# Iconic characters in literary SF **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 5, 2014, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570 "2014-09-05T11:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/21 "2014-09-05T17:42:53Z")
Cynically, when I think of Larry Niven’s iconic characters, I think of the settings, not the “people.” So I vote for the Ringworld, the Smoke Ring, an Integral Tree, and a General Products hull. Maybe the Kzinti, the Puppeteers, the Pak, and the Moties? I guess add the Organ Banks and the tasp. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/22 "2014-09-05T17:44:37Z")
Does Frankenstein count as science fiction? Doctor Moreau. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/23 "2014-09-05T17:48:00Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Cynically, when I think of Larry Niven’s iconic characters, I think of the settings, not the “people.” So I vote for the Ringworld, the Smoke Ring, an Integral Tree, and a General Products hull. Maybe the Kzinti, the Puppeteers, the Pak, and the Moties? I guess add the Organ Banks and the tasp. That might apply to SF in general: what it lacks in iconic characters, it makes up for in iconic settings (and iconic alien races, devices, concepts, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/24 "2014-09-05T17:57:10Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Does Frankenstein count as science fiction? Absolutely **Frankenstein** counts as SF. I’ve read that it may be considered the first true piece of SF, in fact. So let’s have Frankenstein, his Creature/Monster, and, oh, let’s throw in Igor. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/25 "2014-09-05T18:09:14Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > That might apply to SF in general: what it lacks in iconic characters, it makes up for in iconic settings (and iconic alien races, devices, concepts, etc.). I see what you mean; I was just making a back-handed comment that the best fleshed out features of his worlds aren’t the people: it’s the places. Not that he’s the only SF writer for whom that’s true… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/26 "2014-09-05T18:16:22Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Absolutely **Frankenstein** counts as SF. I’ve read that it may be considered the first true piece of SF, in fact. So let’s have Frankenstein, his Creature/Monster, and, oh, let’s throw in Igor. Igor? Ain’t no Igor in the book, or in the plays, or even in the movies until _Son of Frankenstein_. The first play adaptation had _Fritz_ as the Doctor’s assistant (although, oddly, he didn’t help out in the lab). By chance or design Fritz was also the name of the twisted assistant played by Dwight Frye in the 1931 film version. Frye came back as a similarly twisdted assistant named Karl in 1935’s **Bride of Frankenstein** (the Monster offed Fritz for excessive cruelty in the first pic). Only in 1939’s sort-of-reboot **Son of Frankenstein** do we get Bela Lugosi as Ygor, who wasn’t hunchbacked, but had a twisted neck. He was killed in that, but you can’t kill Ygor – he was back in **Ghost of Frankenstein** three years later. We finally got a bona fide _hunchbacked_ assistant in **House of Frankensdtein** in 1944. But his name was the depressingly ordinary “Daniel” Still, there’s no doubt that “Igor, Frankenstein’s Hunchbacked Assistant” is iconic, but it’s no more real than the line “Play it Again Sam” – he wasn’t really there until he already existed as a trope, and he was put it to fill the need, as in the relatively recent movie **Van Helsing**. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/27 "2014-09-05T18:49:25Z")
They’re not literary characters, but the MOST iconic sci-fi characters of all time have to be Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/28 "2014-09-05T19:26:52Z")
Another one for Neal Stephenson is Enoch Root. Main player in Cryptonomicon and in the Baroque Trilogy ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/29 "2014-09-05T19:39:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **astorian** : > > Even people who rarely or never read or watch mysteries … can quote lines from Sam Spade. We can? I mean, maybe some of Spade’s quotes have made it out to general discourse and I’ve quoted him, but if so, I don’t know of it. What are some of his more widespread lines? ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/30 "2014-09-05T22:21:43Z")
**Tim R. Mortis** predictably and properly mentioned a Jack Vance character, but, I would toss in the Five Demon Princes from the Demon Princes novels. Attel Malagate from Star King Kokor Hekkus from The Killing Machine Viole Falushe from The Palace of Love Lens Larque from The Face Howard Alan Treesong from The Book of Dreams Okay…if you haven’t read the books, these are all just names. But when you actually get to meet these…monsters…you can’t help but be amazed at how grandiose, how audacious, how vastly larger-than-life they are. Yet they avoid (well, mostly) being caricatures. We’re talking Darth Vader level villains. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/31 "2014-09-05T23:18:28Z")
Ursula K. Le Guin: Sparrowhawk/Ged Arthus C. Clarke: Hal ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/32 "2014-09-06T06:34:14Z")
