Note that I wrote “literary” rather than fictional. I’m sure there are any number of posters here who’d commit murder in defense of Willow Rosenberg, but in those cases they’re just as likely to be enamored of Alyson Hannigan. (Of course, if you’re NOT enamored of Alyson Hannigan, I’m worried about you.) I’d also like to disqualify comic book characters. What I’m wondering about is conjunction of vivid characterization and the reader’s imagination combining to make the reader think, “Ah, if only I lived on Tellus Secundus–I could court Ira Weatheral’s beautiful daughter Hamadryad.”
My own answer isn’t Hamadryad, by the way; it’s Minerva Long, the computer-turned-woman from Time Enough for Love. Even though she had the colossal bad taste to do Lazarus Long.
A Russian Lit professor (whose name escapes me) once said " War and Peace is not about war, and it’s not about peace. It’s about falling in love with Natasha." If you are a male with any heterosexual inclinations at all, then by the time you finish the novel, you will be in love with Natasha. You do not have a choice. Tolstoy pushes all of your buttons.
I agree with you on Minerva Long. She is amazing.
I would also add Lt. Saavik from Star Trek. Not because of the movies, but because of Vonda McIntire’s novels of the second and third movies.
I agree. Trapped in the TrekVerse with a time travel device, I’d be tempted to murder everyone who’d ever abused her, then offer her their hearts as a token of love.
Sally Athelny from Of Human Bondage. When you’re the only truly sympathetic female figure in my favorite book, you’re likely to attact my attention.
Alia Atreides in Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. Sure, she was a bitch on wheels, and sure, she ended up possessed, insane and totally evil, but she was still hawt.
I forgot to mention my own greatest literary crush. Eowyn, Shield-Maiden of the North, whom Aragorn would have married if he had a brain. Though I’m sure Faramir appreciated his king’s folly.
So many I couldn’t even count them.
Aragorn, Gwydion, King Arthur, Sir Lancelot, Sparhawk, Carrot, the list goes on and on and on. I may even be back later but it’s time to play Mechwarrior.
I know it is probably cliched but Elizabeth Bennet (even before she was played by Keira Knightley thankyouverymuch) is on the top of my list. Other notable entries include:
Liza Khokhlakov from The Brothers Karamazov. She may be a little childish, but the letter she writes to Alyosha and her subsequent embarrassment at having revealed her love always struck me as adorable.
Adelaida Ivanovna Yepanchin from The Idiot. An talented painter who always seemed to me to be one of the deeper side characters in the book (and that is saying something for a Dostoevsky novel).
Petra Arkanian from the Ender series. Really, who wouldn’t have a crush on a girl who was smart enough to control the world.
Friday Jones. The ultimate Heinlein female. Not just capable but superhuman. If she were a genuine hardcore intellectual on top of that I’d be a goner.
I’d also like to disqualify comic book characters. What I’m wondering about is conjunction of vivid characterization and the reader’s imagination combining to make the reader think, “Ah, if only I lived on Tellus Secundus–I could court Ira Weatheral’s beautiful daughter Hamadryad.”