History Main / Deuteragonist

* ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'' functions this way, shifting its focus pretty evenly between the title character and Judas Iscariot, while giving equal weight and sympathy to the actions of both of them.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': Master Shifu. In the [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2 sequel]], however, he's OutOfFocus, and the Soothsayer takes over this role in his place. In [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3 the third film]], it's Li Shan. In ''1'' and ''2'', the Tritagonist is Tigress, while in ''3'', it's Mr. Ping. ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda4'' has Zhen as the deuteragonist, with her CharacterDevelopment being just as vital to the plot as Po's character arc in accepting change and eventually PassingTheTorch. Li Shan and Mr. Ping simultaneously fill the role of tritagonist, seeking out Po in concern for his safety and helping him overcome his HeroicBSOD.

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': Master Shifu. In the [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2 sequel]], however, he's OutOfFocus, and the Soothsayer takes over this role in his place. In [[WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3 the third film]], it's Li Shan. In ''1'' and ''2'', the Tritagonist is Tigress, while in ''3'', it's Mr. Ping.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* ''ComicBook/IronMan'': War Machine fills this role to Iron Man, with Rescue as tritagonist. Often a supervillain such as Ghost, Blizzard, or Madame Masque will take on the role of tetragonist.

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsTheKingpin Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin]] is this to [[Characters/DaredevilMattMurdock Matt Murdock/Daredevil]]. Matt is the primary main character, but we've watched Wilson run, lose, and rebuild his empire, seen all the details of his messy personal life, and when he's not a part of Matt's life, it often feels like something is missing.

* ''ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'': In ''ComicBook/Hawkeye2012'', though [[Characters/HawkeyeClintBarton Clint Barton]] is undoubtedly the lead of the series, [[Characters/HawkeyeKateBishop Kate Bishop]] has nearly as much focus and eventually gets her own solo arc.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'': While Timon and Pumbaa are the focus of the movie, it's the former who's the protagonist as his perspective is more focused on and receiving CharacterDevelopment, making the latter the deuteragonist. Simba is the tritagonist due to the movie taking place during his ComingofAgeStory and his presence playing a part in Timon and Pumbaa's growth.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'': Simba's daughter Kiara takes the protagonist role while Kovu is the deuteragonist. The plot revolves around them falling in love and finding a way to end the conflict the between Pride Lands and the Outsiders.
** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingOneAndAHalf'': While Timon and Pumbaa are the focus of the movie, it's the former who's the protagonist as his perspective is more focused on and receiving CharacterDevelopment, making the latter the deuteragonist.

{{Dramatica}} calls this character the Impact Character, while TheHollywoodFormula refers to this as the Relationship character.

%%Administrivia/ZeroContextExample* The title character of ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'' now fills this role, the role of protagonist being held by Dagwood.

** In ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' Jim Gordon is the deuteragonist of the story along with Batman. Although as the story is essentially a retelling of Batman's origin with a large amount of focus put on Gordon's first year as a member of the Gotham City Police Department, the two are optional for both positions.
** In the grand scheme of ''ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison'' Damian is the deuteragonist for much of the run. Most prominently during ''Batman and Robin'' (to Dick Grayson) and the second half of ''Batman Incorporated''. He's also firmly the deuteragonist in Peter Tomasi's ''Batman and Robin'' run with Alfred as a tritagonist [[spoiler: up until Damian's death]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': Wilson "The Kingpin" Fisk is this to Matt Murdock/Daredevil. Matt is the primary main character, but we've watched Wilson run, lose, and rebuild his empire, seen the details of his messy personal life, and when he's not a part of Matt's life, it often feels like something is missing.
* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': The Falcon and Bucky Barnes take turns in this role to Captain America's protagonist; they've almost always worked with Cap and have been developed just as much as him. Meanwhile, Baron Zemo often takes the role of tritagonist; he's one of Cap's most developed villains and we've seen him face his own conflicts, trials, and triumphs.
* ''ComicBook/GreenLanterns'' was launched as a full-fledged two-protagonist title (hence the plural); its stars are DC's two new rookie Green Lantern Corps members from Earth, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, who must learn to work as partners to defend the Earth. In the opening "Rage Planet" arc the focus is slightly more on Simon (both his hubris, and dealing with newly-discovered powers), but Jessica Cruz plays the deuteragonist role, with a major arc about [[HeroicWillpower overcoming her anxiety issues so that she can serve the way she needs to as a proper Green Lantern]] - which is a plot point in the climactic battle.
* In the ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' comic, Zayne Carrick is the protagonist and [[BrokenBird Jarael]] is the deuteragonist. Particularly noteworthy is that the comic's arcs come to center as much around Jarael's personal journey as Zayne's, and while the main villains of the first major arc are Zayne's EvilMentor and EvilCounterpart, the main villains of the second major arc are ''Jarael's''. The third main character, [[LovableRogue Marn Hierogryph]], is by contrast defined mostly by his interactions with Zayne.
* Destro from ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero]]''. Although to be honest, the old Creator/LarryHama comics are chock full of deuteragonists and tritagonists. Destro was the villain who wasn't so villainous, who had a code of honor, and who we very often see stories told through his Point-Of-View, so much to the point where we have two views of the evil Cobra organization - first through the eyes of the G.I. Joes, and second through the eyes of Destro, the arms dealer.
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': For a large portion of the books run, Stephanie Brown was Tim's deuteragonist as Spoiler, having certain issues focused on her rather than Tim, rescuing Tim on occasion, and having her own separate adventures when not working with him. She briefly became the title character when she became the new Robin only to be unceremoniously killed off not long after.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Saga}}'' the character order goes like this: Marko and Alana as protagonists, the Will and company as deuteragonists, Prince Robot as tritagonist, and Doff and Upsher as tetragonists.
* ''ComicBook/{{Shazam}}'' has the Marvel Family function like this: Captain Marvel as the protagonist, [[Characters/ShazamMarvelFamily Mary Marvel]] as the deuteragonist, and Captain Marvel Jr. as the tritagonist.
* Allison from ''ComicBook/{{Sunstone}}''. Her lover/best friend Lisa is the protagonist. Allison gets almost as much attention as Lisa and drives the story too, but Lisa also pulls double-duty as the narrator, which leads to us seeing more of her inner thoughts.
* [[ComicBook/TheUltimates Nick Fury]] for the entire ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe. Nick Fury is the linchpin that connects ComicBook/TheUltimates, ComicBook/UltimateXMen, ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan, and even ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour to an extent. He's the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ultimates, widely seen as the most powerful figure in the superhero community, he's also Peter's main mentor figure in the superhero community, and the latter is also his MoralityPet. And yet, he is not the actual protagonist of any given story, nor he had any dedicated comic book.
* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' has several characters with their own point of view but the main narratives are on [[WellIntentionedExtremist V]] as TheProtagonist, [[NaiveEverygirl Evey]] as the Deuteragonist, [[HeroAntagonist Eric Finch]] as the tritagonist, and [[BigBad Adam Susan]] as the tetragonist.

* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': Since the ComicBook/New52, Mera has served as this to Arthur Curry/Aquaman. While Aquaman is the title character, most of the storylines revolve around him and whenever they're apart he gets the majority of the panel time. However, Mera has gotten plenty of character development of her own, has had her own B-plots separate from Arthur's adventures, and has been the focus of several plotlines.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'': Queen Elinor. The story is just as much about her as about Merida.

* ''WesternAnimation/Home2015'': Oh is the second main focus after Tip.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'': Simba's daughter Kiara takes the protagonist role while Kovu is the deuteragonist.

* ''Film/OsmosisJones'': Drixenol "Drix" Koldreliff to the titular protagonist, with the film focusing on the two of them slowly becoming partners as they try to put a stop to the threat of Thrax.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongebobMovieSpongeOutOfWater'': Behind [[TheProtagonist SpongeBob]], Plankton's role greatly outweighs that of the other characters, and [[spoiler:he even winds up becoming the {{Big Damn Hero|es}} in the end, no strings attached]]!

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}}'': Timothy Q. Mouse is the deuteragonist, being the titular protagonist's best friend and ParentalSubstitute who defends him from anyone who bullies him for his large ears and attempts to help turn things around for him by making him a star.

