QotW: Favorite characters

[Lomadia]

Who is your favorite book character (from Tolkien or not)? Can you relate to this character or not? What age were you when you first encountered this character? What about them impresses, disgusts, or otherwise fascinates you about them?

[Elanor]

Apart from Tokien's Samwise ofcourse I really liked a lot of the characters in Jane Austen's novels, how they all seemed so flawed and yet perfect.

[Elanor]

Oh, and I like Terry Pratchett's Commander Sam Vimes

[Lomadia]

My favorite book character is Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. I relate to her very well- romantic, literary, thoughtful, reserved but caring about others, and exceedingly close to her sister.
I also quite like Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series- I'm a very assiduous student and big reader, like her. I dressed up as her for Hallowe'en and all my classmates were extremely amused because they keep comparing me to her.

[mireandune]

Oooh...I love Goldberry. A dyed in the wool Tolkien lover here.....and Goldberry personifies all of the mystical traits that appeal to me. Always lovely, never aging, forever mysterious. And she captures Frodo's fancy...what a gal!!

[[Aeria-Gloris]]

I’m always one for the anti-heroes so it has to be Boromir. It’s hard to relate to characters that make the right choices all the time. I often fail to do the right thing in certain respects, but feel I redeem myself by being a good person in others. I’m also liking the Gunslinger character from Stephen King’s Dark Tower series for the same reasons. They’re up there with Han Solo from Star Wars, or Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly/Serenity.

[Beren Erchamion]

Jean Valjean of Les Miserables. Convict, penitent, soldier, father, he's got a lot of love in him but also a tortured past. He was, after all, imprisoned on a hard-labor chain gang for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. Valjean is awesome because he also knows some insane prison tricks, like hiding a little saw inside a coin, or bracing his arms against the corner of a wall to climb straight over it vertically. If you haven't read the book....I highly recommend it. Still one of my all time favorites, along with Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky.

[Lomadia]

I'd like to take the opportunity to point out that this thread is a nice crystalization of the gender divide: the women choose romantic heroines, while the men choose outlaws.

[Beren Erchamion]

astute observation

[Elanor]

Well, I'd like to point out one thing. I'm a woman and I put down as one of my fav character an ex-drunk,city loving,cynical and hard bastard(Sam Vimes). I would rather like to point out that half of us seem to be into deep,meaningful literature, while some of us....(ME) just like shallow,feelgood books with a lot of comedy I'm excepting Tolkien here ofcourse

[[Aeria-Gloris]]

Astute indeed! I always judge a character by how you can relate to them. If a character reacts to a situation in the same way I would, they’re cool! In my book (if you’ll excuse the pun) anyway.

Like the Jack Aubrey character in Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander series. When put in a tight spot or given the chance to exploit talents, he excels. But as much time (if not more) is spent exploring his faults. At sea he’s a genius, but on land he’s a fat drunk who can’t stay out of trouble with his superiors, his friends and is especially disastrous with women.

So I don’t think it’s a case of liking ‘bad’ characters, but those with their faults.

JFW

[Lomadia]

I've recently been getting into the Aubrey/Maturin books; I relate better to Stephen, though.