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All right. Limiting this to ten was a challenge; I had ten in a matter of minutes, and certainly could have kept going. Also, this sort of thing tends to change from time to time. But here are ten I absolutely love.
1. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. I have never known a more brilliantly drawn, fascinating character of the larger-than-life variety. (The Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling)
2. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin. About whom I could say just what I said of Dumbledore, only "larger-than-life" would mean something less humorous and more introspective. (The Ender books, Orson Scott Card)
3. Lucy Pevensie. While we don't know Narnia's visitors as intimately as others on this list, Lucy's name means light, and she is just that—light incarnate. (The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis)
4. Anidori Kiladra Talianna Isilee. Crown princess turned goose girl, Ani has a natural goodheartedness that becomes grace through strength and wisdom. (The Goose Girl, Shannon Hale)
5. Jane Eyre. Brave and passionate and firmly principled and intelligent, Jane is nearly everything a woman could ever hope to be. (Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë)
6. Hermione Granger. Brilliant and brave, loyal and capable. Hermione is also nearly everything a woman could ever hope to be. (The Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling)
7. Annie Anderson. Gentle, patient Annie, sensitive and sweet. I love her so much. (Alec Forbes of Howglen, George MacDonald)
8. Anne Elliot. Austen's mature heroine, who has learned greatness through sorrow. Anne is exquisite. (Persuasion, Jane Austen)
9. Anne Shirley. All "spirit and fire and dew", one of "the souls by nature pitched too high/ by suffering plunged too low." Anne is poetry personified, and we all love her for it. (The Anne books, L.M. Montgomery)
10. Mortimer Folchart. Young adult books are full of young male leads for girls to fall in love with... and not one of them holds a candle to Meggie's father. Now that's a man. :) (Inkheart and sequels, Cornelia Funke)
Why are half of them named Anne? This I don't know.
Honorable mentions to Ian O'Shea and Wanderer, Heidi, Rand al'Thor, Konstantin Levin, Benny Hogan, Peeta Mellark, Harry Potter, Lily Evans, Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Aravis, Old Parson, Miri Larendaughter, Elizabeth and Jane Bennet, Henry Tilney, Elinor Dashwood, Sofya Semyonovna, Bambi, Alec Forbes, Agnes Wickfield, Mr. Knightley, Mr. Bingley, Mr. Darcy, Cosmo Warlock, and many, many others whom I simply haven't managed to think of at this moment....
Who would you choose?
So many to think of! So I'll have to do a few off the top of my head--characters I just loved or enjoy spending time with.
ReplyDelete1, 6, and 9, of course, and I'd add Molly Weasley and Remus Lupin. Elnora Comstock (Girl of the Limberlost--brave, principled, compassionate); Jo March; Eilonwy and Fflewdder Flam (Prydain Chronicles); Sam Gamgee; Miles Verkosigan; Marcellus and Demetrius (The Robe); Father Tim Cavanaugh of the Mitford books); many characters in Eva Ibbotson's books; Wanderer (The Host);
Philippa Gordon and Rachel Lynde from the Anne books; Peaceable Sherwood (The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Pope); Alice (Twilight Saga); Lou from Elizabeth Moon's The Speed of Dark.
I have a cat on my lap or I'd get up and check my bookshelf. Sheesh, I could never narrow this down to ten!
--Arabella
I LEFT OUT MOLLY AND ARTHUR WEASLEY AND REMUS. I knew I'd forget someone!
DeleteOh, and I love Elnora! And Father Tim. And Eilonwy and Fflewdder. And some of the others you mentioned, although there are a handful I've never met yet. :)
Thanks for adding your thoughts!
That was the right move, Arabella, not getting up so as not to disturb a cat. You have your priorities right...according to cats.
ReplyDeleteAll the Rostovs. All of them forever. And Andrei, and Pierre, and everyone in War and Peace. Is that more than ten?
ReplyDeleteHold on, Samwise Gamgee!
Valancy Stirling.
ILSE AND PERRY(ok, I could do a Top 20 just out of LM Montgomery; I can't lie. And a Tolkien Top Ten. And a Top Ten Characters from the First Five Chapters of War and Peace. I may have to think about this a little more).
Haha, I know what you mean about pulling a Top 20 just from Montgomery. Anne, Gilbert, Rilla, Leslie, Miss Cornelia, Captain Jim, Matthew, Walter, Philippa, Marilla, Davy, Emily, Douglas Starr, Jimmy... there's a start for you, and I know I'm forgetting a whole slew of them. But I'm commenting in a hurry. I could do a top 20 from Harry Potter, too, but I'll spare you.
DeleteTop 10 from the first five chapters of W&P--HAHAHAHAH! It sounds like the Wheel of Time. Ooh. I could do a top ten from that, no problem. I'd better stop before I get going. :D
Oh, yes, Valancy Stirling; The Blue Castle is a favorite I can read over and over. Ditto Annie from Betty Smith's Joy in the Morning.
ReplyDeleteWe have a saying at our house, George--"cat's rules," instituted by my soft-hearted husband. This means our cat isn't to be dumped off a lap if the person upon which she reposes needs something. Instead, the other person retrieves it or makes the tea. Since she mostly wants my lap, I've got a great thing going.
--Arabella
Princess Marya from War & Peace is my favorite heroine of all time. She is radiantly beautiful, and not in a physical sense!
ReplyDelete"But Julie did not flatter her friend; the princess' eyes—large, deep and luminous (it seemed as if at times there radiated from them shafts of warm light)—were so beautiful that very often in spite of the plainness of her face they gave her an attraction more powerful than that of beauty. But the princess never saw the beautiful expression of her own eyes—the look they had when she was not thinking of herself. As with everyone, her face assumed a forced unnatural expression as soon as she looked in a glass."
Delete:D :D :D