* [[ComicBook/TheUltimates Nick Fury]] for the entire ComicBook/UltimateMarvel Universe. Nick Fury is the linchpin that connects ComicBook/TheUltimates, ComicBook/UltimateXMen, ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan and even ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour to an extent. He's the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Ultimates, widely seen as the most powerful figure in the superhero community, he's also Peter's main mentor figure in the superhero community, and the latter is also his MoralityPet. And yet, he is not the actual protagonist or any given story, nor he had any dedicated comic book.

* ''ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}'': Since the ComicBook/New52, Mera has served as this to Arthur Curry/Aquaman. While Aquaman is the title character, most of the storylines revolve around him and whenever they're apart he gets the majority of the panel time. However, Mera has gotten plenty of character development of her own, has had her own B-plots separate from Arthur's adventures and has been the focus of several plotlines.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' fanfic ''Fanfic/BeingToTimelessness'', which depicts how the Tenth Doctor's tenure would've looked if he formed a telepathic bond to Rose and then married her. The Doctor and Rose are the co-protagonists during ''To Make Much of Time'', the section that covers series 2. This is a "series 3 and 4 with Rose" story. In the fics covering those seasons, the Doctor still takes on Martha and Donna as companions respectively, but they are now tritagonists instead of deuteragonists.
* ''Fanfic/TheBlackSheepDogSeries'' is primarily written from [[Franchise/HarryPotter Sirius Black's]] POV as he struggles with his deep-seated insecurities and eventual [[ComingOfAgeStory growth to be a more responsible adult]] when he's forced to [[FamilyDisunion reunite]] with his estranged family after his brother [[HeelFaceTurn defected from the Death Eaters]]. At the same time, the story gives an almost equal importance to his father, Orion, who is forced to move past his ignorance and prejudices in order to protect his sons, while keeping this reunion a secret from the rest of TheClan.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' fan fiction ''Fanfic/TheCitadelOfTruth'', Flame Princess replace Jake as the second most important character that serves as the main {{Love Interest|s}} for Finn while [[OriginalCharacter Ferrum]] replaces PB as the third most important character in this fic.

* In ''Fanfic/CrimsonAndEmerald'', Hawks and Izuku are both protagonists to the story as the story centers on the two's actions and the effects thereof.

** Tohka Yatogami is the focal Spirit among Shido's harem, having been in love with him long before she ever became one, and the one who got Shido involved in Ratatoskr's mission to save them. During the second season however, she and Shido temporarily switch roles where he becomes the deuteragonist while Tohka functions as the protagonist.

** For ''Time is Still a-Flying'', which covers series 3, Martha is the tritagonist. The author had actually considered briefly not having her travel with the Doctor and Rose, until she considered that the "Human Nature" two-parter and the Master story arc require a third party in order to work (the former because the Doctor and Rose have been fobbed as they hide from the Family of Blood; the latter being because the Doctor and Rose are imprisoned by the Master, and the Doctor needs Martha to walk the Earth spreading stories of him). The Master also serves as a tetragonist, as the story gives him several interludes showing him plotting behind the scenes in the lead-up to him implementing his plot to enslave the Earth.
** For ''Forever and Never Apart'', the series 4 rewrite, Donna serves as tritagonist, a role she shares with Jenny from "The Doctor's Daughter" onwards due to Team TARDIS staying around longer on Messaline to see her be revived by the Source. Martha functions as a tetragonist during the Sontaran two-parter and "The Doctor's Daughter", while Mickey, Jackie, Pete and Sarah Jane split that part during the "Stolen Earth" story.

