# Who are your favorite characters from fantasy & sci-fi stories?



## haiiro (Nov 11, 2004)

Who are your favorite characters from fantasy and science fiction stories? It's been awhile since I've seen a thread along these lines, so I thought it might be fun to start one up again.

Personally, I have trouble choosing a single favorite, so I limited myself to 2 per category:

*Fantasy:* Bronn, from George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series, or Rincewind the Wizzard, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

Bronn is a supporting character, and maybe a bit of an odd choice. There's something about his intense practicality, casually mercenary attitude, and choice of "friends" that really appeals to me. Rincewind, on the other hand, believes in cowardice as a way of life (at least, until the chips are down), and everything about him pretty much cracks me up.

*Sci-fi:* William Gibson is responsible for both of my SF favorites: a tie between Blackwell, from Idoru, and Case, from Neuromancer (and others).

Blackwell is a toecutter with a unique aapproach to violence and an array of interesting toys, while Case is the classic drug-fueled cyberpunk hacker/shadowrunner. Both of them are utterly fascinating.

How about you?


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## shilsen (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy - a bunch from Pratchett: Granny Weatherwax, Death, Captain Carrot, Samuel Vimes. Despite my wide reading habits I usually can't empathize with characters from fiction, but Pratchett has a habit of writing ones that I can to some degree, and that's especially true of Granny Weatherwax and Death.

Yes, I empathize with a fictional anthropomorphic personification of human mortality. Why do you ask?


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## Dagger75 (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy: Arya Stark.  She is my favorite character in that series.

Sci Fi:  Not really Sci fi but Jason Bourne.  Damn was he cool.


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## Hypersmurf (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy: Gord the Rogue.  (Yes, I said Gord the Rogue!)  Kragar the Jhereg for Best Supporting Character.
Sci-Fi: Miles Vorkosigan.  Simon Illyan takes the Best Supporting Character with both hands tied behind his back.

-Hyp.


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## Rodrigo Istalindir (Nov 11, 2004)

Corwin of Amber


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## Andrew D. Gable (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy: Eowyn

SF: Zaphod Beeblebrox

Does It Count?: Zhuge Liang (Kongming) and Cao Cao from Romance of the Three Kingdoms


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## David Howery (Nov 11, 2004)

Not sure if this fits into either catagory, but my favorite literary character of all time is Allan Quatermain from King Solomon's Mines and a bunch of other books.  Unlike so many other literary heroes, Allan is a short and wiry man who is no coward but not reckless either.  He's also pretty clever and got out of a lot of tight spots using his wits.


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## cignus_pfaccari (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy:  Jon Shannow from David Gemmell's Stones of Power.  I'd love to have my RPG characters be as baaaad as he is.

Sci-Fi:  Andrew LaFollet, from the Honor Harrington books.  It took me a while to realize it, but I really do like his viewpoint sections the best.

Brad


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## Wombat (Nov 11, 2004)

Well, my top guy is still King Arthur, but he kinda varies by who is writing about him  

In fantasy, I have a strong love for old Samwise Gamgee, Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser, Carrot, Vetinari, and Granny Weatherwax (I think this is a Discworld thread in hiding!), Ged of Earthsea, and Jilly Coppercorn from de Lint's Newford stories.  Several others could be mentioned, but this seems like a good start.  

In sci fi ... well, this is harder.  Ender Wiggin comes to mind, as do Prof. Arronax & Captain Nemo, but after that I tend to draw a lot of blanks.  There are several sci fi _books _ that I enjoy, but not necessarily _characters_, because, I think, more of these books are about ideas than about characters, per se.


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## haiiro (Nov 11, 2004)

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> Sci-Fi: Miles Vorkosigan.  Simon Illyan takes the Best Supporting Character with both hands tied behind his back.




There are a lot of characters I know and also like in this thread, but these two I've never heard of -- care to share some details? I'd rather hear it from you than Google it. 

Granny Weatherwax and Corwin of Amber..._ooooh_, good calls.


