Isekai'd Side Characters

[melchi]

Speaking of lazy have you tried lazy dungeon master? The big goal is to acquire all the pieces of divine bedding for the best snooze.

 

[J_Chemist]

Speaking of lazy have you tried lazy dungeon master? The big goal is to acquire all the pieces of divine bedding for the best snooze.

You little shit. Don't you side track my discussion thread.

 

[melchi]

Hey the main character is trying hard to be a side character. He gets isekai'd and just wants to sleep and avoid anything troublesome. I think that is a valid example of cooking something tasty.

 

[HelloHound]

earlier I planned to have an isekai-ed side character run up to a group that sybil was in and ask questions about this strange new world, with everyone else in the group acting as though they were drunk, mad, or both as they humored the poor fellow

 

[J_Chemist]

earlier I planned to have an isekai-ed side character run up to a group that sybil was in and ask questions about this strange new world, with everyone else in the group acting as though they were drunk, mad, or both as they humored the poor fellow

Did you plan to incorporate them into your plot further? Or as just a one off thing?

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I have done this concept before in a story where the MC wasn't isekaid, and in another story where the MC was isekaid. I also read the example a few times.

It can be an enjoyable trope depending how it's done.

 

[HelloHound]

Did you plan to incorporate them into your plot further? Or as just a one off thing?

I think it'd be more of a one-off direct interaction and then rumors from then on- just as the isekai-ed character is a side character for sybil, so to is sybil to the stranger

 

[Music]

Isekai'd side characters are fine. I really liked how Salvos did their summoned Hero. He's not the center of the story, but has a good arc and his background of being from another world works both for his character and as a good contrast to Salvos being from an adjacent(?) world.

I'm ambivalent with sporadic reincarnation stories where there are a bunch of reincarnated people throughout the world (iseaki'd shogoth, this young master is not cannon fodder, Instant Death is OP) it's okay there, but some characters I like, but some feel like them being isekai'd doesn't matter at all.

There are some manga/manhwa I cannot remember the names of where I don't like characters being isekai'd at all. Like it doesn't add anything besides being able to make or understand jokes in Korean/Japanese.

At the end of the day, I think being isekai'd is just another background template. If the author can leverage it, it's good, if they cannot, it's medium or bad. Also isekai'd side characters with a native mc swaps the "unfamiliar world through a familiar lens" angle that isekai is good for, with something slightly more uncomfortable.

 

[NotaNuffian]

So the MC of this work is a genuine MOB.

Not those BS ffs works with titles with "mob" but then due to the power of author cuckass becomes the spotlight hoarder.

I... don't really think it might work.

I get having the MC to be the companion of champions and heroes is a thing, especially in old works, but for them to be the eyes of a common folks who only witness glories done by the great in the crowd's perspective feels odd to me. There might be folks enjoying it, but not me.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

So the MC of this work is a genuine MOB.

Not those BS ffs works with titles with "mob" but then due to the power of author cuckass becomes the spotlight hoarder.

I... don't really think it might work.

I get having the MC to be the companion of champions and heroes is a thing, especially in old works, but for them to be the eyes of a common folks who only witness glories done by the great in the crowd's perspective feels odd to me. There might be folks enjoying it, but not me.

No, the MC is not a mob. The side character is the isekaid character. Like you have a typical Fantasy MC (not isekai), and the story is told from their perspective. However, they run into a random bartender (or other thing), and that guy is from Earth.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

But While examples are nice, I'm not looking for examples, guys. I'm looking for thoughts on the idea and/or additions/remarks about the concept. What did you all think about it? What would you have done different? What did you like about how it was done or what did you dislike about it?

Depends on execution. It CAN be great for worldbuilding, especially if author decides to elaborate on it and won't make it a one-time gimmick. What would I have done different? Not make it completely irrelevant to the world and plot. There is a certain thing I dislike in almost every isekai. People are supposedly get transferred into medieval worlds, but the world can't be farther from being medieval. So obviously impact of those isekaied heroes, mobs, and so on is non-existent. Because you already have a retarded and convoluted democracy(even though it's medieval times) or mish-mash of humanism(even though it's medieval times) in those worlds. And this is where a trope of side-character being isekaied might actually shine.

 

[J_Chemist]

So the MC of this work is a genuine MOB.

Not those BS ffs works with titles with "mob" but then due to the power of author cuckass becomes the spotlight hoarder.

I... don't really think it might work.

