Favorite characters. Auto-translated

[Under development]

Count of Monte Cristo.

Currently, I am reading (or rather, almost finished reading) the book of the same name. The main character made a sufficient impression on me that I decided to mention him in this topic. The novel covers a long period of time, about 25 years, and under the influence of various events, the central character of the work – once a happy and young sailor, Edmond Dantès – transforms into a heartless and vengeful count, bearing the name of a small island he bought in the Mediterranean Sea ("A grain of sand on the Mediterranean, an atom in infinity," is how this island was characterized by one of the characters in the novel). The events unfold mainly in France (also touching upon other European countries) in the first half of the 19th century.

One of the first descriptions of Monte Cristo, already after the misfortunes he experienced:

Despite his deathly pallor, his face was striking in its beauty; his eyes were lively and piercing; the straight line of his nose, almost merging with his forehead, recalled the purity of the Greek type; and his teeth, white as pearls, shone dazzlingly in the frame of his black, tar-like mustache.
But the pallor of this face was unnatural; as if this man had spent many years in the grave, and the colors of life could no longer return to him.
He was not very tall, but well-built, and, like all southerners, he had small hands and feet.

And here are the impressions of one of the characters in the novel, Albert, about this colorful character:

<...> Yes, his manners are sharp and biting. In the company of this man, I often felt a chill run down my spine; and once, when we were watching an execution together, I thought I would faint, not so much from the executioner's work and the screams of the condemned, but from the sight of the count and his cold-blooded stories about all sorts of methods of execution.

Having emphasized the negative qualities of Count of Monte Cristo in the description, I must now also note his nobility. To all his friends who showed sympathy for his misfortunes and tried to do everything to save him, he repaid them in kind and provided invaluable help at the right moment.

This is all I wanted to say about Count of Monte Cristo. As for other characters, it is rather difficult to single out favorites. But undoubtedly, when watching movies, reading books, and playing computer games, you come across characters that make a very strong impression, so in the future, I will try to leave a few words about such characters in this topic.

Good topic. 1) **Drizzt Do’Urden** A dark elf, a renegade, a popular and handsome guy, an invulnerable superhero, an object of adoration and hatred for many, a controversial half-elf, and simply a good drow. 2) **Dr. Thrax** A cool guy. Creator of the strongest toxin in C&C Generals, hater of everything, a chaotic maniac, a psychopath, a charming villain. Hated by all three factions (including GLA), an object of fear and a hero of scary bedtime stories for future American soldiers. 3) **Garrett. Thief** A first-class thief, not principled, agile, cunning, persistent. A master of his craft. A loner. 4) **Nameless. Gothic** I don't even know how to describe it; those who have played it know. 5) **Gordon Freeman. Half-life** A silent scientist with a shotgun, a crowbar, a bunch of grenades in one hand, and a gravity gun in the other.

Interesting characters, in my opinion. They are far from perfect, but that's even better – it makes them more lively. The first three are characters from F.M. Dostoevsky.
1) Dmitry Karamazov
The eldest of the Karamazov brothers, often struggles to control himself. He was accused of a murder he didn't commit (although he intended to, but overcame himself).
2) Rodion Raskolnikov
He invented a strange theory that he decided to test in practice. This is what caused him trouble.
3) Prince Myshkin
He suffers from a severe mental illness. He was treated in Switzerland, and after his condition improved, he returns to St. Petersburg. In character, he is like a grown-up child, as a long delay in development could not but have an effect. However, this makes him more human and kind.
4) Hobbit Sam
He has many flaws, which is why he is a secondary character in Tolkien's works. However, with his honor and responsibility, he can outshine any knight in Middle-earth.

Iyon Tikh from Stanislaw Lem's "Star Diaries of Iyon Tikh." Witty and resourceful. Reasonably unscrupulous.
Hmm, I need to think about it some more. But it's a good theme!

Bao-Dur (KOTOR 2)
White and fluffy, even though he's bald and has horns.

