This is inspired by the post at Lights, Camera. . . History!, a beautiful costume drama blog which I discovered just a couple of days ago.
Some of the following are guys who I've fallen completely in love with. Others are just nice guys who are very deserving heroes in their own right, even though I may not have a crush on them, per se.
Sorry if I was a little bit cheeky in this post! :-D With so many handsome heroes around, it can be hard for a girl to stay sensible and sober all the time. . .
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#1: Henry Tilney by JJ Feild in Northanger Abbey. My favourite Austen hero. Henry Tilney is, of all the heroes I have ever come across, the most charming, adorable, funny, kind, good-natured. . . etc. etc. What's more, he's a pastor - he may be a bit of a tease at times, but one thing he does take seriously is his Christian faith - he loves God. Henry is the nicest guy imaginable - but he isn't nice in a boring or bland way. Even my parents would approve of him! I'm not sure what my family would say if I brought home someone like Rochester. . . or Boromir. . . nah, I'm just kidding - I think pretty much all of the characters listed here are good and honourable enough to meet with even Mum and Dad's approval! Well, back to Henry - I heart Henry Tilney big time! Catherine Morland is a very lucky girl.
#2: Colonel Brandon by David Morissey in Sense and Sensibility. I always have trouble choosing between Colonel Brandon and Henry Tilney. I think I would be more likely to fall for Henry - he's a lot younger, funnier, and better-looking than the Colonel - but every time I read or watch S&S, I just fall in love with Colonel Brandon all over again. :-)
#3: John Thornton by Richard Armitage in North and South. Every woman's favourite HCMO (Handsome Cotton Mill Owner). Richard Armitage gave an amazing performance as Mr. Thornton, giving Mr. Darcy a run for his money as the world's favourite brooding, handsome hero. Thorton isn't as snobbish as Darcy - he isn't an aristocrat, rather, he worked his way into his position. He is an honest, earnest, hard-working man with a good heart underneath the gruff exterior. Plus he's got a gorgeous Northern accent. What's not to love?
#4: Fitwilliam Darcy by Matthew MacFadyen in Pride and Prejudice. I could very easily have included all of Austen's heroes here, but I limited myself to just three. Charity will probably be a bit miffed with me for not including Mr. Knightley/Jeremy Northam. ;-)
#5: Boromir by Sean Bean in The Lord of The Rings. Possibly my favourite character from LOTR. Boromir is the closest thing to a romantic hero that LOTR has to offer. Brave, fearless in battle, with a good heart - but he is also very vulnerable, with a fatal weakness that will eventually lead to his demise. Plus he's played by Sean Bean. Need I say more? :-D I must have a thing for big noses, LOL - first Richard Armitage, now Sean. . .
#6: Edward Rochester by Timothy Dalton in Jane Eyre. Timothy Dalton is by far my favourite Rochester. I never really liked Edward Rochester that much in the book or the other movie adaptations I've seen, but I loved Dalton's portrayal of Rochester. He brought so much passion and charisma to the role - the chemistry between Dalton and Zelah Clarke (Jane Eyre) was amazing. Just goes to show, you don't need graphic love scenes to get the air crackling with chemistry! All you need is good acting! Duh! Modern film-makers, take note. . .
#7: Caspian X by Ben Barnes in The Chronicles of Narnia. First let me make one thing clear: I loved Caspian in the books, but I don't like him nearly as much in the movie. With all the early hype surrounding Ben Barnes, I went in to the cinema expecting to be swept off my feet by this handsome prince - it didn't happen. But I still like the Caspian of the books. Handsome, brave, a bit cheeky, and a born leader.
#8: Daniel Deronda by Hugh Dancy in Daniel Deronda. A sensitive, caring, compassionate gentleman. In fact, he is so sensitive and kind that he was almost in danger of becoming a goodie-two-shoes - thankfully Hugh Dancy's wonderful performance ensured Daniel's likeable-ness. He is also remarkably gorgeous, and quite a good singer - one of my favourite scenes in the movie is the river scene, when he rescues Mirah. . . 
