Favorite SFF characters

My "Most hated SFF Characters" post of a few weeks back created some waves, which proves that the SFF online community has grown a bit lame in some regards in the last couple of years. Some dumbasses argued that I totally missed the point, that those authors wanted readers to dislike these characters, even though I had already commented on the issue. Ah well, what can you do!?!

Anyway, some people opined that I should post a list of my favorite SFF characters to put things into perspective, so here you go. Make of this what you will. . . =)

In no particular order:



- Anomander Rake (Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen): The Dragnipur-wielding Son of Darkness is too cool for school! One of the most enigmatic and fascinating fantasy character ever!

- Alaric Morgan (Katherine Kurtz's Deryni saga): The King Kelson books wouldn't be the same without him!

- Gerald Tarrant (C. S. Friedman's The Coldfire Trilogy): Villain, antihero, or both, this is one of the most memorable SFF protagonists ever. This quote sums up this character well: You cannot begin to comprehend my motivations.

- Matrim "Mat" Cauthon (Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time): Blood and bloody ashes! Nuff said!

- Nakor the Isalani (Raymond E. Feist's The Riftar, The Serpentwar, and other Midkemia novels): Eccentric trickster, this little magician of a man is often the highlight of a Feist book. Want an orange?

- Drusas Achamian (R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing and The Aspect-Emperor series): A member of the Mandate School of magic, he joins the Holy War by order of his superiors. But when he teaches Anasûrimbor Kellhus his secrets, he realizes that there is a lot more than meets the eye.

- FitzChivalry (Robin Hobb's The Farseer and The Tawny Man series): Boy does Hobb make this poor guy suffer in these books. The first person narrative makes us feel every second of it. The author nearly made me cry twice, once in each trilogy. . .

- Jon Snow (George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire): For my money, probably the most interesting character in the whole series. GRRM likely has a heartbreaking demise in store for him, though. . .

- Angus Thermopyle (Stephen R. Donaldson's The Gap series): Not the most likeable character, true, but man did he make that scifi series an unforgettable read!

- Harry Dresden (Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files): Not always the sharpest tool in the shed, it's impossible not to root for this down-on-his-luck wizard!



- Ben Adaephon Delat (Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen): We may not know all of Quick Ben's secrets yet, but there's no denying that this former priest of the Shadow is one cool character!

- Kalam Mekhar (Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen): Assassin and Bridgeburner, the man is so bad-ass that even elite members of the Claw fear him! Being paired with Quick Ben always makes for fun times and fireworks!

- Admiral Thrawn (Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy and The Hand of Thrawn): God knows Lucas Books have sold out years ago, producing turd after turd. But Admiral Thrawn was a great character!

- Locke Lamora (Scott Lynch's The Gentleman Bastard): Yes, he fucks up and gets the shit beaten out of him in every book, but it doesn't get much better than this! Lynch created a superstar, no question about it!

- Moiraine Damodred (Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time): Along with Siuan Sanche, the only well-drawn Aes Sedai character of the series.

- al'Lan Mandragoran (Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time): Diademed Battle Lord, uncrowned king of Malkier, and Warder to Moiraine, Lan is doubtless one of the best characters in WoT. Of course, RJ had to marry him to Nynaeve. . .

- Kennit (Robin Hobb's The Liveship Traders): Come on, pirate captains don't get cooler than this!

- Jimmy the Hand (Raymond E. Feist's The Riftwar, The Serpent War, and The Riftwar Legacy): Street urchin turned nobleman, Jimmy the Hand is probably the best Feist character ever!

- Roland of Gilead (Stephen King's The Dark Tower): Bad-ass no-nonsense gunslinger! Nuff said!

- Jaime Lannister (George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire): Villain and then good guy, I love how GRRM turned him around and made readers root for him.

- Tyrion Lannister (George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire): This misshapen dwarf nicknamed "The Imp" has become a fan-favorite. In addition, he is in my opinion the most interesting POV character.

- Haplo the Patryn (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's The Death Gate Cycle): Sent to scout the elemental worlds in search of the Sartan and throw them into chaos to pave the way for the return of the Patryn, Haplo and his dog were a wonderful pair in a series that showcased Weis and Hickman at their peak.

- Inquisitor Glokta (Joe Abercrombie's The First Law): Some characters sometimes take on a life of their own and steal the spotlight of entire novels and series. Glotka is one of those, and hopefully one day we'll get to see him again. . .

- Fiddler (Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen): This sapper didn't look like much early on, but he surely came into his own as the series progressed. As things stand, he's one of the most interesting character in the series.

