Favourite Fantasy Characters

[saintjon]

Of course he's an asshole, he has his reasons though and pays and pays and PAYS for his transgressions. I think he's a great character.

I've tried to make comprehensive lists of my favourite characters before, however since I just finished Crown of Stars after 10 years or more yesterday I want to stick to that (one of the few epic fantasy series I started on BEFORE I joined sffworld actually). And I want to get specific about them so there's going to be some



MAJOR SPOILERS FOR CROWN OF STARS SERIES BY KATE ELLIOT!!!!




Alain: What a journey this guy went on. Everyone who's ever suffered for taking the high road, find here your champion. I can get instantly moved just thinking about when he'd lost absolutely everything and got swept into the past and like rediscovered himself in the simplicity of the past and the love of Adica

Fifth Son/ Stronghand: Good partly because of the mental dream interplay between him and Alain and partly because he's like a window onto the bizarre culture and trappings of the Eika as he tries to redeem his people and create a realistic hope for them to last into the future

Zacharias: I remember looking forward to this guy's chapters while Kansi-a-Lari was dragging him literally all over creation. A very sympathetic cowardly eunuch I found lol

Eldest Uncle: I'd sit by a fire twisting rope with him any day

Liath: People complain about her but I really enjoyed the hell out of reading her discovering the various aspects of her heritage and I've said it before, that part in one of the books when her "maternal relatives' came from the Upper Aether to save her and lit up the place, "... even the mountains burned" is one of my favourite scenes in all of fantasy

Helmut Villam: I love this sort of character, the king/ruler's toughest old warhorse, trusthworthy and loyal to the greatest extreme

Kansi-a-Lari: Just a classic hardcore bitch really.

Prince Bayan: Cocky foreigners with a good sense of humour and good martial skills are always fun to read .

Sanglant: Interesting Achilles-ish concept, his actions weren't all that original but a lot of his story was good reading, his captivity and de-humanization under bloodheart and his ongoing grudge matches with Bulkezu were high spots for me.

Hugh: What a dick. Possibly took villainous dickery to a level surpassing even Regal from the Farseer trilogy. Obsessed, dishonest, underhanded and slanderous to the bitter end, I almost thought he got let off the hook somewhat at the end though. I could probably live with what happened to him lol.

Liat'dano: Just a really great concept! I love ancient things and I don't know if in any of the other fantasy books I've read centaurs had their own culture.

I forgot a lot I'm sure but I got a lot of years of good reading out of this series and it was kind of cathartic to mark out to it a bit here lol. Of course I love characters from other stories as well but we'll just call this the Kate Elliot edition

[Siberian]

Gadalf, Eowyn, Aragorn, Sam & Faramir (LOTR, obviously)

Snape (Harry Potter books)

Temeraire

Howl & Sophie (Howl's Moving Castle)

[Bear]

The Weaver - Perdido Street Station
The Fool - Both Hobb Trilogies
Iorek - His Dark Materials
The Tree - The Giving Tree
Croup and Vandemar - Neverwhere
Frannie McCabe - The Wooden Sea
Mrs. Charbuque - The Portrait of Mrs. Charbuque
Baba Yaga and the Bear God - Enchantment
Martha and Cassie Vine - The Facts of Life
Chaos/John Flannery - Glass Soup

[manephelien]

Boromir, Gollum (LOTR, I love these as the only morally ambiguous characters in the story, the rest are either evil beyond redemption or too good to be true)
Snape (the one I love to hate)
The Fool (especially in the Tawny Man trilogy).

[Moonstone]

I think its a great idea to do this again, I havent done this before. But where to start?
My first favorite fantasy Characher was Rastlin from Dragonlance, he was week in body, strong in mind and intellegence, not very nice really and I spent the whole six books willing him to conqour himself. Margerate Weiss dsicribes him "the smell of spice and death," and " the whispering of his robes" and the heat. I cant wait for the film to come out!

More recently its Aragorn of course, who unlike Rastlin is good, honourable - yet he too has his deamons.

And David Eddings Sparhawk, who is battered and older, he comes across as a real person.


Moonstone from FAR

[algernoninc]

i've done this before, but like i cannot pass up any chance to root for my soccer team, i also must vote for my favorites [in a somewhat chronological order]:

- Legolas was the first, because fantasy really started for me with LOTR
- Conan the Barbarian [I don't know if Tarzan the ape man or Rahan qualify]
- Paul Atreides of DUNE fame
- Luke Skywalker, Han Solo
- anything from Terry Pratchett Discworld - too many memorable characters to choose from
- Fitz Chivalry from Robin Hobb series
- Gerald Tarrant from Coldfire series
- Miles Vorkossigan
- Raif Severance from Sword of Shadows
- Drusas Achamian
- Paksenarrion
- Alain from Crown of Stars

[Optimutt]

Maybe it's the fact that I just completed a book wherein the villain is the true protagonist, but some of my favorites are villains.

Kefka (Finanl Fantasy 6) I HATE THIS CHARACTER. So evil. So twisted. I want to cut his head off, put it on a pike and parade it around town. Manipulative, sick, twisted weasel of a clown...

Severus Snape (Harry Potters) - So sneaky and depressing and... dare I say it, interesting. He makes us all ask, "Why"?

[dArkNESS rISiNG]

fitz- farseer trilogy (I love this character's development and his high's and lows. A very dynamic character.)

severian- book of the new sun series (I think this might be my favorite character because he's so complicated and his traits make him unique among many fantasy characters. Reminds me sort of the MC of Vanilla Sky for some reason.)

jaime- a song of ice and fire (I think that this character is my close 2nd. He went from the greatest to a joke. Who can't pity that? The fact that this character doesn't give up is why I like him so much.)

[dArkNESS rISiNG]

Oh, and if we're talking about video games... i think that Tidus from ff10 takes the Greatest Video Game Character of All-Time.

[foolofgold]

Fitz, Fool, and Nighteyes, hands down the best.

Other fav's: Tyrion, Locke Lamora, Dalamar the Dark, Merlyn, and Severus Snape.

[bio]

All Eternal Champions incarnations, but especially Corum , and if this can be called Fantasy / ? / Severian with Terminus Est on his back.
And Sam Gamgee. An Eternal Friend on all of the Multiverse Times and Worlds.Maybe the best , and most brave hero of all fantasy tales.

[bio]

And according to my patriot feelings I can not forget of Wiedźmin by Andrzej Sapkowski.

[Phellim]

I'm suprised at the several suggestions of Snape from Harry Potter... Although, he is one of the only characters that... I don't know, is an actual "character".

Even though I have my favourites (previously posted), I wouldn't be suprised if my potential all-time favourite is still out there somewhere, and that I might never read the book they are in.

[cgw]

The protagonist from just about any Zelazny book. They are more or less the same guy.

[Jessica Strider]

We've had a few of these already, but they're such good characters that they deserve to be mentioned over and over again. I've also thrown in characters I loved from some newer authors.
Jimmy the Hand and Arutha - Riftwar Saga
Menion Leah - Shannara
Haplo - Death Gate Cycle
Seyonne - Transformation
Tris - Summoner
Royina Ista - Paladin of Souls (a feisty middle aged woman)
Ryan Azarcon - Burndive
Yelena - Poison Study
Inquisitor Glokta - The Blade Itself

I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of them.