Child character you LIKED

[Trivun]

In books:

Lilis from the Three Worlds Cycle. She's basically this tiny little waif who acts as a guide briefly to one of the main characters, then has a B-plot later involving one of the other main characters searching for her missing dad who was press ganged years ago, but although she's only a minor character she's a refreshingly innocent person in a cast of people either out for themselves or caught up in events beyond their control and forced to do terrible things for their own survival. It's also good to see what she becomes much later in the series... (spoilers!)

Also from the same series, albeit about 200 years later, Ullii. Fine, she's not exactly a child (she's 18 in her first appearance and 19 by the end of her run in the books), but she's one of my favourite characters in the entire series (my joint favourite actually, alongside main characters Xervish Flydd, and Karan). She's interesting too, especially when you consider how her hypersensitivity has made her life so difficult (a literal torture in fact), and it's hard to not feel pity yet also be awed by how strong she is to be able to survive the way she does.

Special mention also goes to Luna Lovegood, Matthew Freeman and Scarlett Adams, Tiffany Aching, and Will Parry. Gold star to anyone who can tell me what books they appear in.

In movies:

Not many to choose from in terms of the movies that I like, but I will give a special mention to Angie in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Marty McFly if you can count him as a kid, and Harley in Iron Man 3. The kid who helps Tony Stark, he's just that cool! Albeit a little annoying I suppose, but he bounces off Stark so well...

In games:

Again, not many to pick out of the games I tend to play. Zoey in L4D might not count as a kid (she is presumably between 18 and 22, after all, being a student ), but if she did then I'd say her. She's pretty damn quirky and cool, and snarky too, which I like in characters in general. For similar reasons (also the fact she's my favourite video game character ever anyway), April Ryan in The Longest Journey. Assuming she counts, again, as she's 18 in that game. Also, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Rikku, and Hope from Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. They're all just really likeable in my eyes. Yes, even Hope. Finally, Eleanor Lamb, considering all she does to help you in Bioshock 2 and the fact that you feel a connection to her both through the story and by the fact that she's influenced directly by you and your choices, as the player. It's hard to avoid feeling that connection really.

 

[Action Jack]

EDIT: I guess I could also throw in Laharl from the Disgaea series as well. I guess he's more of a pre-teen than a child, but he was a pretty enjoyable character. Yes, he was obnoxious, full of himself, and was kind of an asshole to everyone, but there's something about him that makes it all endearing rather then annoying.

Laharl himself was an unlikeable asshole. But he was so fun to watch because of the way everyone responded to him. He was the lord of all demons, and yet his minions were constantly betraying him, his guards would fall asleep on the job, and everyone he met just generally mocked or disregarded him. If they had actually taken him seriously, Disgaea's story would have been intolerable.

I should note, though, that even though he looks like a child he's at least a thousand years old (as is Flonne, who by the way I think also follows this pattern of "character who would normally be annoying becoming far more interesting due to her surroundings). But I still think he counts.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

Genis from Tales of Symphonia

Rydia from Final Fantasy 4

Bebedora from Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits

Kai from Elebits: The Adventures of Kai and Zero

Gabrielle from Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove

Parin from Gurumin: A Monstrous Adventure.

I'll add more if I think of them.

 

[Robot Number V]

Well, I mean, OBVIOUSLY Clementine. I think we can all agree on that.

Also, Ellie. I know a lot of people thought she was annoying, but, uh...Fuck those people. She's awesome. Smart, helpful, and frankly, could've carried the game on her own.

Though as long as we're not confined to games, I'd also like to mention Arya, for being a total fucking badass. And Toph for the same reason.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Clementine from The Walking Dead, sometimes Carl from the Walking Dead TV show, Arya and Bran from Game of Thrones (book and show)

that's about all I can think of right now.

 

[neonsword13-ops]

Overall, Clementine wins it. One of the more in-depth child characters I've seen in fiction.

