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Do you have a "troupe" of characters?

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Which is to say, do you ever reuse the same characters in different contexts/settings? Some might dismiss this as lazy, but if you're like me and you easily get attached to your characters, organizing them into a sort of "theatre troupe" can be the way to go.

My troupe currently consists of:

  • Icira Witherflame
    1. Originally designed as Misty's evil clone in an idea I had for a Pokémon anime-based fanfic. The idea, as you can probably tell, was scrapped for good reason.
    2. Her official debut was as a playful, difficult-to-kill villainess with no clear goal, a role she played in an IRC Pokémon RP and the small-scale Rogues Gallery RP. This version of her was also vaguely referenced in the Knight Pokémon University RP, but was never seen or mentioned by name.
    3. In a more recent IRC Pokémon RP, she plays the role of a well-intentioned extremist intending to create a world of powerful beings with no concept of hate or greed. The entire clone concept is absent from this portrayal.
    4. In an Elder Scrolls fanfic or modded quest I may develop at some point, she plays a benevolent character previously in the employment of the main antagonist. She joins up with the protagonist in an effort to thwart the villain's efforts.
    5. In yet another RP, this time of the traditional tabletop variety, she is set to play the "token evil teammate" in the party of player characters.
  • Colin Sonan
    1. Originally designed as a morally-ambiguous character in the above-mentioned fanfic idea, Colin went through several iterations before settling on being an anti-hero cloned from the same DNA as Icira, making him more or less her brother, as well as being the leader of a group of advanced trainers called the Forgotten Fourteen.
    2. His official debut was as a student in the Knight Pokémon University RP, having been aged down to be college-appropriate. He also became much more temperamental. This version of him was also used in an IRC Pokémon RP.
    3. In a more recent IRC Pokémon RP, he is aged back up and once again made leader of the Forgotten Fourteen, this time under the name of "the Fourteen Generals". The clone concept is abandoned and he is no longer Icira's brother, but instead her fiancé.
  • Eye Candy (Joanie Aimes, Collie Calloway, Annie Jameson and Bella Austin)
    • In most portrayals, these girls are presented as either the wisecracking Greek chorus or the fun-loving resident rock band. In some settings, one or more of the characters may go out on their own, but it's rare to see just one of them alone for very long.
  • "Those Three Villains" (Eliza DiMaggio, Douglas Fogelberg and Emerson Blackfield)
    1. The first two were originally designed as element-themed dungeon bosses (Ice and Fire, respectively) for an abandoned IRC game, where they were named "Snedronningen" and "Skonabyto". A later revision identified them as humans who had been transformed into elemental monsters by the main antagonist, a sentient energy storm called The Entity; it was at this point that they received their proper names.
    2. In a more recent IRC Pokémon RP, they are presented as Icira's subordinates as well as Burst users, allowing them to keep the elemental powers they would have had in the previous IRC game. They are joined by Emerson Blackfield (a Poison-type user) to complete a trio referencing parts of Icira's name.
    3. In the redesigned Rogues Gallery RP on another board, these three are set to once again play Icira's subordinates, this time receiving their elemental powers through more typical supervillain means. The first two reclaim their original names as supervillain codenames—Blackfield takes the codename "Vesdieh".
  • Willis ra Teremolve
    1. Originally based on my avatar in RuneScape, this character was meant to star in a fictionalized account of my adventures in that game, with an extension incorporating ideas from a Spore story I had partially written. Went through several revisions—sometimes he had a brother or two, sometimes not. Was usually depicted with several familiars, including a spider, a snow imp and even a full-blown demon (rarely seen, for obvious reasons). This fic may get resurrected at some point, but given my abandonment of RuneScape, this is unlikely.
    2. Currently based on my player character in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, he is set to star in a fanfic or modded quest where he will team up with Icira Witherflame to combat a wicked sorcerer. This version of the character has a sister who dies at the hands of the villain.
  • The Narrator (Me)
    • In many of my works, be they RP or fanfic, comedic moments will often feature the narrator interacting with the characters—usually, this involves the characters criticizing the quality of the plot and verbally abusing the increasingly disgruntled narrator.