Philip K. Dick: Rick Deckard. Daniel Keyes: Charlie Gordon. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/33 "2014-09-06T06:55:38Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > **Tim R. Mortis** predictably and properly mentioned a Jack Vance character, but, I would toss in the Five Demon Princes from the Demon Princes novels. > > Attel Malagate from Star King > Kokor Hekkus from The Killing Machine > Viole Falushe from The Palace of Love > Lens Larque from The Face > Howard Alan Treesong from The Book of Dreams > > Okay…if you haven’t read the books, these are all just names. But when you actually get to meet these…monsters…you can’t help but be amazed at how grandiose, how audacious, how vastly larger-than-life they are. Yet they avoid (well, mostly) being caricatures. > > We’re talking Darth Vader level villains. As you probably surmised, I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of those Vance characters. But i wouldn’t call them “iconic.” They are great characters, but they are one-offs. Not the type of character that would ring through the years in a multitude of situations. That was Vance’s genius: he would create a world unto itself, and then create a character that could ONLY exist in that particular world. You could almost call his characters “anti-icons,” because they are so bound up in their designated milieu. But, that said, I don’t mean to disagree with you; those characters are all awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/34 "2014-09-06T22:52:55Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > As you probably surmised, I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of those Vance characters. But i wouldn’t call them “iconic.” They are great characters, but they are one-offs. Not the type of character that would ring through the years in a multitude of situations. That was Vance’s genius: he would create a world unto itself, and then create a character that could ONLY exist in that particular world. You could almost call his characters “anti-icons,” because they are so bound up in their designated milieu. But, that said, I don’t mean to disagree with you; those characters are all awesome. Grin! Fair enough. I was operating on a slightly different definition. (ETA: Oops, I also see I misspelled your name. Apologies! The tipo monxter strikes again!) Also, some are more iconic than others… Malagate perhaps least, Falushe and Larque the most. Falushe is actually close to likeable, at least some of the time! I was also going to name Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, but they’re fantasy, not SF. Still, doggone, they do stand out as incredibly memorable characters. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/35 "2014-09-06T23:01:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I was also going to name Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, but they’re fantasy, not SF. Still, doggone, they do stand out as incredibly memorable characters. They won a Hugo. Close enough. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/36 "2014-09-06T23:39:57Z")
Molly and the Finn from Williams Gibson’s _Neuromancer_ trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/37 "2014-09-06T23:56:12Z")
Hal 9000. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/38 "2014-09-07T00:15:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They won a Hugo. Close enough. Well, so did _Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire_. There are _lots_ of iconic characters we could name if we open the thread up to fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/39 "2014-09-07T00:59:03Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > The only “iconic” literary sci-fi characters I can think of come from older books and stories a lot of people wouldn’t even regard as true science fiction -like Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo, or H.G. Wells’ Invisible Man (Griffin). > > The most iconic sci-fi characters aren’t literary- they’re movie characters like Flash Gordon and Han Solo. Technically, didn’t the STAR WARS novel come out half a year before the movie? ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570/40 "2014-09-07T03:37:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Technically, didn’t the STAR WARS novel come out half a year before the movie? Yes, but it’s a terrible, terrible book that’s based on the script, regardless of the release timing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iconic-characters-in-literary-sf/697570.md?page=3)