Kim from Hiraeth tagged me to do this meme. I’ve actually been thinking of my answers since she asked me yesterday, and I can only come up with TWO for each category so far. So I’m going to write those, then pick something random for the third.
Name three characters:
1. You wish were real so you could meet them? (um,. . .they’re not real?)
Lord Peter Wimsey, from Dorothy L. Sayers’ mysteries. He is the perfect man–it’s so obvious that a woman created him! Clever, sensitive, RICH, noble, funny, chivalrous, fair, game for anything. And, he has BUNTER. I’d love to have dinner with him at the Savoy in 1935 or so. . .
Mr. Darcy, from Pride & Prejudice, another nearly perfect man. (Do you detect a theme here?) Dark & mysterious, yet noble and good, he goes to great lengths for the woman he loves, even to his own mortification. And he’s rich too. And lives in Pemberley!
Tom Bombadil, from The Lord of the Rings, because sometimes, when I’m in trouble, I have to suppress the urge to shout, "Ho Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadilo!" What a friend to have when you need to be rescued! And he would take you to his cozy house and feed you lovely things, and tuck you up in his quiet spare room, and you could hear Goldberry singing.
2. You would like to be:
Emma Woodhouse, from Jane Austen’s Emma. This one is almost not fair, because I think that out of all fiction, I am most like Emma. I love her because I see her faults and I say, "yes, yes. . .I know that one, I know exactly!" I like her because her heart is good, she thinks a bit too highly of herself, and all her good points outweigh her bad, so you end up liking her enough to forgive her anything. And then, she gets to marry Mr. Knightley. Another solid, handsome man invented by a woman that anyone could fall in love with. (And he’s rich too. . .do I detect a trend?)
Emily Byrd Starr, of L. M. Montgomery’s Emily books. I have wanted to be Emily since I first read these books as a girl. She lives a deep and imaginative life, she writes, she suffers, she experiences the flash (which is hard to explain. . .L.M. says it’s like when the veil between this world and the next flutters in the wind and you catch a glimpse of glory.), and in the end, she gets Teddy Kent and the Disappointed House, but only after years of waiting.
I can’t think of a third one! Although, I do think it would be fun to be Winnie-the-Pooh for a week. How refreshing to only have one’s next meal on the brain! So simple, so full of fluff, so short and fat and happy. A lovely fate. Yes, I could be Pooh.
3. Who scares you?
Pryrates, from Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. He opens doors he can’t close, he’s ruthless, cruel, pitiless, and ultimately possessed by an evil greater than himself.
The Gebbeth/Shadow creature from Ursula LeGuin’s A Wizard of Earthsea (great trilogy, by the way, I highly recommend it!)
Lydia Bennet, from Pride & Prejudice. This is not a typical answer. She’s no dark, evil monster, no twisted sorcerer, but I find her lack of brain seriously frightening. She has no common sense and no thought for anyone other than herself. She doesn’t care what she does to get what she wants, and the most frightening thing is, she can’t understand why her actions and attitudes are so wrong! That scares me.
I’m tagging Jill M. (you can just post it in the comments if you want to :); Jenn, and Melissa.
OH! I thought about Tom Bombadil (and Treebeard!)
And I wish I’d’ve thought of Winnie the Pooh, although I would like to be Tigger. I am staid and stodgy and actually have to plan to do something spontaneous. I enjoy myself thoroughly and have a good sense of humor, but to have the joy and abandon of Tigger is really outside my experience. But I do admire him!
Oh, and Lydia is a good one for all the reasons you cited.
OH NO! As I was reading this, I thought, THANK GOD nobody tagged me with this meme. Anytime someone asks me my favorite book or movie or anything about plots and characters, my mind goes absolutely blank and I’m like, WHAT’S A BOOK? SURELY I’VE NEVER READ ONE OF THOSE.
And then you went and tagged me. Thanks. This could take awhile…
I came in through Hiraeth’s blog. I agree with you about Lydia Bennett.
Another character who scares me is Becky Sharp.
I have to admit, I tend not to read things that scare me! This was quite a challenge…. I read alot, but unless I am completely overwhelmed by the story, I tend not to retain it as much as I wish I could!
Name three characters:
1. You wish were real so you could meet them?
1. Peter Pan… To never grow up, to stay a child forever, to never feel the angst of being an adult…. I
Jill, I love your choices! I still need to read the Time Traveller’s Wife, though. I totally agree with you about Saruman–the scariest thing is that he had even deceived GANDALF for so long!