Staring Into the Abyss

#3 - Castiel



Castiel is arguably my favorite Supernatural character. I say arguably because sometimes my favorite character is Dean. Most of the time trying to choose between the two is like Sophie's choice.

I first saw "Lazarus Rising" which is the episode that introduced Cas a couple of years ago. I can still remember the shock and awe I felt at his introduction. His entrance onto the show was one of the best of the series. They built it up with a lot of mystery and anticipation and it really delivered. I ended up spending the next hour or so after looking up Castiel on Google to see if he was a real angel in myths or not. (He is the Angel of Thursday in some lore which is amusing since Supernatural was airing on Thursday at the time.) I was so curious because, to be honest, I was right there with Dean. I didn't believe there were angels in the Supernatural universe either, but I'm glad there are because I think their introduction brought new life to the show.

The thing I like best about Cas is the journey he takes as a character. He is often an antagonist to Dean, but never truly against Dean. His character has gone from blind obedience, to doubts, to rebellion, to being lost, to a lack of faith, to misplaced faith, to a prideful assumption of power, and back to lost. Every step of that journey has made complete sense to me. Dean often calls Cas a child and in many ways he is, because for the first time in his existence he is having to learn how to stand on his own without a higher authority to command him. He was bound to stumble and fall, and when you are as powerful as he is those stumbles have huge consequences. But the thing about Cas is that he is at his core a good person...at least as good as anyone on Supernatural is (I love the shades of grey on this show).

I also love what Cas brings to the show in terms of humor. Supernatural has always been a dark, angsty show with humor to lighten it and I love the way they play Cas's fatalistic cynicism about everything for laughs. He also brings humor to every day things. He doesn't understand human social convention so things as simple as personal space or using a telephone become hilarious. Misha Collins plays the role perfectly highlighting these differences between angel and man when he played Castiel's vessel Jimmy Novak.

Supernatural doesn't have a lot of secondary characters, but the good ones always challenge either Sam or Dean in ways that enrich the show and Castiel does this particularly well with Dean. Castiel's relationship with Dean is one of the highlights of the entire series for me. The fact that he effectively replaces his faith in god with a faith in Dean is powerful, yet doomed to failure because Dean is a flawed man. The characters play off each other well, bringing forth different aspects of Dean's personality. Cas gets less screen time with Sam, but almost every one of their interactions either sticks out in my mind for its humor or angst...or both.

Basically, I adore everything about Castiel, good and bad, and the things his character brings to Supernatural. I hope that they will continue to allow him to grow and develop in season eight, even as I prepare myself for the worst because he is a secondary character in Supernatural. Things rarely work out well for them.

#2 - Garrus Vakarian






One of the things that makes me love characters is loyalty and trust and there is no character more loyal or supportive than Garrus. From Mass Effect one through three he is a solid rock for both male and female Shepard.

I played female Shepard and I did romance Garrus, but the reason I did so was that he never once doubted me. Other characters turned their backs or left (Kaiden I'm looking at you!), but he stayed by my side the entire time. It's even implied in game that his loyalty to Shepard will hinder his own future as a leader because he will always follow instead of step out on his own.

I felt physical relief when he was revealed in Mass Effect 2. My Shep was surrounded by a bunch of shady characters on a mission for the villainous organization Cerberus and I knew that things would be okay if Garrus was there. Shep was almost as excited to see him as I was.

On top of being the rock, he's funny. He tells jokes, shares war stories, and often has some of the best lines in the game. And if you do romance him, he is the most adorably awkward partner, trying to find his way with a human. The best part is when he complimented Shep's waist as being very supportive.

Garrus is a fierce fighter, trying to save the universe, and he has Shepard's back no matter what happens. Bromance or romance, he is Shepard's other half. As the game says, it's hard to imagine a Shepard without a Vakarian and if they die, they can meet up in the bar in heaven.

...that is if Garrus ever gets done calibrating those damn guns!

#1 - Tony Stark AKA Iron Man




Iron Man is my favorite superhero. From comic page to movie screen to cartoon he mesmerizes me. There is no one quite like him.

Stan Lee created Tony Stark during the Vietnam War because he wanted to see if he could take a character that the readers would want to hate and make them love him. He was part of the military industrial complex selling weapons during the era of peace protests and yet Stan Lee succeeded and Tony was loved.

This is a character with SO MANY flaws. He's an alcoholic, a narcissist, a jerk, and a sometimes womanizer. He's a genius with a martyr complex. But he is also so much more. Underneath the pompous facade he is deeply insecure and lacks a sense of self worth. He's loyal to a fault and he always does what he thinks is right no matter the personal cost. He is a character that never stops fighting. He fights his weak body, he fights his alcohol dependency, and he fights the super villains.

Tony Stark is a character that has made so many unpopular decisions, enough to occasionally get leveled with the antihero and even villain label (Marvel Civil War anyone?), but he always does them with the best of intentions. Of course Captain America would point out that the road to hell is paved with good intentions and Tony wouldn't argue, he'd just accept that he was going to hell so that Steve wouldn't have to. Martyr complex remember?

One of my favorite things about Tony is how very human he is. He's a superhero with no super powers. He uses his brain and his money to level the playing field, but ultimately he is a human trying to compete with gods and aliens and mutants. Not only is he human but he's a human with a bad heart (or brain in the Ultimateverse). He's flawed and vulnerable and yet he still goes out and saves the world every damn day.

Tony Stark proves that you don't have to be more than human to be a hero and more importantly you don't even have to be a particularly good human to be a hero, you just have to devote yourself to it. He's a beautiful mess and I love him for his flaws and his heart, as broken as it is.

So I have seen this around lately:





{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

And decided it would be a great way to get me posting again. I've decided to do 100 Fictional Characters That I Love. It's the perfect way to get posting more and be fannish about it. I'm going to pick characters that have touched me over all mediums: books, tv, movies, video games, etc. It's all fair game. I'll be posting them in no particular order because there is no way I can put 100 characters in any kind of order.

I'm excited!