History Main / SatelliteCharacter

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Jake Sisko was this to his father, Capt. Benjamin Sisko.
** Debatable, as Jake had his own story lines (usually involving Nog in the earlier seasons). Jake even [[spoiler:stays on DS9 as a journalist when the Dominion take over.]] It's more accurate to say that Jake was just a minor character, not a satellite.

* {{Deconstruct|ion}}ed in ''FanFic/YouGotHaruhiRolled''. Emiri's canonical exemplar of this trope is {{exaggerated|Trope}} to the point where Haruhi takes it as license to be rude to her for no reason. Emiri, depressed at having no friends[[hottip:*:it's a CrackFic, the OOC-ness is intentional]] becomes emo. This sets in motion a chain of events where Kyon and some other characters try to get Emiri back to normal. [[spoiler:They succeed, only for Emiri to join the Anti-SOS Brigade [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because they were nice to her]], thus giving them enough strength [[CruelTwistEnding to destroy the SOS Brigade]].]]

* In ''AudioPlay/SaintBeast'', Luca is [[TheQuietOne quiet]] and frequently overlooked by other characters, and even {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it by saying he is [[TheLancer the shadow]] to [[TheHero Judas]]' light. However, he is the MostImportantPerson to [[HeterosexualLifePartners Judas]] and [[LoveInterests Rey]], both of whom have more dominant personalities, and this is mainly how he gets developed.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, for the first six books, are Draco Malfoy's two dumb cronies. And...that's it. Despite their frequent mentions throughout the series, neither one of them even gets a single line of dialogue until ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', when Crabbe finally gets some characterization -- he's not very nice, and [[spoiler:he dies within pages of his first line]]. This all makes sense, though; for the first six books, Crabbe and Goyle were intimidated by Draco (and his father) and were perfectly willing to be little more than Draco's cronies, but when the Malfoy family falls out of favor with the Ministry of Magic, the Death Eaters, and Voldemort himself, Crabbe and Goyle abandon their leader. Under the Carrows, Crabbe and Goyle unleash their sadistic natures. (Yeah, Goyle's still pretty much just Crabbe's sidekick, but at least one of them took the initiative.)

* ''Series/BostonPublic'': The school coach was billed as a main character in the opening credits, but his entire role seemed to be commenting on other people's plotlines. The TelevisionWithoutPity recaps dubbed him "Coach Lamphrey the Plot Parasite."

** Had Oz. Even in spite of him being a werewolf which seems like it would be a potentially interesting backstory it often times barely got glossed over, and felt like the only real time he got to shine was when he was with Willow. This is one of the reasons Seth Green eventually left the show.

* ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'':
** Hazel became the butt of constant jokes among the fandom over how little she did. Depending on the episode, she's either a SpearCarrier or holdingthe StrawmanBall. The problem was that she started out as a RecurringCharacter, received a PromotionToOpeningTitles -- and then received the exact same amount of screen time and plot relevance as before.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Exaggerated]] with Kitty, the family pet in ''Polly and her Pals''. 90 % of Kitty's actions can be summed up as, "follow Pa around and perfectly mirror his mannerisms and expressions". Naturally, this was PlayedForLaughs.

* ConversationalTroping on ''TheNewsQuiz'' back in 1995. During all the rumours that Will Carling was having an affair with Princess Diana, his then wife Julia won Satellite Personality of the Year at some TV awards, and Alan Coren pointed out what a perfect description "satellite personality" was.

* [[GilbertAndSullivan W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan]] are one of theatre's most famous, if not the most famous, examples of mutual satellites. Both were successful in their own day even before they met, but it is unlikely that either would have gained their long-enduring fame without the other. The most important part of Gilbert & Sullivan was neither Gilbert nor Sullivan, it was the ampersand.

* In terms of story role, TheLancer seems primarily defined by being a foil and NumberTwo to TheHero[=/=]TheLeader, in comparison other members of the FiveManBand, who have distinctive roles.

** Demyx isn't much better, with his only distinctive character traits being [[ThrowItIn ad-libbed]] by his original Japanese voice actor. However, due to his [[ThatOneBoss boss battle]] (for guys), and his [[{{Bishounen}} looks]], he has actually become an EnsembleDarkHorse of ridiculous proportions.

