Who is your favorite character in any book, fantasy, science fiction, or otherwise? My vote goes for Bean in Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon, Raistlin is good but I don't think he is as good as many say.

Tasselhoff Burfoot all the way!!!:happy::happy::happy: (Did that sound lame or was it just me?)




[This message has been edited by Tasohan (edited March 30, 2002).]

In the FR series books, my favorite character is anyone who succeeds in killing off Drizzt or Elminster. ;) (Although the latter will probably get emphesyma or lung cancer from that eversmoking pipe of his.)

But seriously, I find it hard to get attached to a single character of a book; the plot and story are what gets me interested.

[This message has been edited by C'Jakob (edited March 30, 2002).]

Vlad Taltos, from the series bearing his name.

Treated as inferior as a child, so now he kills people for money. Does so accompanied by a smartass winged lizard as long as his arm.

You can't beat that. :cool:

I really like Bean from Enders Shadow too, that is one smart kid. But I wouldnt say that its my favourite of all time, its real hard to decide. As a WoT addict I really like Mat too, he is pretty cool.

Wee, I can think of several...

Peter Wiggin :evil: (although he is getting terribly mellow in the new Shadow books), Commander His Grace Sir Samuel 'ole stoneface' Vimes, Mustrum Ridcully, Elijah Bailey (from Isaac Asimov's books), 'Le Noir Faineant' (from Ivanhoe), Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot etc.

yeah, peter has been getting a little mellow. Why cant he go back to killing squirrels? That fit his character much better.

In Ender's game he was a complete psycho. I like the irony of it - Peter becoming the much-loved hegemon and Ender becoming a monster, a name that caused disgust and fear over the centuries.

Will Parry from His Dark Materials series.

Others... Hmm. I do like Aragorn and Tanis from the Dragonlance series. So there you go...

John Clark from most of the Tomn Clancy novels. His nickname when he was a SEAL was "The Snake". The dude is just a bad ass.

Rhapsody from the book that bears her name by Elizabeth Haydon. I do not know what it is, but there is just something about a hot chick who carries a sword of fire.

Some of my favorites ....

Garion (aka Belgarion) from David Eddings books
Mat from The Wheel of Time
Galahad from the Arthurian Legends
Richard Rahl from The Sword of Truth

John Clark DOES rock, but he would get wasted by Vasili Taleniekov, There's another serpentile to you. (I know his code name was somewhat along the lines of Snake, but I've only read a translation of the Mataese Circle by RObert Ludlum...) or Sean Dillon (Gotta love the Irish charm....)

But seriously, the ultimate fave? That is a hard one. I think that the answer is Corran Horn, from the Star Wars Extended Universe, featured in the X-Wing series, I, Jedi and some other books, as well as NJO.
He doesn't have a tragic childhood. He had a loving family. He was a cop, for all\s sake... So he's not the type of char I usually like. But somehow, this guy has me completely, utterly captivated. Perhaps it is because I started seriously exploring the Extended Universe thorough I, Jedi, which is a full-length novel told from his PoV, and, somehow, he simply has grown to me.
Many people dislike him, and think that he is a Gary Stu (a male mary Sue, alka extension of the Author who is sunberbly brilliant) But I say he isn't. Corran isn't allmighty, he isn't infallinble (did I use the right word?) AND SURE AS HELL ISN"T INVINCIBLE! Oops, sorry about that. *looks meek*
I am just so fed up that on theForce.Net boards 90 per cent of the populace keeps dissing him... sorry...
Anyways, I like him because he is, no matter being a heroic pilot and a Jedi and all that, just a human being. He's married, he has kids, his father-in-law wants to kill him and all that. I just can't explain it better...

*end Rant Mode*

Ara
(Being Snape-ishly Snappy todayy... Oh, look, I'm an Orc!)

need i say more than:

ook?

Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn.

Strider, Gandalf, Tom Bombadil.

Mat Cauthon (Wheel of Time)
Strahd Von Zarovich (Ravenloft)
Drizzt (okay, okay...:p)
Artemis Entreri (FR)
Jarlaxle (FR)
Raistlin (Dragon Lance)
Wolverine (The X-Men)
Zhuge Liang (Romance of the Three Kingdoms)




[This message has been edited by eveningdrive (edited April 05, 2002).]

Probably Talon Karrde from deveral SW books. :)
Corran Horn is col, but the way that he and the rest of Rogue Squadron always say how they beat the invincible kind of annoys me... :)

Also, Silk from the Dabid Eddings books.