Though I wouldn't put all of them as "realistic" examples, I enjoyed the campers from Psychonauts. Most of them don't even come up in the main story, but there's plenty of weird interactions with them and their powers while you're just exploring the campsite. You have an unstable kid blowing up squirrels with his mind, the Russian kid hunting bears, the girl who's convinced she's an alien, this guy...
-video snip-

I fucking love the camp members in Psychonauts. They have so much character. But, I don't think any camper is Vernon level of amazing. His monologues are some of the best in the history of gaming. I mean, just listen to this fucking guy.
Such bravery. And the interaction between all of the characters is just something you never see in a game. It's unprecedented. Double Fine really put it all into their cast, and they manged to keep it humorous throughout. Gold star.

 

[JoJo]

I second the Lamplight kids of Fallout 3, they really weren't that annoying for the most part (though I did have the Child At Heart perk so take that as you will). Also in the realm of video games, an obvious example is Clementine of Walking Dead fame, although I don't think she is the perfect example as some people make out since her character was designed to be wise beyond her years, a valid template to use but not for every child character. Real children can and often do act dumb, petty, emotional, illogically etc and sometimes Clementine felt a bit too much like Lee's perfect little angel.

In other mediums, I'm a long-time fan of the character Gavroche in all versions of Les Miserables, book, musical or anime. I like his freespirited attitude and innocent cheek. Credit also goes to Bruno of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Mordred of the British TV show Merlin, both played by Asa Butterfield who is depicted playing the role of Mordred in my Escapist avatar. Very different characters but both excellently played by a skilled young actor.

 

[scorptatious]

EDIT: I guess I could also throw in Laharl from the Disgaea series as well. I guess he's more of a pre-teen than a child, but he was a pretty enjoyable character. Yes, he was obnoxious, full of himself, and was kind of an asshole to everyone, but there's something about him that makes it all endearing rather then annoying.

Laharl himself was an unlikeable asshole. But he was so fun to watch because of the way everyone responded to him. He was the lord of all demons, and yet his minions were constantly betraying him, his guards would fall asleep on the job, and everyone he met just generally mocked or disregarded him. If they had actually taken him seriously, Disgaea's story would have been intolerable.

I should note, though, that even though he looks like a child he's at least a thousand years old (as is Flonne, who by the way I think also follows this pattern of "character who would normally be annoying becoming far more interesting due to her surroundings). But I still think he counts.

Yeah, it's a good thing the Disgaea series doesn't take itself too seriously.

The way I see it, the equivalent of a human year of age is about one hundred years for demons and angels.

His age as of now is 1316, and he definitely looks like a thirteen year old boy.

Of course, then you have Disgaea 2 in which Rozalin is 17 and looks like a physically mature woman. So I don't know what that's about. Perhaps different aging processes in different netherworlds?

 

[Brainpaint]

Since Clementine's already been mentioned by everybody and their mother so far and I've not played Persona 4, I'm going down some alternative routes:

Xiao from Dark Cloud.

Nervous and easily spooked in her original cat form, once she can take on human form she is curious, friendly, helpful and a total bad-ass with a slingshot!
Seriously, I played as her more than Toan, the default playable character.

Laura from Silent Hill 2.

While I didn't like her at the start the more I played the game the more she seemed like a lost soul rather than a brat. Especially when you realize she's never in danger (therefore she isn't trying to get herself killed and doesn't know anybody else can), Eddie's dangerously nuts and she's only really angry at James because she liked Mary so much... She's a good judge of character at the end of it all.

Andy from Heart Of Darkness.

He gets sad, but nothing's going to stop him from rescuing his dog/best and possibly only friend.
Be it going toe to toe with shadowy nightmare-fueling creatures that could kill him and eat him (not necessarily in that order) in one hit, climbing sheer cliff faces, evil plants, carnivore tadpoles, graboid ripoffs and more, he's gonna push through them all and make it home in one piece... Even though he can't face his mother in a bad mood or his teacher and starts out with a fear of the dark.

Rose from Fable 2

Independent, responsible and protective of her younger sibling but still shows a lot of vulnerability and hope when all other situations seem dire. One of the reasons why her death is so tragic is that in the short space of time the player has with her, she shines the whole way through and we see so many different aspects of her personality. Her fears, her dreams, her refusal to lose her dignity in exchange for a meal for the week (She's offered to service some creepy paedo dude at the start and it's implied to be a regular thing) and the slight mischievous side that comes out from time to time. She gets knocked out defending a dog being beaten up by other kids because she couldn't stand to let it happen. I've not seen a better written young teen/tween character in games.