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## Tonguez (Nov 11, 2004)

*Overall Favourite*: Tarzan, Lord Greystoke

*Fantasy*: Susan Sto Helit - Pratchett (Deaths Granddaughter)
followed by Woefully Fat (from On Stranger Tides)

*Sci-Fi*: Dave Lister - Red Dwarf (Last human in the universe)


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## Sado (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy:
Damastes a Cimabue (_Seer King _ by Chris Bunch)
Janos Greycloak (_The Far Kingdoms _ by Allan Cole and Chris Bunch)

Sci-Fi:
Keill Randor (_The Last Legionary _ by Douglas Hill)
Donal Graeme (_Dorsai_ by Gordon Dickson)

EDIT-Didn't see that we were limiting it to two, had to take a couple out.


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## Hypersmurf (Nov 11, 2004)

haiiro said:
			
		

> There are a lot of characters I know and also like in this thread, but these two I've never heard of -- care to share some details? I'd rather hear it from you than Google it.




Well, Miles Vorkosigan is the main character in Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books.  He's small, weak, fragile, hyperactive, and brilliant.

Paraphrasing from memory: "I remember the last time," the admiral of a mercenary fleet growls at Miles.  "You entered Tau Verde local space with a staff of four.  Within two months, you were dictating terms..."

Simon Illyan is the Chief of Imperial Security.  He's described, repeatedly, as 'dry'.  He gets some of the best lines in the whole series.

"The lady asked you to unhand her, Lieutenant.  She shouldn't have to ask twice.  Or... once."

Or one of my favourites:

"You know the old story, where the king tries to get rid of his daughter's only unsuitable suitor by setting him three impossible tasks?  Don't ever try that with Miles.  Just... don't."

-Hyp.


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## Squire James (Nov 11, 2004)

I'd go for Morollan from the Jhereg series as my fantasy favorite, and Miles Vorkosigan for sci-fi.  Miles has made it through - 10? - books without getting stale, which is quite an accomplishment!


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## reapersaurus (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy: Garet Jax, the Weaponsmaster from The Wishsong of Shannara

Sci-Fi: Hideo, the vat-grown ninja from Neuromancer


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## Ghostknight (Nov 11, 2004)

Sci fi:  Donal Graeme (Dorsai Series- Gordon r Dickson) and Lew Alton (Darkover Series- marion Zimmer Bradley)

Fantasy: Rincewind and Samwise Gamgee

Heh- notice the complete absence of any of the fluff characters from the game based books in this thread?


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## EastCoast9 (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy: Can't narrow it down to just 2, too many entertaining characters out there! First is Buiva, the old god of war from the Tales of the Bard series (and by extension Owen the weapon master, since I thought they were practically identical characters). Then Decado the Icekiller, from David Gemmell's 'The King beyond the Gate'. Then Tomas/Ashen-Shugar from the Riftwar. Then the Patrician of Ankh-Morporkh. After them comes most of the characters David Gemmell has written (guess I'm a fanboy), followed by a good half the characters from the Feist/Wurts Empire series.

Sci-Fi: Alot easier for me... Odetta from the Dark Tower series & Orion from the series of the same name.


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## Brakkart (Nov 11, 2004)

*Fantasy:*

FitzChivalry Farseer - From the Farseer & Tawny Man Trilogies by Robin Hobb.
Commander Sir Samuel Vimes - From various Discworld novels.
Angua - From various Discworld novels.
Sorak the Tribe of One - From the Tribe of One Trilogy & The Broken Blade Dark sun novels by Simon Hawke.
Raif Sevrance - From the Swords of Shadows trilogy by J.V. Jones.

*Sci-Fi:*

Ambassador Vir Cotto - Centauri Trilogy by Peter David.


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## Felonious Ntent (Nov 11, 2004)

Fantasy:
 Paran Ganoes and Fiddler in Steven Erikson's Malazan book of the Fallen.

Sci-fi:
Angus Thermopyle from Donaldson's Gap series


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## Hypersmurf (Nov 11, 2004)

reapersaurus said:
			
		

> Fantasy: Garet Jax, the Weaponsmaster from The Wishsong of Shannara




Oooo-ooh.

He's awesome.  I might bump Kragar for Garet Jax in the Supporting Character position.

-Hyp.


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## Krug (Nov 11, 2004)

What? No characters from RPG books?  'Tis must be remedied!

*Fantasy* - Gotrek and Felix
Thomas Covenant

*SF* - Gaunt from _Gaunt's Ghost_


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## PhoenixDarkDirk (Nov 12, 2004)

I feel I must add that I, too, think Discworld is great.

A good science fiction character is Ax from K. A. Applegate's _Animorphs_ series.  According to him, the cinnamon roll is humanity's greatest achievement.

I also think Squee from _Magic: the Gathering_ is quite funny.


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## haiiro (Nov 12, 2004)

PhoenixDarkDirk said:
			
		

> I also think Squee from _Magic: the Gathering_ is quite funny.




I wonder if there's any connection to Squee from Jhonen Vasquez' JTHM comics...?


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## Krieg (Nov 12, 2004)

*Fantasy*:

_Paksennarion Dorthansdottir_ - The only paladin I ever believed.

_Tiger_ (Sword Dancer et al.) - Cocky machismo done right.  (Although you have to have _Del's_ Yang to Tiger's Ying.)


*Sci Fi*:
_Raul Endymion_ - Endymion & Rise of Endymion
_Jack Brennan_ - Protector & Ringworld Engineers/Throne


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## Mad Hatter (Nov 12, 2004)

Man, favorite characters are hard because they change often, especially if I'm in the zone of a particular author.  However, my favorites seem to have come full circle for I have rediscovered my obsession with Frank Herbert.  Thus my favorites are Muad'Dib, St. Alia of the Knife (she gets cool points from her name alone), and Leto II.

For fantasy, I'm diggin' on Kirsten Britain's Karigan from her Green Rider series.


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## Pants (Nov 12, 2004)

Fantasy:
Samwise Gamgee - LotR
Icarium and Mappo - Malazan Books by Steven Erikson
Whiskeyjack - Malazan Books by Steven Erikson
Tayschrenn - Malazan Books by Steven Erikson
Jon Snow - A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM
Tyrion Lannister - A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM
Bronn - A Song of Ice and Fire by GRRM
Fitzchivalry Farseer - Farseer and Tawny Man books by Robin Hobb
The Brucolac - The Scar by China Mieville


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## exile (Nov 12, 2004)

Sci-fi...I was glad to see someone else mention Paul Atreides (though by his alternate name) from Dune and must agree with him. 

Fantasy...Solomon Kane comes to mind (maybe because that's what I'm reading at present). I also like Robert Jordan's female characters (they're all pretty much the same woman).

Chad


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## Krieg (Nov 12, 2004)

Tyrion is by far the most interesting character in the series (with Jaime second strangely enough).


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## greymist (Nov 12, 2004)

*Fantasy:* 
 Frodo Baggins, FitzChivalry Farseer, Vlad Taltos, Hanse Shadowspawn, Silk (Belgariad), Grey Mouser, Edmund Blackadder (series II especially)

*Sci-Fi:* 
 Han Solo, Arnold Rimmer, Spock


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## Enforcer (Nov 12, 2004)

Fantasy:
-Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow, Daenarys. Honorable mentions to Gregor Clegane and Cirsei Lannister--two of my most hated characters in fantasy, in a good way.
-al'Lan Mandragoran...at least when he's in the freaking books...grumble, grumble.
-Artemis Entreri. Yep, I mentioned an R.A. Salvatore character, sue me. The Bouldershoulder brothers are also favorite minor characters.
-Brashen Trell, FitzChivalry Farseer (same author, different series)
-Conan (the Howard original...not that I'm a purist, I just haven't read the other stuff)

Sci-Fi:
I got nothing, not a big sci-fi fan. I've read Aasimov, Dune, Arthur Clarke, and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, but I didn't really care for any of the characters in these books.


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## Hypersmurf (Nov 12, 2004)

Ooh, Zahn's Blackcollar Comsquare Damon Lathe definitely gets honorable mention on my SF list.

