Characters All

1. Three characters you wish were real so you could meet them.

Mma Ramotswe (the proprietor of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency)--I feel like I have met her already, over a cup of strong bush tea; she's such a well-drawn character! I love her discernment--knowing when to speak and when to listen.

Gandalf, in The Lord of the Rings--Who wouldn't want to watch him blow smoke rings and set off fireworks? I'd love to hang out with him just to enjoy his eccentricities.

Marmee in Little Women--she's such a positive, loving, wise role model as a mother.


2. Three characters you would like to be.


Eowyn, in The Lord of the Rings

I already feel like Eowyn--I relate, in certain ways, to her journey from wishing she were male to embracing her feminine nature and doing what she alone can do, because she's female. I love her line just before she kills the ghost-king that no man can kill: "Well, I am no man!" (Plus, I agree with Tonia--she ends up with the real catch in The Lord of the Rings, Faramir!

Lessa, in Dragonflight, Dragonquest and The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey

I read this space fantasy series over and over when I was in junior high. (If you liked Eragon, you've got to read these to see who, besides Tolkien, Christopher Paolini swiped all his material from!)

Lessa's is a Cinderella story--nobility hidden at birth, the dirtiest of servants when she's discovered and presented as a candidate at the hatching of Pern's last dragon queen egg. She becomes the new queen's rider and saves her planet, Pern, from the deadly menace that only dragons can destroy. I would love to ride a queen dragon! And F'lar, her husband-figure, always made my heart leap. I love the scene where she first washes away the dirt of years; soon, it becomes apparent that she is a woman of amazing beauty. To me, this is a powerful metaphor, a "hatching" of her own--and it speaks to me as a Christian woman.

(Just a note: The culture on Pern is sort of a secular utopia where the commitment of a marriage is not expected, but no one ever gets hurt; children are often raised by foster parents for cross-cultural understanding, with no ill effects. Sexual situations, especially relating to the mating of dragons, are sprinkled throughout--they can be emotionally intense but aren't graphic. With these qualifiers, I'd still recommend them as well-written and super-engaging.)

A member of Robin Hood's merry band

I read Howard Pyle's The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood when I was a kid, and I remember laying awake at night pretending I was a little girl that the Merry Men took in. I loved their adventures, laughed out loud at their misadventures, and partly, I just wanted to talk like that!

3. Three characters who scare you.

Saruman--the evil presence throughout The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Oooh, that evil all-seeing eye gives me the shivers!

The humans in Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH--yup, we're the scary bad guys

The humans in Watership Down--yup, us again

(HT to Island Sparrow)

Since I'm still busy painting--I'd love to hear YOUR answers to this meme in the comments!