[LMB] favourite and Least Favorite Bujold Characters

[Elizabeth Holden]

--- "Dorian E. Gray" <israfel at eircom.net> wrote:

> This is interesting.  I read "least favourite
> characters" as "characters who 
> aren't interesting".  

I deliberately left that ambiguous - because I wasn't
sure which road to take and decided it was best to let
others interpret as they wish.

Two possibilities for 'least favourite':
(1) list villains who are fascinating and compelling
in their utter horribleness

(2) list characters who are just boring or annoying

and I guess there's a third possibility:

(3) characters you just don't want to be stuck sitting
next to at some dinner party.

For category 1, I might say "my favourite villains":

1. Ges Vorrutyer
2. Vordarian
3. Metzov (despite the fact I keep getting his name
wrong)
4. Baron Ryoval
5. Tien

even though I tend to confuse the latter two.

There are also some grey areas, since Bujold is seldom
simplistic. I was tempted to list Bothari as  a
favourite villain, but because we see him through
sympathetic eyes, he's really a hero and should maybe
be on my list of 'favourite characters' somewhere.

In plot terms, Piotr is an antagonist in "Barrayar"
and yet I love him as a hero. Go figure.

Tien is in a unique position: he pushes a lot of my
personal buttons and so is both horrific and
fascinating - he raises all sorts of personal issues
and memories so I can't judge him as he is in the
book. I can't be sure what category to put him into.
He almost spoils my enjoyment of Komarr, and yet...
and yet... he doesn't.

> Both Serg and Ges are extremely unpleasant 
> individuals, but they do not bore me, and so they
> didn't make it onto my  "least favourites" list.  

Yes. That list may be the hardest because I don't tend
to remember the characters who bore me. Let's call
this list "characters who miss the mark" - characters
who I know are much loved by other readers, but they
leave me cold for some reason or other, usually lack
of understanding of them.

1. Elli
2. Alys
3. Laisa
4. Drou and Kou - who are actually growing on me now
when I reread
5. Ma Kosti

This makes me think of another category of Bujold
characters - characters I love far more than their
role in the stories would warrant. They just come
alive off the page.  Examples:

1. Duv Galeni
2. Kai Tung
3. Taura
4. Ezar Vorbarra
5. The postman in Silvy Vale whose name I forget

namaste,
Elizabeth