Recently, I realized that in almost every I book read, I end up liking at least one of the side characters way more than the main chara...

Are Secondary Characters More Interesting Than Main Characters?

Alexa Mintah

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Recently, I realized that in almost every I book read, I end up liking at leastone of the side characters way more than the main character. At first, I thought it was just, you know, one of my weird reading quirks, but then I realized that I can't count the amount of times I've read people fangirling about Carswell Thorne or how hard they ship Scarlet and Wolf, yet I can think of only one post that actually talks about Cinder as a character and only two that have even mentioned her. When people talk about Twilight, few say anything about Bella (unless they're bashing her), but everybody loves to debate about Team Edward vs. Team Jacob, or fangirl about Alice, the other Cullens, Charlie, anyone really, except the main character. Even in movie franchises like the original Star Wars, it seems fans tolerate Luke and all--I don't think anyone actually hates him--but it's Han Solo that they actually love.

Obviously, this isn't true of every reader and every fandom, and it may not even be true of most readers or most fandoms. But it's something I noticed in my own reading and saw occasionally about social media and the blogosphere, so I thought I'd propose the question and come up with a few theories as to why those of us who do end up favoring side characters might love them so much.

1. They're More Intriguing

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Even if the book is in third person, you as the reader spend a ton of time with the main character: you're constantly inside their head, watching their actions, hearing their thoughts, learning all this stuff about them; by the end of the book, you know it all, or at least pretty close to it. However, with a side character, all that's revealed is whatever the main character needs to know in order for the side character to fulfill their purpose in the story. Most of the time, you get a taste of their history, a feel for their hopes, maybe even a declaration for the future, but you just don't get to know the secondaries as well as you get to know the mains. 

Me, I love that. I love characters with gaps in their stories, with a little bit of mystery as to where they came from and how they became the person they are now. Not that they're untrustworthy,but the writer in me is just fascinated by the extra story I knowis there, and so I always end up speculating, daydreaming, writing fanfiction about just what those side charries' stories might happen to look like.

2. They're Often Funnier

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Almost every book has a comic relief side character or a quirky best friend who came along for the sole purpose of keeping us all from getting too serious. These charries may seem cliché, but human beings love to laugh, we love being around people who make us laugh, and often those funny people become our favorite people. The same, I think, can also be said for our favorite characters.

3. They Feel More Human

Debatable point for some of you.
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I'm really not sure why this one is, but to me, side characters just feel more real. It might be that they don't have a hero complex, that they're less perfect, they're funnier, or even that they remind me of myself or my own best friends; but whatever the reason, side characters often seem more genuine to me. There's just something about them that almost always resonates stronger and makes them feel more rounded and relatable to me than many of their MC counterparts.

Bonus Reason: They're Tiny And Precious And Life Has Been More Unfair To Them Than It's Been To The MC

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We're readers, we're human, we have hearts. These small preciouses continuously break them, and all we want is to wrap the charries in warm blankets and protect them from this cruel, cruel world. </3

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In all seriousness though, I don't think side characters are always better or that main characters always fall flat in comparison, but I think it's really funny how the secondaries often do steal the hearts of their fans, and I'm interested: do you tend to find side characters more interesting than MCs, or are the main characters always your favorites? Have any idea as to why that is? Can't wait to discuss this with you, and I'll see you in the comment section! :)

PS: this is really off topic, but I got to do a guest post over on Krissy's blog about my tips for writing dystopian fiction. If you're interested, I'd love it if you guys would check that out and join that conversation. :)

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