- Whiskeyjack (Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen): Bridgeburner sergeant, the man doesn't necessarily say or do a whole lot. But all of his men defer to him, and that respect rubs off on the readers.

- Arya Stark (George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire): Hands down, my favorite of the Stark siblings. She's got more balls than many male characters, and her storyline has the potential to be one of the most interesting in the entire series.

- Raistlin Majere (Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance): The sickly golden-skinned wizard with the hourglass eyes who went back in time to face the legendary mage Fistandantilus and then challenged the Queen of Darkness herself to become a god captured the imagination of a twelve-year-old and introduced me to fantasy novels. The rest, as they say, is history!


69 commentaires:

Blodeuedd said...

Good choices, I do love Haplo, Raistlin and Fitz.

But Kennit, nooo, oh I hate him with all my heart, hate him so much I wish arghhhhh.

Ok nuff said about that, I do love Rand, he is my fav even if I always argue with my friend, the Mat lover

Anonymous said...

My favorite is Malazan recruit #112 in the 14th... you know the one who constantly wonders why they are fighting and wonders if capitalist expansion is indeed good? Then promptly gets his leg cut off by a nun chuk velociraptor?

Anonymous said...

Sorry Pat, it still looks like a bunch of men on your fave list, vs. a bunch of women on your hate list. You might need to do a little bit of thinking about what you are reading and who is writing it.

I normally enjoy your blog, but the amount of ignorant and gender biased is driving me away from your reviews.

Todd Newton said...

Gerald Tarrant. Seconded.

I'm kind of sad not to see any mention of Croaker or other Black Company folks on this list, though.

RaveAir said...

I'd like to add to this list my two favourite characters for the Weis & Hickman's Dragonlance series. They're Fizban (the hiding god, Paladin) and Tasslehoff Burrfoot the kender.

And of course, we have at Hungarian an all-time favorite fantasy character. He is Skandar Graun, the half-ork, warrior-priest of the Chaos.

Dream Girlzzz said...

Robin Hobb, Margaret Weis, C. S. Friedman and Katherine Kurtz are male SFF writers. It is known...

Watch what you read, for fuck's sake Pat!:p

Josh said...

This is a great great list. I agree with so many of these names. I was surprised to see Jon Snow up there--for my money, the originality of Jaime, Tyrion and Arya make Jon look like a walking fantasy cliche.

I like the Raistlin pick a lot, but I would also add Fizban. Probably my favorite god character in any fantasy work (Cotillion is up there too). Tasselhoff is a little TOO cute for my taste though.

And I'm surprised you picked Mat over Perrin. I really hated basically every character in the WoT except for Perrin (I gave up on the series before Perrin spends the rest of his life rescuing whatshername, so maybe that's why he wasn't ruined for me).

Anonymous said...

Why should he start thinking about what he is reading and who was the writer?
Are we now required to make a reading list with male and female writers alternating? PCness is certainly getting more ridiculous by the minute.
Next thing it'll be a rotation of colour, sexual orientation and religion along with gender.

Anonymous said...

Anomander Rake I agree with, but that's about it on your list. Takeshi Kovacs is my fav character of all time.

Someone mentioned gender bias: please tell me any female character in sff of any importance. I'm a female and I can't think of any that would be a fav.

Todd Newton said...

I'd agree with the last Anon poster, except that they posted as Anon.

Mostly because I just discussed racism in Fantasy (which led to sexism in Fantasy...authors) and it's still kind of fresh in my mind.

Todd Newton said...

Crap, out of order. Sorry.

I meant I'd agree with:
Why should he start thinking about what he is reading and who was the writer?
Are we now required to make a reading list with male and female writers alternating? PCness is certainly getting more ridiculous by the minute.
Next thing it'll be a rotation of colour, sexual orientation and religion along with gender.


Not that I disagree with:
Someone mentioned gender bias: please tell me any female character in sff of any importance. I'm a female and I can't think of any that would be a fav.
but I will say "pwned."

Anonymous said...

What? Where is Theol? He's one of my favorites in the Malazan book of the fallen.

Sudhana said...

I can think of lots of cool female SFF characters, many from the books mentioned in Pat's list.

Song of Ice and Fire: Brienne of Tarth, Danaerys Targaryen, Catelyn Stark (even in zombie form, can't wait to read more), Ariene of Dorne (and the whole concept of Dornish Absolute cognatic primogeniture)

Monza Murcatto from J. Abercrombie's Best Served Cold; Ardee West from The First Law trilogy

Jamisia Shido from CS Friedman's This Alien Shore

Onyesonwu from Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death

I know there are more. They are out there.

