Favorite Screen Characters Tag

I was tagged by Jaye L. Knight for the Favorite Screen Characters Tag. Narrowing down to 10 Favorite Screen characters is hard! Not to mention, I pretty much wanted to say ditto to every character on Jaye’s list. So here is my list (In no particular order).

Eowyn (Lord of the Rings)

While Aragorn has a very special place in my heart, I decided to feature Eowyn here since Aragorn was already featured in Jaye’s post. Eowyn is a horse-riding, sword-fighting maid of Rohan, and what’s not to like about that? Plus, her hair! Seriously, I want her no-frizz product. Somehow she goes through a full-tilt gallop, falling off her horse, and fighting the Witch King and somehow her curls remain in beautiful waves. I step out in the rain for two seconds and my hair starts to look like I touched an electric fence.

But what really clinched her as one of my all time favorite screen characters was the scene in the extended edition where Eowyn attempts to make soup (if you haven’t seen the extended editions, the extended edition of The Two Towers is worth watching just for that moment!) I’m an awful cook myself, so I can totally relate to this moment in the movie! The sequence below doesn’t capture the look on Aragorn’s face when he tries to swallow a mouthful.

Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts (The Princess Bride)

Dread Pirate Roberts, The Princess Bride

Before Pirates of the Caribbean and Once Upon a Time‘s Captain Hook, Westley/the Dread Pirate Roberts is to blame for my crush on pirates. After all, he’s like pirate meets Zorro. Totally awesome! Plus the whole not-staying-dead-thing? Yep, he’s my first love when it comes to on screen pirates.

Captain Hook/Killian Jones (Once Upon a Time)

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While we’re talking pirates, I couldn’t help but include Killian Jones/Captain Hook on this list. That grin! And those intense eyes! Argh! There are times I just want to slap Emma and tell her to get with it girl and not let a guy like Killian get away.

Captain America (Captain American: The First Avenger, etc) 

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Just to make sure you guys weren’t getting too worried with my obsession with pirates and bad boys, here’s a really good guy to make the list. I might be in the minority, but Captain America has been my favorite Avenger since the first film with him. He’s just such a nice, old-fashioned, principled guy. His principles are tested, and his struggle is in trying to live out his principles in a complicated world. His personality actually reminds me a lot of Shadrach Alistair in my recent release Dare. 

White Witch (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe BBC version)

Okaaaaaaay, so what does that have to do with Frozen?

I’d like to include a villain on this list. The White Witch in the old BBC version of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is the ultimate villain. The White Witch in the new Disney version can’t come close to capturing the truly scary White Witch that the old BBC version had. No one does a witch the way Barbara Kellerman did in that movie!

Maximus (Tangled)

You had to know this one was coming, right? I absolutely adore Tangled! Flynn Rider is awesome and Rapunzel is so sweet! But, Maximus makes my list mostly because I own Maximus. Don’t believe me? Compare the pictures below:

Maximus is soooo cute too.

Shadow

Looks aren’t the only things that are similar. Let’s just say I’m keeping my horse well away from my sword…

Merida (Brave) 

... young merida appeared in brave brave stories merida 01 02 2512 views

Because, well, she has a horse, she can out-shoot just about everybody, and that hair! Rocking those curls! Plus I love the mother-daughter story line. Both the mother AND the daughter have to change, which shows the complicated relationship that a lot of mothers and daughters have. On top of that, she’s a princess and she ends the movie single, which (being single myself) I can appreciate.

Maria (The Sound of Music) 

I love The Sound of Music! It is based on a true story, though the movie does change a few of the details. I actually did read the book that the real Maria Von Trapp wrote because I loved the movie so much.

Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)

Anne of Green Gables Anne & Gilbert

Another childhood favorite. Since I knew I wanted to be a writer, I always connected with Anne. And her mishaps! As I grew older, I began to appreciate the love story part with her and Gilbert. So adorable! I heard people are talking about doing a remake, but I fear Megan Follows will always be Anne to me!

Gilligan’s Island

Okay, I’m cheating. I’m picking the entire cast of the old TV show Gilligan’s Island. My family watches of a lot of the old TV shows, and Gilligan’s Island was always a favorite. Yes, it’s a little corny and you have to suspend disbelief. But the jokes are actually funny, not just body jokes masquerading as humor.

It’s a show where very different characters always came together in the end. They always stuck together as a family in spite of their differences (and whatever problem Gilligan caused to keep them still stuck on the island).

So there’s my list of ten of my favorite on screen characters. I could keep going, but I’ll have to cut it off at 10 otherwise this could get to be a really long blog post.

I think this is the point where I’m supposed to tag ten more bloggers. Looking through the list of people that have already been tagged for this post, it looks like the bloggers I know who’d want to be tagged have already been tagged…so I’m going have to pass on tagging more people.

What about you? Who would your Favorite Screen Characters be?

Outlaws and Redemption Stories

Outlaws & Remption

I absolutely adore the movie Tangled. Not only is it an all around sweet movie, but it has a big white horse that acts strangely like my own horse, but it also has an outlaw-turned-good-guy in it. I’m a sucker for those stories. Whether it is Flynn Rider in Tangled or Killian Jones/Captain Hook in Once Upon a Time, the outlaws with a soft heart get me every time.

But I can’t blame my obsession with this type of character on Flynn Rider or Killian Jones. I don’t even blame Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, even though that was my favorite Disney movie growing up.

Nope, I blame Renn Frayne.

Tall, dark, handsome. Steps into a bad situation and saves the girl and her land while also being stuck in a crazy love triangle.

Never heard of him? Well, you must not read Zane Grey Westerns. Zane Grey was an American writer who wrote a number of adventure stories and Westerns in the early 1900’s. Yes, the writing is early 1900’s style and the descriptions can sometimes drag on for pages.

I started reading Zane Grey in my teens, and my first Zane Grey was Knights of the Range. Holly Ripple is left alone on her ranch when her father dies. Before he died, her father gathered a group of loyal cowboys and dubbed them Holly’s Knights of the Range. When the ranch is in danger, the outlaw Renn Frayne accidentally saves Holly and reluctantly joins the fight to save Holly and her ranch. I might have had a little crush on Renn Frayne in my teens.

DSC09523A shelfie of one of my shelves of Zane Grey books. Knights of the Range is second from the left. Twin Sombreros, its sequel, is the scuffed cover next to it.

Why am I drawn to the outlaw-turned-good-guy so much? Perhaps it is the depth of the struggle that these characters face. Maybe it is the reminder that, as a Christian, my story is a redemption story.

It’s probably no surprise that my upcoming release Dare features a conflicted assassin.

What about you? Are you drawn to outlaws-turned-heroes?