Where the character archetypes provide a framework that begins to describe who the characters are and what that drives them, the character roles describe the relationships between the characters. Character roles fall into three categories (Card, 1988, p. 59):
- Walk-on and placeholder characters: The walk-on and placeholder characters exist in the background to add realism or, if they appear in the foreground, it is to serve a simple function and then disappear. The “cannon fodder” characters in battle scenes that are quickly dispatched are an example of these placeholder characters. They are not developed as individual characters although some effort may go into creating them as a class of character, like the Orcs in The Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Imperial stormtroopers of the Star Wars films.
- Minor characters: The minor characters have a limited impact on the story, with their desires and actions causing plot twists but not substantially shaping the overall flow of the story. Typically, minor characters do one or two things before disappearing from the story. Jabba the Hutt from Return of the Jedi, the third Star Wars film, is an example of a minor character.
- Major characters: The major characters drive the plot through its twists and turns and move the story forward. (We will discuss major characters in the next post.)