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The Best Character in Fiction?

FBI Special Agent: Aloysius Pendergast - by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child you can find him in these books:

Still Life With Crows
Relic
Reliquary
Cabinet of Curiosities
Brimstone
Dance of Death
 
Darren said:
Who would you say is the best character in fiction?
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Impossible choice. My favorites include: Heathcliff, of course, for his savagary and the realism of both his transformation into a monster and of his pitiless use of violence ; Gatsby, who is seen only dimly and who is half-consumed by embodying the author's themes and yet still manages to be one of the most compelling and believable characters in literature; Macbeth, for his very familiar ambitious soul, where a willingness to do anything for success is accompanied by ceaseless efforts to present himself as a good guy.

For more modern fiction, I love Macon Leary from Anne Tyler's "Accidental Tourist," an unusual man fettered by his own attempts to fit into a more typical world. For popular fiction (albeit of a different era) I have always had a soft spot for the Count of Monte Cristo.
 
I think Hamlet from Shakespeare's play is a totally awesome character. He's so well-developed and multi-faceted and disturbed and I just love him. He's not an all around good or bad guy, which makes him more believable. (He's not unreasonably evil or unbelievably good. I hate those flaws in a character; it shows laziness or the writer's hesitation to portray her character in a negative light.)
 
Bountyhunter said:
FBI Special Agent: Aloysius Pendergast - by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child you can find him in these books:

Still Life With Crows
Relic
Reliquary
Cabinet of Curiosities
Brimstone
Dance of Death
Click to expand...



was that name picked up from Sherlock Holmes Stories, I remember reading a similar name in the five orange pips...??? I have read Cabinet of Curiosities and must say that the suspense was very nice.

what choice do I put in... dunno maybe ... "Shadow" from American Gods? or Lyra from His Dark Materials Trilogy or Ford Prefect and Zaphod Breeblebrox from the Hitchhiker's?
 
Must put in a vote for...

Steerpike from the Titus Groan books. Not the very best character perhaps, but one of the all-time great villains. Brilliant, witty, talented, devious and utterly ruthless, a self-made demon. You spend most of the books 'on his side' and you feel sorrow at his comeuppance - but also relief.

If I had to choose another, all-round best character... how about Jeeves??
 
My all-time favorite comes from my favorite book: Edmond Dantes from Count of Monte Cristo

My favorites in 2005: Smithy Ide from The Memory of Running and Fermin Romero de Torres from The Shadow of the Wind.

:)
 
Eddie

Id say Eddie the main character in the book The five people you meet in Heaven. I loved the book when I read it. Great character.
 
I don't know about best, but one of my absolute favorite characters is Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities...every time he was on the page i just felt a thrill, and couldnt stop reading!!!!
 
Lenessa said:
I don't know about best, but one of my absolute favorite characters is Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities...every time he was on the page i just felt a thrill, and couldnt stop reading!!!!
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You stole mine. :D
I love Sydney Carton.

Also, Denny from Chuck Palahniuk's Choke. And, Victor Mancini, why not?

Idabel from Capote's Other Voices, Other Rooms, Guy Montag from Farenheit 451, Jack Sawyer and Wolf, both from King and Straub's The Talisman.

There are too many, but excellent question!!
 
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