Megan said...

It's not the first time you mention Friedman's Coldfire series and Kurtz's Deryni books. Maybe it's time I look into them...:)

Sudhana said...

To add a bit more: there is nothing wrong in being constructively critical of the genre we love. Those criticisms will make these works and the community grow and get better.

redhead said...

Fitz, Locke Lamora, Jon Snow and Arya Stark are some of my alltime favorite SFF characters.

I'd add Danaerys Targaryen as well, along with Lord Valentine and Paul Atriedes.

I don't mind that the list is skewed towards dudes, I mind that it's skewed towards F. Where's the SF? ;)

Shawn said...

Someone loves him some anti-heroes!

Not that I can complain, since I'd list pretty much this entire list as well.

I'll also second some of the women mentioned upthread, and add in Kiriel di'Ashaf (Sun Sword series), Empress Alixana (Sarantine Mosaic), and Phèdre nó Delaunay (first Kushiel trilogy).

Anonymous said...

Megan: The Coldfire trilogy is a good read; I did find that the quality fell from mid book 2 to book 3, though.

If you haven't read any Friedman, I'd recommend picking up instead.

Perkunos said...

Is interesting that you chose Raistlin Majere. It was my first start with fantasy as well. My first post of my blog was also a long characterization to Raistlin. Mainly Soulforge. With another one called Gilead's Blood are probably the only two book I re-read every couple of years.

I am always looking for good evil characteres. I don't know if you read Black Library books but there are alot of this characters there. Some are anti-heroes and some are just plain evil that gain main characterization. If you want I could give you an hint for a book or two. (either SF or Fantasy )

naugem said...

I second Croaker as a favorite character.
Other favorites are:
- Durendal from the King's Blades series
- Pinkus Ghort from the The Instrumentalities of the Night
- Giogioni Wyvernspur from The Wyvern's Spur

On the other hand, I could never get into The Coldfire Trilogy. The third book awaits to be finished since I just lost interest.

Anonymous said...

As a friend of mine mentioned: Abercrombie's females are really males.

Mavis said...

Gender Bias? Have you seen the Lifetime Network lately?

are all striving for equality here, just cause we're not there yet, doesnt me an you can go off on Pat or Fantasy books in general because you perceive an insult.

How about you start working on acting like an equal, instead of just demanding it.

"Tearing something down is much easier than creating it."

Pat has spent years gaining our trust in his opinion. You just tried to pull his legs out from under him because of your own spite. That my dear is ingnorance.

smiling said...

+1 for Mat, still my favorite character of all, even though some on the list are close.
imo, Kruppe needs to join that list, on rereads, he is hillarious.
same for Bugg or Tehol depending on who you think controls their interactions.

johnyr said...

Every member of Black Company. Forever & ever.

Saladin Ahmed said...

Picking up on the series you highlighted:

- WoT: Perrin all the way, though I can respect Mat, Lan and Moiraine as choices. I also actually ::brace yourself:: like Faile, but that's probably a longer conversation... :P

- Dragonlance: I love Tanis, I love Tas, I love Sturm, I love Kitaira. But yeah, ultimately it's Raistlin FTW. Have you heard of this?:
http://www.therejectionist.com/2010/04/happy-international-raistlin-majere-day.html

- ASoIaF: Jon Snow!? Are you kidding me, man? He's the most generic character in the series! It's a tribute to GRRM's writing that even given this I don't hate Snow, but geez. This one's gotta be a tie between Tyrion and Arya.

- Thrawn ruled, also, though I also dug the batshit evil Jedi, whatever his name was. Those Zahn books were great...

Jebus said...

It's Glokta, not Glotka, but I agree.

Most of your choices I agree with, I would skip a'Lan through, I reckon he's a very dull character.

I still don't understand this love of Jon Snow that everyone seems to have, I think he's a pathetically bland character with a crap storyline - I HOPE he dies a horrible death and we never find out the truth of his parentage. Arya and Tyrion MAKE that series.

I wasn't such a big fan of Anomander either, not until Toll The Hounds anyway.

I think I'd add Takeshi Kovacs (Richard Morgan), Arutha (Feist), Mara of the Acoma (possibly my favourite character ever / Feist & Wurts), Bauchelain & Korbal Broach (Erikson), Vimes (Pratchett), Logen Ninefingers (Abercrombie), Cassandra Kressnov (Shepherd), Sven Tveskoeg (Gunn), Thalric (Tchaikovsky), and plenty more that I ca't think of at the moment.

