Secondary Characters Bloghop

Sometimes secondary characters steal the show, (or the book) and become our favorites. On May 22nd we want you to tell us about your favorite secondary characters from books or movies, or both!
Whether it's the funny best friend or that goofy kid next door,
we want to know what secondary characters
you just couldn't get enough of and why.

Theresa Paolo, Kelley Lynn, Jessica Salyer, Jenny Morris and Suzi Retzlaff
are cohosting and were all generous enough offer critiques as prizes!
These ladies are brilliant, wonderful critiquers.
Rachel is also planning on giving away a three chapter critique along with an ebook
 of Secondary Characters,
which releases on May 28th. Cassie Mae and Kelley Lynn will also pick a winner to get either an ebook of Reasons I Fell for the Funny Fat Friend, or a signed copy of Fraction of Stone.

 

Not sure why, but when I originally wrote this post, I was thinking of my own book (sorry, for being so stuck in my own little world here - scroll down to see my favorite secondary character in other books)
 

A secondary character almost took over my first book. Stelia wasn't even around when I started the short story that eventually became a novel (after a helpful rejection letter). I just had a few bare notes for her when I started my first rough draft - a dusty, older mentor with a bitter past and a knowledge of the enemy that my MC, Clara, would face. She was going to be there for Clara in small parts, and in bits of memory - flashbacks from Clara about following this forbidding woman around wanting extra swordsmanship lessons. Then something happened in that first draft, and then the second.

 

 Stelia's knowledge of the enemy went bone deep. She was troubled. She was . . . fascinating, and I wanted to follow her around and get a few extra swordsmanship lessons for myself. She had a past that haunted her, and Clara needed to hear about it, at least a little bit, to know what she might be facing. She went from occasional mentor to close mentor, and she took over her own chapters. I even toyed with the idea of letting her take over the book, and then I stopped myself.

 

Champion in the Darkness is Clara's story, not Stelia's, but Stelia is still there - strong, determined, troubled, and full of life. She is, in many ways, my favorite character to come out of the book. And yet, I still love Clara too . . . so they get to share the story, because it isn't really just about one Champion standing by herself, it's about a Champion with friends, and an important mentor - one who struggles against the darkness that she finds around her and within herself.

Favorite Secondary Characters:
Valentine and Graff  in Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Valentine gives us insight into Ender's family and world politics, and that helps make the decisions made by Ender all the more meaningful. Also, Graff is a great secondary character and we get most of him just through small quotes at the beginning of chapters.
Sam in LOTR. He's loyal, heroic, faithful, and all he really wants is to go home and have a good meal.
Luna Lovegood and Neville in the Harry Potter series.
Wash from Firefly.
Sulu from Star Trek.