Ten Favorite Screen Characters

I was tagged by fellow author C.L. Schneider to name 10 of my favorite movie and/or TV characters. This list is from most loved to least loved. These are simply characters that (for one reason or another) have stood out to me over the years.

I’m not a huge movie buff. I’m not an avid reader. What I am is a passionate, incurable Story Lover. It doesn’t matter the medium or genre. All I want is riveting Story that moves you so deeply, it haunts you long after you walk away.

Here is a list of characters who moved me so deeply, I will never forget them. And, at the end of the list, are a collection of writers who I challenge to name their ten favorite screen characters!

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1 – Monkey D. Luffy from the anime One PieceFor his smile and his endless sense of adventure. This boy never fails to make me laugh. Never.

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2 – Naruto from the anime Naruto For his refusal to quit no matter how hurt or lonely he becomes. A reminder to me that I must never give up.

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3 and 4 – Murphy and Conner MacManus from Boondock Saints

Nowhere have I ever seen two brothers who love each other more than these two…except maybe Edward and Al.

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5 – Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings

“Then let us be rid of it! Come, Mr. Frodo. I can’t carry this burden for you. But I can carry you.”

This line still gives me shivers and moves me to tears always. Such riveting friendship. True friendship like nothing I’ve ever seen before or since.

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6 – Hawkeye from M*A*S*H

For showing me the insanity of war and teaching me how to laugh at it to keep my own sanity.

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7 – Mr. Spock

For his dedication to intelligence and rising above the passion of emotions. May we all be as unprejudiced as he.

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8 – Jean-Luc Picard

The man went Borg and back again, lived two life times, watched his wife and children die only to learn that none of it was real, and he did all of this while taking crap from “Q” and Wesley. He is my ultimate hero. By the way…that is why Picard is better thank Kirk, who didn’t make this list.

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9 – Benny Russell (Captain Sisko from Star Trek DS9)

No performance by no other actor shows the pain of prejudice more than he. Benny Russell was a quiet and gentle man who wanted only to write science fiction during an era when black men weren’t allowed.

If you’ve never watched an episode of Star Trek, the episodes with Benny Russell are the ones to see. It really…REALLY shows you what the actors of Star Trek can do with their talents. No episode stayed with me more than when Benny Russell fell to the ground screaming.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Benny, already knowing the truth, asks what the publishers didn’t like [about his story]. The artwork? The layout? But Benny, already starting to break down, answers his own question, the magazine was pulped because the hero of “Deep Space Nine” is a colored man. Pabst tells Benny that he knows it isn’t right, but he furiously defends the decision, saying that “is not about what’s right, it’s about what is.” This leads into further bad news. The publishers have decided that Benny’s services are no longer required. The rest of the staff recoil in shock, and even the normally unflappable Julius is horrified. Benny tells Pabst that he can’t be fired, because he quits, before sweeping the contents of a nearby table on the floor in anger as he begins to have a nervous breakdown. He is devastated that everyone is attempting to deny both himself and Ben Sisko, that the publishers are attempting to destroy the story. But he says, sobbing, that they cannot destroy the idea. Ben Sisko, Deep Space Nine, and all the people from the story, they exist inside his head, and in the heads of everyone who read it.

“You can pulp a story, but you cannot destroy an idea! Don’t you understand, that’s ancient knowledge. You cannot destroy an idea! That future, I created it, and it’s real! Don’t you understand? It is REAL! I created it and IT’S REAL!”

Benny finally collapses, sobbing being cradled by his former fellow workers.

“You are the dreamer, and the dream.“

As he’s carted away in an ambulance, Benny finds the preacher sitting beside him and sees himself in a strange uniform. “Who am I?” he asks quietly. “You’re the dreamer,” the Preacher answers him, “and the dream.” Quote from http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Far_Beyond_the_Stars_%28episode%29

***END SPOILER ALERT***

And yes…3 of my 9 listed here are from Star Trek.

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And finally…my tenth character who inspired me…

Light Yagami from Death Note!

I know what you’re thinking.

“What!? Light Yagami? Are you mad!?” or “Who?”

Let me explain.

Death Note is an anime like no other. Anyone who sees it will agree, Death Note changes you.

It is about Light Yagami, a high honor roll, straight A student. Son of the chief of police. Mr. Goody Tu-shoes himself. And he finds a Death Note.

A Death Note is a notebook Death gods use to kill people. When this perfect role model, finds the Death Note, he realizes he has absolute power to kill…anyone…without consequence…any way he wants. All he has to do is write their name down in the Death Note.

What enfolds over the next 37 episodes is his deterioration from good to evil as absolute power corrupts him.

So who is Light Yagami?

He is you. He is me. He is who we all could become.

Why Light Yagami?

Because when you walk away from Death Note, you will never forget the sheer madness in his eyes. Light Yagami haunts you. You remember and you wonder…everyone always wonders…how would I use the Death Note if it were me? Could you do better with the Death Note? Are any of us any better than Light Yagami?

Are you?

I nominate these fellow writers to take the Ten Favorite Character Challenge, and I urge you to check out their written work!