- Primary Subject: Video Game Power Dynamics: The "Overpowered" Side Character
- Key Update: The article explores how developers use god-like side characters to provide world-building "texture" and remind players that their protagonist isn't the center of the universe.
- Status: Confirmed (Analysis of established game lore/mechanics)
- Last Verified: February 16, 2026
- Quick Answer: Side characters like the G-Man or Whis outclass protagonists to create stakes, mystery, and a sense that the game world exists beyond the player's journey.
I think about power dynamics in video games more than I probably should. You spend dozens of hours leveling up your protagonist, unlocking abilities, watching them grow into this unstoppable force of nature. Then suddenly, a random side character shows up and casually humbles you. Sometimes, you're not the strongest person in the room, even when you think you are. Not even close.
I love when games do this. There's something weirdly comforting about knowing the world is bigger than your protagonist's journey. It adds texture. Stakes. Mystery. Why is this godlike figure helping you? What do they actually want? Sometimes you find out. Sometimes you really, really wish you hadn't.
Here are eight side characters who could absolutely destroy the protagonist they're supposedly supporting. Spoilers ahead, obviously.
8. Kassandra (Assassin's Creed Valhalla)
Coming out of the gate is Kassandra from the Assassin's Creed franchise. However, this entry requires a bit of context. Kassandra is the MC of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which takes place in ancient Greece. She wields a piece of Eden that grants her immortality and has godlike abilities thanks to her Isu bloodline.
In Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which takes place over a thousand years later, she shows up as a side character in a crossover DLC called "A Fated Encounter". She hasn't aged at all and is still powerful. Of course, Eivor doesn't know that he's meeting someone who's been alive since the Peloponnesian War, but what makes this encounter so good is that Kassandra seems to be holding back during their first clash. Which says a lot, considering she's up against a very ruthless Viking.
While both franchise heroes end up working together, this entire DLC is a nod to Kassandra and the respect she deserves.
7. The Mysterious Stranger (Fallout Series)
Nobody knows who the Mysterious Stranger is. He appears out of nowhere with a .44 Magnum, and one-shots whatever enemy was giving you trouble, and then vanishes without a trace. He's been doing that since the first Fallout game.
There's a terminal entry in Fallout 4 from a man who spent his entire life trying to track the Stranger down. He never found him. Nobody ever does. It's like he's a guardian angel with a revolver, and whether or not you think he's simply the game's way of throwing you a lifeline, some mysteries are better left unsolved.
6. Tyrael (Diablo II)
Diablo II has been out for a long while and has been remastered, but in case you haven't played one of the best ARPGs of all time, your character in this game is a mortal hero fighting to save your world, the Sanctuary, from the Prime Evils. Tyrael is the Archangel of Justice, and he's been waging war against hell since before humanity existed.
When he shows up to give you a quest, he's not asking you for it because he can't do it himself. He's simply delegating because apparently, Angels have middle-management protocols, which means there are places they can't go, and you, as the hero, are their intern.
In Diablo III, Tyrael's love for humanity made him do the most blasphemous thing possible for any Archangel to do; he tears off his own wings and becomes a mortal, which technically levels the playing field. But I'd still argue that even then, his knowledge and experience still make him a lot more powerful than you.
5. Whis (Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot)
Dragon Ball is where power levels matter a lot, but Whis exists at a level so far above everyone else. He's the martial arts teacher to Beerus, the God of Destruction, and even though he acts more like a lackey who attends to his everyday needs, he's still more powerful than Beerus.
In Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, you get to train with him as Goku or Vegeta. While you can "technically" beat him in those missions, it's pretty clear that Whis is holding himself back and is really just out there to train you. It shows that even the strongest Saiyans can barely scratch the surface of Whis' power.
4. Igor (Persona)
Persona is one of my favorite games ever because of its story. Every Persona MC is a high school student who gains the power to summon manifestations of their inner psyche. You then battle shadows, save the world, and form bonds with your friends. You know that you're powerful, special, and you're the chosen one.
Igor has been guiding those chosen ones ever since.
He sits in the Velvet Room, a space between dream and reality, mind and matter. He fuses your Personas and, at times, offers some cryptic advice. Every single MC you've played in a Persona game has been, in some capacity, a guest in Igor's domain. He doesn't fight in the traditional sense, but you know and feel like "he's the boss."
Don't get me wrong, Igor is probably there to help you. But you'll never figure him out or forget his sinister grin.
3. Gaunter O'Dimm (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)
When you first meet Gaunter O'Dimm, he just seems like a normal guy. A merchant who gives you directions and is easy to forget about entirely.
However, if you purchase the DLC, "Hearts of Stone," his story continues, and then you realize that O'Dimm isn't at all the ordinary merchant he claims to be. He can stop time for one, and what's worse is that he's basically this game's Rumpelstiltskin because he grants wishes with horrible, monkey's paw consequences.
Geralt, on the other hand, is a Witcher. He kills dragons for a living, but even that isn't enough to defeat someone who can stop time with a clap of their hands. In fact, the final confrontation with O'Dimm is a riddle game, because that's the only arena where Geralt has even a sliver of a chance.
The game never really fully explores what O'Dimm is. A demon or the devil himself? He exists beyond the known archives of the Witcher universe, and that ambiguity is precisely what makes him so unsettling.
2. The G-Man (Half-Life)
Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who fights interdimensional aliens. He's an icon and a legend of the Half-Life franchise. Also, he's just a puppet on strings held by a man in a blue suit who seems to exist outside the boundaries of physics.
The G-Man doesn't fight. He doesn't need to. But he can put Gordon in stasis for decades and even forever. He just pulls him out when it's convenient. He speaks in that halting, unsettling cadence that makes every word feel like a threat wrapped in a business proposal. His power is even more prominent in Half-Life 2 when he straight up told Gordon that he "owns" him.
Moreover, in Half-Life: Alyx, he rewrites a major character's death just to suit his own purposes. Like he's adjusting a typo.
It's been years since I last played Half-Life, and to this day, I don't fully understand what the G-Man actually is. An alien from Men in Black? A bureaucrat from a twisted, Lovecraftian dimension? Gordon may be our player character, but the G-Man is the one "playing the game." We just don't know the rules.
1. The Town Tool Shopkeeper (The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening)
This is the funniest one in the entire list. That's because even though Link has defeated Ganon, wielded the Triforce, and saved Hyrule from every apocalyptic evil that would crush ordinary mortals under its heel, our shopkeeper keeps him on his toes.
Yes. The shopkeeper in Mabe Village does not care about any of that.
If you steal from his shop in Link's Awakening (and also yes, you can do this, the game lets you), he doesn't call the guards. He doesn't ban you from the store. He just waits. And the next time you walk through his door, he kills you instantly with a lightning bolt. No health bar. No second chance. Just immediate, divine retribution from a man who sells shovels for a living.
What's worse is that once you leave the shop without paying, every NPC in the game, including Marin and the Wind Fish, will refer to you as "THIEF" for the entire playthrough. That's to let you know never to mess with a town shopkeeper.
That brings us to the end of the list, but to give you some sort of conclusion, when a side character outclasses our MC, it doesn't "diminish the hero". It contextualizes them. It reminds us that these worlds are bigger than one person's journey. And sometimes, it gives us something to aspire to, or fear, depending on whose side they're actually on.
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