literature/TheTenPMQuestion'': Frankie's mother (Francie) and Sydney's mother. Both have intriguing aspects of them (Francie doesn't leave the house and Sydney's mother is one step away from being a nomad and is a flighty parent), which could have all kinds of meanings (for example, they're in hiding because both used to work for a secret organization), but it turns out that...[[spoiler: Francie has psychological problems and Sydney's mother, we still don't know, but evidence points to her being a prostitute.]]
121	* ''Literature/WarriorCats'':
122	** Clawface is one of the earliest in the series. He was formerly one of [[TheLancer Graystripe]]'s idols, but turned out to be an unrepentant villain. He also murdered [[TheHero Firestar]]'s love interest Spottedleaf in cold blood, and he was the only character in the series capable of making Firestar completely lose it and try to kill him (which happened whenever Firestar so much as ''saw'' him). As well, {{prequel}} novel ''Yellowfang's Secret'' revealed that he was Yellowfang's sister's mate, and brother to Nightstar, the leader of [=ShadowClan=] after [[StarterVillain Brokenstar]]. Despite this, his personal connections to the characters are never explored, and after he's killed in ''Fire and Ice'' he's never mentioned again. Even when the entire fourth arc revolved around the past villains making a comeback after their deaths and he was confirmed to be among them, he never actually appeared in the series.
123	** Brokenstar is possibly an even bigger wasted character than Clawface. He's supposed to be the villain of the first book, and has one of the darkest plots in the series: use ChildSoldiers to make his Clan larger and stronger than the others, then sweep through them and destroy them so that he can be in charge. Also, he managed to drive out an entire Clan, a feat which no one has ever been able to replicate, and he has another Clan completely subservient to him. Despite this, he's never written as a real threat, and gets overshadowed by the much more generic Tigerstar. Even his eventual comeback didn't help him.
124	** Jingo and her crew. A Clan-like group facing their own struggles in a city and harbouring a grudge against Sol? Would be cool if they'd so much as been mentioned since their introduction in ''Sunrise''.
125	* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
126	* Asmodean, for some. [[spoiler:Rand having a [[DePower de-powered]] former Forsaken as his TokenEvilTeammate and channeling coach was an interesting angle to take, but Asmodean's arc is cut short on the cusp of a true HeelFaceTurn when he's KilledOffForReal.]]
127	** Also, Alivia. A former damane, freed by Rand with a chip on her shoulder against sul'dam and also entirely unaware of how the world works due to her several hundred years living as a pet. She also has a prophecy that states that she will help Rand die, and is even more powerful than Nynaeve in the One Power. As important as she sounds, she ends up not doing very much in the series. The only notable things she does in the series is [[spoiler:fight Lanfear solo during the cleansing of saidin, and her talked up prophecy of "helping Rand die", which ultimately only amounts to stealing some clothes and money for him to leave and start wandering the world.]]
128	** Masema. [[spoiler:Someone who was an ally to Rand in early books, but who went on to become an insane zealot, committing atrocities in his name. There is a lot of potential for his character, but he ultimately ends up doing nothing important throughout the entire series.]]
129	* ''Literature/{{Woodwalkers}}'':
130	** Arula. She was build up to be one of the most important enemies of [[spoiler: Andrew Milling]] but her actual appearance in the last book didn't influence much of the story.
131	** A similar thing happened to Joe Bridger. It was implied that he hates himself because he's a shapeshifter but the book he appears in ignores his self-hatred to show [[spoiler:the fight against the followers of Milling.]]

Context TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter / Literature