# The Dope List of Top 100 fictional literary characters

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 21, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841 "2002-08-21T02:11:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/61 "2002-08-24T07:16:59Z")

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Sherlock Holmes 🆒  
Now where’s that Sherlock smilie??

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**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/62 "2002-08-24T12:03:27Z")

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Ayla (amazed she’s not here yet!)  
Humbert Humbert  
Dracula  
Kay Scapetta  
Alex Cross  
Atticus Finch  
Merlin  
King Arthur  
Morgana  
Vampire Lestat  
Ignatius J. Reilly

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**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/63 "2002-08-24T19:09:06Z")

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Jack Ryan (several Clancy novels)  
Tom Sawyer  
Jean Valjean, _Les Miserables_  
Inspector Javert, _Les Miserables_  
John Blackthorne, _Shogun_  
Toranaga, _Shogun_  
“Doc,” _Cannery Row_  
Winston Smith, _1984_  
Lady Macbeth  
Tom Joad, _The Grapes of Wrath_

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**Author:** ![RexDart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@RexDart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexDart)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/64 "2002-08-24T20:06:56Z")

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I can’t believe nobody else likes Rex Stout mysteries, but I’ll throw them in first, since every old mystery fan loves them:

Nero Wolfe  
Archie Goodwin

Rest of list:

Kurz - _Heart of Darkness_  
Dagny Taggert - _Atlas Shrugged_  
Demian - _Demian_ (the Hesse novel)  
Huck Finn  
Gatsby

…and if Discworld and Heinlein novels are getting nods, I’ll toss in my favorite _Wheel of Time_ character, Padan Fain. Really though, the fantasy/sci-fi list should be separate, because I’m sure an internet message board of all places could come up with 100 of those in a day.

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**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/65 "2002-08-25T02:36:40Z")

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“Really though, the fantasy/sci-fi list should be separate, because I’m sure an internet message board of all places could come up with 100 of those in a day.”

Hmmm…I’ll think about that…hell, let’s throw in novels too while we’re at it.

Did I say I loved stuff like this? 😃

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**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/66 "2002-08-25T18:14:53Z")

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Well, that fictionalized historical figure line gets awfully fuzzy. Where does that leave, say, King Arthur, who may or may not have been a real person?

Or Dracula, who was based on an historical figure?

Considering the amount of fictionalization in Ivanhoe, I’d say that if Dracula’s eligible, the Black Knight oughtta be.

Also, I guess I’m gonna have to lobby for the **Scarlet Pimpernel** , too. This character is the template for every “masked avenger” character that has come since, from Zorro to the Lone Ranger to Batman.

I’d lobby for Sancho Panza as the template for the sidekick, but it looks like he’s already got the votes.

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**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/67 "2002-08-26T00:58:20Z")

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"Well, that fictionalized historical figure line gets awfully fuzzy. Where does that leave, say, King Arthur, who may or may not have been a real person? "

He was based on a Celtic chief named Arturous, I think…but based on is a lot different than the actual real life figure.

“Or Dracula, who was based on an historical figure?”

I think Dracula and Vlad the Impaler could easily be considered two different characters. EHehehe

"Considering the amount of fictionalization in Ivanhoe, I’d say that if Dracula’s eligible, the Black Knight oughtta be. "

He is. HEEH

“I’d lobby for Sancho Panza as the template for the sidekick, but it looks like he’s already got the votes.”

Yup.

If anyone is wondering, here’s what I have so far. If I’ve made any booboos, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!! Let me know, kthnx!

Oh, BTW, when Jools said “most of the characters have already been mentioned”, I counted that as a second for all the characters listed above that post because that’s what it looked like to me. If this is a problem, then I’ll start all over again or something…

Anyway:  
1.Sherlock Holmes–6  
2Captain Ahab–4  
3Robinson Curosoe–4  
4James Bond–6  
5Huckleberry Finn-7  
6Superman–7  
7Atticus Finch–8  
8Gandalf-6  
9Holden Caulfield–5  
10Dracula–7  
11Zaphod Beeblebrox -3  
12Winston Smith–5  
13Ford Perfect–3  
14Arthur Dent–3  
15Bilbo Baggins–7  
16Dr. Frankenstein–5  
17Ebenezer Scrooge --4  
18Tom Sawer–5  
19Tarzan–7  
20Hamlet-5  
21Othello-5  
22Hannibal Lector–4  
23Harry Potter–3  
24Captain Nemo–4  
25Marius–3  
26. Jean Valjean --4  
27. Don Quixote --5  
28. Frankenstein’s Monster–5  
29 Hercule Poirot 3  
30. Jane Marple–3  
31. Frodo–4  
32. Gollum–4  
33. Flagg-3  
34. Achillies–4  
35Lazarus Long–3  
36. Elizabeth Bennet–3  
37. Jay Gatsby–4  
38. Lancelot–5  
39. King Arthur–6  
40. Hawkeye–3  
41. Iago–5  
42. Sheriff Pangborn-3  
43. Satan-3  
44. Robin Hood-5  
45. Guenevere-3  
46. Batman-4  
47. Macbeth–3  
48. King Lear–3  
49. Oliver Twist–4  
50. Oedipus–3  
51. Romeo-3  
52-Juliet–3  
53. Sancho–3  
54. Phillip Marlowe-3  
55. Ichabod Crane–3  
56. Quasimodo–3  
57. Scarlett O’Hara --3  
58. Grendel-3  
59. Merlin–3  
60. Lady Macbeth–3

