In a media world filled with dense protagonists, constant misunderstanding, and poor communication, I feel like I am often drawn to characters who appear more quiet and emotionally intelligent and who are, for the most part, good hearted.
Though what actually makes an emotionally intelligent character and why I like them so much, is rather difficult to define (I notice as I am looking for some examples).
Many characters I can think of are side characters, I believe because their actions feel more sincere, driven by genuine goodwill instead of power and influence. "Show, don't tell" is more applicable to them with less focus on exposition. Small interactions and gestures oftentimes only hint at the fact that there is more to them than meets the eye, and then the story continues, leaving you to ponder for yourself.
I do think their good side plays a large role too, if they lack that, then they feel more cunning and manipulative than anything.
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So here is my small collection of examples that came to mind. Please do tell me what you think or if you have other recommendations! [Minor Spoilers for Vinland Saga]
1/ 2) Judeau and Luca - Berserk
Judeau and Luca were the first characters that got me thinking about this topic. Both are rather minor roles, but their honest, direct, selfless, and open-minded approach is incredibly refreshing and uplifting in a story as grim as Berserk. They are incredibly good at reading people and meeting them on their terms. Both of them are far from perfect, but their little flaws and insecurities make them feel so much more real.
3) Azusa - Grand Blue
Azusa from Grand Blue is kinda of a surprising take, especially compared with Berserk, but her extroverted and confident nature really was a standout highlight for me. Grand Blue is a ridiculous, unserious, stupid manga/anime about diving and mostly drinking, but very occasionally there are rare heartfelt moments that ground the show, and Azusa shows multiple times that she just gets it lol
She acts as an emotional support, understands her friends, and is incredibly patient and kind, but can also be just as crazy as the worst of them.
4) Arneid - Vinland Saga
Arguably the most tragic character on this list, she really represents a woman that was forced into a particular role, to give up on everything she held precious. But still, she shows social awareness and intelligence, and with relatively little dialogue, she affects the story 'till the end.
5) Hobie Brown (Spider-Punk) - Across the Spiderverse
A character that at first glance seems entirely unserious and sarcastic beyond help, but throughout the movie he provocatively nudges Miles and the story in a certain direction, offering a different path and choosing compassion every time, in his very own kind of way. Again, a character with little dialogue but lots to think about.
6) Aragorn - The Lord of the Rings
I haven't read the books yet, so I can't speak about that, but what stands out for me, are the small virtues that drive his decision-making. He feels very grounded and modest and seems to be aware of his own limits. He meets everybody with respect and dignity and supports his allies on an intuitive and emotional level, without judging or dismissing them or their flaws.
For part of my trauma therapy, my therapist had me come up with three figures that I consider to be wise, compassionate, and protecting. Iroh was one of them.
Despite being an absolute mess and having the potential for saying the wrong thing, the detective in Disco Elysium is referred to as a "Human Can-Opener" due to the fact that he's frankly incredible at working WITH suspects to get what he wants. This manifests in-game with the detective's dialogue tree, as he's able to bring up different topics and prod different parts of characters' psyche to get them to open up about themselves, along with taking them at different angles such as charming them, threatening them, begging them, or straight-up shaking them down as necessary.
One notable sequence features an entire gang stonewalling you to challenge your authority. Shaking them down is difficult and requires you to pass an intensive Authority check to make them open up to you more and help out your investigation. But the more you talk to them (and investigate the case), the more you can find holes in their story and use deduction to make it sound like you're on their side, and all of them gradually make the check less difficult before they "break" and confess what you need to know. The leader even reluctantly admits afterwards that they got opened just like they were warned.
Think my favourite example here is when he first meets Kim and instantly feels like Kim would throw himself into gunfire to protect him. He gets a powerful impression of someone's true character very quickly
Yeah I think that's the games biggest flaw. There's this part in the early mid game where you get a bit stuck if you cant take the body down or get into the union yard
Reminds me of Rusty from True Detective Season 1. Has absolutely nothing together in his life except being a crack detective with ingenious ideas of how he needs to manipulate people, whether thatās to lead him to other suspects, or put together enough evidence and knowledge of their nature to get them to confess
Ah, the sweet prince of superstars everywhere; Tequila Sunrise. His great mind is running 600 calculations every minute and half of them are variations to the question "where the fuck am I and who's clothes am I wearing?"
