List of the top series represented in the voting: 1: First Law (243) 2: Stormlight Archives (232) 3: Wheel of Time (192) 4: ASOIAF (161) 5: Mistborn (154) 6: The Lord of the Rings (140) 7: Malazan (114) 8: Realm of the Elderlings (92) 9: Greenbone Saga (58) 10: Harry Potter (41)
I've only read book 1 and am halfway through book 2 of malazan and I can tell you Anomander Rake is the coolest character I've ever seen. The presence this man puts on the page is unlike any other character. Absolutely AWESOME.
Lots of great picks. I would replace a few of them with Roland from The Dark Tower, Guts from Berserk, Stehlen and Wichtig from Manifest Delusions, Elric from The Eternal Champion, and even squeeze Conan the Barbarian in there.
Stormlight and First law receiving the most votes..not surprised by that in the slightest..say one thing about brandon and joe, say they write great characters.
@@damiang1442 all but the blade itself. I commented this earlier and got told "nice spoiler" so I deleted it, but yeah. He's one of 3 main characters. I won't name the other two, because their survival would be an actual spoiler
I'm more than a little shocked that Rand is higher on the list than Mat. I'm glad I was sitting down when I saw that, lol. I mean I love Rand too but Mat's my boy, lol.
I know that fantasy books tend to be skewed toward male characters, but I was kind of disappointed by the male/female ratio on this list. I expected it. I even thought about it when I filled out the survey because my favorite characters are mostly women, but I don't think that's the norm. I don't know if you have any analytics on the gender breakdown for viewers of your channel, but I wonder if that might have something to do with the results you got. Essentially, I'm wondering if men tend to rank male characters as their favorites more than women do and vice versa. Regardless, thanks for continuing to make content that engages the online reading community! I appreciate you. Edit: I just reviewed the list again, and there are very few non-white characters, also. I'm not trying to scold anyone or saying this list is bad, I'm just making an observation about a trend that I find to be pretty disappointing. To that end, there are very few female and non-white authors represented here. Just something to think about.
If you mean that you’re wondering if most fantasy readers are male, nope, that’s not the case. I can believe that most subscribers to this channel are male because men are less likely to care about (or even notice) the gender bias. I myself have been drifting away from this channel because too many of the “best of” lists here are hopelessly skewed in the direction of male writers, male characters, etc., while female writers and even female characters are either largely ignored or held to a different standard. Example: Look how many of the “best characters” in this list are terrible people. They’re men, though, so it’s okay. Meanwhile, Nynaeve from The Wheel of Time gets dinged for being “negative.” I’m not saying this to be an asshole and for sure, not everyone is bothered by the same things, but when I see list after list with almost no female writers or female characters, and when I see too much forgiveness for sexist writing/sexist portrayals, it’s a huge turnoff for me. I’m sure I’m not alone in this.
@@janeb9698 I tend to agree with you. I was just reading through some other comments, and there are a few "Vin isn't good, actually" comments, while I'm not seeing the same for many of the other characters. Considering that she's one of the only women on the list, this response is pretty telling.
Finally carved out time to watch this one. Interesting order by the masses! I agree that if Fitz can't be #1, I'm okay with Glokta being up there. I thought Fitz and Samwise too low and Kaladin and Dalinar too high, but overall the masses put together a pretty great list 🤣
In my personal opinion Vin is better than Nynaeve when it comes to honesty. Why yes, Nynaeve is honest but only with other people's things and never about her personal things. You don't see her admitting her arrogance. You don't see Nynaeve admitting how cruel she was to Mat. You don't see her criticizing her misandry. On the other hand, Vin, in addition to being honest with other people's things, is also honest with herself and with her own personal mistakes. Vin was self-deprecating about how cruel she was to Oreseur and improved on it. She was self-critical regarding how bloodthirsty she was in the massacre of Cett's army. And many more examples from Vin. I mean, yeah, it's nice to be honest with others, but it's cooler when the character is honest with themselves.
