Ask any geek who their all-time favorite characters are and they can rattle off at least 5 within seconds. But how many of the characters they mention are from books? Sure, TV and movie characters tend to be sticky — they have an attractive actor or actress attached to them, they utter catch phrases with a quirky smile, they grace billboards and magazines and show up on talk shows. When was the last time Valentine Michael Smith verbally sparred with John Stewart?
Still, there are plenty of great characters who captured our hearts, imagination, and admiration who’ve never set foot outside the pages they were born in. Off the top of my head, I have a deep affection for Uther Doul from Mieville’s The Scar, Tommy, Captain of the Maidenhead from Valente’s Orphan’s Tales, Katherine Campion from Kushner’s Privilege of the Sword, and Miles Vorkosigan from numerous Bujold books.
Top ten lists are such the rage these days, but let’s see if we can go even further. Name 5 – 10 of the most memorable, awesome characters from genre literature. Characters you loved or hated or wanted to be or, most importantly, would want by your side in a fight (even if they’re only there to figure out a clever way to escape from said fight). We’re looking for the top 30 most amazing genre characters of all time. But are there even 30? Only you can say.
When I was a kid, I had such a crush on Lessa from the Dragonriders of Pern series.
Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire is up there. (Though I wouldn’t ever turn my back on him.)
Sparhawk from David Eddings’ Elenium (the books were not all that great, but I loved Sparhawk. I was young and impressionable when I read the books, okay?)
Lirael from _Lirael_ and _Abhorsen_, by Garth Nix. Kickass librarians for the win!
Marjorie Westriding Yrarier from Sheri S. Tepper’s _Grass_. I desperately wanted to be her when I grew up.
Various characters from Glen Cook’s Black Company series: Croaker, the Lady, Soulcatcher, Silent and Goblin.
Lady Jessica from Dune
Heck yeah on Tyrion!
My favorites:
Walter Slovotsky from The Guardians of the Flame
Bran from Susan Cooper’s “The Dark is Rising” books
Melquiades from 100 Years of Solitude
Roland Deshain from the Gunslinger
Conan of Cimmeria
Princess Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Gurney Halleck and Chani from Dune
Mat Cauthon, Rand al’Thor, Perrin Ayabara, and Min from the Wheel of Time series
Von Bek
I’ve always been partial to Hagbard Celine from the Illuminatus! Trilogy.
If you click on the above link, you’ll notice that Wikipedia compares him to the pirate Ragnar Danneskjold from Atlas Shrugged–who I also like, but who is NOT (per Wikipedia) a librarian pirate.
I know that Wikipedia is editable by all, and that this typo would be easy to fix, but it’s so darn funny I feel compelled, by the spirit of Hagbard Celine, to leave it be.
Fnord.
Gerald Tarrant from C.S. Friedman’s “Coldfire” trilogy,
Temeraire from Naomi Novik’s books,
Cal from Storm Constantine’s WRAETHTHU,
Candy Smith-Foster from David R. Palmer’s EMERGENCE (yay there’s a new Emergence-based story out in a recent ANALOG!)
Tarod from Louise Cooper’s “Time Master” trilogy,
Mary from Octavia Butler’s MIND OF MY MIND
Jodahs from OB’s IMAGO
Seregil from Lynn Flewelling’s “Nightrunner” books
Aleksander from Carol Berg’s “Rai-Kirah” books…
Oh, wait, I was supposed to only do five.
I second Bran from Dark is Rising, and also Conan.
The Wart from The Sword and the Stone
Pantalaimon from His Dark Materials Trilogy
Mrs. Whatsit from A Wrinkle in Time
Cimorene from Enchanted Forest Chronicles
Shadow from American Gods
Cthulhu from Call of Cthulhu
Jim Nightshade from Something Wicked This Way Comes
Patroclus from The Iliad (The epics aren’t exactly genre but he’s amazing anyway).
Oh and I can’t forget The Sparkly One, Edward Cullen…wait, just kidding. Although there is some excellent snark about him out there, can I put snark-Edward as a choice? :0D I actually enjoy reading about him in that format.
I was absolutely going to put Tyrion Lannister on this list.
I’d like to add Arya Stark, and Daenerys Targaryen, also from Song of Ice and Fire
Lyra Belaqua from His Dark Materials (I so wanted to be her when I was 12)
Corwin from the Chronicles of Amber
and I guess I’ll be the one to bring up Harry Potter. Dumbledore belongs on the list.
I’m a very visual person, so I tend feel more of a connection with TV/movie characters (even graphic novel characters), than the ones in books. That said, I would put Harry, Bob, and Thomas from the Dresden Files on my short list.
I usually pick actors as a visual reference for my own characters, not sure if other authors do that too.
I do love almost every character in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, too, but you’ve got to factor in how much time I’ve spent with them.
Whoops, I definitely forgot Renie from Otherland by Tad Williams. That series was great and Renie is an awesome character.
