Horatio Hornblower
I have a rather irrational dislike for the name Archie (Archibald, good god), but now I have two Archies in my favourite fictional character list (Archie Kennedy of Hornblower, and Archie Goodwin of Nero Wolfe - in both cases kickass sidekick characters featured in the series whose titles come from the names of the protagonists/their BFFs), which is...odd?
Jamie Bamber did nothing for me in the first season of Battlestar Galactica, but his native British accent? And when he speaks fluent French and Italian? Dude. I had heard from here and there that Horatio had an epic slash pairing, and it's proven to be indeed epic, as it meets pretty much all the criteria on the epic slash pairing checklist. I want to hunt down some fics, but since I'm like, five years late into this, it seems some of the links are long dead. ::sadface::
Also, I suppose now Archie Kennedy can usurp Jesse of Breaking Bad as the character who receives the most emotional and physical beating in canon, not named Daniel Jackson. (Or, someone who doesn't have the last name Winchester or has never worked in the X-Files division. I'm simply refusing to count any character whose life-threatening injuries and traumas are miraculously forgotten by the next episode.)
Jesse still wins the most emotinally beat-up character award, however; Archie Kennedy recovers his confidence and wit and smile, and I don't see that happening with Jesse anytime soon, if not ever. As for Archie, the audience mostly gets to see the residual effects of the incidents and not necessarily live through each of them like we get to do with Jesse, but I think Archie still wins the title for the most beat-up character overall. I mean, two and something years as a prisoner of war after barely living through what Simpson's done to him? A month stuck in a tiny oubliette to the point he couldn't walk for a long time? And he doesn't spring back right away; he actually faces his demons and eventually becomes the officer he's meant to be. And then comes the ending of Retribution, which basically immortalized the character in terms of loyalty and bravery and made him the woobie of all the woobies in fangirls' hearts. ::sigh:: The most dramatic scenes in the series occur on Archie's sickbed - although it really helps that he looks like a Regency hero while doing so.
And yet, still he's such a strong, cheerful character by default (and has that wonderful smirk) that it's less diffcult to watch him than Jesse, especially because his BFF Horatio is so much nicer than Walt. (Okay, but then who isn't nicer than Walt, at this point?)
Jamie Bamber did nothing for me in the first season of Battlestar Galactica, but his native British accent? And when he speaks fluent French and Italian? Dude. I had heard from here and there that Horatio had an epic slash pairing, and it's proven to be indeed epic, as it meets pretty much all the criteria on the epic slash pairing checklist. I want to hunt down some fics, but since I'm like, five years late into this, it seems some of the links are long dead. ::sadface::
Also, I suppose now Archie Kennedy can usurp Jesse of Breaking Bad as the character who receives the most emotional and physical beating in canon, not named Daniel Jackson. (Or, someone who doesn't have the last name Winchester or has never worked in the X-Files division. I'm simply refusing to count any character whose life-threatening injuries and traumas are miraculously forgotten by the next episode.)
Jesse still wins the most emotinally beat-up character award, however; Archie Kennedy recovers his confidence and wit and smile, and I don't see that happening with Jesse anytime soon, if not ever. As for Archie, the audience mostly gets to see the residual effects of the incidents and not necessarily live through each of them like we get to do with Jesse, but I think Archie still wins the title for the most beat-up character overall. I mean, two and something years as a prisoner of war after barely living through what Simpson's done to him? A month stuck in a tiny oubliette to the point he couldn't walk for a long time? And he doesn't spring back right away; he actually faces his demons and eventually becomes the officer he's meant to be. And then comes the ending of Retribution, which basically immortalized the character in terms of loyalty and bravery and made him the woobie of all the woobies in fangirls' hearts. ::sigh:: The most dramatic scenes in the series occur on Archie's sickbed - although it really helps that he looks like a Regency hero while doing so.
And yet, still he's such a strong, cheerful character by default (and has that wonderful smirk) that it's less diffcult to watch him than Jesse, especially because his BFF Horatio is so much nicer than Walt. (Okay, but then who isn't nicer than Walt, at this point?)