(no subject)

[rymenhild]

I've posted ten books and series of books that I love. Your job is to guess my favorite character from each book. Please note: I don't actually have to like a character for him or her to be my favorite. I merely have to be fascinated by the character. When you guess correctly, I'll write a few sentences on why the character is my favorite.

1. Susan Cooper, The Dark is Rising Sequence: shati, ayelle and obopolsk were right to choose the prickly, arrogant, strange Welsh farmboy named Bran Davies. I love Bran for his biting sense of humour and for his taste in colourless sweaters. Beneath the prickly surface, Bran has a vast store of love and anger for his family and friends. He also has a core of inner strength that is at once the power of the High and Wild Magic and the merely human strength of a brave, stubborn mortal boy.

2. Madeleine L'Engle, the Chronos books (i.e. the ones about the Murry-O'Keefe family)

3. Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials: carasfriendmatt pointed out that since my favorite character wasn't exactly Lyra, I must have chosen Pantalaimon. Pullman's daemons, part embodied souls and part Jiminy Crickets, are perhaps his finest creations. Pantalaimon himself is, of course, as brave, intelligent and loyal as Lyra, although he has just slightly more common sense than she does. I love Pantalaimon's swift changes from form to form; his motions are just as quick and unknowingly graceful as Lyra's thoughts.

4. Stephen King, The Dark Tower: shati got this one too. Don't be deceived by Susannah Dean's gender, her skin color, her wheelchair or her past history with nonviolent activism -- this woman is a gunslinger born. Fear her.

5. Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales

6. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: Again, shati and ayelle have guessed correctly. (Actually, I think ayelle knew already, due to a birthday party and a plastic Viking helmet.) Eowyn, Lady of Rohan, who is also Dernhelm, Rider of Rohan, has fascinated me since I was a very young child with a copy of the record from the Rankin-Bass animated Lord of the Rings. I can still hear her in my head: "No mortal man am I. You look upon a woman!" Any woman who can defeat the Witch King with a sword earns large numbers of points when I keep score.

7. JK Rowling, Harry Potter: As obopolsk suggested (as one of two options; that's probably cheating, oh well), Remus Lupin, creative teacher, intelligent mentor, and incidental werewolf is my favorite character.

8. Patricia McKillip, The Riddlemaster of Hed: godlyperspectiv and dredpiratejenny were right. I can't actually say very much about Deth on this journal, as cryptoquip had only read halfway into Heir of Sea and Fire last I looked, but I love the way Deth's serene exterior conceals an extremely complex and interesting character.

9. Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events: raindrenched suggested that my favorite character in the Lemony Snicket books was Lemony Snicket himself. So he is. Expert in masks, disguises and concealments, and skilled in appearing unrecognizably in photographs (see icon), Lemony Snicket is constantly hiding himself in plain sight. I love the doleful epigraphs regarding the tragic history of Lemony and his lost Beatrice, and the sudden, cryptic digressions throughout the books that provide almost all the information we get about Snicket.

10. Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead: All right, this one's not fair. I couldn't choose. What is Guildenstern without Rosencrantz, or Rosencrantz without Guildenstern? When paired, they are detectives and court fools, jesters and philosophers. They go together like Abbot and Costello.

Comments

[daegaer.livejournal.com]

1. Merriman?
3. Lyra?
9. Sunny?

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

No, not exactly and no.

Merriman was my favorite character when I was younger, though.

*guesses*

[shati.livejournal.com]

1. Bran?
2. Canon Tallis?
3. Will?
4. Ummmmmmm. Um. Roland?
6. Eowyn?
7. The fifth Cornish Pixie?
10. Guildenstern?

Re: *guesses*

[shati.livejournal.com]

Oops, missed:
5. The Wife of Bath?

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

1. Bran
2. Polly
3. Will
5. Wife of Bath
6. Eowyn
7. Hermione
8. Whatshername, the main girl, Morgon's girl
9. Isadora Quagmire
10. The Player

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Alternatively, 7. Luna Lovegood.
And I change 2. to Canon Tallis also.

Not trying to work in multiple guesses, sorry! Just posted too fast.

