# Characters who are almost absent from a work named after them **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 23, 2021, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806 "2021-11-23T13:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Pavelb1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/439d5e/32.png) [@Pavelb1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pavelb1)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/61 "2021-11-24T03:16:39Z")
Dr. No takes forever to appear and is barely in it after. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/62 "2021-11-24T03:21:20Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > James Dean does not appear in _Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean_ . Jimmy Dean was supposed to be James Dean’s son, but we don’t ever see Jimmy Dean, either. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/63 "2021-11-24T03:34:30Z")
To go way back, I seem to recall that in _The Illiad_, it was several books in before we actually see the walls of Illium (Troy). But I don’t know if that will count, since much of the story all revolves around the city & its’ rulers. Also, the whole story isn’t told in chronological order. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/64 "2021-11-24T03:46:35Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > its’ WTF kind of word is this? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/65 "2021-11-24T05:44:06Z")
It actually started in Fargo, hence the title. The opening scene was at a dive bar there. Otherwise, it was mostly set in Brainerd, MN. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/66 "2021-11-24T08:12:28Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > > [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > > > its’ > > WTF kind of word is this? Its’ the sensible alternative to it’s. Its’ also an alternative to its. If its’ the only word you ever use its’ not likely that you will ever choose the wrong one. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/67 "2021-11-24T09:33:55Z")
[Harvey](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042546/) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/68 "2021-11-24T13:18:14Z")
Harvey’s affects show up a couple of times, though. There’s a story that, when the play was first produced, that people would feel disappointed if they never saw Harvey, so they got some poor schnook to dress in a Rabbit suit, Ralphie-like, and step out on stage briefly. It went over like the proverbial lead balloon, and no one ever mentioned it again. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/69 "2021-11-24T13:48:05Z")
> [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > The Illiad The word is spelled Iliad. Something that many people don’t realize is that the Trojan Horse is not in the Iliad. _The Iliad_ is set earlier in the siege of Troy. The use of the Trojan Horse to break down the walls doesn’t happen until after the time described in _The Iliad_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/70 "2021-11-24T13:49:06Z")
Charlie in _Charlie’s Angels_. You only hear his voice, and only for a scene or two. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/71 "2021-11-24T14:03:32Z")
From radio, _Duffy’s Tavern_. Duffy was never there. Sometimes he’d call, but you never heard his voice. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/72 "2021-11-24T15:44:38Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The use of the Trojan Horse to break down the walls doesn’t happen until after the time described in _The Iliad_ . Did you think the horse was a battering ram? ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/73 "2021-11-24T16:10:03Z")
We don’t get French benefits? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/19CcR-75DyU/hqdefault.jpg "Fedex always get things wrong") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19CcR-75DyU) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/74 "2021-11-24T16:19:08Z")
The strip still uses the title Barney Google & Snuffy Smith (for Sunday editions), but the former hasn’t been seen in many decades. Edit: he’s apparently made a few cameos over the past decade. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/75 "2021-11-24T16:25:12Z")
In the Bible, the prophet Samuel dies near the end of I Samuel. He’s absent from II Samuel, and it seems to me that the latter should be called David instead. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/76 "2021-11-24T16:36:16Z")
The guy who had something to avenge (David Keel wanted to avenge the murder of his fiancee’) dropped out of the series after a year or so. So for the remainder of the series, there’s no one who’s particularly invested in avenging anything. They just fight crime looking dapper and/or modish ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/77 "2021-11-24T16:44:54Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Did you think the horse was a battering ram? Actually, it has been plausibly argued that the inspiration for the Trojan Horse was an early siege engine [Siege engine - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_engine#:~:text=A%20siege%20engine%20is%20a,up%20to%20the%20enemy%20fortification). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/78 "2021-11-24T17:14:45Z")
> [@psiekier](#): > > We don’t get French benefits? Aristotle was not Belgian. The London Underground is not a political movement. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/79 "2021-11-24T17:36:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Dracula** is mostly offstage in Bram Stoker’s book about him. He’s in the Transylvania section, of course, but once the scene shifts to England we concentrate mostly on the other characters. Kim Newman followed this example in _Anno Dracula_ and its sequels. In this series of novels, Dracula is a major historical figure but he rarely actually appears in any scenes in the books. Newman has said this was intentional. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2021, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806/80 "2021-11-24T17:43:17Z")
This made me Wiki the Horse story. I used to wonder why it never occurred to the Trojans that somebody could be hiding in this structure. One crazy old account lists 40 guys in there! Anyway, one guy was calling it out, and chucked a spear at it. The Horse had been presented as a gift to Athena, and the spear guy was immediately smited, which convinced everybody Athena had done it, and that the Horse was OK. Turns out it was a coincidence- spear guy was struck down by another god for banging his wife in the temple. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-who-are-almost-absent-from-a-work-named-after-them/954806.md?page=5)