Character Preference

[MatthewM]

This is a weird question but I thought of it the other day. Do you ever feel like you favor certain characters based upon if their appearance is akin to yours? Or do you mainly go by personality of a character?

Just a random question I thought up. Most of the time we probably don't even think of that and just are drawn to certain characters. Just curious, though.

[Gordis]

Not for me. I favor the nazgul- but their appearance is not akin to mine. Not yet.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

My mom said I look much like Arwen... apparently I act like her too...

[Groin Redbeard]

With me, I go by characteristics. I look nothing like a dwarf, yet I like them because they carry similar characteristics that I like: toughness, hard work, loyalty, love for their kin, a deep sense of patriotism for their race, and their appreciation for all things that are beautiful.

[TeleriFan]

Yeah sometimes and sometimes not. Celeborn for example...well what can we say bout that guy lol, but nonetheless I still have him on my favourite character list...and I knw I'm not like him at all

[Aganzir]

Ever wondered why of all my favourite book characters I only liked Boromir and Saruman in the movies?
I always, always favour characters with a hooked nose (unless they are absolute fools, which is very seldom, though, for authors always seem to associate hooked noses to a certain kind of personality which I find attractive). Actually, nose is the first thing I notice in a person also in real life. I am quite confident it has something to do with the fact that I have a hooked nose, too, but it might also be possible that I just find them beautiful without any conceited reasons.

My friends say I look like a dwarf, but I am not sure if that is just because they want to be nasty (you see, most people probably think that telling a young maiden she looks like a dwarf is not to be taken as a compliment). Though as far as I recall they started it only after I had expressed my identification with the noble dwarvish race. Pets come to resemble their owners and vice versa, or however they say it.
I don't really know how I look like a dwarf, though. Maybe because of my profile? The way my cheeks and eyes go when I smile? I am short but not that short. But I am pretty positive I would look good with a beard.

More often than not I like characters because of their personality, not looks, though. But I don't know if anyone else has noticed it is sometimes hard to like ugly characters (except for Quasimodo), or characters whose looks differ much from what is usually considered "beautiful". I guess they are difficult to identify with (I just don't believe people can seriously consider themselves ugly), and therefore more difficult to really like. Or then writers just want the character's looks to reflect his foul nature. Or then I am a snob who cannot tolerate abnormality.
(Anyway, if anyone has read the Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb they hopefully know what I mean. It took me the whole of Forest Mage and a greater part of Renegade's Magic to get used to Nevare's sudden obesity, yet I was ultimately disappointed when he eventually lost weight.)

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

I am like Lobelia Sackville-Baggins!

Not that I look particularly hobbit-like, but I really sort of act like her. Notice that in one quote in FotR that when she is riding away in her cart back from Bag-end she looks as if she is trying to to figure out some witty response and I get like that a lot... I at least try to sound smart. Plus she has this tendency to be a bit mean if you do something she doesn't like, which I can do too. Plus she is a bit overprotective of her home, but of course if I was in her situation I would do exactly the same thing! Because I do get overprotective over my most prized posessions (LotR, stuffed animals, clothes, souviniers... you get the idea) and in addition to that: I would love to hit somebody twice the size as me over the head with an umbrella!

-TheGreatElvenWarrior

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

I am like Lobelia Sackville-Baggins!

Ooh, but I am like her, too!

Though I suppose I liked her already before I actually started looking like her...

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Ooh, but I am like her, too!

Though I suppose I liked her already before I actually started looking like her...

I don't look very hobbit-like... apparently I look more like an elf... But that is a very Lobelia looking picture! Complete with umbrella whacking action I'm guessing?

[Thinlómien]

Yes and no.

I'm always keen on liking female characters if they are not described as striking beauties. I hate it that every single heroine has to be beautiful (or if they aren't, it's the main point in them. Argh.) I must say this is one of the few things that consistently annoy me in Tolkien's writing, and probably one more reason why I always liked Haleth. (If someone finds a quote where it says she's pretty, I might have to change my opinion of her. )

As to particular facial feautures etc, I'm not sure. I don't like characters with turned-up nose like mine, at least, but that's probably because they're always nit-picky and selfish and posh, which are characteristics I don't like and don't identify with (even if I have that infamous turne-up nose. Thank you, authors.)
But hmm... I do tend to be empathic towards characters with big front teeth or a gap between their front teeth... which is why I was so angry with JK Rowling when she made Hermione decrese the size of her teeth (I quite liked a heroine with big front teeth, something not-so-ordinary) and especially with her thus allowing Hermione to transform into a beauty. I would like to sue Rowling for giving traumas to some poor young girls with big front teeth who were younger and more uncertain of themselves than me when they read that book. Okay, I'm not that serious about it, but really, I don't approve of it.
As to other particular facial features, I don't think I have anything special to say.

In general, I don't think that looks determine whether I like some character or not, but they can add to my liking of some character. 99% only positively, but I must agree with Agan on Hobb's Nevare.

Oh, and now I lied. I always, always prefer brunette women over blonde women, at least in terms with sympathising or identifying with characters. It is an old obsession, one could say, and quite understandable if you take into account that I'm a brunette girl who has a blonde sister of about the same age...

And lastly, I have no particular attachement to Elrond, even though I reputedly look like him.

[Nerwen]

Hmmn. On the whole I tend to be more interested in personality...

...but I have to admit I find it somewhat easier to identify with characters who are tall and thin, like me. Also I rather like them to have my eye colour (which is, alas, in short supply in Middle-earth).