Side Characters That Are More Interesting Than The Protagonist

Summary

• Protagonists in games are meant to connect players to the world, but NPCs can leave a more lasting impression.
• Characters like Tingle from Legend of Zelda and Adoring Fan from Oblivion overshadow the main characters.
• NPCs in games like Animal Crossing, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, and Dark Souls add depth, personality, and color to the world.

The majority of games put us in the role of the protagonist. This is the character who is central to the story, and is our means of viewing the world. And when you spend that long with a character, you want them to be at least somewhat personable. No one wants bland narration introducing them to a brand-new world.

Except some times, the main character can end up paling in comparison to the eccentric personalities of the people inhabiting these worlds. This isn’t even at times important side characters, but smaller NPCs that you might have never expected to leave such a strong impression. And here are some of the most enticing.

8

The Legend Of Zelda

Tingle

While a variety of villains is few-and-far between in the Legend of Zelda games, there is no shortage of memorable side characters, the ones who really colour the land of Hyrule and its surrounding lands. Link is, by intent, not the most complex protagonist, serving more as a Link (that’s the origin of the name, seriously) between the player and the game. But some NPCs stand out a bit more.

And of course, we are referring in particular to Tingle. He’s an interesting fellow alright, a grown man with the hope of becoming a fairy. He’s a bit odd, sure, but he’s a well-intentioned little guy. Even if his outfit doesn’t leave much to the imagination. He’s even got a few spin-off games of his own.

7

Animal Crossing

The Villagers

Animal Crossing has always been about building a life for yourself, away from reality. While later games put more of an emphasis on rural living, some games let you live it up in the city. It’s about building a community wherever it appears. And you, as yourself, are at the epicentre of building this community most of the time.

This of course is not to discredit you, the reader, but the various villagers of Animal Crossing are the literal life of the games. They come in all shapes and colours, varying personalities, building relationships with others. They are lovable, even when they’re a bit rude in earlier games.

6

Middle-Earth: Shadow Of War

The Orcs

The Lord of the Rings franchise is packed with lovable characters, deep lore, cultured lands, and everything else you need to make a memorable fantasy world. To the incredible achievement of the Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and War games, they manage to make every hand-crafted character incredibly boring.

That is what makes the orcs such a wonderful part of the game. Not only are they more interesting than the likes of Talion, which isn’t a hard bar to surpass, they are genuinely bursting with personality that feels dynamic despite how procedural it all is. The death of someone like Talion will hurt a lot less than that one Orc that’s been chasing you across the length of Mordor with their own head in a sack.

Adoring Fan

It’s true of just about every game Bethesda makes that the character you play as is more of a vehicle to explore the world and its people, rather than fleshed-out character in their own right. Oblivion goes to extreme lengths to further this, with your own character not really even being the protagonist of the plot. That would be Martin.

But he’s not the most memorable character either. Oh no, that award goes to the Adoring Fan. Trawling the length and breadth of Cyrodiil just to bask in your glorious presence. If he dies, he just comes back. He loves you so much he won’t even report crimes. He exists all for you. Now that’s a real fan.

So beloved is the Adoring Fan that he even reappears in Starfield.

4

Vampyr

The Denizens Of London

Don’t Nod has made quite a few games, from the renowned Life is Strange series, to the more combat-heavy Remember Me. Shared across these many games is the studio’s love of narrative, which is combined wonderfully in Vampyr. As the ironically vampiric blood surgeon Jonathan Reid, the lives of London’s citizens are in your caring hands.

Reid is actually not a bad protagonist, and his internal struggle of sating his bloodlust while respecting the Hippocratic Oath is a fun one. But what makes that oath so hard to uphold is the lives of the citizens. They all have a place in London, and the death of just one person can change their lives dramatically. You have to invest in them, and that in turns makes their personalities more important to you, the player, than Reid’s own.

3

Undertale

Sans

Undertale, and its successor in Deltarune, are incredible games that pull heavily from classic RPGs like Earthbound. In Undertale, you play as Frisk, though you can actually choose the name yourself. You’re kind of Frisk. Frisk is kind of their own person. It’s a complex process and all very metacontextual.

Which is what makes the NPCs that much more enticing. They interact as denizens of this world, squarely their own people. And then there’s Sans. Sans Undertale. A character that is as much existing in the world as a commentary upon you, the player. They speak at all levels of the game. They are also very funny.

2

Dragon’s Dogma 2

The Pawns

In the original Dragon’s Dogma, the story was relatively short, focused more on grand themes than the moment-to-moment plot. The characters were fascinating, though intensely underdeveloped. Dragon’s Dogma 2 improves upon this in many regards, though its many characters, though more enticing, are not exceptional in their own right.

Oh no, the most interesting NPCs in this game are the Pawns. You craft them yourself as the Arisen, though how they act is a reflection of you. They learn from you, they remember their acts across other players’ worlds. They are, in a sense, a reflection of their own Arisen. And for how dynamically they learn, it is incredible how personable they are.

1

Dark Souls

Everyone

Among the many things Dark Souls has become so renowned for, from its enemy design to combat systems, the role of the protagonist themselves is far from the most memorable. The Ashen One, the Hunter, the Tarnished. Well-known titles, but not individual characters. They are a means to push the world forward, and a reflection of your actions on ther world.

The real stars of these games, and it is shown most keenly in the original Dark Souls, are the NPCs, the many characters you interact with. The solemn Solaire, the mischievous Patches, the ever-adored Siegmeyer. These characters form these worlds and how they are viewed, and add much needed levity to these otherwise dark environs.