10 Favorite Male Characters

Tagged by @maedhrosrussandol. Thank you for the tag!

Oooh boy, the boys in this list. I went with characters I loved the most in my life and sucked the most energy right out of me while making me love every moment of it. One character per fandom because what is life without limitations, eh?

Glorfindel (The Lord of the Rings/Tolkien). This is my One True Boy. It is in the nature of fandom to find universes and characters you love and obsess about until you find the Next Best ThingTM, but this boy and his universe are the ones I return to again and again. You also won’t find a more accomplished boy in this list. Glorfindel is a legend in Tolkien, beautiful inside and out. He stayed his sword in the massacre at Alqualondë, marched with and protected his king in the most tragic war known to Elves, died to protect the refugees of his kingdom in the most epic one-on-one battle since Ecthelion headbutted a Balrog with his spiked helmet hours prior and Gandalf faced another one in Khazad-dûm two ages after, became favored by the gods and so become the only Elf known to return to Middle-Earth after death, returned even more blessed and powerful and close to a demi-god, brought fear upon servants of the Enemy in his “second life”, made the prophecy that Éowyn is going to be the BAMF Who Kills the Witch-King, and he was Just So Cool that time he saved Frodo. Glorfindel did no wrong, save maybe not tying his glorious golden hair (for which he was named) that one time with the Balrog and so was pulled by those luxurious locks to his death. But like, minor thing, because he lived again anyway, yes? Everyone in the Tolkien fandom loves Glorfindel. Everyone. Fight us all. Why the fuck was he not in the movies, PJ?

Ignis Scientia (Final Fantasy XV). This one is my current obsession. Ignis is the intelligent, ultra capable, hella attractive… chamberlain? Chief adviser? Hired brother of the Chosen King? We actually were not given an official title, but Ignis was trained to be Prince Noctis’ adviser and stay-by-his-side-always person since age 6, and boy did he do that well. He did that so well, he made grown boys cry over the course of the game. There is only so much one can say about Ignis without spoiling the game (and all its paid extra downloadable content because lmao fuck you, too, Square Enix), so let me just quote my brother who is a massive dick about most things but still waxes poetic about Ignis: “Ignis is the best Final Fantasy character ever made. He is the mama of the group, he takes care of you, he is actually strong unlike the other nerd mages who can only do magic but is squishy as fuck, and he is so dedicated and loyal, he can give Tifa a run for her money. The only nerf they did on him was they made him a guy.” (Also, welcome to hell. Here is my Iggy blog: https://bestboyignis.tumblr.com)

Kyousuke Iwaki (Haru wo Daite Ita). Haru wo Daite Ita is the gateway to yaoi hell. You may have just been experimenting with yaoi before, but once you reach the point where you’re reading this manga, you know you’re really into this shit and there is no more turning back. But anyway, look: Kyousuke Iwaki is the husband I never had. I love his natural, elegant beauty, how he lived through his strict and sheltered life and stubbornly carved his own path, and I love the beautiful man he grew up to be. Bless this manga because it actually gave us the characters in their 20’s and had us follow them until their 40’s - and Iwaki still looks stunning. Bless Youka Nitta’s gorgeous art! I also love how it was revealed that he once schooled Katou about not taking his acting work seriously “just because it’s for an adult film”. Iwaki is the kind of serious character I really just enjoy following. I am so in love with him, every time he reconfirms Katou’s security with him, I am vicariously living. I can die happy because my husband loves me.

Kurama / Shuuichi Minamino (Yuu Yuu Hakusho). Dude of my childhood, oh how you filled my life. This guy had everything. He was hot, intelligent, powerful and his alter ego was even more hot, intelligent, and powerful. I cannot begin to tell you how obsessed I was with this guy. I reached my lifetime’s peak fangirling at age 12-15 because of this guy. I am in my 30’s now and that’s it, I will still tell you I will never beat my 14-year-old self. I used to buy out entire stores of his merchandise. I would fight anyone who came between me and my 6:30 pm date with this dude when Yuu Yuu Hakusho came on. I learned HTML at age 13 just so I can run five websites for him, one of which was even a full fanfiction archive. I had tapes of all his fights. I knew everything about him. I wrote my first smut with him, learned Photoshop to make art of him. Nearly every achievement of my life and for which I am now being paid can be traced back to me learning it the first time because of how badly I needed to express my devotion to this Fucking Fictional 2D Character. I even knew all the works of his seiyuu, for crying out loud. You just don’t understand. I was balls deep in him - if I had balls. This phase of my life was intense. I will never reach peak intensity again.

Yutaka Watari (Yami no Matsuei). Yutaka Watari filled my life in a way he was not supposed to, just came completely out of the left field. He was a far fourth character in the crazy dark story that is Yami no Matsuei, but while my heart was breaking for the main characters, I was lowkey falling in love with the mad scientist support character that was helping them in the background. I do think Watari was a bit of an unsung hero: he was highly intelligent, seemed to be the only shinigami who could fly solo (if you are familiar with the show, you’ll know how big of a deal having a partner is to these psychological pieces of work), and the few times he took a partner, it was with Ultracool Bossman Seiichirou Tatsumi himself. Watari just seemed stable and reliable, regardless if that was true on the inside (we just don’t know, we were told so little about him!), though he hides it all behind a dorky, smiling demeanor. He was just the ray of sunshine in Enma-Cho. But nobody ends up a shinigami if their life was all sunshine and rainbows, and Watari had his serious moments, though they came few and far in between. He is just a fascinating, mysterious character and I adored him so much. There was a time I would read nothing but Watari (with Tatsumi, ofc, because sexy powerful bosses are Great ThingsTM and local-mad-scientist-spiking-the-office-coffee-with-an-aphrodisiac-and-having-the-boss-accidentally-be-the-one-to-drink-it is such a trashy trope, but I love it and I will take all of it).

Victor Nikiforov (Yuri!!! on Ice). I love figure skating, so finally getting this anime was just - fucking finally. And they did it so well! The parallels between Victor and my favorite legends in figure skating is also such a treat. As for Victor himself, he is talented, rich, decorated, attractive. He had everything, but he would leave it all for love. He was a lost, precious thing in a world where people expected him to be perfect and my heart just went all in and rooted for him to get the boy of his dreams. Yuuri can think he was after Victor all he likes; Victor was the one who did the chasing and worked so hard to get Yuuri Katsuki. (This was voted the Best Plot Twist of 2016, right? Also, Hell #2 - my YOI/figure skating blog: https://lostadult.tumblr.com/)

John Watson (Sherlock Holmes). Everyone needs a John Watson in their life. Also, my favorite author-related joke occurs through Watson. He is the character who “writes” the adventures of one Sherlock Holmes, but he criticizes his own writing by admitting that Sherlock thinks his prose leaves much to be desired. Of course, any criticism to John’s writing is a criticism of the author, Arthur Conan Doyle’s, own style of writing. Bless. As for Watson himself, I don’t know about him being the Every Man of the Sherlock Holmes franchise, even if it is said that that is the type of purpose he serves. But sure, he “wrote” himself that way, but if you read between the lines, you can deduce (lol) that John Watson was a pretty accomplished man in his own right. He was a doctor, he was intelligent enough to sufficiently keep up with Sherlock Holmes, was physically fit enough to do all the running and the all-nighters and the shoot-outs that his crazy roommate instigated, had the patience of a saint, and was actually attractive or at least desirable enough to have… how many was the count, six wives? These little things were what tickled me most reading the Sherlock Holmes books.

Tied: James T. Kirk + Spock (Star Trek). Shut up, I can make a tie. Besides, Captain Jim Kirk and First Officer Spock are a binary system; you just don’t take one without the other. While them individually are fascinating and great characters and are intense nerds without any chill, that is pretty much true for all of Starfleet. But something special and different above all that happens when they are together. Whether the relationship is that of friends, brothers, or lovers (wink wink), this one is just a beautiful partnership all around.

Kaede Rukawa (Slam Dunk). Kaede Rukawa is gay in canon and you can take this from my cold, dead fingers. Lol okay, that’s debatable but the signs are there enough. A good two years of my life was spent loving this talented boy and his blinders that let him only see basketball and how much Hanamichi Sakuragi is an idiot. I also come from a country that has such love for basketball that I kid you not when I say our entire nation followed Shohoku’s every match when this aired on a local network. Good times. Also, I weirdly wrote quite a bunch of Slam Dunk fics in my time. Also good times.

Prince Adam (Disney). That’s Beast, if you haven’t heard yet. I’m not sure why this guy is my favorite Disney prince. I just love him a lot. No, I really don’t know why. I think it is his general aesthetic. Yes, I am aware he is in beast form for much of his screen time. I even love that he is such a wild boy - literally. But he was the wild boy who was also the first to fall in love with the smart, gentle girl and I am just a sucker for these kinds of love stories.

Hades (Greek mythology). Okay, and lastly, my boy Hades! He happens to be my favorite Greek god because I just find him a steady, reliable kind of guy. He has his realm and whatever certain legends may say about his opinion on the lot he drew, he did rule that realm properly and fairly. We also know about Zeus’ shenanigans and stupid numerous affairs, but Hades had one wife and that was it. (Granted, the acquisition of said wife can be contentious and there is a long discussion there, but eventually we find Persephone seeming to have embraced her place beside Hades on several occasions.) Also, I’m a dork, and I have always gone for Hades’ favor in Age of Mythology. Sue me.

Tagging… okay, just whoever wants to make a list. But if you saw this from my blog (whichever one it is), please tag me back. I love looking at other people’s fandom lists! :D