FFF: Favorite series character

It's Free-For-All Friday, Killer friends! And the question we're asking today is: Who is your favorite series character?

Jenny: For once, I didn't have to think about my answer. My fave series character is, hands down, forensic expert Lincoln Rhyme. He stars in nine Jeffery Deaver thrillers, and what makes Linc extra-special is that he's a quadraplegic. Yet this doesn't stop him from catching the baddest of the bad-ass serial killers. Quite possibly, as Linc himself wondered in the most recent book The Burning Wire, it might actually be his disability that keeps his mind so damned sharp. If you haven't read a Rhyme novel, I highly recommend it. Start with The Bone Collector (which was made into a movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie). The books don't have to be read in order, but the author's character development is one of the best parts of the series, and it's fun to watch them grow.

Joann: My favorite series character is Aloysius Pendergast, who appears in several novels by the amazing writing duo, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Pendergast is an incredibly intelligent FBI agent who commands the respect of anyone who meets him. I love how well-developed he is and that Preston and Child don't hesitate to put him into situations that call for a whole lot more than just following police procedure. In fact, they love to throw Pendergast into supernatural mysteries that test the limits of his abilities. My favorites are Brimstone, Dance of Death, and Book of the Dead (the Diogenes trilogy). In fact, it feels like it's about time to pick them up again!

JB Lynn I have a thing for ambiguous series characters...those that you're never quite sure which way they're going to go.

Books -- I loved the character of Hawk in Robert B. Parker's Spenser novels. He wasn't exactly sidekick material. Instead he served as a dark counterpoint to Spenser. Like the title character he had his own code, and usually came through in the end, but he definitely leaned toward the shadier side of life.

TV Series -- US Marshall R aylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant) may be the hero of the series Justified but the reason I keep tuning in is to see what his childhood-friend-turned-criminal Bo Crowder (played by Walter Goggins) is going to do. I hated the character in the first episode, spent the middle eps wondering what the hell he was up to, and found myself hoping that he wouldn't die in the last episode of the first season.

Movies -- Severus Snape is not my favorite character in the Harry Potter books, but with a raising of an eyebrow or a sneer of the lip, Alan Rickman has elevated him to one of my favorite movie characters of all time.

So tell us: Who are your favorite series characters?