To ease up on the heavy discussions, this week I’m going real simple. The bread and butter of a reader, no matter what genres you read, how many books you’ve tackled, or how many dnfs you’ve come across. So, without any further delays, let’s get into my favourite book characters. Please note, as I am recalling books and characters I’ve come across off the top of my head, I am bound to forget people, hence this is the first part in what could be many iterations of my favourite characters. I will try to exclude characters previously mentioned in my To All The Fictional Boys (And Men) I’ve Loved Before post but no promises.

Katniss Everdeen, The Hunger Games

Let’s start with a character that I admire for her foundations. I think Suzanne Collins did a magnificent job creating Katniss as a character whose roots and skills can be both a benefit and a detriment to her situation. She’s independent, has keen survival skills and is not easy to befriend. This is great when she’s in the games, but beforehand she struggles to be likeable for the Capitol. She remains this way throughout the series (though she is able to make friends a little easier, though counterpoint she makes friends who understand her and have gone through similar trauma, therefore they know how she feels which is something she struggles to articulate to people). She’s closed off to people who aren’t family, but through becoming the Mockingjay she is able to extend her ‘family’ to those who are fighting for the people, who are impoverished and trying to survive. As a character, Katniss is full of potential and complex layers and she carries the series right through to the end. She is such a strong character in terms of what she is capable of, in part because of how well Suzanne Collins is able to establish the world around her and the events of the book, but also because she is a character that has the ability to grow into something more, as we see in the series.

Runin Fang, The Poppy War

In a similar way, Rin feels like a character with genuine grounding in her world. She feels real, her pain and anger is human and relatable, and as a character she shows the highs and lows of the story with such vivid emotion is almost feels like you’re drowning in it, as she is. She has those same survival instincts, those same adversions to friendships, and her life shows the realities of living in the harshest of situations. What I like so much about Rin though, something not tapped into with Katniss, is her desire for revenge and a bloody one at that. The Poppy War Trilogy is violent and highlights the horrors of war for civilians in a way that bolsters Rin’s actions. It comes from her perspective, of course, but in a way it aids in shaping how she sees the world and how it must change, or remain in this case. Rin is a fighter, she’s a girl with a long, troubled past, and these make her such a polarising character. Rin is raw and vicious and bloodthirsty without the ability to see things objectively, without the ability to see the whole picture, and it makes her one hell of a character.

Will Herondale, The Infernal Devices

Will is a fighter in a different sense the the girls above. For one, the fighting I’m talking about is how he fights himself and his wants rather than external forces. He willingly puts others first – their wants, desires, futures, etc. – because he loves them more than he loves himself and he will do anything to keep them close to him, but only the kind of close that doesn’t put them in danger (his relationship with Tessa in Clockwork Angel and Clockwork Prince). He will give up on his chance to love the girl of his dreams if it means his best friend, his parabati, James Carstairs, gets to be happy for the rest of his life (note: for those who haven’t read the books, James is dying a slow, painful death with an added strain of requring drugs to contain his ailment and it’s a painful situatino for everyone involved, so the rest of James’s life is short). Will will do anything for Jem, for Tessa, for everyone he loves, even if it means never being able to recieve love in return. He is a tortured boy with a sad past and he continues to fight against his wants until he cannot anymore (I don’t want to talk about it). Will as a character is someone who is complex, yet feels real. He feels so authentic and real and it makes the pain he faces everyday of his life so heartbreaking.

Let me know what subtype of favourite characters you’d like to see next or if you have a favourite character that falls into the fighter category. You’ll be seeing more of these discussion posts in the future as a rack my brain for names.