Gen-types

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I feel like maybe we've discussed this before but, well, we like talking about the same things again sometimes, right?

So recently I read a book which was OK, but I didn't love. When trying to figure out what exactly wasn't working for me, I realized one of the big issues I had--I felt like the author was trying to make one of the main characters into a Gen-type character, but was failing.

(To be completely honest, my first thought was, "This book would just be so much better if it was about Lord Peter instead." I think I'm due for a LPW re-read.)

So I started trying to figure out why I felt like the character failed to live up to the "Gen" type.

I started by trying to think of successful Gen-type characters. I know some are missing from this list, but these are the first I came up with--

Gen (obviously)
Lord Peter Wimsey
Sir Percy (the Scarlet Pimpernel)
Miles Vorkosigan
Chrestomanci
the Doctor

My list stopped there, even though I KNOW that I've read other books with this character type--help me out here, guys.


Then, I tried to decide what characteristics made this mold. The characters I listed above fit most or all of these characteristics:

clever and witty--quick thinking
intelligent--long term thinking
people skills--good at reading and understanding people
Aristocratic/privileged background, usually with a sense of style to go with it
Brave--sometimes in almost a daredevil way
Stick to a code/personal beliefs
Sometimes works in disguise or with another identity (not always literally)

That's all I have so far.

So what I'd be curious to discuss are these questions:

What other characters would you add to this list, and why do you think they fit? (Particularly if they're from books I haven't read ;-) Would you take away any I listed?
What characteristics would you add to this list--or take away from it?
Why do you think this character type appears repeatedly?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Also Artimis Fowl from the Artimis Fowl series is absolute brilliant and underhanded. He is almost always ten steps ahead and is wonderfully sarcastic at times while still occasionally showing his vulnerability and youth. Watching his character grow over the course of the series from an unscrupulous, modern thief in to the hero(ok let's be real here more like an anti-hero) he becomes is breathtaking. Though this book is a mix of sci-fi and fantasy

Next Thrawn from the Thrawn series. This one is a Star Wars book but however contaversial the movies have been lately, this book is still amazing. He's like a Star Wars Sherlock Holmes. He is a higher up in the empire so this book is rife with political intrigue and Thrawn is always in the middle of it. He is manipulating and two books in we still don't know who he's loyal to, the empire or the Chiss ascendancy. Plus he's just plain relentless and pity less, good qualities to have if you working for the empire. But he's not all bad he did care enough to risk the emperors wrath to save some kids of his own kind.

I know this was long but I didn't see the characters/books motioned and wanted to give them a shout out