I feel like Anomander Rake often gets done a little dirty (even by fellow Malazan fans) by getting reduced to being a total badass. While this is to be expected (white hair, onyx skin, awesome sword, is literally a dragon) I think that it sorts of ignores all the other qualities that make him such a phenomenal character. His compassion, willingness for self sacrifice and wisdom are in the grand scheme of things way more important than his "superficial" badassery and make him one of the closest embodiments of Erikson's central themes for the series. I meeeeaaaan: “If we are to live ... we must take risks. Else our lives become deaths in all but name..." (You know how that quote continues). For every scene in which Rake does something grand and awesome and badass there is one such as this where he hits you with the most feels you ever read on the page of a book and THOSE are the scenes that make him such a wonderful character imo :)
I think the thing with Rake is that we don't actually see those other sides of him until thousands of pages into the series and then even more so in Kharkanas.
I think Attack on Titan being the first and only Manga I've ever read, as well as Percy Jackson and the Olympians/Heroes of Olympus being the first major book series I've fully read, have certainly given me an extra appreciation of the main characters of those franchises.
Very male-dominated ranking. Are there really so few good female characters in fantasy or are they just overlooked? For example, I think Savine is a much more interesting and complex character than Orso in the Age of Madness trilogy.
Ive only just finished Deadhouse Gates, but the journey we go on with Duiker along the Chain of Dogs is something else and you warm to him along the way. He's fantastic.
This was a great compilation, Matt! I enjoyed this survey, and was even pleased to see a character or two of my own voted choice appear on the roster 😀 Also, just wanna let you know that I appreciated you having held back on spoilers, when I know you were just bursting to discuss certain characters more deeply. I'll be honest, there's some big series that I still haven't read yet -- First Law, Dresden, ASOIF, Faithful/Fallen... But believe me, I own many of these and they're roasting on my TBR
Kvothe is such a tragic character. He is his worst enemy and reading about older Kvothe always breaks my heart. ... Also Kennit isn't one of my favorite characters but definitely so fascinating. He is so brilliantly crafted that I'm shocked he isn't in this list.
Loved watching through this! Pretty shocking for me to see Rake make this list-Fiddler made my own list and was far and away my fav Malazan character, with Rake being somewhere toward the middle of the pack
Yeah, for Malazan characters, I'd put several, like Karsa, Trull, or Tehol, or many of the Bridgeburners over Anomander Rake - he just doesn't get enough development to be a great character.
Disappointed to hear you don't like Kaladin. It's kind of unworldly what his character has done for me. Sanderson has mastered the portrayal of mental health with Kaladin, and I could not be more appreciative of that. Hopefully you'll enjoy him someday.
I do greatly enjoy his POVs, I just find his character not as enjoyable as a lot of the other protagonists. I will say my favorite POVs of him was RoW for that mental health perspective.
Witcher is a great series, especially when you read it in polish, because of author's language and some funny ancient polish words. Currently reading book 5 out of 7. First two books are mix of some random adventures. But I hope you'll like it in english :) Btw. I don't like Geralt too much, there are some better characters imo, like Regis, Zoltan or Bonhart.
Great video. It's a shame that there are so many great characters in Malazan and only Rake made the list. Yes, he's the most "iconic" in some ways but there's no way that you're telling me he's a better character than Karsa, Tavore, Tool, Toc, Kruppe, etc. etc.
The day Tavore gets realized by the general audience of fantasy readers as one of the greatest characters ever put to paper in fantasy literature is the day I can die in peace...
That was interesting and it's obvious which characters you personally passionate about the most. Who is number was not a surprise for me at all. Surprised that there are no Discworld characters and only one Malazan character.
Matt, if you haven’t re-read RotE at all yet, you’re in for a revelation! I have read the series 3 times and have had many ‘you WHAT!!’ moments throughout. I have to read the series virtually every year, I miss the characters soooooo much! Re-reading gives me my fix, though I would give anything to read them for the first time again! Fitz, Fool and Nighteyes - YES! (We are pack.)
I love Kvothe but not because he’s a super likable character, but because of how brilliant and deeply flawed he is. It’s almost a deconstruction of the Mary Sue archetype.
No Sam Vimes on the list is sad, but I guess Discworld not as much popular in US as in Europe. But Shivers made it and its something. Good list though...😊
The dandelion dynasty has characters from children to adults, I don't know about OLD men, but children from the start become much older and much more important
Lots of great characters on this list, but are there really only two women who deserve to be on it? Where is Granny Weatherwax? (For that matter, why the absence of Discworld characters? Sam Vimes and Death might deserve places.) Where is Orka from Bloodsworn? Where is Arya Stark? Where is Althea Vestrit from The Liveship Traders?
“He’s a pretty vanilla character, kind of feels like a YA character and I don’t mean that negatively… I kinda do…”. HaHaHa! Never change Matt, love your honesty.
Thanks for compiling this list Matt. I love the Witcher games and have the first two books of the new hardcovers. Maybe I'll start the first in May too. How is Darrow higher than Sevrio?.😅
When I first got introduced to the character of Anomander Rake in Gardens, I wondered if that sword of his could have been a slight homage to Stormbringer from the Elric stories. Obviously Dragnipur has a bit more going on, but on the surface they are both soul-devouring swords. Great character.
I am one- third through 'Memories of Ice'. And I loved 'Toc-the Younger' and 'Envy' moments. But they get separated. I hope they will meet again. 'Tool' is great too.. And I miss Icarium and Mappo from Book 2. But I dont think i will get their chapters in this Book..But still hopeful... And Matt i am enjoying Malazan books and its because of u. So, thank u.
Yeah..i hope i will read about them in later books. Right now i am rooting for Capustan. I can't wait to see the Pannion Domain being crushed. They are really horrible people even reading just one- third portion of the book.
I wonder what the top character would be if you divided each result by the number of people who had read each book/series, so as not to give a bias towards series that were just more well known.
Make sure you start with the last wish and sword of destiny when you start the Witcher books. Those are two books of interconnected short stories, but they do tell an overarching story. Never read the subsequent novels, but those are great. Dialogue heavy, but great!
@@sarahgonzalez162 My favorite is Shai from The Emperor's Soul, but that novella doesn't have enough widespread popularity to earn her a spot on this list. A shame.
I also just want to say I think greenbone saga wasn't a hit for me. But man...Hilo really is the highlight of that series. Fonda Lee wrote a fantastic character with that
Jamie Lannister was one of my favorites from the Game of Thrones books, for the exact reasons you gave in your video. Let’s just hope that if GRRM ever does finish his books, Jamie gets a better ending than he had in the TV show. I get he likes to subvert expectations, but that can be overused.
Wow, I’m shocked by how few women were on this list! Was it only Nynaeve and Vin? I may have missed one. Maybe that reflects that more men watch your channel. I can’t stand Hilo from Greenbone. Possibly my most hated character of all time. Also not a fan of Darrow or Tyrion. Surprised Eithan from Cradle didn’t make it!
For me I think Dresden is worse for a couple reasons: 1. I find sexism in modern day tales to be way more disturbing than those depicting a total fantasy world that mimics the past (like wheel of time). 2. Dresden says okay things, but thinks really sexist things - while Cauthon says sexist things, but thinks okay things. Personally, I find the internal monologue more important than the external.
Where are all the women? There are a lot of strong and amazing female characters that just gets overlooked in these kind of listings? A few examples of mine are: - from Realm of the Elderlings: Malta Vestrit, Kettricken and Etta. Especially Malta has a very extreme character development. - Hermione Granger from Harry Potter! How she is not on this list is beyond me. She is the real mvp of that whole series. - From ASOIAF: Arya, Brienne and Denearys would all be good options here. - From the wheel of time there are so many. Moiraine is my favorite in that series, but Egwene and Verin are also amazing characters with very good development over time. Putting Rand over any of them is super weird imo. (Although Mat and Lan are both great) Just to name a few! I think this list shows how fantasy still is a very male genre, with predominantly male authors and readers. Either they author can´t write good female characters, or the readers don´t understand them. Shame.
Oh man, I can't believe you commented on how traumatized certain characters were and then just didn't mention it with Rand. Trauma is like his middle name. He's such a great character, too. Him starting out vanilla is kind of a feature, IMO, because he gets progressively more nuanced and intriguing as he struggles with the weight of prophecy, his growing madness, and the expectations of society. I love him as a character. He's not as fun as Mat, but I think he's a better character and it isn't really even close. Great list, by the way, just wanted to talk about this one in particular!
A Mistborn Era 1 spoiler here: . . . . Sazed might be my favourite character. He is a scholar of the study of world religions, as am I, and I should have my PhD next year. Sazed becomes a god, and that is higher than a PhD, so I know my next goal.
Thinking about getting into Witcher. Watched first two seasons of show and I’m decidedly done with it. How much of the series is revealed ? Is it just a few of the early books?
Be calm, and start to read the books, especially, if you loved the games. In the second season of The Witcher, the authors of the series rewrote 80-90% of the original story of the novels, which made the Netflix show like a cheap fan fiction by weaker writers and kill Eastern Europen roots and vibe.
I’m genuinely surprised you don’t like Rand. Maybe I’m biased because I’m only on The Great Hunt but I don’t he’s vanilla at all. He’s constantly dealing with internal turmoil and doubt who and what he is, even straight up denying who he is while still trying to do right by his friends. Again I’m only on the second book of a fifteen book series but they way in which Rand is portrayed to me is very interesting
I don't know where you are in the series currently but yes Rand has one of the best arcs in fantasy and he is anything but a vanilla hero + Rand from volume 2 compare to volume 14 level complexity is a joke
I think people just get overwhelmed by how many amazing characters that Abercrombie puts out that he gets overshadowed by some of the others. He's great though!
@Matt's Fantasy Book Reviews I also just wanted to say that I am very much enjoying your videos. I have been debating on starting Malazan for a couple years now. I finally decided to give Gardens of the Moon a shot after watching one of your Malazan videos. So happy I did. The book is amazing so far! Thank you!
@@jsa7560 So glad you are loving it! If you aren't using it, I highly suggest using the google slideshow while reading it, it makes it a much more enjoyable experience. docs.google.com/presentation/d/1GLRmiaFcxe_cGc93ckE5UItRq5rYsfeU0BhvqcaNq9E/edit
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews I think people tend to focus on Gwynnes action and battle sequences rather than individual characters. Which again is a shame because theres so many great ones.
Wow, only two women out of the top 30? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Also amazed that there’s only one Malazan character and it’s Rake. For me, it’s Fiddler, but I would also put a bunch of others before Rake: Tehol, Bugg, Karsa, Trull, Kruppe, Tavore, Picker, Envy, Sorry, Icarium, Mappo. Rake is cool, but IMO, he’s not any cooler than Brood, for example. Also surprised that Shallan doesn’t make the cut. I think in general that Sanderson is overrated, but Shallan is at least as good as Kaladin. And I’m surprised that Kennit doesn’t make the cut. I think he’s the best character in RotE, though obviously not the most likeable.
For Malazan, I think it's telling that Malazan had one of the highest total votes as a series, but not a lot of specific characters. It's just split between a ton of different people.
@@MattsFantasyBookReviews Yeah, I can understand why. For example, Antsy is one of my favorite characters now, but he only solidified that with Orb, Sceptre and Throne. With others, my opinions change on re-reads. One of the weaknesses of the genre is that it seems to have become so wedded to third person limited point of view. I tend to think that modern readers have a hard time appreciating characters without a direct, immediate view into their psyche. That can be fine, but it lends itself to lazy writing and reading.
If you have played the games why you pronounce Geralt's name like that 😅 Very cool video though and I love your channel but calling him Jerlat was unexpected 😊
