I don’t know about you but I love a character that has a bit about them, some history. If I know a little of the life they’ve lived and their background it pads them out making me feel more in tune with who they are and why they do what they do; it’s something that takes them away from being a two dimensional print being and makes them live in my imagination.
A character’s historical geographical location is often a large part of who they are and in this blog we are going to focus on Scotland with five fictional Scottish characters you’ll want to read about.
Minerva McGonagall
A half blood witch Minerva is one of the main characters of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. She is the Head of Gryffindor House, Transfiguration and occasional deputy head/head of Hogwarts school. Able to turn into a silver tabby cat McGonagall is an Animagus and is the first of her kind to be mentioned in the Harry Potter books; severe in appearance and strict but fair she is pivotal to many plotlines within the Potterverse.
David Balfour
The narrator and main character from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped Balfour is a 17 year old whose parents have recently died, and he is out to make his way in the world. Given a letter to deliver to the House of Shaws in Cramond he is accosted by his uncle Ebenezer who does all he can to ensure that David does not inherit that which is rightfully his, even going so far as to have him pressganged into service aboard a ship.
Connor MacLeod
Upon discovering that he is immortal Connor Macleod or The Highlander is flung into an epic battle for supremacy against all other immortals leaving only one to claim the mysterious ‘prize’. MacLeod is a wonderfully rich character whose love for his mortal wife, respect for his mentor and determination to beat the evil Kurgan makes for a wonderfully rounded and believable fictional hero.
Fingal
The hero of the poem Ossian by James Macpherson Fingal or Fionnghall means “white stranger” is the father of the titular character Ossian. King of a region of south-west Scotland his character is very loosely based on the Irish hero Fionn mac Cumhaill a mythical hunter-warrior of Irish mythology.
‘Juice’ Terry Lawson
Described as a self-centered waster whose main interests are sex and drinking Juice Terry is not the kind of fictional character that will have you fawning over him and wishing him to be real but then this is Irvine Welsh and he does produce fantastically flawed characters in all his books. Appearing in Glue and again in Porno plus a few of Welsh’s other crossover novels, Juice Terry is a corkscrew curled bad boy with an eye for the ladies. Despite his faults, he is a caring and faithful friend and a character you’ll hate to love.
There you have it, five fictional Scottish characters from five completely different genres.
If you have any favourite characters that you would have included let us know in the comments section.
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