Do you ever meet a fictional character and feel like you really connect with them? Not necessarily because they are similar to you in personality, but because they’re an incredibly rich, interesting character. I know I do! In fact most of the characters you’ll see in this list are nothing like me! So what makes these characters work so well, and what makes us love them so much? Here are some of my favourite characters, and perhaps you’ll know some of them too!
(Let’s just hope the list doesn’t go on forever…)
Heroes
- Jean Valjean from Les Miserables – A character who has suffered immensely and has intense internal conflict, but chooses virtue. What a hero! He’s made me cry dozens of times.
- Lucy Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia – I believed you Lucy, even when the others didn’t.
- Sam Gamgee from Lord of the Rings – “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” *And Renata bursts into tears*
- Poirot from some Agatha Christie mysteries – Good thing he’s not a villain.
- Heidi from Heidi – What a heartwarming character.
- Gilbert Galbraith from Sir Gibbie – A child angel!
- Boxer from Animal Farm – “I will work harder!” He may have been deceived, but he fought for his beliefs with everything he had.
- Jonas from The Giver – He gives up comfort for truth.
- Tom Oakley from Goodnight Mister Tom. And Willie Beech too…. and Zach – This book hasn’t the greatest writing in the world, but I’m utterly in love with the characters. (If you’re a kid, get your parents to check out this book before reading it.)
- Jesus Christ – Can’t resist slipping in the best hero ever, even if he isn’t fictional!
Villains
- Fagin from Oliver Twist – The Artful Dodger too.
- Saruman from Lord of the Rings – But his voice! His voice!
- Smeagol/Gollum from Lord of the Rings – Possibly the most interesting, conflicted character ever invented.
- Long John Silver from Treasure Island – I don’t know why I love him so much, but I really really do! I can sympathise with him for some reason… maybe it’s my inner pirate speaking.
- Mr. and Mrs. Tweedy from Chicken Run – Mrs. Tweedy is purely evil and fills me with dread every time, but you can really empathise with her husband. The pair of them are very cleverly done.
- The Ugly Stepsisters from Cinderella – They’re so ridiculous.
- Captain Hook from Peter Pan – Okay, maybe I really am a pirate at heart. But don’t you think he’s a great character?
Ordinary People
- Jo March from Little Women – I relate very much to her.
- Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables – I relate to her as well.
- Matthew Cuthbert from Anne of Green Gables – Interesting personality.
- Lucian from Treasures of the Snow – I spend most of the book wishing I could jump in and let him know I sympathise with him.
- Oswald from The Story of the Treasure Seekers – A very fun point of view.
- Soren, Gylfie, and Twilight from Legend of the Guardians – The author gave each of them a very different character voice.
- Fred Gauss from my old maths books, Life of Fred! – Not sure if this should really go in heroes or eccentrics, but Fred Gauss is a five-year-old math protege who has bizarre adventures. (Great maths books by the way; as a six-year-old I used to sit in the car and read them just for fun!)
- Speaking of educational stories, the Tuttle Twins from the Tuttle Twins books – You should definitely check those out by clicking here!
- Ken McLaughlin from My Friend Flicka – Such a beautiful character, and such a beautiful relationship between him and his horse!
- Laura Ingalls Wilder from the Little House series – I also love Pa.
- Levin from Anna Karenina – We really get inside his head.
- Han Solo from Star Wars – Dynamic, cocky, yes, a very ordinary person!
- Horace from Ranger’s Apprentice – A bash and whacker.
Eccentrics
- Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Perhaps my favourite character ever to be invented! He’s so eccentric I can’t help seeing him as a role model.
- Peter Pan – Another bizarre character who’s easy to love.
- Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol – Is he a hero or a villain or an ordinary person? Eh, well I’ll just put him under eccentrics.
- Brer Rabbit from the Brer Rabbit books – He used to be the cleverest character in the world! Until I got a little older and realised that most of his tricks rely more on the stupidity of others than his own wits. Still, he gets a spot.
- Thetis from Oracle – I loved this book so much when I was about eleven years old, it’s so mystical!
- Pippi Longstocking from Pippi Longstocking – Again, pure eccentricity! My kind of character for sure.
- Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Dream – I also love Malvolio from Twelfth Night
- Mrs. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice – Annoying, but lovable anyway!
- Mr. Potato Head from Toy Story – He’s so funny!
What do they share?
So as you can see, there’s a very broad range of characters here. They’re all so different, yet they’re all so relatable! What is it that makes them so?
As far as I can tell, they all have something in common: every one of them (even Pippi Longstocking,) faces challenges and has to respond accordingly, based on external duties and internal desires. Meaning, they act according to what they want more than anything.
- Mrs. Bennet’s goal is for her daughters to marry rich
- Long John Silver’s external goal is to defeat the captain and Squire Trelawny so he can take the map and get the treasure for himself
- After the four Pevensies are all in Narnia and Edmund is with the witch, Lucy, Peter, and Susan’s main goal is to find Aslan so they can get their brother back.
Have you ever been in Mrs. Bennet’s situation, or Silver’s, or the Pevensies’? I’m guessing probably not. Yet these are such beloved characters in such beloved books because we understand what they stand to lose if they don’t achieve their respective goals.
- We can relate to Mrs. Bennet because we all understand the basic human fear of being cast onto the street and shunned by one’s neighbours, which is what poverty would mean to their family.
- We can relate to Silver because everybody understands the basic human desire to serve self.
- We can relate to the Pevensies because we all understand the basic human need to care for your loved ones. (Even if Edmund hadn’t been particularly lovable up to that point.)
And that is what makes these characters relatable. These are the kinds of characters that last. Ones that have a lot of conflict within themselves even, or dare I say especially, if they are very different to us. Ah, don’t you wish we could meet these characters in real life! They teach us to empathise, they teach us about people, they teach us about ourselves, and so much more. In fact, if you want to learn more about what we can learn from fiction, this would be a great place to go next!