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Topic:
Describe Your Favorite Literary Character: Paul Atreides
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/3 8:01pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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CHARACTER(S): Betsy Trotwood & Mr. Dick
BOOK and AUTHOR: "David Copperfield" by Charles Dickens
DESCRIPTION: Betsy Trotwood is the titular character's aunt; Mr. Dick is the slightly addled elderly man she has rescued and taken in.
REASON: They are a great comedy team, and they figure largely in one of the funniest scenes in literature: the 'donkeys!' episode, wherein Miss Trotwood takes on David's nasty stepfather and his equally nasty sister, and routs them foot, horse and artillery. Mr. Dick, roused from his biography of King Charles I, delivers the clincher.
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Hammurabi
Registered:
Jan '07
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Date Posted:
5/3 10:54pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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JediMasterCheGuevara posted:
CHARACTER: Aureliano Buendia (the 1st!)
BOOK/AUTHOR: One-Hundred Years of Solitude; Gabriel Garcia Marquez
WHY: He cried inside of the womb. He fought 36 wars and lost them all. He shot himself in the chest with no serious injury. He could never love. All he got was that lousy street sign named after him.
WIN
-----signature-----
and i know no one can sing the blues like blind willie mctell
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LilyHobbitJedi
Title:
Apples to Apples and 20 Questions hostess
Registered:
Aug '05
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Date Posted:
5/4 5:28am
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
- Date Edited:
5/4 5:28am (1 edits total)
Edited By:
LilyHobbitJedi
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Here's my favorite. 
CHARACTER: Frodo Baggins
BOOK and AUTHOR: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
DESCRIPTION: Frodo is a hobbit from the Shire who longs for adventure, but never expects the quest he is given. When his uncle Bilbo leaves him a magical ring, Frodo never realized that it is in fact the One Ring, the very ring that could end life on Middle Earth in the wrong hands. Frodo escapes the Shire and flees to Rivendell, but not before suffering the severe wound of the Morgul blade. He then takes on the quest to carry the Ring to Mordor to throw it in the fires of Mr. Doom to destroy it. The Fellowship of the Ring joins his quest, but it is Sam who joins him on the way to Mordor. In the very end the Ring is destroyed once and for all, but Frodo was never the same.
REASON: I love Frodo for many reasons, but most of all for his unwavering spirit. He suffered a great deal throughout the trilogy, but he never gave up. He was a gentle hobbit who only wanted to save the home he loved, but he never would've imagined the cost.
-----signature-----
Proud Master to eboneya & Alassë Eärfalas!  Everybody Lies- House/SW Crossover! http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28032689/r28039379/ A Light In The Darkness http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b1047
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Vortigern99
Title: Manager Emeritus
Registered:
Nov '00
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Date Posted:
5/4 6:07pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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This is an awesome and inspiring thread. Many of my favorites are already listed -- Sam, Frodo, Hamlet, Holden, and Huck -- and many more whom I hope to one day get to know, especially Tyrion. After some consideration I offer my own:
CHARACTER: Taran of Caer Dallben (Taran Assistant Pig-Keeper; Taran Wanderer)
BOOK and AUTHOR: The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander
DESCRIPTION: Taran is a young boy when we first meet him in The Book of Three; he wants to be a "hero" but in reality he does not know or understand what this entails. He thinks it's all swordplay and adventurous quests. He is hot-headed, rash and impatient. Over the course of the five-volume series, and especially throughout The Black Cauldron and Taran Wanderer, Taran grows and learns that heroism requires sacrifice: loss of selfish wants, loss of foolish youthful dreams, and sometimes, loss of friends to death. His wisdom deepens almost without the reader even noticing, until by the climax of the last volume -- The High King -- Taran is willing to give up everything and everyone he loves, in order to fulfill an obligation that he feels he owes. Finally, Taran has become a hero in the truest sense of the word.
REASON: I am Taran, and Taran is me.
-----signature-----
"I knew from the beginning I was not doing science fiction.
I was doing a space opera, a fantasy film, a mythological piece,
a fairy tale."--George Lucas
My "Vader's Origins" thread:
http://boards.theforce.net/Classic_Trilogy/b10002/8708417/p1
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/5 10:10am
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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God, haven't thought about this series in years, but I did read them when I was little. Good choice.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/19 2:20pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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CHARACTER: Tremeraire and Cpt. William Lawrence
BOOK and AUTHOR: "His Majesty's Dragon" and its sequels by Naomi Novak.
REASON: Tremeraire is a Chinese Celestial Dragon; Lawrence is his 'familiar' I guess you'd call it. Lawrence is very much of his time, which is the Napoleonic Wars; though he comes from a radical/noble family, he has all the prejudices of his class. Tremeraire starts upsetting these notions almost immediately, and by the fourth book, Lawrence is committing treason, among other indiscretions.
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darth_frared
Registered:
Jun '05
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Date Posted:
5/20 8:43am
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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CHARACTER: sal paradise
BOOK and AUTHOR: "on the road" by jack kerouac
DESCRIPTION: sal is part of a bunch of NY bohemians to travel cross country in the fifties.