** In-universe, Inferno defines himself by his loyalty to Megatron, who he considers "The Royalty". However, this is more of a subversion in that this is because Inferno was somewhat uniquely damaged as a protoform, causing his personality to be heavily influenced by his ant beast mode. In practice, he ends up with a fair amount of personality, being an AxCrazy(even by Predacon standards) PyroManiac, whose loyalty to Megatron was hilariously over-the-top in contrast to, say, Scorpinok, who was implied to be loyal because he was just too dim to have his own agenda.

* Disney sidekicks by their very nature, whether good or bad characters. Possibly the most glaring (and inexplicable) example is Lefou, Gaston's little stooge in ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''. Lefou spends most of his time running errands for his 'friend', only to be constantly abused and beaten up for his pains. And yet still he insists he thinks Gaston's wonderful. If Lefou was a girl the implications would be very disturbing. The implications are [[HoYay already there.]]

* Sanjay from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' is this for Apu. This may be why he was eventually phased out.

* [[SingleMindedTwins Single Minded Friends]] Katie and Sadie from ''WesternAnimation/{{Total Drama|Island}}'' are this for each other. Fanfics try to avert this (usually for shipping reasons), but the show's writers haven't given them a drop of [[CharacterDevelopment development]]. Even when Katie's elimination forcibly separated them for five episodes, the best the writers seemed able to think of was [[DemotedToExtra demoting Sadie to a silent extra]] for most of them.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': Subverted with Helga and Brainy, almost to the point to Plotted A Good Waste: Brainy almost only interacted with Helga, who seems much more smart and sophisticated that him. (He cannot talk because his asthma). After seeing various episodes, it becomes clear that Brainy is trying to propose to Helga, (confirmed by [[AllThereInTheManual book six of the series Hey Arnold!]] [[http://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Arnolds-Files-Groening-Bartlett/dp/0439381495/ref=pd_sim_b_3 Arnold's E-Files]]). That book also confirms that Brainy has HiddenDepths. So, [[RunningGag the continuous]] {{OffhandBackhand}}s to Brainy are Helga’s way to [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove interrupt him]]. The point is Brainy, [[BeYourself with all his defects, is completely convinced he deserves to be loved and never gives up trying to propose]], while [[{{Hypocrite}} Helga will deny her true feelings time and again]]. Brainy is showed only interacting with Helga ''because Helga is Brainy’s'' ShadowArchetype.

* Karen is usually this to Plankton in ''SpongebobSquarepants'', despite being a fully mobile computer device, usually working behind the curtains in one of his schemes. Only a few episodes have her come in contact with other main characters, and even then in a very limited manner.
* Scootaloo of ''MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' started off this way. Due to the being the only Cutie Mark Crusader not related to one of the main characters, her appearances were limited mostly to those with Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Newer episodes seem to be subverting this by developing her HeroWorshipper status towards Rainbow Dash.

* Real Life example, Ant and Dec. As ''TheNowShow'' once said, "You can have one without the other but what would be the point."

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* Also played straight on ''Beast Wars'' by Inferno, a Predacon pyromaniac with the mindset of a real ant, who considers Megatron to be "The Royalty".

* Real Life example, Ant and Dec. As ''The Now Show'' once said, "You can have one without the other but what would be the point."

** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'': Blake was pretty much just Hunter's brother and Tori's potential boyfriend. Even when he gets his own special weapon, the episode mostly focuses on Tori's jealousy of his female instructor.

** ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'': Blake was pretty much just Hunter's brother and Tori's potential boyfriend. He had some development of his own, but it was overshadowed by his satellite-ness.

* In ''Manga/SailorMoon'', the [[WordOfGod original author admitted]] Michiru was so unlike her she was difficult to write for, a trait carried over to the television show. The otherwise cryptic girl is largely defined by her interactions with Haruka, whom she usually appears alongside. In contrast, the fans liked [[{{bifauxnen}} Haruka's personality]] enough she got her own mini-arc and BackStory episode.

