Literature
Literarily, the deuteragonist often assumes the role of "sidekick" to the protagonist. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist is Huck and the deuteragonist, his constant companion, is Jim. In this story the tritagonist would be Tom Sawyer. Conversely, the deuteragonist could also be a particularly visible antagonist, normally whom the actual antagonist hides behind. In some cases, the deuteragonist is a sidekick who is also used as a foil for the protagonist, in order to more greatly enhance the powers or strengths of the main character. Dr. John Hamish Watson, for example, in the Sherlock Holmes series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is an educated and intelligent gentleman of professional standing, and yet his own intelligence is of too rigid a stance to embrace fully the kind of possibilities of which the more maverick William Sherlock Holmes is capable.
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