Or, Literature Interpretation Class 2.0
By Toboe LoneWolf
There are probably a bazillion English textbooks out there telling you what a character is, what types there are, how to recognize them, blah blah blah. There's like five on Wiki, a bazillion on the web, and here I am with one more. But behold, for I shall do it with ANIME characters, w00t. XP
Like all characters, there are character designs, stereotypes and archetypes, for easy classification. For instance, Seto Kaiba of Yu-Gi-Oh can be defined/described as "main genius male character out for revenge," Hinata of Naruto is "the minor shy female side character trying to become brave," etc. Of course, over the course of the story, characters become developed and more 3D; minor characters (being minor) less so.
There are basic classifications of characters. The protagonist, the antagonist; the main character, the major character, the minor character, the side character, the supporting character, the stock character; the love interest, the competing love interest; the hero, the anti-hero, the tragic hero; ally, enemy; the guru, the leader, the emo, etc... Any character can be one of several character "types" barring the obvious opposite ones (like, you can't be a main character and a side character at the same time).
These are just my basic definitions; it all kind of melds together because this is "literature interpretation," not math class. You may call them enemy instead of antagonist, or secondary character rather than side character, or stock characters instead of minor characters, or minor when I say side, or major when I say main...whatever. Of course there's going to be variations. But surely you'll agree with me that Shino of Naruto is not a main character, yes? XP
Of the main definitions, there are about three big ones that basically describe every kind of character out there.
Main character — obviously, there's not going to be
many of these. These are the Really Important Characters that are directly
involved in The Plot and get the most attention and character development.
Side characters — side characters that influence/interact with the main
character(s) and other side character(s). Gets less character development.
Minor Side characters — characters that influence/interact mostly with the side characters and partly with the main characters. Gets less
character development.
...By technicality, there are also filler characters that have no name whatsoever, but those don't really count. XP
Note: In shonen manga, which is intended for a boy's audience, that there are usually a whole lot more of one gender than the other (which is usually male). And usually the gender-dominant group contains the main character, the main enemy, has the strongest/coolest moves/whatnot, etc. Prince of Tennis is stuffed with guys. DBZ is stuffed with guys. Rurouni Kenshin is stuffed with guys with the coolest and strongest moves. Naruto is stuffed with guys. And the main characters are...guys. And the strongest/coolest moves are done by...guys. And...you get it. There's a gender difference. Deal with it. ...Or not. XP This is not to say that females are inherently weaker than males, but rather to point out that in shonen, there is going to be a tendency to focus on the males rather than the females.
These aren't absolute clear cut categories and may have some gray lines (like one character could be "more of" a minor character than another), but it's a basic overall classification. Past this, there's a bunch of little modifier tags you can add on like "foil" or "comic relief;" the more you add the more descriptive (and complicated) your character definition.
For example, in the fandom Naruto:
Naruto — main character, hero
Sasuke — main character, anti-hero, avenger; later antagonist
Sakura — main character, love interest
Ino — side character, competing love interest
Neji — side character, antagonist; later ally
Shino — minor side character, ally
Anko — minor side character
So, Ino and Shikamaru are side characters; Ino in relation to Sakura (main character) and Shikamaru with the "leadership" relation to Naruto. Chouji is a minor side character relating to Ino and Shikamaru; filling in the InoShikaCho triangle and building Shikamaru's leadership/friendship base. Temari is also a minor side character, relating to Gaara (side character) and Shikamaru (side character).
Lee is a side character with his "hard work" relation to Naruto, and Neji is also a side character with his "destiny can be changed" to Naruto (after being pounded by said character). Tenten, as a minor female side character, is mainly related to her teammates.
And if we continue along, Kakashi is a side character (main in Kakashi Gaiden), Hinata is a side character, Kiba and Shino are minor side characters (leaning towards side). Gai is a minor side character, leaning towards side, Tsunade is a side character, Jiraiya is a side character, etc....
Or a different example: Rurouni Kenshin.
Kenshin — main character
Kaoru — main character, love-interest
Sano — main character, fist-fighter
Yahiko — main charcter, achiever
Aoshi — side character, avenger
Okina — minor side character
If you doubt Kenshin is a main character, when his name is in the title, something is wrong. XP Aoshi appears in all three main RK arcs. He is a very troubled man (there are a lot of 'em in RK) who, upon losing his men, sacrifices everything to gain glory for his comrades; Kenshin helps set on the right path. Okina confronts Aoshi once in Aoshi's path to Kenshin...and gets pawnzored. XP But at least he confronted Aoshi and gave more insight into Aoshi's mind. A greatly simplified description, and I'm probably missing a lot, but hey that's the gist or thereabouts.
