# Secondary movie/literary characters more interesting than the protagonist

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 23, 2007, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320 "2007-02-23T02:44:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Tara57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Tara57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tara57)\
**Post date:** [February 26, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/41 "2012-02-26T23:54:05Z")

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> [@Marlitharn](#):
>
> Mary, from the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.
> 
> I know they’re semi-autobiographical, but I’d like to know more about what Mary’s thinking.

You might enjoy Mary Ingalls on Her Own, by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel. It’s one of the newer Little House companion books. It is the story of Mary’s years at college, told from her point of view. It is fiction, of course, and it reads a bit like fan fiction, but it is a fun read as an extension of the original books. There is also a book from Nellie’s point of view, and a book about the Burr Oak years, which I object to, as Laura found that time of her family’s life too sad to share.

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**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/42 "2012-02-27T00:38:33Z")

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> [@Bridget\_Burke](#):
>
> Speaking of villains–the Mayor was evil to the bone. But his vision of the Angel/Buffy relationship was dead on. And he was truly devoted to Faith.

And wouldn’t a “West Wing”-style show depicting his rise to power in Sunnydale politics be fun?

Agree, by the way, that the Faith/Mayor relationship was interesting - and genuinely heartfelt, on both sides.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/43 "2012-02-27T02:03:21Z")

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Victor Laszlo in _Casablanca_. He’s a resistance leader who gets captured by the Germans, escapes from a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia, makes his way to Paris (look at that on a map!), reunites with his wife and then escapes to Casablanca. And that’s all before the damn movie even gets started!

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**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/44 "2012-02-27T11:23:00Z")

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Hit-girl completely overshadows Kick-Ass in his own movie

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**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/45 "2012-02-27T11:46:18Z")

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In Neil Gaiman’s [Neverwhere](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwhere_(novel)), the Maquis de Carabas is a far more vivid character than the protagonist, who has no personality whatsoever. (I can’t even remember his name.)

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**Author:** ![Teufelblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@Teufelblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teufelblitz)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/46 "2012-02-27T12:10:12Z")

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> [@Bakhesh](#):
>
> Hit-girl completely overshadows Kick-Ass in his own movie

I thought of Hit-Girl and Big Daddy as the main characters in that movie, actually. Kickass himself was just a plot device to get in where nobody else could.

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**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/47 "2012-02-27T12:27:13Z")

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Farscape TV show, the main character is John but his story is pretty dull compared to some of his cast members.

Aeryn was born into an authoritarian militaristic society that executes you for spending too much time around outsiders(irreversably contaminated) and are basically the third reich in space. She is forced by circumstance to take up with the crew and her growth over the time of the show interesting.

Chiana is an openly bisexual(if that term means anything to an alien) miscreant from a socially conservative society that uses drugs and mental manipulation to control the populace. She has been forced to wander the galaxy or be mind wiped back home.

There was a season 1 episode where a murder was committed and we the audience never find out who did it, two suspects were members of the crew. A convincing argument can be made for any of the three suspects and maybe even other crew members, thats cool.

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**Author:** ![Courk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Courk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Courk)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/48 "2012-02-27T13:23:06Z")

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I was going to mention The Princess Bride, too. I could probably read an entire novel on the parts that were “edited” for being too boring. Not the actual boring bits, but the way they’re edited out. Does Florin get to count as a character?

I would also read a story about all of the Dread Pirate Roberts

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**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/49 "2012-02-27T13:40:33Z")

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:smack:How could have I forgot…

In the new Doctor Who The Master shows up once again, he steals the TARDIS and has around a year on earth to become a politician. Thats…crazy but lets assume he uses the TARDIS to plant records and shit.

Anyway he acquires a human wife while on earth, who apparently is loved and loves him. She knows fully what he is and what he plans(bad news for earth) but sticks by him. Later into his insane reign of death she freely roams his base of doom, so it does seem sincere.

What in flying fuck could be more interesting than her story?!?

