Characters who never interact to each other

Maxedrox 2021-03-19 21:22:39 UTC #1

So, this situation results iconic for some people, especially in some series, videogames or any media with a large cast of characters.
People get hyped when they wonder if A character meets B character at one point of the story, even if they actually never meet each other or share one scene together.
A similar situation is when A character is in the same group as B character, but they never talk to each other directly and when they finally talk, people react like "Hey, I think that I never see them talk to each other until now".
So, what kind of characters are the ones who cause this hype?
Are usually characters with a defined environment? Characters that seem linked to a specific area?
Or just the huge difference between personalities established in the same world?

skicoak 2021-03-19 21:51:33 UTC #2

Star Wars: New Hope

Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker never speak to each other and are never closer than a football field to each other.

thedude3445 2021-03-19 22:08:52 UTC #3

I think this happened a whole lot in Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially when the Guardians of the Galaxy characters met the various Avengers, and the main one when Tony Stark met Dr. Strange (who is basically just magic Tony Stark). There was lots of fan hype for that happening.

I think it's when there are characters from completely different "subplots" in a story that meet for the first time, is when fans get really excited, especially characters that are quite similar to each other in specific ways but are generally different otherwise. You saw that happen a lot in the comic Homestuck when the trolls started talking to the human kids more.

Also, in my book Hands Held in the Snow, any reader knows that the first time Tia and Runa finally meet... It's an important moment, let's just say that...

AmysGames 2021-03-20 06:09:29 UTC #4

Hm, usually when I get excited about two characters meeting, it's because I feel like there would be something interesting about how they would interact with each other. Maybe the characters have something in common, like a mutual friend, or a shared trauma. Maybe the characters are similar to each other, and would really get along. Maybe they're completely different from each other, and wouldn't get along at all. Just anything that seems like it would make for an interesting story.

That said, I definitely have plenty of characters who just never meet for whatever reason. The worlds I build tend to be pretty large, so it's pretty common for some of them to just never cross paths.

gmaximin 2021-03-20 07:04:35 UTC #5

When two characters fight for the same cause in two different storylines, but for very different or opposing reasons, or using very different means... so you wonder if they’d be friend or foe when their path ultimately cross...

darthmongoose 2021-03-20 08:37:31 UTC #6

So something that I'm acutely aware of, since I'm in a group that dubs Homestuck, is that there are characters in that comic who literally never speak to each other, or at least are never seen speaking to each other on-panel. When talking to other VAs in the group, it's often like "aw man, I love your take on this character, it's a shame we'll never actually get a pesterlog together!" I voice Kanaya, and one of my closest friends in the group is Ryan, the voice of Doc Scratch, and it's pretty funny because canonically, Doc Scratch was a father figure to Kanaya, so we have this whole headcanon that the reason Kanaya sounds like a Northern English person affecting received pronunciation is that she picked up some of Doc Scratch's transatlantic accent..... but like... in literal terms, we share no scenes. There is not a single scene in the entire comic where Kanaya and Doc Scratch even speak in the same conversation, nevermind to each other. You'd think that Kanaya would have had a conversation at some point with her creepy father figure... but no, it's just another of Homestuck's weird loose ends like Limebloods and what the blood aspect does and... yeah.

thedude3445 2021-03-20 08:46:33 UTC #7

I never realized they never actually speak on-screen! They interact only in one flashback, if I recall correctly. Dang.

Yep, Homestuck is a huge example of characters who never interact even when you want them to. Large cast stories always have it, but Homestuck had it in overdrive.

Video games also do this a lot. Fire Emblem has characters who bizarrely don't have support conversations. And, the gravest sin, a lot of older JRPGs have the characters stop speaking entirely once they join your party, so they never interact even if they are together for half the game. That's the sort of stuff that drives fans wild I think these days lol