Who is the most well written/realized fictional character of all time?
Obviously you can include film/TV and other media in the equation.
my diary desu
>>8217420
>Who is the most well written/realized fictional character of all time?
hamlet
Caspar Goodwood
>>8217455
>Hamlet is under 100 pages
>Implying that a character could be developed in 100 pages
luna lovegood
>>8217420
Sol Weintraub
>>8217478
>implying it couldn't
>>8217420
Al Swearengen
>>8217478
You know that it takes on average 4 hours to perform Hamlet, right?
>>8217478
He's developed more well than Proust's narrator is over the several thousand pages of ISoLT.
>>8217420
Tyrion Lannister
>>8217420
Leopold Bloom
leopold bloom
>>8217420
the greeks
>>8217478
>implying Hamlet didn't invent the modern human
>>8217484
>>8217520
>>8217544
Holy shit, so many plebs on /lit/ (not including others thatre probably bait), when did this happen. And if not plebbery, then copious and terrible shitposting, Jesus christ.
>>8217476
Good book, but Caspar Goodwood is given almost NO personality or character development or even that many pages whatsoever, so what the fuck are you smoking? Even Lord Warburton is more well-developed, let alone... jesus, I can't even keep typing this, that's such a ridiculous answer, although Portrait is a great book.
Anyway, some good answers (a lot said already in the thread desu) would probably be:
Leopold Bloom
Stephen Dedalus
Raskolnikov
Prince Myshkin
Hamlet
Falstaff
Iago
I'd go with Leopold Bloom, myself, actually.
>>8217851
I'm sure plenty of people would call you a faggot for reading in the first place. Judge not, that ye not be judged.
>>8217838
Nah, Katsuragi is cool, I didn't think that was bait. Good post.
Raskolnikov.
>>8217881
i am a faggot, but i don't pretend anime is literature
>>8217918
The OP said "fictional" not "literary". If it had, I would've said Molloy, or the doctor from Satantango, or Siddhartha, plus the standards such as Dedalus and Hamlet. Pic related is also great though, forgot about her when making my first post.
>>8217888
Thanks anon, you're a man of good taste.
William Stoner
Bilbo
Tony Soprano
>>8217420
Raskolnikov
Julian (Only God Forgives)
Travis Bickle
Hamlet
Pierre (War and Peace)
Shinji Ikari
>>8217762
You are the kind of guy that, on Shakespeare's day, would be saying that theater only produced shit and that the real deal was only Virgil, Ovid, Homer and etc.
Meursault obviously
>>8218044
yes
Watashi
Shichika Yasuri
Makoto Tsukimoto (Smile)
Shinji Ikari
>>8218093
>Julian (Only God Forgives)
Aureliano Buendia, the one whodies during the hurricane
Jihadist John.
>>8217420
No fictional character is as real as a man with a soul who lives and breathes.
Thus, the greatest fictional character is a real man, whom it has been forgotten that he ever truly lived, to the extent that his life has become fiction.
Take your pick of the classical heroes and gods of our ancestors.
>>8218150
I know of the others, but what show is Watashi from?
>>8218241
Tatami Galaxy
>>8218241
Watashi just means Potato in Japanese
He's making a joke, because Apollo was the Roman god of potatoes and Shinji means Apollo in Japanese.
It's an anime thing.
>>8218249
Funny, but no.
>>8218179
Oh, please. He's just an average Brit.
>>8217762
>Caspar Goodwood is given almost NO personality or character development or even that many pages whatsoever
lol. given how infrequently he appears in the book, he is marvelously well developed. the ending is so good.
Bjartur of Summerhouse
what a retarded question OP
>>8217762
Seconded on Bloom.
Also, Hamlet is thirty years old. THIRTY. Does Hamlet seem like a realistic 30 year old man to you?
>>8218248
excellent show
>>8217544
this is exquisite bait
Probably Don Quixote.
>>8218248
That show is bliss.
>>8217420
Naruto Uzumaki
>>8217544
>Freeza
>Don Quxote
Mein neger
Sancho Panza
>>8217520
Very brave of you, sir.
