Who are your favorite characters from fantasy & sci-fi stories?

[Filby]

I'm not that into Sci-Fi, so there aren't many characters I like. All I can think of are Han Solo and Ford Prefect.

Fantasy, on the other hand...

Bilbo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, and Thorin Oakenshield.
Pretty much the entire cast of the "Magic Kingdom of Landover" series.
Dream (Lord Morpheus) and Desire of the Endless.
The Scarecrow of Oz, the Tin Woodsman, and Jack Pumpkinhead (yeah, it's kids' stuff, but still...)
And, finally, any of those wacky d'Ambervilles, but especially the one in the indoor forest who got turned into some kind of goat-creature.

 

[Hammerhead]

Sci-Fi:

Hiro Protagnoist. The name says it all.

Fantasy:

Grey Mouser, the archetypical clever rogue who isn't as clever as he thinks he is. I like all of the other not-so clever rogues that follow in other books, such as Jimmy the Hand.

Artemis Entreri, an awesome ruthlessly cold villain that has ultimately grown far more interesting than Salvatore's protagonist.

Kragar, from Stephen Brust. He's like...well, I forget. I know there was something distinctive about him

 

[Felonious Ntent]

I notice very few villians chosen.

 

[Mystery Man]

Danilo Than, Slartibartfast, Alacrity Fitzhugh, Dirk Gently, The troll from Mythadventures who's name escapes me right now, Doctor Morgenes, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Silk, Vlad Taltos, Cadderly, Renie Sulaweyo to name a few.

 

[Elemental]

I'll probably remember a dozen others after I click Send, but the five I can recall right now are:

Eddie Dean, from King's Dark Tower series. A clown and joker, but with the soul of a warrior. His slaying a psychotic AI with illogical jokes, his talk with Roland about what stopped him shooting himself on the beach, and the scene in the final book

Spoiler

where he gets shot

are the standout moments I took with me from that series. It's a very close thing between him and Susannah, mind.

Linden Avery, from the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. She starts off with a massive amount of angst and accumulates more throughout the books (hey, she's a Donaldson character), but the appeal for me lies in the fact that she never stops trying to overcome that angst, refusing to simply lie down and give up. And it's fun watching the ambivalent relationship between her and Covenant as they slowly realise that she's the real saviour this time round, and he's been cast as the devil.

Hiro Protagonist, from Snow Crash. An over-the-top lampoon of cyberpunk heroes, who grows into a well-rounded and believable character. Gets into the top five just for the paragraph that starts "Until the age of thirty, every man thinks he could be the baddest mother****** in the world."

Etta, from the Liveship Traders trilogy. There's something about the competence and hard-bitten determination that counters well with the tragedy of the fact that the man she loves and would do anything for is essentially a sociopath. Then again, most of the supporting cast in that series was far more interesting than the people who were supposed to be the heroes.

Tyr Anasazi from 'Andromeda'. He's selfish, amoral and playing his role as the right hand man of the saviour of the galaxy for all he can personally get out of it, but there's a cunning and method to his actions, and the hard-edged pragmatism that drives him appeals to me.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Paul Atreides, Khan Noonian Singh, Andrew Wiggin, Sarah Connor

Taran, Arthur, Conan, Robin Hood, Sam Gamgee

 

[mojo1701]

Tyr Anasazi from 'Andromeda'. He's selfish, amoral and playing his role as the right hand man of the saviour of the galaxy for all he can personally get out of it, but there's a cunning and method to his actions, and the hard-edged pragmatism that drives him appeals to me.

I agree. Very much so.

 

[Cannibal_Kender]

From Sci-Fi:

Mendoza, Joseph, Lewis, Latif and Suleyman from Kage Baker's Company series

Honor Harrington


From Fantasy:

Rowan & Bel from The Steerswoman's Road

 

[Thotas]

This thread got to page 3 before anyone mentioned the Skipper? What are ya, a bunch of Peeps posting here? And no mention of Sir Roger de Tourneville either ... oh wait, I'm still on my SF heroes, and he's fantasy, isn't he? No wait, he's Science Fiction, yeah.

The Gray Mouser, the one every D&D thief is trying to be, whether they know it or not. And of course, Kane the Mystic Swordsman.

 

[Andre]

Did someone ask for villains?

Zed Yago (The Sardonyx Net by Elizabeth Lynn). A sadist whom you truly despise. But Lynn's writing is so good, you actually feel sorry for him as he gets just what he deserves. Unforgettable character.

The Despiser (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen Donaldson). A great villain you love to hate.

Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek).

Prefect Galway (The Blackcollar by Timothy Zahn. Not a villain so much as a great adversary.