I get having the MC to be the companion of champions and heroes is a thing, especially in old works, but for them to be the eyes of a common folks who only witness glories done by the great in the crowd's perspective feels odd to me. There might be folks enjoying it, but not me.

N-Nota. What?

As Envy said, it's a regular fantasy novel. Characters are typical adventurers with some of their own backstories and they're going on their adventure/journey. The plot is moving along and then word starts going around about some Hero or powerful Adventurer who cropped up and is now making waves with their exploits. That Hero/Powerful entity is the isekai'd person. But, the story doesn't revolve around them. They're just another side character that pops up every now and again because of some wack-o out of this world accomplishment, but the MC and the party continue on their own plot.

Or, also as Envy said, the main party comes across this random character that seems or is entirely out of place. Turns out they got Isekai'd and are now in the MC's world. Just doing their own thing, living their best (or worst) life.

 

[Iamnotabot]

I say let him cook, there maybe something

 

[ThrillingHuman]

something something executioner girl something, right?
or jack of all trades

 

[TheEldritchGod]

The typical light novels and anime that have been produced lately tend to focus on an isekai'd individual who's transposed from one world to another. Whether done through magic or a runaway truck. Of course, these individuals become the center of the story, our main character, and we watch these characters interact with their new world/situation. We watch them either become OP, useless, or Kings of Nations. Sometimes, albeit rarely, they even become anti-heroes. Haven't seen a villain yet.

DUDE... Haven't seen a villain? Most of them are villains, lately. They might want to call themselves anti-heroes, but when you straight up murder innocent bystanders because you have a "no Witnesses" policy, yer a villain. Is your moral compass set in magnetic mounts or something?

But, what if they were a side-character? Your MC and their group of friends/lackeys are going along and then all of a sudden they hear of some bullshittery going on in some other land. Fast forward and then they either hear about some exploits being done by a new adventurer who seemingly came out of nowhere or they hear about how some backwater country decided summoning magic was a good idea and now they've got a menace to socie-I mean a Hero in their midst. Alternatively, the party could just stumble across this person when they're doing regular business.

Rather than use the isekai as a tool/upfront trope, I present to you this; They're there, running amuk, but they're nothing more than a side piece on the overall board of the story. Their presence is felt and known, but they are not in the spotlight.

Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Alternatives?

You are not explaining yourself well.

1) What is the question that you are answering that the reader can ONLY get the answer from your book?
2) A side character is a character that isn't the focus of the story. You want to Isekai someone into a supporting role. Okay. WHAT DO THEY BRING TO THE STORY? HOW DO THEY HELP ANSWER THE QUESTION?

Here's a question for you, Would the isekai'd person's story be more interesting than the story you are telling? If so, why aren't you telling THAT story? If not, how is it helping to tell your MC's story?

PROTECT YOUR MC.

Your MC is the one we start to like and root for. When you overshadow them, people start getting pissed. So when a normal, average, modern-day human comes into any setting where they will have TIME, eventually the world will flip on its head, assuming it's a far more technologically backward situation. "But magic is so much stronger!" I hear you cry!

Dude, imagine you could create water. That's it. JUST WATER. Not control it, or shape it, just create water out of nothing.

I now have an unlimited supply of tritium/deuterium, the isotopes needed to make hydrogen F'n BOMBS, and by creating Oxygen-15, I now can make positrons.

That's right, I now have access to ANTIMATTER.

Oh. If I go with a really heavy version of Oxygen, let's say O-26, the half-life decay will be less than a nanosecond. What does Oxygen decay into? Fluorine.

Yup. You just made Hydrofluoric Acid, a BONE SEEKER. Ooo... make a mist cloud of THAT SHIT...
You gonna FUCK PEOPLE UP, BOY!

Take modern knowledge and apply it to even the most SIMPLE of physics-breaking magic which is "Create Water", and you could VAPORIZE THE WORLD... given enough time to take advantage of the situation.

So... when you bring in your isekai'd side character, are you going to have him "break the game" or is he just gonna hang out? If he's just gonna hang out, why add him to the story? What question does he bring? What emotions will it bring the reader? Why will they care?

Your idea is an idea. It's fine, but an idea isn't a story.

 

[Jemini]

I think most every series that features mass transmigration has quite the number of Isekaied side-characters. If an entire class of 30 people gets transmigrated, you can't exactly have all 30 of them be main-cast characters.

