Kari Tyree

I’ve tried to order these characters from least to most favorite, though it was difficult to do so! Of course, there are many other loved characters in the wings, but these were the ones about which I felt I could say the most. These characters have inspired and taught me. Perhaps you have characters who’ve done the same for you. Comment with your favorites! I’d love to hear about them.

• Hermione Granger (Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling). First of all, I find Rowling’s ability to draw out all of her characters one of the most enjoyable elements of the series. But I love Hermione for her loyalty, sensitivity, and passion (even if at times she goes a little overboard). And just when the reader thinks she’s nothing but a stickler for the rules, she does something surprising. Hermione knows when to bend the rules a little bit because people are more important. I like this about her.
• Katriona (Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley). Katriona’s character surprised me the first time I read the novel by being unlike myself, when my expectation of her from the beginning descriptions led me to believe she and I had similar personalities. She sets off on an adventure she doesn’t feel qualified for, and she feels reluctant to do it. In the middle of a new experience surrounded by lots of people, she is reserved. These are things I relate to. But the surprise comes when she takes on an unexpected and heavy burden (taking care of a baby princess in peril) and faces it with strength, courage, and perseverance. I love Katriona for her example of acting well in difficult circumstances. She realizes she can do more than she at first expects of herself, and I could learn something from her attitude.
• Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen). Colonel Brandon exhibits many of the qualities I find most admirable in a man. He is humble (he knows who he is and is comfortable in his own skin; he doesn’t feel the need to parade himself or berate himself in front of others). He is kind-hearted, gentle, selfless, and generous. He seeks the good of others, and not only those in whom he takes special interest. He takes responsibility for his actions. His behavior goes beyond merely what is acceptable; it is excellent. If I were going to fall in love with a Jane Austen character, it would be him.
• Mark Studdock (That Hideous Strength by C. S. Lewis). Mark struggles with the longing to be included, to be in the inner circle, and I think most people can relate to this longing. His lack of security and sense of self-identity leads him into some sticky and eventually dangerous situations. Of course it’s impossible to think about Mark without thinking of his counterpart in the novel, his wife, Jane. Lewis contrasts them masterfully throughout the novel, and through them demonstrates two different types of pride. While Jane is smart and self-assured, proud to be independent, Mark is insecure and always thinking of how to get himself “in” with the important people. I find the way his character grows into awareness of his own problems to be realistic and compelling. He has to give up his pride (his insecurity) to do it, abandoning his goal of getting “in” and recognizing his own foolishness in the process. Jane is a philosophically thought-provoking character, and I love her, too, but Mark is simply lovable (after being completely hate-able).
• Orual (Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis). Orual is complex, desperately human, and flawed, while maintaining plenty of admirable qualities, too. In this novel – what many consider Lewis’s masterpiece – Lewis retells the myth of Psyche and Eros (Cupid). Orual, Psyche’s sister, loves Psyche more than anything and cannot stand it when she loses her darling Psyche to another, higher love (the love of the god). The way Orual reacts to losing her sister, the way she tries to save her from what she thinks is a terrible fate, and the way she repents when she finally learns she was wrong about the gods, are all related through complicated and realistic human terms. She is a fascinating character, one I want to return to again and again. Orual reveals something that all humans struggle with, whether or not we recognize it: subjecting our loves to God, who alone deserves our highest devotion.
• Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte). Jane’s character is written in the first person, and I think this is one reason it is easy to connect with her. We also get to see her grow from a little girl into a woman. Jane is strong, both despite and because of her rather abusive childhood. Her moral compass is admirable, but she is also human: she has emotions like any other young woman and she struggles with them. Jane’s work ethic is inspiring. While she never complains, yet she is not afraid to seek advancement and betterment of her situation. I love the tension displayed in her character between finding happiness whatever her circumstances and longing for something with deep, even painful, desire. Contentment and desire for change can live together in the same heart without conflict, though such balance is difficult to achieve. Jane does it well.

Honorable mentions: Puddleglum (The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis), Aragorn (The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien), Bertie Wooster and Jeeves (the Jeeves books by P. G. Wodehouse).