Jon Stewart’s name doesn’t have an ‘H’ in it, btw. Carry on!
[Commander Sam Vimes, Esme Weatherwax, and Susan Sto Helit, in that order, all from the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I am a fangirl and proud.]
(discworld)
Tiffany Aching (and all the lancre witches! And the city watch, and Sybil Vimes! I’m a cheat)
Death
(asoiaf)
Brienne of Tarth
Daenerys Targaryen
(lotr)
Samwise Gamgee
(un lun dun)
Deeba Resham
(american gods, anansi boys)
Anansi
(vorkosigan series)
Cordelia Naismith
(enchanted forest chronicles)
Cimorene
(bartimaeus trilogy)
Bartimaeus
Hmmm, what kickass characters haven’t been mentioned yet…
Belgarath and Polgara (David Eddings’ Belgariad series)
Cirocco Jones (John Varley’s Titan series)
Kimball Kinnison (Doc Smith’s Lensman series)
John Carter of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series)
Susan Calvin (Isaac Asimov’s robot stories)
Lazarus Long (Robert Heinlein’s Time Enough For Love)
Meg & Charles Wallace Murray (Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quartet)
R. Daneel Olivaw (Isaac Asimov’s robot novels)
Raistlin Majere (Weis & Hickman’s Dragonlance series)
Solomon Kane (Robert E. Howard’s Weird Tales series)
Jirel of Joiry (C.L. Moore’s Weird Tales series)
As a grown man, Croaker of the Black Company books and the Gray Mouser of Leiber’s Lankhmar still feel like kindred souls. Ditto George Alec Effinger’s Maurid (Marid?), one of the only plausible (unorthodox) Muslim characters in all of genre fiction.
But if we’re going for the strict cut-to-the-gut nostalgic wallop of our younger genre reading years? Raistlin, Raistlin, Raistlin! O strange-eyed, broken-bodied wizard among warriors! Did anyone understand as you did what it was like to be a asthmatic, lazy-eyed book-reader in a junior high full of working-class tough guys? Methinks not…
Lessa is one of my all time favorites (I even did my thesis on how Dragonflight utilized the Cinderella archetype).
Rowan from McCaffrey’s FT&T books.
Tier from Brigg’s Raven books.
Paksenarrion from the Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon.
I’ll also have to echo others on including Sparhawk, Belgarath and Polgara.
DO YA books count? Then I’ll include Alanna from the Lioness cycle and Briar from the Circle of Magic books, both by Tamora Pierce.
There are definitely some characters who became dear friends, characters that it broke my heart to leave behind when the book was over.
Brendan Doyle from Tim Powers’ “The Anubis Gates”
Jack Shandy from Tim Powers’ “On Stranger Tides”
Scott Crane from Tim Powers’ “Last Call”
(yeah, I’m a bit fond of Powers!)
Garrett and the Dead Man from Glen Cook’s “Garrett PI” series
Tarod and Cyllan from Louise Cooper’s “Time Master” trilogy
Marcus Didius Falco from Lindsey Davis’ “Falco” mysteries
Merriman from Susan Cooper’s “The Dark Is Rising” series
Repairman Jack, from F Paul Wilson’s “The Tomb”
Actually, it occurs to me that, depending on the definition of ‘genre,’ I might have to include the creature from _Frankenstein_. And Sindbad the sailor. And maybe Orpheus. Ooo oo, and Robn Hood!
I guess I’ll toss out some anthropomorphic animals: Mr. Toad from The Wind in the Willows and Matthias from Redwall.
Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg from Pratchett’s Discworld, Zelazny’s Corwin, Brust’s Vlad Taltos and his familiar Loiosh.
When I was in fourth grade and first read The Stars My Destination, I had an awful crush on Gully Foyle.
To this day I don’t know why.
Aragon and Gandalf from LOTR
Meg Wallace from Wrinkle in Time (and others)
Joanne Baldwin from the Weather Warden series
Rachel Marianna Morgan from Dead Witch Walking
In no particular order…
Lila Black – Keeping It Real by Justina Robson
Clary Fray – Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare
Jace Wayland – Mortal Instruments trilogy (he’d give Bella’s ol’ Edward a run for his money…)
The Phouka – War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Kaye _ Tithe by Holly Black
Roiben – Tithe by Holly Black
Holly Blue – Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan
Anton – Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Aragorn – LOTR
and last but not least, Frodo Baggins, because I some of my best childhood memories involve me running around in the sagebrush pretending I was Frodo with the ring, evading Black Riders. Silly, I know, but undeniably influential.
Saltheart Foamfollower — tragic and noble giant from Stephen R. Donaldson’s Chronicles of Thomas Covenant
Menolly — “Oh, tongue, give sound to joy and sing, of hope and promise on dragonwing …” from Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall Trilogy.
Bill the pony — the poor little packhorse that accompanies Sam Gamgee as far as the gates of Moria in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. I hope he’s okay.
