Monster Mash-Up Poll Number 4: which literary character would win in a fight?

It's World Book Day!!  And we're delighted to kick the celebrations off with the results of yesterday's poll. With The Hungry Caterpillar in third place, and Shrek in second, the literary character Paulines would least like to have dinner with turns out to be - Hannibal Lecter!!!!! 

Today's final poll in our World Book Week Monster Mash-Up invites you to answer the deeply profound and significant question, which literary character would win in a fight?  Here at the book blog, we've always wondered: so read the nominations, cast your vote, and we'll find out ... (and remember, if you're reading this on your phone, you need to go to the end of the post and click 'view web version' to vote).

The BFG

from The BFG by Roald Dahl

Mild mannered, caring and concerned for his world, the BFG shows his mettle when riled and pushed into a corner. Fighting to protect what he loves he shows remarkable knowledge of Sun Tzu's art of war in dealing with his enemies who are much bigger in size and number. He outwits them thoroughly. Not only that but he is a giant!

Odysseus

from The Odyssey by Homer

Odysseus has cunning and bravery, and can think his way around most problems (eg defeating the Cyclops).  So he'd definitely do all right. 

 
Superman
from Superman by Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster

Because his abilities transcend physics.

Bill Sykes
from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

He has no moral compass and he’s the East-end bad-boy of 1837 when it was seriously rough. He’d do anything to win.

Arya Stark
from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin

Underestimated by her opponents, Arya is a brilliant fighter, whether armed with her sword 'Needle' or fighting blind with a staff. No other literary character can match her powers to kill. 

The Spiders

from Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky imagines spiders evolving into a complex technological society: some will find that creepy, but I love it as I love the particular spider it is based on. Tchaikovsky's spiders really subvert our common misconceptions of them as evil things (eg Tolkien's occupant of the tower, Shelob) and they win the fight against the humans who return to their planet.

Medea

from the Argonautica and from the eponymous tragedy by Euripides

Medea is pretty extreme. Anyone who murders their own children just to get revenge on her husband is someone I don't want to meet in a fight. She has a way with poison, teaches Jason how to get an army of soldiers to destroy one another, and is very persuasive indeed.

Moby Dick

from Moby Dick by Herman Melville

 If you try to fight him he will eat you. As an inscrutable symbol of chaos he would begin any fight with a pretty hefty psychological advantage, and it seems that he is resistant to a harpooning. His skull is also capable of penetrating the hull of a ship.

Bartimaeus 

from the Bartimaeus sequence by Jonathan Stroud

The 5000 year old djinn may not be physically imposing, but his fiery grit and obstinancy, lightning reflexes, unorthodox methods of intimidation and razor sharp wit would prove the undoing of even the most monstrous of monsters. His ability to morph into any being within literary parameters and see through most of the visible planes might help.

Harry Potter

from the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling

Well experienced, with magical powers, wit and bravery. Defeated Voldemort, so would prevail against anyone. Mobile and agile, with broomstick-riding skills.  

Hagrid

also from the Harry Potter series by J K Rowling

As the son of a human and a giant, Hagrid stands around seven foot tall, so he would dominate even the strongest opponents, crushing their skulls with his enormous hands, smashing their bones with his size 17 shoes or strangling them with his iron grip.  But that's only part of his fighting prowess.  He can use his magical powers to do pretty much anything he wants to anyone - kill them, torture them, dismember them, disarm them - all with a swish of a wand.  So pretty much unbeatable.   

Hermione Grainger

also from Harry Potter by JK Rowling

Because she’s really good at magic.

Sherlock Holmes

from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Sherlock Holmes is a genius, with a skill set that would allow him to defeat any monster, human or supernatural. His Holmesian deduction is observation-based, so he could infer the specific and accurate weaknesses and strengths of an enemy. Combined with his vast knowledge of chemistry, botany, combat and other topics, he would be able to defeat any monster in an impressive and simple manner. 

Percy Jackson

from the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

Half-god, with super-powers, great strength and powerful friends (his mum is strong and loyal, and his dad is Poseidon, so will defend him if necessary).  Plus, he has his magic sword, Riptide, powered by the ocean and fatal to immortals (also doubles as a ballpoint pen: a mighty combination). 

Macduff

from Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Macduff would obviously win in a fight, because he’s jolly cross and he won’t cry ‘Hold! Enough!’

Hercules

 Incarnate of Zeus himself, and invincible. Fought a lion with impenetrable skin, cleaned out the stinkiest stables in the world and took out the most vicious, diabolical monsters ever to live. Hercules has what it takes to beat anyone or anything.  Plus, psychologically strong (survived the murder of his wife and family).

Goneril

from King Lear by William Shakespeare

Goneril is base, villainous, and poisons her own sister. Plus, her instinctive response to a vulnerable old man tied to a chair is 'pluck out his eyes'. She'd be lethal in a fight.

Dally

from The Outsiders by SE Hinton

Because he is strong and protects the gang.

So - will it be a mythological hero or a mere mortal? Someone who fights with brains, brawn, or both?  You decide .... Many thanks to Mr Jacoby, Dr Hudson, Dr Weller, Robert Brewer, Kian Kamshad, Isaac Wighton, Will Garside, Ms Waller, Mr Hager, Ben Pymont, Ayham Alkhader and many, many others.