Every screenwriter has encountered that character in a script who only exists to deliver exposition or whose personality consists of a single trait. Think of the tech expert who only speaks in jargon, or the comic relief with nothing meaningful to contribute to the plot. They might work for a scene or two, but audiences won't remember them.
Great protagonists demand more. They're unpredictable. They captivate viewers.
And that, my friends, is a round character.
Take Tony Stark. He's not just a billionaire with one-liners. He's a complex individual wrestling with trauma, ego, and responsibility, whose actions often contradict his intentions.
Or Fleabag—outwardly cynical yet secretly yearning for connection, breaking the fourth wall while hiding her true self from those closest to her.
Let’s learn more.
What is a Round Character?
A round character is a complex, layered, and multi-dimensional character who undergoes significant development, demonstrating depth, growth, and realistic human traits. Unlike flat characters, who are one-dimensional and static, round characters evolve throughout the narrative, often surprising readers with their complexity, internal conflicts, and nuanced personalities.
Let’s explore what makes these literary characters so captivating and true to life.
Key Traits of a Round Character
1. Complex Personality:
Round characters show a blend of traits that can often clash, much like people have in real life. They can be courageous yet scared, giving yet self-centered, or hopeful yet skeptical. It all depends on the circumstances. This complexity adds an internal struggle that propels the story ahead.
2. Character Development:
One of the key features of round characters is their ability to change. This change can happen slowly or in a big way, but it should always feel true to their character arc. Their growth usually aligns with the story's main themes and shows significant personal development.
3. Internal Conflicts:
Round characters frequently deal with internal conflicts, like moral dilemmas, emotional chaos, or personal flaws. These struggles make them more relatable and interesting to the audience.
4. Response to Conflicts:
The way characters tackle challenges shows who they really are. Well-developed characters deal with conflicts in ways that highlight the intricacies of their personalities, often grappling with tough decisions that don’t have clear-cut answers.
5. Nuanced Motivation:
Round characters are multi-dimensional and are more intricate than just basic superficial needs. Their behavior is influenced by a tangled mishmash of their past, beliefs, anxieties, and aspirations. To truly grasp what motivates them, you need to dig deeper than what’s immediately visible.
6. Emotional Depth:
These characters experience various emotions, which are often explored in detail. This depth of emotion allows readers to relate to them more profoundly.
7. Realistic Flaws and Strengths:
These characters aren’t flawless. They possess a blend of strengths and weaknesses that make them real. Their imperfections lead to challenges, but their strengths enable them to tackle obstacles, enhancing their complexity and making them relatable.
8. Surprising yet Consistent:
Despite having well-defined traits, these characters can still catch readers (or viewers) off guard. These unexpected moments showcase different sides of their personalities without going against what we have already learned about them.
9. Relatable and Engaging:
Round characters reflect genuine human experiences, allowing readers (or viewers) to connect with them on a deeper level. Their complexity, emotions, and personal growth make them intriguing, which helps keep the readers or audiences engaged.
10. Distinctive Voice and Perspective:
Every round character has a distinctive perspective and communication style. Their conversations, thought processes, and responses to situations align with their past and personality while still allowing room for personal development.
11. Inner Life and Backstory:
Round characters have deep inner worlds filled with memories, formative experiences, and backgrounds that shape their actions today. While their full backstories don’t have to be laid out, they should always guide the characters' choices and responses.
Round characters are essential to memorable stories. They make a strong impact on readers and audiences due to their depth and relatability. Whether in classic books or contemporary films, these characters shine because of their complexity, development, and emotional connection.
Let’s dive into some iconic examples that highlight the strength of a well-developed round character.
'Hamlet'Credit: Columbia Pictures
Famous Round Characters in Books and Movies
Literature
1. Hamlet (The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by William Shakespeare, 1603)
Hamlet is a walking paradox—one minute, he is overthinking everything. Next, he is making reckless choices. He is loving but also brutal, determined yet frozen by doubt. Why? Grief, morality, and a full-blown existential crisis are messing with his head, and his famous monologues give us a front-row seat to the chaos.
His story isn’t a standard revenge plot. He starts as a devastated son, turns into a hesitant avenger, and somehow plays 4D chess with everyone around him. Whether he is toying with Polonius, confusing Ophelia, or plotting against Claudius, every interaction peels another layer of his character.
