# Best SF Characters



## Violanthe (Dec 20, 2005)

Voting for our newest Top Ten list project, the Top Ten SF Characters, is officially open. Thanks again to everyone who helped out by submitting their vote toward our previous list. We're currently tabulating the results of that list, and I'll let you folks know as soon as the final list is published.
Our newest Top Ten list is the Best Speculative Fiction Characters. If you would like to help out by submitting your own list, your vote is both welcome and appreciated. Please visit this URL for more information: http://p068.ezboard.com/farwzdicussionforumsfrm1.showMessage?topicID=1085.topic
So what do you think? Who are the Best Characters in all of Speculative Fiction? Who are the most memorable? The most intriguing? The most complex? Your favorites? The ones you love to hate? From tortured heroes to ambiguous villains, to everything in between, who do you think are the best characters in Speculative Fiction?
P.S. If you're unsure what I mean by "Speculative Fiction" please consult this definition at wikipedia.org: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction


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## Talierin (Dec 21, 2005)

Ender! and Bean


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## Walter (Dec 21, 2005)

Gucky

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## Beleg (Dec 21, 2005)

George R. R. Martin in _A Feast For Crows_ wrote,






VERY MINOR ASOIAF SPOILER 











> “Salty. I come from Saltpans, by the Trident.”
> 
> Though she could not see his face, somehow she could feel him smiling. “No,” he said. “Tell me your name.”
> 
> ...


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## Violanthe (Dec 22, 2005)

I just read that part last night.

So do you think that each of those names represent a different "character" of Arya, or just sides to her personality? She seems to be turning into someone different every time you turn around. Of course, the end of Feast for Crows sort of disproves that theory


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## Violanthe (Jan 10, 2006)

I'm on a waitlist for Ender's Game at the library. Would you recommend I continue to the other books, or just stick with the first? Are they any good? Worth the time?


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## Talierin (Jan 10, 2006)

It's up to you, they get a little weird after I *think* the second book, but still interesting. Read the series about Bean for sure, it's pretty good. It basically follows alongside Ender's Game and I think the second ender book, but from the viewpoint of Bean


Oh man that reminds me, I read a really good SF book yesterday called Polaris by Jack McDevitt, you should read it!


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## Rhiannon (Jan 11, 2006)

Eowyn. Since I was five years old, though I got more hardcore when I was seven and my dad made me a wooden sword. Faramir has been dear to me for almost as long. 

This might be stretching the genre, but I _love_ Death from Neil Gaiman's _Sandman_ series--who doesn't? I love Dream himself as well. 

I also love: 

Paksenarrion, from Elizabeth Moon's _The Deed of Paksenarrion_--she's a very strong, human character, and the trilogy follows her dramatic but very realistic development as a person. All of the 'minor' characters also have huge impact--I'm especially fond of the solid Sgt. Stammel and Master Oakhallow.

Sybel, from Patricia McKillip's _The Forgotten Beasts of Eld_--she's a powerful woman, but goes through a lot of emotional development through the course of the book.

Granny Weatherwax, from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, because I want to be her when I get old, and Death from the same, because he likes kittens. And Sam Vimes, because my brother insists. 

Roland, from Stephen King's The Dark Tower, because he kicks ***, and no mistake. He's also a very complex and well-developed character. 

Lynette, from Vera Chapman's _The King's Damosel_ and _King Arthur's Daughter_. I named my car after her. 

Corwin, from Roger Zelazny's _Nine Princes of Amber_. Because he's just really cool. And his brother Benedict. 


I love all of Robin McKinley's heroines--Harry from _The Blue Sword_, Aerin from _The Hero and the Crown_, Rosie from _Spindle's End_, Rae from _Sunshine_, Lissar from _Deerskin_, Beauty in both _Beauty_ and _Rose Daughter_, Cecily and Marian from _Outlaws of Sherwood_. I'm a fan of all of her male characters, too--Corlath from _Sword_, Tor from _Hero_, Narl from _Spindle_, Mal and Con from _Sunshine_, Ossin from _Deerskin_, the Beast from _Beauty_ and _Rose Daughter_ (I should clarify that those two aren't sequels or even set in the same universe--they're just both retellings of Beauty and the Beast). 

My brother says to list Molly from _Neuromancer_, though I haven't read it yet myself. He also insists I include Captain Sisko from Deep Space Nine. He's very adamant about it. And Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. (Ask him a question in passing and he gets all kinds of crazy...typical). And Conan, he says. If we're counting SF television shows (I guess DS9 also has tie-in books, but whatever), I vote for the entire cast of _Firefly_.


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## Halasían (Jan 13, 2006)

*Re: Top Ten Characters*

*Violanthe!* I didn't realize you posted here! Arassuil here! Good to see ya!  

Be sure to post your Top Ten Favorite Characters over on ARWZ so they can be counted!


I posted my list there, and I may as well post it here:

*1. Croaker* in *The Black Company* by _Glen Cook_ - The mercenary company historian and battle medic's insight into the world in which they serve is sometimes analytical, sometimes cynical. A refreshingly different character profile than what I usually come across in the fantasy genre.
*2. Phillip Marlowe* in *Farewell My Lovely* by _Raymond Chandler_ - He _is_ the private ****!
*3. Turin Turambar* in *Silmarillion* by _J.R.R. Tolkien (Christopher Tolkien)_ - The darkness surrounding this character always intrigued me.
*4. Montag* in *Farenheit 451* by _Ray Bradury_ - The moral struggle he faces in his mind while books are burned is as intense as the heat from the burning books.
*5. Halbarad* in *Lord of the Rings* by _J.R.R. Tolkien_ - A minor character but one of the more intriging ones to me. The second in command of the Dunedain Rangers he was most likely the de facto commander while his Chieftain Aragorn travelled the world in the years before the war. He was one of the named 'good guys' who was a casualty in the war of the Ring.
*6. HAL 9000* in *2001 A Space Oddesy* by _Authur C. Clarke_ - The ultimate in Artificial Intelligence run amok due to mans' programming.
*7. Goblin & One Eye* in *The Black Company* book series by _Glen Cook_ - I know, I list two characters for the number 7 spot, but even though they are distictly different, its their interaction that makes it work. The two dueling minor wizards of the Balck Company are always trying to one-up the other with a prank, adding comic relief in the midst of death and destruction. They changed my conception of the typical fantasy all-powerful wizard of the Gandalf mold.
*8. Carl* in *The Illustrated Man* by _Ray Bradbury_ - Not so much a character than a vehicle of stories, but in the Jack Smight movie, Carl is rather intensly played by Rod Steiger, and this is the character I see when I read this book again.
*9. Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib* in *Dune* by _Frank Herbert_ - A deep character in the book.
*10. Spock* in *Star Trek* by _Gene Roddenberry_ - Always liked the way Leonard Nimoy played him.


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## Violanthe (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi! Yes. I most certainly count Tolkien Forum among our important associates over at ARWZ.

If people don't want to post lists publicly on ARWZ - but want them to count - they can also email me. Just make sure to read the voting guidelines and such so you know how your votes will be weighted.


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