Alai (Ender's Game): He was just such a nice guy.

Arhu (Book of Night with Moon): He's almost nauseatingly immature at times...but I dunno. There's something kinda cool about him I just can't place my finger on. Maybe I'm just naturally endeared to the "kids who can't keep their mouths shut."

Bean (Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, sequels): I like him even better than Ender, a hard thing, considering how much I like Ender.

Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit)

Binabik (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn): A troll who resents the predjudice against his race, Binabik is nonetheless not a brooding figure, but a quick witted, adjustable, and intellegent character who provided a down to earth foil for the younger and more impressionable Simon. A foil who surpassed Simon in pure endearment, much fun as Simon is.

Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story, sequels): Don't ask. I don't know.

Cadrach (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn): He's no saint...but he came this close to being my favorite character of the trilogy. Treacherous, cowardly, and bitingly cynical, he was redeemed by his filial love for a princess and a buried sense of the possible rightness of the world...a buried sense that finally overcame his long-set despair. Strangely enough, it is often his very cynicism that proved refreshing and balancing, just when the pathos edged toward being too high, or the idealism came on too strong.

Callisto (X-men Legends): She's ever so slightly lame in the comics. Okay, sometimes really lame (What was WITH kidnapping Angel?) But in this story, the author made her sympathetically grouchy rather than crooked and vengeful. A rough edged heroine rather than a badly defined psuedo villain.

Charles Wallace (Wrinkle In Time, sequels): I fell in love with Charles in elementary school after reading Swiftly Tilting Planet. I can deal with immature or over-emotional kids, even enjoy them greatly if done well, but when a mature, thoughtful child (a rare thing in modern literature) who can carry his own genius without constantly strutting or being a brat surfaces, it's hard for me NOT to like him.

Cimorene (Dealing with Dragons, sequels): The ultimate "improper" princess.

Dana Scully (X-Files)

Data (Star Trek-the Next Generation)

Dean (Iron Giant): Go beatneck artist dudes!

Dimitri (Anastasia): Okay, so maybe this entry is half hormone. Dmitri . . . eee hee hee. Well, he's also roguish and . . . funny . . . and, I like the way his hair flops . . . never mind.

Ed (Deep Wizardry): I love this shark. He is THE shark.

Ender (Ender's Game, sequels)

Eowyn (Lord of the Rings): Whoever said that Wheel of Time women had more important roles as characters than Lord of the Rings forgot about Eowyn. At least Tolkein didn't end up turning most of his women into low cut girly girls. Gah.

Eponine (Les Miserables): Awful as a child...poigniant as a teenager. Stupid Marius didn't even notice how cool she was. (Sorry, old grumble)

Forge (X-men Evolution): Never mind. I'm not even going to explain why he's on the list.

Frodo (Lord of the Rings (Fellowship of the Ring-film)): I have a soft spot for characters that manage to be heros despite the fact they have no special talents, powers, or physique. No wizardry in this serious and quietly compassionate hobbit. Frodo is not a fun character like Pippin or Sam...or even Gandalf. He is a painful one. We know that he will never recover from his ordeal, know that the ring has scarred him badly, and drat it all, we hurt for him.

Frollo (Hunchback of Nortre Dame - book): One of the best developed villains of all time...a villain you can actually relate with. Seriously, if you've just seen the Disney film and immediately lost interest in ever trying the book, wipe that Disney version from your mind and grab the real thing. Frollo is NOT any sort of typical "mwahaha" villain. He IS the main character of the Hunchback.

Gandalf (Lord of the Rings (FotR -film))

Gareth (Once and Future King): Childlike, gentle, and compassionate...the forgotten holy knight.

Gavroche (Les Miserables): I like all the characters in this book...Victor Hugo can make anyone sympathetic to some point, but Gavroche remains my favorite. I think, in a way, I envy him. (Okay, so maybe I just wish I could run around in circles and make up songs.)

Grantaire (Les Miserables): Who couldn't love a guy who's drunk all the time and plays cards when he's supposed to be saving the "cause of freedom?" Eh heh.

Grizabella (Cats)

Groddil (Lord Brocktree): He has so little in the way of redeeming qualities...but his eulogy for his hated warlord and the cruel irony lilting through it makes him too unforgettible for me not to include.

Gypsy King (Hunchback of Notre Dame - Disney): Mean, but vastly appealing visually. I wanna dress like that . . .

Hank McCoy/Beast (X-Men): I love intellectuals...especially ones who can think out of technical vernacular. And he's so . . . QUOTABLE!

