Been There, Read That: My Favorite Journeys

This post is going to be all about my favorite journeys undertaken by the fictional characters I hold most dear, relate to the most, or just simply love. Below I will enumerate my favorite characters, explain how they changed through the stories I read about them, and share why I find them so wonderful.

Samwise Gamgee from The Lords of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkein

First of all, The Lord of the Rings is perhaps my favorite series in the world. The books are set around a character, Frodo Baggins, who really just wants to live a peaceful, uneventful life in The Shire (I mean, doesn’t everyone?). However, Frodo isn’t the character I love the most in this series (though I do sympathize with him). Instead, it is his best friend, Samwise Gamgee, who is my favorite character in the series. Sam is possibly the sweetest character that anyone has ever written. He is incredibly loyal to his friends, but this does not cause him to turn into a doormat. Quite the contrary actually, he is willing to stand up to, and for, his friends if he knows that it will be the most beneficial for them in the end. Despite appearing to have rough and closed-in demeanor, Sam is inherently kind and he cannot help but feel responsible for the happiness of others, especially his friends.

Violet Baudelaire from the A Series of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket

Honestly, A Series of Unfortunate Events was probably the series that really got me into reading, which is why I love it (and the characters in it) so much. For a lot of people, this story is too gruesome and abusive (despite being a children’s book) for them to read. However, I like that the children in the book are not considered helpless, and throughout the book they actually learn that trusting adults is most often not the best idea. Which brings us to Violet. First of all, she is really cool because she is only 14 at the beginning of the story and she still manages to help hold her “family” together (her family is really only her two siblings because her parents were killed in a mysterious fire). Secondly, she is a badass inventor who can make nearly anything out of what she has at hand and she can identify what tools are most necessary for the job. There are a lot of cool things about Violet, but I think the main thing to know about her is that she is capable of doing nearly anything to save her siblings, and she never loses her kindness and innocence despite the horrors she experiences.

Frankenstein’s Creature from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

The Creature is not one of my favorite characters because of his kindness or personality—that would be an incredibly incorrect way of categorizing this character. I like The Creature because he is very ambiguous. Both sides of him are interesting: one side is sensitive and lonely but the other is violent and vengeful. However, the latter side of him is not entirely unwarranted. Frankenstein (the creator) essentially cast out The Creature once he made him, which not only accentuated the grotesque qualities of The Creature, but also forced him to internalize his hatred, so he eventually his personality becomes just as ugly as his exterior.

Rowan Whitethorn from the Throne of Glass  series by Sarah J. Maas

Probably the first reason why I love (yeah, that’s right, love) Rowan is because he is really hot. In the books, Celaena (the main character of the series a.k.a. assassin badass) describes him as “tall, broad-shouldered” and with “every inch of him seemingly corded with muscle.” I mean, what a hottie! Also, he has green eyes, pointed ears, a tattoo on his back and face, silver hair, and he is able to transform into a hawk. I also really like him because he acted as a support for Celaena when she had essentially given up on ever helping her country and friends. In addition, he has a tragic past, which of course is intriguing and kind of forces you to feel sorry for him. I mean, he really is just like a thirst follow. Most of the reasons I like him are based of off his looks (sorry, but it’s the truth).