Rewind! (Top Ten Fictional Crushes)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the bloggers of The Broke and the Bookish. This is a rewind week, meaning that I could pick any past Top Ten Tuesday topic. For this week I chose to reveal my top ten fictional crushes and I convinced Courtney of Courtney Reads A Lot to do the same topic, so check out hers as well! This could turn into a very long, very embarrassing list, so luckily I need to limit myself to ten choices. My ten choices are also characters I was introduced to years ago and thus gave me quite a bit of time to substantially crush on them.

Eugenides (The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner) — I think the livejournal group that I joined years ago aptly describes my relationship here: Eugenides stole my heart. Literally. I went into The Thief from the perspective of this seemingly crude, immature petty criminal. But as with basically everyone else in his story, I've drastically amended my prior thoughts. He's one of the cleverest, most realistic characters I've ever read about and will always be my main fictional crush. 

Harry Potter (Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling) — How can you read the Harry Potter series and not fall in love with Harry's character? He's not perfect, but he is brave and idealistic and accepts the responsibility he has to save the world. And being able to read about Harry's transformation from an uncertain young boy to a man of strong principles doesn't hurt.

Prince Charmont (Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine) — Like Ella, I found myself really falling for Char through his letters as he spent many months in the Ayothorian court. As his name and traditional Cinderella role implies, he is charming. But Char is so much more than that: he's trusthworthy, caring, quick to laugh, and always seeking whatever is best for those he loves and his future kingdom.

Jesse de Silva (The Mediator series by Meg Cabot) — I haven't read very many of Meg Cabot's book (for shame, I know), but I absolutely loved her Mediator series, mostly because of Jesse. It doesn't matter that Jesse is a ghost. He's protective and caring and sexy and Hispanic. I also can no longer hear the word querida and not think of him.

Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen) — Who doesn't have a crush on Mr. Darcy? I have this thing where I really enjoy peeling back the layers of a character who seems like an utter jerk at first but who actually turns out to harbor more sympathetic tendencies. Mr. Darcy has been raised with certain societal beliefs, but he is willing to abandon those for the woman he loves. And it didn't hurt that in my favorite film version he's played by Colin Firth.

Gabriel (Archangel by Sharon Shinn) — I think that his extremely attractive angel body and the knowledge that he is to be the next archangel have given Gabriel a sense of entitlement. He's arrogant, yet he literally believes that whatever he wants to do is best for everyone. He is also fiercely loyal and protective and has the best male singing voice in all of Samaria. I would love the opportunity to test my will against his. Or just to be in presence at all.

Silk (The Belgariad series by David Eddings) — In a lot of ways, Silk is very similar to Eugenides. He prefers to keep his true identity hidden and provides the best one-liners and sarcasm throughout the series. He definitely has all the best speaking parts and is skilled in espionage. And what can I say? I have such a weakness for guys who use lots of wordplay.

Nealan of Queenscove (Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce) — Tamora Pierce has created so many lovable male love interests; there are a few men I can name from each of her Tortall series that I really liked. Neal will always be my favorite, however. I love his penchant for the dramatics and his wry sense of humor. And I sympathized with Neal's struggle between becoming a knight to defend people and becoming a healer to save people. Beneath his sometimes apathetic veneer he really cares about others.

Fan-fiction Draco Malfoy (various Harry Potter fan-fictions) — Obviously I need to clarify this here. What J.K. Rowling has written for Draco Malfoy is not enough to justify a fictional crush. Even with the hints of Draco's struggle in The Half-Blood Prince. I did, however, form a big crush on the Draco Malfoy most commonly portrayed in fan fiction — the bad boy who is cocky and insecure but good looking and not entirely evil. A la Cassie Clare's works and others. I know I can't be the only one here.

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer) — And so my love of misunderstood evil characters continues. Artemis Fowl is all about knowledge and power and I've always been drawn to characters like that. He's a teenage genius. Sometimes caring about the good guy gets to be a bit much, but glimpses Artemis' humanity from plans less than perfectly executed really drew me to him. At least for the first few books I read, back when I was a tween.

Now that I've shared mine, let me know who some of your bigger fictional crushes are/were!