Top three, part one

[scripsi]

brunettepet, feliciacraft, lost_spook, a_phoenixdragon, evelyn_b, qwentoozla, sallymn, velvetwhip and snogged wanted answers to all but one question, so I’ll just answer all of them. Though I’ll break them down into three posts.

1: Top 3 heroes/protagonists
Dorothy Sayer’s Lord Peter Wimsey, whom I fell in love with when I was fourteen. Maree in Diana Wynne Jones Deep Secret. She’s so cross and unlovable at first, but I love her courage and stubbornness.

Sjövall & Wahlöö’s Gunvald Larsson. A police detective from an excellent, if somewhat dated series of Swedish crime novels. Gunvald isn’t the main hero, but my favorite nevertheless. He is large, appear brutish, has a laconic sense of humour and a very strong sense for justice. If you want a sense of Sweden in the late 60’s/early 70’s the books are spot on, even if they get a bit dark by the end. (probably because on of the authors was dying in cancer).

Doctor Who- the idea to have a protagonist that is regularly re-invented is pure genius, IMO.

2: Top 3 villains/antagonists
Delgado!Master in Classic Who. I like my villains suave and charming. Dracula. I feel in love with the Dracula myth when I was around eleven and it holds strong. The Witch King in Tolkien’s Lord of teh Rings. I always found him a lot scarier than Sauron and he haunted my nightmares a lot when I was about nine.

3: Top 3 supporting characters
Lloyd Alexander’s fiery princess Eilonwy in the Prydain Chronicles. Donna Noble in New Who. Lord Peter Wimsey’s perfect manservant Bunter.

4: Top 3 background characters or side characters
Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter. The Mymble in Tove Jansson’s Moomin-books. The vampire Lord Akeldama in Gail Carriger’s books.

5: Top 3 romantic relationships between characters
Romeo and Juliet. I know, it’s such a cliche, but the Shakespeare's words enchant me every time. Anne and Captain Wentworth in Austen’s Persuasion. Diana Wynne Jones’ Sophie and Howl. Loretta and Johnny in Moonstruck

6: Top 3 friendships between characters
Nick and Monroe in Grimm. I adore the various portrayals of friendship we get from this show, but I love their friendship the most.

The Krille and Johnny in Peter Pohl’s Johnny, My Friend. It’s a Swedish YA book that takes place in Stockholm during the 50’s. Krille is befriended by the mysterious Johnny. Krille, who grows to love Johnny, get increasingly worried about his life and eventually it becomes clear that he is all to right in being worried. It’s not an easy book, though never explicit, Johnny is severely abused and the ending is not happy. But the friendship between Krille and Johnny is absolutely wonderful.

Kim and Juliane in Inger Edelfeldt’s Juliane och jag (not translated to English, sadly). Also a YA book about 14 year old Kim who dreams of having a friend who isn’t just interested in boys and pop groups. Her new classmate Juliane fills that void. I read this book when I was that age and I very much felt like Kim, desperately longing for a friend who understood me. This book was written long before the concept of Goth come to Sweden, but that is what Kim and Julaine are, and so was I, though I didn’t know it. :)

7: Top 3 fictional families

The Stanton family from Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising-series. Tove Jansson’s Moomin family. Anne Shirley’s family with Gilbert Blythe (L. M. Montgomery).

8: Top 3 fictional parents
Lord Peter Wimsey’s mother the Dowager Duchess. Veronica Mars father. Countess Cordelia in Bujold’s Vorkosigan books.

9: Top 3 fictional siblings
Astrid Lindgren’s Lionheart brothers. The Verney sisters in Gwendoline Courtney’s Elizabeth and the Garrett Theatre. King Arvid and Helge in Maria Gripe’s In the Time of the Bells. It’s a rather strange, but beautiful story set in a fictitious Medieval country ruled by a very young king- his father is still alive but has abdicated. He is not very suited for Kingship, much more prone to dreaming and it’s decided that he needs corporeal punishment to shape up and he needs to get married. But you can’t beat a king so the executioner’s nephew is taken to the castle, raised with the king and then punished when the king misbehaves. Helge is king Arvid’s opposite, but they still become close friends. More problematic is that he also falls in love with the girl Arvid is suppose to marry. Eventually it turns out that Helge is Arvid’s illegitimate older brother. Their father legitimates him and so he becomes king instead of Arvid.

10: Top 3 child characters
Alice in Alice In Wonderland, Lucy Pevensie from the Narnia-books and L. M. Montgomery's Emily

11: Top 3 elderly characters
Merriman Lyon in Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising-series. Mr. Tom in Goodnight Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian. Aunt Augusta in Graham Greene’s Travels With My Aunt