>>8217539
Came to post this
whichever character is the most recognizable to the reader's own internal experience
>>8217484
I'm surprised Hyperion is well known enough for someone to be called a pleb that fast.
I'd say
Hamlet
Satan in Paradise Lost.
Myshkin
Ivan Vasilyevich (from the Eisenstein film)
and Mahound
>>8219013
And to be honest, Sol Weintraub isn't a bad choice I don't think. Neither is Tyrion Lannister, really.
I don't see how they could be viewed as shallow choices other than the fact that they're both in *gasp* genre fiction books.
Any major character in Middlemarch. Even some of the secondary characters, especially Kitty, are well developed.
>>8218312
what do you mean?
i know plenty of whiny 30 year olds with fears of commitment
>>8217420
Samwise Gamgee
>>8218941
10/10
sheldon cooper from big bang theory
>>8219185
Autism isn't real you dip.
>>8217514
it's a retrospective, dude...
>"literary" snobs blast anyone who lists a genre fiction character
>Think Evangelion's characters are deep
Joe christmas. You get to experience the level of isolation that a man experiences in a society where he is seen as an outsider.
To all you fucks putting characters from animes, get the fuck out of here.
>>8217420
probably not the best but certainly my favorite of recent memory has to be archimboldi in 2666
>>8219240
Misato is written like she were ripped straight from a classic novel. You leave.
>>8218132
this
Also, to all Leopold Bloom fags here:
https://books.google.com.br/books?id=gQreVkGq8y8C&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=borges+on+ulysses+we+know+a+lot+of+things+about&source=bl&ots=ml_7HyJHMo&sig=v7j6KFvMiT7EJmYWQpjSvBszCs0&hl=pt-BR&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjss6Tc9c3NAhVGkpAKHYM9C2oQ6AEIHzAA#v=onepage&q=borges%20on%20ulysses%20we%20know%20a%20lot%20of%20things%20about&f=false
look for page 39
>>8217536
Why is she so perfect?
>>8218941
Holy shit. Are you fucking Autistic?
It's obvious Sakura is the more developed character. Surpassing every character of Shakespeare (which is too hard to read anyway) in her poetic emotional journey through the series.
>>8217746
What does that even mean?
>>8221354
It means he took a break from slobbering all over Harold Bloom's ancient cock to make that post.
Charles Foster Kane, anyone?
Arthur in the once and future king
Solid snake
>>8217478
one page is plenty
>>8217544
B+ shitpost, I nearly bit the bait
>>8218180
>The greatest fictional character is real
I despise Kanye fans
>>8221745
He's not even as developed as big boss
>>8218040
FLCL overall is really well written. Many aspects of the characters and actions are implied or obscured in a subtle way. It's probably the only anime I'll ever rewatch again.
>>8217420
>>8222384
Last story archs are shit and he's turned into a conventional hero
>>8218132
The theater DID produce shit and Virgil, Ovid, Homer, etc., WERE the real deal. Shakespeare was a minority among superficial and cliched playwrights we don't even hear of today, ones besides Fletcher, Kyd, Beaumont, Marlowe, etc...
Tywin Lannister
The police guy from Les miserables
Are there good characters like this in other works?
Prince Myshkin
Ishmael (Moby Dick, or The Whale)
Cornelius Suttree
>>8218985
wrong
>>8217420
Love him and the manga
>>8222256
It is quite clever, but personally I just enjoy it the balance of absurdity and powerfully tragic nostalgia. Plus, obviously, the soundtrack is incredible.
>>8217420
>poorly disguised /lit/ anime thread
>no mention of Revolutionary Girl Utena
I'mkinda disappointed
James Sunderland
M Swan!
>>8217420
Anne Frank
>>8217420
Leopold Bloom
>>8217478
>Return
Only bad authors
>Tolstoy
>Dostoevsky
>Pynchon
need more than 100 pages to actually develop anything other than dribble.