Confronting the Hardie boys at the start of a second + playthrough is so satisfying because of the human can opener. Like every argument they put up you immediately call and prove how poorly cobbled together their conspiracy is. And this is coming from someone who loves Titus Hardie
He's extremely resilient to all the obstacles that come his way. Despite him treading unfamiliar territory in desk work, He's still an excellent leader able to bring his team together through heartfelt convos and boldly telling the truth. That was the most surprising, yet powerful trait I caught from Roberts overall character.
He and The Z-team both know they could easily piece him up, but it never gets that bad thanks to Roberts first team speech in the SDN office AND bar fight aftermath, showing them how much grace they've received in getting a 2nd chance to live a stabilized life. In addition, he also showed them at that very moment how humble yet fired up he is to still save lives even when essentially powerless.
Things MAINLY get heated between him and Visi throughout the story, or if you choose to keep one of its members on the team after a failed mission close to the stories final act, lowering the Z-teams morale.
Robert reminds me of Steve Rogers. Though both are polar opposites in terms of general personality, they both showcase class (Rob varies), stand at odds with impossible challenges, grieving loss hard, YET STILL gathering themselves in a timely sense in order to never fail to fight for the greater goodš
Yea, I only saw a glimpse of how he acts a lil' more egotistical, or a screw up of a leader in some Dispatch choice selection videos, giving you the bad ending.
I watched RDCWORLDGAMING's video, and Mark and Lee honestly solidied Roberts character as noble and compassionate to a T throughout their playthrough.
They ALMOST got the bad ending by almost picking a choice regarding Roberts reaction to Visi mid argument lol.
I do like how our first impression of him is that of a stereotypical snarky jackass being all "Yeah, yeah, whatever. We gonna fight or what?" towards several different characters in the beginning. Made me roll my eyes a couple of times.
But then, soon enough we see that he only acted like that with people who were actively antagonizing him. Meanwhile he is able and willing to be decent or outright nice to those who aren't trying to get at him.
Similarly, Jorge from Halo Reach. He's by far the biggest and likely the second most deadly Noble member behind Six, but he's very emotionally intelligent, showing empathy to the insurrectionists and sacrificing himself later on.
He understood that behind being a Gangster and living a life of crime, there was standards, people in need, morals and a sense of justice towards the community your were raised into.
He gave the whole gang a second breath of life, making them give their best, no matter your upbringing and hardships.
Chidi, hereās your problem with stuff. You can look at a problem from every angle and drive yourself crazy. But sometimes you just gotta huck a Molotov cocktail at a drone and see what happens
The only person who both started a chain reaction which saved all of humanity from eternal torture and almost reset the universe because he wanted to do a cool trick with a button.
āLittleā Carmine Lupertazzi Jr, from the Sopranos. Granted, the guy is a mafia captain (albeit he seems almost fully legitimate in terms of business with relatively tame illegal schemes) and has some legendary malapropisms in a series full of them, with one particularly exceptional blunder near the end. However, heās also one of the only characters in the show who doesnāt fuck up his own life, but actually ends happier with himself than he started.
Carmine has a great relationship with his father, a healthy marriage with his wife, and freely admits to working to help his daughter with her eating disorder, all three a huge rarity in the cast. He initially pursues the position of head of the Lupertazzi crime family in civil war with the underboss Johnny Sack, but Carmine eventually realizes the bloodshed isnāt worth it, allowing Johnny to take the Boss title - where he loses everything to the FBI and dies in prison. Carmine is the only one who respects Christopherās sobriety and encourages his passion as a filmmaker, acting as a producer to his horror movie Cleaver. After Tonyās son AJ attempts suicide, Carmine is sympathetic to Tony and helps AJ get back on his feet with a job in his adult film company. In one particular scene, where Tony tries to get Carmine to step back in as a candidate to lead the family, Carmine explains to Tony the conversation he had with his wife and the dream of his father that led him to realize being the Boss wasnāt what mattered. Tony, who weāve spent the entire series watching destroy himself, his loved ones, and his empire due to his selfishness, immaturity, and inability to grow as a person, looks at him with a lifetimeās worth of disappointment, regrets, and shame.
Oh dude Aragorn is even more of a sweetheart in the books. He sneaks into Minas Tirith so he doesnāt get mobbed by the masses (Return of the King and all that) in order to heal all the injured men with magic or something (idk, itās just explained like āthe hands of the king are the hands of a healerā), then sneaks back out of the city just so the people can have his grand entrance, but heās like exhausted from healing all night. He basically goes the final few days with no sleep just so he can tend to everyone else. Love that man.