No no no no, they never say anything about breating the invincible. Instead, quoting Corran in I, Jedi, "Impossible is their stock in trade"

Yeah, Silk rocks :)

Ara
(Borderline rabid fangirl of the odd kind)

Sam Gamgee (LOTR)
Aragorn (LOTR)
Gimli (LOTR)
Drizzt (FR) [I know I know, but he kicks @$$]
Bruenor Battlehammer (FR)
Tanis (DL)
Raistlin and Caramon (DL)
Tas Burrfoot (DL)
Corran Horn (Star Wars: Rogue Squadron)
Wedge Antilles (Star Wars movies and novels)

And the dwarven hero I made up for games and the stories I'm soon gonna write, Faerus Stoneslammer.

This may sound silly, but in accordance to personality I would have to say the Evil Magician Trent from "A Spell For Chameleon"

He has an amazing way with words.

John Clark! Booyah!
Garet Jax from "Wishsong of Shannara".
Felix from "Armor".
Rukh from Zahn's SW trilogy.
Jimmy the Hand from the Rift War Saga.
Lerris from "Magic of Recluce".
Noober from BG. Oops...wait a sec...

Artemis entreri!

fav fiction chars:

atticus finch - "to kill a mockingbird"
alex cross - "kiss the girls", "along came a spider"
jack ryan - tom clancy's char.
legolas, aragorn - "lord of the rings"
laurana and kitiara - dragon lance trilogy

favourite book character would have to be pug from magician by raymond e feist, mara from daughter of the empire by same author and DEATH from terry pratchett's discworld series

Artemis Entreri,he rocks!!:cool:

Mine may be only slightly obvious but guess what! it's, yes wait for it, ZAKNAFEIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

wow, bet you didn't guess that

The best caracter ever created is Gollum from lord of thee rings! He is a sad life form adicted to a ring that has poisend his mind.

He is great in telling ridles, he can climb trees, and he can follow a party for days, withoud being noticed! Than he got a great "Friend" a more than gigantic spider!

And of course, like all real cool heroes, he dies in the end WITH the item of disire!

There are no better caracters.

Here are a few that are really cool:

Alice (In wonderland, through the looking glass)
Mad Hatter (Alice in wonderland)(Why is a raven like a writing desk?)
Eowyn (Lord of the rings)
Saruman (Lord of the rings)
Gandalf (Lord of the rings, the hobbit)


[This message has been edited by SleepleSS (edited May 03, 2002).]

Like Jarlaxle to.

Ok here goes:
Zaphod Beeblebrox (hitchikers series)
Mat Cauthon (WoT)
Min (WoT)
The tinker with the sword in WoT (forgot his name, if anyone knows please tell me)
C.M.O.T Dibbler (Discworld)
Detritus (Discworld)
The Luggage (Discworld)
Librarian (Discworld)
Nanny Ogg (Discworld)
Ford Prefect (Hitchikers series)

The tuatha'tan with a sword is named Aram. H e is one crazy boy.

Atticus Finch from to Kill a Mockingbird deliberately does not kick ass, he's an American paladin. That is one cool character.

Does anyone read the works of Michael Moorcock?
:rolleyes:

My fave characters:

Elric of Melnibone: Soul sucking sword and badass "kill all my allies" attitude. How much cooler can you get?

Conan the barbarian: Cunning, shrewd swordsman with sheer brute strength.

Rand al' Thor from the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. An interesting character until the story started to crawl at its current snail's pace.

Huma, from the DL series. Only fighter type character who managed to kick the dark queen a good one, unlike those wimpy wizard Raistlin types who must rely on their worthless spells...

Artemis Entreri: Needless to say.

Drizzt: Well, I've really started to dislike him now but since he was the character that got me started on fantasy, I had better mention him.

Steel Brightblade: He had potential...then he died too early for any proper development...bah. A pity. That wimp Palin should have died instead.

Haplo, from the Death Gate Cycle. Interesting character.

Druss the Legend, created by David Gemmel. Badass incarnate.

Waylander. Another character by David Gemmel.

Alot of cool characters there Shura, most which I wholeheartedly agree with. Tough dudes rock!
I recently read the Elric saga and it was marvelous, but I was a bit disapointed at Elric. He started out as a real antihero, burning his entire city and thought "allright! finally an evil main char!" but then he went all soft and good :(
Elric should have stayed on the dark path instead of turning into a lame good guy.

