Hello gentle reader,
Today I’d like to talk about how to write unforgettable secondary characters. To do so I will use the example of Ianto Jones, a supporting character in the British Science-Fiction Drama Torchwood (played by Gareth David-Lloyd). Fair warning: here there’ll be spoilers, so stop reading now if you haven’t watched this great show which ended in 2010.
Why Ianto Jones, you ask? Because when Ianto died in the fourth episode of the series’ third season in July 2009, fans were so overwhelmed with shock and grief they created a shrine for him in Cardiff. Yes, a shrine.
Photo by crimson_bride from Save Ianto.Com
So how did the writers of the show made us care for Ianto so much that his fictional death broke our hearts, and what can we learn from this for our own writing?
1- The audience can relate to him
The Torchwood Institute is a small team of alien-hunters in Cardiff, Wales. All the main characters are clever and charismatic heroes who are excellent at saving the world and the day. And then you have Ianto.
“And this is Ianto Jones. Ianto cleans up after us and gets us everywhere on time.”
Ianto is not a hero. He makes coffee, sweeps the floor, drives the car, gets takeout food and occasionally helps the heroine buy her wedding dress. He is stuck in a dead-end job and feels inadequate. And yet, in this part-of-the-background kind of way, the audience gets used to him. And starts to wonder why he’s here…
2- He has a personality
From the start of the series, Ianto has defining characteristics that make him real and present in the audience’s subconscious. These are details, but they help flesh him out: his clothes (a three-piece suit, his earpiece), the stiffness in his posture, his dry sense of humor… Ianto is a 3D character.
3- Somebody loves him
The best way to make the reader/audience care about a character is to show him loved by another beloved character. In this case, it becomes clear in the 2d season of the show that the hero Jack is falling for Ianto. And the fact that Ianto means something to the other protagonists makes it easier for the audience to love him too.
4- His actions are motivated (even if it’s not clear at first)
Ianto’s presence in the Torchwood’s team is not accidental. The audience doesn’t know it at first, and finds out about it as the series progresses. And looking back, you’re able to understand why Ianto accepted this dead-end job, why he acted the way he did in each episode, and why his death is simply a tragedy.
5- He is flawed
Ianto Jones is not a hero. He is a normal bloke who makes bad decisions, can be a coward in the face of danger and has dubious judgment. He has layers. And you can only love him for it.
So next time you’re creating a secondary character, ask you yourself how you can make him so real, so mutli-layered and so easy to identify with your readers will build him a shrine when you kill him off.
How do you make secondary characters unforgettable? Share your tips in the comment section below!
And here are a few links you may find useful:
On Writing Memorable (Minor) Characters
Creating Memorable Secondary Characters
10 Secrets to Creating Unforgettable Supporting Characters
EM Castellan 
I loved Ianto too. In a way these characters are the best because drawn with a light hand, the fact that you care for them kind of sneaks up on you. (Like those love stories when all of a sudden the character realises the person right under their nose was THE person all along).
I also liked the tips to give them their own hidden motivations (sometimes as a writer you just need to spend some time with the minor characters getting to know them) and making someone care about them. All good.
A very inspiring post!
Thank you! Characters motivations are my obsession as a reader and a writer. To me great books are the ones where each character has his own goals (especially villains).
It’s great to go through a specific example like this! Going to go check out my minor characters now…
Glad you enjoyed the post! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Ianto Jones was most definantly my favorite character in Torchwood. It’s a shame they killed him off, he would’ve made season 4 less insufferable. At least, in my opinion, it wasn’t particularly good. It didn’t feel like Torchwood anymore, with most of the original characters killed off.