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It's time for our favorite characters to compete in our Tournament of Characters. It's going to be swords & ray-guns in the arena, so park your spaceship on the north landing field or send your dragon to the southern weyr (and do not confuse directions; that never ends well) and gather around the stadium..

This year we have two tournament brackets:




The first round is now open for you to vote on your favorite characters!

Vote for your favorite literary characters:



Vote for favorite movie & television characters:



(Why are there two parts to each poll? I couldn't find a free survey site that let me ask 32 questions in one survey. SogoSurvey came close with 30. Missed it by that much.)

So, get voting, and I'll collect the results Friday (March 9) and let the victors move on to round 2!

OMG, Tarzan vs Mary Poppins :o)

Actually, was surprisingly easy to vote for the literature one, in most cases I was only familiar with one character so those were a no-brainer, and only in a few cases did I know both (only one was a hard choice though) or know neither.

I don't think there were any on the media one where I didn't know either one, had more places where I had to make an actual choice.

Voted! Well that was fun, look forward to the next round

Man - Lessa v Egwene was TOUGH

Silk vs Neville Longbottom? I absolutely despise you. I CANNOT.

Aghhhhh! You made me choose between several of my favorite characters in the first round!!! I hate you! LOL!

Elizabeth wrote: "Silk vs Neville Longbottom? I absolutely despise you. I CANNOT."

This was one of the toughest for me as well...

Fun! There were a couple of tight matches for me too -- in other circumstances, I definitely would have voted for Gorbash & literary Arya

I wonder which first round match-up will be closest -- maybe Severus v Bilbo?

Hillary wrote: "Fun! There were a couple of tight matches for me too -- in other circumstances, I definitely would have voted for Gorbash & literary Arya

I wonder which first round match-up will be closest -- may..."

Why do people like Snape? He's such a scumbag that treats kids like crap and only cares about anything because someone he loved gets killed. Even then he can't treat the child of that person, or any child who isn't in his house, with any sort of decency. Of all the characters in literature people's opinion on Snape is the one that is the biggest mystery. The fact that he loves someone so deeply is not enough to redeem himself in my eyes.

sorry...rant over...

I think I liked Snape because he was a more complex character, kind of why I like Raistlin. They aren't good guys by any stretch, but they still tend to work on the side of good, and both have...guess you could call it "pity" stories in the background that explains the way they are now, even if it doesn't justify it. And to be honest, even I'd have trouble being warm and friendly with the kid of someone who made my life a misery and played a role in forming my unpleasant personality.

But in both cases, while you're reading, you are forced to question the whole black/white concepts where characters like Harry/Hermione/Ron are clearly white and you never have to suspect them of black, or where Lucius Malfoy/Voldemort are clearly black with no chance of them ever being redeemed. But with Snape you were never sure till the end.

So he's not my favorite character because I'd like to hang out with him, but he's a favorite because he's more interesting than most.

I mean Thomas Covenant is on the list too, he's a rapist and spends all his time complaining and whining. Snape is a saint compared to him.

Now whether to pick Snape over Bilbo is a whole other can of worms!

Thanks for running this! Sorry that I dropped the ball on these but glad to see that it's happening again!

A small quibble: the character from Labyrinth is named Jareth, not Jared.

The difference is between the best person, and the best character. E.g. I voted for Covenant because although he was a pretty worthless person, he was a bloody brilliant character.

Andrea wrote: "I think I liked Snape because he was a more complex character, kind of why I like Raistlin. They aren't good guys by any stretch, but they still tend to work on the side of good, and both have...gu..."

Elizabeth wrote: "The difference is between the best person, and the best character. E.g. I voted for Covenant because although he was a pretty worthless person, he was a bloody brilliant character."

That I can understand, but there are a lot of people romanticizing him and that i don't understand. I actually really like Raistlin as a character he's very interesting and complex. I'm guessing I dislike Snape so much because I'm seeing him through Harry's eyes so much.

And I can see why he wouldn't like Harry, but the way he treats anyone not in Slytherin is just as bad so it's not just Harry. I was quite happy when he got killed and couldn't think of anyone that deserved it much more than he did.

Stefan wrote: "Thanks for running this! Sorry that I dropped the ball on these but glad to see that it's happening again!"

Hey, Stefan, good to hear from you again! We had a couple of years hiatus, so I figured I'd pick the idea up again.

OK, folks, the polls are closed and the first round is complete.

You can see the results in the updated brackets:




Amazingly, there were no ties, for which I am truly grateful, because I hadn't thought through the tie-breaker.

I'll get the 2nd round of 32 polls up tomorrow.

Bilbo over Snape was a surprise. Arya was probably seeded too low (though I admit it it her book storylines drag a bit more than the show; she crushed it in the TV bracket).

Now we've got Dumbledore vs. Harry Potter in round 2. Aslan vs. Dracula as well-- probably the most direct contrast in terms of themes and allegories. We'll see where the moral center of this group lies! (Though Ripley beating "Alien" is a good indicator)

Scotty over Kirk was a surprise in the TV one. All the supporting cast (Spock, McCoy) from TOS made it to round 2 but not Kirk-- and Picard made it.

Robert wrote: "Bilbo over Snape was a surprise. Arya was probably seeded too low (though I admit it it her book storylines drag a bit more than the show)."

I hope my lobbying against Snape helped!!! :D

Yoda v. Batman was a tough matchup...

Some of those are surprisingly close!

Personally, I'm sad Sam Vimes and the Luggage didn't get through! I'm barracking for Death all the way though!

Aww, Silk didn't make it, but it was tough competition against Longbottom. And also disappointed about the Luggage, I've only read one Discworld book so far and that character definitely made an impression :)

Gonna have some really tough ones next round. The first round I was lucky that in many categories I was only familiar with one of the two, but those were also generally the ones that made it through so many more categories where I'm really going to have to struggle pick!

I was surprised Ship beat Daneel Olivaw. More people have read Aurora than I suspect, or few have read Asimov's robot novels.

FYI, The most-voted items were Gandalf, Aragorn, Bilbo, King Arthur, and Hermione, which had zero abstentions.

The most abstentions were in the Kvothe/Tamas, Raistlin/Cithrin, Jean Tanen/Geder Palliako and Sioned /Michonne. ("no answer" actually won the former.) All of those had less than 2/3 response.

I'll be honest and admit I didn't abstain on any of them, picking the one I'd be most interested in reading in the future if I didn't know either one. Sioned/Michonne was one where I didn't know either. For the other three I had a clear choice, in fact all three had characters I'd nominated (not all three made it through though)

Andrea wrote: "Aww, Silk didn't make it, but it was tough competition against Longbottom. And also disappointed about the Luggage, I've only read one Discworld book so far and that character definitely made an im..."

I really liked Silk as well but Neville is a fan favorite, from a bumbling little kid to a key member of the resistance. Wish there had been more on his transformation in the series.