Yes, I'm aware that most of these examples are RP characters, but they would work just as well in fanfiction if I took the time to write it.
 
I usually use the Kanto Trio (or sometimes the Shinou Trio) in my work. In fact, I literally have Ash and co. as a troupe of actors in a script fic called "Tales from the Stage Door":

For example:

--Ash usually plays heroic roles, comic roles, or plays Pokeflute/tin whistle in the ensemble
--Misty usually plays strong female roles
--Brock usually plays minstrels, mentor figures, kings, comic figures, and every once in a while, he'll play a bad guy in a melodrama
 
I don't reuse characters in fanfics. I always like to write different things so I rarely even repeat character personalities from fic-to-fic. Not wholesale, anyway. I don't really have anything against it though. One of my favorite harry potter fanfic authors reuses OCs all the time in her fics. They almost feel like canon characters to me now.
 
I tend to reuse character names across different works, but they usually have vastly different roles and personalities.

So far, my Andrea Dennison character seems to be the one I use most, being a pokemon researcher, a federal counter-terrorism agent, a noble woman, a Star Trek captain and an adventuring archaeologist in the 1930s. I wonder what bizarre characterization I'm going to put her into next.
 
I don't reuse characters as the main characters. However, characters from previous fics often do come up as unimportant background characters in future fics.
 
I've been known to reuse characters from unimportant stories as well as major themes that motivate me, but if I've put a significant amount of effort into a character that usually means they were made especially for the story they were written into. They wouldn't fit very well into a new one without a lot of adjustments, and at that point I might as well just create a new one.

I tend to use them as a means to an end so I don't mind leaving them behind when all's said and done. Bringing them back would almost undermine a good ending to me.
 
If you mean within one story, yeah, I've divided up my characters into the same groups a couple times over. This is only in Fire Emblem: Dawn of Darkness, though, since its cast is huge.

I haven't used the same characters in multiple stories yet. Well, unless you count the short FE stories where I've used Ike and his mercenaries, but I haven't posted them here, so yeah.
 
I have two main troupes: Johto and Unova.

Johto Troupe
1. Morty - Because he is my favorite, he is often the star. He is also usually the voice of reason.
2. Jasmine - She is the love interest, and sometimes plays the voice of reason. She usually fills the role for stronger female characters.
3. Falkner - I portray him as a bit of a yandere, and also as the deadpan snarker.
4. Whitney - I usse her as comic relief. She's also supposed to be the shallow, superficial one. She is often there to annoy the hell out of Morty.
5. Eusine - He's the casanova and the "red oni" to Morty's blue oni. One of his main purposes is to be a contrast to Morty - for example, Eusine is hot-headed, somewhat arrogant, and loves to woo ditzy girls, while Morty is calm, humble, and prefers to hang out with smarter girls.
6. Lyra - She is a carefree, fun-loving spirit. She also gives good advice.

Unova Troupe
1. Hilbert - I often use him as a slightly snarky but intelligent character. One of my running gags is that he lays down in bed a lot.
2. Hilda - She is the strong, independent girl who loves adventures.
3. Bianca - She serves as Hilbert's love interest, and also a bit of a mentor.
4. Nate - He's the sweet, innocent type of boy.
5. Hugh - He's quite a bit more headstrong and rude than Nate.
6. Rosa - She's the leader of the trio consisting of her, Nate, and Hugh.
7. Cress - He's used for funny comments and eccentric behavior. He can be a bit of a jerk and tends to say things without thinking them out.
8. Cilan - He's mostly there to keep an eye out for Cress.
9. Grimsley - He's the ultimate in sarcastic comments.

That is how I portray 'em.
 
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