Which Book Character Would I meet IRL?

So this question was posted in a facebook group I’m in about writing, and I thought it might be fun to answer it in blog form. For me, it was a little more difficult to answer than it originally seemed. The most obvious strategy is to just pick whoever your favorite character is and boom, you’re done. But the question isn’t “Who’s you’re favorite character?” which would open up answers from all forms of media (and a contentious race within my heart between Sterling Archer, Deadpool, Spiderman, and Rick O’Connell), or “Who’s your favorite book character?” which also would probably have been a different answer altogether (enter Murderbot, Binti, Vin, Kelsier, and Breq)

It is who do I want to MEET IRL. I think I had write an essay about this exact thing for a historical figure to get into college (spoiler alert: I wrote about Led Zeppelin’s drummer John Bonham). Hopefully this post won’t be as many pages . . .

Anyway, it was interesting to see how different people answered the question. Some did seem to just pick their favorite hero which is fine, others chose villains which was fun. Still others couldn’t decide at all, and decided to wax poetic about what an impossible choice it was and how dare the poster even ask. Some listed several, and one possibly quite morbid dude said he wanted to meet Death from the Discworld books. He acknowledged that doing so meant his life was at an end, but he seemed to think that at least it would be a friend welcoming him to the afterlife (IN SHOUTY-CAPS NO LESS).

I thought through several approaches, and decided that I’d probably want it to be someone I could hang out with if we did end up meeting. The question specified “in real life” so I wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not they were good at fighting, or magic, or if they’d actually care enough to keep me alive during whichever encounter lead our paths to cross (I assume I’d be quite useless if I fell into a novel).

And because . . . writer . . . I started imagining what situations I would meet a book character in, and that definitely began shape my answer. I don’t think I’d ever come across Murderbot in real life, and while that perspective is hilarious to read, I don’t see our paths ever crossing. The other characters I mentioned in the ‘fav book’ category all lead dramatic lives full of inner turmoil and strife, and while I’m rooting for them the whole way during a book, and want to see them change and succeed, I’m not sure that they’d be the best people to hang around with . . .

So who did I chose?

Adolin Kholin from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive.

Oh?

Yup. I suppose it’s no surprise that I picked a character from a Brando Sando book (although I really tried to think of a character from someone else’s work. After all, I don’t want to become too predictable), but I was a little surprised by who I ended up on. The Stormlight books aren’t my favorite series by Brando (that’s Mistborn), and even within those books, I don’t know if Adolin is my favorite character.

But he does seem like a bro. He’s got a bunch of honor and good morals which were stuffed down his throat by pappa Dalinar, and while he’s taken it all to heart and seems to be generally a good person, he doesn’t seem as uptight about it all like his father. He seems to see the world with more grays, and would probably be a little more lenient to those who weren’t as strict about living up to his standard.

He dresses well, and plays sports (how cool is shardblade dueling?), so he’s probably pretty popular among everyone. He seems to like nice places and probably knows all the best spots . . .

And he’d definitely have your back in fight and be quite good at it (I know I said earlier I wasn’t worried about that but it can’t hurt)

All of this does not mean he has zero flaws however. He’s lived a privileged life, there’s no denying it. But I always get the impression that he’s working to better himself and try to understand those around him who have lived in a different life then him. He doesn’t always get it right but he seems to be always trying.

Anyway, at the risk of this post sounding like I have a man-crush on a fictional character (I might though) I think Adolin is who I’d choose to meet IRL if I could. I think we’d probably get into some trouble, but it would likely be a fun time.

I’m interested to hear who you’d choose so please let me know in the comments: Which book character would you like to meet in real life if you could?

See you next time!