And am I the only one who finds it odd that Quasimodo gets on the list and yet my beloved priest Claude Frollo, doesn’t? I mean, I LIKE Quasimodo and all, but Frollo was so much deeper and he WAS the central character DESPITE the title…

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**Author:** ![Genseric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Genseric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Genseric)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/68 "2002-08-26T02:21:12Z")

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I can’t believe, here of all places, no one seconded Paul Atreides.

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**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/69 "2002-08-26T02:29:40Z")

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Okay. I’ll do it. Paul Atredies=seconded

I’ll also add:

Leto Atredies  
Scytale  
Tylwyth Waff  
Darwi Odrade

I really should make a seperate list for sci-fi/ fantasy…eheeheh

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**Author:** ![Adam\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@Adam\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adam_P)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/70 "2002-08-26T03:33:27Z")

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Ulysses (The Odyssey)  
Hector (The Iliad)  
Achilles (The Iliad)  
Scheherezade (1001 Nights)  
Faust (Goethe’s Faust)  
Satan (Paradise Lost)  
Peck’s Bad Boy  
Don Quixote  
Ebeneezer Scrooge  
David Copperfield  
Madame DeFarge (Tale of 2 Cities)  
Julliete (DeSade’s Julliete)  
Justine (DeSade’s Justine)  
Eugenie Onegin (Pushkin)  
Albertine (Proust’s In Search of Lost Time)  
Marcel (In Search of Lost Time)  
Babbit  
Caddy (Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury)  
Leopold Bloom (Ulysses)  
Molly Bloom (Ulysses)  
Molloy (Beckett)  
Br’er Rabbit  
Willy Wonka  
Tyrone Slothrop (Gravity’s Rainbow)  
K. (Kafka’s The Trial and The Castle)  
Bartleby The Scrivener  
Billy Budd (Melville)  
Captain Ahab  
Raskolnikov (Crime & Punishment)  
The Brothers Karamazov  
Madame Bovary  
O (Reage’s The Story of O)  
Humbert Humbert (Lolita)

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**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/71 "2002-08-26T14:16:38Z")

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Man, _that’s_ weird. Grendel makes the list, but Beowulf doesn’t???

(Also, I can’t believe no one has seconded Lenny and George from Of Mice and Men.)

I’ll cast more votes for:

Humbert Humbert  
Babbit  
Madame DeFarge  
Ulysses  
Scheherezade  
Aladdin  
Don Juan  
Anna Karenina  
Puck  
Falstaff

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**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2002, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/72 "2002-08-26T19:43:59Z")

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"Man, that’s weird. Grendel makes the list, but Beowulf doesn’t??? "

You know, I was thinking that too!

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**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/73 "2002-08-27T00:08:51Z")

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Odysseus, the Man of Many Turns Hamlet, Prince of Denmark  
Achilles  
Aeneas  
Rama  
Beowolf  
Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson  
Doc Savage  
The Wife of Bath  
King Lear  
Portia  
Shylock  
Lord Morpheus, the Sandman  
Adam Dalgliesh  
Paul Muad’dib Atreides  
Conan the Barbarian  
Magwitch  
Rasilokonov  
Jane Eyre  
Heathcliff & Catherine  
Elizabeth Bennett  
Huckleberry Finn

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**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/74 "2002-08-27T02:06:35Z")

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All right, here’s some off the top of my head. Repeats are intended as additional votes, of course. (I think you should automatically count them as such, by the way.)

**Alice In Wonderland**  
You make the call as to historical or not. There was a real Alice, of course, but her real-life adventures had nothing to do with her underground/lookingglass adventures.

**Aeneas**  
**Faithful Achates**

**Scout Finch**  
I’d like to make the case here (but I won’t) that Scout is at least as important a character as Atticus.

