Badass Princess
These are examples of princesses that become brave and headstrong warriors instead of relying on any to protect them. At times, they would serve as the sidekick to the hero, instead of the damsel in distress, even if they do fall in love with him, like a princess traditionally would. And sometimes, they would serve as the hero altogether.
A badass princess would often fight because she’s loyal to her nation, and would fight to defend it at any cost.
Young Future Famous People
The idea is to take Historical Domain Characters and depict them in their youth. It can be played for laughs—implying that people we normally think of as reserved, stoic, or even evil, were once young and reckless themselves. (Or the opposite, where they are shown to possess the same traits and interests that later made them famous, even if realistically these would have come much later.) Of course, it may also be played straight.
If the person lived long enough ago that details of their adolescence or youth are obscure or even nonexistent, then this trope may be used as an excuse to ground an entirely fictional story in reality.
Recurring Character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series’ run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus. The character’s return is often based on popularity.
A character that does not appear in every episode, but is in enough of them to affect the storyline on a regular basis is a recurring character.
Protagonist
A protagonist (from the Greek πρωταγωνιστής protagonistes, “one who plays the first part, chief actor”) is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative’s plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify.
The terms protagonist, main character and hero are variously defined and, depending on the source, may denote different concepts. In fiction, the story of the protagonist may be told from the perspective of a different character (who may also, but not necessarily, be the narrator). An example would be a narrator who relates the fate of several protagonists, perhaps as prominent figures recalled in a biographical perspective. Often, the protagonist in a narrative is also the same person as the focal character, though the two terms are distinct. Excitement and intrigue alone is what the audience feels toward a focal character, while a sense of empathy about the character’s objectives and emotions is what the audience feels toward the protagonist. Although the protagonist is often referred to as the “good guy”, it is entirely possible for a story’s protagonist to be the clear villain, or antihero, of the piece.
When the work contain subplots, these may have different protagonists from the main plot.
False/Decoy Protagonist
In fiction, a false protagonist is a literary technique, often used to make the plot more jarring or more memorable by fooling the audience’s preconceptions, that constructs a character who the audience assumes is the protagonist but is later revealed not to be. A false protagonist is presented at the start of the fictional work as the main character, but then is eradicated, often by killing them (usually for shock value or as a plot twist) or changed in terms of their role in the story (i.e. making them a lesser character, a character who leaves the story, or revealing them to actually be the antagonist).
A false protagonist is a red herring in the form of a character. Especially in film and literature, the false protagonist may begin as a narrator. In video games, a false protagonist may initially be a playable character, only to be killed or revealed to be the antagonist.
