Fantasy Stories with Strong Compelling Characters.

[BAYLOR]

There is topic for this on science fiction so, why not fantasy as well?

 

[hitmouse]

Off the top of my head without pausing for breath:

LOTR
Titus Groan et al
Chrestomanci
Harry Potter
The Golden Compass
The Lankhmar stories
Little Big
The Once and Future King
The Chronicles of Prydain
Where the Wild Things Are
Uncle

all have well- developed interesting central characters who carry the plot along.
I am sure I could think of half a dozen more.

 

[.matthew.]

Tatterwing

 

[nixie]

Scott R R Bakker's Prince of Nothing series.
Anything by Joe Abercrombie.
Erikson's Malazan series.
Esslemont's Path to Ascendancy.

I could go on for ever.

 

[Karn's Return]

Well, nothing of mine, I'm afraid... XD



TE's Rune of Unmaking series was pretty damn good, and I really liked one character in particular, but she's good across the board.

 

[BAYLOR]

The Kane the Mystic Swordsman saga by Karl Edward Wagner. Kane cursed to immortality for killing his brother Abel, causing mankind to rebel against God and bringing violence into world. Kane not a hero in the traditional sense . He's a heroic Villain /antihero A killer with cold blue eyes ( the mark of Kane ) His immortality renders him the ultimate loner, because he outlives everyone around him . He wanders the earth always scheming and bailing and sow violence and chaos , achieving great power only to lose it again and again . In the novel Darkness Weaves The evil sorceress Effrel wants employ Kane in a vengeance quest so , she summons a demon to ask him about Kane . The Demon tells Effrel that " "Kane is not sane as the world recons sanity. " He cautioned Effrel about perils of employing Kane . But she didn't really listen.

Yes, Kane is a very compelling and interesting character.

 

[Bren G]

I really enjoyed the Word & Void Series by Terry Brooks. In fact, I reread them every five years or so. They are fantasy novels but occur within the modern era. Great characters that you miss once you finish the book.

Book 1 : Running with the Demon
Book 2: A Knight of the Word
Book 3: Angel Fire East

 

[nixie]

I really enjoyed the Word & Void Series by Terry Brooks. In fact, I reread them every five years or so. They are fantasy novels but occur within the modern era. Great characters that you miss once you finish the book.

Book 1 : Running with the Demon
Book 2: A Knight of the Word
Book 3: Angel Fire East

Bren, have you read Brooks Shannara books? His later books pull the two series together. Very clever, the series started decades ago but he managed to join them together without too many errors.

 

[BAYLOR]

Bren, have you read Brooks Shannara books? His later books pull the two series together. Very clever, the series started decades ago but he managed to join them together without too many errors.

Ive read the first book Running with the Demon. Thought it quite excellent but never read the rest of there series .At the time , It never occurred to me that it might be a part of Shannara.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Steve Cockayne's Wanderers & Islanders trilogy.

 

[nixie]

Yes, when I started Genesis series it hit me, Armageddon's Children ties in both series. The end of world as we know it and the origins of Shannara.

 

[Timebender]

The Dark Tower series is full of interesting fantasy ideas, like Roland's alternate world, the Todash, the various layers of reality, and the Tower itself. But I also find its main cast to be one of the most interesting teams I've ever read.

• Roland is a man of instinct, of force and adrenaline, of established paths, and of little imagination. But unlike many people with those traits, he has a clear self-awareness of them that even leads to, at times, straining against them even if he usually doesn't usually succeed. Which, in its own way, is good, because if he wasn't this way than he wouldn't be able to do the things he does, some of which are vital to the survival of the multiverse. He does terrible things on his way to find the tower, some of which are justified, and some of which aren't, and some are hard to tell. He does not see himself as a righteous man, and often doesn't even try to moralize the sacrifices he makes on his quest, but he knows (or at least things) that it is the only way, and he will not refuse any people in need that he comes across.

• Jake is the first companion that Roland picks up. His mentality is probably the simplest of the main team (or "ka-tet" as the language of Roland's people refers to a family-like team), which I guess is fitting since he's still a child. Nevertheless, he wants to follow in Roland's footsteps, and occasionally finds conflict between what he needs to be for the quest, and the child that he is (something Roland sees, and feels guilty about).

• Eddie is a young adult, and is pretty much the comic relief of the group. But his wisecracks not only prove to be essential to the group's morale, but they hide a desperate, often-angry complex array of emotions. While his quest with the ka-tet obviously causes him much mental, emotional, and physical trauma, it's still good for him, as not only does being sucked into Roland's world force him to give up his crippling drug addiction, but gives him a father figure in Roland, a brother figure in Jake, and the love of his life in Susannah. While it's easy to dismiss him as "the goofy one", he has a unique perspective that gets the others out of a jam many times.

• Susannah, before she fell in with Roland's crew, was two women in one body: the proper and ladylike Odetta and the crude, angry, and violent Detta. Her DID most likely stemmed from the contrast between the strict manner she was taught growing up and the horrific racism she has endured first hand. After she falls in with Roland and the others, she finds balance. A new personality, that mostly comes from Odetta but has a little of Detta's fire and wit, gains dominance in her mind, and the woman takes on the new name of Susannah. She falls in love with Eddie and becomes a maternal figure for Jake. She is the group's rock, usually the most sensible and reliable, although she does have to cover up her own inner turmoil to be so. She has a pretty clear view of how Roland influences them all, in both good ways in bad, but she is loyal to him and devoted to the quest he leads them on. She will, occasionally, summon up the ghost of the Detta personality if she needs to do something but doesn't think she's strong enough. And along the way of the series, a new personality begins to subtly make itself known, for a dreadful purpose that even Susannah is unaware of...

Every character has a unique relationship with every other character, and altogether they make a fascination quartet of main characters with complex and fascinating dynamics.

 

[Bren G]

Bren, have you read Brooks Shannara books? His later books pull the two series together. Very clever, the series started decades ago but he managed to join them together without too many errors.

Hi @nixie

Yes I started first on Elfstones. I still remember to this day when I spied it on the shelf at the bookstore as a young teen. I bought in on cover alone and it didn't disappoint. I'd stay up late into the night and drag myself into school the next day, tired and grumpy. If I recall correctly (I forget books in about a year. It's terrible!), the battle scenes are to die for (pun intended) and like how he brought tactics to the fore of the novel. I reread the series as well every five years or so. Sword and Wishsong were amazing too.

What did you think of the Heritage series?

 

[nixie]

I enjoyed them, I've not read all the Shannara series, what I have read I've liked.

 

[Guttersnipe]

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia

 

[Vince W]

Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga. Indeed the entire Eternal Champion sequence.

 

[vanye]

Katharine Kerr‘s Deverry books. I know I keep recommending them, but I assure you it is totally justified! Lots of great characters there and unbelievably good writing.

 

[BAYLOR]

Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga. Indeed the entire Eternal Champion sequence.

Absolutely

 

[pogopossum]

Peter Grant and Nightingale in The Rivers of London series.
They are not "Strong" in the physical or unlimited or huge power sense. Although they do have great abilities, particularly Nightingale.
But they are compelling. And they are always there to clench their teeth and dive in, often against the odds, for Queen and country, like good coppers.


Of course it depends on how you look at it.
Clearly the strongest character in fantasy fiction is Foul ole Ron.

 

[tobl]

Of course it depends on how you look at it.
Clearly the strongest character in fantasy fiction is Foul ole Ron.

who?
as for recommendations, well every fantasy has to have strong carachets but okay
peter v brett demon cycle
patrick rothfuss kingkiller chronicles
brandon sanderson elantris
elseerian