Are there QUATERNARY characters in FIM?

[Lamer 11]

Mane 6 are called main characters, supporting characters are called secondary and most BG characters are called tertiary. But are there any BG characters that are QUATERNARY? That are below even tertiary?

Give examples for quaternary characters.

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

No, there aren't any characters that are quaternary mostly because it isn't a word. Otherwise there aren't characters below tertiary because they'd have to be characters that don't exist.

So the closest character to "quaternary" are ones that fans make  up.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Rainbow Dashey

[D1SC0RD 987]

How about the pets? They are often times disregarded by the fandom and no one really seeks them out in episodes. Infact, they are rarely seen on the screen at all. Only every few episodes.

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

  On 2013-06-30 at 10:23 PM, D1SC0RD said:

How about the pets? They are often times disregarded by the fandom and no one really seeks them out in episodes. Infact, they are rarely seen on the screen at all. Only every few episodes.

But you have to remember, tertiary is already the characters that don't have any parts but being in the animated crowds and nonspeaking roles. The pets however have made noises, and supported in those episodes, therefore they are supporting/secondary.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Rainbow Dashey

[D1SC0RD 987]

  On 2013-06-30 at 10:28 PM, Rainbow Dashey said:

But you have to remember, tertiary is already the characters that don't have any parts but being in the animated crowds and nonspeaking roles. The pets however have made noises, and supported in those episodes, therefore they are supporting/secondary.

 

I thought that we were categorizing by "general" categorization. For example, mane six and CMC are primary (featured in main part of all stories), featured characters like Gilda and Flim/Flam are secondary (featured in fewer episodes but still play a role in a story), tertiary are background ponies (appear in episodes but rarely given roles), and then the pets/other animals lastly (rarely given apperances and rarely relevant to story). Basically my "system" categorizes them by apperance and relevancy, with relevancy taking priority. Since pets lack in both categories, they are last in the line up.

 

But you know, I wasn't really trying to be serious here. Just contributing to the conversation and rolling with what OP was thinking about.

Edited June 30, 2013 by D1SC0RD

[Scootalove 10,689]

I don't think there are quaternary characters in FiM since, the only characters that I know that have speaking roles and actually interact are the Mane 6 and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The background characters are just usually in the crowd that usually stand around, run away, while other background characters actually have a line or two. So, there could be quaternary characters somehow.

[Silver Letter 1,832]

As others have stated, I think there is no such concept in fictional terms as a “quaternary character”. If a character has any relevance to the plot but is lesser to the mane characters then they are secondary. Any character not relevant to the plot with or without irrelevant throw away lines (like Derpy) are tertiary within the story.

[Fhaolan 4,484]

Depends on your definitions. If you want to have four categories, it would probably go this way:

 

Primary - Characters that undergo development: Main 6, CMC, etc.

Secondary - Speaking roles, but are static and do not develop as such: Big Mac, Fancy Pants, etc.

Tertiary - Non-speaking roles, but have character names and a specific appearance: Lyra, Doctor Whooves, etc.

Quaternary (Yes, it is indeed a word, @ http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quaternary) - Non-speaking roles, unnamed cut-and-paste fill ins for crowd scenes: Most of the Crystal Ponies in the Crystal Empire episodes would fall into this category. 

 

DHX doesn't seem to use this system, but if you really want to, there's no reason why *you* can't.

[Jadefire 2,798]

  On 2013-06-30 at 10:23 PM, Rainbow Dashey said:

No, there aren't any characters that are quaternary mostly because it isn't a word. Otherwise there aren't characters below tertiary because they'd have to be characters that don't exist.

 

So the closest character to "quaternary" are ones that fans make  up.

 

Quaternary is a word.

 

However, you are right in that there are no such thing as "quaternary" character, considering that primary, secondary, and tertiary all cover every character in the show.