Literary crushes

[delphipsmith]

My first crush on a fictional man was at about age eight or nine: Prince Gwydion from Llloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain. Well, how could he not be? With his green eyes and wolf-grey hair and the sword and cloak and also hello, a prince, he was everything that a girl bored with sappy Disney royalty would adore. He didn't waste his time rescuing princesses, he was fighting THE LORD OF DEATH, for Merlin's sake. And I loved that he was noble yet accessible: a prince for working days, as it were, not in the least high and mighty, because he didn't need to be.

My next fictional crush was Laurie from Little Women (so sweet and funny and romantic, and played the piano with such passion -- Jo, how could you turn him down?!) closely followed by Dan from Jo's Boys (my black-eyed wounded rebel soul, I'm still sad he didn't win the heart of Bess).

Then I read Dragonsong and fell hard for Masterharper Robinton, with his sharp intelligence, his weakness for Benden wine, his wit and his generous heart; when he and Menolly were alone on the boat in Dragondrums I thought, "At last, at last!!" but the silly tart thwarted me, a betrayal for which I still have never quite forgiven her.

Next: a toss-up between Lord Peter Wimsey -- war hero, collector of incunabula, and sooo very persistently faithful -- and Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes. The scene with Peter and Harriet on the bank of the river is one of the all-time sexiest scenes ever, even though they never touch each other, and the night that Holmes tasks Mary Russell with wanting to propose to him caused me to cheer out loud.

You'll notice that Aragorn, Legolas, Boromir, Eomer & Co. are conspicuously absent. They were a bit too distant for me when I first encountered them, I think -- I was eleven, and at the time they all struck me as rather biblical, probably due to Tolkien's elevated language. Snape is also absent from this list since he didn't ring my bell until I saw Alan Rickman. After that it was very hubba hubba, but I don't feel right about including him in this list when it was a real person that actually spurred my interest.

So tell me, who are/were your fictional (book) crushes and why?

Comments

[shiv5468.livejournal.com]

wimsey. duke of avon. Lucius and snape

[delphipsmith]

Did Lucius and Snape get you straight from the books, or was it not until you saw the movies?

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

I was more about wanting to be the main characters than crushing on the other characters. Like wanting Matilda's powers in the Roald Dahl book, or the tiny little book and magnifying glass in The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder, or going to Hogwarts (of course). But there were these five books written by Torill Thorstad Hauger about a Viking community with two rivaling Earls (I had a thing for historical novels, maybe that translated into Fantasy later?), and I read those book so many times. The books were from different points of view; this outcast girl with healing skills, an Irish sibling couple stolen and made into thralls and the two sons of the enemy Earls (Sigurd and Tord). There were definitive som crushy feelings towards those two boys. Hmm, I'm tempted to reread them, but they're probably not as super fantastic as I remember...

[delphipsmith]

Wow, the Hauger books sounds great. Do you know if they're available in English? I'd love to read them. Right now I'm working my way through Dorothy Dunney's Lymond Chronicles (16th c. Scotland), it would be great to have something in the queue for when I finish them.

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, they were my big literary obsession before Harry Potter came and swept me away. They are children's books though, with protagonists in their pre- to early teens. So I don't know if you'd find that interesting? As far as children's literature goes they are interesting. I'd probably still enjoy them :)
I did a little Amazon search and it seems like two of them, the ones centering around the Irish siblings, were translated to English: Captured by Vikings and Escape from the Vikings. So you can take a look if you want :)

[mama-pyjama.livejournal.com]

Laurie definitely, and Whimsey, and from the Lymond series (which I have ADORED since my early teens) Adam, but Philippa most of all. Robinton, yes, as well. So many beloved books. Most of my favourite characters are strong women though. Where would Laurie have been without Jo, and Robinton without Menolly and Lessa?