Don Draper
Raskolnikov
Billy Lynn
Faust
>>8223796
Don Draper was my immediate reaction
>>8223924
unsure if joke but part of the point is that that's 'don draper' and he's running from/trying to reconcile with 'dick whitman' and kinda hates himself for his inadequacies and actions.
>>8218253
>Jihadist John.
the average brit is the most complex and interesting character that western civilization has produced
The God of the Old Testament
Dino
>>8218044
came to post this
>>8217420
Roast Beef Kazenzakis. I believe this wholeheartedly and unironically.
>>8217539
Borges would disagree.
>>8223924
>unbelievably attractive
>>8217420
In recent memory I really loved Bunny from The Secret History. He's by no means the G.O.A.T. but his scenes were always fun to read.
Michael Pemulis had a similar "can't wait for his chapter" feeling to him.
Weissman/Blicero was terrifying, even though he rarely made an appearance in G.R. His diatribes were terrifying and imparted a frightening sense of scale.
Similar feelings from the Judge.
Frobisher in Cloud Atlas was also a really well-rounded character that felt really subtly developed in a way that made realistic sense.
>>8223375
I like this choice.
>>8223924
lol I don't think you really understood the complexities of the show.
Also the question was not the most realistic, but most well realized
>>8217420
Lyovin
>>8218088
Actually a really good answer.
>>8224160
Borges doesn't understand the concept of character. Which is fine.
>>8219039
I would argue that Jaime is a more well developed character than Tyrion, but just because Tyrion a meme character doesn't mean his bad
>>8217478
I don't get it. Why not?
>>8217420
Baron de Charlus
>>8224915
I would definitely argue that as well. While I do like him, Tyrion isn't as dynamic. He's just more bitter than he was at the start.
Dorothea Casabaun has like 300 pgs of direct analysis dedicated to her. Her inconsistencies are incredibly human.
Ben Horne is pure /lit/
Kilroy.
Consistent characterization is consistent.
>>8224175
I like these choices. I'd sub Blicero for Franz Pokler, though. Frobisher is a great character - I like how he saw everything through music.
>>8222722
Ahab is more developed than Ishmael, in fact, he's probably the most well-developed character in the whole story, Ishmael is just the passive lens to narrate it who doesn't fucking exist for a good 300 pages, he has no development whatsoever, is completely flat, does very little to contribute to the major points of the story besides going on the ship to observe it all and give some philosophical observations on it, he's a non-entity who basically blends with Melville himself.
Prince Myshkin never really understands or goes through cynicism so much as the reader can see, making him significantly less complex than, say, Raskolnikov; in the end, faced with utter evil, he can only go utterly insane, he's weak but very good and innocent --- so ultimately not as interesting a character as some of Dostoyevsky's other more cynical creations.
I can't speak for Suttree as I haven't read it yet, but I will do that and get back to you because I want to prove everything that you've ever written to be wrong.
joe christmas from light in august.
Okay; EVA is good for its respective medium, a masterpiece even - but let's get real...
>>8226548
Kitty > Dodo
The Underground Man, because Dostoyeski died 110 years to the day before I was born, but captured me so completely.
>>8227268
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMfPgFdaEBA
>>8227757
Does this movie have any full-penetration sex scenes with little boys?Asking for a friend, please do not put me on a watchlist.
Leto II
>>8218040
Evenso, no Anime is narratively complex enough to have a character that could be considered one of the best developed in all of fiction. Lose the cherry-blossom colored glasses
I would say Ricky from The Trailer Park Boys
>>8218180
my fuckin' sides
>>8228224
If you said "most" rather than "best", I would agree. I chose to post characters that affected me most deeply, not those with the most complexity. That being said, here's another - one of the most brutally tragic characters ever created, if you'll allow that characters, like real people, are the result of their circumstances.
>>8228237
*unsheaths broadsword* On the name of ere high dunsinane hill, revoke your eastern proclivities knave
Or whatever someone versed in Shakespeare would say here
>>8217478
I can develop your character in a sentence.
You're a faggot.
