What is the supporting character of a story called?

Answer 1

There are several terms that could be used for a supporting character. It all depends on the function that the supporting character fills.

I'll start a list and hope that others contribute:

• Foil: This is a character that accentuates the attributes of another character by contrast. In the novel Dracula, Lucy Westenra is the foil to Wilhelmina "Mina" Murray.
• Side-Kick: A character who's (primary) purpose is to provide somebody for the main character to talk to. In the Sherlock Holmes stories it would strain the credibility of the work for Homes to talk to himself, or talk to the reader, so Dr. Watson is constantly on hand for some one to have things explained things to him.
• Protagonist: The person that the story is happening to. The one that the reader is suppose to identify with and be concerned whether or not he/she succeeds. Usually this is a role reserved for the main character however at times it is a minor character that we are meant to be concerned about. In the Great Gatsby it is Nick Carraway who is the Narrator and POV and could be considered the Main Character while Gatsby is the protagonist and subject of the book.
• Antagonist: The character that antagonizes, not always the villain but more often than not. In the novel Frankenstein, Dr. Frankenstein and the Creature trade off on the role of protagonist and antagonist. The reader is induced to first be concerned for and hope for one then the other then the one again then the other again.
• Love Interest: The character to which there is a good deal of emotional interest or concern. This doesn't always have to be romantic love but spans the whole range of 'heart-wrenching' emotions. Typically it would be character like Captain Navarre and Isabeau from Lady Hawke, but it could be extended to characters like Oliver (the young boy from Charles Dickens novel of the same name) as the reader is more than just ordinarily concerned for the kid, Carmen certainly, and even The One Ring from Lord of the Rings for its unusual hold it has over its bearers.
• Comic Relief: If you have a tragedy in which there is just tragedy heaped upon tragedy then the audience (for a variety of reasons) will soon start to laugh at it. Shakespeare knew this and therefore sprinkled his plays with clowns that gave the audience someone to laugh at rather than the main characters - to which he then went back to heaping tragedies unto.
• Sword Carrier, Ill fated messenger: If you need some prop carried on-stage or have some vital information delivered then you can have some minor character provide the deed. In the play Cleopatra the aforementioned character is conveniently killed for the bad news he delivers and is gotten out of the way

Answer 2

Let me give you an example. In a show, you have main characters, but supporting characters would be kind of like side characters that aren't the main ones, but not too minor either, so basically in the middle.

Answer 3

A Supporting Character is usually a character that has little role in the actual story. They can make frequent appearances, but they won't contribute much to the plot.