(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

Because I'm bored, I've borrowed the Character Love Meme from dolorous_ett

Name a character from one of my fandoms, and I will write no more than 100 words on why I love them.

Fot the purposes of this exercise, my fandoms are defined as Harry Potter, Tolkien, Doctor Who (but please bear in mind that I have never seen an episode of Six and my knowledge of Old Who is somewhat patchy), Patrick O'Brian, Dorothy L Sayers, Terry Prachett, and Star Trek (TOS and DS9).

Comments

Ah.

[wemyss.livejournal.com]

Mr Murbles.

The Hon Freddie Arbuthnot.

Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart.

Hagrid.

Minerva.

Ernie Macmillan.

Nanny Ogg.

The Shrewsbury SCR.

Gosh, you don't ask much!

[tree_and_leaf]

Murbles is an excellent example of DLS' craft as a writer: he's not on stage much, and appears almost entirely in his professional capacity. Yet he convinces as an individual. He sounds as if he would be a very agreeable person to have lunch with. And I love the scene with the over-aged port, though I can't for the life of me remember in which book it appears.

Freddie is quite simply charming. Aside from his instint for money, he is something of an idiot, but he is good-hearted, a good friend, a loyal lover in the face of family opposition, and there's something rather touching about his openess about how much his wife and children mean to him.

... I shall come back to the others later.

Of course, having complained about being bored, I suddenly had no time for such pursuits

[tree_and_leaf]

The Brigadier is exactly what one hopes British army officers are like: brave, decent, honourable, obedient, but not to the point of thinking 'Kavadergehorsamkeit' a virtue. He's surprisingly open-minded, and copes remarkably well with the Doctor's eccentricities. I like his dry, understated sense of humour - and the general attractiveness of Nicholas Courtney doesn't exactly hurt, either...

Hagrid is simply a genuinely kind, decent man. He may show poor judgement at times, and he has some unfortunate prejudices, but he is unfailingly friendly and welcoming to those who need a helping hand. He's not been embittered by the various injustices and losses he has suffered, which also says much for him. And I quite agree with him about the wonders of dragons, although keeping them in a wooden hut and giving them teddy bears is not the best possible way to deal with them...

Minerva - unfailingly decent, bracing without being callous, serious about her subject and - one gets the impression - a woman of great integrity, both politically and intellectually. She's brave, she has a dry wit ('If you're murdered, I will excuse you from handing in your homework') and we'll overlook the taste in hats... She also reminds me of the wonderful woman who taught me for Higher Maths, which was the only time I really enjoyed the subject, and as a result of whose all round brilliance and hard work (mind you, she expected hard work in return) I got an A pass. Which may be the exam result I'm most proud of, even yet.

Ernie: Percy, only more likable and with better moral sense. I loved the scene where he asserts that joining the DA may be more important than OWLs, with the apparently genuine belief that he is being daring and controversial. And he had the guts to apologise properly to Harry in Chamber of Secrets, unlike - apparently - most of the school. A thoroughly good egg, if a tiny bit pompous at times.

Nanny Ogg: well, how can you not love the author of the Lancre Witch's cookbook? Genial, rather vulgar, honest, always unabashedly herself. And though she's by no means as good a witch or as intelligent as Granny Weatherwax, Granny would be rather at a loss without her.

The Shrewsbury SCR: a fine company of scholars, linked, for all their differences and various failings, by a commitment to intellectual honesty and loyalty to their college. I think the Dean is wonderful, and when I grow up I want to be just like her, albeit preferably without having to deal with dishonest porters, attempted suicides in the student body. Some variation on Miss Hillyard Being Difficult is probably unavoidable in academia, though.

Re: Of course, having complained about being bored, I suddenly had no time for such pursuits

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

I think the Dean is wonderful, and when I grow up I want to be just like her, albeit preferably without having to deal with dishonest porters, attempted suicides in the student body.

The Dean is love. One of those rare fictional characters I'd really like to be friends with, much like Beatrice in Much Ado and Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations. (Not that I'd mind being non-platonic friends with Herbert, either.)