[Diana in Wisconsin]

I just came across this list while researching something else. Some of these 'people' sure seem like 'old friends' to me! :)

Do you have a favorite character from fiction? Who is it and why?

[apocalypto]

I had many as a child such as: “Charlotte’s Web,” “Little House on the Prarie” series, Kirsten in the “American Girl” series.

[wiggen]

An awful lot of people here like Orson Scott Card. Is there some reason Ender Wiggen isn’t on the list from Enders Game?

[ml/nj]

I see Wesley Mouch didn't make it.

ML/NJ

[zbogwan2]

Charlie Chan, Sherlock Holmes,The Gunsmoke Crew:Matt, Chester, Festus, Doc and Kitty. David”Noodles” Aronson from Once upon a time in America, Harry Faversham form The Four Feathers, The Creeper character played by Rondo Hatten, Major Geoffrey Vickers form the Charge of the Light Brigade, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Lone Ranger and the Shadow.

[squarebarb]

I forget their names, but the ‘intellectual’ and the ‘man of action’ in Zorba the Greek. They were a great combination.

Also, the same kind of pairing, Aubrey and Maturin in Patrick O’Brian’s sefaring series. They too were a great combination and played off one another.

[Mr. Jeeves]

This is a pretty good list, except that I would put P.G. Wodehouse's Jeeves right at the top. ;)

Most of the omissions people have mentioned above in "how dare they?" terms are from novels written by authors who are popular but not very good prose stylists. So even if the character is memorable and the book sold well the context in which they appeared would disqualify them in the eyes of a serious critic.

[Cincinatus]

Sir Harry Flashman of the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser. Truly one of a kind.

[gate2wire]

Ah, I see Gus McCrae made it at 41.
Didn’t see Woodrow. He should have made it too.

[lonestar]

Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler...and Prissy.

[Fast Moving Angel]

They need to rewrite this list. If Francisco d’Anconia, Hank Rearden, John Galt and Dagny Taggart aren’t on it, it isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.

Also — Jubal Harshaw from Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land” — how could they omit HIM?

[Mad Dawgg]

Zaphod Beeblbrox, Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent!

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Orm Tostesson, from “The Long Ships : A Saga of the Viking Age”, by Frans Gunner Bengtsson.

Alex DeLarge (A Clockwork Orange)

Fu Manchu

Guy Montag (Fahrenheit 451)

Jerry Cornelius (Michael Moorcock)

Dr. Mabuse

Herbert West (Re-animator)

Brigadier-General Sir Harry Paget Flashman, VC KCB KCIE

Harry Haller (Steppenwolf)

Billy Pilgrim (Slaughterhouse Five)

Captain Doctor Benjamin Franklin “Hawkeye” Pierce

Viscount John Clayton, Lord Greystoke (Tarzan)

Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin

Admiral Horatio Hornblower

Colin Glencannon (Guy Gilpatric)

Lensman Virgil Samms

Hari Seldon (Issac Asimov)

Lazarus Long (Robert Heinlein)

Don Juan Matus (Carlos Castaneda)

[Dudoight]

I would go for Jack Reacher, a magnificent guy. Lee Child is the author of 11 books with Jack as the main character.

[stylecouncilor]

I’m glad Nick & Nora Charles, and Jeeves made the list...but no Howard Roark or Dagny Taggart??!!!

[magslinger]

That list is even more worthless than I thought it would be when I read it was from NPR. Nabokov mentioned three times and Heinlein not even once! Big Obamer Brother but not John Galt!

It did start a good discussion here, though.