People Who Don't Exist But Changed My Life
I've always been the kind of person who gets attached to fictional characters.
Not in a normal way, either.
I mean in the "making playlists for them," "saving edits on Pinterest," and "thinking about them years after I finished the show" kind of way.
The funny thing is that when I look at some of my favorite characters, they don't really have much in common.
1. Hermione Granger
The original overachiever.
She made me believe that being smart was something to be proud of. She was brave, stubborn, and somehow always carrying everyone else's problems on top of her own.
I wanted to be her when I was younger.
Now I just understand why she was stressed all the time.
2. Bonnie Bennett
To this day, I still think Bonnie deserved better.
She spent the entire series saving everyone around her and asking for almost nothing in return.
If loyalty was a person, it would probably be Bonnie Bennett.
3. Bella Swan
I know.
I know.
Trust me, I've heard all the Bella Swan slander before.
But there was always something comforting about her.
Maybe it was how much time she spent inside her own head. Maybe it was because she felt ordinary while everyone around her seemed extraordinary.
4. Aria Montgomery
Aria Montgomery is probably responsible for at least 40% of my personality.
Books, coffee shops, oversized sweaters, and making things significantly more complicated than they need to be.
Looking back, that explains a lot.
5. Merlin
I watched Merlin years ago (and am still rewatching), and somehow he never left.
Nobody talks enough about how much emotional damage this man caused me.
He spent years protecting people who didn't even know what he was sacrificing for them.
The final episode still upsets me.
6. Daenerys Targaryen
Before the writers started fighting demons in the last season, Daenerys represented resilience to me.
Daenerys was one of the most inspiring characters I'd ever seen.
She lost everything multiple times and kept going anyway.
And I think that's why people loved her.
Looking back, I don't think these characters raised me because I wanted to become them.
I think they raised me because they gave me language for parts of myself I didn't know how to explain yet.
Maybe that's what favorite characters really are.
Tiny mirrors we carry around until we grow into the person staring back at us.
Signed,
Unknown.