* ''Fanfic/PrehistoricEarth'' has an interesting variant of this. Whilst Drew is the Protagonist of the series, the role of deuteragonist, tritagonist and tetratagonist changes depending on season. However, Leon is the series' overall deuteragonist - his role greatly outweighs that of the other characters (aside from Drew, he has been on the most missions) and his overall character arc is given equal attention to Drew's. The results for each season are:

** Phase 2: Leon once again serves the role of Deuteragonist and shares this role with Jack. The former has a character arc training the allosaurs and plays a significant role in the finale, whilst the latter takes a significant level in badass, gets a romance arc with Collete and helps take down Sharptooth. Collete and Linda serve as the Tritagonists, with the former being Jack's love interest and the latter having a bonding arc with Cirrus and playing a prominent role in a high number of subplots. Finally Kyle and Nikolai again serve as the Tetragonists, with each playing a prominent role in subplots.
** Phase 3: Leon once again takes the reigns as the Deuteragonist and shares this position with Alice. The former gets a RomanceArc with Yolanda, [[spoiler: and plays an important role in the finale]], whilst the latter gets ShipTease with Will, gets a bonding arc with Raksha and [[spoiler:is among the first to find out about Percival's infiltration of the park]]. Will and Yolanda serve as the Tritagonists, with the former's feelings for Alice playing a prominent role in the plot, and the latter serving as Leon's love interest and bonding with Sharptooth. Finally we have Cynthia and Sharptooth as Tetragonists, with the former's [[spoiler:attempts to find out what Percival and the Novum board are planning]] playing a prominent role, while the latter gets a bonding arc with Yolanda.

* In ''Fanfic/SonOfTheDesert'', [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist Edward Elric]] is the protagonist while his mother Trisha is the deuteragonist. While the story is about how the Elrics' Ishvalan heritage affected their lives in the military, the other half of the story is about Trisha's courtship off Hohenheim and her raising Ed and Al.

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'': While the story is all about Chloe's adventures on the Infinity Train in her journey to reinvent herself, her {{Childhood Friend|s}} Goh is the deuteragonist as he must come to terms on how, despite stating he's "friends" with Chloe, he's never cared or actually interacted with her due to his obsession with Mew and new budding friendship with Ash.
* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainStarFinder'': While this fanfic is about Stella's journey in Blossomverse's Infinity Train, this fanfic also focuses on Lincoln's thoughts and daily life, showing how he really feel into being part of a chaotic family of eight girls.

** Vicki Vale in ''Film/Batman1989'', as the person the audience follows as she tries to learn more about Bruce Wayne/Batman. Jack Napier[=/=]The Joker serves the tritagonist role as the highest billed star (Creator/JackNicholson was billed first) but has no CharacterDevelopment after becoming The Joker, merely a lot of focus.

** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'': Even though it's a well rounded ensemble, Gamora is the deuteragonist and Drax is the tritagonist to Quill's protagonist. Gamora because she has more connection with the villains and is a possible love interest for Peter Quill. Drax because he is in a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the villains responsible for killing his family and his CharacterDevelopment revolves around that. Rocket Raccoon, Groot and Yondu are mostly supporting characters.

* ''Film/RioLobo'': Captain Pierre Cardona, who gets the main romantic subplot, plenty of good action scenes and about as much development and screen time as Creator/JohnWayne's character.

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': it's standard for each trilogy to have a PowerTrio of the protagonist, deuteragonist, and tritagonist.

* Optimus Prime in the ''Film/TransformersFilmSeries''. In all of them, his role greatly outweighs that of the other Transformers and his motivations, goals and backstory ultimately moves the entire plot.
* TheFilmOfTheBook for ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' has Scout and Jem as the deuteragonists to Atticus' protagonizing role[[note]]this makes Boo Radley their tritagonist.[[/note]] but at some point of the film, his deuteragonizing kids acted like the protagonists while an elder Scout played the role of an off-screen CharacterNarrator.

* ''Film/WarCraft2016'' has four protagonists the story treats as equals: Durotan, Khadgar, Lothar and Garona. [[spoiler:One of them is a DecoyProtagonist, though.]]

** The "Helen Trilogy" novels begin mixing this up, as despite D'Agosta appearing in all three books he remains OutOfFocus. He initially starts out as the deuteragonist like usual in ''Literature/FeverDream'', but halfway through it [[spoiler:he is shot]] and Laura Hayward serves in the role for the rest of the book. In ''Literature/ColdVengeance'', Judson Esterhazy is the deuteragonist. In ''Literature/TwoGraves'', [[spoiler:Pendergast's son]] Alban serves as the deuteragonist as his relationship with Pendergast serves as a driving force in the novel, while roughly 3-4 different characters all serve in the tritagonist role.
* Holly Short from the ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' series, especially in the first two books before she teams up with Artemis -- she acts as a HeroAntagonist in contrast to Artemis's intial role as VillainProtagonist. During this period the story revolves around her almost as much as Artemis and the readers are made to sympathise with her. It is more evident in the Graphic Novels where she serves as the second narrator in the stories.

* Creator/BrandonSanderson typically has two or three point of view characters, so this is pretty standard:

** ''Literature/MaledictionTrilogy'': Cecile is the protagonist and most of chapters are written from her [=PoV=] but her husband Tristan is equally important to the plot, even though he gets less screen time.

* Although most of ''Literature/TheDayOfTheLocust'' is seen from protagonist Tod Hackett's point of view, Chapters 7 through 12 tell the story of his friend Homer Simpson[[note]] No, not [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons that one.]][[/note]] and how he came to Hollywood from Des Moines and met the object of his and Tod's fascination, Faye Greener, and her father Harry. Homer remains an important character through the remainder of the book, even as the primary focus shifts back to Tod.

* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': On a series level, Harry Dresden is the POV character and protagonist, and [[ActionGirl Karrin Murphy]] is the deuteragonist. That being said on a book to book basis the position shifts between a few different people like [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Thomas Raith]], [[ThePaladin Michael Carpenter]], [[TheApprentice Molly Carpenter]] and even Butters once.

** Nino is the tritagonist. While each book has a different tritagonist individually (Rino in Book 1, Stefano in Book 2, Pietro in Book 3, and arguably Nino himself in Book 4), Nino is the only one who has a prominent {{Love Interest|s}} role in all the books (except maybe the first), and is definitely the third most important of the series as a whole.

* ''Literature/SongAtDawn'': Estela and Dragonetz share the spotlight because the story follows the former but the plot is centered on the later.

* ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'' initially uses the same setup of Luke as the Protagonist, Leia as the Deuteragonist and Han as the Tritagonist that the original trilogy uses, while adding Mara Jade as the Tetragonist in the first novel. Eventually though it mixes it up a bit by putting Mara in the role of the Deuteragonist to Luke's Protagonist as she goes through the Hero's Journey aspect of the story, going through the most character growth out of the cast and ultimately [[spoiler: killing one half of the BigBadEnsemble]]. Meanwhile Leia and Han take on the roles of Tritagonist and Tetragonist.

** In Tolkien's ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'', though Niënor isn't introduced as a major player until about two thirds of the way through, owing to the approx. ten year age gap between herself and her brother Túrin (the protagonist), once she ''does'' show up, she slips into this role.

* In ''Literature/VampireAcademy'', Lisa Dragomir's storyline is secondary to Rose Hathaway's, and is always seen through Rose's eyes.

** Phoenix takes on the role of Deuteragonist in ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney''. Trucy is the Tritagonist, with her original family being one of the main focus of the game. Although, it could be argued that the real tritagonist is Valant Gramarye, Trucy's "uncle" and one of the catalysts of the game's plot with quite the impact.

** In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', Nagito Komaeda is this to Hajime Hinata. He even got his own manga that retells the events of the game from his perspective. At a certain part in the game you can play as him for a little while. Different from Kirigiri, Komaeda is the TokenEvilTeammate, and Hinata's investigative aide is actually Chiaki Nanami. Chiaki herself qualifies as this trope too, as she has roughly even screentime with him compared to Komaeda and is ultimately what pulls him together at the end. Fuyuhiko falls into the tritagonist role as he has the most development out of the survivors and has the most character focus besides those three.
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' bounces around with this. At the beginning, Kaede Akamatsu is the protagonist and Shuichi Saihara is the deuteragonist. [[spoiler:Then Kaede is executed after a botched attempt to kill the mastermind, Shuichi is promoted to protagonist, and Kaito Momota, Kokichi Oma, and Maki Harukawa take the deuteragonist, tritagonist, and tetragonist slots respectively as in different points in the game, they each help Shuichi with his investigations and they are all directly involved with the murder in the penultimate chapter. After Kaito and Kokichi die in chapter 5, Keebo becomes the deuteragonist for the rest of the game.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Ever17}}'', you have the choice in the beginning to play as either Takeshi or The Kid. [[spoiler:Blinkwinkel is either the tritagonist, or the actual protagonist.]]