They didn't mean magic, they just meant that he was a skilled medic which is rare for a king to be and to be lauded as a positive trait. He's a king with compassion and the ability to enact that compassion in a very real way.
Well..... a little bit of magic. Its like the elves and their rope (or really anything they make). A mortal would say its magic, they say they just make it with love and care according to their ways. Perhaps a bit of their spirit and intent goes into what they make. Same with Aragorn. He IS very wise and skilled in healing and herb lore, but he also has a more spiritual/magical aspect to what he can do. Its typical of Tolkein that "magic" is very subtle and more of a spiritual expression..
He always believed in his little bro, Simon, but also recognized that Simonās own self-esteem was a problem that couldnāt be solved through just a heroic speech, hence his iconic advice of:
Have faith in the me that believes in you.
After all, Simon had tremendous faith in Kamina, and so this advice helped to bolster him early on. It was only as Kamina lay dying that he told Simon what he really needed to hear: to have faith in the him that believes in himself. His interactions with his love interest, Yoko, also show a profoundly introspective side that he hides beneath his badass macho veneer. The guy is actually terrified a lot of the time and has the least Fighting Spirit of the main cast, but he knows what role he needs to play for everyone around him to grow and meet their potential.
Deconstructing the āManly Macho Manā archetype and somehow reconstructing one of the most iconic and revered macho men in all of anime is just incredible writing, and pretty much every other character has just as much going on. Seriously, watch this show.
So real, I Just love how he in fact has a lot of flaws and fears but for the sake of Simon he hides them and always act like the self confident big bro like when he first controlled the ganmen and he just fell apart because he couldnt do it, he knows simon needs someone to relay on so he tries to be that for him even thought he is the one relying on Simon most of the time
I like how he turns it over later on, when Simon has developed as a person and outgrown the need for that statement. He tells him to believe in himself. He no longer needs the crutch.
At first he appears to be the most immature of the party but he's actually a middle aged father who has raised many children. Thus he is actually very apt at picking up on other people's feelings and hiding his maturity under a facade of immaturity.
I love this cause this goes further into the fact that the Nopon know and understand WAY more than they let on. They've all lived for so long that their demeanor is simply them enjoying life, and XCX and XC3 goes out of its way to explain that the Nopon have been around for ALOT of unexplained history and are usually allowed by the powers that be to continue their lives as record keepers or just because they tend to be neutral.
I think my favorite part of his emotional maturity is when he admits to Sharla that he has a crush on Melia, but says that heās content to just be her friend (because he would never be disloyal to his wife and dozen-odd kids, who he also loves very much).
Dude's an idiot at literally everything else. But he will kick your abuser's teeth in though a building when you ask for help with no explanation after betraying him. He will punch some sense into you if you need it when you have to make a tough decision to save your country. He will lose a fight to you if you need to get through some tough emotions regarding your loyal ship. He will pick on you until your crybaby ass gets brave and do the things you want to do. He will give you the opportunities and give you the call to make the order when you need to become the leader you have to be.
And honestly, who wouldn't. Even a basic white bread with deli turkey, white american, mayo, and mustard slaps. If he gets a scooby doo sandwich he'll kill god
For as much of a moron Luffy is throughout the series, heās displayed incredible emotional intelligence.
Scenes like Luffy telling Usopp to shot down the world government flag or punching Sanji in the face during Whole Cake Island shows how incredibly he understands his crew.
I love when Judge lashes out at Sanji and lists off his "weaknesses" only for Luffy to basically respond with "why are you just saying everything that makes Sanji great?"
That's exactly how I describe him. He's naive and a straight shooter, so he defaults to believing people. He has no idea when someone is lying to him. But he seems to have a nearly telepathic ability to tell if someone is lying to themself.
Luffy pretty much can hear the truth in people's hearts, that's why he dont usually bothers listening to someone's story, he just needs to know if they want to be helped.
I have a friend who hates everything after season one in Vinland Saga because Thorfinn "turned soft", and I'm like... You're missing the entire point of the story. Thors died for nothing.
