Sorry, I didn’t post on Monday! Memorial Day, writing projects, and other fun stuff kept me busy. In other news, though, I’m part of a ...

Today's Word Nerd Ponderings: I'm All About The Charries

Alexa Mintah

12 Comments

Sorry, I didn’t post on Monday! Memorial Day, writing projects, and other fun stuff kept me busy.

In other news, though, I’m part of a new blog chain!

Started by Kate from Majestic Golden Rose, it’s kind of like the Teens Can Write Too blog chain: she gives us a question, we pick a date and we answer. Obviously, today is my date, and this month’s question is all about my favorite things in all the stories: The Beautiful Baby Charries!

giphy.com

Though not necessarily the babies. Just, you know, characters in general.

Anywho, more specifically, her question was, “There are all sorts of characters that we create and read about, but like people in real life, we are only drawn to some. What makes you love or hate a character? What do you love about your favorite character(s)?”

This is a difficult question for me because I love all kinds of characters for all kinds of reasons, and because charries are baes and life. But because I do not have thirty million years to discuss my various loves, I decided to pick four: a character from a TV show, a character from a movie, a character from a book, and one of my own characters, then do my best to explain why I like each one of them.

Disclaimer: these are not necessarily my four favorite characters ever. I adore so many that deciding which ones to actually talk about was heart-wrenching, but I wanted to pick people that were somewhat different from each other, so we’d have a variety of characters to discuss.

So here we go:

Anakin Skywalker from The Clone Wars (also the movies, but I wanted to use another charrie for the movies, so... yeah.)

fanpop.com

YES, I HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE BAE BEFORE. So I’ll link to that post here, and make this quick: Pre-Dark Side Anakin is perfection. Don’t let anybody tell you different, and let me tell you why.

Up until the whole turning to the Dark Side thing, Anakin had a sincerely good heart. I mean, he was a freaking soldier: he fought selflessly for the good and he consistently put thoughts of his own life aside to save other people. He was often sarcastic, but serious when needed; reckless, yes, but his plans–or lack thereof–often succeeded. He was caring, compassionate, fiercely loyal to family and friends, and did you see his face when Padme told him he was gonna be a dad?

rebloggy/tumblr He also says that this is the happiest moment of his life. Just saying.

In conclusion, Anakin really was an amazing guy: a strong character, a fierce fighter, and a loyal friend. It’s why I love him, and how he turned to the Dark Side, I still don’t even get.

Pietro Maximoff from Age of Ultron

Obviously, there will be spoilers in this next part, but I have stuck to his character, kept most of the actual plot out, and there are no major reveals below.

tumblr

First things first, THAT SASS, THOUGH. Every line out of Pietro’s mouth was quotable. I mean, he barely spoke unless he had something sassy to say. Like he’d just be standing there, “Yeah, I’m cool, just kinda hanging out here,” and then it’d be like BOOM. SASS. IN YO FACE. This guy was flipping hysterical, almost every one of his lines made me laugh, and if a character can whip out that sassy sarcasm like he did and have me guffawing that hard (on the inside, cuz we were in a theater), they have officially won my heart.

Besides that though, Pietro was also a strong fighter. He was misled by, well, things and spoilers, but at his heart, I think he was a soldier just trying to protect his country and his family. Also... well, things and spoilers. I did promise.

Plus, there was his relationship with his sister. I talked about siblings a while back, and if I’d seen Age of Ultron then, these two would’ve definitely been on the list. I don’t think he told her he loved her once during the movie, but it was crystal clear in every one of their scenes. You could just feel the adorable wonderfulness of their siblingship (which is totally a thing) in every move they made. 

To discuss him specifically, Pietro was very caring, somewhat protective, but at the same time, not overprotective. He never told her to step back from the fight, and he didn’t seem to doubt that she could handle herself (though he was ready to swoop in if the need arose).

So why I love Pietro: that sass and that love for his sister and his country. Also that accent. That freaking gorgeous accent.

I'mma move on now.

Shaylinn from The Safe Lands

pinterest.com

Shaylinn is completely different from any character I’ve listed so far, and it’s not just because she’s a girl. Shaylinn is not sarcastic, and not in the most remote, far-off, almost inconceivable sense of the word is she sassy. She also doesn’t kick butt. Not once.

But I still love her, because in her own way, she’s a remarkably strong character. I don’t want to give spoilers if you haven’t read the series (though you must), but a lot of crap happens to Shaylinn, and none of it is her fault. Still, though, she wasn’t afraid to cry, though she got upset, though she often wondered why God let those things happen to her, her heart stayed strong. Not only did she cling to her Savior, she encouraged those around her, constantly pushing them to be better. Rather than focusing on herself and her rather large problems, she reached out and was always there for others. She didn’t just sit around because she didn’t have the skill to go out with the leaders, cause trouble for the government, and physically help with the resistance. Instead, she took a stand wherever she was and fought for the good her way. The books could not possibly have been the same without her.

Plus (spoilers for the romance), though she loved a certain character, once he repeatedly proved that she could not rely on him, she didn’t. She continued to love him, but she didn’t sit around sobbing, waiting for him to drag his dang butt back. She cried a bit, picked herself up, and moved on because ain’t nobody got time for that, and she had way more important matters to attend to. Shaylinn was capable of standing on her own, though she was willing to let the bae back if he pulled himself together.

So yeah, Shaylinn was cool. She proved that you do not have to be a butt-kicking queen to make an enormous difference in the lives of those around you.

And my own character: Fedora.

pinterest

Technically, Fedora is not all mine because I co-wrote her with Rebecca. But that’s okay because, for this one blog post, I am stealing her (and I hope Rebecca doesn’t mind).

Fedora’s another sassy one. Almost every line out of her mouth is hilarious (and I don’t feel like that’s tooting my own horn because I swear Fedora writes herself). Her go-to move is an eye roll, Sarcasm is her first language, and she too, don’t need no man (though they are convenient).

Another cool thing about Fedora is, though she can kick butt and hit a target better than many of the boys, her actual occupation is a healer. So yeah, she fights the battles, she beats the baddies, but her work’s not even done yet, cuz then she’s gotta go around patching people up, sewing things back together, fixing boo-boos, wiping tears... Well, she doesn’t actually wipe tears because she has a horrible bedside manner. Her reaction is normally more like, “Oh suck it up, it’s only a flesh wound!”

But anyway. You get the picture. She’s willing to break things apart, but what she actually loves is putting them back together.

Not that she’s reluctant to lead the resistance or anything.

Fedora also has OCD, which makes her character more intricate and interesting because, though she appears confident most of the time, OCD often has a person second-guessing themselves and everything around them. But, hard as it is, she fights past that to heal her people and, eventually, lead a resistance.

So yeah. Fedora’s cool because she’s a strong, sarcastic healer who’s just plain different from the norm.

***

I think what I’ve found from this blog post is that my favorite characters are those who are strong. They don’t have to be physically strong, and they don’t have to ever kick butt; I just love characters who are capable of standing on their own in some way. Who won’t just lie down and take what hits them, but will stand up and fight back in the best way they know how. I love characters who love other people, even if it’s not in an obvious way, and who are willing to sacrifice their own happiness or comfort, willing to fight for everyone they love and everything they believe in.

So I guess that’s what I love about characters: strength and, cheesy as this might sound, love.

What do you love about characters? What do you think of the ones I mentioned? Comment me!

You may also like