Characters _make_ a series, in my opinion, with poorly drawn characters a novel is without a point.

The Grand Leaf said...

I'm not sure why anyone would be surprised that a male reader would generally prefer male characters... sounds perfectly normal to me.

Anonymous said...

I think in so many ways, the archetype of a lot of these great choices is Corwin of Roger Zelazny's Amber. One of the great characters and most vivid voices in Fantasy.

Anonymous said...

Where the hell is Logen Ninefingers!?? I call BS on this list till he's on it.

Patrick said...

Anonymous: I much prefer the nameless Malazan recruit #72 who gets decapitated by a K'Chain Che'Malle. That dude was living life in the fast lane and went up in a blaze of glory! But it was him or Fiddler, so. . .

Anonymous 2: Liking books and characters is a very subjective thing. I'm no authority. These are just my own favorites. Your claim is as ridiculous as if you were calling me stupid for not liking broccoli when I list my favorite foods.

"Why should he start thinking about what he is reading and who was the writer?

Are we now required to make a reading list with male and female writers alternating? PCness is certainly getting more ridiculous by the minute.

Next thing it'll be a rotation of colour, sexual orientation and religion along with gender."

Amen!

Sudhana: There is nothing wrong in being constructively critical of the genre we love. Trying to make me into a sexist pig when some of my favorite SFF authors are female isn't all that constructive, methinks! But that's just me...

Saladin: I know we are at different ends of the spectrum where politics are concerned, and I'm cool with that. But man, if you actually like Faile... Got to draw the line somewhere, I'm afraid... :P

Okay, since many of you are throwing names around, here are a few characters who didn't make the final cut:

Cook's Croaker, Pratchett's Death and Samuel "Sam" Vimes, Salvatore's Drizzt Do'Urden, Frank Herbert's Paul Atreides, Bakker's Esmenet and Cnaiür urs Skiötha, Feist's Arutha, Kurtz's Camber of Culdi and Bishop Denis Arilan, Erikson's Iskaral Pust, Hobb's Nighteyes, Donaldson's Morn Hyland and Thomas Covenant, and Tolkien's Aragorn... Oh and Gaiman's Death, because I didn't to drag comic books into this discussion.

Simeon said...

Uhm, Pat. So, why is this a "SFF" list? I only see the second "F" in here. Not a single "SF" character.

http://rolandscodex.blogspot.com/

Sudhana said...

Pat: Thanks for responding. I guess I was a little surprised at the venom in the responses to anonymous 2...and then I checked out your previous post. Waves have been made, I seem to have caught them a bit late :)

You're not a sexist pig, I hope you didn't take that meaning from my post.

Patrick said...

Roland: Angus Thermopyle and Admiral Thrawn.

If you haven't read Stephen R. Donaldson's The Gap series, please put that on your pile of books to read! That series is the shit!

amysrevenge said...

I don't disagree with any of your choices (out of books that I've read).

P.G. said...

It really isn't my business, but as for male vs female characters on favourite / hate lists, I think that most (at least male) readers simply like characters who behave like badass men. Women are cool when they're like Arya Stark, but when they're more like women in real world, they somehow become uninteresting. The same goes with manly mans vs "girly" mans. Just my $o.o2.

I haven't read all the books that are covered here, but I mostly agree with those I'm familiar with. Although I wouldn't pick Jon Snow or Tyrion from ASOAIF, but I consider Arya and Jaime to be cool characters as well.

machinery said...

who are the chars. in the mid picture ?
looks like ralick nom and quick ben, but i thought ben was black.

Anonymous said...

Funny, I recognize like four or five of those characters at all... And I read a lot of SFF. I understand Ice and Fire and Farseer or WoT characters, but some of those others I'm seeing for the first time.

I probably should check out the Malazan series though... I'm hearing too much good stuff about it.

ssgorik said...

Hey, it' GRAND Admiral Thrawn. Show some respect for the awesome.

GP said...

I want to third Logen Ninefingers, I'm sad that Nighteyes didn't make the list, and I want to add:

Miles Vorkosigan (Vorkosigan Saga by Lois Bujold) - super hyper guy with multiple personas

Elminster (Forgotten Realms by Ed Greenwood) - wizard with a hawk-like nose

Prince Roger (Prince Roger series by David Weber and John Ringo) - clueless, but he can shoot

Aunt Grace (Vatta series by Elizabeth Moon) - seems harmless, but is really sneaky

Anonymous said...

