Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Favorite Fictional Characters ---- Vanyel Ashkevron


I get asked at different times by friends, family, and other readers who my favorite fictional characters are. As most of you will know this tends to be a rather hard question to answer. We all like certain characters for many different reasons. We like how they overcome a challenge, the way they treat their friends or families, their wit and intelligence, maybe even it's just their name. Whatever the reason, we tend to fall in love with them because they connect with us on an emotional level. Something about them hits that proverbial nerve within us and they are a part of us for the rest of our lives.

So I thought I would, once a week, post one of my favorite characters and share some of the reasons behind it. I hope by doing this it helps you (the blog reader) discover new characters or gives you the voice to share why you like the characters you like.

The characters I post about will come from books, movies, TV shows, and even an occasional poem.

Now with no further ado, I will present my first character. I first met Vanyel_Ashkevron a few years after college. I had read a little bit of fantasy when I was younger but got away from it during high school and college. The idiot I was sort of dating at the time (not that I'm bitter or anything) was reading Magic's_Pawn by Mercedes Lackey and seemed to really enjoy the book. Long story short, I got rather sick for a few days and the book was the only thing around to take my mind off of how bad I felt.

It was love at first read. I had, up to that point, never found a character I could connect with in such a way that I would cry when he cried, laugh when he laughed. Here was a character that was going through a lot of the same issues I faced when I was younger and in a way still do.

A sense of isolation from those who he should of felt the closest too, his family. Not feeling comfortable in your own skin and not fully understanding why. The joy and almost instant pleasure at finding yourself and discovering that you are not only loved but worthy of that love. Finding your "home" and the "family" you choose. Then the pain and loss that is unimaginable at such a young age (he is 16 when this book starts). Finally the reawakening of yourself and your purpose in life.

He was the first fantasy character, the first character really for me, that made me feel that what I went through as a teenager was OK. That the pain and confusion I felt dealing with who I am and how that made me different form others was normal. He also helped me to understand that the way I feel today, and when I read the book for the first time, was my reward for going through the pain and isolation I felt growing up. That I had earned the right to be happy, be who I am, and enjoy my life and my "family" to the fullest.

I don't want to get into too much detail of the books because I really encourage you to read them. I will say there are three of them. Magic's_Promise and Magic's_Price are the final two books of the series, The Last Herald Mage trilogy by Mercedes Lackey. The links I provided will give you the basic premise of the books. However they can never explain the amazing person that Vanyel Ashkevron is.

7 comments:

Krista said...

It's really touching that you found a book and a character that has made you feel this way. Books sometimes seem, to me, to be the passage ways to our souls at times and can help you through some difficult times. When I'm upset or having an off day nothing helps better than to snuggle up and read a book I love with a character that's pulling through some rough times. At times it seems to help me get motivated to pull it together and get myself moving again.

By the way, I'll have to check those books out once I can get my TBR pile down a bit ;-)!

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...

I just have to say, you have made this book sound wonderful. I am going to have to add them to my list to look into. The character sounds like he was well created in order to connect to him on such a level as you have. These must be very good stories if they have well developed charaters. (the characters are important in a story)

I was trying to think of my favorite character. I would have to say it would be Arutha in Raymond Fiests series. He grew up in the country and his father made him and his brother see what work was, but he grew into a very strong person that didn't desire the throne. He was able to work out a bad situation and took the time with the people. Even in raising his own children he saw they needed to have a firmer hand and sent them to learn the country way of life with work. He really did carry a friendly air about him but yet he was very strong and smart with situations that arise.

Actually, then there was Jimmy the Hand who knew what he wanted and went for it.

I could pick a few characters for you if you would like:) But I will stop now.

Ryan said...

I'm really happy to learn that both of you will be reading these books sometime in the future. When you do please come back and post what you thought of them and of Vanyel.

Melissa, you are more than welcome to share some of your other characters.

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...

Well, if you are going to do this character sharing once a week I will save Jimmy the Hand for next time. Then I will have to come up with other characters for other future posts.

I just hope Krista doesn't steal my characters.;) Just kidding. We can love the same characters, and have different reasons also.

I will keep this in mind for everyweek and try to be prepared. I don't have many books under my belt so I will use my characters sparingly.

Krista said...

LOL, Mel!

Heh, I'll keep it in mind as well, Ryan, and come up with some of my favorite Characters to go along with your posts. I guess I didn't give you one of mine this time, so here it goes:

Let’s see one of my favorite characters is Katniss from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Why? She is a girl living in a future world of hard times, and does the best she can with what she has in order to survive....

Ryan said...

Melissa and Krista,

Thank you guys for your interst in this. This is one I'm going to have fun with.

Melissa, they don't have to be from books. As I said some of mine are going to come from movies, TV Shows, and Poems.

Melissa (My World...in words and pages) said...

Oh yeah, I forgot. I could do movies and tv shows too.

I will have to start a list to keep track then check them off as we go through here week to week.

I am looking forward to this one, I think it could be fun.