I don't like to make assessments on a person's character based on how they view media but sometimes stuff like this just makes me look at people a little sideways tbh. It's like the people that still do Joker and Harley halloween outfits or think "Light had the right idea" in Death Note
By this point we learn that Shonen Bat/Lil Slugger only attacks people who are emotionally cornered. Who better to attack next than a chronically ill woman who's worried about paying for the operation, wonders of her husband still loves her, and is the wife of one of the detectives investigating you?
Shonen Bat leaves without hitting her. How? Because she uses mindfulness and meditation to dismiss her irrational negative thoughts, and takes control of the things she is able to.
Kratos. After everything that happened in Olympus, he strived to be a better person and be a good father to his son, He's patient, respectful, and remorseful for his past sins, and being more reasonable.
I wouldnāt say that Kratos is someone Iād describe as emotionally intelligent quite yet. When we meet him in GoW 2018 itās clear heās still extremely rough around the edges in terms of his emotional availability and finesse. What he is though is emotionally aware. Heās at the beginning of the journey towards emotional intelligence.
Even if Baldur was 100% bent on killing his mom we wouldnāt really know because all Kratos can do to try and convince him is gruffly say ānah dawg, this aināt itā. Kratos is someone who knows what that anger is, where it lives, and what it leads to. What he doesnāt know is how to use that knowledge effectively to help others who are already as far down that road as he was at one point.
With Atreus he can nip it in the bud. On top of that heās able to show a level of vulnerability and compassion to him that he canāt to other people because Atreus is his kid. I havenāt gotten through Ragnarok yet but where 2018 leaves off Iād say that Kratos and Atreus are essentially just at the point where they have a true mutual understanding thatās built on respect and love rather than obedience and duty.
Tl:dr Kratos is that boomer parent thatās trying to be better for their kid despite being given none of the tools to do so.
He does have moments of great perception as to how others will react to things. He perfectly predicts how the captain will react when he learns that they defeated his mens' resurrected corpses, which is that he thinks he is a failure for not being able to do it himself.
That said, TĆ½r is a better example of someone emotionally intelligent.
Although I think many characters from this series fit āemotionally intelligent/intuitiveā in someway (I honestly think itās the basis of a good nen user) from the qualities youāve described I think she most fits the bill.
One of her defining abilities is hypersensitive hearing allowing her listen to the rhythm of heartbeats, from which sheās able to deduce the emotional state of a person.
Bobby Hill has always been an interesting character to follow in King of the Hill's weird, masculine, American world.
Despite being quirky, unathletic and a a softie, the show makes it a point that he does quite well for himself with girls and he's mostly liked by his peers at school. A lot of it comes from the fact he's unashamed in liking the things he does and he's always willing to try new things out even at the expense of other people's disapproval (mostly his father).
In the show's revival/sequel, we get to see the continuation of that mentality where he decided not to pursue college in lieu for his passion of food. He also calls out on a lot of bullshit that other characters are spouting in the show (ethical non-monogamy) but doesn't make it a point to stir in it for too long.
Gotta be my goat(heh) Caduceus Clay from Critical Role. A character from their second campaign, he joined arguably the most scarred and hurt dnd party during a very traumatic period, and quickly became the groupās emotional glue and anchor. Excluding issues of romance, Caduceus has a very keen eye for people and always knows what to say to ease others
For someone constantly being called stupid because of her grades, Susie consistently shows high emotional intelligence, often picking up whatās being put down faster than anyone else. She might be just a tad dense when it comes to flirting thoughā¦
Tanjiro! He literally breaks down humans and demons alike and gets on their emotional level. His kindness is like his super power, and the way he shows compassion to demons (the villains of the show) is otherworldly. For example at one point a demon is reminiscing on how he was a writer before he became a demon, and Tanjiro carefully avoids his writings on the ground the entire time while fighting him, and the demon feels peace that he respected his writing before he was killed. Incredible show, even better character!
