As I had nothing to do worthwhile yesterday night, I made a list of seven of my most favourite imaginary characters from books. And seven is my favourite number too. It also happens to be my birthday date😉
(P.S. the above photo was taken at Manapad beach. Maybe I will write about it on a later date.)
1. Gollum
At present, I am half way through 'the Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkien. It presented an interesting compilation of imaginary characters right from hobbits, elves, dwarves, trolls, eagles, wolves to skin changers (well, I have read only that far). And I haven't encountered any humans till now. (I wonder if Gandalf is a human). I found the book much more interesting than the movie. (My brain tells me,
Isn't it the case with most of the books?). The book (though old) is very pleasant to read with not too much of action and not too much of boring stuff.
Out of all the above mentioned characters, this creature Gollum stood out. The author begins it with an interesting note by saying "
I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He was Gollum — as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face." And there is more that I love about him. Just read and enjoy.
He was looking out of his pale lamp-like eyes for blind fish, which he grabbed with his long fingers as quick as thinking. He liked meat too. Goblin he thought good, when he could get it; but he took care they never found him out. He just throttled them from behind, if they ever came down alone anywhere near the edge of the water, while he was prowling about.
“Bless us and splash us, my precioussss! I guess it’s a choice feast; at least a tasty morsel it’d make us, gollum!” And when he said gollum he made a horrible swallowing noise in his throat. That is how he got his name, though he always called himself ‘my precious.’
Three words to say, "just loved it".
The movie version of Gollum
Click here to download the pdf of this story.
2. Kreacher
While reading through all the seven volumes of Harry Potter, I often asked myself, why I did not like Dobby more? (I liked Dobby but not as much as Kreacher).
I liked the author's lucid and easy writing style (that was what I felt). The story goes on smooth (except for the many many deaths) and filled with suspense. At last, the good prevailed over the evil. Yay! I also loved how the author pulled up loose strings, gave new explanations for it. (Maybe, I will follow this technique in my future books.) She also published additional information in other later books (maybe late timed character enlightenments). I enjoyed them thoroughly too.
Coming back to our Kreacher and Dobby. Dobby seems that kind of fellow (should I say elf?) who values freedom, respect and friendship above others. Kreacher on the other hand, seems to value loyalty and love for his masters. The wonderful thing the author wrote that I loved was, how Regulus Black loved him back even with his life. Yeah, that made me love Kreacher more. He started loving Harry mainly for his affinity towards Regulus. So sweet of you, Kreacher. The author brings in the hidden fact that love changes people.
As downloaded from the Internet.
3. Kitsune
I came across these creatures for the first time, when I read Vampire diaries. Actually, the author has taken this character from Japanese mythology. They are fox spirits or foxes that change into humans (Wikipedia states both). It also seems that the word "Kitsune" itself means 'fox' in Japanese.
I enjoyed the author's vivid imagination (yes, I get her love for vampires), but felt that it was fulled with too much of romance😵. The triangle love made it only more and more complicated. Anyway, every author has got his own rights to write his ideology. We can see a kind of betterment in L.J.Smith's writing as she proceeds with each volume. Unlike Harry Potter, where the story has got the same hero and villain, here, each volume has got it's own villain. At times, the author's imagination takes wild turns (like bringing Elena back from the dead and again and again). She also at one point, brings everything back to square one. It is my personal opinion that she could have done it better. At places, the author seemed to jump from one scene to another. It felt
like the author was unable to project her multiple ideas one by one.
Back to our kitsune. Though the author brings two bad kitsune siblings as the villians (and later a head kitsune as villain), I simply liked the idea of the kitsunes.
The author claims that the kitsunes have more than one tail.
Click here to see the Wikipedia page about kitsune
4. Peter Pan
I don't think anybody from this planet needs an introduction about Peter Pan. Such an amazing character. Once again, unlike most of the Tinkerbell loving girls, I prefer Pan.
I still remember the first time when I asked my father to buy me a Peter Pan book. He simply said "I will get you a cartoon CD. It is much cheaper, you know." (That means war!) And I refused to eat food. Ha ha!
Recently, I found a free pdf of the same book online!
Well, who wants to grow when you can simply sit and read!
Click here to download the pdf of this story.
5. The hatter
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
The above words are the very words with which the author introduces the hatter. I do wonder from where he got the name MAD prefixed. In the story he points at March Hare and says that they quarrelled last March before the March Hare went mad. So, shouldn't the March Hare be called mad and not the hatter?
The Hatter also continues with philosophy saying "saying what you mean and meaning what you say are different things". (Now, what did the hatter mean?) He also explains this philosophy with an easier philosophy of "I see what I eat and I eat what I see" (maybe, this makes more sense).
Apart from this, the author also makes him say many a witty comments. "You must mean less. Because it is easy to have more of nothing." Absolutely wonderful, Mr. Hatter.
Twinkle twinkle little bat
How I wonder what you are at?
Up above the world you fly
Like a treetray in the sky.
6. The blue umbrella
The book The blue umbrella by Mike Mason was recently presented to me by my sister. The author has got an amazing imagination regarding weather! (Yes, weather. You have read it correct.) The author brings in a wonderful character called Sky. Mr. Sky Porter. Sky has got a beautiful blue umbrella (that looks like the sky itself). He uses it to make beautiful weather and sends the weather all over the world. He befriends Zac and helps him to tackle his aunties.
As the friendship grows, the seeds of doubts are sown. He wonders if Sky had a part in his mother's death, who was killed by a lightning. As the clouds of doubts clear away, the villians (Zac's cruel aunties) are destroyed and Sky adopts Zac and the ending is absolutely wonderful!
7. The wishing chair
The wishing chair by Enid Blyton was one of the first few that I read from our school library. I still remember how much shyness I had to overcome in order to go to the library and borrow a book (I also took with me a bunch of students just in case something goes wrong). As I read, I pictured myself as Mollie and went to all the places along with the wishing chair (I wonder who I imagined as Peter). Even after many years, I wished for a wishing chair (especially those times when I did not finish my homework). It was the first time I came across imaginary beings. The very first of them being pixies, brownies and goblins. As it was my first time reading those words, I searched for them in my dictionary and found the explanation for goblins alone. As a result, I imagined brownies to be completely dark brown in complexion and pixies to be somewhat small and asymmetrical with a pointed cap.
It's been almost thirteen years since I read that book and the chair holds a very special place in my heart. All that I wish now is my own copy of the book.
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