A side character who was better than the hero

[Valkraye]

I'm going to go a head and say Berric Dondarrion, the Lightning Lord. He was not a major character, nor was he ever really well fleshed out, but he has got to be one of my favourite characters from anywhere ever.

From anime and the such, Alex Louis Armstrong

As for video games... None that haven't already been mentioned.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Half-life 2. As the player character, you have a mute physicist with no personality. As your companion, you have Alyx, one of the best characters in any game ever.

 

[Shadowfang21]

Midna from Zelda: Twilight Princess. Even if they added more personality to Link in that game, I still prefer Midna to Zelda or Link.

Cole Train, Baird, the Carmines, and a host of other characters are much better then Marcus and Dom to me. Don't get me wrong, I love both Marcus and Dom but...Cole, Baird, and the Carmines are more interesting; EVEN in book form, also...Jace Stratton, that is all.

The Arbiter from Halo 2/3 gets my vote as well. His story was twice as interesting as John-117's.

Glad to see I'm not the only Roxas fan here! The guy was more entertaining for the three hour prologue then Sora was in the entirety of KH 2. Least, in this fan's opinion.

Leonardo Da Vinci, Shaun Hastings, the Assassins in the flashbacks...you know what all these people have in common? They all entertain me more then Desmond.

Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender was much better at pulling my heartstrings then Aang was, but I still liked Aang as a protagonist.

Shadow the Hedgehog, Tails, and Knuckles the Echidna were all better then Sonic to me. Heck...even the Chaotix were better then Sonic.

The broader war in LOTR >>>>>>> Frodo's personal quest to destroy the One Ring. Just me though.

Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Prequel AND original), Mace Windu, Rham Kota, Delta Squad (books), the Fetts, Zaalbar and Mission, and even Carth Onasi get my vote for best/better side characters in the Star Wars universe.

>>
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Applejack is the best pony, no exceptions!

 

[babinro]

Pretty much every Final Fantasy game has more interesting companions than the primary character.

FF4 - Kain
FF6 - Terra plays a strong roll but I still preferred Celes and Locke
FF7 - Tifa and Barrett
FF10 - Auron and Yuna
FF12 - Balthier
FF13 - Lightning is an important character but I preferred Sahz.

Kratos Aurion stole the show in Tales of Symphonia.

Zeke more than Cole in inFamous due to personality and genuine heart.

All Bioware titles inherently do this as well. I'm more invested in the well being of Alistair, Leliana and Morrigan, Verric and Bethany than I am of myself.

 

[Byere]

Almost every playable character in the Baldur's Gate games. Far more interesting that the main character as they actually HAVE stories to them... They just happen to be joining in on the PC's story.

 

[Overlordkain]

Kain from FFIV (and the after years) had a much better story and personality than the lead Cecil. He had a great story with a lot of personal conflict, jealousy, shame, and regret where as Cecil had.. a class change midway through the game and a love interest/wife that I could never get my head around ever really being established because he was just so dull. Hell, come to think of it, nearly every one in that game was better than the hero, Rydia, Tellah, even Edge and especially Golbez whom also has a fantastic story arc.
In fact the only person as dull as Cecil was Rosa...

 

[Jenitals]

For what it's worth, I've always found Rebecca and Shaun infinitely more interesting than Desmond and Lucy in Assassin's Creed.

Agreed, Lucy was just a side romance and Desmond was your usual air-headed not-tank. Where as I loved that nervous disposition Shaun tried to hide behind snarky sarcasm and Rebecca's self-assurance. I think these two need more background especially Rebecca who I feel like I've learned next to nothing about.

 

[Zeema]

GET ON THE COLE TRAIN BABY

WOOOO WOOOOOO

my answer

 

[Sparrow]

I'm pretty sure Dad upstaged you in all way in Fallout 3.

Every single character in Dragon Age 2. PERIOD.

...really? Varric, maybe. Merrill too, if you managed to make your character COMPLETELY unlikeable. But... Fenris? Isabella? I think not.

 

[rosemystica]

Every single side and secondary character from Twilight.

There are actually glimmers of what *COULD* be cool stories in these people, and they had much more CHARACTER than either of the "heroes," who are both horrible characters.

Jasper? Civil War veteran! I would've read the hell out of a story where an immortal Civil War veteran adjusted to life afterwards and all of the changes of the 20th century!

That one chick who took I Spit On Your Grave revenge in a bloody wedding dress? Let's hear more about HER! She sounds about a million bazillion times more interesting than Bella fucking Swan!

Or what about the gathering of the Cullen family? How they got together and bonded into an actual family and tried to function in regular society? This would have been an interesting tale of a family-by-choice.

Even Charlie Swan was pretty cool. I would love a story where the dad and daughter are distant from each other, and growing more distant by the day, only to have them mend fences when they have to chase away vampires and all the other horrid supernatural things that happen to Bella; taking it from this angle would've been a touching, refreshing take on the relationship and the story as a whole.

You keep seeing these little glimpses here and there and you just go "Why the hell didn't she write about these guys instead?"

 

[Spawny0908]

The old black guy in KoToR. Can't remember his name, but he's awesome.

Jolee Bendo was his name I believe.

 

[Realitycrash]

I'm pretty sure Dad upstaged you in all way in Fallout 3.

Every single character in Dragon Age 2. PERIOD.

...really? Varric, maybe. Merrill too, if you managed to make your character COMPLETELY unlikeable. But... Fenris? Isabella? I think not.

Yes, Fenris too. I liked him a lot. Then again, I'm one of those sissy-guys that like JRPGs, gothic-horror and general angst, so I guess his brooding "I belong in a Final Fantasy Game"-attitude spoke to me.
I couldn't stand boob-lady, though.

And my point with saying "every single character" was simply that no matter what you did with your own character, what meager roleplaying you could actually pull off within the game, your character always ended up looking, acting and speaking (please get Mass Effect out of my Dragon Age, thanks) like a total tool.
Like I said in a previous post: I played male/female Rogue/Mage/Warrior. I tried every combo, and all the options in conversation/roleplaying I was ever given infuriated me.

 

[solemnwar]

Man I must be one of the only people who kinda like Hawke XD /sadsad
I've never really cared too much for the straight-up goodguys, though. Anti-heroes and villains are more my style. And then there's so much win when a villain does a heel-face-turn, since you can go "YAY HE'LL LIVE".

Best I can really come up with right now is Thalric from the Shadows of the Apt series by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I don't really think even he knows who's side he's on lol XD

 

[Sparrow]

I'm pretty sure Dad upstaged you in all way in Fallout 3.

Every single character in Dragon Age 2. PERIOD.

...really? Varric, maybe. Merrill too, if you managed to make your character COMPLETELY unlikeable. But... Fenris? Isabella? I think not.

Yes, Fenris too. I liked him a lot. Then again, I'm one of those sissy-guys that like JRPGs, gothic-horror and general angst, so I guess his brooding "I belong in a Final Fantasy Game"-attitude spoke to me.
I couldn't stand boob-lady, though.

And my point with saying "every single character" was simply that no matter what you did with your own character, what meager roleplaying you could actually pull off within the game, your character always ended up looking, acting and speaking (please get Mass Effect out of my Dragon Age, thanks) like a total tool.
Like I said in a previous post: I played male/female Rogue/Mage/Warrior. I tried every combo, and all the options in conversation/roleplaying I was ever given infuriated me.

True enough, there were some serious issues with the role-playing aspect of the game. But, Isabella just sucked. And the less we say about Hawke's whiny-ass brother, the better.

 

[putowtin]

For what it's worth, I've always found Rebecca and Shaun infinitely more interesting than Desmond and Lucy in Assassin's Creed.

we need a game of just Rebecca and Shaun... ok theat's asking alot, just drop fish lips and the rest I'll be fine!

OT, Atton from KotOR II, the hero was ok, but Atton rocked (I'd give up the life of a Jedi to run away with him!)

 

[Sephren468]

I am gonna have to go with Hitgirl from Kick-Ass. IMO she seemed more like the main character than the main character lol.

 

[Azure Knight-Zeo]

Unless he go better after I quit the series, just about every character was better than Naruto.

 

[Realitycrash]

I'm pretty sure Dad upstaged you in all way in Fallout 3.

Every single character in Dragon Age 2. PERIOD.

...really? Varric, maybe. Merrill too, if you managed to make your character COMPLETELY unlikeable. But... Fenris? Isabella? I think not.

Yes, Fenris too. I liked him a lot. Then again, I'm one of those sissy-guys that like JRPGs, gothic-horror and general angst, so I guess his brooding "I belong in a Final Fantasy Game"-attitude spoke to me.
I couldn't stand boob-lady, though.

And my point with saying "every single character" was simply that no matter what you did with your own character, what meager roleplaying you could actually pull off within the game, your character always ended up looking, acting and speaking (please get Mass Effect out of my Dragon Age, thanks) like a total tool.
Like I said in a previous post: I played male/female Rogue/Mage/Warrior. I tried every combo, and all the options in conversation/roleplaying I was ever given infuriated me.

True enough, there were some serious issues with the role-playing aspect of the game. But, Isabella just sucked. And the less we say about Hawke's whiny-ass brother, the better.

Isabella was nothing but fanservice for kids and young adults without the capacity to get laid. I actually found her character blatantly insulting to me as a person. It's like the game said "Hey, we know you only play Bioware RPGs so you can simulate a romance with a girl with huge knockers, so now we made another one of these girls for you, but she got EVEN BIGGER KNOCKERS. Yaaaay!"
Hey, game, when I want to watch porn, I watch porn. Get your poorly hidden masturbation-fantasy out of my RPG-game, thank you and fuck off.

..Okey, enough ranting.

 

[mmins]

Lance Vance from GTA Vice City. I thought he was sooo smooth back when i played it.

Spoiler

Well, before he screwed you over

 

[GoodOmens]

Willow was vastly more interesting than Buffy (and not just because of my massive Allison Hannigan crush). Hell, the rest of the Scooby gang were all more interesting than her.

Spike, too.