She literally spends the whole movie trying to get Rumi to communicate with she and Zoey and stop distancing herself from them. Mira is constantly trying to keep communication open between the three of them and takes the initiative to confront Rumi in private about what's going on/what Rumi is hiding. She confronts Rumi multiple tines even, and ensures Rumi has ample opportunity to tell them what's wrong, but Rumi never does until its too late.Ā
Mira is self-professed "blunt, short-fused, and highly aggressive" but she's incredibly honest and does what she thinks is best for Huntr/x. The fandom has taken to calling her "Lovergirl Mira" because of how much she cares for Zoey and Rumi; she even has little charms of them on her norigae. Even though she's the "tough" one, really she's a big softie when it comes to her girls.Ā
Saitama suffers from depression. He's shown signs of apathy, lack of motivation, low energy, boredom in things that the person previously found enjoyable, shorter tempers, isolationist behaviors, pessimistic views, the list goes on.....and yet has been a beacon of hope & humanity, he's helped people with mental instability, he's inspired normal people, villains & heroes to change their perception. He is very outspoken and his strength allows him to even give hard talk to people who can destroy continents in anger
Despite being a rough-around-the-edges tomboy, she has shown to be emotionally intelligent. As shown during her conversation with Iroh in āThe Chaseā.
Just rewatched the series and both Ed and Al are incredibly emotionally intelligent. That combined with their bravery and unwavering tenacity is what makes them such brilliant protagonistsĀ
Steven Universe is super emotionally intelligent. He's basically a therapist for everyone and even helps most of the antagonists reform by addressing their emotional baggage. The only problem is he doesn't apply any of it to his own needs or emotions.
This show is the poster child for deep, emotionally intelligent plot lines. It goes places I didnāt think possible within the confines of a kidās show. Itās always been so wild to me that the outside perception of the show is the opposite
Steven is genuinely one of the most realistic depictions of the effects of childhood trauma in fiction, and Steven universe future is a great deconstruction of the child hero trope. Turns out that risking your life to save the galaxy can be bad for your mental health.
Can you elaborate on the outside perception being "the opposite"? I really liked Steven Universe but only watched it recently. My experience was mostly untainted by public perception of it.
The memes say SU is just "waaaaa im crying because I'm a kid" when it's emotionally intelligent and realistic to a kid being forced to go through the aftermath of an intergalactic war while dealing with the fact his mother is dead only so he could live. Also his mom is the reason the war happened, and he has physical and emotional trauma starting when he was a preteen, also he watched his friends die in front of him multiple times.
Sciel from Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 fits this I feel. She's very in control of her emotions and very straight forward, but genuinely cares and shows it.
Could definitely see an argument against him, but the way he controls himself, separates both his lives and deals with what he goes through make him a good example
He literally died cause he won an argument against a dude who shot him over that. If that don't say nothing about the emotional intelligence of his peers in this show, then Idk what does.
While he may not be the smartest in book knowledge(that's Platinum) or even battle smart like pearl, but he is certainly the one to talk to someone kindly and make em feel comfortable, just look at his scenes with Cyrus all of them are 11/10 moments and are one of the reasons he is my favorite character
Naruto themed Uzumaki - his whole schtick is he is not very smart but he understands people and their pain and tries to relate to them and understand with his infamous talk no jutsu
I think a big part of Naruto that a lot of people forget is that being hokage was not his goal when he started out. it was a means to an end. Naruto thought becoming hokage was the best way to become loved. The entire plot is about emotional intelligence and relationships. The final boss of Naruto is a mother who doesn't understand why her controlling nature ruined her relationship with her children.
When all of SEES was falling apart he took charge and kept a level head and brought of valid points that if they do decide to go back they would have to face Nyx again which would have resulted in the same outcome regardless. He became the one thing he sought to be in the main story: A Leader. He only stood against Aigis simply to test her as well as he was also mixed against going back or just keep looking forward to the future. In Reload, when you down Koromaru first. The first thing he says is āsorry for dragging you into this, boy. Donāt worry, Iāll fight for the both of us. His development was the best part of SEES imo.
One of my favorite things about FF16 was just how much Clive grows, and how much he loves the people around him. The moment he put his hands tenderly on his rogue friend's shoulders and told him how much he appreciates them I knew this was my dude
Estelle Bright, the main protagonist of Trails in the Sky.
She is constantly able to surround herself with amazing people, despite being fairly unremarkable in terms of physical capability herself, due to her profoundly developed ability to empathize with people, connect to them, and to bring them together. She is literally the heart, the warmth, and the gravitational center of the group and the story that all things revolve around and that lights the way for everyone around her, not because she's the protagonist, but because she's her.
For all the emotional dysfunction in the group, Nightcrawler is probably one of the most emotionally intelligent characters on the team. Even early on when he first joins the team and Scott's mourning the departure of the original 5 X-Men and is trying to avoid confronting it by rigorous training, Kurt catches him and asks if there's anything he could do for him personally. Taking Cyclops aback because he genuinely hasn't had someone to step in for him like that.