#9: Gilbert Blythe in the Anne of Green Gables series. I'll readily admit I've never had anything like a crush on Gilbert. He is awfully nice, though, and he is the perfect match for Anne. He isn't my favourite L.M. Montgomery hero - but unfortunately none of her other books have been made into decent movies. Still, Jonathan Crombie as Gilbert seemed quite huggable and adorable, and he and Megan Follows (Anne) were so sweet together.
#10: Roger Hamley in Wives and Daughters. The first time I watched Wives and Daughters, I wasn't particularly struck by any of the male leads. Over time, however, I've grown to like Roger a bit more. I always get annoyed with him when he falls for Cynthia, but he is so sweet and kind towards Molly, that by the time he finally wakes up and realises that it's Molly he loves, I am more than willing to forgive him.
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Who are your favourite heroes? Tell me in the comments, or, if you have a blog, write your own post! I won't make this into an official tag, but if you'd like to write a post listing your favourite heroes, please go ahead, then let me know so that I can have a look at your list!
Mischievous
27 comments:
You're favorite hero is Henry Tilney too???!!!! *dances* I'm not the only one!! *grin* Henry is my all-time-ever-favorite hero! Practicically perfect in every way. I just love him! :D What's not to like? *cheeky grin*
I just may do a post like this! Thank you for the idea! I loved reading through yours!
Oh, and I agree about the Colin Firth thing. I was never nuts about him like a lot of girls are prone to be. I liked him well enough, just wasn't nuts about him. :)
And I agree about Borimier too. I always liked him!! Though Eomer has always been my very favorite LOTR character. Gotta love his awesome helmet. ;D
Have an amazing day!!
Elise,
Oh my goodness ....
I just recently watched Northanger Abbey (literally a few days ago) and I was SO impressed with Henry Tilney!!! What a JOY to know that I am not the only one who thinks so too!! :) *happy sigh* My favorite part in the movie is when Mr.T asks her to dance.... and when he asks "how long has she been in Bath..." and etc. it is just too great! Awww....the joy of kindred spirits!
Here are my favorites in order...
at present...hehe ;)
1. Mr. Henry Tilney (JJ Feild)
2. Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam)
3. John Thorton ( Richard Armitage)
4. Captain Wentworth (played only by the great ~ Rupert Penry-Jones :)
5. Gilbert Blythe (Jonathan Crombie)
When I was younger Gill would of been my #1 favorite... but I've gotten a little older....hehe
6. Mr. Darcy ( played by Colin Firth... although I was quite saddened with his most recent performances :(
7. Daniel Deronda (Hugh Dancy)... yes I watched DD and LOVED it! ;)
8. Colonel Brandon (David Morissey or Alan Rickman)
9. Roger Hamley (Wives & Daughters)
10. Mr. Allan Woodcourt
(from Bleak House)
Oh... that was fun to do! ;) I hope you an your family are having a blessed Easter weekend!!!!
Love & Hugs,
Jen
Hi Jessica and Jen! LOL, I'm glad to hear you're both Tilney fans, like myself! Believe it or not, there are actually quite a few people on Team Tilney - Mags Sullivan from AustenBlog loves Henry Tilney so much that she has created a fansite about him!
Jess - I look forward to reading your post on this!
And Jen - I enjoyed reading your list! I'm glad you enjoyed watching Daniel Deronda. :-) Bleak House. . . I must watch Bleak House one of these days. . .
Ooh I enjoyed that!! I might just do that, thanks for that idea. And my brother is talking at me over my shoulder to tell you that you should make a series out of it with maybe your favorite heroines and villans, he is even saying now that he might do it on his blog!(he doesn't usually do that sort of thing!!)
That is exactly what I had in mind to do, Livi! My favourite heroines and villains will be posted soon. :-)
BTW, would you mind giving me a link to your brother's blog?
Oh good!!! I with look forward to them with anticipation! here is Jono's blog http://www.thehypothetical.blogspot.com/
Cool! Thanks. :-)
Interesting list. There's some crossover with mine, but I haven't come up with ten names yet. I think Arthur Clemmons from "Little Dorrit" might be somewhere near the top.
I don't like the new P&P much, but I know of only three other people who feel that way, so I know I'm in a minority. ;)
I thought of including Arthur Clennam, but I thought it might be cheating to include more than one role by the same actor (Matthew MacFadyen). . . I dunno. . . now I come to think of it, I probably should have included Arthur somewhere in that list. . .
What a fun post! I really enjoyed reading it.
I'll have to post mine soon, I've already been planning that post to my blog. ;)
Henry Tilney - I really like him too and he'll probably be at the top of my list.
Colonel Brandon - I too enjoyed David Morissey's performance perhaps the best I've seen but Alan Rickman was good too. He's such a sad romantic character and very kind and patient.
John Thornton - probably will also be on my list, he's great and I can't help liking Richard Armitage.
Fitzwilliam Darcy - Darcy has never been my favorite Austen hero, he's too dark, handsome and proud for me, I also tend to not like who others fuss over. lol. I do prefer Colin Firth's portrayal but MacFayden was a lovely alternative and his interpretation of Darcy was charming.
Boromir - Sean Bean was great but I've always liked Faramir better and his love story with Eowyn is so lovely.
Edward Rochester - Timothy Dalton is probably my favorite and that adaptation is excellent. I don't think Rochester is quite the best person to take home, he's too worldly in many ways so I don't personally admire him as a hero but I do love Jane and the story is a good one!
Caspian X - good choice. I too was disappointing by the film. I do like The Silver Chair and Prince Rilian very well.
Daniel Deronda - love! Hugh Dancy is great and this character is sympathetic and does almost everything right. What's not to like!
Gilbert Blythe - I always forget about him but he's wonderful! I didn't like him in his early years but as a medical student with grown up ideas I always like him as Anne starts to. Good choice!
Roger Hamley - another forgotten hero. I'd lean more towards Osborn, I really cried when he died so misunderstood and yet still a kind gentleman. Roger is too good sometimes but very appealing. Another good choice.
So I guess it's my turn, this should be fun!
I'm going to do my favourite villains first! Then the heroes and heroines! I like your choices, though I agree with Ladybug-Laurie, Faramir wins over Boromir. :)
Rilian! Oh yes, I love Rilian! I can't wait to see who will play him in the movie - if there ever is a movie. . .
Faramir - yeah, I like Faramir too. I adored the romance between Faramir and Eowyn in the book, and was disappointed when they didn't include more of it in the movie. I suppose Faramir is a more deserving hero than Boromir - I just like Boromir/Sean better. . . stupid, foolish girl that I am. . .
I can't wait to see your posts, Laurie and Ellie! I've made a start on my "villains" post, but I'm having a hard time coming up with 10 villains that I love. I might have to make it 5 rather than 10.
"With so many handsome heroes around, it can be hard for a girl to stay sensible and sober all the time. . . "
*Big hearty "Amen!"* Hehe...
LOL. . .
At first I was like, 'ok, another top whatever... like on facebook.' but then the madness caught hold and I want to do a list myself!
But is your list of literary heroes or the ones portrayed in film?
Oh and I totally agree with the Matthew McFayden thing, it's like Richard Armitage; it's the blue eyes that gets ya.
On the McFayden vs Firth debate I reckon Mcfayden is hotter,.. augh; better looking. but Firth portrays a better [more accurate to the book] Darcy.
I feel so ditzy and girly saying that. This could become a habit.
Oh! and another thing; I'm a Tilney fan all the way and Roger Hamley is much more sweet in the book - read it. [North and South is better though...]
Well. . . I only included heroes from books that have also been made into movies that I love. For each hero, I'd also have to pick my favourite actor in the role - for instance, with Colonel Brandon, I had to choose between Alan Rickman and David Morissey (not an easy decision, by any means - I love them both!). So I suppose it's my top ten literary heroes and top ten costume drama heroes rolled into one list, if that makes any sense.
I didn't think either MacFadyen or Firth were quite like Darcy as I pictured him in the book, but of the two, Matthew MacFadyen came closer to 'my' Darcy.
I have to read W&D! I bought that book ages ago - I don't know if you remember, Theresa, but it was the subject of my second ever blog post! And I still haven't read it! I must read it soon. . .
Isn't it surprising how many fans Henry "Da Man" Tilney has?!! And yet Fitzwilliam Darcy is the one who gets all the attention! Not fair!
Oh and BTW, I hope you do a list, Theresa. I'd be very interested to see what it looks like. :-)
I just did the top ten literary heroes post on my blog...
http://www.thevalueofone.com/?p=696
I've really enjoyed it and plan on doing the heroines and villains too, soon!!! Thanks!!!
I just did the top ten literary heroes post on my blog...
http://www.thevalueofone.com/?p=696
I've really enjoyed it and plan on doing the heroines and villains too, soon!!! Thanks!!!
Oh cool! Thanks for the link! :-D
I finally did my list of villains!
Sad to see you don't love Gilbert Blythe as much as I do. I didn't really like the one in the movie, but in the books.... I just fell in looooove. I wonder how naughty it is to fall for a book character. But seriously. If he were just alive and not hopelessly Anne's...
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!? I left the theater CRYING after Prince Caspian!!!!!
Wow. That is such a good list! And I see that I am not the only person who thinks Henry Tilney is wonderful :) Have you ever read Vanity Fair? I think you would like Dobbin too. He's the sweetest character I have ever met in my book travels! By the way, I love you blog and you have such good ideas! I need to do a list eventually; however, it will take a LOT of thinking and hard decisions!
WHAT?! I haven't commented on this post?! (Okay so I might not have seen it until now, but still, shocking!)
Tilney - I've only seen one adaptation of this and I only remember Carey Mulligan and the fact that young Captain Tilney was tall, dark and gorgeous.
Brandon - Really need to re-watch S&S'95 and actually see the latest one!
Thornton - 100% in agreement! <3
Darcy - While I like Darcy, I really can't stand P&P'05, which includes not being able to stand McFadyen!
Boromir - I still can't see why people swoon over Aragorn when Boromir clearly is the most handsome!
Rochester - Obviously he would be a lot higher up on my list. *cough* ;) I really liked Dalton - he did a faithful portrayal and also manages to kind of look like the man from the book (I don't find Dalton to be "too pretty" for the part).
Caspian - Cute actor but I just feel a bit "meh" with regards to the character.
Deronda/Hamley - Haven't the foggiest. Will need to investigate these works.
Blythe - Honestly can't remember more than finding him cute. Haven't seen Anne since it was on Swedish telly at least 15 years ago! Have it on DVD though so should dig 'em out and have a right good ogle. :)
Ahh I should do one of these lists too, just for fun. :) Have a nice weekend!
I love your list!! I've been having so much fun browsing through your blog. :)
Henry Tilney is one of my all-time favorite heroes, too, especially as portrayed by JJ Feild. On my list, he and Jeremy Northam's Mr. Knightley would be tied for first. I know you don't care for Jeremy's portrayal as much, but his version of "Emma" was one of the first Austen movies I saw. At that point I hadn't read the books yet, and I totally fell in love with his character.
The funny thing is that my husband has qualities that remind me of both of these men, and Emma and Catherine Morland both really remind me of myself (Catherine more when I was high school aged).
So, let's see. My list would look something like this:
1. Henry Tilney (JJ Feild) and Mr. Knightley (Jeremy Northam). As a side note, I remember being so disappointed when I found out from the book that Mr. Knightley's first name was George. I didn't think that was a romantic enough name! Lol
2. Sir Percy Blankney (Anthony Andrews). I loved his interpretation of the character! I used to watch this over and over again when I was in high school! :) I also had the privelege of seeing the Broadway version of SP in California...with Douglas Sills, the man who originated the role! He was really good, too.
3. Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson). Sorry to all you Boromir fans, but I really loved this character. As always, he was even better in the book, but I really enjoyed Viggo's role as Aragorn. I liked Faramir a lot in the books, but I was really annoyed when they made him fall for the temptation of the ring in the movie. I know they made him ultimately let Frodo go, but the whole point in the book was the stark contrast of his character to Boromir's. Sorry, I know I'm picking on your fave now! :) I still liked Faramir in the movie, but he was MUCH better in the book. I agree with you on his and Eowyn's romance, too. :D It's sad that they skimped on it so much in the movie. At least they put a little more in the extended edition.
4. Mr. Thornton (Richard Armitage). He's one of those characters that grows on you. But that's what I love, because you kind of go through the same process as Margaret does when you're getting to know his character. At first you think, "What a jerk!" and by the end, you totally fall in love with his character.
5. Edward (Dan Stevens from Sense and Sensibility 2008). I liked Hugh Grant's Edward in the 1995 version, but I really liked what Dan Stevens brought to the character in this version.
Okay, I've gotten so long-winded I can't fit all 10 in one comment! 6-10 to follow!
6. Arthur Clennam (Matthew Mcfadyen). I loved this miniseries!! I didn't really care for Matthew as Mr. Darcy (I was too used to Colin Firth), so it was nice to see him in something new. I do like his acting, and I thought he did a great job as Arthur! He was such a sweet, noble character.
7. Colonel Brandon (Alan Rickman from S&S 1995). Kind of the same thing here as with Edward, but opposite. I liked David Morrissey's Colonel Brandon, but I prefer Alan's interpretation of the character. Plus I just couldn't get over David's hair...it almost looked like a mullet from the 80s! Shallow, I know, but there it is!
8. Westley (Carey Elwes). I first saw "The Princess Bride" when I was about 10 or 11, and Westley instantly became my idea of an ideal man. Even as a girl I was pretty romantic. Years later, I still love this movie...and Westley is one of the main reasons why. The book, while not entirely recommendable (some swearing and sensuality), is fun too because you get a lot more background on the characters. :)
9. Gilbert (Jonathan Crombie). This was another movie I watched a lot as a girl. I love love love this story (and the books, too). Let me clarify: I love the first two movies...I despise the "Continuing Story" with a passion. I won't even start on how much they ruined the story!! I wish they'd kept the first two a little closer to the books too, but at least they were better than the last one. I really liked Megan Fallows and Jonathan Crombie together. Gilbert's kind of an unexpected hero. :)
10. Daniel Deronda (Hugh Dancy). While some of this movie was quite distressing, I loved Daniel's character throughout the story. And I'm really glad he went for the right girl!!
I have a really hard time with "Wives and Daughters", which is why I didn't add Roger to my list. It's so hard to watch all these spoiled, selfish people wreck havoc around poor Molly, one of the few likeable characters. And I got so frustrated with Roger for going for shallow Cynthia! Like you said, at least he realized his mistake before it was too late.
And I haven't found a perfect Mr. Rochester yet. I actually prefer Toby Stephens' portrayal (I know I'm probably in the minority on this), but I just can't ignore that bedroom scene after the not wedding and their too cuddly kissing at the end, still before they're married. But I prefer his version of the scene when Jane returns to anyone else. I know the screenplay isn't as good...but the look on his face when he realizes it's her!! I don't think any other Rochester has pulled it off as well (sorry if I'm offending anyone).
Yikes! I've got to stop typing before this comment becomes as long as your original post. I just start talking about my favorite characters and I can't stop!! I understand if you don't want to post this. :}
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