On the dark side, he's such a cute character with black stripes on his face ^_^

1. Gabriel Sylar Gray ("Heroes," the series)
A maniac, a psychopath, an obsessed individual, and just an all-around great guy. At first glance, his seemingly overpowered abilities in the series are either blocked or the power of the Beaver brings forth equally powerful opponents. In the 4th season, he became a loser and a good guy, which is very, very, very bad. :(
2. Alexander Anderson (the "Hellsing" anime)
A maniac, a psychopath, an obsessed individual (yes, yes), a Catholic priest, the director of an orphanage, a regenerator. I like the character himself more than how he's used in the anime/manga.
3. The Joker ("The Dark Knight")
Heath Ledger's performance is impeccable, magnificent, divine. I don't remember another character with such a vivid inner world in a movie. A brilliant psychopath or a genius with mental illness – he's awesome. No more words are needed.
4. Garrett the Shadow (A. Pekhov's "Chronicles of Siala" trilogy)
The trilogy wouldn't be as great without such a great hero. A master thief.
5. Ness "Gray" (A. Pekhov's "Wind and Sparks" tetralogy)
He is a man, and his actions are far from heroic. Another wonderfully written character.
6. Captain Peter Blood ("The Odyssey of Captain Blood" and others by R. Sabatini)
A man who, by the will of fate, became a pirate but did not lose his honor, dignity, and ability to love.
7. Max Payne (the "Max Payne" and "Max Payne 2" games)
A seemingly banal plot is presented in a way that many multi-million dollar Hollywood productions can only dream of. A hero without a future, with pain from the past and a bleak present.
8. Dr. Jack Gallagher ("Awake," the series)
A psychologist who treats patients not as a necessary and inevitable job, but as people in need of help. The series died due to low ratings, but in 11 episodes, the character managed to become likable.

For now, that's it. Otherwise, I agree with the last paragraph of Vikha's post.

Jack Sparrow. No, Captain Jack Sparrow! (Pirates of the Caribbean). My favorite pirate, with funny mannerisms, wit, and a distinct personality.



Also from there: Peter Radjetty and George Pintel – two goofy pirates (one with a glass eye and one bald), who initially served under Barbossa and later joined Jack.



Merry and Pippin (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings; Peter Jackson's film adaptation). Two funny hobbits. They look great together.


You could also include Aragorn, Gimli, and Theoden from the same source.

Director Kurama (Elfen Lied). I'm not sure why, but he's my favorite character from this anime. He's even cuter than Nyu. I don't have enough vocabulary or psychological skill to describe him. I'll just say that he's constantly sad, kind, and knows how to love) hehe




The Goddess of Wheat and Fertility, the Wolf Holo the Wise (Spice and Wolf). Simply my favorite cute and adorable character.



Yagami Light and L (L Lawliet) (Death Note). Two brilliant minds. The characters are quite similar in personality and way of thinking, and I like them both.
L is on the left, Light is on the right.



And also L))



Diego (Gothic). A good guy, what can I say.



Jace Beleren (Magic: The Gathering collectible card game). Although I don't like playing with his color of magic or the control strategy in the game itself, I like the character himself. He is infinitely intelligent, constantly seeking knowledge, devising cunning plans, and has a cute appearance.



Added after 13 hours and 3 minutes
And I'm cuter

The Phantom of the Opera from the book and the movie "The Phantom of the Opera".

For some reason, in most cases, my favorite characters in serious adventure stories are the antagonists (from the author's point of view). For example, in Hearts of Three, my favorite character when I was reading it was Alvarez Torres, and I really wanted him to get the treasures and control Leonisia. Personally, I didn't see anything wrong with him; I'm probably just like him. In the book Yellow Fog, I definitely wanted the sorceress Arachne to succeed, and in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I hoped that the witch would prevail. And in many adventure books, every time I read them, I felt very sorry when they failed and were defeated.

Added 5 minutes later
In War and Peace (although, to be honest, I felt sick from this boring stuff, and I don't know how I managed to read it!), my favorite characters, besides Princess Marya, were Berg and Vera, but definitely not Nikolai, Natasha, Ilya Andreevich, and Countess Rostova, and some other very, very positive characters from the author's point of view.

