Pretty much what the title says. If you could have a story told from a random bystander's perspective in a fictional universe, which universe would it be?
Mine would be the Marvel Universe, especially in New York. The sheer amount of superheroes in that city should mean that:
1. There is next to no street crime
2. The city is constantly in a destroyed state from all the supervillains
I just think that it'd be a very entertaining perspective
Star Wars. You get all this military action between the government and some insurrectionists (and some exposition about embargoes and galactic politics) but you don't ever get a sense of what life is like in the galaxy for the average citizen. Is the Rebel Alliance quietly supported by most people? Is life under the Empire repressive? How did things change after Palpatine took over as Emperor? Can everyone in the galaxy even be bothered to give a shit? I'd be surprised if there isn't an EU book on this. Marvel has a couple things like you want that I can think of. Marvels is a beautiful miniseries about a newspaper photographer at different points in the early Marvel U. And Damage Control is about the company that cleans up after the heroes and villains just about destroy everything. I haven't read that one but I'm aware of its premise.
I think the closest we've gotten to that sort of story so far is the first season of Rebels. While it is about a group of people fighting against the Empire, the entire season is basically contained to the planet Lothal. As the main characters hit the Imperials where and how they can, you get small glimpses of how the regime is affecting the little guy - a disgruntled shopkeeper cowering at the barrels of stormtroopers' blasters, a farmer and his family taken prisoner when the refused to give up their farm, a kid joining the Imperial Academy because his sister did the same and was never seen again. That was really one of the strengths of the season for me, so I'm not really sure how I feel about the series expanding toward the scale of the Galactic Civil War next season.
This to me was one of the main draws of Star Wars Galaxy the MMORPG released by Sony Online Entertainment in 2003. It eventually suffered a painful, protracted demise, but up until that point it was a very fun look at the Star Wars universe; it let you customise your characters skills to a pretty significant degree, choosing from combat skills, healing, crafting and even entertainment and politics. If you wanted to live the life of a small town moisture farmer on Tatooine you totally could, hell you even had the opportunity to corner the market on such things because of the player driven economy. I remember trekking across Naboo by landspeeder to visit a tailors because I wanted to dress my NPC vendors in fancier clothing and I had heard, through word of mouth, of this fantastic little village hidden away which had deep discounts. I am not sure any other game has since captured that minutia of the Star Wars universe (or any other fictional one for that matter), while still allowing players to choose their own story and give their characters the life they want them to have.
In the (Disney-denounced, but screw Disney! There will only ever be 6 star wars films!) EU, there are a lot of books that give other perspectives. Probably the "Tales of/from X" series is best for that, simply because it's a collection of short stories rather than a single large scale tale.
I love Game of Thrones, but I feel like the civilian POV chapter would just be a lot of : ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?! Seriously the amount of conquest, rape and pillaging in the river lands would make it one of the saddest most heartbreaking chapters. And as each book goes on it just gets worse. "Oh man they killed the Stark dude...that sucks." A few days pass. "Oh I guess we're at war. Lucky I am nowhere near a castle. Just a farmer growing grain for King's Landing. No one would bother with me." "Oh I hear that the armies are coming near. But I don't think that it matters, I am just a farmer." "Oh the Lions burned my crops and killed my son and raped my wife and daughter. Thank goodness they didn't find my silver stash and it seems like my wife and daughter will make it.:(" "Oh the Dire Wolves came by and burned my house...and I can't find my livestock...I still have some coins set aside. :'(" "Oh the Lightning Knight and Kingsmen are taking care of the small folk we're saved!" "Oh he is dead...and my liege lord is captured...and some of his men came by and took all of my reserve to replant...and my daughter is pregnant...at least a still have a few coins...we might survive." "Oh and now a new crazier much more brutal person has taken over from Dondarrion. They hung my daughter for sleeping with the Lions....at least I can spend my last few coins to get a crop in the ground." "Oh and after spending my last few coins winter came...my crops died before they even grew...my wife and I are headed to King's Landing..." "Oh and the Faith has decided to start shutting down brothels...we're destitute...I envy my son...." YEAH THAT'S LIFE IN THE SEVEN KINGDOMS. NO ONE WANTS TO READ THAT!
Any one of the dozens of unnamed Hufflepuff students to attend Hogwarts from 1991 to 1997.
I can just see it now, they're all sat in the common room doing their homework, one of them brings in mugs of hot chocolate (wait, what do they drink in that universe?) and chocolate frogs and they all cheer for her/him. Meanwhile outside Malfoy and Potter are having a broomstick race and there's shouting and chaos. One of the Hufflepuffers just walks over to the window and closes the curtains, everybody cheers.
Any William Gibson novel! Nah just joking, they are allready written more or less from a bystanders perspective. I would like to see Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Eriksen from a bystanders perspective. Now I know some chapters let you see that world from a "bystanders" perspective but that bystander almost always has some connection to one of the main characters so I don't really consider them as random bystanders.
As long as it's not someone on the Chain of Dogs! I always thought the tale of the Pannion Seer would be great as told by a refugee. The caravanserai and Iron Wolves were so interesting because they were close to the action but not politically driving it. The Mask Council was barely acknowledged, even though their decisions set the stage for the siege of Capustan. Such an excellent series.
Any ancient book. This isn't to say that I think they're fictional or not, but I think any book that come from the ancient era would be really interesting to see from the perspective of a person who was just in town when the hero came through. Like, what did that guy look like to common folk?
Mass Effect. That shit goes down so hard that it would be an amazing series of games/novels/movies in it's own right.
Brave New World - both the "regular" world and the world on the Savage Reservation. It would be interesting to see both worlds as perceived by those other than the characters in the book. Perception is reality, and I think those worlds viewed from the eyes of those living regular day-to-day lives within them would be fascinating to read.
I would like a story of warhammer 40K where a cult begins, like a normal guy or girl down on his/her luck starting from being a righteous person but being forced to make wrong decisions for his/her and maybe some other's survival, slowly getting crueler and crueler untill he/she actually becomes one of the most powerful agents of chaos (or maybe not even a powerful one who knows maybe just a random cultist could make for a good story also). In short, in the world where everything is black and white, some shades of gray.
Dragon Ball Z. Particularly, from the perspective of one of the random humans who gets killed and wished back to life. Imagine their trip to King Yemma's desk and assignment to HIFL or wherever else. Then imagine their surprise when they get to resume life exactly as they left off, say, before Cell absorbed them. Could be absolutely hilarious, I think.
Mark 14 as told by the naked man. I would dig that.
I hate to get stereotypical and say the Percy Jackson series, but here I go: I've always found it fascinating the way the characters remain undetected from the masses, and would love to see just what a random civilian would see. Like, for example, what the monsters or weapons look like and just how odd the "mist" (the supernatural force that twists mortals' sight from seeing monsters, gods, etc.) would change things to look like. Other than that, maybe the Harry Potter series from the perspective of another student?