Hogarth (Iron Giant): Another little kid I relate with. Clumsy, needs braces, and scary when hyper.

Inigo Montoya (Princess Bride): Yes, he is the vengeful, honor-bound swordmaster you meet in so many fantasy epics...and he's not even very funny. The genius of William Goldman lies in the fact he can take this stereotype and make it into a fine character that we care about immensely. Even at the end, where he unrealistically recovers from fatal wounds, it doesn't bother us because we know that a. the author knows it is unrealistic and b. We WANT him to live. And come on, when you think of Princess Bride, what's the first line that comes to mind? "My name is Inigo Montoya. You kill my father. Prepare to die...." (All right, so maybe that's NOT the first line that comes to mind, but that's beside the point.)

Jacen Solo (Star Wars novels)

Jamie/Multiple Man (X-men Evolution): I relate to little guys who never get picked for anything.

Jane (Speaker for the Dead, sequels)

Jean Valjean (Les Miserables)

Josua Lackhand (Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn): I didn't always agree with his, er, morals (make that seldom agreed), but this brooding, unambitious, and scholarly heir struck a chord with me that few "exiled royalty" characters manage to hit. Generally somber, even when joking, worrying, thinking, and alienated. Even physically he manifests his inward turmoil and sense of inadequacy, with his thin frame and stump of a left hand. The great thing about this character: he advances out of his depressive state in a fine and realistic manner.

Justin (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, Secret of Nimh): The first cartoon character I ever heard swear...that's NOT why he's on the list, by the way. Really. Just let me remember why he is on the list for a minute . . .

Kit (Support Your Local Wizard): I still can't put my finger on why I like this guy so much. His series is at times oppressively childish (Actually, really only in the first book) at other times, almost transcendantly cool...and most of my personal transcendantly cool parts spur from Kit...I guess? Maybe it's the fact he's got quiet emotions or something. Maybe it's because he's really short . . .

Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler (X Men Evolution, comics): My favorite X-man...don't ask why unless you want an essay, right?

Lancelot (Once and Future King): This is a fine Lancelot, self loathing, ugly, and multi-faceted.

Legolas (Lord of the Rings - animated): This is an embarressingly done movie, but I found myself looking for this guy in every group scene. "Oh, there he is again!" Aragorn was drawn okay too, but he didn't produce quite the same reaction. And, actually, I've got to be the only girl in the world who didn't fall in love with the live action Legolas in Fellowship of the Ring. I liked him . . . but for some reason (Read: I'm insane) I still liked the cartoon one more. Must be because Legolas had such competition with all those awesome hobbits and wizards and . . .

Lex Luthor (Smallville): He's smooth, smart, and Machievellian. I mean, even if he is the villain, he's the most interesting character in the show.

Logan/Wolverine (X-men Movie, X-men show, comics) -- So . . . er, lovably grouchy. Yeah. (And yes, Qaylen, I KNOW he's hairy and very male.)

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars, etc): Yeah, I know he's kinda whiny. Oh well.

Manji (Blade of the Immortal): He's just so . . . cool. And can . . . kill people. And . . . have a pinwheel in his mouth and still look cool.

Marco (Animorphs): For one thing, he is really quite funny. For another thing, he is logical and smart. For yet another thing, he is multitalented and layered. What else can I ask for? All right, so I'm naturally fond of the humor guys . . .

Mask (Mossflower): Rarely does Jacques create a character that endures very well in my memory, but this wry loner otter makes my list easily.

Matt (Wheel of Time): His morals make me ill....but considering that he's the only character I so much as care about after nine wretched books...well, it counts for something.

Mendebar (Searching for Dragons, sequels)

Milo Thatch (Atlantis): Okay, he's mainly on my list because half the time he was on-screen, I saw ME up there. I don't have any luck with cars, accents, or body builds either. Among other things. Okay, okay, I talk too much too.

Mokkan (Marlfox): This book was completely ruined by bad plot management, but Mokkan's brilliant manuvering almost elevated it out of the messy chaos that was once a story. I applaude him for his effort and am still angry at Jacques for killing him off when the death was so unnecessary.

Morpheus (Matrix)

Morwen (Dealing with Dragons, sequels): Can you tell this series made an early impression on me?

Mulan (Mulan)

Neo (Matrix): Some people think this guy is an awful actor, others, a wonderful one. What the hey, I like the character anyway. Even if he isn't as cool as Morpheus, Vizon...heh heh.

