List of heroic stock characters



This is a list of stock characters within the heroic archetype.


 * The Chosen One: Must typically fulfill an ancient prophecy to save the world, often requiring the help of a Wise Old Man or Elderly Martial Arts Master to fulfill this destiny. Almost always of apparently humble origins or (often is discovered in the story as being) from a noble family. Requires multiple sidekicks, often with radically different skills. Examples include Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars, Neo from The Matrix, Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Chosen One from Kung Pow!, and Samurai Jack in the programme of the same name.
 * The Reluctant Hero: often overlapping with the Chosen One, this hero is usually an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary circumstances beyond his/her control that will require a great deal of effort and peril on his/her part. This hero has reservations about fulfilling their heroic obligations for various reasons, such as disbelief in their importance, or the desire to live a simple life. Examples of the reluctant hero include Frodo Baggins of The Lord of the Rings, Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII, Han Solo in the Star Wars, and Richard Rahl of  the Sword of Truth series of books.
 * Not always the hero, but always on his or her side, Christ Figure is an extended metaphor where a character is strongly associated with or stands in for the religious figure of Jesus Christ. Narratives often present Christ figures as conspicuously moral and innocent, or as broken or wicked persons who find redemption in the act of sacrificing themselves to a hostile world. This figure overlaps considerably with others such as The Reluctant Hero or The Fool. One example is Lucas Jackson from Cool Hand Luke, Neo from The Matrix, or Vash the Stampede from Trigun.
 * The Clumsy Hero: A well-meaning person who often accidentally destroys friend and foe alike, e.g., Inspector Gadget, Edward Scissorhands, Ernest P. Worrell, Jar Jar Binks, and the Dirty Pair.
 * The Born Loser/The Fall Guy: A very friendly and considerate fellow who means very well, and works very hard to achieve his goals only to fail miserably through no fault of his own, and constantly gets victimized by both his peers and fate. Examples include Job, Charlie Brown of the Peanuts comic strip, Meg Griffin from Family Guy, and Milhouse Van Houten of The Simpsons.
 * The Competent Man or Adventuress: Can do anything well; repair a machine, fight, cook a meal, build a house, etc.  The heroes (and heroines) of Robert A. Heinlein's fiction are generally Competent Men, especially Lazarus Long.  Indiana Jones, MacGyver, James Bond, Domovoi Butler from Artemis Fowl, and Odysseus are perhaps the most famous examples of Incompetent Men.
 * The Everyman: The opposite of the Competent Man; an ordinary person often thrust into extraordinary circumstances who must find a way to triumph without the benefit of the variety of skills possessed by the Competent Man. The Everyman is often an audience identification figure. One example is Arthur Dent, the protagonist of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
 * The Contender: an athlete with raw talent, but who must rely on the guidance of a Wise Old Man or similar character in order to overcome internal limitations in order to triumph. Examples of this are Rocky Balboa and The Karate Kid.
 * The Loose cannon, or Cop on the Edge: a reckless cop forced to bend the rules to see justice served, such as Shaft, Dirty Harry, and Vic Mackey from The Shield. Sometimes overlaps with the anti-hero.
 * The Wise Old Man: An elderly character who offers advice and guidance to the protagonists. Examples include Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, Yoda from Star Wars, and Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter.
 * The Elderly Martial Arts Master: A more specific class of the Wise Old Man archetype, is typically an extremely old Asian man who is nonetheless a near invincible master of the martial arts, for example Pai Mei from the Kill Bill movies, Kazuma Sohma from Fruits Basket, the Third Hokage from Naruto, and Keisuke Miyagi from The Karate Kid. Chui-hui, also known as "the True Master", from the Teen Titans, is a female example of this kind of stock character.
 * The Magical Negro, another variant, in this case a miraculous black figure whose sole point of existence stems from the need of the main character to have a guide or tutor, as in American History X, Driving Miss Daisy, The Green Mile, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Rudy, and Unbreakable.
