Top 5 Wednesday: Top 5 Favorite Character Tropes

Time for another Top 5 Wednesday. This week's topic is your Top 5 Favorite Character Tropes. As to my understanding, what this means is the top 5 things that you like to see in book characters, I think. Anyway, that's the direction I'm running with this one. So this topic was an interesting one for me to think about. I hope I can come up with a full five. I definitely have a couple that pop into my mind. So, here goes nothing...

1. Strong, Kick-butt main characters: I love characters that can take care of themselves when they have to go out and fight something. Especially if they have a really awesome weapon or ninja skills that they fight with. One character that comes to mind for this one is Ali from The Immortal Rules, she has a freaking katana!! Oh and Michonne from The Walking Dead, she also has a freaking katana! On another note, I love freaking katanas!! I wish I had the skills to use one. Oh and Katniss from The Hunger Games, with her awesome bow and arrow skills, I wish I had those as well. Why do I have to be so unathletic and sad? One thing that annoys me to no end is characters that make out like they're great fighters, but then spend the majority of the book beat up and on their butt.

  

2. When a main character finds out a secret about them self, finds out that they are more than they thought: I really love paranormal books or books where a character discovers that they are more than they thought they were. Umm main example one Harry Potter! I just love paranormal aspects like magic or shape shifting or time travel, whatever. I like seeing characters discover something new about themselves and then growing into their power. That's just something I like reading about.

3. Having love interests that are all attractive and don't seem like teenage boys: This one might seem a little strange, but let me explain. I am an adult that likes to read YA books, most YA books have teenage characters and teenage love interests, most of those said love interests are described as being very attractive and swoon worthy. I don't want to feel like a creepy pedophile for thinking teenage boys are cute. In my head, while I'm reading, I never picture the love interests looking like teenage boys, that would be weird. So I like reading about hot male characters that don't feel like teenage boys, so I don't feel guilty as a drool over them. No real examples are popping into my head for this one. Oh wait, maybe Montgomery from The Madman's Daughter, he was so cute, but I don't remember how old he was. Anyway, in my head he was my age and very attractive!

4. Characters that have humility: This one comes to mind because more often than not, I see main characters that have no humility, think that they are the best at everything and the prettiest, and they annoy me so much I want to knock them out. Nobody likes someone who brags all the time, someone that thinks they are the best at everything, and everyone else pales in comparison to their awesomeness. I like either characters that I can connect with, or characters I could be friends with. So, I'm not going to name any names of which characters annoy me to no end, but they should just know that they could do the world a favor by just shutting up. So yes, humility is a great thing for a character to have. Be like a real human being and realize that they are not good at everything. One character that I always felt like hey, I could be her, is Bella from Twilight. Now I know a lot of people hated on Bella for being weak and whiny and whatever, but she always felt real to me. She had her limitations and she was okay with them. So I'm not sure if this choice makes sense or if I've gone in a bit of a rant, but there it is.

5. A character who acts like a jerk, but is really trying to protect them self by hiding their feelings and trying to push people away:  I just love those difficult characters that work so hard for you to hate them, but you really like them, because you realize that they are hurting inside and that's why they're acting the way they are. For this one I have two definite examples. Numero uno is Nick from the Altered series. I love him. He's hot, but so so difficult. You know he's hurting inside, which is why he acts like such a jerk, but you love him anyway. Another example is Snape from Harry Potter. That last book killed me. I always knew he wasn't a pure villain, that there was more going on inside of him and that he was hurting. So yes, I like characters like that.

 

So those are my picks for this Top 5 Wednesday. What are your picks? I'd love to know. If you want to join in on the Top 5 Wednesday fun, you totally should. Each Wednesday, there is a new topic to discuss and contemplate, it's just a lot of fun. Check out all the other Top 5 Wednesday-ers here!