[obopolsk.livejournal.com]

1. Bran
7. Sirius or Remus

[justbeast.livejournal.com]

3. Lyra. Or Chevalier Tialys and Lady Salmakia
5. Wife of Bath
6. Tom Bombadil
7. Dumbledor
8. Deth
10. The Player (Richard Dreyfuss's character)

[dredpiratejenny.livejournal.com]

8. Deth?

A stab in the dark. For some reason he was always my favorite.

[emidala.livejournal.com]

for 1, I have to say will, although I don't know why (I think bran is my favorite... although I have to think about that).

Re: *guesses*

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

1. Of course.
2. I didn't even think of him! I do really like Canon Tallis, but I like the character I chose better. That being said, the character I chose is unspeakably obscure.
3. No.
6. Yes.
7. No.
10. I keep going back and forth, and it isn't fair. I really can't decide. Guil is one of my favorite characters, anyway.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

1. Yes indeed
2. No to both guesses.
3. He is on my short list, but no.
5. Actually, no. I like her well enough, but she is not the character whom I find most interesting and to whom I keep coming back.
6. Yes.
7. No to both guesses, although Luna interests me more than Hermione.
8. You mean Raederle? No, although I do like her very much.
9. I like Isadora, but no, she's not my favorite.
10. If I were listing my favorite R&GaD characters in order of preference from highest to lowest, the Player would be #3.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Bran and Remus, yes. Good good.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

3. I love Lyra, the Chevalier and the Lady. However, none of them is my favorite.
5. As I told ayelle, I like the Wife well enough, but she is not the character whom I find most interesting and to whom I keep coming back.
6. Fascinating guess, but shati and <"ayelle"> guessed correctly that Eowyn, Rider of Rohan, wins.
7. I don't actually like Dumbledore at all. He's always too busy being a Stereotypical Wise Old Wizard to run his school properly.
8. Yes!
10. I love the Player, but not as much as I love other characters.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

8. Yes, Deth.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Will is all very well and good, but Bran is definitely my favorite.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

More guesses! (I'm definitely cheating now.)

3. Lee, the Texan aeronaut.
9. Violet (who is my favorite)
10. Rosencrantz (whom I love, but Guil is my favorite.)

[justbeast.livejournal.com]

3. Lord Asriel?
5. How about... Chaucer. Do we get a hint if it's one of the storytellers/pilgrims, or a character in one of their tales?
10. I hope it's not Hamlet himself..?

[cryptoquip.livejournal.com]

4. Jake?
8. I would have guessed Deth if noone else had!
9. Violet?

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Well. I'm going to guess Guildenstern for R&GaD, since, after your initial rereading of the play, you told me you wanted to role-play Guil rather than Ros.

For His Dark Materials, I'm going to guess... um. I have no idea. Lyra is too obvious, and having just guessed one of your RPing characters, I'm not going to go guessing another. Unfortunately, this leaves me with no ideas other than my favorite characters. OOOOH! I'm guessing Balthazar. *beams*

For Madeleine L'Engle...? That's easy. Emily Gregory.

And I have no idea who your preferred character from The Canterbury Tales are. I haven't even read the entire thing, despite the class I took in it.

Re: *guesses*

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's cheating. You have to pick one person from R&GaD.

And it's also cheating if you pick someone other than Ros or Guil. Because they're the coolest characters in the play, and I won't stand for a dissenting opinion. (Not really, of course, but I will be surprised and want to hear about why.)

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm now having second thoughts on Madeleine L'Engle. The three possibilities:

1) Emily (No, it couldn't be her after all, she's from the Austin's family series)
2) Max
3) Katherine (she is not by rights in either the Murray-O'Keefe or Austin series, so I'm going to say she doesn't count.)

Max it is!

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

Or Max's partner, who is, after all, more academic and possibly more put-together. But if she is a more appealing character, she is also probably a less interesting character. So I'll stick with Max after all. Even though I always preferred Max's partner myself.

I'm not cheating, I'm . . . trying again.

[shati.livejournal.com]

What about #4? I assume it was wrong too, but no one else has guessed for it that I've seen, alas.

2. The Other Bran?
3. Lee?
4. I'm guessing not the lobstrosities -- Susannah?

Re: I'm not cheating, I'm . . . trying again.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

2. No, but you're closer than anyone else so far.
3. No.
4. Yes. Susannah's great. Civil rights, folk music, wheelchair, gun.