And Simon Green's Hawk and Fisher... aren't my favourites, but they're pretty cool, on the fantasy list...

-Hyp.


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## mhacdebhandia (Nov 12, 2004)

Science fiction: Gully Foyle, _Tiger, Tiger!_/_The Stars My Destination_ by Alfred Bester. The novel is basically _The Count of Monte Cristo_ in the future, with psychic teleportation, but Gully Foyle is a pretty compelling antihero.

Fantasy: Charles Beauregard, _Anno Dracula_, _The Bloody Red Baron_ and _Dracula Cha Cha Cha_/_Judgement of Tears_ by Kim Newman. James Bond wishes he were this cool and this competent.


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## ddvmor (Nov 12, 2004)

Jar Jar Binks is my all time favourite sci-fi character.  He has style, he's good looking, the ladies love him, he's sassy, witty and he's the unequivocal hero of the Star Wars series.

er...  I'm kidding, of course.

I actually think Roy Batty was a great character in Blade Runner as were Sam Vimes and Gaspode the Wonder Dog from Pratchett lore.  Speaking of Lore... I always kinda liked him, too!

Of course my all time favourites have to be Ford Prefect and Tom Baker's Doctor Who.


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## Aesmael (Nov 12, 2004)

ddvmor said:
			
		

> Of course my all time favourites have to be Ford Prefect and Tom Baker's Doctor Who.



Is he the one with the strange expressions? He'd have to be my favourite Doctor so far too, but I am not really familiar with Doctor Who

For my own choices, off the top of my head and in no particular order:
Fantasy - Roose Bolton, Davos and Syrio Forel. Mystique (From the X-Men movies at least, have not read the comics but I LOVE an effective minion). Too many Pratchett characters to count Better stop there. Guts too, I guess, as a symbol of the series. He's cool an' all, but I just feel so damn _sorry_ for him. Elwood P. Dowd, for reaons that should be obvious if you know who he is. How could I almost forget him twice?

Science Fiction - Much tougher. If we could count the settings as characters, then it would be easier. Shmeh, I'll cop out for now and say Yoda and Boba Fett


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## Hypersmurf (Nov 12, 2004)

ddvmor said:
			
		

> Of course my all time favourites have to be Ford Prefect and Tom Baker's Doctor Who.




Tom Baker rocks!  But he does suffer from one _small_ imperfection.

... he's not Jon Pertwee.

-Hyp.


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## Tonguez (Nov 12, 2004)

Hypersmurf said:
			
		

> Tom Baker rocks!  But he does suffer from one _small_ imperfection.
> 
> ... he's not Jon Pertwee.
> 
> -Hyp.




Please Worzel Gummidge may have been OK (though not helped by being trapped on Earth)  but Tom Baker was the greatest Doctor EVAR! 

My list of fave Doctors goes 
Tom Baker
Sylvester McCoy
Patrick Troughton
Jon Pertwee
Peter Davidson wasn't bad, Colin Baker sux, and the others pfft (although I haven't seen the new guy)


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## Mallus (Nov 12, 2004)

Current favorites, subject to whim...

Film:
HAL 9000
Roy Baty
Exeter

Television:
Londo Mollari, G'Kar, Vir Cotto
Benjamin Sisko, Gul Dukat, Elim Garak, Weyoun
The 4th Doctor
Ker Avon
Spock

Print SF:
Severian the Torturer
Gerrald Tarrant
Case
Louis Gridley Wu
Kid
Horselover Fat --edit: damn, totally neglected my Dick...

Print F:
Kruppe, Itkovian, Quick Ben
Nakor the Isalani, Jimmy the Hand
Tyrion Lannister, Davos Seaworth
Sparrowhawk/Ged


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## barsoomcore (Nov 12, 2004)

Wow, the boys are sure winning this one.

Some ladies I love:

From Steven Brust's Dragaera
Sethra Lavode (She's the bravest, smartest woman in the world)
Keira the Thief (ditto)
Aliera e'Kieron (crazy and bad-tempered. What's not to like?)
Tazendra Lavode (crazy and good-natured. What's not to like?)