* Gretchen from ''Film/MeanGirls'', toady in chief to [[AlphaBitch Regina]], who is possibly a {{Deconstruction}} in that she may actually be a more developed character than Regina herself; despite being beautiful and rich she is such an insecure mess that she is willing to put up with any amount of crap just to follow Regina (seething bitterly all the while). At the end of the film it is revealed that [[spoiler:she actually learns Cantonese just so she can join the new top clique.]]

* ''Series/{{Revolution}}'': Charlie Matheson is supposed to be one of the main characters. After episode 11, she becomes this, revolving around her uncle Miles Matheson.

* Similar to the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' example, Ayano from ''Anime/LuckyStar'' is pretty much characterized as "That one girl who hangs out with [[{{Tsundere}} Kagami]] and [[EnsembleDarkhorse Misao]]". In fact, she's so non-present, she's the only one of the ten main girls [[ChasteTeens to have a boyfriend!]]

* Hazel in ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' became the butt of constant jokes among the fandom over how little she did. Depending on the episode, she's either a SpearCarrier or holdingthe StrawmanBall. The problem was that she started out as a RecurringCharacter, received a PromotionToOpeningTitles -- and then received the exact same amount of screen time and plot relevance as before.

* In ''Series/BostonPublic'', the school coach was billed as a main character in the opening credits, but his entire role seemed to be commenting on other people's plotlines. The TelevisionWithoutPity recaps dubbed him "Coach Lamphrey the Plot Parasite."
* Although Vala is more than capable of standing on her own feet as a character in ''Series/StargateSG1'', she is noticeably much more interesting and funny when she's teasing Daniel. In fact, she often seems more lost and bored without him, and definitely much less manageable.
* The families of Rose, Martha, Donna and Rory in ''Series/DoctorWho'' become recurring satellite characters of one form or another for as long as they remained on the show (and not one second longer). Averted with Donna's grandfather Wilf, who becomes a companion in his own right, although briefly.

* ''Series/TheAdventuresOfBriscoCountyJr'' had an episode featuring the notorious (and entirely fictional) Utah Johnny Montana, a master duelist and bounty hunter. He was unable to speak due to a bullet wound to the throat, so the man he kept with him at all times said everything for him, fully aware of his intent despite never receiving any cues. When Montana is defeated, he even collapses as though he was the one defeated.
* Tyler on ''Series/{{V 2009}}'' is supposed to be a MoralityChain for [[TheHero Erica]], but [[TheScrappy fails miserably]], becoming this. To add insult to injury, his girlfriend Lisa began as a SatelliteLoveInterest for him before emerging as one of the most important characters on the show, making him one to her as well.
* David Harewood's Tuck from ''Series/RobinHood'' gets some interaction with Guy and the outlaws in his first episode, but from then on out, he barely interacts with anyone except Robin, acting as his P.R. spokesperson.
* On ''Series/{{Lost}}'', there's Niki and Paulo. When alone, Paulo stood up better than Niki did. And in season four Charlotte is one who is best when interacting with Daniel.
* Guinevere from ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' has no real CharacterArc of her own, at least not one that isn't connected to her relationships with Morgana, Arthur, or Merlin. She ''does'' have a father and a brother, but the former was killed off and she barely interacts with the latter. That said, it's also an example of [[TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]], as her relationships with Merlin, Arthur, and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had Oz. Even in spite of him being a werewolf which seems like it would be a potentially interesting backstory it often times barely got glossed over, and felt like the only real time he got to shine was when he was with Willow. This is one of the reasons Seth Green eventually left the show.
** His friend Devon was this even more so. Devon was the lead singer of their band, Dingoes Ate My Baby, and aside from very briefly dating Cordelia in his first appearance, his entire role in the show was to jam on stage with Oz during scenes set at the Bronze. In fact, after Oz left Sunnydale, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse it was never explained what happened to Devon or the other members of Dingoes Ate My Baby]], as they simply vanished without a trace.
* On ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Jake Sisko was this to his father, Capt. Benjamin Sisko.