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**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/50 "2012-02-27T13:41:01Z")

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In _The Apartment_, I’d like to know more about Fran. She’s the cute elevator operator in the big building in the big city, and along comes sleazy Fred MacMurray. Why did she go out with him? What’s her story? I don’t really need to know the sordid details, although I’m sure they’re unavoidable. But what did she start out wanting and how did she end up overdosing in an (apparent) stranger’s apartment because some asshole insurance executive won’t leave his wife?

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**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/51 "2012-02-27T14:50:26Z")

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To go back to the OP (five years later)\< I’d love to have GWTW as told by Sueleen O’Hara. The opening line would be something likr this:

This is the story of Susan Elinor “Suellen” O’Hara who, unlike her mother who fell in love with her cousin after his death spent the rest of her life mouring him, never realizing what a good man she had in my father, and her sister Scarlett who fell in love with a man who married his cousin and married three times and neber realized what a good man she had in her third husband who loved her to distraction and was very wealthy, and her sister Caroline Irene “Careen” who fell in love with a man who died and spent the rest of her life as a nun, mourning him, fell in love with a good man who Scarlett, after dubbing him "an old maid in britches, stole from me and married for his money, agreed to marry a man who was in love with her younger sister and spent the rest of her life taking care of Tara, the family plantation, while Scarlett was busy galavanting around Atlanta showing off her husband’s wealth.

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**Author:** ![Bakhesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Bakhesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bakhesh)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/52 "2012-02-27T15:03:22Z")

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> [@Teufelblitz](#):
>
> I thought of Hit-Girl and Big Daddy as the main characters in that movie, actually. Kickass himself was just a plot device to get in where nobody else could.

The fact that the movie is called Kick-ass suggests otherwise 😉

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**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/53 "2012-02-27T15:05:12Z")

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In Walter Moseley’s mystery novels, Mouse is a much cooler and more interesting character tha n Easy Rawlins.

And Hawk has always been a much cooler character than Spenser.

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**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/54 "2012-02-27T15:08:55Z")

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In the _Sten_ series of sci-fi adventures, Alex Kilgour is a much more interesting character than the titular hero. He tells better(?) jokes, too.

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**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/55 "2012-02-27T15:08:55Z")

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> [@Quartz](#):
>
> Jordan needs to finish the thing before he dies.

He’d better or I’ll kill him.

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**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/56 "2012-02-27T15:26:52Z")

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In _The Magic Flute_ I found Papageno to be a much more interesting character than Tamino.

_The Egg and I_ is about a newlywed couple moving to the country to start a chicken ranch. The movie spawned 9 sequels starring the wacky neighbors.

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**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/57 "2012-02-27T15:37:36Z")

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> [@Mr.Excellent](#):
>
> Agree, by the way, that the Faith/Mayor relationship was interesting - and genuinely heartfelt, on both sides.

Creepy, codependent, and mutually destructive, but kind of sweet.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/58 "2012-02-27T15:47:19Z")

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> [@grude](#):
>
> :smack:How could have I forgot…
> 
> In the new Doctor Who The Master shows up once again, he steals the TARDIS and has around a year on earth to become a politician. Thats…crazy but lets assume he uses the TARDIS to plant records and shit.
> 
> Anyway he acquires a human wife while on earth, who apparently is loved and loves him. She knows fully what he is and what he plans(bad news for earth) but sticks by him. Later into his insane reign of death she freely roams his base of doom, so it does seem sincere.
> 
> What in flying fuck could be more interesting than her story?!?

Well, he’s an intensely charismatic man, and he drove her insane by showing her the ultimate fate of humanity. Tragic, to be sure (and awesome), but there wasn’t really that much to add in terms of her character.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/59 "2012-02-27T16:16:08Z")

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I always thought the Zooey Deschanel character and her boyfriend were a much more interesting and fun couple than Sarah Jessica Parker’s and Matt McConaghey’s characters in “Failure to Launch.”

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**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [February 27, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/secondary-movie-literary-characters-more-interesting-than-the-protagonist/393320/60 "2012-02-27T22:06:20Z")

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In _Thunderheart_, Graham Greene’s character is much more interesting than Val Kilmer’s.

In _Maverick_, Graham Greene’s character is much more interesting than Mel Gibson’s. I would have loved to see an entire movie about that character.

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