Favorite Fictional Character --- Brin Ohmsford

Ever since I started this feature I've had a myriad of character from Terry Brooks' Shannara series running through my head vying for consideration.  Would I pick Shea for the way he is able to grow in confidence and work his way through all the doubts to win the day?  Would I go with Allanon, who has to be one of the most stoic but in the end lovealbe characters in all fantasy?  Maybe one of the Leahs for their loyalty and friendship would have been a good choice.  In the end I've decided on Brin Ohmsford from The Wishsong of Shannara.

Brin starts off as a young lady who plays with magic in the way that a toddler will play with a rubber duck in the bathtub.  It's something fun, it's not to be taken seriously, it doesn't have any serious ramifications, it's childsplay.  That's what she thinks anyway.  Little does she know that her power of the Wishsong will save the world once again from the evils that threaten the races.  The Wishsong alone is enough to qualify her for a FFC post.  With her magic, she is able to control nature, through song.  Through wishing for it, she can sing a tree through it's life cycles within minutes.  Leaves changing from green to brown, then falling off all within a few seconds, over and over again.  There is almost no limit to what her magic can accomplish.

When the Duid Allanon shows up to take her with him on a quest to destroy a book that is evil as it is sentient, she isn't sure she should go.  She doesn't see how she would be able to help or even if she wants to help.  Throughout the journey her power and her sense of self are tested to the harshest limits, and she comes out on top.  She rejects all the self doubts and insecurities, she fights off the growing corruption that using her magic allows into her.  Watching her grow from a naive young woman into an intelligent and strong woman is a wonderful pleasure to read.

For those of you unfamiliar with The Shannara books, I would strongly urge you to pick them up and discover for yourself some of the best written characters in fantasy.