Does the villain's dog count? I wrote one from the point of view of the evil wizard's old dog waiting by the door every night, and it turned into a whole story about loyalty and not knowing what your owner does all day. Way sadder than the actual revenge plot. Also tried the bad guy's barber, who notices he flinches whenever someone says his brother's name. That one wrote itself.

Honestly this is the same thing I see everywhere, people treat hard work like it's always the answer when sometimes you're just making it worse. I did the same thing with my golf swing for years, gripping the club like I was trying to choke it out, and my buddy told me to loosen up, and boom, straight shots. It's like we get this idea in our heads that more force equals better results and nobody ever stops to ask if that's true. Sounds dumb but I had to learn it the hard way too. That old guy knew what he was talking about because he probably watched a hundred guys make the same mistake. Tbh I wonder how many other things I'm out here doing with too much effort for no reason.