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* Stacy and Tiffany from ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' were this in the first season; they essentially filled up the fashion club and served to either converse with Quinn or Sandy, the characters of real importance about matters related to their feelings or the plot. However, season two onwards saw more characterization with respects to Stacy, actually making her highly sympathetic. Tiffany, however, stayed flat.

* Hazel in ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' became the butt of constant jokes among the fandom over how little she did. Depending on the episode, she's either a SpearCarrier or the IdiotOfTheWeek. The problem was that she started out as a RecurringCharacter, received a PromotionToOpeningTitles -- and then received the exact same amount of screen time and plot relevance as before.

Sometimes a series will remove that "central" person from the equation somehow, and the SatelliteCharacter has to establish their own motives. This is a common way to make a BattleButler more interesting. On the other hand, a SpinOff can fail entirely if the star is a SatelliteCharacter whose character can't support their own stories.

Contributing to their poor image in some circles, badly-written {{Magical Girlfriend}}s become {{Satellite Character}}s if not outright {{Satellite Love Interest}}s with disturbing frequency.

* Sakuya in ''[[TenchiMuyo Shin Tenchi Muyo / Tenchi In Tokyo]]'', who was also a MagicalGirlfriend. This was, however, deliberately built up for TheReveal.

* ''CromartieHighSchool'' lampshades this with "You", the toady of the requisite snobby rich guy. Not even his boss knows his name, and the character has made numerous attempts to say it. Of course, all of them are interrupted by myriad events, from spilling juice to ''a meteor hitting the school.''

* Michal, Lucia's love rival from ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'', revolves almost completely around Kaito until she [[spoiler:becomes Michel's mana battery.]] In fact, she does this ''intentionally'', thinking that being completely devoted to Kaito in every way will help her steal him from Lucia before he gets his memory back, while her brother Rihito worries about her well-being for it.

*** Nagato himself was one to Yahiko in the backstory. For all that he's supposedly prohpecied to change the world, he spends all his time orbiting Yahiko, and tells Jiraiya that all he really wants to do is protect Yahiko and Konan. After they form the Akatsuki, Nagato becomes Yahiko's [[TheLancer Lancer]] and/or [[TheDragon Dragon]], dedicating himself to ensuring his friend's dream comes true. When Yahiko dies, and Nagato loses a planet around he snaps and becomes Pain...and is still trying to fullfill Yahiko's dream of a peaceful world, not so much because he cares, as because it was Yahiko's. Even after all this time, he's still chasing his friend's ghost.

* Sakura Kakei, the TeamMom of ''GetBackers,'' is largely defined by her relationship with [[TheCracker Makubex]], and rarely appears without him. And he's a minor supporting character himself (a NonActionGuy [[spoiler:unable to exist outside of Mugenjou]]).
* No one knows what's up with Emiri Kimidori from ''SuzumiyaHaruhi''. The only things she ever does is have "silent conversations" with Yuki and play the nice girl for other people.
** Also a SatelliteCharacter is Kyon's Other Friend (Kunikida, accordign to TheOtherWiki), at least in the anime series, who is mostly characterized as "That guy who hangs out with [[DeadpanSnarker Kyon]] and [[EnsembleDarkhorse Taniguchi]]" (to the point that in the novels he says he mostly hangs out with Taniguchi so he will ''have'' some in-universe characterization). Taniguchi is a lesser example, being [[OnlySaneMan Kyon's]] Only Sane Friend.

** Rivalz [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] his status in the penultimate episode with Milly, lamenting that his friends are out there fighting for the fate of the world while he sits on his duff doing nothing but feeling sorry for himself. He actually ''is'' appreciated by some small measure of the fanbase for being [[GenreSavvy quite attuned to his status as a]] SatelliteCharacter. And several more fans find him cute or fun.

* In ''ChronoCrusade'', Mary Magdalene's character mostly revolves around her interactions with [[spoiler:Chrono]]. However, she's a creepier version than what's typical, particularly in the manga version (and in fact seems to have been meant to be slightly disturbing)--She's a seer that is so overwhelmed by the visions she has that she can't remember her own childhood or even ''her real name''. There's only one piece of herself she clings onto--[[spoiler:a dream she's had since she was a child of Chrono being the one to take her life. When she meets him, she willingly allows him to take her away from the safety of the religious order that guarded her because she wanted to get to know him before he killed her.]]
* [[ThoseTwoGuys Those two boys]] from VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi who fawn over Rika and Satoko, Okamura and Tomita, respectively.
* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' has a few. Understandable in a series with LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters that some may be less noticeable than others, such as Yue's [[WizardingSchool magic school]] class-mates or some of the mage teachers to the headmaster or eachother.

