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When you fall in love with a book or a series of books, I’ll wager it has more to do with just the writing—it may have something to do with some of the characters as well. I turned to my favourite fictional characters in good times and bad, and I know I’m not alone in that.
That’s why today, I’m sharing with you all my top five favourite fictional characters. This list is not all-encompassing by any means, and it will also be in no particular order. This list is also definitely subject to change, and I have a huuuuuge TBR list that includes loads of classics—I’m told that Jane Austen and Emily Bronte’s works in particular will lead to some changes in this list.
***DISCLAIMER: This post may contain spoilers. Read on at your discretion!***
Without any further adieu, let’s dive in!
1. Ponyboy Curtis from S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders
Not enough people know the story behind the ironic line “stay gold,” and its meaning.
“Stay gold, Ponyboy… Stay gold…, kaykay?”
This quote comes from Johnny Cade’s dying words. Quiet, shy, scared of his own shadow from his abusive upbringing, Johnny saw things for what they were. He saw Ponyboy’s turmoil and knew the issues he had with his brother Darryl and Sodapop, and he encouraged Ponyboy to hold onto the good. To not turn hard like Tim Shepard, or Dallas.
Oh God, Dallas…. PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, MEGHAN.
TL;DR: “Stay gold” was Johnny’s way of telling Ponyboy to remember all the good in the world. I know I’m making it sound like Johnny was my favourite character here, but it’s Pony’s story that really jives with me. Feeling like he never fit in fully with his own Greaser gang, and certainly not with the rich Socs, his uncertainty about where he belonged and whether anyone actually gave a shit about him sometimes is really heartwrenching stuff.
Plus, y’know… The Outsiders is his novel so how the fuck could I not love him?
2. Luna Lovegood from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter
I know it’s been established that JKR is a hugely controversial/unkind human being, and I won’t ever dispute that. However, there is a means of separating horrible people from great work. I can’t change the fact that Harry Potter saved my life in many ways, and I’ve made my peace with that.
Luna Lovegood is one of the biggest reasons why I embraced my perceived “weirdness” and I feel like I owe her a debt of gratitude for that. Her quirkiness did lead to her being bullied, but the fact that she didn’t let those things phase her was inspiring.
My favourite quotes of hers include:
“You’re just as sane as I am,” because this moment between her and Harry Potter at first seemed not super reassuring for Harry, but it was the moment when you could see that Luna was a real friend. She was probably the most genuine character of the series.
And, oddly: “I think I’ll just go down and have some pudding and wait for it all to turn up— it always does in the end.” This line of Luna’s exemplified that she believed in the goodness of people, even when they aren’t exactly being good or kind to her. She trusted that people would do the right thing because in her experience they eventually did.
Basically, Luna taught me to believe in myself and to believe in others (though I’ll admit I struggle with the latter at times).
3. Will Herondale and Tessa Gray from Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices
I didn’t want to include two fictional characters from the same story in this list, but as my reasons for loving Will and Tessa are very similar, and given their intertwined storyline, I thought it okay to put them together.
Their shared love and understanding of books is what draws them swiftly together, but the things that keep them apart also contribute to their success as great characters.
Will Herondale has a secret that he won’t even share with his parabatai, Jem— his sworn brother. The secret keeps him convinced that he cannot allow anyone to get too close to him. Living this way for years has been tearing him apart, because he’s such a truly good man, and wants to show the Branwells, who took him in when he left his family home, how much he appreciates them… and yet he feels like he can’t.
Books are his solacem, and when he meets Tessa, and learns that they share this love, he’s thrown off his game.
Tessa Gray on the other hand is beloved by me for her strength. Strong female protagonists are becoming more widely written, thankfully. Tessa’s entire life changes in the blink of an eye, but she manages to keep her head. She doesn’t let torture break her. She focuses solely on helping those she loves (whether they deserve it or not…) and reading allowed her something to focus on, as the familiar characters are friends to her.
My favourite quotes of theirs are include:
Will:
“Life is a book and there are a thousand pages I have not yet read.”
“It was books that made me feel that perhaps I was not completely alone. They could be honest with me, and I with them.”
“Sometimes, when I have to do something I don’t want to do, I pretend I’m a character from a book. It’s easier to know what they would do.”
Tessa:
“Men may be stronger, but it is women who endure.”
“You know that feeling when you are reading a book, and you know that it is going to be a tragedy; you can feel the cold and darkness coming, see the net drawing tight around the characters who live and breathe on the pages. But you are tied to the story as if being dragged behind a carriage and you cannot let go or turn the course aside.”
“One must always be careful of books, and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”
SERIOUSLY— DO I NEED TO SAY ANY MORE ABOUT WHY I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS?
4. Will Harding from Valerie Hobb’s How Far Would You Have Gotten if I Hadn’t Called You Back?
If any of you lovelies have heard of and/or read this novel, pleeeeeeease let me know in the comments! I haven’t met another person who’s read it!
Despite (or maybe because of?) the fact that it absolutely broke me, this was my favourite novel for many years. Will Harding is not the protagonist, but I wish he were.
The story revolves around Bronwyn Lewis, a 16-year-old whose family has relocated to a small town across the country after her father suffers a failed suicide attempt.
She gets caught up in a love triangle while trying to figure out her life now, and given that she’s 16, she’s not really sure how to handle that.
Boy, do I wish she’d handled it differently. Her suitors include J.C., a juvenile delinquent racer, and Will, a sweet country boy.
My copy apparently got misplaced, and even scouring the internet yielded no quotes from the sweet Will. So, suffice to say that my reasons for loving him are that he was such a genuine man. He wanted to make his family happy, and he doted on Bronwyn. If they’d been older in the story and knew how to communicate, maybe things would’ve gone differently for him. But I digress. I’m just a sucker for a genuinely good man who’s been done dirty and suffers consequences, whether they’re fictional characters or not.
5. Zachary Ezra Rawlins from Erin Morgenstern’s The Starless Sea
Mysterious book leads to mysterious love stories? Yeah, I’m in.
I will admit that book for book, I preferred Morgenstern’s The Night Circus to The Starless Sea, but I have a special place in my heart for Zachary.
The right thing and the easy thing don’t often coincide, so of course that isn’t the case for Zachary. He puts his studies on hold when the book he finds turns out to include a story of his own past, and naturally needs to know why. His introvert, sometimes hermit-esque life makes this decision wildly out of character, but when you know something needs to be done, it doesn’t matter what’s comfortable and what’s not.
I greatly admire Zachary’s tenacity and his ability to think critically and strategically about his next move. Given that he’s a graduate student mostly studying video game design, gender issues, and psychology, it makes sense.
My love for Zachary comes mostly from the fact that I too have a hermit-esque tendency at times, and I struggle to put myself out there. He took that struggle and ran toward the greater good.
Final Thoughts
I’m honestly super hyped up right now on the vibes from my favourite characters. Having them all show up on one page is pretty cool.
As I mentioned previously, I’m more than certain that this list is subject to inevitable change, but this is where we’re at in October 2021.
How many of these fictional characters were you already familiar with? Are any of these titles on your TBR list? Who are YOUR favourite fictional characters? Let me know in the comments below!
Until next time! It’s a good day to have a good day.