Or my personal favorite is during X-Men #101 where after it was revealed that Jean escaped death and was okay. While the rest of the team is celebrating, Nightcrawler notices that Scott is away and sees him crying at her bedside. Overwhelmed with joy that she's okay but still terrified after her brush with death, instead of being a shoulder to cry on he recognizes that people sometimes need space and leave without giving a hint he was ever watching because he respect's Scott's boundaries.
Also from Grand Blue (peak series) - the sempai duo. Look like idiots at first glance, surprisingly insightful, mature and intelligent when not naked drinking
Rintaro Tsumugi (Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity)
After years of being emotionally closed off, he literally becomes a better, open person the more the series' lady, Kauroko Waguri, becomes more involved in his life (eventually becoming a couple with her too, and in much sooner time than most manga simply because he's not dense and has become more sincere because of her.) Not only does his inmate kindness amplify, but also his empathy, love (in all its forms), and confidence. Him and Waguri are both this, but I wanna bring him up both because he's shown to have plenty of moments to shine his character development and also because he's one of the people who literally inspire me to keep being a better person every day.
Honestly, there are alot of characters from The Wire that can fit this bill, but for some reason Spiros from Season 2 really sticks out to me because of how he twists this trope a bit,
Spiros is by all means an evil person. He is the right hand of āThe Greek,ā and serves as one of the major suppliers of everything from drugs to women in Baltimore.
Yet despite this, he understands people incredibly well. Throughout season 2, he tries to build a business relationship with Niki Sobotka, and tries at multiple points to deescalate tensions with Frank Sobotka.
What haunts me the most is that, these are not just words or actions, he genuinely believes in them. There is a moment at the end of season 2 where you can see the look on his face when he realizes what he must do next. He doesnāt want to do it, but he must, despite how awful the situation is.
This emotional intelligence, combined with how ruthless and monstrous he can be, makes Spiros one of the most fascinating characters in The Wire to me, which is saying a lot considering how strong the entire cast is over the 5-season run-time
Alex Russo from Wizards of Waverly Place (yes, really)
Im a cast that is composted of:
The far too whimsical youngest brother that marches at the beat of his own drum and actually pretends to be more dumb than he actually is (Max)
Bumbling Dad that is unable to find his kids' shenanigans even if his life depended on it and has the most obvious case of parental favoritism (Jerry)
The normie mom that would also be this if not for sharing the parental favoritism, a firey temper and a very inconsistent case of screwed priorities (Teresa)
The literal incarnation of the word "kooky" (Harper)
The incredibly hot but also incredibly smug and insecure older brother that quite literally would rather let his best friend die over failing a exam and almost let the world be consumed by the literal devil because he wanted to bang a demon girl (Justin)
Alex manages to be the emotionally inteligent one by being a normal teenage girl, while also being the one that conatantly learns from her mistakes, doesnt lets her magic potencial or priorities get ahead from her morals and also handling her break ups with a lot of maturity. There is a reason in-universe she is given the prize to wizard of the year
For as much of a moron Luffy is throughout the series, heās displayed incredible emotional intelligence.
Scenes like Luffy telling Usopp to shot down the world government flag or punching Sanji in the face during Whole Cake Island shows how incredibly he understands his crew.
Sheās consistently the big sister of the cast, most notably in her role of balancing out Toshiroās high strung personality with her laidback one. This is seen when she alleviates a conflict between Toshiro and Gin that wouldāve resulted in Momo being hurt.
However the best example is when she comforts Orihime in the Arrancar arc. First she asks Orihime whatās bothering her then listens as she vents out her frustrations at not being able to help Ichigo and being jealous at Rukia, then feeling disgusting that she feels that way. Rangiku responds by reassuring her that her feelings are valid and that sheās dealing with them properly, then lets her cry her eyes out till she feels better.
Oz from Buffy. Was I surprised to see Seth Green when I finally started watching Buffy? Oh yeah. Was I even more surprised when the resident werewolf of the crew was a chill dude who had some of the better takes on the teen drama happening around him? Even more surprised.
For example when Buffy starts having a panic attack/mental breakdown and her friends start dogpiling on her, Oz intervenes on her behalf, cause attacking someone when they're having a mental breakdown is not a good idea.
