Top Ten Tuesday - Top 10 Most Memorable Secondary Characters

This week’s topic was lots of fun, and full disclosure: I had lots of help from my lovely, YA-loving boyfriend, Paul, who even guest-wrote about one of HIS most memorable secondary characters! So we present some of our all-time favorite secondary characters, the good, the bad, and the weird (weekly feature courtesy of The Broke and the Bookish).

How Bean got his name. From Marvel.com

1. Bean from Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

In a sci-fi novel about child soldiers who must save the world from aliens, Bean is definitely one of the standout characters. Nicknamed Bean for his diminutive stature, he is nonetheless a force to be reckoned with in the Battle Room thanks to his brilliant tactical mind. Readers found Bean so compelling that Card even wrote a sequel all about his backstory in Ender’s Shadow!

By Ciclomono on deviantART

2. Sirius Black from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

Definitely one of my favorite characters from the series. He was descended from a pureblood family but turned his back on them, imprisoned in Azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit, escaped, and found his way back to Harry, his best friend’s son, to offer him a loving home. Oh, and did I mention he’s Padfoot?

I, too, want a giant polar bear friend. By SinaGrace on deviantART

3. Iorek Byrnison from His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Iorek, the giant talking polar bear, or Panserbjorne, was pretty much the reason I got hooked on this series in the first place after I saw him on the cover. Initially living alone and full of anger (he has lost his throne, been exiled from Svalbard, and is being blackmailed into working as an ironsmith for humans), his friendship with Lyra shows him to be fiercely protective of those he loves.

4. Haymitch from The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

He’s a bitter survivor who has watched many around him die, but Katniss' fighting spirit gives him hope. In Catching Fire we learn that Haymitch has some hidden depths, but ultimately his best friend and escape is always the bottle.

Derp. By Raphooo2013 on deviantART

5. Gollum/Smeagol from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Smeagol was just a poor Stoor-Hobbit who was so corrupted by the One Ring that he killed his friend Deagol for it, and things got a lot worse from there. I've always found Gollum super pitiable and maintain my belief that all he needs to set him straight is a hug.

 

Magnus and the Chairman

6. Magnus Bane from The Mortal Instruments/Clockwork series by Cassandra Clare

I mostly include Magnus for Kate, since he’s one of her all-time favorite characters. Luckily Cassie Clare knows how many readers love him and has included him in BOTH of her published series to date. Magnus is an immortal warlock who often uses his powers to come to the aid of Shadowhunters. And when he’s not doing that, he wears glittery eyeliner, throws birthday parties for his beloved cat, Chairman Meow, and also he likes boys.

Creepy half-vampire child by 4Steex on deviantART

7. Renesmee from Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

Okay. Renesmee is my LEAST favorite part of the entire series, but you gotta hand it to the girl, she IS memorable. Bella actually KILLS herself in order to give birth to the unprecedented half-human/half-vampire child, but hey, that’s a mother’s duty, right? And it's totally normal that Jacob falls in love with her -- right?!

Paul’s Pick:

By Oboe on deviantART

8. Mandorallen from The Belgariad by David Eddings

In Eddings’ brilliantly realized world of gods, monsters, and everything in between, it’s no surprise that one of the standout secondary characters lands exactly there. This series is rife with colorful and memorable characters, each tugging, in turn, on different heart strings throughout their quest, but it’s Mandorallen who (barely) wins. Clad in the heaviest and finest of armors, boasting no magic powers – unless of course you count an unwavering conviction, codes layered upon codes of honor, honesty, chivalry, and loyalty to country and companions, and the charmiest of “charm”ing rhetoric and stature as “powers”…well then, yes, he’s pretty magical. Oh, and he also has no fears…of anything…and he wrestles a lion and wins.

By Mrs.Graves on deviantART

9. Severus Snape from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I probably could have written my whole list based on memorable secondary HP characters. Snivellus can definitely be an absolute jerk to Harry, but it turns out to be a good life lesson for Harry in showing him that people are not black and white, good or bad; people are complicated. Snape made some mistakes, but he spent the rest of his life atoning for them as best he could. He’s now widely recognized as one of the series’ unsung heroes.

 

Coke's just not as good.

10. Mr. D from Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan

Rick Riordan’s modern interpretations of Greek gods and heroes are all pretty hilarious, but Mr. D, or Dionysus, is more so than most. He’s the director of Camp Half-Blood for demigod heroes, but not by choice. Forbidden by Zeus to drink the wine that is his godly domain, he takes to chugging Diet Coke instead. 100 years without wine? I feel your pain, Mr. D.

What do you think of my picks? Did I miss anyone? Who did you include?

-Meg

Snips & Specs & the Multiplex

In which Sam rants about single books being split into two movies, raves about Divergent, and throws in some photos of the new Divergent movie for your viewing pleasure :)

Inspired by next week's Top Ten Tuesday feature on YA film adaptations (check out the original feature here), let's talk about an upcoming film adaptation I'm pretty excited about: Veronica Roth's Divergent. Starring Shailene Woodley of The Secret Life of the American Teenager, this should be a fast-paced thriller, following protagonist Tris as she navigates her dystopian world, comes of age, and joins the Dauntless faction, known for their bravery and fighting prowess.

... vaguely familiar.

Something looks ...

It was a quick, exciting read, and I devoured it overnight. My dad and I both read it, actually, and like everyone else, compared it to Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. (We both have a soft spot for dystopian fiction, like The Giver - although can a preference for reading about those hard, unforgiving worlds really be called 'soft'?!?)

Probably not.

Though in Divergent there aren't "games," per se, Tris does face several "trials" in her quest to become Dauntless - one such trial left my dad wincing and me skipping the page and trying not to faint, so it will be interesting to see how some of those violent scenes translate on-screen. 

"I'll just punch this punching bag instead"

It's been interesting to watch mega-violent YA novels attempt to become PG-13 friendly movies, since the standards seem quite different. I've always felt books can get away with more than movies, which is why I thought The Mortal Instruments, with its central romance taking a turn toward the taboo in the second novel (though it all turns out not-taboo in the end?), would never make it to screen. (Obviously, I was wrong.)

But movies also get away with splitting books into two (yeah...as if The Hobbit wasn't bad enough, did you hear they're splitting up Mockingjay into two films?) I have a lot of feelings about this. Perhaps I will reserve them for Tuesday.

For now, I will leave you with this: Shailene Woodley will also apparently be starring in the film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. Because every YA movie in the next five years will star Shailene Woodley. And also be in two parts.

What film adaptations are you excited about? Will you go see Divergent? What about both Mockingjays?

-Sam

Snips & Specs: Suzanne Collins Announces New Series

If you loved The Hunger Games trilogy as much as I did, you're equally thrilled by this news.  Suzanne Collins is slated to start writing her new series after the screenplay for Mockingjay reaches completion, so it sounds like it's going to be quite some time before we're holding the new novel in our hands; but I for one am confident this book will be worth the wait!  

Anyone have any guesses what we're in for next?  Ms. Collins has stated in interviews that her inspiration for The Hunger Games came from watching reality TV and clips of the Vietnam War- what unusual combinations would you want to see? Animal husbandry meets cyborgs? Space exploration mashed with antebellum courtship rituals? Or will she follow J. K. Rowling and pull a total 180 with her next novel- set solidly in the here & now? 

Let the speculations flow!


-Kate