Left Behind....

It occured to me while thinking of famous stories of journies that there are forgotten characters, or those "left behind". There is always the hero in these stories who is on a journey of either a personal or epic nature, who, somewhere along the way stumbles upon benevolent characters (some maned, some nameless) who in some way assist the hero in his quest. These characters appear for the short number of scenes required and are quickly disgarded, forgotten by the hero and readers/viewers as the story continues and the hero's plight intensifies.



Specifically I suppose I was thinking of Lord of the Rings (what else?). I was having a wonderful "what if" moment. What if Gandolf had not told Sam to go with Frodo? Besides the obvious ultimate failure that would follow, Sam would have been left prey to the Dark Riders when they came looking for the ring. He simply knew too much. But what about those characters who don't have the option of going along? I'm actually finding it difficult to think of such characters. My feeling is that it's because these characters are meant to be forgotton. I think it would be an interesting exercise to write a short story about them, those "left behind", with their fates unresolved. What happens to the woman at the well after Jesus performs his miracle and moves on?



For whatever reason, I can only think stories where such characters are left behind simply because they're killed off, thus further fueling the hero's search for vengence and justice. I'll have to bring this up at the next Writer's Circle Meeting...