** Partially [[JustifiedTrope justified]], since it's stated that she turned out [[EmotionlessGirl almost completely emotionless]], even compared to Otto and Deed.
* Similar to the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' example, Ayano from ''LuckyStar'' is pretty much characterized as "That one girl who hangs out with [[{{Tsundere}} Kagami]] and [[EnsembleDarkhorse Misao]]". In fact, she's so non-present, she's the only one of the ten main girls [[ChasteTeens to have a boyfriend!]]
* Matt in Manga/DeathNote is an orphan at Wammy's house, but all we know about him apart from his loyalty to Mello is that he likes video games and cigarettes, and [[spoiler:is gunned down while trying to get away from Takada's bodyguards]].

* Lt. Zakki Bronco in ''OvermanKingGainer'' has little else in the way of characterization than being [[BigBad Asuham Boone's]] sidekick.
* The [[MemeticMutation non-existent]] {{Tsukihime}} anime did this to Akiha. She's Shiki's concerned sister, and... uh... Though this is somewhat remedied in the last few episodes, where she's still a borderline non-character, but is at least a borderline non-character with a backstory, an opinion on a couple of the other characters, and the illusion of being relevant to the plot.

** Juvia is an interesting subversion; she is madly in love with Gray, and he was her reason to join Fairy Tail, so for a start, one could easily think she would be Gray's Jet and Droy. And while her role in the story still is best summed up as "Gray's StalkerWithACrush", she gets lots of interesting interactions with other characters, always fights her own battles and in other ways has her own personality. Her crushing on Gray is mostly limited to comical scenes. So essentially, she has a role that one would almost always expect to be occupied by a SatelliteCharacter, but she actually manages to not be a such character.

* DNAngel has that one guy who is apparently a friend of Daisuke and Saehara, meaning Daisuke will sometimes ignore Saehara's fits to ask him what's happened, instead. A ''lot'' of googling will finally reveal his name as Sekimoto Masahiro; finding it mentioned in the manga itself is extremely hard. But he is fairly omnipresent, despite only speaking now and then to bemoan Saehara's antics. There are also the two class representatives; the only thing known about them is their names and relationship - the guy has a crush on the girl, who is oblivious and thus unintentionally cruel to him.
* Villain example: Nappa from ''Manga/DragonBall Z'' exists mainly as TheBrute to his boss [[WarriorPrince Vegeta]], having no real personality or characterization beyond being a mean bastard who likes smashing the Z-warriors into the ground.

** Choujirou Sasakibe, lieutenant of the 1st division (the division of the captain-commander himself). He stays in the background of the story, barely receiving any prominance or dialogue and only ever heading into battle twice, being defeated both times. Justified in universe as it's revealed he made a vow to never become a captain, [[spoiler: (he possesses bankai),]] never fight and to only serve Yamamoto rather than serving the Gotei 13 as a whole. [[spoiler: In the end, the most important role he has in the story is to become the first protagonist to die in the Final Arc, thereby cementing both the power and attitude of the villains as well as putting the captain-commander on the backfoot immediately via the emotional fallout of Choujirou's death.]]

** ''DigimonFrontier'' also brings this in with Kouichi, [[spoiler:Kouji's twin brother]], who becomes largely defined after his introduction to the series by his relationship with Kouji. Interestingly, the introduction of Kouichi also turns Kouji himself into this, as a large majority of Kouji's character-based scenes for the rest of the series likewise involve his interactions with Kouichi (although this can be overlooked somwehat because it was late in the series and Kouji had already gone through most of his CharacterDevelopment).
* In ''SaintBeast'', Luca is [[TheQuietOne quiet]] and frequently overlooked by other characters, and even {{lampshades}} it by saying he is [[TheLancer the shadow]] to [[TheHero Judas]]' light. However, he is the MostImportantPerson to [[HeterosexualLifePartners Judas]] and [[LoveInterest Rey]], both of whom have more dominant personalities, and this is mainly how he gets developed.
* ''MedakaBox'': Despite being the male lead, much of Zenkichi Hitoyoshi's role gets boiled down to being the titular character's loyal childhood friend.