 * The Haunted Hero: Must deal with his or her traumatic past or some supernatural power or curse before he or she can triumph. Examples include Batman, Shadow the Hedgehog and Van Helsing. Sasuke Uchiha from Naruto could also be considered as this.
 * The Honest Thief. Only steals to live or for vengeance on the rich. Typically gives to the poor. Often suave or cheeky. Examples, Robin Hood, Saint Tail, Reynard the Fox, Monkey Punch's Lupin III, Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, Gonff the Mousethief in the Redwall books, Aladdin and Zorro. Archetype depicted as a fox, may overlap with the Repentant Traitor and/or the Trickster.
 * The Lovable Rogue: Full of confidence and friendly, but doesn’t recognize local customs and isn't overly sophisticated. A few good examples are Crocodile Dundee, Borat, Monkey D. Luffy, and Robin Hood.
 * The Outlaw: a cold-blooded desperado, as opposed to the Honest Thief or Lovable Rogue, but could become either type. A famous example is Clint Eastwood's "Man With No Name" character from the Man With No Name movies.
 * The Humbled Hero: Starts out as a rich and powerful, but arrogant and selfish, character. He soon has his fortunes reversed, and he is forced to befriend a firm but honest and kindly companion as he struggles to get his status back, becoming a better person in the process. Examples include Lightning McQueen from Cars, Kuzco from The Emperor's New Groove, Harvey Cheyne Jr. from Captains Courageous, Kareem Said from the HBO series Oz and Huo Yuan Jia from Fearless.
 * The Nerd: Always with his pocket protector, spectacles, and usually a strange or old-fashioned name. Often also struck with a speech impediment. He frequently has an ardent, futile crush on the Pretty Ugly Girl but can’t get her attention because she herself has a crush on The Jock or the Nice Guy. Examples include Neil Goldman from Family Guy, Steve Urkel from Family Matters, William in Can’t Hardly Wait, and any similar stereotypical characters in teen movies.
 * The Prodigy: Gifted with an extremely high IQ but rarely given the opportunity to use it, resulting in a feeling of not having achieved his or her full potential. Often could easily become rich, successful, and prestigious by working in the system but sometimes turns to crime or other unconventional means as a challenge. Examples include Hunter Rose from Matt Wagner's Grendel comics and Professor Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories.
 * The Reclusive Genius: An intelligent and antisocial character that is either is a main character or has some of relation to one. He usually no longer interacts with the outside world and antagonizes the main characters for most of the story, but provides crucial support at the story’s climax. Examples are Dr. Gregory House from House, M.D., Shikamaru Nara from Naruto, Herbert West from Re-Animator, and Cid from the Final Fantasy series. Mycroft Holmes is perhaps the earliest example of this stock character.
 * The Whiz Kid: A brainy sidekick to the hero. Often the weakest physically of the group. As a result, he can be useless in a fight, but knows his way around computers and technical stuff. Often witty, in an erudite way. Typically uses complex technical jargon in his or her speech. Examples: Artemis Fowl from the series of the same name, Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series, Velma Dinkley from Scooby-Doo and Willow Rosenberg of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * The Repentant Traitor: Often used in children’s books and films, he starts out as a clear-cut villain, who is sent to infiltrate and betray the "good guys", but is won over by the kindness/goodness of the good guys and builds up a rapport or changes their actions to save a loved one on the "good guys'" side. Sometimes his defection is caused by abuse or a betrayal from the main villain. Changes side to join them, but in this almost always loses their trust in admitting to having worked for the enemy, and at this point becomes a true traitor in betraying his (or her) original side. Almost always killed or severely wounded in this change to the good guys. Examples: Darth Vader, RJ from the movie Over the Hedge, Sheena Fujibayashi from Tales of Symphonia.
 * The Rookie: Often young, bright, and eager to please. Typically fresh out of school and often at the top of his/her class. They tend to act “by the book” because it is all they know; thus, they are often disturbed by the hero’s sometimes unorthodox methods. Although the hero may occasionally lose patience with them, he knows that the rookie is valuable raw material with potential, ready to be shaped and molded. Examples: Lieutenant Saavik from Star Trek; Chitose Karasuma from Galaxy Angel; Tadashi Daiba from Captain Harlock; Buffy Summers and her companions from Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * Second string villain turned hero: Very persistent and invariably pursues the hero with a personal vendetta. Usually a flunky of the main villain or a petty criminal acting on their own. They are usually shown as incompetent and not taken too seriously by either their enemies or allies. Like the Repentant Traitor, they have been known to reform when the hero treats them with compassion having witnessed their progressive fall into disgrace and humiliation. Also, they have acted as early placeholder villains who inevitably join with the hero when the true villain of the story comes on stage. An example of this is the Grandis Gang in the anime Nadia. The DC Comic Suicide Squad has many members who were considered second string villains. Other examples include Koshaku Chuno from Buso Renkin, Yamcha from the Dragonball series, and Buggy the Clown from One Piece.
 * The Mimbo or Himbo: a man who, were he a woman, would be a bimbo, simply unintelligent but attractive. Elaine's new boyfriend Tony on Seinfeld was described by Jerry as a Mimbo.
 * The Boy Next Door : He is often invoked in American contexts to indicate wholesome, unassuming, or "average" masculinity; he is the male counterpart of the "girl next door." He is a young man who is just discovering his physical and spiritual strengths, and still maintains an innocent wonder about them. There are a whole set of typical relations he may maintain in the story. The boy next door is often, but not always, the protagonist of a story. As such, his innocence, sincerity, and common origin will often be contrasted with the cleverness, hypocrisy, and privilege of the antagonist. The boy next door may have a sidekick. Often a femme fatale or a girl next door will be pulled between love for the boy next door and her desire for a luxurious life offered by the villain. Examples includes Aaron Samuels from Mean Girls and Brandon Walsh from Beverly Hills 90210.
 * The Nice Jock: the Nice Jock excels in athletics, while often being low on intelligence. He tends to be the muscle of the group and is usually found on the outskirts of the Misfits. Examples include Kevin from Daria; Fred Jones (character) of Scooby-Doo, and Moose Mason from the Archie comic strip.
 * The Bad Boy: often an antagonist, the male counterpart of the Bad Girl, the Bad Boy/Rebel is usually a troubled and rebellious adolescent or young adult, often the black sheep of the family and a sort of outcast in school. Her preferences in music, fashion or lifestyle are unconventional, alternative or non-mainstream. The Bad Boy is loud or obnoxious, and is not afraid to stand out in a crowd, an individual who doesn't care much about what anyone else thinks. Examples include Bart Simpson and Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills 90210.
 * The Outsider: A Bad Boy type, He excludes theriselves from popular social circles and avoids people being idiotic. His story is centred about a new life for him and how he get into trouble with the new society. Ryan Atwood from The OC and Jim Stark from Rebel Without a Cause are both Outsiders.
 * The Mean Jock: The jock stereotype is used often in the mass media to portray a relatively unintelligent and unenlightened, but nonetheless physically and socially well endowed character. Rich, spoiled, popular and - usually a tall, physically fit, male in his late teens or early twenties - well-known for his athletic abilities. An antagonist who is often regarded as bullies to his peers, especially those who are not athletically inclined or don't play sports and does not have much of a tolerance for outsiders. Examples include Luke Ward from The OC, Tommy Ross in Carrie and Kim's wealthy athlete boyfriend Jim in Edward Scissorhands.
 * The Misfit: Often a Geek or freaky teen, socially awkward. A person who is out of place, or outside the mainstream. Seth Cohen from The OC as well as Plato from Rebel Without a Cause are both examples. Also, Peter Parker is a misfit.
 * Sidekick: Assistant to the hero. Sometimes acting like a comic relief but can be surprisingly brave and resourceful. Examples are Robin on Batman and Festus Haggen (played by Ken Curtis) on Gunsmoke or Streaky on Krypto the Superdog, Miles "Tails" Prower on Sonic the Hedgehog, Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings, and the Scoobie Gang on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not forgetting Kato (played by Bruce Lee) on The Green Hornet.