Character Witness

My favorite fictional characters (my, what a task this was to try to narrow it down to five!) I finally ended up with two women, two men, and a machine…
Temperance – Temperance Brennan aka Bones; head of the squint squad on the TV series, Bones. I love her brains, logic, and literal mindedness. Actress Emily Deschanel does a fabulous job portraying this scientist who deals exclusively in facts. My favorite catch-phrase of hers is, “I don’t know what that means” when she needs clarification.
Data – The sentient, fully-functioning android from the TV series, Star Trek (portrayed beautifully by Brent Spiner.) For someone who’s not human, Data’s awfully human; I never get bored with him. His eternal quest for his own humanity is always touching and uplifting.
Peabody – Amelia Peabody Emerson, the main character in Elizabeth Peters’ mystery series set in the decades right around 1900. She’s a scholarly heiress who decides that excavating pyramids in the heat, dust, and danger of Egypt (with her dearly beloved husband, Radcliffe, at her side) is just the thing. Peabody often makes me laugh out loud; in her world, a parasol is a weapon, whiskey is a restorative, and common sense wins out every time.
Dumbledore – The headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. He’s the epitome of goodness; the most powerful wizard in the world, yet wise and benevolent. He’s also quite human; he makes mistakes and learns from them. I love deep characters with many layers, who hold up over the time it takes to get to know them.
Aragorn – From The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien, the character of Strider/Aragorn/King Elessar is another deep one. His destiny is to be the hero; everything he does is larger than life, and yet, he’s another believable and sympathetic human being. Even though I first read the books 30 years before Peter Jackson’s marvelous films, Strider will forever have Viggo Mortensen’s face in my imagination – the man’s hotness quotient is off the charts!