Top Ten Rewind: Fictional Crushes

Top Ten Rewind means you pick any theme from previous Top Tens you missed. A couple weeks ago I missed the Top Ten "Characters I Would Crush On If I Were Also A Fictional Character"  - isn't that clever wording they used for that theme? Nicely absolving us of any guilt? 

Ten Tuesday is  an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish blog with a different top ten list theme (all related to books) every Tuesday (see the full list here). 

Without further ado, here are my top ten fictional crushes.  To avoid copyright issues,  I've linked to some images  instead of posting them (movie stills are promotional, so I think they are okay)(?) 

 10.  Hector from  Crown of Embers, by Rae Carson.  In love with his Queen (who he can't hope to marry) and charged with the role of protecting her life.  Ben Barnes in armor, oh hello there Hector. 

9. Ash from The Iron Fey Series, by Julie Kagawa.  Prince of the winter fae, he's been raised to be cold and cruel and ruthless like the rest of family. Despite everything, he emerges with a heroic heart.  I'm going way out on a limb here (this isn't remotely fae), but as a nod to Kagawa's name and my own love of multicultural heroes, here's how I picture Ash.

8. Beast from Beauty, by Robin McKinley. While Disney did a decent job getting us to fall in love with the Beast (yes, it's still my favorite kissing scene evah), this book blows the movie version away. This beast is less comical, more tragic, far more romantic.

7. Captain Wentworth from Persuasion, by Jane Austen.  Forget stuffy Mr. Darcy. Wentworth is a captain of a powerful Napoleonic-era warship.  And he remains loyal to Anne even though her family forced her to reject his love.  This is Sean Bean from the 1997 movie Anna Karenina, but he's also a nice Wentworth. 

6. Marcus from the Mark of the Lion series, by Francine Rivers. A rich, spoiled but smart young man in ancient Rome who falls in love with the last person he ever expected.  He starts out haughty but turns into a gentleman, and I still love his transformation after re-reading his two books at least half a dozen times.  I simply can't find any pictures to do him justice. 

5.  The Darkling, from Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo. Because I had to have one "I love to hate him" bad guy on my list. Here's a couple close possibilities from Deviant Art. The intense look, and the don't mess with me look. 

4. Gavriel Duval from Grave Mercy, by R.L. LaFevers.  There's so many interesting things about this guy: a knight from 1400's Brittany, an illegitimate  nobleman, a devoted brother, possible ally or possible enemy to a most unusual assassin.   Orlando Bloom from Kingdom of Heaven is close, but not quite - Gavriel has a sterner, more worried face than boyish Orlando. 

3. Wesley, from the Archived, by Victoria Schwab.  Light-hearted and goth at the same time. Close to this interesting guy from Deviant Art. 

2. Faramir, from Lord of the Rings, by JRR Tolkien. 
Forget the movie version, please. Just wipe that image from your mind. I get so distressed with movies when they don't get the character anywhere close to what I had in my mind. In fact, the movie doesn't do him justice is so many ways; you just have to read the book. Here's something much closer to this noble character, in my mind. 

1. Corlath, from the Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley.  There is simply no way to give justice to this wild hill king in a sentence, nor is there any photo or depiction, real or imagined, that has yet captured his quality. But I have to give this Deviant artist credit for a good try. 

Who are some of your fictional crushes?