REASON: i read the book when i seemed to be all engaged with getting away from my small home town and when i seemed to need adventure like nothing else. kerouac used his poetry to describe his longing to be someone else (the events are thinly disguised real life accounts with him renamed to sal paradise) and somewhere else as well, which i coud well identify with. especially with reflecting on kerouac's real life at the time, sal becomes even more poignant. the more trips they do (both geographically and mentally) the more the novel obsesses with dean moriarty, sal's best friend, who while first universally popular, slowly fades in the eyes of the people they both hang out with until sal leaves him alone, too.
-----signature-----
illegalise stupidity.
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ezekiel22x
Registered:
Aug '02
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Date Posted:
5/20 11:49am
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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Wow, bit of a thread resurrection going on here. I last contributed here in '03. Needless to say, my pick needs updating:
CHARACTER: Patera Silk
BOOK/AUTHOR:The Book of the Long Sun quartet by Gene Wolfe
DESCRIPTION: A young priest assigned to a church in a poverty-ridden section of city, Silk is forced to reevaluate his world and his faith when he discovers his city is in actuality a part of a generation ship that's fallen into a state of disrepair after thousands of years of traveling through space.
REASON: Upon a quick review, a young protagonist-turned-venerable-leader who leads a group of followers through a war hardly sounds like a unique character arc, but The Book of the Long Sun and its central figure stand as one of the most challenging and relevant explorations of god, faith, family, and society that I've ever read.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/20 2:13pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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CHARACTER: Peter Dorfricher/Emil Kunze
BOOK/AUTHOR: The Devil's Lieutenant by M. Fagyas
DESCRIPTION: In 1910, a young Austrian captain wants to move up in the ranks, and decides to do so by poisoning his superiors.
REASON: This novel is based on a real case, and is not much disguised. The author uses the situation to demonstrate the strains of Austrian society. Dorfricher is the murderer, a fascinating psychopath; Kunze is the police Major who tries to avoid being fascinated. He doesn't quite make it--Dorfricher, in the manner of sociopaths, knows exactly how to play him--but he does get a measure of revenge. Neither man is completely good nor evil; Kunze especially has difficulties with the case. But as a portrait of a dying Empire, this is an excellent book.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/28 7:46pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~
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CHARACTER: Augustus McCrae/Woodrow Call
BOOK/AUTHOR: "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry
DESCRIPTION: Post Civil War, two ex-Texas Rangers drive a herd of cattle to Montana.
REASON: McCrae and Call represent competing elements in the American character; Call is the driven achiever; McCrae the charming rascal. They are based (as are some elements in the book) on real people: Oliver Loving and Charles Goodnight (who appears briefly as himself in the book). Avoid the sequel, "The Streets of Laredo", in which McMurtry's instincts betray him.
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Reynar_Tedros
Registered:
Jul '06
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Date Posted:
5/28 9:57pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~ "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry
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Love the television mini-series. The book is too large for my tastes.
-----signature-----
I shook Chuck Norris' hand.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
5/29 7:00am
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~ "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry
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The first television mini-series is brilliantly done.
Unfortunately, the second one sucks, and the TV series was terrible as well.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
6/14 9:30pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~ "Lonesome Dove" by Larry McMurtry
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CHARACTER: Col. Joseph Ryan USAF
BOOK/AUTHOR: "Von Ryan's Express" and "Von Ryan's Return" by David Westheimer
DESCRIPTION: Joseph Ryan is a by-the-book type, or so he seems. This is united to the mantra: "Never say never". His men hate his marrow. He doesn't care.
REASON: The combination is oddly fascinating, though the books themselves are workmanlike, and not much more. Westheimer can tell a story, though.
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Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
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Date Posted:
8/7 4:36pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character~ Col. Joseph Ryan in "Von Ryan's Express"
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CHARACTER: Neville Longbottom
BOOK and AUTHOR: The Harry Potter Books by J. K. Rowling
DESCRIPTION: Neville is the also-ran in the prophecy stakes.
REASON: Neville is an semi-orphan, who lives with his overbearing grandmother, and was in the running as the person who will do for Lord Voldemort. Voldemort gets to choose, however, and he doesn't choose Neville. But oddly, the prophecy, in an indirect way, applies to both candidates. When push comes to shove, Neville validates his Gryffindor status and becomes a leader.
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TheManinBlack
Registered:
Aug '07
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Date Posted:
8/7 9:37pm
Subject:
RE: Describe Your ~Favorite Literary Character: Neville Longbottom
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Character: Paul Atreides
Book and Author: Dune
Description: Paul Muad'Dib.
Reason: Paul is true nobilty. A realsitic Superman, the first Luke...and first Vader. He realizes he must become a monster so that mankind can live, bringing up many theologcial and philosphical questions. Not only that but seeing a Sci Fi protaginst character with a brain.
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