The most complex characters you've ever seen

[Fox12]

I love people. I love characters, and my favorite part of fiction is the character development. I love psychology, and history, and sociology, and spirituality... all the different aspects of human nature. My favorite stories, then, are the ones that delve the deepest into their characters psychology or development.

My question, then, is what characters do you consider the most complex or developed? This is not the same as asking for your favorite character. I love Luke Skywalker and Link, but if I'm honest with myself, they aren't very complicated characters at all. You may not even like the character that you consider the most complex and well developed. They just have to feel like real people.

Personally, I have to go with the cast from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Berserk. Now, I'll be the first to say that Eva had numerous problems, and that it didn't always have the most likable cast, but I don't think that even its harshest critics can pretend that it didn't have complex characters. It was the one thing it nailed on the head, delving deep into the psychology of the characters, and studying them on a Freudian and Jungian level, exploring concepts of identity, sexuality, and guilt. It even had stream of consciousness scenes that I'd never seen done so well on screen before.

Alternatively, there's also Berserk. The characters are enormously complex, though their development is more subtle then in Eva. It has a complex love triangle between the three protagonists, while it also deals with heavy PTSD, sexual assault, identity, and psychological issues. It also dealt with certain psychological concepts prior to Eva, albeit in different ways. I could probably write a book about either series, but they are two of the few cases where it felt like the writer sat down and psychologically studied their characters to the deepest levels.

What books/comics/films/games/ ect. handled character development best?

 

[Queen Michael]

Yeah, I gotta say, Guts is pretty darn complex. Another one is Rorschach. At first I thought he would be just another dark avenger. Boy was I wrong.

Still, they don't take first price. That goes to the narrator from In Search of Lost Time. Spend 4,000 pages talking about your inner life and you'll end up being pretty complex.

 

[Casual Shinji]

While I will say the characters in Berserk have a lot of depth, I don't know if I would call them complex, because I found them pretty easy to figure out. Guts has a lot of bagage, but it's rather straight forward.

The characters in NGE seem a bit more complex, since they have way more conflict within themselves. Misato is probably the best example, because her character is handled a bit more subtle than that of Shinji, Rei, or Asuka. The fact that she confuses parental nature with sexual attraction, because of her own daddy issues, is conflicting to say the least. She's even sexually involved with a guy because he reminds her of her father. And then there's that one time where her idea to console Shinji as a surrogate parent is to make a move on him. She's cute, but she's fucked up.

So yeah, Misato would be my answer.

 

[FalloutJack]

I feel as though the faux-Shakespearean ways of Legacy of Kain counts towards this, especially Kain and Raziel.

 

[stroopwafel]

I find most of the cast of Texhnolyze to be endlessly fascinating. From Keigo Onishi to Ichise to Kano. Espescially what they stand for in the context of the story. Like Ichise is a really raw and emotional person, whose suffering seems to know almost no end. He then is taken under the 'protection' of Onishi who is very much the opposite, and teaches Ichise not to be led by his emotions. Ichise then meets Ran, a girl he wishes to protect but ultimately can't.

These dynamics take place in the remnants of an underground society of thrown away outcasts, with the rest of the population living on the 'surface world'. When Kano attempts to invade the surface world the cast is shocked to see the population waiting in passive complacency for their days to end, which Kano knew all along. In the end humanity is destroyed by both apathy and violence. It was Kano's wish to push humanity through another stage of evolution by 'texhnolyzing' people completely and endure 'a long passage of time'. Kano himself being inbred wishing to be 'released from all genes' by having 'intercourse' with the city itself(ie becoming part of it through texhnolyzation).

The show has many layers of both social and pyschological complexity, being a dissemenation of human nature that is chilling to the bone. I can't really think of any other show that got to me so much for whatever reason. Part of this is also that the characters are exceptionally well-written, with none of them being really archetypes or plot devices. As such the show tends to move in different directions at once with events difficult to follow until they start to make sense later on. It's a narrative build-up that is absolutely brilliant and makes the pay-off even more disturbing.

Defintely see it if you haven't seen it. Texhnolyze is the one show that really got under my skin.

 

[loa]

I'd say metal gear solids batshit insane lore that spans over many games produced some pretty complex characters that change a lot.
I also heard planescape torment had somewhat good characters.

 

[Silvanus]

Hannibal Lecter, whose psychoses, neuroses, and obsessions are very well thought through, and who is viewed through several different lenses throughout the books.

Theon Greyjoy, who demonstrates better than any other how you can despise somebody one moment, and pity him the next. Also shows how feelings of fragility and insecurity can lead to despicable acts.

Titus Groan, who grew up surrounded by people who mistook their own insanity for tradition, and didn't stand much of a chance. In the first two books his character is a fantastic study of wanderlust and rebellion; in the third book, once he has finally left his insane home and family, it's a study of homesickness.

Severus Snape (yes!), who plays the villain more convincingly than anyone else, and ends up displaying more moral fibre than anyone else.

Harvey "Two-Face" Dent (specifically in The Long Halloween/ Dark Victory), who has one of the best falls from grace I've ever read, and becomes exactly what he fought against.

 

[b.w.irenicus]

I'm gonna second Kain from Legacy of Kain and the cast from Berserk. I was always deeply impressed by Kain, but to be honest thats probably partly because of the excellent writing and voice acting. And Berserk just kinda caught me off-guard. I mean, its called "Berserk" and the protagonist is called "Guts". I just wasn't expecting deep charaterization.

 

[Zhukov]

Most complex? In any medium?

Well, that basically just comes down to books then, they're just more suited to that kind of thing. Certainly rules out games and such entirely.

Off the top of my head, Adah Price from The Poisonwood Bible and Pierre and Andrey from War and Peace. Although one could argue that Pierre isn't actually that complex, he just goes through a great deal of change.

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

I'm gonna 3rd Kain from Legacy of Kain, he's an incredibly well written and complex character. I also find Gabriel Gray/Sylar from Heroes is a well written and complex character.

 

[Shymer]

It's a tricky question because complexity is not the same as integrity and I've experience plenty of fictional characters that have complexity, but don't seem real, or coherent in their thinking or approach - particularly those characters from stories that have had multiple writers.

I am going to ignore The Doctor as a choice.

My vote is for either Thomas Covenant (from the Stephen Donaldson trilogy), or for Arthur Dent (Hitch-hiker's guide).

Thomas Covenant is an embittered writer and leper who is transported to a magical land... which he then does not believe is real. He behaves, from the point of view of the inhabitants of the land, abominably. If you can get past the density of some of the writing - the character has an honesty about it which is refreshing, flying in the face of some protagonists of world-jumping stories, who are too quick to accept the reality in which they find themselves. There's also something personally important about a character starting buried in self-loathing and depression and then trying to climb out - sometimes with himself as his own worst enemy.

At the other end of the empathic spectrum is Arthur Dent. A simple man who likes tea and a warm day drinking beer and watching cricket - and who spends multiple books getting neither of these things. His development is slow and subtle, in contrast to his adventures - but by the fifth book of the trilogy(!) I could totally believe in him and tell you everything about him and the way he thinks - even if it wasn't written in any of the books.

 

[Johnny Thunder]

I would think of a number of Mass Effect characters:

Legion for instance: an intelligent machine that is a collaboration of computer programs. It's race is like a hive mind of interconnected programs and they grow more intelligent when more of them are connected. Has no emotion (or does it, sometimes?) and makes decisions solely on facts.

Mordin: also makes his decisions based on rationality, but though he knew that sterilizing the Krogan was the right choice he does feel guilt about it, and starts to study the galaxies religions and concepts of afterlife and reincarnation as a result.

Miranda: I guess that's hard to imagine for shallow people who can't see past the ass shots, but imagine that Kate Upton would have the brains of Stephen Hawking, is the daughter of Dick Cheney and works for Al Qaida... I guess that would be a person that everyone would be talking about. She's usually being the ruthless, efficient, results-at-all-costs icequeen, but she shows deep underlying emotions and protective motherinstinct when it comes to her sister, probably because she's unable to have a child herself so her instincts shifted to her sister. And she shows herself to be very reluctant to get emotionally involved with people, like Shepard, out of fear of losing them.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

Kreia, from SW: Knights of the Old Republic 2. One of the finest examples of a well written, complex character (and a refreshing change from the usual black/white approach to Star Wars characters).

 

[Fox12]

I find most of the cast of Texhnolyze to be endlessly fascinating. From Keigo Onishi to Ichise to Kano. Espescially what they stand for in the context of the story. Like Ichise is a really raw and emotional person, whose suffering seems to know almost no end. He then is taken under the 'protection' of Onishi who is very much the opposite, and teaches Ichise not to be led by his emotions. Ichise then meets Ran, a girl he wishes to protect but ultimately can't.

