T5W 05.24.17: Favorite Minor Characters

May 24, 2017

* Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme/challenge for book bloggers, hosted by Lainey and Sam. The goal is for bloggers to choose their top 5 picks for the week’s given challenge, and you can find out more over on Goodreads! *


This week’s Top 5 Wednesday challenge is to choose your top 5 favorite minor characters! I feel like it’s important to note here that I consider there to be a tremendous difference between a “side” character and a “minor” character; a side character is not the MC but does have a notable amount of screen time, generally (think: Severus Snape), whereas a minor character is usually not shown very often or given much back story (think: Professor Trelawney). I just wanted to give this as a small preface to explain why, for example, Cassian or Lucien won’t be on this list. 😉


1. The Suriel – ACOTAR series

“A face that looked like it had been crafted from dried, weatherworn bone, its skin either forgotten or discarded, a lipless mouth and too-long teeth held by blackened gums, slitted holes for nostrils, and eyes … eyes that were nothing more than swirling pits of milky white—the white of death, the white of sickness, the white of clean-picked corpses.”

Ask anyone who’s read the ACOTAR books, and they will probably agree that dear old Suri is our favorite messy gossip, and there’s just so much to love. From the moment that the Suriel was described, I thought, what a fantastic character! It sounds creepy as hell, but ends up helping Feyre time and time again throughout the series, and just totally cementing itself a place in my heart. ❤

2. James McNulty – Illuminae

“You see Ezra Mason around, remind him his first kid’s name is James. Or Jamette.” He patted his breast pocket. “And tell him not to worry. I’ve got Astro-Princess to keep me warm.”

Sergeant James McNulty is one of Ezra’s comrades, and more importantly, his best friend aboard the Alexander. He’s full of witticisms and snark, silly jokes and just general comedic relief that lightened the mood of the book tremendously. He might have a big mouth, but when push comes to shove, McNulty always does the right thing, for better or for worse.

3. Dr. Erland – The Lunar Chronicles series

“Now perhaps you might deign to tell me how you managed to be in the company of both a Lunar soldier and a Lunar royal guard, of all the possible allies in this galaxy.”

Dr. Erland kind of skirts the line between side and minor characters, but at the end of the day, I just didn’t feel like he had enough screen time to count as a side character, so here we are. His actions aren’t always the cleanest, but his motives are always nothing if not pure. His presence in Cress is the primary reason I’d hesitate to call him a minor character, as he does become pretty important, but to explain that would be a spoiler~

4. Luna Lovegood – Harry Potter series

“I suspect Nargles are behind it.”

Luna is another character that toes the line, and the only reason I’m keeping her in this list is because she doesn’t really get much attention until so late in the series (and because she’s just one of my favorite fictional characters of all time). Everyone thinks Luna is a little insane, and one of my favorite things about her is that she just might be. While her ideas on Thestrals are proven out to be real, once Harry himself has seen them, several of the claims that she makes never out themselves as truths, and so her dialogue tends to keep the reader (as well as the other characters) guessing. She’s just so delightful, and as someone who is unashamed to admit that I love the HP movie-verse just as much as the book-verse, Evanna Lynch’s portrayal of her was just so perfect and lovely that I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it.

5. The Bone Carver – ACOTAR series

“I wanted to see if you were worth helping,” the Carver went on. “It’s a rare person to face who they truly are and not run from it – not be broken by it.”

The Bone Carver… where do I begin? There’s so much that I want to say that I won’t, because it would spoil large chunks of ACOWAR, but what I can say is that I loved the Carver from the moment that we first went into the Prison in ACOMAF. The idea that this tortured soul has been trapped in rock for countless years, carving deaths into bones and trading secrets for answers… He’s just such a delightfully wicked, wonderful character and I would honestly be delighted if SJM wanted to write an entire novella revolving around the Carver and the rest of the Prison’s inmates.

More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

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      1. Haha that’s understandable. I just really enjoyed his grandfatherly old man ways lmao

      1. I love them all so much! I almost threw Bryaxis in there, too, if you’ve read ACOWAR.

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