* [[Literature/HarryPotter Hermione]] fears becoming this in ''HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality''.
* Willow, B'loody Mary Smith, Ron and Ginny in MyImmortal. Willow does little except be Ebony's best friend, B'loody Mary is slightly more developed but her sole purpose is to agree with Ebony's goffikness, and Ron and Ginny have no characters at all, except to be concerned with Ebony. It makes you wonder why the author went to the trouble to concoct new names and backgrounds for them, and then ditch them from the plot. The guys in Tom Satan Bombadil's gang seem to stand out of their own right, though their lives seem to revolve round their band and goffik stuff. To give Tara Gilesbie credit, this is true to life. Teenage girls tend to be satellite to the popular chick more than guys do, even when the popular chick (Ebony) is evidently being a bitch.
* {{Deconstructed}} in ''FanFic/YouGotHaruhiRolled''. Emiri's canonical exemplar of this trope is {{exaggerated}} to the point where Haruhi takes it as license to be rude to her for no reason. Emiri, depressed at having no friends[[hottip:*:it's a CrackFic, the OOC-ness is intentional]] becomes emo. This sets in motion a chain of events where Kyon and some other characters try to get Emiri back to normal. [[spoiler:They succeed, only for Emiri to join the Anti-SOS Brigade [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because they were nice to her]], thus giving them enough strength [[CruelTwistEnding to destroy the SOS Brigade]].]]

* Gretchen from ''Film/MeanGirls'', toady in chief to [[AlphaBitch Regina]], who is possibly a {{Deconstruction}} in that she may actually be a more developed character than Regina herself; despite being beautiful and rich she is such an insecure mess that she is willing to put up with any amount of crap just to be follow Regina (seething bitterly all the while). At the end of the film it is revealed that [[spoiler:she actually learns Cantonese just so she can join the new top clique.]]
* Billy and Dan of FugitiveAlien, per the page quote from the MST3k version.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, for the first six books, are Draco Malfoy's two dumb cronies. And...that's it. Despite their frequent mentions throughout the series, neither one of them even gets a single line of dialogue until [[HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]], when Crabbe finally gets some characterization -- he's not very nice, and [[spoiler:he dies within pages of his first line]]. This all makes sense, though; for the first six books, Crabbe and Goyle were intimidated by Draco (and his father) and were perfectly willing to be little more than Draco's cronies, but when the Malfoy family falls out of favor with the Ministry of Magic, the Death Eaters, and Voldemort himself, Crabbe and Goyle abandon their leader. Under the Carrows, Crabbe and Goyle unleash their sadistic natures. (Yeah, Goyle's still pretty much just Crabbe's sidekick, but at least one of them took the initiative.)

** Then of course there's Leia, who does pretty much nothing other than just existing (Coincidentially she also dated Danny Van Zandt). The fact that she just kind of appeared out of nowhere and was instantly shown in the opening credits makes it even more noticable. Also, her being asian [[UnfortunateImplications doesn't help...]]

* Tyler on {{V-2009}} is supposed to be a MoralityChain for [[TheHero Erica]], but [[TheScrappy fails miserably]], becoming this. To add insult to injury, his girlfriend Lisa began as a SatelliteLoveInterest for him before emerging as one of the most important characters on the show, making him a SatelliteCharacter to her as well.

* On Series/{{Lost}}, there's Niki and Paulo. When alone, Paulo stood up better than Niki did. And in season four Charlotte is a SatelliteCharacter who is best when interacting with Daniel.
* Guinevere from ''Series/{{Merlin}}'' has no real CharacterArc of her own, at least not one that isn't connected to her relationships with Morgana, Arthur or Merlin. She ''does'' have a father and a brother, but the former was killed off and she barely interacts with the latter. That said, it's also an example of [[TropesAreTools Tropes Are Not Bad]], as her relationships with Merlin, Arthur and Morgana make up a significant part of the show.

