list 25 literary characters I'd want in my corner Just In Case..."

Almost any pulp hero to grace the covers of these early 20th century works of fiction look as though they could go ahead and throw in for my side any time.

Raymond Chandler’s hard-boiled imperfect, quiet but honorable private eye.

Corwin of Amber – The Amber Chronicles by Roger Zelazny
I Rarely dig the protagonists of modern novels, but I just can’t pass Corwin by in good conscience. This is the type of guy I could easily hang out with. In fact, whenever any of my friends and I would ever shoot the crap about books and the Amber novels in particular, it will usually be mentioned that I apparently remind them of the character – which is really flattering, though I never say so. the pic I’ve included is not a traditional trump of Corwin, but I thought it was done well.

“And what about the man dressed in black and silver with a silver rose upon him? He would like to think that he has learned something of trust, that he has washed his eyes in some clear spring, that he has polished an ideal or two. Never mind. He may still be only a smart-mouth meddler, skilled mainly in the minor art of survival, blind as ever the dungeons knew him to a finer shade of irony. Never mind, let it go, let it be. I may never be pleased with him.”

And this next bit is shamelessly taken from wikipedia:
Centuries before the opening of Nine Princes in Amber, while their father Oberon was still ruling in Amber, Corwin fought a duel (or, as Corwin referred to it later, “a simultaneous decision to murder each other”) with Eric and nearly died. Eric, fearing their father’s wrath, dumped Corwin in Elizabethan England during the time of the black plague. Corwin recovered from the plague, but he suffered brain damage causing amnesia. He proceeded to live out several hundred years of Earth’s history as a soldier of fortune until the 1970s, when he was in a car accident and confined to a clinic. Waking with no memories at all, Corwin escapes and makes contact with his family, using them to return to Amber and finally regain his past.

For an in-depth plot summary of Corwin’s adventures following his time in the clinic, see Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, and The Courts of Chaos.

Hector. He’s right up there with Odysseus for me. He doesn’t have as much of the wisdom(trickery) as Odysseus, but more than makes up for it with his compassion (something fairly uncharacteristic in a warrior archetype written during that time period), and matches his drive and courage.

”...I know
and know well how to fight and how to kill,
how to take blows upon the right or left,
shifting my guard of tough oxhide in battle,
how to charge in a din of chariots,
or hand to hand with a sword or pike to use
timing and footwork in the dance of war.”

Odysseus. He is a man after my own heart.
”’Kyklops,
you ask my honorable name? Remember
the gift you promised me, and I shall tell you.
my name is Nohbdy: mother father and friends,
everyone calls me Nohbdy.’” Book 9, lines 394 – 399

”’Odysseus then you are, o great contender,
of whom the glittering god with the golden wand
spoke to me ever, and foretold
the black swift ship would carry you from Troy.
Put up your weapon in the sheath. We two
shall mingle and make love upon our bed.
So mutual trust may come of play and love.’” Book 10, lines 371-77

“Think of a catch that fishermen haul in to a halfmoon bay
in a fine-meshed net from the whit-caps of the sea:
how all are poured out on the sand, in throes for the salt- sea,
twitching their cold lives away in Helios’ fiery air:
so lay the suitors heaped on one another.” Book 22, lines 432-6

Doctor Alfred Prunesquallor (Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast) After finishing this series, I felt like I was honestly losing some good friends. I miss Prunesquallor’s voice the most.

John Jarndyce (Dickens’ Bleak House) I don’t think anybody could ever go wrong with this guy as a friend. Just knowing that he was would boost your sense of self-worth if nothing else.

Detective Bucket (Dickens’ Bleak House) Definately would want this guy looking out for me. Decent, and all about the job.

Njal (another Icelandic Saga) Wise and courageous.

”...no beard grew on his chin. He was so great a lawyer, that his match was not to be found. Wise too he was, and foreknowing and foresighted (2). Of good counsel, and ready to give it, and all that he advised men was sure to be the best for them to do. Gentle and generous, he unravelled every man’s knotty points who came to see him about them.”

Egil Skallagrim (Icelandic Saga) This is one guy who can handle himself. Extremely humerous, and a master at spot decision making.

‘Thus counselled my mother,
For me should they purchase
A galley and good oars
To go forth a-roving.
So may I high-standing,
A noble barque steering,
Hold course for the haven,
Hew down many foemen.’