From Steven Erikson's Malazan:
Kilava (Tool's sister -- sexy AND two hundred thousand years old)
Lady Envy (Whee! Psycho super-powerful women ALWAYS amuse me)
Tavore Paran (dedicated and ruthless without being (as so often happens in this genre) beautiful and romantically wistful)

From _The Lord of the Rings_
Eowyn ("Begone, foul dwimmerlaik! I shall smite you if you touch him." I think that says it all)
Galadriel (no clever quote, just to say she TERRIFIED me the first time I read the books and I kept trying to figure out how a good guy could be so scary. He's clever, that Professor Tolkien)

And just to say Belit rocks my world. "There's a ruined city, my love, that no one's ever returned alive from. Let's go sack it! But first, let me dance naked for you."

From SF (slim pickings here. Hm)
Alia IS very cool. And I always liked the Princess, whatsername, who wrote the book.
Ripley, of course, if we're veering into film.


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## MaxKaladin (Nov 12, 2004)

Fantasy:
Prince Arutha, Jimmy the Hand, Nakor, FitzChivalry, Paksenarrion

SF: 
G'Kar, Garibaldi, Lester, Han Solo


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## Fast Learner (Nov 12, 2004)

Lots of good ones listed, I'll add a couple that haven't been mentioned.

Merlin of Amber/Chaos (not the best of the two series, maybe, but a great character!)

Jack of Shadows

Sam (from Lord of Light)

Hmm, all Zelazny. A pattern?

Also, Louis Wu (Ringworld, etc.)


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## Filby (Nov 13, 2004)

I'm not that into Sci-Fi, so there aren't many characters I like. All I can think of are Han Solo and Ford Prefect.

Fantasy, on the other hand...

Bilbo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and Thorin Oakenshield.
Pretty much the entire cast of the "Magic Kingdom of Landover" series.
Dream (Lord Morpheus) and Desire of the Endless.
The Scarecrow of Oz, the Tin Woodsman, and Jack Pumpkinhead (yeah, it's kids' stuff, but still...)
And, finally, any of those wacky d'Ambervilles, but especially the one in the indoor forest who got turned into some kind of goat-creature.


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## Hammerhead (Nov 13, 2004)

Sci-Fi: 

Hiro Protagnoist. The name says it all.

Fantasy: 

Grey Mouser, the archetypical clever rogue who isn't as clever as he thinks he is. I like all of the other not-so clever rogues that follow in other books, such as Jimmy the Hand.

Artemis Entreri, an awesome ruthlessly cold villain that has ultimately grown far more interesting than Salvatore's protagonist.

Kragar, from Stephen Brust. He's like...well, I forget. I know there was something distinctive about him


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## Felonious Ntent (Nov 13, 2004)

I notice very few villians chosen.


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## Mystery Man (Nov 13, 2004)

Danilo Than, Slartibartfast, Alacrity Fitzhugh, Dirk Gently, The troll from Mythadventures who's name escapes me right now, Doctor Morgenes, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Silk, Vlad Taltos, Cadderly, Renie Sulaweyo to name a few.


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## Elemental (Nov 13, 2004)

I'll probably remember a dozen others after I click Send, but the five I can recall right now are:

Eddie Dean, from King's Dark Tower series. A clown and joker, but with the soul of a warrior. His slaying a psychotic AI with illogical jokes, his talk with Roland about what stopped him shooting himself on the beach, and the scene in the final book 



Spoiler



where he gets shot


 are the standout moments I took with me from that series. It's a very close thing between him and Susannah, mind.

Linden Avery, from the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. She starts off with a massive amount of angst and accumulates more throughout the books (hey, she's a Donaldson character), but the appeal for me lies in the fact that she never stops trying to overcome that angst, refusing to simply lie down and give up. And it's fun watching the ambivalent relationship between her and Covenant as they slowly realise that she's the real saviour this time round, and he's been cast as the devil.

