Zim and Gir

I can’t touch on ‘Invader Zim’ without writing a post about GIR.  That’s the robot eating tacos up above and Zim’s henchman.  A being of pure comedic chaos who is completely unpredictable.  Except you can predict that a character like this will be unpredictable.  I think this is a great example of a minion taking the role of comic relief, which allows the villain protagonist to stay serious.

Of course, there are a few challenges with this type of character.  First, you have to be careful on overdoing the chaotic nature.  If they are so comedic that they are completely useless all of the time, you hurt the story.  So, you need to have them be chaotic and funny while still getting some stuff done.  Even if they screw up at the perfect moment, they need to be viable during the earlier stages.  If not, readers will start wondering why they are kept around at all and may turn against them.  It also ruins all attempts at having a serious scene or anything beyond laughs.  All comedies need a break from the funny to avoid oversaturation, so these characters need some periods of ‘normalcy’.

Another possible challenge is that the crazy henchman may overshadow the more serious villain.  Even if you make the villain a source of comedy too, the henchman will be a bigger comic relief.  That is part of their purpose.  So, you can have people care more about the minion, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It can turn bad if they do this and start to not care about the villain at all.  It’s similar to a villain being more popular than the hero, but I feel it’s a harder balancing act.  Instead of the two parties being at odds, they’re partners and there needs to be a hierarchy between them.  A way that I think you can get around this is by having the villain and henchman be different types of comedy.  For example, Zim is an accident-prone, over-the-top drama comedy while Gir is chaotic comedy.  Best way to explain them, but the point is that they are different flavors of funny.

A final challenge with these characters is having them grow.  If they are part of a long series, you want them to evolve in some fashion.  Yet, their chaotic and comical nature almost traps them at their starting point.  If they grow more mature, they could lose the comic relief status they were built for.  You have to be careful with how you make them grow and carefully choose what they develop.  It can be just as crazy as their general personality too.  Maybe a love of flowers that they take too far or they show a talent for economics even though they’re still drinking from the lair’s alligator pit.  A single, serious trait that appears from time to time can go much further than a massive shift.

As a reader or viewer, I love the crazy henchmen.  They make me laugh and appreciate the villain more.  I really like it when the villain acts like their crazy henchman is completely normal and doesn’t treat them like a burden.  It helps both characters by creating a bond that one can get behind.  The crazy ones being accepted so much shows a kindness and humanity even if the villain is terrible. Named henchmen are kind of like the only friends of the villains even if it’s a working relationship.

So, what do other people think about chaotic henchmen?