Happens with multi-reincarnator worlds like Reincarnated as a Slime as well. In fact, the exact scenario described in the OP happens with Slime where Rimuru's running his country and then he suddenly hears about this Lightspeed hero off in another country.

If you're looking for a story in which the protagonist cast are NOT Isekaied and then some side characters ARE though, I think I'm only aware of 1 example, and it's not Japanese inspired at all. It's actually in the Superhero genre, and it just so happens to use the miltiverse model that's become popular in superhero genres.

The series I'm talking about is Worm. And, what I'm about to say is a big fat spoiler for a bit of a plot twist in the Worm series, so I'll put it under spoiler tags properly.

Spoiler

In the 5th story arc, you get introduced to a group called "The Travelers." It's not until the 17th story arc that you then discover that The Travelers are not from Earth Bet, the world where the story takes place. They're actually from Earth Alf, a world where few if any people have powers and those that do are rather weak, and they were pulled to Earth Bet by a creature called The Simurg and subsequently gain proper Earth Bet levels of power.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

DUDE... Haven't seen a villain? Most of them are villains, lately. They might want to call themselves anti-heroes, but when you straight up murder innocent bystanders because you have a "no Witnesses" policy, yer a villain. Is your moral compass set in magnetic mounts or something?


You are not explaining yourself well.

1) What is the question that you are answering that the reader can ONLY get the answer from your book?
2) A side character is a character that isn't the focus of the story. You want to Isekai someone into a supporting role. Okay. WHAT DO THEY BRING TO THE STORY? HOW DO THEY HELP ANSWER THE QUESTION?

Here's a question for you, Would the isekai'd person's story be more interesting than the story you are telling? If so, why aren't you telling THAT story? If not, how is it helping to tell your MC's story?

PROTECT YOUR MC.

Your MC is the one we start to like and root for. When you overshadow them, people start getting pissed. So when a normal, average, modern-day human comes into any setting where they will have TIME, eventually the world will flip on its head, assuming it's a far more technologically backward situation. "But magic is so much stronger!" I hear you cry!

Dude, imagine you could create water. That's it. JUST WATER. Not control it, or shape it, just create water out of nothing.

I now have an unlimited supply of tritium/deuterium, the isotopes needed to make hydrogen F'n BOMBS, and by creating Oxygen-15, I now can make positrons.

That's right, I now have access to ANTIMATTER.

Oh. If I go with a really heavy version of Oxygen, let's say O-26, the half-life decay will be less than a nanosecond. What does Oxygen decay into? Fluorine.

Yup. You just made Hydrofluoric Acid, a BONE SEEKER. Ooo... make a mist cloud of THAT SHIT...
You gonna FUCK PEOPLE UP, BOY!

Take modern knowledge and apply it to even the most SIMPLE of physics-breaking magic which is "Create Water", and you could VAPORIZE THE WORLD... given enough time to take advantage of the situation.

So... when you bring in your isekai'd side character, are you going to have him "break the game" or is he just gonna hang out? If he's just gonna hang out, why add him to the story? What question does he bring? What emotions will it bring the reader? Why will they care?

Your idea is an idea. It's fine, but an idea isn't a story.

It's true. That with magic you can create some interesting stuff, but let's be honest. The average person is just like this:

 

[RepresentingWrath]

It's true. That with magic you can create some interesting stuff, but let's be honest. The average person is just like this:

Yep, that's me.

 

[J_Chemist]

DUDE... Haven't seen a villain? Most of them are villains, lately. They might want to call themselves anti-heroes, but when you straight up murder innocent bystanders because you have a "no Witnesses" policy, yer a villain. Is your moral compass set in magnetic mounts or something?

Actually, yes. My moral compass is very skewed and most of these characters are paper bags compared to what I'm willing to do.

You are not explaining yourself well.

1) What is the question that you are answering that the reader can ONLY get the answer from your book?
2) A side character is a character that isn't the focus of the story. You want to Isekai someone into a supporting role. Okay. WHAT DO THEY BRING TO THE STORY? HOW DO THEY HELP ANSWER THE QUESTION?

Here's a question for you, Would the isekai'd person's story be more interesting than the story you are telling? If so, why aren't you telling THAT story? If not, how is it helping to tell your MC's story?

PROTECT YOUR MC.

Your MC is the one we start to like and root for. When you overshadow them, people start getting pissed. So when a normal, average, modern-day human comes into any setting where they will have TIME, eventually the world will flip on its head, assuming it's a far more technologically backward situation. "But magic is so much stronger!" I hear you cry!

Dude, imagine you could create water. That's it. JUST WATER. Not control it, or shape it, just create water out of nothing.

I now have an unlimited supply of tritium/deuterium, the isotopes needed to make hydrogen F'n BOMBS, and by creating Oxygen-15, I now can make positrons.

That's right, I now have access to ANTIMATTER.

Oh. If I go with a really heavy version of Oxygen, let's say O-26, the half-life decay will be less than a nanosecond. What does Oxygen decay into? Fluorine.

Yup. You just made Hydrofluoric Acid, a BONE SEEKER. Ooo... make a mist cloud of THAT SHIT...
You gonna FUCK PEOPLE UP, BOY!

Take modern knowledge and apply it to even the most SIMPLE of physics-breaking magic which is "Create Water", and you could VAPORIZE THE WORLD... given enough time to take advantage of the situation.

So... when you bring in your isekai'd side character, are you going to have him "break the game" or is he just gonna hang out? If he's just gonna hang out, why add him to the story? What question does he bring? What emotions will it bring the reader? Why will they care?

Your idea is an idea. It's fine, but an idea isn't a story.

There's a lot here but it's more of a tangent, however, I do understand what you're getting at and what you've provided helps refine the idea of what I can shape the isekai character into. Except, I've already considered this possibility. No, we don't want that OP wack-o to come in and sling nukes everywhere, so the idea would be the more morally right guy or someone who's just a basic person who fell in to the world. Nothing excessive. They are a side character, of course. We don't want a physics genius or someone who's too bright to overshadow our MC and his party. Especially if my MC is more likely to punch him in the face than listen to his golden boy attitude of friendship and cooperation.

As for what I'm trying to explain, there's nothing I'm trying to explain. I'm looking for you all to explain what you think based on the parameters getting, but only a couple of you have given actual information that have hit the target. I'm presenting my idea of an isekai character and trying to get you all to understand that he's not the MC and he's just a random in the background who isekai'd. Then I just want to know what you think of that character, how you'd write it, and what you would do with it. Also, if you've seen it, explain how it was done.

Salius did it. Envy knows what I was looking for. So I've explained it well. I just think the comprehension/understanding part is being whiffed on.

I think most every series that features mass transmigration has quite the number of Isekaied side-characters. If an entire class of 30 people gets transmigrated, you can't exactly have all 30 of them be main-cast characters.

Happens with multi-reincarnator worlds like Reincarnated as a Slime as well. In fact, the exact scenario described in the OP happens with Slime where Rimuru's running his country and then he suddenly hears about this Lightspeed hero off in another country.

If you're looking for a story in which the protagonist cast are NOT Isekaied and then some side characters ARE though, I think I'm only aware of 1 example, and it's not Japanese inspired at all. It's actually in the Superhero genre, and it just so happens to use the miltiverse model that's become popular in superhero genres.

The series I'm talking about is Worm. And, what I'm about to say is a big fat spoiler for a bit of a plot twist in the Worm series, so I'll put it under spoiler tags properly.

Spoiler

In the 5th story arc, you get introduced to a group called "The Travelers." It's not until the 17th story arc that you then discover that The Travelers are not from Earth Bet, the world where the story takes place. They're actually from Earth Alf, a world where few if any people have powers and those that do are rather weak, and they were pulled to Earth Bet by a creature called The Simurg and subsequently gain proper Earth Bet levels of power.

Okay but what did you think? How did you feel about the concept? What did you like? What did you not like? What would you do better? Great. You provided examples. Now give me the meat of your experience with the stories and your personal opinions on those characters/concepts.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I actually remembered another thing about this type of isekai, this trope... you got it. It's very common for people to get isekaied into other worlds. Like your usual Japanese\Korean mob boy gets transported into sci-fi or fantasy world. The opposite is also common. The thing that isn't common is isekai of a person from fantasy world 1 to fantasy world 2. The best example is MookHyang dark lady or The Wolf Won't Sleep.

So, this is another way to include the side-character isekai into worldbuilding. You want cultivation but don't want to deal with the usual tropes or Chinese names? Make a cultivator character that got isekaied into your generic fantasy world long time ago, and now this generic fantasy world has cultivation. Or something like that. You don't even need modern people for this trope to be interesting. How fantasy world influenced another fantasy world via isekai, stuff like that is also fun, and something not commonly seen. And it is something I want to do at one point as well. Though, depending on how far you want to take it, the amount of work you will have to do might increase by a lot.