Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme from Goodreads, and this week the prompt is about “unlikeable” protagonists. So I’m going to share the ones I pulled for!
Negan from The Walking Dead
I love this villain! He is complex, and shows brief moments of compassion and insight, but then rips your heart out with his brutality. I hated the Governor and his over the top inhumanity, while Negan is more believable. I am snatching up the book about his past when it comes out in October.
Amy Dunne from Gone Girl
Amy is twisted. She and Nick are so outrageously dysfunctional, and what she did and all the planning that must have gone into it were awesome. The twists at the end were unexpected, and while I had a bit of sympathy for Nick, he kind of deserves it. I’ve thought about what their future holds, and the child they will raise.
Gertrude from I Hate Fairyland
Gert is a foul-mouthed violent sociopath that you will think of fondly. Skottie Young’s distinctive style will make you laugh and root for a girl who will shank you if you look at her sideways.
Jack from the Fables series
Jack the Giant Killer, Little Jack Horner, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack Be Nimble, Jack Frost, and Jack O’Lantern…these are all names that Jack of Fables is known by. Here’s another name- a$$hole, but yet you’ll be rooting for him to escape Fabletown.
Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender
I loved watching Avatar with my kids when it was on Nickelodeon. Zuko was the classic misunderstood anti-hero who just needed someone to love and understand him in order for him to change. I enjoyed his redemption at the end, and how he and Aang were able to end the terrible reign of the evil Fire Lord together.
Rooting for the underdog can be fun, for often these characters are more complex than the typical (and sometimes boring) hero. Who would you pick?
-Nancy
June 21, 2017 at 8:35 pm
Jack is certainly a guy you love to hate =P My favorite villain of all has to be Mr. Freeze from Batman… I can never quite condemn him for doing what he does to save his wife, and I always root for him a little!
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June 21, 2017 at 9:45 pm
Good one! Showing him so in love with his wife made him redeemable.
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June 21, 2017 at 10:21 pm
Great choices!! I liked Amy from Gone Girl, and how psychopathic she was. Also, Zuko is an angel and I adore him!!
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June 22, 2017 at 8:19 am
Zuko’s change over the series run really made you root for him at the end! His redemption was hard won and believable.
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June 28, 2017 at 3:41 pm
Avatar & Legend of Korra have some of the best character
development in recent memory, everyone gets to shine! 💖
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June 28, 2017 at 4:48 pm
True, the series were very balanced and you got a good sense of many of the characters, not just the big three.
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June 22, 2017 at 7:51 am
Yes to Amy and Zuko. Zuko is one of my favorite characters in the show, actually. I like his redemption arc. Amy is…Amy. Lol! She’s so smart and I admire that but so manipulative too. Omg.
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June 22, 2017 at 8:20 am
Even though Amy was evil, I had to admire her follow through. There were times she was almost thwarted, but she had her end game in mind, and nothing was going to break her.
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June 23, 2017 at 8:41 am
I always pulled for Admiral Daala in The Jedi Academy series (from way back in the 90s). She might have been the Imperial Antagonist in the books, but I always identified her as a Protagonist who was just trying to do her best to fulfill her Imperial duties. Nothing wrong with that, right?
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June 23, 2017 at 11:01 am
Have to give her cred for being the first female admiral and our sympathy for being the lover of Grand Moff Tarkin!
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June 24, 2017 at 3:58 pm
I haven’t read TWD yet. I am on the fence since I am so far into the show. I am not sure whether to start now or save for after. But Negan is such a terribly wonderful villain. He really embodies the “bad”!
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June 24, 2017 at 7:29 pm
I am the opposite – I have read all the books, but have barely watched any episodes. They differ at times- some people live or die differently, and I am quite invested in how it happens in the books.
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June 25, 2017 at 2:07 pm
Yea, that is how I am with the show. I think I will hold off so I can experience it once the show has ended 🙂 It will prolong the enjoyment hopefully.
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