Fifteen Characters Meme

[jedibuttercup]

Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen fictional characters (television, films, plays, books) who've influenced you and that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

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1. Luke Skywalker - Star Wars OT, especially ROTJ


2. James T. Kirk - Original Star Trek, pre-movies


3. Dorothy Gale - L. Frank Baum's Oz books


4. Elizabeth Bennet - Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice


5. Faramir, son of Denethor II - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings


6. Elfrid - Ru Emerson's Princess of Flames


7. Julian Bashir - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine


8. Sara Sidle - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation


9. Buffy Summers - Buffy: the Vampire Slayer


10. Daniel Jackson - Stargate: SG-1 as well as the movie


11. Wesley Wyndham-Price - Angel: the Series


12. Malcolm Reynolds - Firefly and the Serenity movie


13. Rick O'Connell - The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor


14. Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden - Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files


15. Jack Carter - Eureka

I think the list is in rough order of when I adopted them? Though I can't be sure of the first two; I remember seeing ROTJ in theaters when I was five and imprinting on Luke rather than Han (boy, was I disappointed when I saw ANH afterward and realized the awesomeness was reversed when they were younger) but Mom let us watch Star Trek reruns practically from toddlerhood, so the order there is a little vague.

I read Baum's books straight through uncounted times, all fourteen of them, before I was ten years old, and I was given an illustrated Pride and Prejudice when I was seven, so I'm equally unsure of the order there. But I know I read LOTR through the first time when I was eight or nine (boy, was it a lot to digest!) and bought Princess of Flames when I was... um, eleven or twelve? (I wanted to bind my breasts and become an awesome swordswoman in drag for months after that, it's kind of embarrassing to think back on.)

The rest of them I picked up from TV or movies, some watched live and some later in reruns. I could list a lot more, but these are the ones that have lingered in my thoughts (or my keyboard) the most since discovering them, and are more than a couple of years old (hence able to estimate 'always', much though I am infatuated with a few newer ones), so. I'm a bit disappointed there aren't more women listed; but I am also quite bemused at the theme that pops out. Mostly strong-willed, flawed, complicated people; mostly intensely private but caring; mostly capable of wise leadership, but not really wanting the role. And I love them each front to back, warts and heroic moments in all. ♥♥♥

Comments

[sulien.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the lack of female characters. When I was growing up, there just weren't that many strong female characters to be had in fiction in any medium, which is how Nancy Drew made my list. As strong female characters from the 60's when I was growing up go, she was pretty much it.

[jedibuttercup]

My mom was a Nancy Drew reader, too, but for some reason she never bought me any. Maybe because I mostly skipped the young-adult book stage? I remember devouring the local library's entire run of Trixie Belden one summer, but not much stuck in my mind from it.

There are more strong female characters now, but still not so very many I'd want to identify with. I find it easier to slip into a masculine mindset when writing, too, from all that cultural training (from which group I do not actually exclude Buffy). I should probably make more of an effort on the other side of things!