Pug and Thomas — two boyhood friends who go through epic transformations and are separated by time and space, only to end up back together, having in some ways fulfilled their boyhood dreams in Raymond E. Feist’s Riftwar Saga.
Tarma — Shin’a'in clanswoman and sword-sworn badass who lost her clan and the joy of singing but found a new clan in her friend Kethry, in Mercedes Lackey’s Vows and Honor series.
Rache — the young man who loses his entire clan, and his hope of earning a place of honor in the afterlife, but presses on anyway in Mickey Zucker Reichert’s The Last of the Renshai
Vlad Taltos and Cawti — two assassins in an improbable marriage who stay refreshingly true to character and type in Steven Brust’s Adventures of Vlad Taltos.
Calypso — yeah, she totally ensorcelled Odysseus’s butt, but I still can’t help feeling sad for her when he dumps her for some reason.
And I agree with many of the ones already posted above, including (shamelessly copy/pasted):
Valentine Michael Smith (Heinlen’s Stranger in a Strange Land)
Tyrion Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire
Walter Slovotsky from The Guardians of the Flame
Most of the major characters from Jordan’s Wheel of Time series ain’t too bad.
Mrs. Whatsit from A Wrinkle in Time
Michael Gordon – I also have visual references, but not always. When I’m reading The Dresden Files, Thomas looks like Henry Fitzroy from the Blood Ties TV series, and Lasciel is Number 6 from the new Battlestar Galactica. Although Bob gets a special place because in my head he’s played by Billy Crystal (as Calcifer from the Howl’s Moving Castle film).
I’ll second Harry, Thomas, and Bob. I’ll also second Nausicaa, Bran, Tarod, Vimes, and R. Daneel Olivaw.
I should probably come up with some of my own, so in no particular order:
- Remus Lupin and Sirius Black from Harry Potter
- Felix and Mildmay from Sarah Monette’s Doctrine of Labyrinths books
- Dream from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman
- Morgan of Hed from Patricia McKillip’s Riddle-Master books
- Also McKillip, Ducon from Ombria in Shadow
- Latro in Gene Wolfe’s Soldier books
- Alessan in Guy Gavriel Kay’s Tigana
Forgot Douglas Adams’ Dirk Gently.
HOW could we go this long before hitting Douglas Adams? Let’s add Marvin the Paranoid Android, of course, and Zaphod Beeblebrox.
I hate Zaphod.
One of my favorites, but I thought was too obscure, was Perkar from J. Gregory Keyes “The Waterborn.”
Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect from H2G2 feel like very real people to me.
It seems that the characters you identify with most are the ones you experience when you’re young. I’m sure if I were reading His Dark Materials or Harry Potter as an adolescent instead of a 50-something, I’d include Lyra and Harry.
One oddball choice from me, then, are a pair from Arthur C. Clarke: Alvin, the “unique,” and Khedron the Jester, from The City and the Stars. I guess Clarke didn’t realize how funny a name like Alvin would be to Americans. Nevertheless, the pre-adolescent dream of looking for A WAY OUT hit me very hard around age 10-11.
Also Lije Bailey from Asimov’s The Caves of Steel.
OK, there’s a couple of writers not prized for their characterizations, but there you go.
Kahlan Amnell, Richard Cypher, Zeddicus Zuhl Zorrander, and Chase the boundary warden from the sword of truth novels by Terry Goodkind
Raistlin Majere and Tasslehoff Burrfoot- <3 dragonlance
Roland, Eddie, Jake, and Susannah from the Dark tower novels by Stephan King
Sadry, Trisana, Briar, and Daja from the circle of magic quartet by Tamora Peirce
ok thats 14….i guess i should stop.
oops…i meant Sandry ****
Sephrenia and Kalten from Eddings – love these two. Kalten is such a bumbling fool with a heart of gold and Seph I always found interesting and a bit enigmatic.
Robinton – Come on! Has to be one of them! (Except for that crush on Menolly, eww much)
Dweia – Eddings again, bit too similar to Aphrael/Flute/Danae but I prefer Dweia.
Arutha and Mara – Much loved! Pug rocks too, but has started getting a lil bit dull lately, and Tomas was great in Magician but since then I think he’s been used wrongly.
Marvin the Paranoid Android – Definitely
Ender (Orson Scott Card)
Druss & Waylander (David Gemmell)
Lazarus Long (Robert Heinlein)
Alvin (Arthur C Clarke, already mentioned)
Coyote (Kim Stanley Robinson)
Alvin (Orson Scott Card)
Nemo (Jules Verne)
Lyra (Pullman)
Aragorn & Gandalf (Tolkein)
Shannow (Gemmell)
Merlin
Jamie Lannister – ASOIAF – Gearge R R MArtin
Paul – Dune – Frank Herbert
Fitz – Farseer Trilogy
The Fool – Tawney Man Trilogy (sequal to above)
- Robin Hobb