* [[TropesAreNotBad This trope is not bad]]: ''Manhwa/WitchHunter'' has Aria, whose entire characterization is that she's [[AxCrazy literally]] [[{{Yandere}} mad about]] [[BrotherSisterIncest her brother]] Tasha. She is a rather prevalent character, and the fact that she never seems to talk or think about anything else than Tasha makes her even creepier and that much awesome.

* Angry variant: While [[SuperMarioBros Wario's]] main characteristic is his greed, Waluigi seems to be defined primarily by his hatred of Luigi. Later games have given him an egotistical cheater personality, but only once has he featured without Wario (''MarioTennis: Power Tour'') and is never not seen competing with Luigi. He has never appeared in his own (official) game. He was created for ''Mario Tennis'' and has since only appeared in the [[GoKartingWithBowser multi-player party and sports games]]. He's had a cameo in the Warioware games and a loose reference in NewSuperMarioBrosWii, but that's about it.

** Fleshed out in succeeding Ivalice games, thankfully. It's sort of sad to have a SatelliteCharacter being the satellite to, well... [[SupportingProtagonist Vaan]].
* Luxord of [[KingdomHearts Organization XIII's]] claim to fame is being able to insert the word "[[{{Pun}} game]]" into any sentence. And that's it for characterization.

* [[BackyardSports Amir Khan]], for Achmed.

* Thanks to having OneHundredAndEight characters, ''{{Suikoden}}'' can be pretty bad about this. ''SuikodenTierkreis'' in particular has satellites to satellites (for instance, Megion's male follower, or the two kids who argue about whether Fredegund should be forgiven).
* Several characters in the SoulSeries are this, especially as the series becomes more evidently about only a select few characters. These include Setsuka, the UnknownRival to Mitsurugi, who already ''has'' a rival; Amy, the foster Daughter to Raphael who himself has already served his importance to the main plot; and several other characters who were either never important or have concluded their importance.
* Wave the Swallow and Storm the Albatross to Jet from ''SonicTheHedgehog''. Rouge the Bat also became this to Shadow after ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' and until ''SonicFreeRiders.'' Cream the Rabbit became one to Amy after ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' as well.

* In ''{{Achewood}}'', Roast Beef originally just exists as a third character to fill out a clique, and is only given a name later as a [[http://achewood.com/index.php?date=03212002 joke]]. He goes on to be [[EnsembleDarkHorse one of the most fleshed out characters in the strip]].
* {{Lampshaded}}, parodied, and [[spoiler: eventually subverted]] in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' with Blackwing, V's crow {{Familiar}}, who like most DungeonsAndDragons familiars, only appears when V needs him. It turns out that Blackwing isn't happy about the arrangement, and [[spoiler: [[WhatTheHellHero ends up calling out V for this treatment]], after V [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope went a bit too far]]. Now Blackwing is V's MoralityPet.]]

* In ''OurLittleAdventure'' Lenny's motives for adventuring basically revolve around protecting and supporting his wife [[TheHero Julie]], who has the task of [[GottaCatchEmAll finding pieces]] of the [[CosmicKeystone Magicant.]]

** Most new characters in {{Sinfest}} get their start this way, including Lil' E, all of the devil women, coffee shop lady, and others. Apparently CharacterDevelopment being included in the benefits package makes entry-level SatelliteCharacter work attractive at the comic.

* Another angry variant: in the WhateleyUniverse, Tempest is pretty much defined by her massive hatred of Chaka (and by extension, all of Chaka's friends).
* ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'' has Elizabeth Priestly, who plays the satellite to her twin brother, Lenny. Most of what she does consists of following Lenny around and angsting about his psychotic behavior.

