Tough one, isn’t it?
Fantasy characters tend to have it pretty rough. Rarely is life all sunshine and daisies. It generally leans more toward battle and bloodshed and good versus evil and some pretty nasty dark lords. There is a cruel class of people out there – commonly known as authors – who take a disturbing level of pleasure in subjecting their characters (and readers’ hearts) to trials and torments that would drive any sane man bonkers.
Answering this question is like choosing your own form of torture.
You could choose to be the really cool character … but generally the more special abilities you have, and the higher you rank on the boring to awesome scale, the worse villains you have to face.
Caution aside, I would have to choose Vin from The Final Empire series by Brandon Sanderson. True, her life is a wee bit miserable at the start. And she is fighting a hopelessly losing battle. And well … it can be a bit depressing. But those are minor details! Her Mistborn abilities totally make up for it! ;)
As always, you can answer in the comments and please feel free to chat in and amongst yourselves! That’s what makes this whole reflections series fun! If you’d like, you can copy the image to your blog and carry the conversation over there as well. Please just link back to my post. Thanks!
Ooh, I LOVE this post! : D Let's see… Well, the first one I think of is Imraldera from Tales of Goldstone Wood, who doesn't have it too-too rough. Also, Eowyn from the Lord of the Rings. Or maybe Cosette from Les Miserables (the book, not the musical) because she is a genuinely good person and she has a wonderful, wonderful life.
Ah Eowyn! I would totally want to be her. I could honestly answer every single one of these questions we've had so far with something or someone from the Lord of the Rings. But I'm forcing myself to think beyond my favorite fantasy book ever and expand my horizons just a wee bit. It's a stretch! :)
I would be Vrell Sparrow. Who wouldn't want to be able to hear her Mom's thoughts? And to get to be married to Achan! Or I would be Rosy Cotton. She had a nice life.
Ooh great choices! Vrell is pretty cool, and she and Achan are just perfect together! And Rosy Cotton winds up with the loyalest fellow you ever could meet! :)
….everyone I love most dies or becomes evil…Or is a guy….Okay um, I think I would want to be…Tessa Gray. It would be worth being immortal to get to marry Will and Jem.
Let me guess….You were thinking of Murtagh. Yeah, safe move not to want to be him. He leads the most miserable, tortured life I can think of right now, save for some of Tolkien's minor elf characters.
That's the problem with trying to pick a fantasy character you'd be willing to trade lives with. I mean, compared to them, our lives are nothing but smooth sailing!
Actually Hannah, I was thinking Tris, Four, Will Herondale, Day…and Murtagh.
It is! Such a problem.
Yeah, we authors are an awful lot, aren't we? The things we put our most beloved characters through. "Here, go get tortured by the most sadistic villains ever for seventy years! Have fun, sweetie!" Oh dear. Well, at least we repay them with a happy ending. At least I do. Mostly.
Who would I be? Somehow I knew you were going to ask this! Of course, some of my favorite characters are guys, but it would be weird to turn suddenly into a guy. Hmmm, I wouldn't mind being Harry from The Blue Sword (yes, that's a girl). I myself would handle her situations poorly, but since I'm her, it won't be a disaster. I'd learn sword-fighting, have an awesome horse, save the world, have the Gift (which is very useful), and also…Corlath. Yes. There are a lot of cool characters, but Harry is sounding awfully appealing right now.
So you liked the Mistborn series? I've had my eyes on them, but since they're Adult, I wasn't sure how sexual content went or if anything was too disturbing or sad. I can be pretty sensitive.
I really enjoyed the Mistborn series! They tend to be on the darker side and fairly violent, but that doesn't bother me so much in books. Mature content, on the other hand, does. Mistborn was clean in that regard!
Is the ending triumphant and happy? I wouldn't want to read such a huge series if it just kind of fizzles out or loses hope.
It leaves you satisfied and there's definitely hope at the end, but it's certainly not a happy-go-lucky fairy tale ending.
Gah! This is such a difficult choice . . .
Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle would be a top choice. Mostly because Howl. And Calcifer. And the fact that she has it relatively easy. But mostly because of Howl. Dame Imraldera (Tales of Goldstone Wood) and Bonnie Silver or Ashley Stalworth (Dragons in Our Midst) would also be top choices. (Bonnie Silver is also on my list of characters whose lives I'd least like to have, but if I could also have her personality, I'd be cool with the rest.)
Dame Imraldera would be fun. How I would love to own a library!
Let me see…
It would be amazing to be Lucy from Narnia! She is such a sweet and faithful girl, and she gets to be queen and go on adventures, yet also have a 'normal' life as a little girl.
Other then that, I want to be Beana from the Tales of Goldstone Wood. I love that sensible and caring 'goat'.
Fun choices! I love how Lucy always sees Aslan before everyone else. (But she's so sweet, it's not something she gets puffed up about!) That would be pretty cool.
How about Thorin Oakenshield? 'Cause I'd like to be the toughest dwarf of all time…
Or in Narnia terms, it would be cool to be Trumpkin…
There were some cool dwarf characters in Terry Brook's Shannara series, but I can't remember them now.
I get enough short jokes as it is. Though I guess, if I were a dwarf from Middle Earth anyone who dared make a short joke would soon find themselves "cut down to size."
Thorin would be pretty cool though.
Ah. Well, I'm 6 foot so maybe I don't see being little in the same light. I've always admired the dwarves in pretty much any fantasy world…in fact I was disappointed in the Silmarillion when I first read it because I felt it focused too much on the elves…
Gillian, how tall are you?
Not "that" short. I just have lots of tall friends who enjoy making fun of me! ;)
I presented this discussion over at my blog!
http://williamshsj.blogspot.com/2014/02/fantasy-fun.html
Thanks for continuing the discussion, Hannah! :)
Oh this is so cool! I would probably want to be Eowyn. Defeat the Witch-King, sister to Eomer, friend to Aragorn, marry Faramir…what's not to like??? Vin from Mistborn is awesome too though! :)
Eowyn is the coolest ever! I had to force myself not to pick her, because I'm trying to be a good girl and not always go running back to the Lord of the Rings every time someone asks me a fantasy question. Lol. It's not working so well! :) You just can't beat the Lord of the Rings!
I think I would choose Alyss from Ranger Apprentice.
A couple of y'all have chosen characters from the Ranger Apprentice. It's a fun series! :)
Wow, this is a fun question! But also reeeeally hard.
Okay, so I know my last answer was Howl related, but I'm going to have to go with Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle. She goes through some difficulties, but they're mostly goofy adventures, not bloody, nasty business so many of our poor heroes and heroines have to suffer through. And she's just a really fun character. I love her sassy, no-nonsense personality. And, ya know, Howl. <3 So yeah, being Sophie is a dream.
And you still need to read that book if you haven't Gillian. ;)
I know! It's on my to-read list. Unfortunately, my to-read list keeps getting longer … and my time-to-read keeps getting shorter! It's a very sad cycle. :)
Auralia from the Auralia Thread series definitely. She's my favorite female character in books, and that's my favorite series besides. All those colors to create. (:
Ah, I read the first book, and Auralia was pretty cool. All those beautiful colors. :)
Ooh! Great one! It's been a while since I've read that series. It's sitting on my to re-read shelf. :)
Okay, I'm just gonna have to choose Will Treaty from the Rangers Apprentice series. He has a pretty rough time of it especially in the second through third books, but his relationships with the rest of the characters make up for that. :D
Will is a pretty cool character–his skill with the bow would be super handy. And the Rangers in that series are just super cool! Let's face it–Rangers in general are super cool! :) Hard to beat 'em.