Fictional Characters I like

[oggbashan]

There are some characters from fiction that I like, perhaps because they are rounded portrayals that have human characteristics. I enjoy reading their stories again and again.

Here is an incomplete list. Some I like better than others:

The Wife of Bath from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Don Quixote by Cervantes.
Beatrice and Benedict from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
Katarina from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew.
(Both plays can interpret these characters in different ways. Will Benedict survive Beatrice? Is Katarina really tamed? Or is she pretending just to show up her sister and will she make her new husband's life 'interesting'?
Horatio Hornblower by C S Forester.
Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters.
Topper by Thorne Smith (and several other Thorne Smith characters).
Kai Lung by Ernest Bramah.
Bellarion by Raphael Sabatini.
Dr Syn by Russell Thorndike.
Miss Marple by Agatha Christie.

There are other characters I appreciate but I'm not sure I'd class them with the 'likes':

Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger by Conan Doyle.
She/Ayesha and Allan Quartermain by Rider Haggard.
Lord Peter Wimsey by Dorothy L Sayers.
Poirot by Agatha Christie.
Puck (of Pook's Hill) in that book and Rewards and Fairies by Rudyard Kipling (and several other characters in Kipling's short stories - but NOT Stalky)
Some of Georgette Heyer's heros and heroines even though she had a limited palette of characters.

Which characters do you like? Or dislike? Or appreciate but wouldn't want as a neighbour?

 

[lovecraft68]

Well my list is certainly not as highbrow as yours, but I will toss out a couple.

Repairman Jack from F. Paul Wilson. He is in a series of books (The tomb was the first) and is an angst driven vigilante who doesn't officallyexist and believes in an eye for an eye.

Rasalom. Also from F. Paul Wilson (The Keep and the Adversary cycle) one of the most truly evil villain's ever created.

Kobra. Robert MCcammon from the novel They Thirst. An Albino Hell's Angel turned vampire, back in the days before Vampire's became limp wristed wussies. The guy still killed people with a Mauser pistol.


Gollum/Smeagal from Lord of the Rings. Give this guy his due. He was the most tenacious little bastard I have ever read about.

 

[oggbashan]

I didn't intend my list to be highbrow, but those were the first that came to mind. I could add:

Druss the Legend by David Gemmell.
Several of the Sacketts (male and female) by Louis L'Amour (edited for: particularly James Kettleman aka Flint).

 

[lovecraft68]

I didn't intend my list to be highbrow, but those were the first that came to mind. I could add:

Druss the Legend by David Gemmell.
Several of the Sacketts (male and female) by Louis L'Amour.

I didn't mean that in an insulting way, but it's some pretty deep reading compared to my pretty much horror based reading list.

Never got into westerns, but had a Mack Bolan Executioner and Remo Williams the Destroyer phase for a while.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Morn Hyland, from "The Gap Series", by Stephen R. Donaldson. A woman who will do whatever it takes to save herself and her son.

Agent Aloysious Pendergast, who appears in a number of books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Weird habits, but always the smartest person in the room.

Ender Wiggin, from the Ender series by Orson Scott Card, especially the adult Ender in "Speaker for the Dead" and "Xenocide." Possibly the most human human ever to appear in sci fi.

Jon Snow, from "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R R Martin. Honorable, capable, brave, effective.


More later.

 

[lovecraft68]

Morn Hyland, from "The Gap Series", by Stephen R. Donaldson. A woman who will do whatever it takes to save herself and her son.

Agent Aloysious Pendergast, who appears in a number of books by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Weird habits, but always the smartest person in the room.

Ender Wiggin, from the Ender series by Orson Scott Card, especially the adult Ender in "Speaker for the Dead" and "Xenocide." Possibly the most human human ever to appear in sci fi.

Jon Snow, from "A Song of Ice and Fire" by George R R Martin. Honorable, capable, brave, effective.

I loved Donaldsons's Thomas Covenant series, but couldn't pick one favorite out of them. Covenant himself was a dink but the cast was great around him.
More later.

 

[R. Richard]

Brynhildr - from Norse mythology
Conan - From Robert E. Howard's books
Jirel of Joiry - From C.L. Moore's books
Justin Imperiale - from R. Richard's books
Kane - from Karl Edward Wagner's books
Parker - from Donald E. Westlake's stories
Shaitan - from the Arab description
The Tuareg - the Sons of Shaitan and the Forgotten of Allah, from the Arab description

 

[beatrice_dreams]

Beatrice and Benedict from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

Well, will have to agree on this one, as it's probably one of the reasons I chose this pseudonym!

I'd like to add a few slightly obvious girly ones:

- Jane Eyre
- Elizabeth Bennet

And my somewhat more random selection:

- Inspector Salvo Montalbano - from the series by Andrea Camilleri
- 'Harry' - from The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
- Father Brown - from the series by G. K. Chesterton
- Gandalf - J R R Tolkien

 

[gypsymoonrose]

Here's a few.

Valentine Michael Smith - Stranger in a Strange Land (timeless commentary on human bias and flaws)
Marianne O'Hare - Worlds' series (a very powerful woman, strange intense love)
Ryo and Wuu - Nor Crystal Tears (never looked at grass hoppers the same way)
Lydia - Love for Lydia (not a real romance fan but all the characters are honest and the story is interesting)

 

[PennLady]

Elric of Melnibone from the Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock
AJ Crowley from Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett
Miss Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice

I'm sure there are more but that's what I have for now.

 

[oggbashan]

Another: Arthur Peabody Goodpasture from Richard Powell's Don Quixote USA, partially filmed by Woody Allen as Bananas.