>>8217420
It's Jesus
>>8224175
for me Henry seemed more of a "developed" character than Bunny. I did enjoy Bunny's scenes though.
I agree with alot of the animu characters posted here. Misato, Shinji, even Asuka I'd put up there. FLCL does a great job with its characters as well.
Right now I'm reading the Brother's Karamazov and all of the characters feel very "real" to me. In particular Dmitri and Fyodor.
>>8223334
Utena was pretty gr8
Also agree with William Stoner, as mentioned by >>8218044
>>8227854
Nope, the best you're gonna get is dicks in the surreal animated sections, and James Franco making out with dudes a couple of times;
still a great movie though.
You all need to read/ watch Monster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM0gjM96nxk
Excluding literature, it's clearly Tony Soprano.
>>8228848
I tried, complete garbage
>>8228915
Any reason why you say so? How far did you get?
>>8228934
first or second episode of the anime, can't remember much
>>8228987
The premise of the show isn't even established until the fourth episode. I recommend going back to it; it's a slow burn, but definitely worth the investment.
If the show moves too slow for you, try reading the manga, it moves much quicker. If you get to the end of volume 2(the image I posted, it's only like 200 pages) and aren't hooked, then you've got no reason to continue.
>>8229008
it seemed like a crude genre story at time, with akward dialogue
not sure if I'm remembering correctly though
Joe Keller
Pro\antagonist from Arthur Miller's All my Son's. He's a very dilluded character, that has done very immoral things, but has been brought to believe he had done the right thing due to the social values of society in 1950's America, his character is very realistic and developed. It's a great play.
Easy one. It's Goku.
Achilles
>>8229016
It's a psychological thriller about catching a serial killer, which sounds like your typical Law & Order schlock, but quickly develops into a show about how everyday people can be manipulated into doing horrible things by men with charisma.
What I especially like is the main villain who, once established, is rarely seen, and acts as more of a 'presence' affecting all the events and characters, than just some dude who likes killing for arbitrary sadistic reasons. He's able to manipulate people, not through 'brainwashing' or something equally cliche, but by understanding people's motives and insecurities and playing to those.
Really, few things in the story feel forced at all, everything happens for a reason, even if that reason isn't clear at first. I don't know if I'd call it a piece of 'great literature', it's philosophy can feel heavy-handed, but in terms of human characters with realistic motives, It's one of the best stories out there, IMO.
Peer Gynt
Ignatius J. Reilly
Josef Svejk
>>8217455
Hamlet is undeveloped as shit.
The kid from blood meridian
>>8230155
Peter Parker - Spider-Man
>>8218044
I'll wait for the movie.
>>8230155
>>8221137
You people really think Misato Katsuragi could be the greatest fictional character of all time?
>>8226951
>Shinji Ikari is the correct answer
>>8230245
She's the one that affected me the most. The word "greatest" in this context is utterly meaningless.
>>8230225
Hideaki Anno's
>>8230183
Judge Holden is far more developed than The Kid. The whole kid's character is that he's almost like an anonymous observer
Hoshino From planetes is probably the number one psychotic astronaut in literature
>>8229018
All my Sons is great, very morally gray, but not in a melodramatic way.
Random fun fact, but I recommended it to a friend, and he brought up how he'd heard of it because the band 21 pilots took their name from it.
>>8229116
>>8228848
started reading
This bitch. I swar un me mum.
Cornelius Suttree
>>8229039
>Achilles
Not Priam?
>>8230227
when you got dat glow... man i need to watch that masterpiece again.
Michael Corleone
Casca
Stevie Griffin
>>8231662
She only gets worse
>>8217536
best girl
>>8223375
It always upsets me that whenever people start talking about games as art, Silent Hill 2 never gets brought up, when its one of the only games that doesn't beat you over the head with its morals. It just tells you enough info to piece together the stories of a few people, and lets you decide from there whether their actions were justified or not. It's got subtlety, and asks meaningful questions, but people are afraid to bring it up because of the unsettling sexual imagery.
>>8233975
Sorry bro, only games that are art include lesbians and no gameplay.
