Top Ten All Time Favourite Characters in Books
hosted by Broke and the Bookish
AH! This is like making me choose between my children! I mean, if I had children. Oh goodness…no idea if I can pull this off. Would have preferred if this category was a little more narrow (ten favourite villains, ten favourite heroines, etc.) but okay… I can do this. Also, I’m going to contain myself to ONE character for each book/series because otherwise I will go crazy.
10. Nynaeve al’Meara from the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan
Nynaeve is completely stubborn, super talented, and has a heart of gold. She thinks that her view is the right view and there is no way to get her to think otherwise. I’ve always identified really well with Nynaeve, which may be one of the reasons I love her love interest, Lan, so much too.
Nynaeve image by G-a-t-i-n-h-a.
9. Warner from Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
Warner is everything I love to see in a love interest and villain. He’s completely obsessed with Juliette, is convinced he’s in love with her, and has a totally tortured past. I want to swoon because of him and psychoanalyse him at the same time!
8. Ty MacFarlane from Stolen: A Letter to my Captor by Lucy Christopher
Very similar to Warner, Ty makes me question my judgement on men…in a good way. I think. Ty has some very serious issues, but his heart is in the right place…mostly. And that’s what makes him such an interesting character.
7. Frankie Landau-Banks from The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart
Frankie is my hero. She stands up for herself and shows the guys a thing or to. She makes mistakes, but that’s what growing up is about. Her strength is inspiring to me because she faces down things I struggle with every day.
6. Alanna of Trebond from Songs of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce
Alanna was the first female character I truly looked up to. She is AWESOME! She’s loyal and hard-working and totally brave. She was the first character that showed me you can be feminine and still be kick ass.
Alanna image by Tagyr.
5. Augustus Waters from The Fault in our Stars by John Green
Dear, dear Augustus. I adore that Augustus does things for its metaphorical resonance. I love that as much as he is such a big character, he is also a very stunted character. There was so much room for growth. So many things he still needed to learn and understand.
4. Katsa from Graceling by Kristin Cashore
What can I say about Katsa that I haven’t gushed about already? I freaking love that she is so terrified of herself and yet she is freaking badass! She’s brave and focused and caring and totally set in her ways. The growth of Katsa’s character in Graceling is one of my favourite character arcs EVER.
3. Finnick Odair from The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins
I love Finnick because at first you think he’s this total flirt-a-holic that sleeps around with everyone and is mostly an airhead. AND THEN you find out there are LAYERS to his character and it TEARS YOU APART. So. Much. Tearing.
2. Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The more I reread P&P the more I appreciate Darcy as a character. I mean, sure, he’s hot and he’s rich and all that, but it’s his awkwardness that totally gets me. The boy doesn’t know how to talk to people he’s never met before. I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND THAT. Darcy is me if I was a man born rich in the Austen-era…
1. Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Hermione freaking Granger. While I remain disappointed by the end of her story, the journey itself was pretty awesome. She’s smart and hard-working and loyal (are you seeing a theme here?). She basically saved the world. I think she showed a lot of people that being a bookworm isn’t a bad thing and that it’s okay to care about things a lot.
coffeeandwizards 
Finnick left me bawling. I couldn’t decide if I wanted him to give me the seductive look or just give him a huge hug. And I related to Darcy too. Poor guy, he gets my pain. I love your list.
My List
Oh, Augustus Waters. I’m still trying to get over my heartache (Don’t tell my fiance that, though). I have Hazel one mine, but I battled between Hazel and Augustus (I was determined to do one character per book). I thought about doing them as a pair, but that would be unfair to the characters, don’t you think?
Do you prefer the mini-series Mr. Darcy or the Kiera Knightly movie Mr. Darcy? I prefer the latter. He’s so much more…tortured. I can’t help but like a tortured soul. Hermione is also a good one.
Same ;A; And I agree that pairing them up would be a little unfair to the characters. After all, they are two very different characters.
I honestly haven’t seen the mini-series Mr Darcy yet (I know, I’m a horrible P&P fan!), but it’s on my to-do list.
I only saw it this year, so you’re not a bad P&P fan :-). I tried to watch it on youtube a few years ago, but I couldn’t get past the fact that the characters all looked ten years older than they were supposed to be.
And Jane wasn’t prettier than Lizzie. That’s a big no-no.
Nynaeve!!! <3333 She is hands down THE BEST character from the entire series. I've not made it past book eight yet (someday!!) but for a while she was the main reason I kept reading. She and Lan are my WoT OPT forever!
Ah, Darcy. The looks, the accent, the snark…what more could a girl possibly ask for? *sighs happy sigh*
And Hermione is a total given. She's just awesome, no questions asked.
They’re my WoT otp too! I mean, Faile/Perrin are also pretty cool, but Nynaeve/Lan = <333333333
Fabulous list! I think you hit the nail on the head about what makes Mr. Darcy so incredible. It’s nice to know that awkwardness is endearing; makes me feel much better! Also, someone mentioned the mini-series P&P – I watched this in 12th grade English (the one with Colin Firth) and every girl in the class (okay, there were only 6 of us) were swooooooooning over him.
I didn’t notice the awkwardness the first time I read it, but now it’s all I see and it’s so freaking adorable XD
LOVE your list Meghan!! Of the ones I’ve read, I completely agree – and like you, I could have done this list ten times over and it would have been different every time! (and OH what is that from, the piss-take Darcy with the tellytubby toy?! I have to see it!)
Finnick was definitely one of the best characters of that book – totally sucked what happened to them all. The stakes are high.
Still have to read the Alanna series – my friend Maria from Denmark got me onto Pierce but I’m way behind. (And I’ve packed that one up, too.)
It’s from the short tv series Lost in Austen. You can read my review of it here.
GET ON READING THE SONG OF THE LIONESS QUARTET ALREADY!!!
From number six on down, I couldn’t agree more! Especially Finnick. I kind of want to name my unborn child Finnick, but my husband won’t let me.
While I totally agree with Hermione (she made my list too), what did you not like about her ending?
She didn’t finish school, she got married, and had kids and just had a “normal” life. As the brightest witch of her age, I kind of hoped she would continue to do extraordinary things. I mean, she did continue on with SPEW kind of so I guess that’s something, but still.
I agree, that does kinda suck….maybe it’s the life she wanted…but yeah, I totally get your point.
Alanna rocks!!!
Great list 🙂
Alanna, Darcy, and Hermione! (Well, I only adore Hermione when she’s paired with a particular someone else, but it totally counts!) Love your choices and your responses!
I totally adore your top 3. All absolutely fantastic characters! I haven’t read the Robert Jordan books yet, but they’re on my TBR list. Great list! I’d love for you to check out my list!
Awesome list! We have some in common actually. And then there are some I’ve never heard and others, like Shatter Me, that I desperately need to read.
Ahaha I laughed when you said it was like choosing your favorite child. So true. But good choices – I love Augustus Waters too. And Frankie Landau-Banks!! Yes!!!
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I totally agree with you on Frankie, Warner, and Finnick. All so amazing, brilliantly written characters–though I love Finnick the most. As I get older his storyline just seems sadder and sadder to me.
Darcy! Granger! Odair!
I’m so with you on Hermione’s ending.
Glad I’m not alone 🙂
I’m currently putting together my own list. Even though I’m two days late. 😀
ohhh awesome!