The fantasy genre has received an upturn in popularity over the last couple of decades, after the releases of Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter franchise. Due to the releases of these fantasy epics and their box office success, studios started to give the green light to far more fantasy movies. However, it is not only in the cinema that fantasy has been growing in popularity, the release of Game of Thrones has reinvigorated the fantasy genre, arguably, even more than Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
This article will list the ten best new fantasy characters on TV of the past decade.
10 Lyra Belacqua
While His Dark Materials has yet to make too much of an impact on the wider viewing public, it is almost destined to do so. Based on the best selling book series by Phillip Pullman, HBO's His Dark Materials follows a young girl named Lyra as she becomes embroiled in a plot that includes missing children and magical creatures.
Lyra is a smart and brave young girl who is one of the few people actually able to read the alethiometer, however, she is also a flawed character and this makes her far more interesting than the usual child protagonist of a fantasy epic.
9 Mikasa Ackerman
Attack on Titan is one of the biggest anime shows of recent years. After the arrival of the titans, giant humanoid creatures, humanity is forced to retreat into a city protected by three giant walls. The show begins with the horrific scene in which the main character, Eren Yeager, watches his mother get eaten by a titan. Eren then swears he will eradicate the titans.
While Eren is the main character and his story is interesting, Mikasa is often considered to be the fan-favorite character. Mikasa is Eren's best friend and is one of the most skilled characters in the series. Without delving too far into spoilers, the manner in which she deals with her tragic backstory make her a fantastic character.
8 Jon Snow
Jon Snow is undeniably one of the most important fantasy characters in recent years. The character survived the length of Game of Thrones' run (or lived twice if you want to be pedantic), consequently, the character grew on audiences to become well loved. We all enjoyed watching Jon brood in an icy environment.
The only reason why Jon is placed quite low on this list is that, at least on the show, the character was not as layered as other characters. This made the character far closer to an Aragorn-esque character than we have seen before on the show.
7 Jamie Fraser
The inclusion of an Outlander character may feel kind of strange. The setting is just, largely, plain old Scotland in the 18th Century. However, it is the inclusion of the time travel aspect that propels it into fantasy territory. While some consider time travel to be a science fiction trope, the time travel in this show appears to come from some kind of ancient magic.
Jamie Fraser is the boyfriend we all need. He is ripped, smart, and also willing to change his views and admit when he is wrong. His relationship with his wife, Claire, is one of the best on TV at the moment and he deserves a place on this list.
6 Claire Fraser
We couldn't include Jamie without Claire. The character of Claire Fraser is easily one of the best on TV. She is a character who, despite traveling back to an incredibly sexist time in which women were barely seen as citizens, refused to just accept her place in this new world.
In addition, Claire is also a trained doctor who is able to transfer these skills to the past and continue to save lives without modern equipment and drugs.
5 Maleficent
While the Maleficent movies were not an immense success among critics, largely due to issues with the plot, most critics were full of praise for Angelina Jolie's portrayal of the mistress of evil. Jolie played the character in such a way that we could understand her motives, even if we did not necessarily agree with how she attempted to reach her goal. This allows the character to grow to be more than just a one-dimensional villain.
As a result of Jolie's portrayal, Maleficent has gone to grow a gigantic fan base and became a cultural icon over the last few years.
4 Daenerys Targaryen
Of course, Daenerys had to make this list. The Mother of Dragons has been on our TV screens for almost a decade and we've seen her grow from a naive young princess into a fiery Queen of Dragons.
Despite the fact that her actions in the final season divided the fan base, we can still agree that her character is easily one of the best fantasy characters of the decade. While there were issues with her character in the final season, she simply needed more time to flesh out this character turn.
3 Elsa
Frozen was one of the biggest movies of the decade. The film was both a box office juggernaut, a critical success, and a huge hit on the music charts with its title song Let it Go. For those who are unaware, Frozen is the story of two sisters, one with ice powers and one without, who have been driven apart and must reconcile.
What makes Elsa so compelling as a character is her struggle to accept her own ice powers. All her life she has been told to 'conceal' her powers and, in a sense, conceal her true self. What makes Let it Go such a good song is how Elsa becomes empowered by her magic rather than oppressed by it.
2 Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion Lannister is one of the most popular characters in Game of Thrones. He was a character who was able to balance witty quips with genuine skill and ability to play the game of thrones. However, perhaps Tyrion's best moments came from his interactions with others. His conversations with Cersei, Bronn, and Varys are some of the best dialogue across the series.
The role of Tyrion was also magnificently portrayed by Peter Dinklage, who truly made the character his own and perfectly captured the book version of Tyrion.
1 Cersei Lannister
Cersei Lannister is not only the best Game of Thrones character, but she is also the best fantasy character of the decade. While she undoubtedly plays the role of the villain for most of the series, she is also a layered character with understandable motives. In one season, we actually end up sympathizing with her as she has her life taken away by the faith militant.
Naturally, one cannot forget the important role that Lena Headey played in bringing Cersei to the screen. She truly captured the character perfectly and played her with such delicate poise.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/2qIP8Om
0 comments:
Post a Comment