One thing many girls look for is a bond with someone that will last a lifetime. They seek out others who will love them for who they truly are and make them feel secure. This can be extremely challenging, especially if they have endured a lot in their lives that makes it difficult to trust others or their intentions. As a result, many turn to an alternative: comfort characters.
What is a comfort character? According to Dictionary.com, it is a fictional character who brings a person comfort, someone a person strongly relates to or someone they feel like they would share a special bond with. This term became increasingly popular during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 and 2021, it grew in usage through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram via edits or posts. Since then, this term is still widely used, and many people are proud of who they choose as their comfort characters.
There are hundreds of characters that people could find some form of comfort in, but there are usually a few widely shared favorites. The list is infinite: Steve Harrington, Eloise Bridgerton, Percy Jackson, Finnick Odair, Evelyn Carnahan, Dean Winchester, Bucky Barnes, Wanda Maximoff, Katniss Everdeen, Ahsoka Tano, Loki, Anakin Skywalker, just to name a few. Anyone can have a comfort character; that’s what makes this so popular for people! It isn’t fixed for someone to only like one person and everyone else has to agree. Whatever your interests are, there is most likely someone with the same comfort character as you!
With comfort characters, a person can see traits or qualities that are similar or identical to themselves! When reading or watching a movie, if you immediately feel connected to the story or characters, it’s often because you see so many similarities to your own life. Someone who is more introverted or feels misunderstood may relate to the character who shows those traits. You might ask someone “Do I really act like that?” if you see a charismatic, over-the-top character behaving the way you do. This is the beauty of fictional characters and finding comfort in them; you can find yourself in them or parts of yourself that you used to not express or love.
Another quality of comfort characters is escapism. Very similar to listening to music, being exposed to media centered on your comfort character can be a way to get away from stressful environments or situations. Who wouldn’t want to be at Stark Tower eating Pop-Tarts with Thor and doing homework with Peter Parker? Who wouldn’t want to be at Hogwarts walking the halls to Defense Against the Dark Arts? COVID was a weird environment for all of us, especially when we were stuck in our homes most of the time. These moments brought comfort and joy to someone struggling, and that is what continues to make comfort characters relevant today.
In college, you might be worried about finals, grades, how involved on campus you are, the amount of parties you attend, dating, friendships; the list goes on. But, your comfort character will always be there. Friends might see an edit about your comfort character and then immediately send it to you saying “This made me think of you”.
It’s amazing how one small trend in 2020 is still connecting girls together. You may feel alone, but you’re not the only one who wants to form those everlasting bonds. Next time you read a book or watch a show or movie, look carefully, you might see yourself in the most unexpected characters.