Comfort Character

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Part of a series on Internet Slang. [View Related Entries]

About

Comfort Character is a slang word used to describe a character in a television series, movie, video game or book that is designed to give either the participant or those within the chosen media comfort. A comfort character is one that is wholesome and eases the protagonist or participant, often contrasting against a darker theme in the series. Online, many characters who were not intended to be comfort characters have been labeled as such by fans, who imply a greater nurturing atmosphere than was intended by the creators.

Origin

On May 14th, 2020, Urban Dictionary^[1] user Squootre added the definition of "Comfort Character" as "a character, which can be from a TV show, game, book etc makes you feel safe and happy when upset, sad, down etc." with the character Baymax from Big Hero 6 depicted as a comfort character (shown below).

Spread

Prior to March 14th, 2021, Instagram user @engaged.avery uploaded the earliest format by using an image of the character Jackson Avery from the American drama TV show Grey's Anatomy with the definition of a comfort character superimposed on the image. On March 14th, 2021, Reddit user Full-Surround reposted the image to /r/greysanatomy^[2] subreddit. It received 84 upvotes in five months (shown below).

The format became popular in several subreddits, with the definition becoming associated with characters who make a fanbase feel comforted. On May 4th, 2021, Reddit user looking-cool-joker- uploaded an image of the character Ann Takamaki from video game Persona 5 to /r/ChurchOfAnn^[3] subreddit. The image received 794 upvotes in three months (shown below).

On June 13th, 2021, Reddit^[4] user Eineron_456 uploaded an image of Shishiro Botan, the virtual YouTuber from Hololive. The image received more than 1,300 upvotes in two months (shown below).

On July 8th, 2021, Reddit user nitli uploaded an image of the character KMS August von Paseval from the game Azur Lane to /r/AzureLane.^[5] The image received more than 3,300 upvotes in 25 days (shown below, right).

The format became popular outside Reddit, appearing in places such as Instagram. On July 5th, 2021, Instagram^[6] user @dogcheems uploaded an image of Cheems depicted as comfort character. The post received more than 6,000 likes in one month (shown below).

Your First Comfort Character Meets Your Current Comfort Character

In November 2021, TikTokers began posting videos where they imagine their first comfort character meeting their current comfort character. The earliest known viral version of this trend was posted by TikToker^[7] @definitelynotdestiny on November 13th, 2021 and shows Thor talking with The Cat in the Hat, gaining over 1.7 million views in seven months (shown below).

The trend spread over the following months under the same original sound. On November21st, TikToker^[8] @eons_noodles posted a video where Hermione Granger meets Satoru Gojo, gaining over 1.7 million views in seven months (shown below, left). On November 27th, TikToker^[9] @probablyspidey posted a video where Sam Raimi's Spider-Man talks with Spider-Man from Into the Spiderverse, gaining over 2 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On December 19th, Tumblr^[10] user cheryybutter posted a piece of artwork depicting Sam from Sam & Max meeting Hannah Montana, gaining over 500 notes in six months (shown below).