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In the poem Ruslan and Ludmila, I naively hoped that Ludmila would be found by Rogdai or Farlaph.

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Well, as for my absolute favorite, I don't even know who...

Yagami Light and L (El Lawliet) (Death Note). Two main characters with brilliant minds. They are quite similar in character and way of thinking, and I like them both.

But who is better?

Both are stunned, lol.

Added after 21 hours and 59 minutes
Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the three main heroes of my childhood (a dog isn't a hero).

Words are unnecessary.

Oh yes, I completely forgot about the three main heroes of my childhood (a dog doesn't count as a hero).

+1

Neither Kira nor L are particularly remarkable. They are just ordinary, generalized detective characters.

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about the three main heroes of my childhood (a dog doesn't count as a hero).

No words are needed.

I thought about them too.

Yeah, I also really like that crazy scientist from the movie "Back to the Future" (or something like that?).
And another character played by the same actor – the cousin from the movie "The Addams Family." I like him too.

A portrait, if you can call it that.

One of the three protagonists in the game "Moor. Dragon Utopia," all of whose main characters are depicted as photographs featuring professional actors. This was a digression intended to explain how my favorite character has the face of a real person.
A Bachelor of Medical Sciences, he studies thanatology (the science of death in all its manifestations) and tries to find a means/cure/way to completely defeat death or at least significantly push back the boundaries of death from old age – by about 200-300 years. Despite such an unattainable dream, he possesses the clear, cold mind of a true scientist and doctor, and when he is summoned to the city where the events of the game unfold to demonstrate a 200-year-old long-liver, he immediately expresses skepticism about this. By the way, he has still achieved certain successes in his field - in one of the conversations, you can learn that he successfully resurrected a person using some scientific methods. This could be dismissed as a deception, but for what follows...
Despite his cool intellect, he has a warm heart and hates lies with every fiber of his being. Incidentally, when you compliment the girls in town, they get very happy, explaining: "They say you never lie." He himself explains his hatred of deceit by saying that people usually lie to satisfy their selfish interests. Also, both in his main quests and in additional ones, he strives to help people in any way possible - and generally helps a couple of people, and according to the plot line, perhaps several hundred or thousands (I will explain the importance of this at the end). The image of a calm, educated, and sometimes even arrogant man who sincerely tries to help ordinary people greatly appealed to me, and his behavior, his words – everything resonated deeply within me; I easily felt like I was in his place. By the way, he consistently carries out his desire to explain everything from a scientific point of view; here is his dialogue with the miracle worker, who has practically proven that she is capable of healing people simply by laying her hands on them:
Miracle Worker: I leave various trinkets for some of them – talismans, toys… it makes it easier for them to believe and heal.
Bachelor: Ah, placebo...
:)
And one more thing, although this is already a feature of the game as a whole, not just the character. Throughout the game, a character named Clara, whom some consider a saint and others a fraud, speaks or writes to Dankovsky, saying that he is a murderer, that his actions will lead to the death of many, that he will destroy the city with his own hands. In the introduction, which lies outside the main storyline, she casually says about him "...and this smart guy won't care about losses at all." And throughout the game, the Bachelor persistently refutes her words; he helps as much as he can, sincerely indignant at Clara’s accusations, but in the end... completely voluntarily, understanding what this means, not because of deception (he was deceived quite a bit) or ignorance, but absolutely consciously, he condemns the city and most of its inhabitants to die. And importantly - this was also my choice, just like his, and I, having fully approved his help to everyone, equally approved this choice, considering it the only right one. And no, it wasn't a dilemma like "thousands will die today or millions tomorrow," and the city turned out to be a city of demons or bandits – nothing like that; these decisions condemned innocent people to death. What am I getting at? Oh yes, that there may always be a fact that turns everything upside down and forces you to make a decision that seemed impossible.
Wow, I got carried away and wrote too much, oh well.