Hiro Protagonist, from Snow Crash. An over-the-top lampoon of cyberpunk heroes, who grows into a well-rounded and believable character. Gets into the top five just for the paragraph that starts "Until the age of thirty, every man thinks he could be the baddest mother****** in the world."

Etta, from the Liveship Traders trilogy. There's something about the competence and hard-bitten determination that counters well with the tragedy of the fact that the man she loves and would do anything for is essentially a sociopath. Then again, most of the supporting cast in that series was far more interesting than the people who were supposed to be the heroes.

Tyr Anasazi from 'Andromeda'. He's selfish, amoral and playing his role as the right hand man of the saviour of the galaxy for all he can personally get out of it, but there's a cunning and method to his actions, and the hard-edged pragmatism that drives him appeals to me.


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## Maerdwyn (Nov 14, 2004)

Paul Atreides, Khan Noonian Singh, Andrew Wiggin, Sarah Connor

Taran, Arthur, Conan, Robin Hood, Sam Gamgee


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## mojo1701 (Nov 14, 2004)

Elemental said:
			
		

> Tyr Anasazi from 'Andromeda'. He's selfish, amoral and playing his role as the right hand man of the saviour of the galaxy for all he can personally get out of it, but there's a cunning and method to his actions, and the hard-edged pragmatism that drives him appeals to me.




I agree. Very much so.


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## Cannibal_Kender (Nov 14, 2004)

From Sci-Fi:

Mendoza, Joseph, Lewis, Latif and Suleyman from Kage Baker's Company series

Honor Harrington


From Fantasy:

Rowan & Bel from The Steerswoman's Road


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## Thotas (Nov 14, 2004)

This thread got to page 3 before anyone mentioned the Skipper?  What are ya, a bunch of Peeps posting here?   And no mention of Sir Roger de Tourneville either ... oh wait, I'm still on my SF heroes, and he's fantasy, isn't he? No wait, he's Science Fiction, yeah.

The Gray Mouser, the one every D&D thief is trying to be, whether they know it or not.  And of course, Kane the Mystic Swordsman.


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## Andre (Nov 14, 2004)

Did someone ask for villains?

Zed Yago (_The Sardonyx Net_ by Elizabeth Lynn). A sadist whom you truly despise. But Lynn's writing is so good, you actually feel sorry for him as he gets just what he deserves. Unforgettable character.

The Despiser (_Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever_ by Stephen Donaldson). A great villain you love to hate.

Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek).

Prefect Galway (_The Blackcollar_ by Timothy Zahn. Not a villain so much as a great adversary.


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## Fast Learner (Nov 14, 2004)

Thotas said:
			
		

> This thread got to page 3 before anyone mentioned the Skipper? What are ya, a bunch of Peeps posting here?



I always preferred his Little Buddy, or The Professor.

Who are you talking about?


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## Dakkareth (Nov 14, 2004)

Sci-Fi:

*Laton* from Peter F. Hamilton's _Night's Dawn_ books. Completely amoral, ruthless and possessed of a brilliance degrading the best minds of humanity to mere dilettantes. He's the most wanted 'criminal' after driving a thinking, feeling habitat and close to a million immortal thought-constructs insane with a genetical engineered virus before destroying it and its population of several millions _as a diversion_ for his escape. Firmly on the way to immortality and distributed existence within a network of controlled minds, he's possessed by a spirit returning from death (in a scifi setting, no less) and analyzes the threat to humanity posed by the dead, finds a solution, 'vampirizes' the possessing spirit and blows up a few million possessed souls before departing into the afterlife, telling the rest of humanity that there is a solution, but that they have to discover it for themselves. He's only a 'supporting character' appearing for only short time, but he outshines many of the main characters.

*Aenea* from Dan Simmon's _Endymion_ books. It's not easy being the messiah 'destined' to liberate humanity from the oppressive control of the Core, the multitude of parasitic AIs, that have perverted the church and almost the whole of human society into unwitting processing units, all the while knowing, that she will die a painful death at the hands of the church. But Aenea manages. (Note that I'm only discussing the book, not RL religion)

Incidentally the two represent my favourite Science-Fiction books. 