I'd have to agree with the person suggesting Mara of the Acoma... I loved that series because of her, making me shake my head in wonder how the two authors can write such garbage when they are on their own. Hehe.

I'd also have to suggest Gemmel's Waylander or Jon Shannow. He may have pressed his usual self-destruct button and screwed them up in later stories, but they were great characters originally.

Ramah

Unknown said...

I happen to agree with almost all the ones I know of although _TWoT_ left me with a bad taste in "mouth". I really disliked the whole serie. I really have to read the Malazan books now it seems...

Unknown said...

Al though I'd add Elric (as one of the characters I read about in SFF). And add Angelina, Surreal and Daemon from Ann Bishop's Daughter of the Blood serie...

Mimouille said...

I agree with many, but I would indeed add

- Erevis Cale from Paul S. Kemp's two trilogies
- Croaker from the Black Company
- Logen Ninefingers in Abercrombies trilogy (the bloody nine)
- Shenkt in Best Served Cold (best assassin ever)
- Severian in Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun
- Anasûrimbor in The Prince of Nothing
- 75% of the female characters in Guy Gavriel Kay's novels
- Druss from Gemmell's Legend
- Elric from Moorcock
- Lin the Khepri in Perdido Street Station


And what about non human characters ? (in know you mentionned Drizzt later)
- Drizzt from Salvatore's novels
- Malus Darkblade from Dan Abnett

Martin S said...

Gotta agree with most of these choices, Pat!

If I have to narrow it down, it's Locke Lamora, Quick Ben, Tehol (the Malazan books are full of memorable characters. Hell, I'd mention Coltaine as the most memorable one. One book, and yet his impact...), Tyrion Lannister, Raistlin and Takeshi Kovacs for me.

Simeon said...

Star Wars is fantasy, so Thrawn doesn't count (absolutely awesome though he may be). :p

It's still an F-heavy list though. Anyway, I've been thinking of reading The Gap at some point, but I dunno when I'll get to it.

http://rolandscodex.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...SFF...

No Elric
No Lazarus Long
No Grey Mouser
No Corwin

Get thee to the classics, stat...

Jens said...

On Pat's choice:

Firstly, my impression is that Pat reads far more fantasy than SF. It is therefore not surprising that there's more favorite characters from fantasy series.

Anyway, Pat is free to read whatever he pleases, this is his very own blog!
Even if he started to read and review Harlequin romances from tomorrow on, we'd have no right to order him do otherwise. I would simply stop following the blog...

And hey, this blog is called FANTASY hotlist...

Moreover, some SF seems to center more around ideas and sometimes neglects characterization which might lead to less impressive characters.


Secondly, the predominance of male characters may have several reaons.
Pat might simply like male characters more - again, if this were so: it's HIS favorites, he didn't claim anything else.

But another fact might be important here. A lot of fantasy takes place in societies that are dominated by males. Thus a lot of action is driven by male characters. A band of male thieves/merchants/warriors is nothing to be surprised about in these worlds. Reverting the sexes would work all that well anymore, it would be quite implausible in many settings.

This absolutely doesn't mean that there won't be any notable female characters but simply that there are to be expected many more male characters to choose from.

Also, Pat doesn't read a lot of typical "female books" such as Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance or "female fantasy" like Bradley's Avalon series.

One notable exception would be Carrie Vaughn's Kitty novels.
In fact, given Pat's enthusiasm, I'm surprised not to see Kitty on the list! ;-)

Patrick said...

Roland: I'll be the first to admit that I'm not as well-versed in science fiction as I am with the fantasy genre. But as Jens pointed out, characterization doesn't shine through as much in scifi/space opera as it does in fantasy.

Hence, though Dune was awesome (other than God-Emperor of Dune), no characters achieved the timelessness of a Frodo or Aragorn, etc.

And Jens, Kitty almost made it! ;-)

The Addled said...

For me, non-human characters start and end with Samwise Gamgee.

Jim Haley said...

"- Admiral Thrawn (Timothy Zahn's Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy and The Hand of Thrawn): God knows Lucas Books have sold out years ago, producing turd after turd. But Admiral Thrawn was a great character!"

Pat, while I'm glad you included Thrawn in your list - I'm having trouble with your blanket condemnation of Star Wars books. I'm looking through your reviews and going back several years now and can't even find the last Star Wars book you read and reviewed. Meanwhile, you've given away as contests some of the best stuff to come out in years, things from Matthew Stover, Karen Traviss and Drew Karpyshyn. Like all book reading, there are excellent books and ones that are not as great - much more author dependant than "license" dependant.

