Viridiana Sovari from the Night Angel Trilogy. Every girl likes a badass woman who can take care of herself. I just love her entire personality and how she is the polar opposite of your classical fantasy story maiden.
For some reason I am coming up with Isabelle Allende's characters in Zorro and Daughter of Fortune. Oh--and Steig Larsson's Lisbeth Salander. I love her. Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns characters were all really good. Snape, Sirius, Dumbledore and Hagrid. Gandalf and Gollum--and Aragorn. And from comics: Wolverine, Death, and Catwoman. Classics: Wife of Bath, Chaucer's Pilgrim Narrator, Odysseus, Medea, and Clytemnestra. All the Greek gods... Janie in Their Souls Were Watching God
There are so many great characters to choose from! Where do I begin? Severus Snape --- because he is a good guy, through all the pain, bashing, and bad things he had to do, he still did what he could to protect Harry and Draco and also help defeat Voldemort. It seems like he was just biding his time until Harry finished off the horcruxes, but Voldemort killed him before he could make a difference in the last book. Luke Skywalker --- Yeah, he was whiny, but he not only helped defeat the empire, he took care of his friends and family and didn't turn to the darkside when it was convenient. Bilbo Baggins --- I just love the hobbit. He reminds me of a life of adventure and comfort and he's such a pleasant person (Well, before he found the ring). He holds nothing back to help the bumbling dwarves on their quest. Hobbits are so easy to love for some reason, maybe because they are peace-loving, caring, and vulnerable. I'd also like to mention I like The Scarecrow (Batman), Han Solo, Guy Montag from Farhenheit 451, The Great Gatsby himself, and Harry Feversham from The Four Feathers (Not the movie).
Mattia from Nobody's Boy, definitely. He's an ugly kid with a big head who nobody likes all that much, but he is a true bro. Seriously, Remi would've been so effed without him. Alice from the original Alice In Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass books is a close second, though. None of this "DARK AND MURDEROUS ALICE" crap that's so popular nowadays - the derpy, seven-and-a-half-exactly year-old Alice who you just wanna hug forever. Old childrens' books tend to have pretty great protagonists, in my opinion. Their whole lives just suck so hard, but they always stay optimistic and adorable, and it's just so cool.
As several people have already mentioned, Snape from the Harry Potter series is defiantly one of my favourite characters, because of the romance surrounding his story, but also because I feel he gave up more than any of the other characters in the books. To be hated by everyone (as neither side really trust him) and to know, silently, that you are doing the right thing – it gets me every time I read the books. I also really like Dumbledore from Harry Potter, because he is this strong, kind and stereo-typically wise old man, but is also flawed (as the Deathly Hallows book explores) George from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, because of the horribly difficult decision he has to make at the end of the book, and because he has the strength to do it. Rodolpho Rossi from Mary Hoffman’s Stravaganza, City of Masks, because he is a wise old man, and his love for the Duchessa makes me happy every time I read it.
Severus Snape is truly an outstanding character. Those who sneer at Ms. Rowling's writing would do well to study how she develops a character who remains forever unpleasant and unlikable, and yet respectable, awe-inspiring, and, ultimately, supremely heroic.
Q and the protagonist in the book Q by Luther Blisset are what made it for me. It's amazing how much I connected with a) the protagonist, despite the fact you never even find out his real name and b) Q, despite the fact he doesn't actually appear in the book in person til the last 50 or so pages. The Redwall books always have good main characters and villains, Cluney the Scourge being the most notable in the original book, Redwall. I loved Merry&Pippin in the Lord of the Rings books, so different than their portrayals in the movies (which I also like) but just as fun and likeable in my opinion. Always loved Twig from the Edge Chronicles when I read them when I was younger. His trilogy was my favourite!