The child bane from the death gate cycle, demonic little kid

hugh the Hand, death gate cycle, deadly assassin.

there're so many cool charas from pratchett's discworld, but i reckon ridcully and death are the coolest.

Alita (from gunm, manga)
Figure Four (same thing)
Kazan (the manga is named after him as well)
Frog (CT -jcrpg SNES)
J.C.Denton (Deus Ex)
Shadow (from the movie Shadow, starring Alec Baldwin or whatever)
Jason Cosmo (Dan McGirt)
Drizzt Do'Urden (blah blah... but he kicks ass :))
Zaknafein (yup)
Bruenor (oh yeah, it all began from the 3-legged dog :D)
Sturm (DragonLance)
Elminster (well hey, he's an überpowerful mage right?)

And my current favorite:
Raistlin (DragonLance)

Faramir and Gandalf in LoTR
And the queen in the dutch sci-fi fantasy: Childeren of Mother Earth.

Oh yes, I like almost every character you named before me, but you are all overlooking one great fantasy series: AMBER (R. Zelazny)

Corwin is a really good char. trapped in the middle of all those family conspiracies and intrigues...

And I mustn't forget count Bertrand de Talair as another favourite character of mine from A Song for Arbonne by G. G. Kay

ok any of the following:

Susan Sto'helit
} Discworld
Captain Carrot

Count Brass
} Runestaff
Dorian Hawkmoon

Perry Mason - well.. Perry Mason!

First time poster anywhere on this board (obviously :shake: )

@Forashi

JC Denton (Deus Ex)

Yeah...JC's pretty cool. "Bravery is not a function of firepower."

As for my favorite characters:

Skua September (The End of the Matter, Icerigger, Mission to Moulokin, The Deluge Drivers Alan Dean Foster)
John Clark and Jack Ryan (the Clancy novels)
Gandalf and Aragorn
Lije Bailey (Asimov's Robot series)
Manny Calavera (Grim Fandango)

And several others I can't recall because it's too early in the morning... :sleep:

Tas Burrfoot and Fizban (Dragon Lance)
Sam, Pippin and Merry (Lord of the Rings)
Pikel (Cleric Quintet)
Everyone from "A Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R.R. Martin especially Sandor Clegane

Lan - Wheel Of Time
Legolas - LOTR
Aragorn - LOTR

Artemis Entreri & Zagor-te-nay

Yay Zagor! It's been a while - but those were great!

Of all of the characters I read on this board, I didnt find one of my favorites... Pikel Bouldershoulder from the Cleric Quintet. Oo Oi!
Another good character would have to be... Prince Elbereth from the sam series named before.
Another good character is Drizzt. he can get boring after so many books, but he is still a great character, so is his father Zaknafien.
Another Good Character would be Goldeye from Garth Nix's book, Shade's Children.
Okay, I have said 'another good character' to many times now, there are so many more 'good characters' I can't name them all. Peace.

Jason Bourne----Book not movie
Gandalf
Nameless One
Fall-from-Grace
Drizzt
Rudy

To me, the best fantasy book characters are those from Dragonlance. All of the characters are complex, nuanced, three dimentionnal. Specially Raistlin, Tanis and Sturm. They are fighting with inner anguist. Strum's lawful side is always in conflict with his good side. And Raistlin, well, he's Raistlin. Tormented between loyalties, at least in the first three novels.
I must also admit that Legolas and Aragorn are both very interesting characters. They are also two people I would'nt mind having as bodyguards ;)

Reading the Tales of Fire & Ice right now, and I really like Bran & Jon Snow.

Don't tell me, but I'm hoping they emerge as the real heros of the whole thing (Only 1/2 way through Clash of Kings right now, so no spoilers ;) )

The Ice and Fire books are excellent. Can't wait for book 4.

Chade and Verity from Farseer trilogy (FitzChivalry might be there but he gets hurt too often)
Ged from Earthsea Quartet
Prince Sanglant and Alain from Crown of Stars series

I've just started the Wheel of Time books and Lan and Thom are both great.

Drizzt
Zaknafein
legolas
conan the barbarian
imoen

Thats a tough one. Everyone loves reading about Raistlin. Who doesn't enjoy when Drizzt bests his foe? And Elminster of course. Everybody likes him.

