Favourite Fictional Characters

Having had my interest sparked by this thread going OT, I was wondering which fictional characters were people's favourites.

I'm at work right now (naughty me) so don't have time to give mine, but I'll do it when I get home in a few hours.

Go for a top 5 if you can to keep answers comparable.

Points will be awarded for originality and ability to back your choices with passionate debate/name calling.

EDIT: Milo you're a bastard, why did I try that?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sheriff Fatman on 2001-11-30 15:38 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sheriff Fatman on 2001-11-30 15:39 ]</font>

 

• Ignatius J. Reilly (A Confederacy of Dunces)
• The Stainless Steel Rat
• Dirk Gently
• Yossarian
• Ford Prefect

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Feldon Kane on 2001-11-30 15:50 ]</font>

 

Obviously not really part of the fantasy genre, but my favourite would have to be Brigadier Gerard, the heroic Napoleonic hussar in the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

If I have to choose a fantasy character, it has GOT to be the dwarf Pikel Bouldershoulder and his brother Ivan from the Cleric Quintet books by R.A. Salvatore - who also did the Drizzt books :smile:

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Reg Pither on 2001-11-30 15:53 ]</font>

 

yaay! You are now a proud proper user of the bbcode!!! Lets hear a big yaaay!
it took you 2 tries to get the link done though. :razz:

 

Well, I suppose I knew that my teeny, tiny hopes for noone making the connection between my edits and my use of that feature were in vain.

*throws donut at Jinxed's head*

That's for squashing my hopes.

*throws donut at Milo's head*

That's for using the feature in one of your posts, thus making me feel inadequate about my unlabelled linking.

 

Right, I'm home from work, so here're mine (in order of most random :grin: ):

• Sherlock Holmes
• Sam Gangee
• Riplackish of Dirrinwall
• Severian the Lame
• Ramne

Reg, my Dad likes that Brigardier geezer. 'Nuff said.

Feldon, did you pick yours by best name or something? They're cool! Dirk Gently ... hmmmmm

 

here are mine in no particular order

jessica rabbit (hottie)
danger mouse (cool in a james bond way)
the american eagles (from roger ramjet)
astro boy (what a legend!!!)
monkey (monkey magic.. best show EVER!!)

 

Nah. I just like serio-comedies, and the authors seem to come up with wacky names for their main characters.
I think three of your choices are fantasy characters, and of course I recognize Sir Conan's protagonist, but who is Sam Gangee?

 

Hah! And to think, my 1337 BBcoding skills were mocked yesterday!

• It
  • isn't
    • as
      • easy
        • as
      • it
    • seems,
  • now
• is it?

*cough*

ON WITH THE LISTS!!!

• Jubal Harshaw from "Stranger in a Strange Land"
  • He's just That Damn Cool.
• RP MacMurphy from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
  • A great and somewhat sympathetic character. His attitude towards life and those who think "outside of the box", as well as his ultimate end are what made me burn down my local mental institution.
• Milo Minderbinder
  • How can you argue with this pick? He can buy eggs in Sicily for 7 cents apiece and sell them for 5 in Milan, making a tidy profit in the process. Plus, he bombed his own squadron for pure profit. Which is OK, because what benefits Milo benefits the Syndicate, and everyone has a piece.
• Owen Meany
  • One of my all-time sympathetic favorites. If you've ever felt like an outsider, then you need to read "A Prayer for Owen Meany". This kid is the ultimate outsider, and well... just read the book. It's by John Irving. For what it's worth, the book was made into a movie called "Simon Birch", which I will NEVER see. The book is to good to be ruined in that way.
• I'll reserve this spot for all the ones I can't think of right now. I'll post them up later as they come to me.

 

Damn, hoisted by my own petard!! When WILL that put that 'm' key further away from its disgusting brethren? I meant Sam GaMgee, as I suspect you realise, Feldon unless you haven't read Lord of the Rings.

I love Sam's character ever since I heard the audio version of Lord of the Rings, where he has this really rustic (british) accent and keeps saying "Yes, Mr Frodo" like some kind of simpleton.

Yeah, mine are mostly fantasy or sci-fi, since that's mostly what I am into.

I wish I had reserved a spot like Milo rather than rashly shooting my bolt. Oh well, I guess I just have to shoot again. Some others I have thought of (prompted somewhat from other posts).

• Melvin Udall: from 'As Good As It Gets'. If you're not moved by his valiant transformation, you're probably made of concrete, or something less pleasant.
• Edmund Blackadder: (in his various incarnations) a swine you can admire for his exasperation with the obtuseness of those around him.
• Kees vaan Loo-Macklin: fiendishly intelligent, apparently selfish, but he saves the universe in the end. Or does he?

Damn if I'm not up to 8. Ah well, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more lurking around in my skull screwing up the courage for the web debut.

 

My favourite character would have to be:

Brother William of Baskerville, from Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose.

This guy is just so cool. If you haven't read the book, read it now. It's long, but very worthwhile. I believe (even though I never read any of the books) that William would be the equal, if not better of, Sherlock Holmes, in terms of logic, problem solving ability, intelligence, smartness etc etc etc. The man would have to be one of the greatest lateral thinkers of all time. There's even historical evidence to support his existence.

Runners up:

Dogbert (from the Dilbert comic strips). If I could choose to be re-incarnated with someone else's abilities, I'd take Dogbert. If you've read the comics/seen the cartoon series, you know what I mean :smile:.

Prince Kheldar/Silk from David Eddings' series', the Belgarian and the Mallorean. The ulitmate thief/assassin/businessman, this guy just rocks :smile:. Very sneaky, very funny, very deadly. A nice combination.

The main character from the book "The Master of Whitestorm". This guy tricked a god into destroying himself, etc etc etc. A great warrior and thinker, pity there wasn't an entire series. Would have made a great read.

Jimmy the Hand (from Raymond E Feist's books, too many series' to name). Another really cool thief. Smart, sneaky and fast.

Anyone else notice that I really like the thief from fantasy novels? It's weird...

 

The powerful mage Gandalf from "the lord of the rings"
Sam Skromby from the same place.
and the creature from frenkensien.

_________________
History becomes Legend..
Legend becomes Myth..
and some things that should not have been
forgotten...
...were lost.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Ring lord on 2001-12-02 08:34 ]</font>

 

What about Frankenstein himself? How weird (and therefore cool in a certain sense) to re-animate someone from various body parts?

 

Frankenstein isn't my type he is cowerd and even a little geek..
but the idea IS pretty cool!

 

I must admit to having never read the book...but still, the concept is familiar enough...

 

Tom Bombadil
Hiro Protagonist
Ransom(the Pendragon) from the Space Trilogy
Godric
Lord Peter Death Bredon Whimsey

 

Nope, Sheriff, I honestly didn't recognize the name, no matter how it's spelled. It's been at least 15 years since I read The Trilogy. Perhaps it's time to revisit it.

 

15 Years?!?!?
exactly how old are you?

BTW,it's one of the best books i ever read.
(probably even the best)
p.s.
Sheriff,there are more than one version of the book.as you can see i read the one with Sam skromby,and you probably read the one where Frodo's last name is Baggins. right?

 

Keep in mind, Ring lord, that I was reading at two. My dad was a pool hustler, and he used to take me with him to the pool hall, and make a little extra money betting that I could read the newspaper.

 

so how old are you? :smile: