Joined: May 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 726 Location: England
My favourite characters « Thread Started on Jun 5, 2005, 3:37am »
I like my heros to be very good,caring and noble,which is probably why Aragorn is my favourite LOTR character and has been since I first heard the book dramatised on the radio about 20 years ago.
When Star trek Voyager was on TV I was a Captain Janeway fan and also wrote some fanfics about her.
I love Wagner's operas and am fascinated by his heroines, Brunnhilde and and Isolde .For sme reason I prefer my heroines to be flawed,maybe as it is hard to identify with someone perfect !
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #2 on Jun 5, 2005, 12:15pm »
My heros have to be basically good guys who can show tenderness when needed, but they can be a little rough around the edges. I'm mainly for the guy who can pick up a weapon and take care of business when necessary. I love Zorro, Robin Hood, Scarlet Pimpernel, Batman types. (huh! maybe it's the mask!)
Female characters need to be strong and opinionated, hopefully not too overbearing though. (Captain Janeway rocks!) Mainly I just can't stand weak women who always have to have the hero bail them out of trouble. The heroine should be able to handle herself, too.
Joined: May 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 160 Location: wishing it was Rohan...
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #3 on Jun 5, 2005, 5:21pm »
As far as female characters go, I like them to be tough and be able to take care of themselves, but not to the extent where they completely lose all sense of being feminine. Thus my attachment to Eowyn-- after all, it was an unrequited crush that pushed her over the edge. (Besides, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I do tend to see a bit of myself in her, and that makes it easier for me to relate.)
For male characters, I don't mind if they're a little rough around the edges, but like them to be generally good at heart. Obviously I love Faramir, and I'm also quite fond of Eomer, as well as the other LotR guys (those two just happen to be my favorites.) As far as other fandoms go, I tend to go for the ones who act more like gentlemen (with the exception of Jack Sparrow from PotC--I wouldn't swoon for him, but he's just so interesting!) My current obsession is Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice--I think it's because I'm currently obsessed with the A&E version in response to a horrible trailer I saw for an upcoming remake. But I'm sure I can come up with more in other fandoms...
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #4 on Jun 5, 2005, 6:27pm »
I have no idea what literary coordinates make me slap the "good-God-you-rock-my-socks" label on a character, but it has something to do with the name... and I can personally attest that as soon as I saw the name "Faramir", I was flipping through to later chapters in order to find out if he would be making any more appearances (or maybe I was just relieved that there was now someone besides Frodo, Sam, and Gollum to read about... no Hobbit-lover am I ).
I would also like to comment on the unsettling habit of my favorite characters to come in pairs.
... oh, and incidentally, the A&E Pride and Prejudice was so utterly impeccable that the remaking of it should have been made illegal, mostly because there is absolutely no way that anyone will pull off Darcy like Colin Firth.
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #6 on Jun 15, 2005, 6:59pm »
I've never been a fan of Jane Austen, but remember that A&E version quite fondly - the woman who played the heroine did a great job, and oh yes, Colin Firth absolutely rocked! Why on earth would anyone want to try to remake it so soon?
As for favorite characters: In LOTR it was Gandalf and Pippin, and then Faramir came walking through the woods of Ithilien. Mmm. Faramir. Bookverse; the movie version, though amiable at times, just doesn't enchant me as much (though D.W. did a great job with the script he was given). I still think Gandalf is a great character, but he's not sexy.
My previous fandom was BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER/ANGEL; though I was never inspired to write anything there, because I couldn't get inside the characters' heads the way at least I think I can in some of the Tolkien folks. I still love watching the episodes of both shows; they were wonderful TV series. My favorite character was Spike, who was as far away from Faramir as you can get (though they're both inclined to poetry). Wesley was a close second, though Wesley as he became in ANGEL, not the silly self-absorbed prat he was in BUFFY. In ANGEL, Wesley becomes kinda like Faramir with a deathwish (and a father not unlike Denethor)...
If anyone here hasn't seen my Top Ten Ways Spike Would Annoy People In Middle-Earth list, and wants to, I may be persuaded to post it. Hmm, come to think of it, it's almost Father's Day, and that means it will soon be time to post my Denethor's Top Ten Father's Day Gifts list again....