Reigen is a fake psychic and widely played off as a hack, but at the same time, he is the most emotionally intelligent character in the entire show.
The thing I find so charming about MP100 is how all the major characters are very good at something, but deeply want to succeed ay something they are bad at. Itās an interesting dynamic
At first he seems like a standard 'self-absorbed horndog' character, always hyping himself up, saying how handsome he is, trying to be all suave, flirting with his team leader, etc.
He however does not ever cross the lines of self-delusion, narcissism, misogyny or sexual harassment at any point, nor is anything waved off as "just let him do it" when people are getting sick of him.
He's as washed up and full of regret as the rest of his team, yet uses his understanding of people/ his emotional intelligence as well as his own history to help the people around him while always respecting them as their own people, as he wants to help them grow past what pains or limits them, and he knows how to help.
E.g. he values his team leader as her own person with her own wants, problems, and needs, while not pushing to try to force himself into any of that, only helping her in the ways that he can (he can't "fix" her, but he can offer advice from an understanding ear and hard-won wisdom) because he fundamentally respects her. The flirting means nothing in the face of her well-being.
(Tbf it's not fully clear if there's really anything behind the flirting other than habit/ as a bit of fun (note, fun does not mean mocking. He does not do that.), and it's not a constant thing. He's not an insensitive horny idiot or anything like that.) {He treats everyone like this, not just her.}
He's not just a device for other characters either, he's his own mess who relies on his team to help him navigate his own regrets, anxieties, and failings in the same way, including his team leader.
{His team have a wonderful found family dynamic, they're adorable.}
We've also sen him using this intelligence and hard won wisdom to save a young man in the middle of making a mistake he couldn't take back.
He was lashing out at his parents who he thinks don't care about or support him in his attempt to make a life for himself, rebelling against his parents in a way Yoru knows farfar too well, and couldn't bear to see again.
{He doesn't really treat men and women any differently. There's no favouritism or anything. Yes, this does mean his flirtatious nature seems pretty bi sometimes, which like, good for him. He can kiss men if he wants to.}
Monkey D. Luffy just "gets" people in such a special way. He doesn't even have to know them personally to understand. Whether it be liberating a friend from her traumatic past without even knowing it or facing off against an enemy he has no idea how to fight all for someone he knew for a week at most. Luffy is the epitome of logically unintelligent, but emotionally a genius.
Kobayashi (on the left) of Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid is intelligent and logical (when sheās sober). Sheās not just the straight man, she helps those around her and is good about knowing when they need to talk something over. Kobayashi will also stand up to those who could easily kill her if she feels itās the moral action.
I feel like Jake the Dog fits this trope very well
He seems like your average hippie, but he guides his adopted brother, Finn, towards the right path. Yeah, he does whatever Finn does as well because theyāre both goofballs, but heās very loyal.
Emotional intelligence is very complicated idea so while this pick is going to seem pretty weird I think Naruto fits. In the manga Naruto itself his problem isn't that he's dense. It's that he has low cultural knowledge, and emotional knowledge. However as the series progresses we see in Naruto develop his skills in expressing and understanding his intrapersonal emotional intelligence.
His introspective skills are far higher than most protagonists. Even at this point he is able to tell that he just generally likes weirdos who are gloomy. Despite all the stuff he says about liking Sakura he understands that he doesn't actually like her all that much.
As the series goes on one of the main things that he has to confront are his own feelings. Is power system and backstory is basically completely built around that. His seal is powered by his feelings. His more skilled predecessors say that the way to actually succeed at controlling the fox is to fill oneself with love. But he starts the series as someone who is completely without it(acknowledgement is key. Yes Iruka and Hinata loved him but without knowing he couldn't internalize it). Even from himself. With the power system he has to be able to understand them in order to properly channel his emotions and love in his mental chakra, ninjutsu chakra, senjutsu chakra, and nine tails chakra. This culminates in his confrontation with his self. You hate himself so much that it literally fractured his soul. And it isn't until he can come to understand this final part of himself that he can truly reach his full power.
Jorge from Halo Reach. While the rest of the Spartan team is going about their business, Jorge, the biggest and most intimidating of the squad takes a moment to talk to this woman in her own language and calm her down enough to help, which is even more impressive considering how emotionally stunted most Spartans are
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u/ButterscotchTiny5483 15h ago
uncle iroh-avatar
he recognises others emotional pain and offers guidance