>>8233986
Maybe in pretentious hipster circles, but I mean whenever there are mainstream pushes for people to address video games as art, they present some of the shallowest experiences gaming has to offer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Video_Games#Games_exhibited
Look at the exhibit the Smithsonian put together, and tell me one game on that list that wasn't made to either simply entertain or tell a story. Not to say that some of the stories told in these games are bad, many have gripping narratives and relatable characters, but there's really nothing to analyze after that.
If people are going to take video games seriously, we should be showing them games with more complex themes and more substance. We should be emphasizing the aspects of storytelling that video games do better than older mediums, instead of trying to push stories that could be told in any other medium just as well.
Tom Hamilton
>>8222875
I watched FLCL, but it went over my head. Why is it so good?
>>8230255
Are you a grill?
>>8217455
What's so special about Hamlet?
>>8234185
if you liked it, then there's a strong chance you'll be nostalgic for it in the near future.
you'll hear some mellow rock and you'll somehow end up pining for "that show with the computer robot, and guitars."
you'll watch it again, and like it more, and the cycle will repeat itself until you'll understand why people think it's great.
if you didn't like it then idk
What is the Evangelion of literature?
>>8217420
Triple H.
Henry Sutpen
>>8234208
I put my money on Catcher in the Rye
>>8217420
Harold.
its a miracle
>>8234494
tomoko is so god damn accurate, havent read the manga tough
>>8218241
He could mean from Tatami Galaxy or Jinrui
Prince Volkonsky
Jan Val Jean
>>8218044
Correct
>>8234478
"Just get in the robot, Holden"
"I can't, I-I-I'm just a phony!"
>>8217907
this
He appeals to the inner edgelord for most of the book, but by the end it rips your heart out.
>>8217544
kek'd at Walter White
Tony Soprano.
Jean Valjean
![Osamu-Dazai_TINIMA20120210_0148_20[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/t4YktJt.jpg "Osamu-Dazai_TINIMA20120210_0148_20[1].jpg")
How has no one said Oba Yozo?
>>8219227
Eva's characters aren't well particularly well developed, even for anime. You only barely get a sense of what their internal thoughts and motivations are beyond what the show takes pains to point out, and most of what could be interpreted as subtlety is effectively so ambiguous it tells you nothing.
>>8217762
>Iago
>good
Iago is just a cartoonishly evil piece of shit with no complexity whatsoever. He's one of the worst parts of Othello.
Odysseus.
>>8228848
Monster is legitimately bad, by having the moral subtlety of a soap opera.
>>8228915
>>8228987
>>8229016
is right that it's a crude genre piece about catching a killer while "trying do the right thing"which doesn't matter because the plot takes pains to make sure the protagonist literally does nothing wrong despite pretending the case is otherwise.
>>8231662
>>8232481
And simplistic characters like this are exactly why Monster is overrated shit. Like all of Urasawa's stuff, it feigns the ability to deal with mature themes while actually falling back on basically childlike ideas.
>Ctrl+F
>No Severus Snape
/lit/ outing themselves for the dilettantes they are.
>>8233975
>It's got subtlety
I want all of you SHfags to die.
>>8235799
Relative to almost all other video games, it does. I'll agree that characters like Eddie and Laura are more simple than fans want to admit (Eddie is essentially a school shooter caricature), but Angela, James, and Mary are very nuanced and relatable, people who made choices under dire circumstances and have to deal with the repercussions. It tells the narrative of events in James' past not through just scattered notes and flashbacks but through just implications you pick up on through scenery and monster designs. It handles its sexual themes carefully, never using sexual imagery gratuitously, only in ways that enhance the story, fill in gaps, and help to present the mindset of the characters.
And even then you're left with the discussion of how morally right the characters were to begin with, which is a debate that can swing either way.
But yeah if anyone says SH 1 or 3 are subtle they're fucking retarded.
Ivan Ilych
>>8235799
>Angela, James, and Mary are very nuanced and relatable
Jesus Christ. Stop. Angela is a generic "look at how much my life sucks" terrible character.
