| abstract | - Our hero(es), while being the focus of the show's attention, is a member of a large organization. After a while, it starts to seem odd that the Enterprise is always the only ship in the sector. A good way to combat this is to use a recurring character instead of making up a new one whenever the plot demands it. The writers give the impression that this character is having just as many adventures as the hero, only offscreen. In other words, they're the Hero of Another Story. Such a character will come in handy to establish that the folks back at base are actually doing something when our heroes get captured. Though they will rarely actually succeed in rescuing the captured heroes, they may end up leading The Cavalry to sweep up after the Blast Out. In general, the Hero of Another Story will be a competent professional, but will lack whatever special gift or drive makes our hero so special; or else act as a Supporting Leader and occupy the enemy while the main characters go after the Golden Snitch. Unfortunately, such characters have a bad habit of being Killed Off for Real, as they can carry some of the emotional impact of a regular character while avoiding the inconvenience of changing the cast. Of course, viewers may feel cheated if promised that Tonight Someone Dies. The Hero of Another Story is usually someone our heroes respect and trust, and while they may enjoy some friendly competition, he is rarely a serious rival. On occasion, we'll see one of these characters get a Day in The Limelight episode and they'll become The Hero for the episode. This often makes the real cast the Hero of Another Story for the episode, as they'll be off doing their own heroics in the meantime. In some cases, certain series episodes may introduce a guest character where it is intentionally done as a Backdoor Pilot for a spinoff of his own series of adventures. Unfortunately, the majority of these are unsuccessful and thus he remains the Hero of Another Story. Compare Supporting Leader. Naturally, this will result when someone encounters the main character(s) of another series via Crossover or a Poorly-Disguised Pilot. See also Little Hero Big War, for settings that often have a bunch of heroes of other stories. Depending on how well written the character is they could become a Ensemble Darkhorse. Examples of Hero of Another Story include:
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