Joined: Jun 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 12 Location: North Slaphead von Hooydonk
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #8 on Aug 2, 2005, 4:49pm »
What Rosie said! *drums fingers impatiently* That was a hilarious list, Raksha. Can you dig it out again and repost?
Along with Faramir, I've always had a soft spot for Hector from the Iliad. I tend to go for the non-obvious heroes. Reluctant warriors, who are sensitive and caring yet strong. They'll crush you like a flabby grape, but they'll feel really bad while they're doing it.
I also like heroes to have a tragic underdog component, and to be strongly connected to family, hearth and home. Both Hector and Faramir defend their city and their people against enormous odds, and neither one ends up being the main hero of the resulting saga. Both drink deeply from the well of sorrow. There's no swaggering or bragging; they quietly shoulder their burdens and go about their job, without thought of glory or material reward.
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #10 on Aug 4, 2005, 2:09am »
I didn't mention that Hector was definitely my favorite hero out of Greek myth, did I...
Eric Bana did a splendid job in the Troy movie.
Most movies made about the Trojan War don't have the courage to present it as it truly played out in Greek myth, though. I cringed at Hector's killing Menelaus; not that he couldn't have done it, but he didn't; and Menelaus took Helen home to Sparta. Agammemnon seized Hector's sister Cassandra and brought her home to Argos, where a tragic fate awaited them both. Paris did not survive the war, he was shot by a poisoned arrow from the bow of Achilles' son before the Trojan Horse was even thought of, much less built. The Trojan War took about 10 years, not a few months.
You don't want to know what happened to Hector and Andromache's little boy. Andromache survived, as a slave to Achilles' son.
Hector-fans, there's a great French play called La Guerre de Troie N'Aura Pas Lieu (The Trojan War Will Not Take Place) by, I think (could be wrong) Giroux (?spelling) - it's very HectorCentric. Hector tries, after stupid Paris brings Helen to Troy, to prevent the war before it starts.
Joined: May 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 290 Location: Germany
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #11 on Aug 4, 2005, 6:51am »
Quote:
Most movies made about the Trojan War don't have the courage to present it as it truly played out in Greek myth, though. I cringed at Hector's killing Menelaus; not that he couldn't have done it, but he didn't; and Menelaus took Helen home to Sparta. Agammemnon seized Hector's sister Cassandra and brought her home to Argos, where a tragic fate awaited them both. Paris did not survive the war, he was shot by a poisoned arrow from the bow of Achilles' son before the Trojan Horse was even thought of, much less built. The Trojan War took about 10 years, not a few months. RAKSHA
Raksha, the Troy movie did not have much to do with the Iliad. I was very irritated at the first viewing, vainly waiting for the three goddesses to let Paris choose who is going to get the apple.
Re: My favourite characters « Reply #12 on Nov 1, 2006, 7:01am »
Just for fun...
Raksha's TOP TEN Favorite Fictional Characters (books):
1. Faramir 2. Gandalf 3. Athos - my favorite of the Musketeers 4. Edmond Dantes, Count of Monte Cristo 6. Sara Crewe - the tough, brave little girl in one of my favorite books by Frances Hodgson Burnett 7. Count St.-Germain - world's sexiest and most noble vampire 8. Spenser, the savvy, romantic detective in Robert Parker's novels 9. Chrestomanci - the minister of magic in an AU that predates any Harry Potter book, found in several of Diana Wynne Jones' works 10. Harry Flashman - anything but heroic, but always entertaining, the protagonist of several wonderful historical novels by George MacDonald Fraser
Of course, some of them might change, depending on which books I've been rereading lately . But Faramir and Athos and Gandalf will always have a seat at the table.
I like my characters noble and strong and intelligent. Don't ask me how Flashman got in there; but he is a survivor and makes a great narrator.
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(Besides, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part, but I do tend to see a bit of myself in her, and that makes it easier for me to relate.)
But I'm sure I can come up with more in other fandoms...
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. But Faramir and Athos and Gandalf will always have a seat at the table.