Fantasy:

*Ben Adaephon Delat*, aka Quick Ben from Steven Erikson's _Malazan Book of the Fallen_ books. He's only a mortal wizard in a world, where gods and other beings of terrible power play their games on the back of mortals, but he still beats them at their own game. Planning, outwitting and using unfair advantages are what he excels at, and damn is he cool. Quote: "Who are you?" "In the eyes of the gods? Only a mere sandworm ..." (at which point he uses a rare species of worms to unravel necromantic bindings, he couldn't even touch in matters of raw power).

In no specific order:
Anomander Rake, Icarium & Mappo Runt and Whiskeyjack (MBotF), FitzChivalric Farseer & Chade, Vlad Taltos, Munuel (Höhlenwelt).

There are a few others, but my tired mind can't produce the names. It's no coincidence, that MBotF features so prominently, as I'm currently in the process of reading it yet again.


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## Hypersmurf (Nov 14, 2004)

Andre said:
			
		

> Prefect Galway (_The Blackcollar_ by Timothy Zahn. Not a villain so much as a great adversary.




My favourite book ever.



			
				Thotas said:
			
		

> This thread got to page 3 before anyone mentioned the Skipper?




I really, really enjoy the Honor Harrington novels.

But, in some ways, it's almost _in spite of_ Honor Harrington.

I don't find her that interesting a character   She's just too good at everything, y'know?

-Hyp.


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## Aesmael (Nov 14, 2004)

Ooh, Laton. I knew there was someone cool in that series but all I could remember was that awful, awful Quinn Dexter. The _Night's Dawn_ is a good series if you like sci-fi characters and I hereby nominate Alkad Mzu to the list. Can you tell I like my characters competent?

And since Malazan characters seem to be the flavour of the moment, one I don't recall seeing mentioned is Iskaral Pust. There's a few characters in that with interesting speech modes but I think he's my favourite. He thinks he's being diabolical, secretive and manipulative but he's just making a fool of himself. Unless it's an act. And I just realised who he reminds me of: the wizard Zifnab from the Death Gate Cycle. Still my favourite of all wizard characters because he's just more fun, though Gandalf and Quick Ben are up there. And Haplo and the Dog.

Augh! I have to stop visiting this thread.


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## Pants (Nov 15, 2004)

Aesmael said:
			
		

> And since Malazan characters seem to be the flavour of the moment, one I don't recall seeing mentioned is Iskaral Pust. There's a few characters in that with interesting speech modes but I think he's my favourite. He thinks he's being diabolical, secretive and manipulative but he's just making a fool of himself. Unless it's an act.



It's an act.
At least, I think so.


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## FireLance (Nov 15, 2004)

From fantasy: The Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and Captain Carrot from various Discworld novels.

From science fiction: R. Daneel Olivaw and Susan Calvin from the robot novels by Isaac Asimov. And Optimus Prime, if that counts as sci-fi.


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## epochrpg (Nov 15, 2004)

*favorites*

Fantasy: I am quite fond of Michael Moorcock's Hawkmoon series, my favorite characters being D'Averk, Olladahn, Count Brass, and of course, Dorian Hawkmoon.  Baron Meledious is also a boss villain.

Sci-Fi.  Two words: Darth Vader.  No, make that four words: Boba Fett.


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## Thotas (Nov 17, 2004)

Sorry Fast Learner ... as you may have divined from Hypersmurf's reply, I was referring to Honor Harrington of the RMN.  And Hs, it's true, she can do it all, but what I really like about her is that she does Righteous Anger like nobody else.  And it's not like her victories come without cost -- which I suppose is one of the reasons you like the books anyway.  And rightly so.

Also, some people have mentioned that Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels have too many candidates to mention, besides which they somehow seem to call for a third category.  But just to muddy that a bit more, I'd have to nominate Tom Holt's character of Flosshilde from "Expecting Someone Taller" in that department, it's where she seems to belong.  For those who haven't read it, let me just say: Best. Supernatural Ability. Evar.