* ''VisualNovel/RoboticsNotes'' has [[ChildhoodFriends Akiho]] [[PluckyGirl Senomiya]]. While Protagonist Kaito keeps her LockedOutOfTheLoop on the [[AncientConspiracy Committee of 300]] side of the plot, she not only drives the entire rest of it, but by far has the most P.O.V scenes other than Kaito himself.
* Houzuki in ''VisualNovel/SharinNoKuni'' is Kenichi's mentor figure and guides him along from point to point in the story while forcing Kyousuke to confront his own past and his future. While he's Kenichi's boss, supervisor and even a father figure of sorts, he's also clearly the antagonist of the story due to his harsh methods [[spoiler:and later even becomes the villain]]. The identity of the tritagonist is much less clear: The main heroine that the story is focused around is Natsumi, but the person who really shaped Kenichi into who he is is his sister Ririko [[spoiler:who has been following him around the whole time]].

* In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', it progressively becomes very clear (especially from [=EP3=]) that Beatrice is just as much the main character of the story as Battler is. The entire mystery is about understanding who she is, where she comes from and what her motivations are. If we add the 1998 part, Ange, who desperately tries to find the truth of what happened on Rokkenjima, would be the tritagonist.
* In ''VisualNovel/YumeutsutsuReMaster'', Kokoro serves as the deuteragonist of the game due to her history with Ai in the past and for being the reason why Ai came to work at Eureka Software. However this can change depending of the route taken:

** The third game, ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma'', is a bit more complicated in this regard. Carlos, Diana, and Q/[[spoiler:Sean]] are the game's protagonists. Sigma is clearly the deuteragonist of D-Team, since his relationship with Diana is the centerpiece of D-Team's storyline and Phi has a tendency to end up dead when they do anything important. In Q-Team, Eric eventually becomes the deuteragonist after Mira dies in the timeline leading to the big reveal of Zero's true identity. In C-Team, neither Junpei nor Akane conclusively take the deuteragonist slot since most of Carlos' major contributions to the plot are done either on his own or together with both of them.

** In ''WebAnimation/{{Carl}}'', Blooper serves as the Deuteragonist and Dry Bones serves as the Tritagonist to Protagonist Carl.
** In ''WebAnimation/DonkeyKongIsland'', Diddy Kong and Dixie Fitzgerald serves as the Deuteragonist and Tritagonist respectively to Donkey Kong being TheProtagonist.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', the stories and actions of Team JNPR are almost as important as Team RWBY's. Jaune is an AudienceSurrogate to help the audience learn about the setting, but has his own storyline building. Pyrrha's skill, grace, compassion and maturity are extremely important to the BenevolentConspiracy's plans for protecting humanity, which forcibly drags Team JNPR into the story's plotline in a way that is independent from how Team RWBY is involved. Between the two teams, they each have different pieces of the same puzzle to solve.

* Amber in ''Webcomic/{{Matchu}}''. Neither her nor Protagonist Matchu know each other, and the stories revolve around their intertwining lives.

* In ''Webcomic/ScarletLady'', Chloe/Scarlet Lady is the VillainProtagonist who drives the plot forward and whose actions are the nail that create the AU, Adrien/Chat Noir is the deuteragonist who foils Chloe and picks up her slack, and Marinette is the tritagonist who remains blissfully unaware of the destiny she was cheated out of even as she continues to chip in against evil and develops into Adrien's {{Love Interest|s}}. Sabrina also acts as the comic's tetragonist throughout the first two "seasons", as she has a prominent character arc developing her from a spineless BetaBitch to a strong-willed young woman who finally breaks free from Chloe's thumb.

* ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' is an interesting case. Back in the series' earlier days, Mario was consistently TheProtagonist, but the exact deuteragonist often changed between eras. It started as Tony being the deuteragonist, but that role was later swapped between Black Yoshi and Shrek. Then, Bowser was slowly played up as the deuteragonist to Mario, only for his son Bowser Junior to overtake the spotlight from both of them. Jeffy entered the picture and quickly take turns as the primary deuteragonist with Junior, [[SpotlightStealingSquad sometimes to the extent of overtaking him and Mario in prominence as well.]]

* Doc Brown is this to Marty [=McFly=] in the first two ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' films. Marty's father George shares the Deuteragonist role for the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first film]] since his CharacterDevelopment by [[GrewASpine growing a spine]] is central to the plot. Ultimately it's George's decision to stand his ground against Biff and Dixon that ensures that Marty won't be erased from existence. [[BigBad Biff Tannen]] takes the Tritagonist role in [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII the second film]] as the person responsible for the BadPresent that Marty and Doc [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong have to undo]].

* ''WebVideo/SuperMarioLogan'' is an interesting case. Back in the series' earlier days, Mario was consistently TheProtagonist, but the exact deuteragonist often changed between eras. It started as Tony being the deuteragonist, but that role was later swapped between Black Yoshi and Shrek. Then, Bowser was slowly played up as the deuteragonist to Mario, only for his son Bowser Junior to overtake the spotlight from both of them. Jeffy entered the picture and quickly take turns as the primary deuteragonist with Junior, [[SpotlightStealingSquad sometimes to the extent of overtaking them in prominence as well.]]

* The ''Literature/{{Earthsea}}'' series likes to shuffle the roles around. Ged is the protagonist in ''Literature/AWizardOfEarthsea'', but in ''Literature/TheTombsOfAtuan'' he becomes the deuteragonist with Tenar as the protagonist, in ''Literature/TheFarthestShore'' he plays deuteragonist again with Arren as the protagonist, and in ''Literature/{{Tehanu}}'' he becomes the tritagonist, with Tenar as the protagonist and Therru as the deuteragonist. ''Tales from Earthsea'' includes a short story where Ged is the protagonist again, but in ''Literature/TheOtherWind'' he's a minor character, with Alder as the protagonist, Irian as the deuteragonist, and Tenar as the tritagonist.

** In ''Carl'', Blooper serves as the Deuteragonist and Dry Bones serves as the Tritagonist to Protagonist Carl.
** In ''Bowser's Koopalings'', as Larry serves as TheProtagonist, Wendy serves as the Deuteragonist and Ludwig serves as the Tritagonist.
** In ''Donkey Kong Island'', Diddy Kong and Dixie Fitzgerald serves as the Deuteragonist and Tritagonist respectively to Donkey Kong being TheProtagonist.

* Doc Brown is this to Marty [=McFly=] in the ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture'' films. Marty's father George shares the Deuteragonist role for the [[Film/BackToTheFuture first film]] since his CharacterDevelopment by [[GrewASpine growing a spine]] is central to the plot. Ultimately it's George's decision to stand his ground against Biff and Dixon that ensures that Marty won't be erased from existence. [[BigBad Biff Tannen]] takes the Tritagonist role in [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII the second film]] as the person responsible for the BadPresent that Marty and Doc [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong have to undo]].

* Mark from ''Film/TheRoom''.

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'' has Kirei playing a more traditional deuteragonist role to Kiritsugu Emiya's protagonist, as the story focuses quite a bit on his development into the man seen in ''/stay night''.
** LightNovel/FateApocrypha: Jeanne d'Arc is the deuteragonist to Sieg's protagonist. Saber of Red/Mordred and her Master Kairi Sisigou are the tritagonists by virtue of being the most developed Master and Servant of the Red Faction and joining Sieg and Jeanne's side to fight the true enemy.

* ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit: Despite being the title character, Roger Rabbit is the deuteragonist. Eddie Valiant serves as the protagonist.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Edward Cullen is the deuteragonist, Bella is the protagonist and Jacob Black is the tritagonist.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8899978/1/History-s-Strongest-Shinobi History's Strongest Shinobi]]'': Kenichi to Naruto. Although in this case the story (at first) focuses on Kenichi's StoryArc and how Naruto influences it. It only starts focusing on Naruto as soon as the MythArc kicks in, at which point Kenichi's StoryArc gets influenced by Naruto's and vice versa.