Me too And I'm always cheering for Araya and John Snow. My favorites before GRRM's Thrones books were Ender and Bean from Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. And Scout Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird. I have no idea why, because Southern Gothic isn't my typical go-to genre, but there it is. I like Scout
Harry dresden and Bob the Skull - The Dresden files Harry because he is always trying to do the right thing despite the odds and his extraodinary bad luck, also he is just a likeable character. Bob because... well he's just plain awesome
Steerpike from Gormenghast, because his sinister motivations and trickery are a delight to watch develop; Tyrion Lannister from A Song Of Ice And Fire, because I like the fact that he always gets his own way despite being such a conniving little git; Drizzt Do'Urden from R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf trilogy and beyond, for his upstanding morals in the face of appalling corruption; And finally, Dinah Glass / Dinah Hunter from The Demon Headmaster, a character with whom I empathised when I first read the book during my school days.
Ruth Cole from Irving's A Widow For One Year. Such a great female voice, someone I related to and who reminded me of women I've known. My fondness for her actually made me feel more confident that I could write a believable female character. Neil from Roth's Goodbye, Columbus felt like a real person.
Holden Coufield - Catcher in the Rye. I liked him as a character because I didn't like him as a person. If that makes sense.
Whew, well I have so many favorite characters but I guess my top favorites would be... Severus Snape. I know, he seemed like a bad guy in the beginning but even from the first book I liked him. Thinking back on things, it makes me feel like I should have known he was in love with Lily. What other connection could he have to Harry (other than the obvious, Voldemort) and he only insulted James, never Lily when he was speaking to Harry. Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird. I only read this book because I had to write an essay on it for school but it wasn't actually bad. I loved Boo's character, mysterious, a little scary, then in the end he really wasn't as bad as everyone thought. I would have done my essay on him, but we needed to include at least three quotes from our character... Hmmm am I sensing a trend here? I guess I like the bad guys who turn out not so bad...huh.
completly agreee. and he made me laugh so much with his dry humor. haha but it was also so sad about his one sided love for lily i wanted to read more about it and go back in time. ooo new story opportunity J.K.Rowling!
I guess some of my favourite characters are: Callum from Noughts and Crosses Tommo from Private Peaceful Elizabeth Bennet and Darcy and Mrs Bennet from Pride and Prejudice Mma Precious Ramotswe from The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency Fagin, Dodger, Bill Sikes and Nancy from Oliver Twist
Are you my twin? I enjoyed Begbie as a character, but my favorite from Trainspotting was and will always be Sickboy. In both the novel and the movie, I am always touched by Sickboy's reaction when he goes in to see the little baby Dawn. It's also probably the best scene of the whole story for me, because while the follows a group of men who celebrate their rather pathetic lives, this scene is when sh/t gets real. I also like that he seems to be the most neurotic of them all yet is also the most highly functioning addict. And Bateman is a real winner too. Easton Ellis did a fantastic job portraying crazy. I don't hate the book, but I found it to be really difficult to read sometimes. Part of what made Bateman a wonderful character was his obsession with materialism, but I found it hard to read entire chapters about his opinions on a Whitney Houston album, and I had to skip the most of the rape, torture, and murder scenes. Overall I was glad that I forced myself through it though; I left feeling like I had a new perspective on a lot of things. And I will always love Snape from Harry Potter. I love double agents. He is such a well-developed character, and I like how well Rowling showed the good and bad in everyone. I like the idea of redemption, of eternal love, and I think he is also appealing to me because he is just so revolting. He's greasy, stubborn, spiteful and rude, and I think that we can all see a little of ourselves in him too. I also adore Humbert Humbert from Nabokov's Lolita. His idea of love is twisted and creepy, and I love him as a narrator. He's completely unreliable. I remember reading somewhere that through his beautiful prose he even attempts to seduce readers. I think that is a wonderful description of him; the first few times I read the novel, I was sympathizing with a pedophile and even bought into his beliefs that he did truly love Lolita. He sure seduced me as a first (and second) time reader. Honorable mentions: Charlie (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) Charlie Gordon (Flowers for Algernon) Lennie Small (Of Mice and Men) Iago (Othello) Troy Billings (Fat Kid Rules the World)
