Banquo
He is seen in the play to be a noble and courageous general. The three witches prophesied that his children would one day inherit the Kingship of Scotland. He is also very ambitious but the only difference between him and Macbeth is that he does not do evil things with the aim of fulfilling prophecies of the witches.
His character seems to irk Macbeth because it represents what Macbeth wants to be but has not managed to be. When he is murdered by Macbeth, his ghost haunts Macbeth and he feels guilty for what he did.
Malcolm
He was King Duncan’s son. The people saw him a symbol of restoring the good leadership of his father. He was Scotland’s only hope of getting Macbeth out of power and bringing the kingdom back to its previous glory.
Macduff helps him to fight Macbeth to the end because he strongly believes that Malcolm will restore sanity to the kingship. However, his character initially came off as weak because he was unsure of whether to pursue the kingship or not.