Favourite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Characters

I saw this post on Sakshi's blog and decided to tag myself. Unlike Sakshi, I am talking about well-crafted characters, rather than ones to lust after :) and I am restricting myself to Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres. This is only because I want you guys to read these books - there do exist non-scifi, non-fantasy characters I like, I swear!

Nakor, from Raymond Feist's Midkemia novels. This guy appears to be a harmless prankster and trickster at first glance, with his perpetual grin and priestly background. Of course, once you are at the receiving end of his martial arts or magic spells, you would think differently. Even then, he would be the first one to tell you, there is no such thing as magic.

R. Daneel Olivaw, spanning Isaac Asimov's Elijah Baley novels all the way upto the end of the Foundation series. Why the heck am I including his initial? That's because the R stands for Robot. That's right, Daneel starts off as a robot police detective on Planet Aurora, but his friend R. Giskard's dying "gift" leaves him with the power to read and influence minds, and the responsibility to save mankind from itself.

Drizzt Do'Urden, Robert A. Salvatore's character who made dark elves the favourite RPG race overnight. Drizzt is a renegade dark elf, spurning a society in which deceit and murder are routine in a complex and never-ending game of politics. Escaping from their underground city, he arrives at the surface to find himself shunned and feared simply because of the reputation of his race. Drizzt's prowess with dual scimitars and his duels with the assassin Artemis Entreri are the stuff of legend in fantasy circles.

Mat Cauthon, the "luckiest" man in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Mat survives an episode with a cursed dagger, only to find that he's been left with an unexpected side effect: the Devil's Luck. In all purely random circumstances, he finds himself getting the "best" possible result. Try explaining to your gambling friends why your dice always land as sixes! Jordan excels in crafting Mat's destiny to convert Rand al Thor's implacable enemy into an ally to stand against Shai'tan at Tarmon Gai'don, the final battle.

Ganoes Paran, a young nobleman in Steven Erikson's series, the Malazan Book of the Fallen. Ganoes has the misfortune of being a nobleman commanding an army squadron in times when nobleman aren't exactly popular among the common man, or the army. Finding himself the pawn of the Gods as much as the pawn of the Empress, he finds himself attacked and saved by men, Gods, Ascendants, hounds, demons and more as he becomes embroiled in a war in which the order of the Gods itself can be upset. Since he defies all attempts at manipulation by the Gods, they agree to name him the neutral "Master of the Deck" - and suddenly, Ganoes is the one manipulating the Gods.

Raistlin Majere, from the Dragonlance novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Never in any of the books will you be able to figure out if this powerful magician is good or evil! One of the most compelling and mysterious characters ever created, here is a man who has a love-and-hate relationship with every other character in the series. The only thing they can agree upon about him is that he is selfish. And yet, the only thing he wants from a dragon's hoard is a measly little spellbook. Does that mean he isn't selfish? Actually, no!

Danaerys Targaryen, an exiled princess in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series. Finding herself across the ocean from the kingdom of which she is the rightful heir, she finds herself routinely tortured by her mad brother and then sold to a barbarian king as a wife. How she extricates herself from that position into one in which she leads a massive army and commands dragons in her quest to reclaim her throne makes a fascinating read.

Fitzchivalry Farseer, a truly complex and compelling character created by Robin Hobb (or Megan Lindholm or Margaret Ogden). Fitz is the bastard son of a prince, and as such the King is faced with one of two decisions: kill the child, or use him. He chooses the latter, luckily for Fitz... or is it unlucky? For Fitz finds himself being trained as an Assassin, and finds himself an unlikely hero in a strange war against a stranger enemy.

Vanyel Ashkevron, the Last Herald Mage in Mercedes Lackey novels. Vanyel is a proud Herald of Valdemar, chosen by spirits as a Guardian of the Kingdom. He is but an average student, until a tragic accident leaves his lover killed and himself... well, his magic channels get blasted open, making him potentially the most powerful Herald on Valdemar - if he can learn to control his now runaway gifts.

Salvor Hardin, from Isaac Asimov's Foundation series. My favourite quote belongs to him: "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right." If that appears to be a strange philosophy for a compassionate-type guy like me to have, read the book! Hardin rises to power as the Mayor of the Planet Terminus, whose ostensible purpose is to save all knowledge before the Galactic Empire collapses. Hardin, in a flash of insight, understands the legendary Hari Seldon's plan to re-establish order in the Galaxy - unfortunately, he has to figure out the exact plan for himself, as Seldon says that the act of revealing the probable future straight away invalidates all calculations!

I've provided Wikipedia links where possible, but if you want to know more about anyone, just ask! Or, even better, read the books!

Cheers,
Prashanth.