Olhado (Speaker for the Dead, sequels): Can't you TELL I like him? I mean, it's one of main user names, Olhado. I'm an incurable observer myself, what can I say?

Peter Parker/Spiderman (Ultimate Spiderman)

Petey (Remember the Titans): Another character I just found appealing for no discernible reason.

Petra (Shadow of the Hegemon): She appears before that, of course, but this is the book where she becomes really dimensional.

Pippin (Lord of the Rings): A lot of Tolkein scholars consider him the most superficial of the hobbits. Maybe so...but he was my favorite character on my first reading of the epic...and I still find his innocent humor refreshing. And in the movie . . . hee hee!

Raif (Cavern of Black Ice): This looked like the average Sword and Sorcery novel. It wasn't. And Raif is one of the best fantasy heroes I've ever read. Excellently characterized as the shy and slowly hardening outcast . . . and he's only sixteen. Poor fellow.

Raistlin (Dragonlance): Evil? Likely. Ambevelant? Certainly. Endearing? Probably not. At least...not in theory.

Remy LeBeau/Gambit (X-men show)

Rin (Blade of the Immortal): She gets beat up a lot. Personally, I always think it's cool when a fairly normal character who isn't all grim and bloody is a major part of the story.

Rogue (X-men Evolution)

Ron (Harry Potter): I like characters who are fairly normal against a fantastic background. And he has a sense of humor (always smirking!)

Saash (Book of Night with Moon): On my second reading of this book, I just started really sympathizing with her smallness and constant need to scratch...and I discovered how dryly funny and intellegent she was as well.

Samwise (Lord of the Rings (movie included, yadda yadda))

Savage (the) (Brave New World): An untouched and noble man horrified by a world gone corrupt and pleasure serving...the man that makes this book such an awful tragedy. And he quotes Shakespeare too!

Scar (Lion King): Did I mention I love intellectuals? Who cares how responsible they are...let alone what side they're on?

Scorn (Calling on Dragons): Evil kitty, heh heh.

Shein (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Sidney Carton (Tale of Two Cities): THE reason you would ever want to read this book.

Silk (Gah, whatever that Eddings series is called): He's as sly and slippery as his name suggests . . . and he's hilarious!

Simon (Lord of the Flies)

Smaug (The Hobbit): In my opinion, Smaug is the visually coolest animated dragon in the history of film. And so nicely sarcastic too...

Smitty (Only Alien on the Planet): I'd put in his tragic spiritual twin in "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" if I could remember the name of the guy. Smitty's fate is not so awful, fortunately. Of course, Smitty was not an actual deaf mute....

Snitter (Plague Dogs)

Taran (Prydain Chronicles): And yes, I know it's a better name than Tari and yes, I probably derived Tari from this name...try to forget that now.

Tasslehoff (Dragonlance): I'm ashamed to list him at all...but I like kenders! You can burn me with hot irons and I'll still like kenders...it's not intentional or anything!

Tenskatawa (Red Prophet): I was so disillusioned when I learned that the original Tenskatawa was dull witted and reckless, without any spark of genius or holiness whatsoever. But this Tenskatawa, the Tenskatawa of another universe, I still love.

Thomas Moore (A Man for All Seasons)

Thomas von Kleistmann (Zion Chronicles)

Timothy (Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh)

Tobias (Animorphs): This is the character who drew me into the series. My 12 year old self thought the idea of a boy trapped in the body of the hawk was so wonderfully cool... As it is, every Tobias book I've ever read has been so depressing as to make me want to hide in my room for days. The poor guy's life is one long, extended crisis, even at the end. With such an awful life, is it any surprise he always looks for escape routes from confrontation? You know he will probably never be normal in any way shape or form, happy, or confident...he is a character trapped by his own pain. Yet, there was a time in my life that I felt a lot like he does...although I grew out of it. Tobias is me in seventh grade.

Todd (Saturday's Warrior): An abysmally stupid movie...except for this artististic "cipher on the wall".

Todd (Dead Poet's Society): He called Walt Whitman a "Sweaty toothed mad man." How cool is that?

Walking Stick (Bug's Life)

Westley (Princess Bride): Sterotypical, all capable hero? Of course, that's the point. But no hero was ever this brilliantly funny...

Yentl (Yentl)

Yukio (X-men comics): She's wild, she's sarcastic, she does flips. She's just . . . cool. (I know, I say that a lot.)

Z (Antz)

Zero (Holes)