James is as one-note as they come and Mary is a generic terminally ill character.
There's no nuance or any subtlety in any of SH games. Only idiots who think they are "the best horror ever" think otherwise.
>>8236182
The straightforwardness of Angela's story is meant to serve as a moral counterweight to James' story. Most people at first glance say Angela was in the right to kill her family because of her overwhelming victimhood, from the sexual and verbal abuse she underwent. But then the first reaction to James' crime is that he was in the wrong for killing his wife.
But Mary verbally abused him constantly for three years, and because of his marital fidelity he wasn't able to get any sort of sexual release the entire time she was hospitalized. He wasn't able to feel any sexual desire without feeling like he was betraying her, which is an agonizing mental state to be in when your first response to seeing any woman is to want to fuck them. That kind of guilt, abuse, and sexual frustration on a daily basis for three years is bound to make someone snap eventually, so how guilty is James for his actions?
Despite all this, James still clearly loved his wife dearly, and the fact that his more primal urges forced him to kill the person he loved the most is pretty fucking tragic, and if that isn't nuanced and relatable, I don't know what is.
>>8236269
>and if that isn't nuanced and relatable, I don't know what is.
You surely don't if you think any of that is nuanced.
>>8217544
You have a type, anon.
>>8234185
FLCL is just a great blend of many genres and is an unique coming of age story. If I'd play the devil's advocate and try to criticize FLCL in some way, I'd say it might be overwhelming the first time you watch it. Even now when I watch it for the 5th time, I sometimes catch small nuances which I previously thought were just nonsense.
>>8217420
Lentulus Batiatus
No joke, this is one of the best and most varied characters I've seen on television. Who would have thought Spartacus would offer us such a great character.
Will Graham from Hannibal
>>8217420
Mathilda
>Obviously you can include film/TV and other media in the equation.
No, you can't.
>>8229039
>fictional
>>8236601
What makes Hamlet a better character than Batiatus?
>>8236579
>No, you can't.
I encourage you to try and stop me.
>>8217420
Bruhman from Martin.
>>8217455
/thread
>>8217520
He's very humane, yes. But since it doesn't belong to something a 100 years old, and is part of popular culture, you'll get a lot of flak here.
>>8217420
The Man.
Betty
>>8234203
this exact scenario happened to me. watched it when i was younger, about 3 years ago, thought it was okay but didn't get it at all
3 years later, think "oh, i liked the music in that show, lets see if i like it any better"
Was able to see a ton of the nuances and everything, the show is now a 10/10 for me
>>8239013
What nuances did you catch? Just asking because I've watched it once and loved it, but I'm curious to hear other people's perspectives.
Maturin
That teen in Norweigan wood with the qt gf who killed himself in highschool
>>8217420
Mrs. Dalloway you fucking plebs
the absolute spirit
Underground Man, duh
>>8218040
Siddhartha not being a well developed character at all is kind of the whole point, though, isn't it?
>>8217420
>>8234695
Probably because the entire novel is the author's thinly laced autobiography, it's hardly fictional.
>>8241964
I think you mean his suicide note.
>>8217420
Humbert Humbert duh.
>>8241073
I mean, the entire book was the story of the development of his character, so at the start he wasn't.
Christ
>>8218044
How so?
>>8236308
What do you mean?
MC Ride
I can't believe no-one has said Kurtz yet.
Literally the entire novel was just about him, who he is, and why he does the things he does.
>>8230320
He's not psychotic, just follows his dreams no matter what.
ISOLDE
S
O
L
D
E
>>8218150
Smile and every other "character" in ping pong aren't characters. They're literally just symbols for levels of talent and such
>>8222838
made a real person exponentially less interesting.
Margarita
Literature
Stoner
Raskolnikov
Video Games
Madotsuki
Big Boss
Anime
Ritsu and Yui
Rakka and Reki
Kaiji
Maya and Yunocchi
Char Aznable
Film
The protagonist of Harakiri
The protagonist of Ningen no joken
>>8244205
Yes, you are right.