But the best fantasy character ever would have to be.. no wait. Nevermind. It is Raistlin after all. :)

Raistlin is cool, but I prefer Elminster. Raistlin is smart but not as much as he thinks he is. Elminster loves magic. Raistlin says he would do anything for magic but the truth is, he loves only the powers magic gives him. One can see it from the choice he makes at the end of the trilogy of the twins: realising he needs people with less power than he possesses. Elminster may not be much smarter than Raistlin he is a lot wiser. Anyway both are great.

I can not believe some people prefer Legolas to Gandhalf. Maybe that is because I love mages so much.

I spent a good day thinking about this and I am going to have to retract my selection. The character that I enjoy reading about the most would have to be Astinus from Dragonlance.

Thibbledorf Pwent :lol: - Nothing better than a dwarf battlerager that likes to bath in his enemies blood! It helps to keep his armor from grating...

Sturm Brightblade or Lord Soth from DL
There was a Ravenloft novel about Soth - "Knight of the Rose" or something like that....It was a good book!

Buliwyf - From Michael Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead"

Boromir or Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth for Lord of the Rings

Turin Turambar or Feanor from the Simarillion

Lan Mandragoran and Elayne Trakand from Wheel of Time - Lan is just a bad, bad man!

Top of my head...I'll have to think about others...

Sci-Fi:

Mara Jade - a hottie and Luke's wife

Admiral Thrawn - I loved him in the Star Wars books and the TIE fighter game too!

Ender Wiggin - Great book!

more later...

[This message has been edited by Sir Belisarius (edited July 25, 2002).]

Bel... Feanor is one of my favorites too. I had a P&P fighter named after him and *thought* it was an original name for me. (Sheesh, Feanor, Durendal, this freaks me out).

What book is the blood drinking dwarf from? Sounds like the kind of reading I need to get me throught CH 11 of real life! :good:

He's in the Dark Elf Trilogy IIRC...Whichever one has the Battle for Mithral Hall and the attack of the Drow. He's a blast! A minor character, but fun nonetheless!

I think he's from the Legacy of the Drow. A coplete lunatic - his approach to unarmed combat is unique.

The Ice and Fire books are excellent. Can't wait for book 4. Book 4? I was under the impression that this was a trilogy! :wail: I can't take another series that will never end!!! (aka Jordan, Goodkind, etc)

Book 4? I was under the impression that this was a trilogy! I can't take another series that will never end!!! I know the feeling.

Yes I am pretty sure there is another Ice and Fire book coming out. Can't remember exactly where I read it but I have a feeling its coming out in January. I've got all the books so far and it definitely isn't complete.

Hmm, I would go for Gandalf, because his history and his personality (not because he is so powerful)

Jack Ravenwild-City of Ravens

Tass Burrfoot, Earwig Lockpicker, and Uncy Trapspringer-Dragonlance

Last but definitely not least Artemis Entreri, not because he is evil, but because of his depth of character, dexterity, and his +5 DAGGER!!!!

Tanis Half-elven (Dragonlance)
Raistlin Majere (DL)
Fizban (DL)
Arilyn Moonblade (FR)
Haplo (Death Gate Cycle)
and... of course Tasslehof Burrfoot! :D

Fantasy: Helm Hammerhand, ninth King of the Riddermark (Tolkien):
a very minor character, but somehow I like the guy more than any other I've read about

Other: Colin and Marvin (Hitch Hiker's Guide):
two robots with opposite personalities :grin:

Others that deserves a mention would be:

Fëanor (Tolkien)
Túrin Turambar (Tolkien)
Beleg Cúthalion (Tolkien)
Boromir, especially Sean Bean's Boromir (Tolkien)
Zaphod (Hitch Hiker's)
Dirk Gently (Dirk Gently series :rolleyes: )
Captain Bolfass and his Yassacans, including the Parrot (Starship Titanic)
Magus (Chrono Trigger, SNES)

[ August 17, 2002, 22:38: Message edited by: Namuras ]

My votes go for:
1. Leto Atreides II., the God-Emperor of Dune ("God-Emperor of Dune" by Frank Herbert)
2. Hannibal Lecter, a chéf extraordinairre ("The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal" by Thomas Harris)
3. Ammar ibn Khairan, a warrior-assassin-poet ("The Lions of Al-Rassan", by Guy Gavriel-Kay)

Finrod Felagund - Silmarillon
Beleg Culthalion - Silmarillon
Maedhros - Silmarillon
Feanor - Silmarillon
Turin Turambar - Silmarillon
Beren - Silmarillon
Elrond Peredhil - LoTR
Aragorn Elessar - LoTR
Gandalf - LoTR
Legolas Greenleaf - LoTR
Haldir of Lorien - LoTR
Faramir - LoTR

.......and

Drizzt :)

Eilonwy!
;) :p
My fav char is Eilonwy in the bookserie about the land of Prydain.
Haven't read the books in years though I remember that I loved em!

Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy's novels
Ellie Arroway from Carl Sagan's "Contact"

1) belgarath (d eddings)
2) merlin (morte d'arthur et al)
3) rincewind (discworld)
4) gandalf (guess :p )
5) nevyn (the deverry serie)

For those of you who have picked Dragonlance characters as your favorites, you should really check out the Death's Gate Cycle by the same author. IMO, there are several characters far more compelling and deep in those books than in anything I've read in Dragonlance.

Haplo, the anti-hero main character; Xan, Lord of the the Nexus; Alfred, the inept? scholar, to name a few.

Gandalf - LoTR
Strider - LoTR
Enteri(if he manges to kill off Drizzt)
Whoever kills Old El
Pikel Boldurshoulder
Grand Admiral Thrawn(SW)
Darth Vader
Zeratul(Starcraft)

And do you guys know this Star Wars humor site called the Cantina? pretty funny.... http://www.the-cantina.com/ hehehe...

I'm all about the knights and noble warriors or characters that start off with a bit of wickedness and then redeem themselves later.
With that in mind:

Sturm Brightblade and his family(Dragonlance)
Dragonbait(ForgottenRealms)
Kaz the minotaur(Dragonlance)
Borromir and Aragorn(Lord of the Rings)
All the monkeymen from The Shast Wars by Christopher Rowley
Oliver deBorrows (RA Salvatore's Crimson Shadow series)

Eh, I've never found a favorite character in any novel. Erenion Gil-Galad, from Lord of the Rings, was rather cool. The only mention of him was in the Fellowship of the Ring I believe. Sam's song really solidified it. It went something like:

Gil-galad was an Elven-king.
Of him the harpers sadly sing:
the last whose realm was fair and free
between the Mountains and the Sea.

His sword was long, his lance was keen,
his shining helm afar was seen;
the countless stars of heaven's field
were mirrored in his silver shield.

But long ago he rode away,
and where he dwelleth none can say;
for into darkness fell his star
in Mordor where the shadows are.

I swear, LOTR has more compelling background characters than many books have interesting main characters.

On a side note, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Allanon from Terry Brook's Shannara series.

Jarlaxle: the most untoucheble drow on fearun

Hugh the hand: death gate cycle, now this one comes as close as entreri, assasin wise that is

Entreri: no explanation needed

Thibbledorf pwent: I think wulfgar (or someone else) hooked up with him in the end of "sea of swords" I really hope he will be back in the hunters blade trilogy

Gollum: the real brains behind the lord of the rings (the rest were just secondary characters to me)

Montolio: Blind but the best

Captain Deudermont: best captain ever

Danica: cleric quintet, thats one deadly monk

Erenion Gil-Galad, from Lord of the Rings, was rather cool. The only mention of him was in the Fellowship of the Ring I believe. Gil-galad is mentioned in some of Tolkien's other works as well.

I swear, LOTR has more compelling background characters than many books have interesting main characters.
True. :grin: It sounds as if you'd like the Silmarillion then. Many of the background characters in Lord of the Rings play a vital part in that book.

Oh man, i can't get my head around the Silmarillion. Ive started it several times and read about half of it each time, but it never holds my attention longer than that.

On topic: Ceveren Suicidegnome. I'm not a big reader and prefer if i have a rough idea on the story before i read. And obviously the Vampires Revenge story followed one that i am very familiar with, therefore, enjoyment.

Next to that, i think i would have to say Legolas.

I think I'm starting to like that Túrin guy now.

The Silmarillion is only realy good when you get into it, its more like a history book that anything else. Still interesting though.

My favorite is Snoopy of Peanuts. :grin:

Whoa, I can see arrows and axes flying by.

I also like Legolas (LOTR), and Atticus Finch (Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird). :)

I know it is hugely of topic, but I actually liked the Silmarillion way way better than lotr. I had a hard time getting through the entire lotr (it is soooo slow) but I loved the silmarillion. The way Tolkien 'just' wrote his own legendary corpus :eek: