Hosted by the Top 5 Wednesday Goodreads Group
Buenos dias, everyone! It’s time for Top 5 Wednesday again! This week’s topic is your top five problematic faves. The post defines this as a character you don’t want to love, but do anyway. However… this is pretty broad. Personally, I’m going to define this as a “good guy” character who does and says problematic things, but you can’t help but love anyway. This excludes villains, who inherently cannot be problematic. Why? Because they’re villains. They’re supposed to do messed up shit. A character can only be problematic if you’re supposed to root for them and see them as a hero (in whatever capacity) and they do or say questionably unacceptable things. I’m also excluding antiheros because, again, they’re supposed to be morally gray. However, I am including movies and television so that still leaves plenty of characters left to talk about. Now let’s get on with the show!
- The Gang from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Mac, Dennis, Dee, Charlie, and Frank invented being problematic faves. They are terrible people, but I love them anyway. They’re selfish, offensive, and a little bit delusional, and I wouldn’t have them any other way. I love those trash heaps.
- Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead: Overall, Rose is a great character. She’s flawed, but ultimately a good person. But there are a few things that make her problematic and they all relate to her relationship with Adrian Ivashkov. First she’s mean to him for no reason. Then she leads him on and pretty much uses him to get over Dimitri. She does care about him, but it’s obvious she’s still hung up on Dimitri the whole time. She often doesn’t consider his feelings and shoves him to the side. And then, of course, she cheats on him. But the narrative says it’s forgiven because it was with Dimitri, her “soulmate.” That’s super ugly and I still haven’t fully forgiven her (or Dimitri, who is also problematic but not a favorite).
- Hideo Tanaka from Warcross by Marie Lu: Okay, so this is a spoiler. If you don’t want to be spoiled, just skip to number four. Hideo has enabled mind control in his Warcross glasses so he can stop crime. Obviously mind control is fucked up, but it’s for a good cause. So he’s not right, but he’s also not wrong. And I love him. He’s charming and intelligent and might be the one (1) man I’d let touch me (okay, probably not—I’m gay (oh yeah, I realized I’m gay and not bisexual. I guess this is my re-coming out post as well.)).
- Henry “Monty” Montague from The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee: Monty is well-meaning, but he doesn’t always try to see things from other people’s point of view. He generally either just assumes they feel the same way or does something to sabotage himself. While a lot of it is due to his mental illness, a lot is also due to the fact that he’s spoiled and irresponsible. He does grow by the end of the book, but he’s messy for most of it and far more of a personal mirror than I care to admit.
- Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars: He was supposed to bring balance to the Force, but instead he killed an entire tribe of Tuskan Raiders and killed all the younglings. He went to the Dark Side to save Padme, but also because he craved the power. He’s a Jedi and a hero, but he’s also a Sith and Darth friggin’ Vader. So… yeah, he’s a pretty problematic fave and he does not like sand.
What are some of your problematic faves? Tell me about them in the comments!
Strange Storyteller 