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## Presto2112 (Nov 17, 2004)

Fantasy:  Mat Cauthon.  From the earlier book in the WoT.  Not as tragic and brooding as the other two main characters, and seems to actually have a bit of fun.

Sci-Fi:  Bean from Ender's Game and his branch of sequels.


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## Farganger (Nov 17, 2004)

Hammerhead said:
			
		

> Fantasy:
> 
> Grey Mouser, the archetypical clever rogue who isn't as clever as he thinks he is. I like all of the other not-so clever rogues that follow in other books, such as Jimmy the Hand.




Nice!  I'll go with Jack Vance's Cugel the Clever, who to me is the archetype of this -- the gap between Cugel's self-image and any external evidence of his cleverness being perhaps a bit greater than in your examples.  

For SF, I'll stick with the "picaresque" theme and go (moving into cinema) with Snake Plissken.


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## Patman21967 (Nov 18, 2004)

Felonious, you stole my thunder. Angus Thermopyle is one of the coolest dudes to ever pirate the galaxy. 

I forget the characters names, but 2 series I liked most of the characters in, I haven't read them in years, are the Black Company series, and Louise Coopers Time master trilogy


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## Patman21967 (Nov 18, 2004)

From the newer book Wicked....I love the "Wicked" Witch. I thought it was going to be a "chick Book" but it actually was pretty cool....I read it in 2 days....like chewing gum for the brain...


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## KnowTheToe (Nov 19, 2004)

So many good characters,
Garet Jax and Jimmy the Hand have to be my favs.  I think the stuff you read in your teens sticks with you the longest.


Sci-fi is an easy choice Michael Jackson.


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## Starman (Nov 19, 2004)

Sci-Fi
Captain James T. Kirk (greatest character of all time IMNSHO   )
Spock
Ender Wiggen

Fantasy
Rand al'Thor
al'Lan Mandragoran
Garet Jax
Raistlin Majere
Tanis Half-Elven

I'm sure that there are a couple more, but these jump out of the top of my head.

Starman


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## Meowzebub (Nov 19, 2004)

Fantasy: Bannor from the Thomas Covenant series (The Bloodguard are the Monks in my campaign)

SciFi: Felix in John Starkley's Armor, a great reluctant hero.


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## velm (Nov 20, 2004)

-Artus Cimber, from the ring of winter, a FR book.  It was an Indiana Jones type of story to it.
-Jaraxle, a mercenary from RA Salvatores books, as I am sure most people know.
-BIGWIG from WATERSHIP DOWN.  There is one scene that sticks out in my memory five years after reading it.  The scene where the warren is under attack and BIGWIG stands his ground even though he is wounded.  He has faith in Hazel and it pays off and saves the day.


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## Someone (Nov 20, 2004)

So many to think on one... I´ll whip out Sancho Panza, if that counts for fantasy, and Geralt of Rivia (he´s not that great, but I´ve finished the first three books, still not translated to English, and I have him still fresh in my mind) and I´ll say Rorschach, from Watchmen, and Vader for sci-fi


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## Ishmayl (Nov 20, 2004)

Fantasy - Perrin Aybara from Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time;  Pug/Milamber from Raymond Feist's Riftwar Saga;  Binabik from Tad William's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn; and Vlad Taltos from Steven Brust's books (don't know if there's a series' name)


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## Super Girl (Nov 21, 2004)

From fantasy, I cannot see anyone topping Haru Glory.

Now that thats out of the way.

TV:
Lex Luthor(Smallville)
Malcom Reynolds (Firefly)
Wesley Windham Price(Angel)

Books:
Nathaniel & Jason (striper were-animals from the Anita Blake Series)
Doyle (Court Assassin and head Bodyguard, of the Merry Gentry series)
Corran Horn (Jedi Knight & Pilot)


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## Haloq Jakar (Nov 21, 2004)

*sf/f  faves*

SF Female Fav is Honor Harrington   hands down

  SF Male tough but I would give nod to Owen Deathstalker(Simon R Green)

  Fantasy Female  Lady of the Black Company series

  Fantasy male   too many to choose from


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