*** Hartman got pretty bad at this. In early episodes of The Fairly Oddparents, some characters like Trixie and Chester would be hinted as having hidden depths. Less so in later series. Danny Phantom hammers home the "cliques" theme so hard that the characters literally go out of their way to define themselves according to their placement on the social hierarchy--the Popular Kids aren't "like a club," they are a club. The teacher can be summed up as "stealth mentor to Danny," "benefactor to the cool kids," and "Zoidberg" to everyone.
* Angry variant: Depth Charge, from ''{{Transformers}}: Beast Wars'', is an Ahab-esque satellite character defined by his all-consuming '''hatred''' for the monstrous Rampage. It's implied that Rampage set this up intentionally.

* Jealous variant: Veronica Star from WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents, is Trixie Tang's satellite. She is in love with Timmy, and wishes that she could be Trixie, because Timmy likes Trixie.
* Disney sidekicks by their very nature, whether good or bad characters. Possibly the most glaring (and inexplicable) example is Lefou, Gaston's little stooge in ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''. Lefou spends most of his time running errands for his 'friend', only to be constantly abused and beaten up for his pains. And yet still he insists he thinks Gaston's wonderful. If Lefou was a girl the implications would be very disturbing.
** The implications are [[HoYay already there.]]
* Stacy and Tiffany from ''{{Daria}}'' were this in the first season, they essentially filled up the fashion club and served to either converse with Quinn or Sandy, the characters of real importance about matters related to their feelings or the plot. However, season two onwards saw more characterization with respects to Stacy, actually making her highly sympathetic. Tiffany, however, stayed flat.

* Sanjay from ''TheSimpsons'' is this for Apu. This may be why he was eventually phased out.

* [[SingleMindedTwins Single Minded Friends]] Katie and Sadie from ''[[TotalDramaIsland Total Drama]]'' are this for each other. Fanfics try to avert this (usually for shipping reasons), but the show's writers haven't given them a drop of [[CharacterDevelopment development]]. Even when Katie's elimination forcibly separated them for five episodes, the best the writers seemed able to think of was [[DemotedToExtra demoting Sadie to a silent extra]] for most of them.

* HeyArnold: Subverted with Helga and Brainy, almost to the point to Plotted A Good Waste: Brainy almost only interaction is with Helga, who seems much more smart and sophisticated that him. (He cannot talk because his asthma). After seeing various episodes, it becomes clear that Brainy is trying to propose to Helga, (confirmed by [[AllThereInTheManual The book six of the series Hey Arnold!]] [[http://www.amazon.com/Arnold-Arnolds-Files-Groening-Bartlett/dp/0439381495/ref=pd_sim_b_3 Arnold's E-Files]]). That book also confirms that Brainy has HiddenDepths. So, [[RunningGag the continuous]] {{OffhandBackhand}}s to Brainy are Helga’s way to [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove interrupt him]]. The point is Brainy, [[BeYourself with all his defects, is completely convinced he deserves to be loved and never gives up trying to propose]], while [[{{Hypocrite}} Helga will deny her true feelings time and again]]. Brainy is showed only interacting with Helga ''because Helga is Brainy’s'' ShadowArchetype.

* In ''GravityFalls'', the "Cute Biker" is hardly ever seen in any context besides cheering on Manly Dan.

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* Rin from Manga/InuYasha is largely defined by her interactions with Sesshomaru.

* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' brings us Bella, who despite [[DesignatedProtagonistSyndrome technically]] being the protagonist, barely manages to stand on her own as character. Then when Edward shows up ... well, you know.

** Arguably, at the beginning Bella's personality ''is'' that she's [[ExtremeDoormat completely]] [[MartyrWithoutACause lacking]] in self-worth and will blindly follow a "perfect" person like Edward. By the third book she's developed enough of a spine to go against him at times, and in the fourth she actually becomes a character of her own (albeit maybe ''[[PuritySue too]]'' perfect).
** However, this may be the first example in which a character actually ''admits'' that they're pointless without their better half. In ''New Moon'', Bella literally describes herself as "a satellite" that orbits Edward.
*** Ignoring Bella, the majority of her human admirers and friends have no characterization, back-story, or purpose outside of being Bella's long-suffering lackeys. Mike's about the only one with some depth, and even he is pushed to the darkest corners of the book when Edward shows up, only popping back out now and then to be jealous of Edward.