 

[scorptatious]

Andy from Heart Of Darkness.

He gets sad, but nothing's going to stop him from rescuing his dog/best and possibly only friend.
Be it going toe to toe with shadowy nightmare-fueling creatures that could kill him and eat him (not necessarily in that order) in one hit, climbing sheer cliff faces, evil plants, carnivore tadpoles, graboid ripoffs and more, he's gonna push through them all and make it home in one piece... Even though he can't face his mother in a bad mood or his teacher and starts out with a fear of the dark.

I always was a bit unnerved by how much the goofy and Disney-esque cutscenes contrast with how violent some of the ways Andy could die were. :/

 

[Brainpaint]

Eh, only means you wanna keep him alive for longer!

 

[white_wolf]

Harumi Yomoda from Siren she isn't very whinny and is resourceful enough and Rose from Fable 2 she tries to be tough and take care of you and she left an impression.

 

[Mikejames]

I fucking love the camp members in Psychonauts. They have so much character. But, I don't think any camper is Vernon level of amazing. His monologues are some of the best in the history of gaming. I mean, just listen to this fucking guy.

Such bravery. And the interaction between all of the characters is just something you never see in a game. It's unprecedented. Double Fine really put it all into their cast, and they manged to keep it humorous throughout. Gold star.

They really did have fun with the characters and their subplots. Good reason to explore; after all this time I still find funny quips that I missed.

Rose from Fable 2

Spoiler

There wasn't much time to get to know her, but I was admittedly somber when I used the wish to bring back Sparrow's family and all I could find of Rose was that letter.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

Has anyone mentioned ICO and Yorda yet?
This was one of my favorite games because the story was told mostly with gameplay. It had quite a nostalgic feeling throughout the game also, largely because it takes place in a seemingly abandoned castle.

The Psychonauts crew has already been mentioned.

 

[scorptatious]

Has anyone mentioned ICO and Yorda yet?
This was one of my favorite games because the story was told mostly with gameplay. It had quite a nostalgic feeling throughout the game also, largely because it takes place in a seemingly abandoned castle.

The Psychonauts crew has already been mentioned.

Damn! How could I forget ICO and Yorda?! DX

That's one of my favorite games too. I is ashamed.

 

[Jessta]

I liked Ventus from kingdom hearts Birth by sleep and Roxas from KH358/2 days

I also liked vivi from final fantasy 9.

 

[darkwolf217]

I might be in the minority here but ilike Tiny Tina from Borderlands 2. Her manic energy was perfect for the game and her DLC is hilarious. And even though i just wrote her off as another kooky loudmouth in borderlands, her background actually made me feel for her. Certainly more than I did when Roland died (unfortunately).

But other than borderlands 2? there's been some i'm sure. but i can honestly say i'm not a huge fan of kids in bethesda games. they usually seem so... flat? like most of the characters in their games, they have a basic setup but lack actual depth. at least in my experience.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

Tiny Tina from BL2 is very funny.

Wolf (IIRC) from NWN2 is a cool character. He lies constantly, tries to get the PC arrested and moves into your uncle's inn without even asking. But for all that, he and the other rascals do well by the PC and are a nice addition to the game.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

I might be in the minority here but ilike Tiny Tina from Borderlands 2. Her manic energy was perfect for the game and her DLC is hilarious. And even though i just wrote her off as another kooky loudmouth in borderlands, her background actually made me feel for her. Certainly more than I did when Roland died (unfortunately).

This. Exactly what I was going to say. You can clearly see she's a child growing into an adult and she has no idea how to cope, she's being raised by a group of heroically homicidal maniacs, and is completely disconnected socially.

 

[gamernerdtg2]

Has anyone mentioned ICO and Yorda yet?
This was one of my favorite games because the story was told mostly with gameplay. It had quite a nostalgic feeling throughout the game also, largely because it takes place in a seemingly abandoned castle.

The Psychonauts crew has already been mentioned.

Damn! How could I forget ICO and Yorda?! DX

That's one of my favorite games too. I is ashamed.

Dude, it's all good, it's because ICO has horns. LOL, he's still a kid though.

If the Ninja Turtles were actually kids instead of teens, they'd work too, but oh well.

What about animals/beasts that are kids too?