These dynamics take place in the remnants of an underground society of thrown away outcasts, with the rest of the population living on the 'surface world'. When Kano attempts to invade the surface world the cast is shocked to see the population waiting in passive complacency for their days to end, which Kano knew all along. In the end humanity is destroyed by both apathy and violence. It was Kano's wish to push humanity through another stage of evolution by 'texhnolyzing' people completely and endure 'a long passage of time'. Kano himself being inbred wishing to be 'released from all genes' by having 'intercourse' with the city itself(ie becoming part of it through texhnolyzation).

The show has many layers of both social and pyschological complexity, being a dissemenation of human nature that is chilling to the bone. I can't really think of any other show that got to me so much for whatever reason. Part of this is also that the characters are exceptionally well-written, with none of them being really archetypes or plot devices. As such the show tends to move in different directions at once with events difficult to follow until they start to make sense later on. It's a narrative build-up that is absolutely brilliant and makes the pay-off even more disturbing.

Defintely see it if you haven't seen it. Texhnolyze is the one show that really got under my skin.

I haven't seen it, but I know the guy who made it, and I loved his other work. Lain is one of my favorite shows, and I grew up with his version of digimon as a kid.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Big Boss was first to come to mind, simply because his gradual turn to evil is motivated and elaborated on across multiple iterations unlike many of his kind who switch incredibly quickly (Darth Vader, Light Yagami...). Can we imagine a villain with the iconic David Hayter voice, albeit older-sounding? We'd best get ready to.

Having snubbed Vader though- Darth Malgus, an evil fellow who was nonetheless too practical-minded and non-xenophobic for his own nation to tolerate. So he tried to make a new one and got labelled as 'The Betrayer' and thrown down a reactor core for his efforts.

Michael Corleone is open to various interpretations in the books and movies but few are ever simple.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I feel as though the faux-Shakespearean ways of Legacy of Kain counts towards this, especially Kain and Raziel.

Well to be fair... Kain was mostly complex (and exposition-made-incarnate) whereas Raziel mostly consisted of being around to chime in every now and again to break up Kain's essays. I love both characters though, but its hilarious that Kain has so much dialogue and Raziel has so very little.

Spoiler: This outtake from Soul Reaver 2 says it all

But I actually agree I just wanted an excuse to post that.

 

[Flammablezeus]

While probably not the most complex character I've ever seen, the first one to come to mind is Magneto. He's often a villain, but you can almost always see why he is the way he is. When he's altruistic, it never feels forced.

 

[The Wykydtron]

After just finishing it i'll have to go for Ryousuke the main character in Devil in G-String. The game itself plays a mind game with his psyche and makes you question what you know about him along with it. So forgetful, Ryousuke...

Haru and obviously 'Maou' are complex too. It's one of those mystery stories that pulls things off so well you want to replay it from the top with the perspective of one who has all the facts now so you can start to understand the earlier behaviour of the characters, particularly Haru because she's weird as hell. I would elaborate but I have a policy against spoiling mystery stories. Especially when it's such a character focused mystery story.

It's apparently singlehandedly sold me on classical music too. Such dedication to make every track in the game reminiscent of a famous piece pays off.

 

[skywolfblue]

complex or developed?

What books/comics/films/games/ ect. handled character development best?

In my experience characters that are "complex" are not necessarily "well developed". And simple characters can in turn, be extremely well developed.

The ability to get the reader to understand, to feel what the character feels. That to me is a better measure of whether a character is well developed. A lot of my favorite characters have simplistic motivations (see SG-1, Firefly, Dr. Who (at its best when it pushes aside the enigmatic and embrace human feelings)), but they got you to care about those motivations!

To pick a more "complex" example; from the Dune series: Leto Leto Atreides II.
This is a character I hated the first time I read Children of Dune. But then I read the last 3 books and suddenly was amazed by what he did. He has to play villain to a whole galaxy for 3 thousand years. to teach humanity a lesson, and to save them from the path that his father (the first prescient) so recklessly put them on (if one person can see and control the future, then all of humanity will forever remain bound, tied, trapped). A lesson that would save them from annihilation. Run, scatter, hide. Evolve a way to hide from prescients.

 

[Someone Depressing]

As much as I hate Shinji "hold on masturbating to a comatose person" Ikari, it's pretty hard to say that he was a flat character. He was a very complex and rounded character who got a surprising amount of development. I also like how he and Asuka's dynamic explores the gender roles of "submissive female, energetic guy" and completely turns it on his head, and how it was pretty much bait to anger gender-role enforcers.

...Too bad I still hate him in every way.