All cheap and debonair

[sovay]

Talk to me about supporting characters. When you're supposed to fall for the heroine, and instead it's the second spear-carrier from the left who turns out to have the thorniest moral dilemma or the most fascinating backstory. This happens to me all the time; I can't be the only one. So who are your scene-stealers? Movies, books, operas—your own work—which character roles do you remember long after you've forgotten who played the protagonist?

(This post brought to you courtesy of Eleanor Cameron and L.M. Montgomery.)

Comments

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Hours after I complete this, I will remember hundreds or thousands of supporting characters that fired my imgaination way more than the main ones, but for now, I'll go with what I can remember.

From the books I can remember, we have the Fool in Hobb's Farseer series, Mr. Flay from Gormenghast, Hermione and Ron (and the rest of the Weasley Family, esp. Fred and George) in Potter. Those are all obvious and easy.

For movies I draw a blank. Most of them I have seen recently are pretty sparse with characters, though I would have rather seen the sisters in The Descent escape than Juno or Ms. Crazy-covered-in-blood, even though she looked all cool and haggish.

Because I played a lot of video games the last couple of weeks, Auron, who was in Kingdom Hearts 2 and (apparently) Final Fantasy 10 was an interesting seeming dead fellow.

Finally, in my own work, my dearest darling that I had to murder out of Blue Vervain Quoholloi, the graveyard goblin, who could do almost anything you told him to do, up to and including get smarter and was every bit the hero the rest of his companions really were not.

[kraada.livejournal.com]

First: I love the Fool.

But I'm not sure he qualifies as a supporting character in Assassin's Quest (or any of the Fool's Errand trilogy), at the very least. Though I suppose one could argue that the Fool got more important because he was interesting rather than vice versa . . .

If I had to pick a Hobb character who was a supporting character the whole way through I'd go for either Chade, Burrich, or possibly Kettle (whom I liked far more than is probably appropriate) . . .

[sovay]

I'd go for either Chade, Burrich, or possibly Kettle (whom I liked far more than is probably appropriate) . . .

Yay, Chade. : )

[sovay]

we have the Fool in Hobb's Farseer series

Yes. I love the Fool.

Mr. Flay from Gormenghast

See, I fell in love with the good Doctor Prunesquallor. The discrepancies between self and self-portrayal and his weird position as a trickster who changes almost nothing—never mind his endless capacity for monologue—snagged me immediately.

(and the rest of the Weasley Family, esp. Fred and George)

Out of curiosity, why them?