2. Ebenezer Scrooge (A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, 1843)
Scrooge starts as a grumpy old miser, gruff, joyless, and allergic to holiday cheer. But Dickens doesn’t leave him as a one-dimensional villain. He peels back the layers. Turns out Scrooge wasn’t born cranky; he had a rough childhood, lost the love of his life, and got a little too obsessed with stacking cash. This might not justify his behavior, but it explains why he is only as warm as a block of ice.
His redemption isn’t overnight. It’s complicated, awkward, and full of ghost-induced existential crises. Dickens achieves this transformation through Scrooge’s softened words, by making his walls crack, and by making him giggle like a kid on Christmas morning. Perhaps this is why Scrooge is one of literature’s best glow-ups.
3. Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925)
Gatsby is a mystery wrapped in a tuxedo, chasing a dream that probably never existed. To the world, he is a symbol of success, but behind the champagne and jazz, he is just James Gatz, a small-town kid who reinvented himself for love.
He has everything, except what he truly wants—Daisy. His biggest flaw? He is stuck in the past, convinced he can rewind time and make her love him like he thought she once did. That glowing green light across the water is basically his version of a WiFi signal that he cannot reach.
'The Great Gatsby'Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures
4. Holden Caulfield (The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, 1951)
Holden Caulfield is cynical yet sensitive, judgy but desperate for real connections. Beneath his rebellious streak, he is still reeling from his brother’s death and clinging to his dream of saving kids from the messiness of adulthood—like some guardian angel in a rye field.
Just when you think he is all doom and gloom, his moments with Phoebe, his younger sister, crack open his tough-guy act, revealing a big, messy heart underneath. Salinger turns him into a whole mood, flawed and relatable.
Films and Television
1. Michael Corleone (The Godfather series, 1972-90)
Michael Corleone starts as the golden boy of the Corleone family. He’s clean-cut, idealistic, and very much not into the whole family’s mafia thing. But life has other plans. Before you know it, he is running the family business like a stone-cold boss.
His journey is a brutal tug-of-war between loyalty and morality. He wants to protect his loved ones, but the deeper he dives into the mafia world, the more ruthless and emotionally shut-off he becomes. By the end, he is not just in charge; he is alone. It is a tragic, chilling, brilliant transformation.
2. Forrest Gump (Forrest Gump, 1994)
Forrest Gump might not be a genius, but he has a heart of gold and the luck of a guy who accidentally stumbles into history. Whether running across America, fighting in Vietnam, or loving Jenny with everything he has, he faces life head-on, simple but never shallow.
What makes him unforgettable? His kindness, loyalty, and sheer determination. He sticks by his friends, rolls with life’s punches, and always ends up exactly where he needs to be. Through it all, he keeps his innocence and optimism.
3. Elle Woods (Legally Blonde, 2001)
Elle starts as a bubbly, fashion-obsessed sorority girl on a mission to win back her ex at Harvard, but the plot twists! It turns out she is not a dumb blonde—just a blonde and very brilliant. As people keep underestimating her, she flips the script, proving she has brains, grit, and serious legal chops.
What makes her so fun to watch? She doesn’t change who she is to succeed. Instead, she owns her uniqueness, mixing charm, empathy, and a killer wardrobe to dominate in a world that wasn’t built for her.
4. Walter White (Breaking Bad, 2008-13)
Walter White starts as a meek chemistry teacher just trying to provide for his family after a cancer diagnosis—but let’s be real, that excuse wears thin real fast. As he embraces his alter ego, Heisenberg, we see less a meek professor trying to provide and more a ruthless kingpin doing what he wants. His sharp mind gets him to the top, but his ego and pride drive him down. Watching him wrestle with morality makes him one of TV’s most unforgettable characters.
Conclusion
Great stories thrive on well-rounded characters, the kind who feel like real people with flaws and all. They evolve, surprise us, and keep us hooked. Think Walter White’s dark descent and Scrooge’s heartwarming redemption. These aren’t cookie-cutter heroes. They are layered, unpredictable, and utterly human.
When writers craft characters with depth, they create stories that resonate because at the core of every great tale is a reminder of who we are, who we could be, and how change is always possible.