Gaarheid said...

Y.T. (Snow crash)

Robin Deffendall said...

Um. Where's Kvothe? and/or Bast from Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Book(s)? Surely that was an oversight....

Anonymous said...

Jesus, look at all those men. Ah well, go figure.

alabrava said...

Dianora in Tigana

Rodrigo Belmonte in The Lions of Al-Rassan

Shadowthrone in MBoTF

Vetch - A Wizard of Earthsea

ediFanoB said...

Your list reminded my of all these books (Cold Fire trilogy, Locke Lamora, Prince of Nothing, ..)I still want to read.

Beside that you mentioned several characters I like too.

Anonymous said...

For me it's not really Jon Snow as a character that I like, but that his chapters are among those most interesting in the books.

Simeon said...

Pat, I couldn't disagree more. Where characterization is concerned, SF is just as viable as F. It's just that usually it doesn't depend on endless series of books where you grow old with the characters...

Jens - nobody is attacking Pat's sacred right to write whatever he pleases on his blog. Down, boy!

Anonymous said...

Pat, you're getting dissed again on twitter. Apparently it's bad form to list your favorite sff characters if the number of female characters is lower than male characters.

Also, the female writers that you like don't really count it seems. Unless you like Kushner, Lackey, etc, Hobb, Friedman, Kurtz and co. don't seem to be considered female writers...

Xenophon said...

Elric: Elric of Melniboné, Michael Moorcock

Thomas Mondragon & Altair Jones: Angel with the Sword, C. J. Cherryh

Severian: The Shadow of the Torturer,Gene Wolfe

Rael: The Morphodite, M.A. Foster

Carl Corey: Nine Princes in Amber, Roger Zelazny

Demastes: The Seer King, Chris Bunch

Tempus: Thieves' World, Robert Lynn Asprin

Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser & Sheelba of the Eyeless Face: Swords and Deviltry, Fritz Leiber

Aragorn: Lord of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien

To name a few...

Anonymous said...

Hodor, Hodor, hodor

Anonymous said...

Say one thing, say Logan Ninefingers??

The rest I would say I agree with, though I did not know all of them.

I love the scenes with Quick Ben and Kalam.

Jebus said...

To whoever it was that asked, the two dudes in the middle picture are Kalam and Quick Ben on the rooftops of Darujhistan.

Oh and I forgot a couple of characters that, though not entirely original, still hold a fond place in my heart - Belgarath, Sparhawk, Silk (Eddings).

Bannor said...

Another vote for The Bloody Nine.

Some other favorites I haven't seen mentioned:

Kelsier - Mistborn
Saltheart Foamfollower - Covenant Chronicles
Stee Jans - Elfstones of Shannara
Garet Jax - Wishsong of Shannara
Sandor Clegane (The Hound) - ASoIaF


A deadly collection of warriors. Sorry, no females in the bunch.

Pipin said...

How about Matt Stover´s Caine?
How about Corwin?

Martin S said...

Concerning hte poicture of Quick Ben and Kalam: Aren't they supossed to be black guys. Like REALLY black (not Anomander Rake black, but you get the point).

Saladin Ahmed said...

Hm. Some other folks' entries remind me that I've missed some favorite rogue types. Love Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser equally -- and, had I been ,making up my own list rather than responding to Pat's they would have been near the top of the list. From Lynch's books, I'd actually have to go with Jean moreso than Locke. The English teacher in me loves the whole dual-axe-wielding lover-of-poetry thing :)

Blodeuedd said...

I just have to say one thing after reading one comment.

As a female reader I read women authors, male authors. And still on my love list there are men, and on that hate there are many female. It's the readers right to love and hate

Christophe said...

- Herbert: Leto Atreides (the god-emperor) and Darwi Odrade in the Dune cycle, McKie and Jedrik in Dosadi

- Zelazny: Sam in Lord of Light, Corwin in the Amber cycle

- Erikson: Quick Ben, Fiddler, Whiskeyjack, Apsalar, Cotillion, Bugg, Iskaral Pust's mule, Ganoes Paran, and many others...

- Cook: Croaker, One-Eye in the Black Company cycle

- Le Guin: Ged in the Earthsea cycle

- Martin: Arya, Littlefinger in aSoIaF

- Jordan: Rand, Verin, Matt in WoT

- Lynch: Locke in the Gentlemen Bastards cycle

etc.......

Anonymous said...

"Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe - The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson