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Your 20 Most-Loved Literary Characters

Rebecca Joines Schinsky

Chief of Staff

Rebecca Joines Schinsky is the executive director of product and ecommerce at Riot New Media Group. She co-hosts All the Books! and the Book Riot Podcast. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccaschinsky.

View All posts by Rebecca Joines Schinsky

We at the Riot love a good poll, and in our latest bout of curiosity, we asked you to name your three favorite literary characters. 679 Riot readers answered the call, selecting 681 unique characters. Check out the top 20 below, and click here to see the full set of responses. Did your favorite make it?

  1. Elizabeth Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)–106
  2. Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)–80
  3. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter)–76
  • Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre)–58
  • Sherlock Holmes (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes)–47
  • Harry Potter (Harry Potter)–36
  • Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice)–33
  • Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)–30
  • Jo March (Little Women)–39
  • Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables)–27
  • Scarlett O’Hara (Gone With the Wind)–23
  • Severus Snape (Harry Potter)–20
  • Samwise Gamgee (Lord of the Rings)–19
  • Thursday Next (Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series)–19
  • Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye)–17
  • Owen Meany (A Prayer for Owen Meany)–16
  • Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter)–15
  • Gandalf (Lord of the Rings)–15
  • Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby)–15
  • Lisbeth Salander (The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson)–15

    Here’s how the favorite characters stack up against the results of our “What’s your favorite novel?” poll (diagram courtesy of fellow Rioter Minh Le).

    favorite characters venn diagram

    Check out other Riot polls:

    The 25 Most-Hated Books (by Book Riot Readers)

    19 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read FOREVER

    20 Books You Pretend to Have Read

    Top 10 Books You’re Embarrassed to Admit You’ve Read

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