**Frodo**

**Holden Caulfield**

**Hamlet**  
**Othello**  
**Lear**  
**Lady Macbeth**

**Jane Eyre**

**The Wife of Bath**

**King Arthur**

**Emma Bovary**

**Phedre/Phaedra**

**Blanche DuBois**

A few wild cards:  
**Alex Portnoy**  
**Dr. Elwin Ransom**  
**Scarlett O’Hara**  
**Rhett Butler**  
**Hercule Poirot**  
**Mother Courage**  
**Dorian Gray**

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**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2002, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/75 "2002-08-27T06:21:58Z")

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Tom Joad  
Winston Smith

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**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:** [August 27, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/76 "2002-08-27T17:22:54Z")

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**From Tolkien** :  
Samwise Gamgee  
Galadriel  
Gollum

**From Shakespeare** :  
Ariel  
Prospero  
Hamlet  
Lear’s Fool  
Cordelia  
Macbeth  
Lady Macbeth  
Puck

**From legend/mythology/folklore** :  
Arthur  
Gawain  
Lancelot  
Gweneviere  
Merlin  
Odysseus/Ulyses  
Aeneas  
Penelope  
Hector  
Achilles  
Helen  
Orpheus  
Paul Bunyan  
Pecos Bill

**From comics/comic books** :  
Superman  
Batman  
Spider-Man  
Wolverine  
The Shadow  
The Phantom  
Prince Valiant  
Charlie Brown  
Snoopy  
Linus Van Pelt  
Lucy Van Pelt  
Calvin  
Hobbes  
Opus the Penguin  
Pogo  
Dilbert  
Ziggy  
Garfield

**From various SF sources** :  
Captain Nemo (_20,000 Leagues under the Sea_, Jules Verne)  
Phinneas Fogg (_Around the World in 80 Days_, Jules Verne)  
HAL (_2001_, Arthur C. Clarke)  
R. Daneel Olivaw (_The Caves of Steel_ and others, Isaac Asimov)  
Hari Seldon (_Foundation_ and others, Isaac Asimov)  
Lazarus Long (_Methuselah’s Children_ and others, Robert A. Heinlein)  
Friday (_Friday_, Robert A. Heinlein)  
Paul Atreides (_Dune_, Frank Herbert)  
Ender Wiggins (_Ender’s Game_, Orson Scott Card)

**Various other works** :  
Sherlock Holmes  
Frankenstein  
Frankenstein’s Monster  
Tom Sawyer  
Huckleberry Finn  
Natty Bumpo (_Last of the Mohicans_ and others, James Fennimore Cooper)  
Chingachgook (ibid)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![comradegonzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@comradegonzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/comradegonzo)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/77 "2002-08-28T02:11:45Z")

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Samwise

Iago

St. Yossarian (read the Principia Discordia)

Milo Mindbender

Dr. Gonzo/Raoul Duke/Uncle Duke

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (from the manga, not the Odyessy)

Tetsuo, Kaneda (if Superman and Batman got in this…)

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**Author:** ![Jurhael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@Jurhael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurhael)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/78 "2002-08-28T03:02:27Z")

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I second Tatsuo and Kaneda.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![MakoDawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@MakoDawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MakoDawn)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/79 "2002-08-28T06:57:50Z")

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Samwise Gamgee (LOTR)  
Gandalf  
Treebeard  
Jay Gatsby (Great Gatsby)  
Inigo Montoya & Fezzik (The Princess Bride)  
Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)  
Charles Wallace (a Wrinkle in Time)  
Vivian  
Morgaine  
Taleisin (Mists of Avalon)  
Puck  
Bottom (A Midsummer Nights Dream)  
Scarlett O’Hara  
Mammy (Gone With the Wind)  
Eliza Dolittle  
Henry Higgens (Pygmalion)  
The Cheshire Cat  
Jaberwock (Alice in Wonderland)

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**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2002, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-dope-list-of-top-100-fictional-literary-characters/124841/80 "2002-08-28T15:17:59Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by MakoDawn \*  
> \*\*Samwise Gamgee (LOTR)  
> Gandalf  
> Treebeard  
> Jay Gatsby (Great Gatsby)  
> Inigo Montoya & Fezzik (The Princess Bride)  
> Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)  
> Charles Wallace (a Wrinkle in Time)  
> Vivian  
> Morgaine  
> Taleisin (Mists of Avalon)  
> Puck  
> Bottom (A Midsummer Nights Dream)  
> Scarlett O’Hara  
> Mammy (Gone With the Wind)  
> Eliza Dolittle  
> Henry Higgens (Pygmalion)  
> The Cheshire Cat  
> Jaberwock (Alice in Wonderland) \*\*

Thanks, **MakoDawn**! 😉 I concur, and welcome to the boards!

(BTW, my IRL name is Dawn, too.)

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