Journal/Blog

10-22-22 - Support Characters

Support Characters

Often times when we first envision our new story or book, I think we probably focus on our main characters. It is natural to feel as though they are the ones that drive the story and steer it to its conclusion, since the beginning and end of our tale depends on their success or failure. It is essential that we have them foremost in our mind because they are who are readers will likely focus on the most.

However, I think it is just as important to pay close attention to our support characters. The second most important person to the protagonist is called a deuteragonist. This character often has many similar qualities as our main good guy but has a different point of view of the situation.

A classic example is that of Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes. Holmes tends to analyze the facts without emotion, while Watson provides a kinder and more compassionate approach. We get the impression that while Holmes could certainly solve the mysteries on his own, he would not fare nearly so well in life without Watson at his side. Watson helps Holmes evolve over time by remaining loyal to him and showing him a different perspective of the world. Holmes is not always kind to Watson, but the doctor stays. That speaks to Watson's character certainly, but it also speaks to that of Holmes. We trust Watson and if he feels that Holmes is worthy of his loyalty, then that encourages the reader that our main character will achieve his potential growth.

In the Lord of the Rings, Sam stays with Frodo through the entire journey, at times more sure of the importance of their quest than Frodo. We can even have the question of - why not pick Sam instead of Frodo? He seems to be even more dedicated and has a greater inner strength than our main character, wouldn't he have been the better choice? I think the answer to this is that perhaps our main character needs to have the more obvious flaws, the necessity for growth, in order to make the story more interesting and relatable. Though it may seem like the story is centered around getting the ring back to Mordor - and certainly that is a main point of the plot - it is also about Frodo's personal journey. Sometimes the importance of our deuteragonist is that they are (arguably) stronger than our protagonist, so that their support helps the main character succeed and grow.

An interesting dynamic that can be explored is the role of Darth Vader as a villainous deuteragonist to Luke Skywalker's protagonist role. I think this can only be labeled as such if we are only looking at the initial trilogy that was released. Luke is the lead character for that set of books/movies, but in truth the overall story arch really has Anakin (Vader) as the true main character (in my opinion). I definitely think that the way the trilogies were released was correct. It was much more of a hook to come in with Luke as the protagonist facing this larger than life enemy. The role they both play in helping one another to progress as characters is interesting in its complexity.

I could go on and site more examples, but the overall point here is that our main characters (for the most part) definitely benefit from having strong supporting characters. In fact, often times it is the inner strength of our deuteragonists that help our protagonists achieve their goals. Why don't we have our secondary characters be the main ones, then? Because starting out with a 'perfect' character isn't going to be a very entertaining story, is it? Most times our stories are not just purely for entertaining the audience. We also want them to learn a lesson through situations that they can relate to and that requires growth of imperfect characters. At times, we can even have our characters help one another and have a different angle for each of them on how they are becoming better individually.