Why the big fuss about characters? Well, in Stephen King's book On Writing, he says that plot is the least important; situation and character comes first. Whether or not you choose to agree with this, nevertheless you probably would agree with me that if the cast of characters sucks, then...you'd probably wouldn't care about the rest.
You can have the most awesome dang cool plot in the whole universe, but if you can't make your readers care about the main character(s), then nobody is going to read it. There's an art in making readers care — all writers struggle in coming up with main characters and making them believable and likeable. Special effects in movies may be cool and all, and perhaps a few people may like the movie just for that, but for the general audience, they'll probably walk out the theater and say, "those were pretty cool special effects, but the movie itself was kind of stupid."
However, there exist characters that are not meant to be directly important to the reader, unless you're doing literature analysis or something (=P). They are meant to help other characters, to fill things out, to move the story along, to do one or another thing that other characters can't do. They may be symbols, they may have themes, or specialties, they may impart wisdom/morals to the main character/reader. These are side characters and minor side characters. Side characters relate more to the main character and reader, minor side characters less so.
For main characters, it's absolutely critical to get character development and show it and make the reader have strong feelings about them. Otherwise the story will flop. It's obvious that Kishimoto has succeeded with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. Just look at the gazillion of fanclubs...and anti-fanclubs.
For side characters, it's important that they actually affect the main character. Regardless of whether or not the reader actually likes the side character, if the side character never affects the main character, or vice versa, the side character is a failure. Now, because side characters get a lot more screen time, and because they relate more to the main character and get more development/depth, oftentimes you'll get a considerable fanbase with these as well.
For minor side characters, it's important that they fulfill their role in complementing the side characters. Otherwise the side character is left hanging, and by extension, the main character (by not having a "working" side character). The side character can lose a great deal of its qualities/characteristics without the effect of the minor side character (as well as the main character, but that's a given).
Every character has, at the most basic level, a value to the writer, and that is to fit and fulfill these character definitions. A main character that fails to be a main character is a failure indeed.
To the story and internal characters, every character has some purpose. Otherwise the character is pointless.
To the reader, not every character has to have some heart-to-heart meaning. There are characters meant to "bond" with the reader, and there are characters meant solely or mainly for the story.
Nevertheless, every character has some sort of value and purpose, otherwise the character wouldn't have been created.
Now that we've classified characters, what the heck do we do with them?
...Well, as a writer, as you wish. You call the shots. =P
You can give your characters backgrounds, histories, names (yes, like secret names or past names or True Names), love-interests, flaws, fighting styles, uniforms, themes, symbols, children, occupations, scars, likes, dislikes, etc., etc.
...Kind of like creating a character for a RPG. ...But of course, in writing, a whole lot more complicated since you're not creating a single character, you're creating a legion (...or a large amount) of characters that are all going to interact and interlink with each other.
Some may interlink a lot with many characters. Some may not. Some may require large, extensive backgrounds. Some may not. Some may not even have one (think amnesia or even clone) and they're looking for one. It is not absolutely required that every character has everything from a name, background, and theme. It may simply be enough to invoke the emotion the writer wants.
For example, Oibore from Rurouni Kenshin is what I'd classify as a minor side character, even if his main interactions are with Kenshin (main character) and Kuma (minor side character). He has only 1) a physical character design, based on a children's book Watsuki read, 2) a name, 3) a basic personality (eccentric and wise old man), and 4) only the barest hint of a background that's basically a one-sentence spoiler. And yet, for such a basic character, he is the one Watsuki uses to break Kenshin out of his depression funk in Vol 25.
Now Tae, in Rurouni Kenshin, is also a minor side character who is a waitress at Akabeko. No background whatsoever and a very simple personality, and yet if it weren't for her, Akabeko wouldn't exist, and Rurouni Kenshin would have lost a major meeting place...and did lose, for a brief stint...
In Yu-Gi-Oh, Mokuba Kaiba would also be a minor side character (leaning towards side near the beginning; definitely minor towards the end). He is the little brother of Seto and his background is basically the same as his older brother, save the Egypt stuff, but even as a minor side character, there's no doubt that Seto (in DM and beyond) values his younger brother greatly (seriously, two kidnappings...).
As you can see, what classification of character you are has little to no bearing on your importance to the plot. You can be a minor side character and still affect the story in huge ways, and likewise you can be a minor character and remain in the background, helping things along.
A writer decides what is needed for a character in order to tell a story. How much is needed depends on the story and the character classification. All characters have a value to the writer, a purpose to the story, but may or may not have meaning to the reader. In the end, a reader can sum up a character through a "character definition," which consists of the character classification and any number of modifier tags. ...And that's basically it.
Class dismissed. XP
